The Endgame King Returns - Episode 8
The moment the contract with the Demon God of Darkness was fully completed, the surrounding scenery flipped in an instant.
[Human user starting point. You have arrived at Stronghold.]
[Stronghold is a city built through the cooperation of all human nations to welcome users arriving in Arde World. It is a city with diverse facilities such as training grounds, temples, and job-specific guilds, as well as people of all kinds, including instructors, merchants, and pilgrims. Here, users will take their first step on the grand journey as heroes.]
A clear, high blue sky and the sight of a massive city beneath it came into view.
This was Stronghold.
It was the starter city where users who had chosen the human race during character creation gathered after passing the tutorial.
And the very first sight I saw upon arriving in that starter city was…….
“Wow!!”
“Yujin!”
Users gathered in tremendous numbers, enough to fill the expansive plaza to the brim, almost like a concert, along with the thunderous cheers they let out.
“Lord Yujin!”
“Lord Yujin looked at me! We definitely made eye contact!”
“Yujin oppa!!”
Looking at the sight of the massive crowd packed into the plaza, I could quickly figure out the reason.
No, I had no choice but to know, even if I didn't want to.
Because the owner of the name the users were shouting was currently approaching me.
Hero Yujin. His obnoxiously handsome face entered my sight.
And the four users following behind that bastard Yujin also caught my eye.
They were the bastard's entourage, sticking to his side like shadows.
I gritted my teeth and clenched my trembling fist.
Because if I didn't, it felt like my surging rage would overflow.
‘Seems the news spread faster than I thought…….’
I had expected that if Yujin heard the news of my return, he would find me somehow.
But I hadn't expected that time to be now.
A meeting with an unprepared enemy was unpleasant.
‘I spent too much time in the reward room.’
Was it because I spent too much time choosing a Transcendent to contract with?
Anyway, it was already happening, and it couldn't be undone.
I suppressed my still-trembling hand and rising fury.
Now that it had come to this, there was no other way out than to use this opportunity of meeting him.
While countless thoughts flashed through my mind, the bastard had already approached with his entourage and stood before me.
Yujin's handsome face filled my vision.
“Long time no see, Lord Drakan.”
A polite voice flowed from Yujin's mouth.
Six years!
It was the time that had passed since Yujin and I last saw each other.
Not even ten years had passed since the changing of the world, yet seeing him greet me politely was surprising.
“As expected of Lord Yujin!”
“Wow, he even greets a guy like that politely first. Our God-Yujin's personality is truly the best!”
“I want to be greeted by Lord Yujin too…….”
The moment Yujin's greeting ended, all sorts of cheers and exclamations erupted from the surroundings.
It was an extremely disgusting and unpleasant experience, but that didn't mean I could leave this place.
If I ran away now, I would be branded a loser in front of all these users.
Even if I was called a psycho, I had to at least show that I could stand toe-to-toe with that bastard Yujin.
Thinking that, I spoke in a trembling voice.
“Long time no see.”
“Congratulations on your return.”
At my words, Yujin smiled brightly and offered me his congratulations.
I didn't respond to his greeting at all.
Because in his greeting just now, I felt as if Yujin didn't even see me as a rival anymore.
The leisure of the strongest sitting at the top was dripping from his every word and action.
And seeing him like that made me feel so horrible and painful that it felt like my internal organs were twisting.
“What's with that guy, why isn't he saying anything?”
“Isn't he just throwing a fit because he's jealous of Lord Yujin?”
“How dare he not even reply to Lord Yujin's congratulations!”
The crowd began interpreting my silence however they wanted, but I didn't get swept up by their reactions one by one and maintained my silence.
At my appearance, Yujin continued with what he had to say.
“The reason I came here is because I wanted to extract a promise from you, Lord Drakan, while the users are watching.”
A promise?
My eyebrows twitched at his words.
“What kind of promise?”
“A promise that you will not repeat the same evil deeds of the past.”
The evil deeds of the past he spoke of referred to everything I had committed in the previous game to carry out the Conqueror Quest and raise war funds: controlling hunting grounds and dungeons based on a guild alliance, heavy taxes levied on territory shops and mines, guild blacklists, extermination orders, and so on.
Hearing Yujin's words, I finally realized why he had brought all these users to me.
'He's using his head in a cute way.'
To have that promise—that I wouldn't repeat those evil deeds—notarized in front of the massive crowd, he had stood here with the users as his backdrop.
Just like six years ago, to pressure me by wielding public opinion!
Realizing that, I threw my head back and burst into laughter.
Maybe because he was an adult now instead of a high schooler, unlike back then, he had used his head quite a bit. But even so, there was one fact he had overlooked.
I knew very well, through the bitter experience of failure, that such methods of control were wrong.
“What's with that guy.”
“Is he really crazy?”
Brushing off the whispers of the crowd about me, I looked at Yujin, who wore a bewildered expression at my sudden laughter, and spoke.
“I'll do it.”
“Pardon?”
Yujin's pupils widened at my answer.
He probably hadn't expected that I would agree so readily.
Seeing him flustered truly delighted me, so I spoke mockingly with a smile.
“I said I'll do it. That promise. Why, can't you trust me? Should I write up a contract for you?”
I wasn't an idiot.
The methods I had used in the previous game—what Yujin called evil deeds—were already failed methods, ones that could never succeed in the future.
In the previous game, the users had already experienced the so-called 'World Revolution,' centering on Yujin, who had received the Rebellion Quest, and toppling the ruling structure of the guild alliance including me.
If I tried to forcibly control those users with power like six years ago, a second Yujin, a third Yujin would only emerge.
And the reason for the defeat of me and the Iron-Blooded Alliance in the previous game was that we had ignored public opinion among the users.
Six years ago, I had thought that suppressing the users' dissatisfaction with force was enough, but I only realized how truly foolish that idea was while aboard a deep-sea fishing boat.
One can gain the world on horseback, but cannot rule it from horseback.
I realized far too late that while one could obtain hegemony through strength, one could not maintain it through strength; and that to maintain acquired hegemony, the support of ordinary users had to be the foundation.
‘With such flawed methods, I can never surpass him.’
Yujin. To catch him, I needed a method more sophisticated than the past's crude suppression and control, one that could earn the users' support.
“Ah, no. It's not that I don't trust you. I don't need a contract either.”
At my words, Yujin shook his head with a slightly flustered expression, then spoke with a serious voice and expression.
“Lord Drakan. I believe your promise. And all the users here will serve as witnesses to this promise.”
I didn't say anything to Yujin's words.
As expected, he was subtly pressuring me to keep the promise by invoking the users.
It was something I had already anticipated, so I wasn't particularly moved.
Wielding public opinion had been his specialty since six years ago, so there was nothing new about it.
I replied with a meaningful smile at his words.
“Fine.”
“Thank you for the promise.”
Words of gratitude flowed from Yujin's mouth.
To think the day would come when I received thanks from that bastard!
I was worried the sun might rise in the west tomorrow.
“So, is that all you have to say?”
At my words, Yujin stared at me and extended his right hand with a smile.
“Welcome back to Arde World, from the bottom of my heart, Lord Drakan.”
The bright smile on his face. And his right hand, which looked like a request for a handshake!
And listening to the crowd's cheers pouring out at his welcome, cheers for Yujin that were now getting tiresome to hear, I spoke.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
At my call, Yujin asked back with a slightly blank expression.
I looked straight into Yujin's pupils and spoke clearly.
“We're not at the point where we shake hands yet.”
The moment my words ended, a torrent of boos and curses poured from the crowd.
The atmosphere had already turned cold, and the eyes of Yujin's followers behind him were shooting laser-like gazes at me as if to kill me.
Even so, I still wore a smile full of leisure at the corners of my mouth.
It wasn't a forced smile.
I was actually in a good mood right now.
Because I could read bewilderment on the face of Yujin right before my eyes.
Screwing over one's enemy was always a delightful thing.
“I understand.”
Yujin said, withdrawing the right hand he had extended.
“This was a fruitful meeting.”
“Likewise.”
Hearing my reply, Yujin politely greeted me as he stepped away from the spot, then left the plaza with his followers.
I watched his retreating figure and thought.
It had turned my stomach a bit, but as he said, it was a fruitful meeting anyway.