◈ Episode 540. For You
AAU, Republic of Korea Branch.
“This situation’s turning into one hell of a mess. Heh heh.”
The branch manager.
The corners of Bak Minjae’s mouth twisted.
Seong Hyeonjun, the youngest, but one who had long since learned to read the room.
He quietly shut his mouth. ‘If you get caught on the wrong side of him when he’s like that, it’s exhausting.’ Bak Minjae kept letting out empty laughs like a man who had lost his mind.
But no one thought he had truly gone insane.
Because the situation was more than enough to make him react that way.
“Hoo.”
Yun Sugyeom removed his glasses with a sigh.
“This emergency update gave them justification.”
“Pardon? Justification, senior?”
The Arcana Continent had already been turned into a wasteland by demons.
And reality was on the verge of becoming one as well.
In a situation like that, a civil war that was all but guaranteed to create another conflict?
For that reason alone.
They were certain to be condemned on a global scale.
And what was more, their opponent was none other than Lee Hoyeol, General Manager of Yusra.
“Even if it’s the most widespread religion on the Arcana Continent, that’s still a story about the Arcana Continent. Forces in reality that would take the Goddess Church’s side? Who would be crazy enough to make that choice?”
It was blunt, but it wasn’t wrong.
Europe, which could be called Gaiver’s home ground.
Even the EU had drawn a line with Gaiver’s Bohemian Guild.
However.
“The Goddess Church and Gaiver have gained their cause.”
The situation had changed with the application of the emergency update.
“They cut off contact as if they’d been waiting for this? Heh heh heh.”
They could tell from Bak Minjae’s muttering.
The EU Branch had turned.
Of course, it couldn’t be said that they had completely turned just yet.
At the very least, however, they were testing the waters.
In that sense, it was a relief.
Seong Hyeonjun stroked his chest.
“……
Senior, I never thought I’d be grateful for Brexit.”
“Brexit? Why bring up Britain all of a sudden?”
“No, just imagine if Branch Manager Baker had stabbed us in the back……! When I think that even that good-natured man could change his expression when national interests are on the line, I start thinking there’s not a single person in the world we can trust……!”
Yun Sugyeom chuckled.
“Don’t make a fuss over something that hasn’t even happened.”
Of course, inside, he was burning black. ‘It had all been nothing more than baseless nonsense.’ The reason the Goddess Church and Gaiver had raised a banner of revolt was simple.
It was because of a god of the Arcana Continent whose very existence, a goddess, could not be confirmed.
And further, because of the goddess’s revelation, whose authenticity could not be confirmed either. ‘But…….’ The system message, which did not lie, had publicly announced it. The Pantheon, the homeland of the gods that had been sealed shut, had opened, and as proof of faith, the stats of players who served gods had been greatly enhanced.
As if that weren’t enough. ‘The goddess revealed herself directly through the saintess.’ Yun Sugyeom, retracing his thoughts, suddenly spoke.
“Hyeonjun, do you have a religion?”
“A religion, all of a sudden? I suppose I do? I don’t really believe properly, though.”
Seong Hyeonjun, who had been forced to choose a religion due to his family’s influence.
At his answer, Yun Sugyeom adjusted his glasses.
Then he stared straight into Seong Hyeonjun’s eyes.
“Then do you believe the god you believe in actually exists?”
“Well……. If I believed that, wouldn’t I believe more ‘properly’?”
I mean, they do say disbelief leads to hell…….
Seong Hyeonjun muttered.
Then, all at once, he understood the intent of the question.
“Don’t tell me those bastards are causing this uproar because of that?!”
“That’s what I think, probably.”
“These crazy……!”
The system message did not lie.
That message had said gods existed.
What that meant was simple.
“The Goddess Church, Gaiver, and the priest-class players are trying to prove it. Their faith, before their god, who is alive, omnipotent, and undeniably real.”
“Hahaha…….” Seong Hyeonjun let out an empty laugh without realizing it.
Was that why? Bak Minjae, who had been constantly laughing hollowly.
He could faintly guess how he felt.
“Then what are we supposed to do, senior?”
Until now, there had been many forces that had tried to keep Lee Hoyeol, General Manager of Yusra, in check. Starting with the Japanese government, Ryuo Junchun’s Unification of the World, and most recently, Rox.
But what had their endings been like?
They hadn’t even managed to become obstacles to General Manager Lee Hoyeol.
At most, they had been kicked aside by the clicking heels of his shoes.
Seong Hyeonjun had witnessed all of those processes.
But.
He wavered.
“This is on a completely different level from everything until now! To put it bluntly, if it had only been Gaiver, the Goddess Church, and the players connected to them stabbing us in the back……. Everyone would’ve been surprised at first, but they would’ve accepted it.”
Even if it was the Goddess Church, now that the true saintess had returned. Considering the things Lee Hoyeol, General Manager of Yusra, had shown until now, it was not a level that warranted the slightest concern.
However, a variable had appeared.
A god of the Arcana Continent.
A massive variable that even they could not fathom.
“And the goddess is even going to fight directly? Isn’t that really too much?”
Just what did the General Manager do that was so wrong…….
It was the moment Seong Hyeonjun was trying hard to suppress his anger.
“Yeah, it’s too much, isn’t it?”
“……
Pardon?”
“He really is one hell of a bastard, that bastard.”
It wasn’t Yun Sugyeom who replied, but Bak Minjae.
At first, he wondered if their branch manager had truly lost his mind.
Because his voice sounded more cheerful than serious.
The question lasted only a moment. Bak Minjae sprang up from his seat.
“You know, even up until now, I asked myself hundreds, thousands of times. Just what kind of bastard is he? What kind of bastard is he that sometimes he feels like a good guy, sometimes like a bad guy, and sometimes like a strange guy?”
“…….”
Everyone fell silent.
The meaning behind the silence was simple.
They had thought this might be Branch Manager Bak’s self-reflection.
But the “bastard” here was not Bak Minjae himself.
“But with this emergency update, I can be certain.”
“……
Pardon?”
“That bastard, Raymon Sean.”
That was right.
Cosmo’s former mad dog still had not let go of the target he had once bitten.
Bak Minjae smiled as if he had finally solved a long, long piece of homework.
“You all remember, don’t you? The first balance patch after the Cataclysm.”
The first balance patch.
That referred to the incident where the very existence of all Demon Kings, excluding the high Demon Kings, the Ten Thrones, had been deleted. At Bak Minjae’s words, one by one, they began to understand his intent.
“Are you saying there’s a possibility Raymon Sean intervened this time as well?”
“It’s not a possibility. It’s certain.”
“Still, isn’t it too early to be sure? It’s an emergency update! Hasn’t the prevailing theory been that even Raymon Sean can’t control emergency updates?”
“That’s right. But what if it wasn’t active intervention, and he merely opened a door?”
“A door……?”
“Obviously, the door to the Pantheon.”
“……!!!”
If so, this chain of events made sense.
“Gaiver, the Goddess Church, the Pantheon. Add Raymon Sean to that.”
So there was no reason to hesitate.
“Whether they put forward the will of the gods or whatever else, from the moment they joined hands with Raymon Sean, the root cause of the Cataclysm, they became nothing more than enemies of humanity. The gods of the Arcana Continent are likewise accomplices of that bastard Raymon Sean. Ah, is that blasphemy if I say it like this?”
There was no turning back in Bak Minjae’s words.
It could not be helped.
The Crystal Hall of the Magic Tower.
Lee Hoyeol’s words were still vivid in his ears.
—“Before long, I will fall into hell.”
Bak Minjae clenched his fist firmly.
Yes, what I believe in
is not some mere “god.”
It is you, Lee Hoyeol.
Because I don’t want to disappoint you.
Soon, Bak Minjae moved his feet.
Leaving behind one sentence.
“If we’re going to commit blasphemy anyway, shouldn’t we do it properly?”
Bak Minjae, unusually, straightened his clothes.
“They’re the ones who blabbed it to the whole world first and touched the ‘infinitely deep darkness.’ How can we just sit still? We should reveal the bare faces of those self-proclaimed gods to the whole world too!”
*
Click.
The pieces of the hexagram brooch interlocked with one another. ‘I’m rather proud.’ Compared to the time when I shamelessly ripped off the first piece from the Magic Tower, now that it had taken on something of a hexagram shape, didn’t it mean we had grown that much too, Grandfell?
Swish.
Of course, the habit of constantly straightening my clothes remained the same.
Before confirming its effects, however…….
I once again thought of Diend. ‘There’s definitely something about the hexagram brooch.’ The location of the hexagram brooch?
Information about that already existed in my head.
Thanks to the frugality of me, Lee Hoyeol, who had been too busy struggling in the past.
[Map That Communicates with All Things]
[Grade: Epic]
[Restriction: None]
[Effect: You can determine the location of something someone has hidden in secret, something someone has lost, or something hidden somewhere. In addition, you can teleport to the location of something one time.
However, upon activation of the teleportation effect, all effects are immediately lost.]
[Description: A magical tool with limitless possibilities depending on how it is used.]
Activate the teleportation effect.
Though the Map That Communicates with All Things had evaporated as it was and no longer remained in my possession, it meant I had used its effect beforehand to pinpoint the locations of the remaining pieces of the hexagram brooch. Based on those locations, I had asked Diend to retrieve the hexagram brooch, and yet. ‘There was no yield at all.’ Diend had said so with the utmost reverence.
—“Forgive me, my lord! I found the places my lord had told me of, but only a faint trace of suitable mana remained. I could not find the brooch pieces. You may punish this unworthy one as much as you wish……!”
……
Let’s omit the burdensome apology that followed. ‘What matters is that the brooch moved.’ Whether by someone’s hand.
Or of its own accord.
I didn’t know the exact reason, but even Diend, of all beings, had been unable to track it down. Would it be understandable if I described it as having darted all around the Arcana Continent, skillfully avoiding him? ‘The extent was absurd.’ It was the hexagram brooch I touched every time I straightened my clothes.
There was no way I had never thought of completing the remaining pieces. Especially after I had risen to the Ten Thrones and obtained mana of a different caliber, I had even scattered mana across the entire Arcana Continent. ‘Even then, I couldn’t detect it.’ But if it had been in hell, I could understand.
In any case, it felt as if my long, long futile effort had been rewarded.
I took my eyes off the hexagram brooch, which had roughly taken the shape of a star.
“Ahh, poor Lord Grandfell…….”
That emotional line still isn’t over yet?
How embarrassing.
What are you all doing, gazing so sorrowfully at me putting on a brooch? ‘Though they only have mouths, it’s burdensome all the same…….’ But a gift was a gift.
Without forgetting my manners, I parted my lips.
“I will not forget your goodwill.”
The vengeful spirits bowed their heads.
“It is only rightfully yours.”
If it were before.
I might have simply grinned, thinking I had gotten an item drop. But wasn’t I the one who had come to somewhat suspect, while tracking the hexagram brooch, that this was no ordinary item?
So I asked.
“I shall ask you.”
“We shall answer everything.”
“Why did you hide the brooch from me?”
“……!!!”
Grandfell’s manner of speaking struck without warning. ‘Hey, if someone heard that, they’d really think it was yours.’ Shall we recall the places where I acquired the brooch pieces I possessed? One was a tribute offered by the Empire to the Magic Tower, and the other was hidden away in the London dungeon rift, [City of Gloomy Rain].
‘Like that, it was probably just hidden somewhere in hell, right?’ But.
How can you ask as if you’re interrogating them, seriously?
It was just as I was appalled by Grandfell’s way of speaking.
The vengeful spirits answered in low voices.
“Because you……. Because we wished the young family head would not find it.”
……
Huh?
What’s with that answer?
You really were the ones who hid it?! ‘……
It wasn’t my imagination?’ So the feeling that it kept running away again whenever I got close wasn’t just in my head? From the moment the Empire gifted it to the Magic Tower and even its fragments had extraordinary effects, I had vaguely guessed as much. ‘What kind of secret is hidden in this brooch?’ I, Lee Hoyeol.
Now that I had caught the scent of something unusual.
I wanted to question them in greater detail, and yet.
“I see.”
Ah, you’re generous again at times like this, aren’t you?
This is Grandfell’s manner of speaking again……!
Grandfell dismissed the conversation with acceptance.
As expected, the vengeful spirits were moved by the family head’s pretentiousness. ‘It’s not an atmosphere where I can interrogate them.’ Fine, what’s the point of lamenting my lot? ‘I’ve taken what I need, so let’s move on to the next gate.’ I looked at Lorenzk, Elsidore, and Kinver.
At my glance, the three began to move.
I immediately grabbed the doorknob. ‘Hell Village, then what will be waiting next?’ The quest had said that from a small village to a royal palace, honored guests would be welcomed with grandeur. Would a field on a slightly larger scale than Hell Village appear?
It was the moment I was thinking.
“Please be safe, our young family head…….”
Just what was waiting for them to worry like that?
It was enough to make needless anxiety surge up, but I showed none of it.
I answered with my gaze and opened the door.
[You have discovered Hell, the Second Gate.]
And before long, I understood what the vengeful spirits had meant.
[You have entered Hell, the Second Gate, ‘Nightmare’s Forward Castle.’]
Fierce and evil.
Two gatekeepers radiating intimidation just by being seen.
They emitted killing intent toward me and my companions.
[The gaze of the guardian of hell scans your sins.]
‘They’re not monsters.’ Are there rules, like in tag?
Neither levels nor appearance messages appeared for them.
Only a warning appeared without preamble.
[※Warning: You are not one of the dead.]
If those fellows turned hostile.
There would be nothing in particular we could do from our side.
But who was our Lord Grandfell?
Click.
……
Truly, I want to turn these steps around.
But I had no choice but to advance proudly.
At last, the gazes of the two fierce and evil gatekeepers swept over me.
And my questions could only deepen.
……
Srrng.
The two gatekeepers opened the way.
After seeing me.
No, to be precise, after seeing my “hexagram brooch.”
[The guardian of hell permits the entry of you, who are alive.]
A brooch that could even make the transcendent rules of hell step aside.
Just what is it……?
What kind of story is entangled with this brooch? ‘Be honest this time, Grandfell.’ You.
Knew from the beginning that this wasn’t an ordinary item, didn’t you?
“Yes.”
At my interrogation, Grandfell slowly continued.
“I knew everything.”
……
You’re getting more brazen by the day?!