◈ Episode 171. It Is Possible Because I Am Here (2)
It had been a while since a class quest.
It drove home once again that the Demon King Contest was a large-scale event.
I looked over the quest window once more.[Class Quest: The Gates of Hell]
The Arcana Continent of annihilation.
A new evil desires to seize the throne fallen into Hell.
However, they have overlooked your existence.
O last demon hunter.
Burn the arrogant demon with the flames of Hell.─Train your weakened body. (Repeat)─Witness the throne fallen into Hell. (In Progress)
The moment I saw the contents, I realized it.
Why the demons had thrown open the gates of Hell, when doing so brought them nothing but harm.
That was right.
The demons were after the Demon King who had fallen into Hell by the hands of the demon hunters.
In other words, they were aiming for the throne that had fallen into Hell along with them.
So what was the throne?
If it had been me in the past, I would have blamed the ten-year gap and burst into frustration. But as I said, in order not to sink beneath my pride, I had never stopped struggling.
This item was proof of that.[Telescope of the Evil Eye].
The Evil Eye’s field of vision slowly shifted.
Toward the surging flames of Hell.
Toward the throne rising up from within the flames.
Nam Taemin, who had been watching silently, opened his mouth.
“……
Is that a chair?”
It was.
“To be more precise, it is the throne of the demons.”
“The throne……!”
“So the Demon King Contest was a fight to claim that throne!”
Harkon’s assessment of the situation was accurate.
Hakuna wore a worried expression.
“To think they would try to claim the throne even while enduring the flames of Hell. The power contained in that throne must be immense. Well, it was a Great Evil that made even me wield monstrous power……”
Hakuna had once been possessed by the Seven Deadly Sins, Greed.
In the ancient Kingdom of Yusra, there had been no war, nor even conflict.
It was only natural that Hakuna, the king of Yusra, possessed no combat ability whatsoever. And yet, even with Hakuna’s body, Greed of the Seven Deadly Sins had displayed the majesty of a Great Evil.‘To put it in terms of the Arcana system.’The demon who claimed that throne would rise in rank into a boss monster. As expected, players were quick to catch on in matters like this. Hisagi murmured lowly.
“This isn’t good.”
“What do you mean, Hisagi?”
“The demon who endures the flames of Hell and claims the throne is sure to be powerful in his own right. If a demon like that takes the throne on top of that……”
“……!!!”
He was right.
Let’s take Laxioros, the hegemon of the western Demon World, as the final example.
If that guy were still alive and ended up claiming the throne. It would mean a level 1,000 named monster transforming into a boss monster.
“The demons also have reason enough to take the risk.”
Marcelo made an objective judgment.
“Ah, so that’s what it was. I understand now.”
Kichi, who had raised the question, made a circle with her fingers.
Well, the question had been answered, but the atmosphere had sunk heavily.
It was only natural.
“The key will be stopping a demon from claiming the throne.”
“The process won’t be smooth. The moment we interfere in the contest, we will become the common enemy of every demon. To place hope in the treacherous nature of demons……”
Harkon and Talim, both accustomed to war.
The two knights quickly grasped the main point. They were likely even considering the possibility of gaining a strategic advantage among the demons fighting over the throne.
Of course, I poured cold water on that.
“My pride will not permit such a thing.”
Of course it wouldn’t, Grandfell.
If he had to place his hopes in demons,
Grandfell’s pride would rather sink beneath the waves.
But as I said, this wasn’t merely empty grandstanding.
I was alive.
And because I was alive, there was a way out.
Why had the Demon King Contest begun in earnest in the first place?‘Because Akshan was annihilated.’Yes, the Demon King Contest was a double-edged sword even for demons.
A place of death.
Opening the gates of Hell, which were no different from that, with their own hands.
That was the reason the Demon King Contest had not begun for a long time.‘Their natural enemy, the demon hunters, were wide awake and watching.’It wasn’t as though they were insane enough to throw caution to the wind.
How could they possibly do such a thing?
However, Akshan had been annihilated in the Holy War.
On top of that, they had judged that I, the last survivor of Akshan and the one who had sent Greed of the Seven Deadly Sins along with several Demon Kings to Hell, had also been dealt with through the sacrifice of millions of demons.
They must have concluded there were no longer any obstacles to the Demon King Contest.[Last Adventurer] They had no way of knowing about its effect!
“The foolish race has overlooked it.”
That was exactly why I brazenly said it.
“My existence.”……
No, wait a second.
It’s not wrong, but did you really have to say it so grandly!!
As if mocking my inner scream.
“!!!”
Everyone’s gazes focused on me at those words.
Instead of searching for a way to survive, I should have dug a mouse hole to hide in.……
Seriously, this is how hard I have to live.*Another bomb dropped on AAU.
A new AAU branch.
Because of a request for cooperation from the AAU Yusra Branch.
“The Demon King Contest?! What the hell is that?!”
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
The sound of typing never ceased from all around.
Seong Hyeonjun and Yun Sugyeom hurriedly searched the database.
Seong Hyeonjun shouted urgently.
“No, sunbae. There may be information about the Demon World, but would there really be anything about Hell? Couldn’t they have mistaken something? You know, the Demon World and Hell. They sound kind of similar!”
“Stop saying hellish nonsense and just search as far as you can.”
“……
Sunbae, what was that pronunciation just now? You weren’t cursing, right?”[Hell].
When they searched that word in the database, only outdated information and settings popped up. To give a few examples……. Seong Hyeonjun opened his mouth.
“Epic item setting, Torch of Hell. An item set to commemorate the romantic explorer Lorentzk’s discovery of the entrance to Hell. Specific storyline under development.”
It would have been stranger if there had been a concrete setting.
The romantic explorer Lorentzk himself was an unimplemented NPC with only a few simple settings drafted.
“And there’s one more. Demons hunted by demon hunters fall into Hell and can never resurrect again. No matter what kind of demon they are.”
The remaining information was not much different.
Hell, of all things. Unlike the Demon World, which at least had basic settings in place, Hell had truly been little more than a passing mention.
Seong Hyeonjun bit his lip.
“Will this kind of useless information be of any help?”
Tap!
Yun Sugyeom took his hands off the keyboard and turned his chair around.
“That won’t be for us to judge, but Player Lee Hoyeol……”
No, that was wrong. He needed to get the title right now.
“The chief director of the AAU Yusra Branch.”AAU Yusra Branch.
As a special branch, there was no branch manager.
Only a chief director who bore responsibility.
The expectations the world placed on Hoyeol were already heavy enough.
And yet Hoyeol had taken on yet another burden.
“Man, that title sure sounds weighty.”
Now even AAU had ended up relying on Hoyeol.
There likely wasn’t much an ordinary employee could do.
Even so, Seong Hyeonjun and Yun Sugyeom wanted to be of even a little help.
“Right? Then we’ll have to scrape together every last bit and send it over.”
Of course.
“Huhu─”The AAU Korea branch manager.
Park Minjae’s feelings were not much different.
Park Minjae took a bundle of documents out of a drawer.
Documents covered in dust.
“I never thought I’d be pulling this out again.”
Swipe─When he wiped away the dust, the identity of the document was revealed.[Raymon Sean, Transcript].
“It’s really been a while.”
Back when Arcana was merely a game, and he himself had been employed as a Cosmo staff member. Park Minjae had formally raised an objection to the sky-high CEO, Raymon Sean.
His colleagues’ reaction at the time?
“They made a whole fuss, asking what the hell I thought I was doing.”
High salaries.
Low labor intensity.
Leaving work on time.
Cosmo was called a dream workplace by developers.
There had been nothing more they could ask for right then, and the mood had been that no one wanted to stir up needless trouble. But would this damn rebellious streak of his sit still?
“Back then, especially, I was the type who couldn’t stand not knowing something.”
The biggest question then and now was the same.
Why had Raymon not disclosed the roadmap of Chronicles of the Arcana Continent even to the employees and executives? More precisely, he had not even presented the purpose of play or the overall framework of the story.
Looking back now, I guess I wasn’t in my right mind either?
“I was thinking of biting the master who was only dangling carrots in front of me.”
Well, that was probably why they called it rebellious.
Park Minjae bombarded Raymon Sean directly with emails.
Wrapping his questions as sincerely and politely as possible.
As a result, Park Minjae had a private meeting with Raymon Sean.
The conversation from that meeting was written in the documents.
“Ptooey. How is there dust when I kept it in a drawer?”
Park Minjae wiped his mouth and opened the documents.
As he skimmed through them, the memories from back then came back vividly.
Suddenly, one passage caught his eye.──────Sean: That seems to be the main point.──────“His ability to read the room was unbelievable. That guy.”
Why would he not share Arcana’s purpose and framework with us?
He had thought he had asked it rather subtly.
But that bastard had seen right through him.──────Sean: Because there is no need.──────Really, even seeing it again, it was an insufferable thing to say.──────Sean: There is no need to interfere with something that is already complete.──────At the time, he had not understood what kind of bullshit he was spouting.
He had simply thought he had been led around by the nose by that sly snake, Raymon Sean, and failed to gain anything.
Even when he replayed the recording and secretly wrote up the transcript, it had made his blood boil.
But as time passed, he came to understand it naturally.
Was it because he had gotten older and wiser?
No, it was because the Cataclysm had happened.
“……
There is no need to interfere with something that is already complete.”
From after the Cataclysm until now.
Now that a little more time had passed and he looked at those words again.
He felt as though he could finally grasp their meaning. After all, monsters and NPCs that existed in the Cosmo database only as one-line settings were now playing major roles on the Arcana Continent.
“So it had nothing to do with whether we developed them or not?”
Park Minjae shrugged.
“Well, what’s the point of getting mad about it now?”
Raymon Sean had gone missing long ago.
It was impossible to have a meeting with him like back then.
But with this much, perhaps he could at least give him a small taste of trouble.
“You know what they say, you see as much as you know.”
Just as looking at the transcript again now revealed new things.
If it was Lee Hoyeol, who sometimes made them wonder if he was watching the Arcana Continent in real time, then perhaps he could discern Raymon Sean’s true intentions from this transcript.
Park Minjae raised the corner of his mouth.
“Wouldn’t you agree, esteemed CEO Raymon Sean?”*The office of the Kingdom of Yusra.
Now that the Demon King Contest had broken out on the Arcana Continent.
I was on standby so that I could respond swiftly at any time.
Click─Of course, for this lofty pride to skip teatime merely because of demons was unthinkable. Still, I had reached a compromise with Grandfell’s palate.
For the time being, I would stop drinking the green tea bags I had practically lived on and drink tea brewed from elixir herbs instead.
“Indeed, numbers are nothing more than numbers.”……
Don’t indirectly say that a 300-won green tea bag is better than elixir herbs worth hundreds of thousands of won, Grandfell. My brief grumbling was short-lived, and I checked the documents that had arrived from AAU.
There was quite a pile of documents stacked on the desk.‘Mr. Cheolmin must have had a hard time.’Nam Cheolmin, Nam Taemin’s brother.
I had entrusted Nam Cheolmin with a key post at the AAU Yusra Branch.
As for me, well, I was just a figurehead.
Why had I volunteered to be a figurehead?
Because if I had to worry about AAU too, my body really wouldn’t hold out.
Even my current daily schedule was hellish enough that, without the World Tree’s blessing, I would have gone to my grave long ago.
And on top of that, if I had to attend AAU meetings every day as the manager of AAU’s Yusra Branch?
It was genuinely horrifying……!
That was why I had even demanded a new rank called chief director.‘Still, it’s a relief there’s someone I can entrust it to.’Nam Cheolmin was the brain of Gaon, and now of the great alliance.
There was no need to doubt his abilities.
Whatever the case, he would be better than me in many ways.
Just imagine Grandfell pouring out admonitions at a branch managers’ meeting.
I was already getting tired……
In any case.
I looked over the materials AAU had sent.
Honestly, I had not expected much.
I knew all too well by now how little AAU had to offer.
“AAU, you who explore fragments of creation.”
So please stop dressing it up so grandly, Grandfell.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t wrong.
AAU had once been Arcana’s development team, after all.
But they said there wasn’t much information left in the first place……?‘……
Wait a second.’From what I had heard, that should have been the case.
What was this? I could see it.『Arcana Continent』.[Chronicles of the Arcana Continent].
To me, who had experienced both worlds.
I could see how to make use of information that seemed useless.
“Your exploration has brought forth [『The Strange』].”...──────A new World Event, “Demon King Contest,” begins.──────