Chapter 138. Big Updaet Coming
I had been shut away in the Abandoned District like I was undergoing closed-door training for an entire month.
A whole month.
It had been a long, long time, and during that period, the game had received several small updates.
At least it hadn’t gone down the classic path of a dead game—long update cycles, barely any new content, and zero communication about what was being added.
This insane game had already developed a dedicated hardcore fanbase, but even so, if it didn’t constantly aim for the newest and best things, people would eventually forget about it and move on.
And once that happened, even the existing players would lose interest and stop wanting to play.
Mm.
Exactly.
‘...Sigh. Why the hell am I even thinking about this? I still haven’t come to my senses. Not even now.’
This game really had me completely under its control.
Just thinking about the Chairman’s face should have been enough to make me never touch this game again, so what kind of mindset was I in to still be sitting here doing all this?
Part of me genuinely wanted this damn game to collapse.
But if it actually did collapse...
I couldn’t picture what I would do afterward.
And that thought was strangely terrifying.
“Ingwang-nim? May I continue with the sales report?”
“Huh? Ah, yes, yes. Please continue.”
“If you are tired, you can hear the rest another time. It is not particularly urgent.”
“No, no. You’ve worked hard on this, Village Chief. I should at least show some sincerity too.”
“Hohoho. Those are very kind words.”
The Village Chief held the report in his hands and neatly read it aloud.
The two of us sat inside a huge room in a building that had been restored by patching together all kinds of materials gathered from who knew where.
The whole scene felt strangely like a company president listening to an employee give a business report.
As the arena continued expanding, the Outpost we had already been operating grew along with it.
Naturally, that meant the amount of work became more annoying too.
All I wanted was to become some rich unemployed bastard who sat around doing nothing but counting the money that rolled in on its own.
So why was reality...
No, why was this game like this?
“Yes. The arena is still performing well, but the rate of growth has begun to slow. I believe we will need some new content.”
“...Then let’s do that. The Greatest Martial Arts Tournament Under Heaven. We have... four arenas right now, right? Merge the people from Arena Four with Arena Three and adjust the staffing a little. As for the martial arts tournament...”
Until recently, I had been living some kind of solo-isekai fantasy adventure.
Now I was sitting here talking about revenue.
What had my life become?
Well...
It did feel satisfying.
But it was also kind of boring.
Things I had started casually had somehow grown so large that I couldn’t simply drop them anymore.
There was talk about Outpost merchandise this and current market trends that.
Hoho.
Why were they telling me all this as if I would understand it?
Was this some kind of silent pressure telling me to study?
After listening to even more headache-inducing business talk, I finally reached the last page of the report.
Only then was I released from conversations that made me feel like my brain was going to explode.
“That concludes today’s report. What would you like to do afterward?”
“...How’s Mallyangi? Does it look like she’ll hatch soon?”
During that month in the Abandoned District...
After an endless series of hardships...
Mallyangi had finally taken the first step toward evolution.
Following Jayeon and the Holy Knights, she had entered a shell shaped like the Wings of Corruption that had always existed inside her.
Remembering what had happened with the others, I asked Pie, who possessed the Mind Power of Love, to keep taking care of her.
...Maybe it was because she had been drawing out her Mind Power of Love so much, but lately, Pie seemed a lot softer than before.
Since we were now living together, I considered that killing two birds with one stone.
Seriously.
I once asked if I could have one bite of the ramen she had cooked.
Normally, she would’ve glared at me like she wanted to kill me.
Instead, she said—
No, you eat all of it. I’ll just cook another one.
What was that?
Was she an angel?
“According to Lucy, it does not seem like much time remains. Which also means we do not have many days left to enjoy the current gentle Lucy.”
“...Haa...”
As soon as Mallyangi hatched, I planned to head straight to the place the old man of Darkness had told me about.
But if her hatching was still far off, maybe I should clear some of the missions Grandpa Aro had dumped on me.
I had always done this kind of request between major events anyway.
So the timing was perfect.
“I need to find the fruit too~ I need to track down the fanatics, manage the kids, keep an eye on the Empire, and I should probably visit Karantlia at least once to say hello...”
I laughed weakly.
“Hoho. Hohoho... Ah, this is annoying.”
“Hohoho. You willingly climbed into a position where you are responsible for so many things. If you do not wish to continue, you may give up even now. I will always follow you, Ingwang-nim.”
“Ah, wait! That word!”
[Would you like to give up?]
It had been quite a while since I last saw that sentence.
But the moment it appeared—
My heart started pounding.
My breath caught in my throat.
A strange tingling sensation crawled upward from the tips of my toes, and a shiver ran through my entire body.
At this point, I was starting to think the Chairman had planted some kind of trigger inside me.
Whenever I heard those words, even if I didn’t want to do anything, my eyes suddenly opened wide and I became ridiculously motivated.
“Village Chief, I told you before not to say that word.”
“Hohoho. There is no other word that gets such a strong reaction from you, Ingwang-nim. If I wish to encourage you, surely I must use something this effective.”
“...That’s cruel...”
I turned away from the Village Chief and looked out across the Abandoned District.
Electric lights had now been installed all over the place.
As I watched this once-ruined area slowly becoming civilized, the strange sense of emotion and growing anticipation healed the wound inflicted upon my heart by the word give up.
This was my own way of restoring my motivation.
After having my excitement completely drained by business reports, I needed something to make my heart race again.
“Do you truly intend to develop the Abandoned District using only materials that already existed here?”
“Yeah. It feels apocalyptic. Isn’t that cool? It’s like a moderately ruined world, but it also has this cyberpunk vibe. Even cyborgs walking around wouldn’t look strange.”
“I do not entirely understand what you mean, but I shall accept that explanation. This place certainly suits the automated-machine armor imported from the black market.”
The Village Chief paused.
“Ah, yes. I have also heard that body modification has recently become popular among the Dark Rats.”
“...Huh? Really?”
“Yes. Their idols are the Holy Knights, after all. And the Holy Knights certainly have... unique appearances. They are probably trying to imitate those they admire.”
Hmm...
Well...
The most normal-looking one among the Holy Knights was probably Eye.
And Eye was six meters tall with eyeballs covering his back.
Considering that, I could understand why the ones under them had started modifying their bodies too.
It was probably similar to how Aien had begun looking for darker-colored clothes after spending so much time around Pie, who usually wore black.
And recently, Aien had been staring very seriously at clothes decorated with fluffy fur...
Please.
Please don’t let her take any influence from me.
‘...Huh?’
‘What am I actually supposed to do now?’
The moment everything paused, my brain seemed to stop along with it.
I had plenty of things to do.
The problem was that most of them weren’t things I could do alone.
Besides, there had barely been any cases where I had gone off alone and gotten good results.
That only made it clearer that I needed to move together with the kids.
It wasn’t optional.
It was necessary.
And that was definitely the correct answer.
“Should I watch a stream...?”
I was playing a game.
Then I ran out of things to do inside the game.
So instead of doing something else...
I decided to watch someone else playing the exact same game.
What an absolutely perfect example of a gamer.
Let’s watch Kim Inbang’s stream.
He had recently earned a Hero title too, so his stream had exploded in popularity again.
Considering that becoming a Hero was something you could fail to achieve even if you followed every known guide step by step, this guy was probably just as lucky as I was.
Though there had been a time when Corruption devoured him and turned him into a named monster.
[Everyone, where do you think I’m going right now?]
The stream title openly said:
[SUPER REAL GAVE ME AN AD PERSONALLY LOL!]
So it looked like he was heading somewhere related to the next event.
Meanwhile, I was sitting here creating events myself.
You sure work hard, Kim Inbang.
[This place right here! Is the brand-new kingdom that will be revealed in the next major update! The Mu Kingdom! Apparently, it’s a kingdom based on martial arts stories~!]
[Uh, well, the game is fundamentally fantasy! But considering that places like the Outpost are selling stuff like exoskeleton suits these days, it’s not that weird, right?]
I knew our company had become fairly famous by selling all kinds of things.
But had it really reached the point where people could just say our name and everyone went—
Ah~ That place?
This could be troublesome if people found out I was the owner of both the arena and the Outpost.
Someone who had been a beta tester with me might expose everything.
That guy was a beta tester.
I saw him talking to the Chairman.
He always played alone, so he must have been monopolizing everything for himself.
Yeah.
I could already imagine people saying things like that.
I should keep my identity as secret as possible.
...
Though maybe everyone who needed to know already knew because of the Demon Realm raid.
Ah.
And I did make a huge fuss while looking for the Gardener before too.
Right.
Everyone probably already knew.
[Apparently, a large number of new skills will also be released when this region opens. I got really lucky and they’re letting me try some of them early!]
Hoho.
People were definitely going to complain about streamer privileges.
The funny thing was, Kim Inbang hadn’t even been streaming for that long.
He was just genuinely happy about getting special treatment.
What was this guy going to do when the backlash started?
[And this is top-secret information... Apparently, when this region opens, a full-scale World Quest will begin...!]
...A World Quest.
Hmm...
Could it be related to the fanatics?
Probably not.
Almost no information about them had been released yet.
Then maybe the Underground Kingdom was finally opening?
If that was the case, I should go there early and secure a good position.
Kim Inbang called it top secret, but the company had probably told him to reveal it anyway.
So the Underground Kingdom sounded much more likely than the fanatics.
“Hmm. Jin and Dorfin’s problems were only just resolved, and they’re already updating this place.”
Jin had seemed strangely restless while watching his disciple grow.
Like something inside him still felt unsatisfied.
If the update fully opened the region where Jin used to live and players started flooding in, maybe his desire to raise disciples would finally be satisfied.
‘What a weird hobby.’
‘Does he just really like the whole master-and-disciple relationship?’
Dorfin didn’t seem interested in taking disciples at all, just like before.
If she found someone amusing, she would probably just decide to play with them for a while.
...Thinking about it like that, I had somehow done pretty well to get Dorfin to like me.
What exactly did that eccentric old lady like so much about me?
[Whoa~! Everyone, look at this! This is completely— Uh? Wait, hold on!]
“What?”
Kim Inbang had been casually walking around the soon-to-be-opened region and showing everything to the camera.
Then suddenly—
The screen shook violently.
A man wearing a suit appeared.
His face was covered in a mosaic.
He held the camera like he was taking a selfie and waved directly at us.
...
A chill immediately ran through me.
Yeah.
I knew this feeling.
I wanted to forget it.
But I must never forget it.
And I knew I never truly could.
It was that same disgusting feeling.
[Greetings. I am Chaos.]
“Crazy bastard...”
The mosaic-faced man on the screen fiddled with a golden decoration attached to his suit.
Then he lightly nudged Kim Inbang aside and continued speaking.
[I know that many of you probably know nothing about us.]
[However, many of you now understand Mind Power, so I believe you can understand what the name I have chosen means.]
