00009 [Part 1] [Return] ------------------------------------------------------------------------=
The reddish-brown beast. Each time its tail struck the floor, a dull thud rang out. Two large, red eyes stared straight at Karon. An ordinary person would have been terrified, but he did not avert his gaze from the predator assessing its prey's strength.
Rather, perhaps it was the reddish-brown monkey that was in the position of prey. From the giant monkey's perspective, the human felt anything but ordinary—one that would be crushed with a mere slap of its palm. The aura of mana wafting up around him was instinctively telling it so.
*Dangerous.*
"So you're the boss."
[Gruman King (Lv: 95, Boss Monster)]
It was undoubtedly the strongest monster in this dungeon. The level difference was only 5. Against a normal monster, it wouldn't have been dangerous, but a boss monster was something that required several people in their level 90s to take down. Most of the boss monsters he had faced in the past had only been defeated with the help of his comrades.
Yet Karon didn't feel the slightest hint of fear. What he felt instead was ecstasy. The sensation of returning to this world after so long. The sensation of being alive as another version of himself, swinging his sword after so long. Monsters and terrain he was seeing for the first time. He was enjoying every bit of it. Even the boss monster before him was nothing more than entertainment to him now.
"Yeah. Maybe this is the kind of fight I've been longing for. Watching those guys take them down while I just stood by silently was so boring. Exploring had its charms too... but this is who I am after all."
He raised his beloved sword and pointed it at Gruking. Sensing hostility, Gruking leaped into the air, trying to crush him with its massive body.
[Kraaaaaah!]
"The ceiling probably won't collapse here. Absolute Crash."
Leaping into the air to attack was undeniably a devastating technique for monsters with massive builds. However, that also meant they could do nothing while airborne. His beloved sword, brimming with mana, glowed with an intense, blinding light. Using the skill imbued in his boots, he lightly jumped up and sliced through the monkey falling toward him.
[Kraaaaack!!]
In an instant, Gruking's health dropped to one-third. The price of letting its guard down.
Karon leisurely created distance, smirking as he waited for Gruking to rise.
"I wondered if my skills had rusted after coming back for the first time in two years, but I guess not. Or are you just weak?"
Gruking seemed to snarl in protest. It unleashed a magic attack from its mouth, aiming precisely at Karon.
But Karon slightly shifted his body to evade the attack and approached Gruking. Closing the distance to zero in an instant, he followed up with a continuous assault. One health gauge vanished, and a second one appeared.
It was nothing short of one-sided slaughter. Despite being a boss monster, Gruking couldn't put up any resistance and had no choice but to take Karon's attacks. Not even five minutes had passed since entering the boss room when Gruking's death throes echoed through the chamber. The reddish-brown beast, now covered in blood, fell to the floor with a thud, lifeless.
[You have defeated the boss monster 'Gruking'!]
[Your level has increased.]
[You have obtained the title 'Slaughterer of the Unidentified Dungeon'.]
[You have obtained an item.]
[You have obtained an item.]
[You have obtained an item.]
…
After defeating Gruking, nearly a dozen messages popped up. Karon checked only the notification that his level had increased and dismissed the rest. Level 101. A level that hadn't risen no matter how many monsters he defeated or quests he completed until two years ago had finally gone up after two years.
"...Things really have changed."
Only after leveling up did it truly sink in. Two years had passed. The level cap, which had been 100, had become 200 at some point. What that meant to him was something he couldn't put into words.
"Guys, I finally hit level 101...."
He was happy. That's why he turned around to look for the comrades who should have been there. What surrounded him was darkness. Darkness. Darkness. Darkness. He could truly feel that two years had passed. No, he could really feel it.
"...Right. No one was here."
His tone was heavy with gloom. The joy of clearing the dungeon faded. Staring blankly at the dark ceiling, he turned his body to leave the boss's room.
"Time to go."
There was no one to congratulate him. Realizing that, he felt loneliness, desolation.
He hadn't known that being alone could be so unsettling.
☆
He didn't know why he had returned to the guild hall. The moment he thought about stopping and going back, the guild hall was simply the first thing that came to mind. Even though he could quit the game and return to reality, the fact that he wanted to go back to the guild hall inside the game was truly laughable, even to himself.
Or perhaps he had unconsciously recalled a reason to come here. Perhaps he had thought, almost instinctively, that his comrades might be at the guild hall.
"...I'm back."
He hadn't been nervous even when defeating the boss monster. It seemed he had saved that tension for this moment. Karon barely steadied his trembling hands and opened the door.
"Mind if I come in?"
Who was he asking permission from?
He walked down the hallway in silence. A floor covered in dust, torn curtains, books strewn everywhere.... It was the same hallway as before.
And he opened the door leading to the center of the hall.
"...I see."
He had been nervous for nothing. There was nothing to look forward to. It was a room no different from before.
There was nothing. Nothing but memories left behind two years ago. Even those memories now felt so distant that his loneliness deepened.
"So much time has passed."
Two years in real time. Ten years in game time. So much had passed. It was wrong of him to expect that someone would be waiting.
It was wrong to have expected at all. He had resolved to leave the game world and live faithfully in reality. He was the one who had severed the connection first. Hoping they would have waited for him after all this time was nothing more than the selfishness of a naive child who knew nothing of the world.
"I should have at least apologized before ending it."
It had been a trivial argument. The kind that could have ended with mutual apologies the next day. But he had stopped logging into the game after that. He had quit the game thinking it was rather for the best. If he was going to end it anyway, he should have ended it properly, but he had severed the bonds they had built so futilely.
Or perhaps he had been afraid deep down. It was just a game, after all. Bonds made in a game were pathetically insignificant. Even if it was fun while playing, it felt like a fleeting dream when returning to reality. Perhaps that's why bonds in games could be severed so easily. So he had thought that if the bond was destined to end anyway, he might as well end it one way or another, good or bad.
But only after ending it, only at this very moment, did he realize. How precious that bond had been. That he had ended it so futilely.
"Ah, that's right."
Karon, looking around the room, smiled bitterly as if only now remembering. He vaguely realized that he hadn't just remembered now—he had been trying not to think about it.
"...Guild roster."
He should have opened this window from the moment he first logged in. But he couldn't. He couldn't bear to. He had been avoiding it, afraid that something he didn't want to imagine had happened.
"......."
Now he faced reality. His hands were trembling. Even so, he faced reality.
—Only two names were listed in the guild roster.
"Everyone... left."
He admitted it. It was only natural that everyone had left when the guild master hadn't logged in for two years. The one remaining member began to feel like a miracle. Or perhaps that person had quit too and simply wasn't logging in.
"Kuk...."
Lonely. Bitter. Desolate. He had never imagined feeling such emotions inside a game. Closing the guild roster with trembling hands, he clenched his teeth. Otherwise, he felt he would be affected by the game system's rich emotion expression.
"Yeah, it can't be helped. It's been two years. I would have left too. Actually, I feel relieved. Like putting down a heavy burden. Good. Now I can quit the game without any regrets—"
He flinched, turning toward what was caught at the edge of his gaze. It was on the table. Among the scattered books and papers strewn about, one book sat diligently in its place. It was naturally positioned in a way that shouldn't have been a problem, yet because it didn't match the surrounding disarray, it felt unnatural instead. Looking closer, it seemed less dusty than the rest.
[Polaris Chronicle]
"Ah...."
A small gasp escaped him.
It was a book they had made together to commemorate the guild's founding. One of the items with the attribute of eternal indestructibility, crafted from dragon leather and high-quality parchment so that its color would never fade. Since the guild's creation, the comrades had used it to write notes and journals.
Karon opened the journal. It contained records of when the guild was founded and the things that happened with his comrades since then. With a bitter smile, he flipped to the most recent entries.
[December 18
We had an argument together. Thinking back now, the reason was nothing at all. ...
We can make up tomorrow, right?]
[December 19
Karon didn't come. He must be sulking. We all made up, though. We need to hurry with the Christmas party preparations. ...]
[December 20
Karon didn't come today either. He seems really upset. ...]
[December 21
Karon didn't come. Did something happen? We decided to set up a big tree together. ...]
[December 22
It snowed. Will it be a white Christmas this year? I'm looking forward to it, but I'm anxious. Karon didn't come. When will you come back?]
[December 23
Hey, Karon! Everyone's anxious because the master isn't here! Come out already! ...]
[December 24
Christmas Eve. We celebrated early with cake together, but the mood was lonely. Polaris needs eight people gathered, but since Karon didn't come....]
[December 25
Everyone didn't come for one reason or another. Those of us remaining ate cake together.]
[December 26
Heeeey, Karon!
If you come back now, I'll let you off with just one hit.
Won't you come back now?
It seems a new monster appeared in the south. Let's go together.]
[December 27
What are you doing.
Karon....]
"Kuk...."
It was agonizing. He gripped the journal tightly and continued turning the pages. Even as years and months passed, desperate messages from his comrades searching for Karon were recorded there.
[March 4
Karon isn't going to come anymore.
At someone's words, no one denied it. Gradually, cracks began to form.]
[April 6
...... left. "I'm going to become even stronger," they said. I need to cheer up too. I should act brightly in Karon's place.]
[May 12
...... left. "It's not fun anymore, so I'm going to quit," they said. ...What would Karon have done...?]
[June 8
...... left. "If I stay here, I don't think I'll be able to see the world," they said. We couldn't stop them. What would Karon have done.]
[July 14
...... left. "That guy betrayed us," they said. I wanted to deny it, but I couldn't. Even so, I believe. Karon will definitely come back.]
[July 25
...... took ...... and left. "Oppa will come back!" they said, but couldn't stop ......]
[September 2
"I don't think I can log in for a while. Sorry," said ...... as they left. They didn't show it on the outside, but they must have suffered pretending to be as carefree as ......]
[September 3
At least I, at least I believe that Karon will definitely come back.]
[December 25
It's Christmas. If only Karon would come.... The once-bustling Polaris is now down to just me.]
[December 26
Karon.]
[December 27
Come back, Karon....]
[December 28
Did something happen?]
[December 29
If only Karon comes back, the kids who left will come back too.]
[December 30
Please come back.]