The Final Boss Has Returned — Chapter 48
The moment Yujin turned on the broadcast, viewers began increasing exponentially.
The subscriber count on Yujin’s official channel was a staggering 100 million!
Moreover, due to the Church of Infinite Yujin scandal that was currently the talk of the town, with the eyes of all users around the world—not just domestic ones—focused intently on him, so many people began watching the livestream that there were concerns the server might crash.
[“First, I must apologize. For the immoral actions committed by the eastern branch manager of the Church of Infinite Yujin, I feel a deep moral responsibility, and I would like to take this opportunity to bow my head and sincerely apologize to Drakan, who has suffered greatly because of this incident. After this, I plan to arrange a separate meeting with Drakan to meet him face-to-face and apologize once more.”]
As he spoke those words, Yujin stood with an incomparably serious voice and expression, bowing deeply at the waist then and there.
The camera captured his entire figure in a full shot.
[Omg, Yujin ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
[For Yujin to apologize personally ㅠㅠㅠ]
[And to Drakan, of all people…….]
[He doesn’t even need to apologize himself. As expected of Yujin’s character……. Simply shining shining shining]
The moment Yujin bowed, the live chat began to explode.
Yujin.
The top ranker of Arde World!
He who reigned over hundreds of millions of users playing Arde Saga Second, possessing overwhelming authority—at the sight of him lowering his head without hesitation to apologize, the public opinion that had been churning as though it would set the Church of Infinite Yujin ablaze at any moment began to cool in an instant.
Unlike the proverb that the riper the ear of rice, the lower it bows, people knew well that those in power in reality, the high and mighty, did not easily lower their heads.
In such a situation, Yujin not only sincerely lowered his head to apologize but also declared he would seek out Drakan—his past enemy and a potential future rival—to apologize face-to-face. This action possessed such tremendous destructive power that it stabilized the ignited public sentiment in an instant.
[“I will never defend Rexas’s evil deeds simply because he was the eastern branch manager of the Church of Infinite Yujin, and I intend to hold Rexas and his cohorts accountable for violating our principles. Currently, the Judgment Guild has departed for the east to capture them, and as soon as all measures are completed, I will immediately disclose the results to you all.”]
The Judgment Guild.
The nickname of this massive guild that shone at 2nd place in the overall guild rankings was Yujin’s Sword.
One of the four guilds allied with the Lightwing Guild and the main force of the Revolutionary Army in the past, the Judgment Guild currently acted as enforcers who punished evil on Yujin’s behalf and as police operating across the entire Arde World.
At the news that the enforcers of the Judgment Guild—feared even more than the grim reaper by PK players—had gone to capture Rexas and his group, the chat window quite literally exploded.
[The very model of an apology;;]
[Hey, honestly it’s not even something Yujin needs to apologize for; he’s cleaning up the shit the Church of Infinite Yujin bastards took for him~]
[Our Yujin is the only one suffering because of the Church of Infinite Yujin;;]
[If only ‘that church’ had written a proper apology letter, it wouldn’t have come to this, tsk tsk. Anyway, they’re a hindrance, a hindrance. That church is just smearing Yujin’s image;]
They might hate the Church of Infinite Yujin, but they didn’t hate Yujin!
The public sentiment of the majority of users was moving toward Yujin once again.
In a way, this was only natural.
From the previous game all the way to Second, his reign spanning six years was of course not perfect, and since Yujin was only human, there were times he made mistakes and there were problems.
But if there was one thing that set Yujin apart from other rulers and the privileged class of reality, it was his noble character.
To the new generation of users, he was frustratingly old-fashioned and got flak for being a naive pushover, but in the current situation, his strengths were being maximized.
[“Lastly, I would like to sincerely apologize for causing inconvenience to all those who love Arde World with this unsavory incident. I am truly sorry.”]
Yujin. He bowed deeply once more and apologized, and just like that, the broadcast ended.
Afterward, to the extent that public opinion, which had been tilting slightly toward Drakan, began to turn back around, the destructive power brought by Yujin’s apology was tremendous.
[Honestly, I’m seeing Yujin in a new light; I thought he was an old-fashioned sucker, but he’s an unexpectedly cool person.]
[Niceㅋㅋㅋ I’m joining the Church of Infinite Yujin starting today]
To the extent that even the public opinion of the new generation of users who had viewed Yujin unfavorably temporarily turned favorable!
And that change in public opinion immediately reached Drakan’s ears.
* * *
“As expected.”
Yujin’s apology!
And I wasn’t surprised in the slightest by the subsequent change in public sentiment.
It was rather the result I had expected.
He was the one who, from six years ago until now, had ridden on overwhelming public support to defeat me and rule the world.
Moreover, he possessed the “legitimacy” of the revolution, and until now, he was still a noble hero.
For such a Yujin to step forward sincerely and bow his head in apology—if public opinion hadn’t turned around, that would have been the stranger thing to me.
“Still, some eastern users and a portion of the new generation users are supporting you, Drakan.”
Sin Hayeon, who had been sitting beside me, said with a smile.
Understanding the hidden meaning in her words, I nodded.
“It’s fortunate that there’s no fandom defection.”
My fandom!
I was satisfied that they weren’t leaving me.
Since I couldn’t defeat him with public opinion or with power yet, I had to hold my breath and wait for the right time.
‘I expected him to move like this if it were him, and he moved exactly as I predicted, but even the Yujin renowned throughout the world probably can’t stop the Church of Infinite Yujin’s image from falling.’
After all, my goal wasn’t Yujin.
The Church of Infinite Yujin!
My goal was to further damage their image and, furthermore, plant seeds of distrust toward them, and that goal of mine was successfully achieved.
Although Yujin had done damage control by apologizing, the users’ aversion toward the Church of Infinite Yujin had only grown worse.
If there is one who gains, there must be one who loses.
Yujin had protected his own image with his apology, but in inverse proportion to that, public opinion toward the Church of Infinite Yujin—which had made even such a Yujin bow his head—was breaking through the floor and sinking underground.
Since Yujin and the Church of Infinite Yujin had an inseparable relationship, this karma would eventually return to Yujin like a boomerang!
I smiled, thinking that.
Right at that moment.
“Executive Director! Drakan!”
Bam.
Team Leader Lee burst through the conference room door and rushed over, looking at me and Sin Hayeon as he spoke.
“Yujin has come to the front of the building accompanied by reporters.”
Yujin. He had come to find me just as he had declared on the broadcast.
Hearing Team Leader Lee’s words, I rose from my seat.
It was time to meet him.
* * *
The First Content Hub Building!
A crowd had gathered in front of this building standing tall in the heart of Seoul.
Among them was Yujin.
Dressed neatly in a suit, Yujin was gazing at the entrance of the First Content Hub Building with his handsome face.
And before long, a man with bold, rough features who seemed almost like a villain compared to Yujin appeared from the building entrance.
He was none other than Drakan, Yujin’s rival and former top ranker.
Yujin, and Drakan!
The moment when two giants who had once competed for supremacy over the fate of Arde World finally faced each other in the real world.
Click! Click!
To capture this historic moment on camera, the reporters incessantly set off their flashes.
But neither Yujin nor Drakan paid any attention to the reporters’ actions.
In the world the two of them saw, there were only the two of them.
Yujin and Drakan’s gazes collided in midair.
After a strange battle of nerves between the two, it was Drakan who spoke first.
“This is the first time seeing you in person. Yujin.”
Drakan looked at Yujin and smiled.
That was right.
As Drakan said, this was the first time the two had encountered each other in reality.
Of course, the two had clashed with each other in virtual reality countless times.
Six years ago.
During the World Revolution, Drakan and Yujin clashed at every opportunity, sometimes fighting directly and even killing each other.
Drakan recalled the Yujin of the past.
Then and now, Yujin’s appearance hadn’t changed much.
The difference was that Yujin, who had been a handsome youth with a slightly boyish and fresh charm in his high school days, had now entered his twenties six years later, and his looks had upgraded another level to the point where, though somewhat boyish, he was unrivaled in handsomeness.
He was the exact opposite of himself, whose impression had grown rough from going through all sorts of menial jobs and working on a deep-sea fishing boat.
‘From head to toe, he and I are completely different.’
Comparing his own appearance with Yujin’s, Drakan looked at him.
Yujin looked at such a Drakan and spoke.
“That’s right. It is my first meeting with you in reality, Drakan, and I apologize for visiting you over such an unsavory matter.”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
Drakan immediately replied upon hearing Yujin’s words.
The scene of Yujin apologizing to him directly was surely incredibly refreshing.
But Drakan knew very well that he couldn’t just drink it in simply because he felt refreshed.
Strictly speaking, if he accepted Yujin’s apology without any action—an apology made not only sincerely for the deviation committed by some of his extreme fans rather than himself, but also coming directly to the involved party to apologize—the flow of public opinion would tilt toward Yujin to an irreversible degree; that fact was obvious.
And Drakan couldn’t stand to watch such a sight.
The strategy Drakan adopted was to act magnanimous like a great man, just like Yujin, and overlook this matter to wrap it up.
Then, riding on Yujin’s image, his own image would change positively as well.
That was exactly what Drakan was aiming for, and to bring public opinion to his side, Drakan was capable of doing even more than that.
So Drakan flashed a smile.
“Anyway, those guys are the ones who did wrong, and I handed down exile as a fitting punishment, so the matter is over with that.”
At Drakan’s subsequent words, Yujin’s pupils slightly widened.
Drakan!
Yujin had never imagined he would come out so mildly.
‘This isn’t the kind of person he is.’
Just as Drakan knew Yujin well, Yujin also knew Drakan better than anyone else.
A human being who was so selfish that he would be second to none in thoroughly pursuing only his own benefit, one who would do anything without hesitation regarding means and methods to achieve it!
That was exactly the Drakan that Yujin knew.
But now, six years later, Drakan was showing a different course of action from the figure remaining in Yujin’s memory.
Recently, when he said he burned the city in the Lawless Port Recapture for the sake of the users; when he spared and sent away Rexas’s group who had failed in their scheming; and even right now at this very moment.
To Yujin’s eyes, Drakan’s course of action appeared completely different from six years ago.
‘Has he really changed?’
Thinking that, Yujin bowed his head.
“Still, I am sorry.”
“It is I who am sorry for making you come all this way over such a pointless matter.”
To Yujin’s apology, Drakan smiled and extended his hand to Yujin.
Yujin looked at the hand Drakan extended.
Drakan!
The time when he had offered a handshake upon his first return suddenly came to Yujin’s mind.
At that time, Drakan had refused his handshake, saying they weren’t at a point where they could shake hands yet, but now it was Drakan who extended his hand first.
As Yujin hesitated, Drakan shook his extended hand slightly and spoke.
“What are you doing, are you going to keep leaving my hand hanging awkwardly like this?”
“Are we now at a point where we can shake hands?”
To Yujin’s question, Drakan nodded.
“Yes.”
Hearing Drakan’s answer, Yujin finally drew a smile at the corners of his mouth and extended his own hand to grasp Drakan’s.
Click! Click!
And for the cameras’ flashes to sparkle without rest in order to capture such a historic moment of the two shaking hands was, in a way, only natural.