Return of the Final Boss: Episode 88
“Yujin has sent a ceasefire mediation proposal, Lord Drakan.”
When I asked back, Shin Ha-yeon spoke to me once more in a gentle voice, not showing the slightest hint of displeasure.
A ceasefire mediation proposal with Snow Castle right before our eyes!
My face contorted.
“What do we do about this.”
A proposal.
Of course, it sounded nice when they called it a proposal, but I knew full well that this was practically coercion in all but name.
For now, since it was a proposal rather than enforcement, there was no problem if I refused.
That was only true on the surface.
Yujin!
I knew all too well what would become of me if I dared refuse his “proposal,” he who defended the justice of Arde World.
‘If I refuse that proposal, I’ll be met with a crossfire of public opinion.’
The underlying sentiment of Arde World still supported Yujin.
I had confirmed that myself during the last Infinite Yujin Cult scandal, and since there had been no special change since then, it would still be the case now.
Of course, the stone of suspicion I had cast via real-time streaming had caused quite a large ripple, but Yujin’s support base wasn’t so frail that it would collapse from just that. That much was certain.
This was practically a tailored attack aimed at me, someone who cared about public opinion more than anyone else and who coveted the hearts of the users.
‘Verda, truly not a human to be underestimated.’
I recalled Verda.
I was certain that this “mediation proposal” was also something Verda had devised.
As if in retaliation for me ruining the entire picture Verda had drawn with a single suspicion casually tossed out, Verda was now trying to ruin the picture I was drawing with a single proposal.
Anger began to surge from within.
Powerlessness, rage, and a thirst for revenge!
Like a wildfire, complex emotions burned through the dry fields of my heart.
I gritted my teeth.
It was because I felt self-loathing, rage, powerlessness, and humiliation at my current situation where I had no choice but to be dragged along by Verda and Yujin.
“Your expression doesn’t look good. What are you so worried about?”
Seeing my face like that, Shin Ha-yeon whispered to me with a worried expression and tone.
She gently extended her hand and wrapped it around mine.
Feeling Shin Ha-yeon’s warm touch as she held my hand tight, I spoke.
“I want to refuse the proposal, but I can’t.”
I wanted to refuse this blackmail called a proposal, but reality wouldn’t allow it.
He was still a top ranker, and I was an underdog.
Even now, this Arde World belonged to Yujin, that bastard.
Thus, I could not refuse.
At that very moment while I was suppressing my boiling anger.
“If it is that matter, you don’t need to worry.”
Shin Ha-yeon’s voice reached me.
“Why?”
“Because Rio will refuse the proposal.”
“Rio?”
At Shin Ha-yeon’s following words, I asked back.
Rio would refuse the proposal?
What nonsense was that?
Of course, I knew very well that Rio hated me.
Even if I were in Rio’s position, I would feel the same.
He had seized the chance to raid the Immortal King, a monster of mythic grade that renowned rankers had challenged and failed against both in the previous work and now, only to have that opportunity ruined because of some crazy bastard. He had more than enough justification to hold a grudge against me.
But separate from that, how could he dare refuse Yujin’s proposal?
Did he hate me so much that he had gone completely mad?
Enough to endure public condemnation?
“Why on earth?”
As if my expression amused her, Shin Ha-yeon giggled and answered me.
“It is because behind him stands Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok of the Simseong Group.”
Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok of the Simseong Group.
I seemed to have heard his name before.
“If you mean Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok…”
“He is the crown prince of the Simseong Group. And he harbors an inferiority complex toward me. It seems he grew up being compared to me since he was young. Really, compared to you, Lord Drakan, he is utterly lacking from head to toe.”
At my words, Shin Ha-yeon nodded as if to confirm it and smiled brightly.
A slight flush tinged her face as she compared Shin Jeong-hyeok to me.
“So that person… truly hates losing to me more than death itself. Whether it’s rock-paper-scissors or corporate rankings, all of it.”
Having heard that far, all the puzzle pieces fell into place in my head.
“If that is truly the case, your words may well be correct.”
Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok.
The true master of the Simseong Milky Way Guild!
If his personality was truly as Shin Ha-yeon described, Rio would never be able to accept the mediation proposal.
Because the sponsor of me, who had declared war, and of Ignis’s JDG, was none other than Shin Ha-yeon herself—the very person Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok harbored such an inferiority complex toward and hated losing to!
According to Shin Ha-yeon’s words, Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok, who hated losing to Shin Ha-yeon in everything from one to ten more than death, would have a probability converging on zero percent of accepting a ceasefire like this.
At my answer, Shin Ha-yeon smiled deeply, approached me, and whispered.
“Moreover, Rio has already failed once. Shin Jeong-hyeok isn’t someone as magnanimous as you, Lord Drakan, so he won’t tolerate Rio failing a second time.”
“If that is the case, it is a relief, but…”
If Shin Ha-yeon’s words were true, it could be called a relief since one major worry had been reduced.
As they say, it takes two hands to clap. If they refused the negotiations, it was impossible for Yujin to mediate either.
Of course, he could use forceful measures like “enforcement,” but Yujin lacked the justification for that.
The suspicions I had raised were nothing more than suspicions, after all!
Moreover, since it was Verda who would be in danger if this suspicion were investigated deeper, it was precisely why they had resorted to ambiguous measures like a proposal, and above all, it was safe to say that Yujin, who valued justification and principles, had no reason to abuse “enforcement” without clear evidence.
“Even so, I am angry.”
“Why is that?”
Shin Ha-yeon asked at my words, and I continued my answer while holding her hand.
“The fact that I have to be dragged around by them.”
At my words, Shin Ha-yeon raised her finger and lightly poked my chest as she spoke.
“Do not forget this anger you feel now.”
“Not for a single moment from six years ago until now have I ever forgotten.”
“That is how it should be.”
As if pleased with my answer, Shin Ha-yeon smiled.
“Because only then can you pay them back.”
Shin Ha-yeon’s words, whispered in a sweet voice by my ear, reached me.
That’s right.
She was right.
In order to pay them back, I had to etch this humiliation and rage deep into my heart.
Anger, hatred, revenge, humiliation, self-loathing…
I intended to sublimate all these negative emotions into a driving force.
Making that vow, I looked at Shin Ha-yeon and spoke.
“Say that we accept the ceasefire mediation proposal.”
It was a mediation proposal that would fail anyway because Rio would refuse, but precisely because of that, I had to say we accepted.
Because only then could I stand superior to Rio in terms of public support and justification for the war to come.
I said let’s stop the war, and he refused!
Something like that.
Moreover, this situation wasn’t too bad for me.
No, rather, it could be said to be advantageous for me.
If Rio refused Yujin’s mediation, of course public opinion would attack him, but the authority of top ranker Yujin would clearly be damaged as well.
In a way, it would be as if Rio had challenged the hegemony over Arde World that Yujin held.
If Rio had acted this way six years ago when I was a top ranker, I would have immediately trampled him.
But Yujin was not me, and his “principles” would not tolerate exercising his hegemony just because his proposal was refused, so as a result, it was clear that Yujin would end up tolerating Rio’s challenge.
And ultimately, such a result would deal at least some damage to Yujin’s own authority, which was a gain for me.
“As expected of you, Lord Drakan. It is a wise choice.”
While I was calculating gains and losses in my head, Shin Ha-yeon said so and approached my right side, softly linking her arm with mine.
I left Shin Ha-yeon be and quietly gazed at Budong Harbor, which was still burning.
Now, it was time to wait for Rio’s answer.
* * *
Yujin had sent a ceasefire mediation proposal to both the Northern Alliance and Drakan!
This fact, revealed through an official notice posted by Yujin on his channel, caused the internet public opinion, which had been boiling with Karun-related suspicions and rumors, to turn toward calm.
[A mediation proposal? Wow, as expected of our God Yujin, his class is on another level~]
[If not Yujin-nim, who would step up to mediate on such a grand scale?]
[Hey, where did all the people doubting Yujin until just now go? Did they run off with their tails between their legs? lol]
[Yujin-nim… please forgive me for my lack of faith…]
Guardian of justice, Hero Yujin!
Once again, he had stepped forward as a mediator between both camps for the peace of Arde World!
With the exception of some users who wanted the war to continue, the majority of users sent their support with applause.
Of course, the suspicions regarding Karun hadn’t completely died down, but they were completely buried under the big issue that Yujin had attempted to resolve the situation somehow, and the users’ attention had now shifted to Rio and Drakan.
Rio, and Drakan!
Would they actually appear at the negotiating table?
Or would they refuse the proposal?
Of course, an ordinary person wouldn’t dare think of refusing Yujin’s “proposal,” but the problem was that the recipients of Yujin’s proposal were Drakan and Rio.
Rio was the one who had committed the radical act of declaring war on a peaceful Arde World, and Drakan, though docile now, had been Yujin’s greatest rival in the past, a fact that Yujin himself had acknowledged without question.
They were people who wouldn’t be considered strange for rejecting the proposal.
Of course, if one calculated the odds, the general consensus among users was that Drakan had a higher probability of refusing the proposal than Rio.
In that moment when users were waiting for the two’s answers.
[I accept Yujin’s proposal.]
Of the two, Rio and Drakan, the first to announce his stance was Drakan.
[I have no desire to fight any further. The current war was merely a response to being attacked first. If they withdraw their intention to attack, there is no longer any need for our side to continue the war.]
Users who saw the video posted on Drakan’s official channel, stating that he would accept the ceasefire mediation negotiations, were shocked.
Drakan, who had waged countless wars from the previous game to the current Second, was abandoning war!
In that moment when users were agitated by Drakan’s answer, which broke the expectation that he would be more likely to refuse the proposal.
A video was uploaded on the Simseong Milky Way Guild’s channel.
It was the answer of Rio, the Spear King.
[I regret this to Yujin-nim, who proposed the mediation, but I cannot accept a ceasefire.]
[We have already come too far to accept a ceasefire, and unless someone falls, this war will not end.]
Rio’s video was simple, but the meaning contained within was unmistakably firm.
He would refuse Yujin’s ceasefire negotiation mediation proposal!
That was precisely Rio’s stance.
Due to Rio’s refusal of the proposal, the ceasefire negotiation failed before it could even begin, and Yujin no longer had any justification to intervene in the war.
And so, finally, the war that had briefly stopped began anew.