176
“Oh…”
“What, he died like that?”
The party, freed from the binding, came over with baffled expressions.
Adventurer A had vanished without a trace.
-lololololol
-Did he just die running away?
-Died before he could finish his sentence. lol
-Wow, but he just beat a vanguard outright.
-Look at those stats. lol
-Could it be because it’s Adventurer A?
-A is generous. Let’s call him Adventurer Z.
-ZZZZZ
A hollow death for Adventurer A.
Having made such a show of his vanguard status, the viewers’ scornful chat burned hot.
‘He just keeps doing pointless things.’
Hanbit had expectations for Adventurer A as a fellow person with experience in the other world, and as a vanguard.
But he had trapped himself in some worthless scheme and arrogance, ended up worse off than if he’d never fought, and died for it.
If he had tried to fight at full force from the beginning, would it have been any different?
The result would have been the same either way.
“Black Dragon, do you think this is the end of it?”
Just then, Noeul, who had been thinking something over, asked in a quiet voice.
He seemed to be worried about the possibility of Adventurer A, who had been following them around like a stalker, coming back again.
Of course, the answer to that was simple.
“He’ll come back. Once the PK penalty runs out, he’ll be preparing something again.”
If this had been the other world, death would have been the end of it.
But as with the Nesto Guild trigger, players could come to interfere at any time.
It had also been one of the reasons for rushing up the Tower of Vortex.
On top of that, there was every possibility that more players who had experienced the other world existed.
‘I’ll need to break his spirit somehow.’
In the battle just now, Adventurer A had been treated like a test subject.
That in itself must have been a massive shock and left a scar — but it wasn’t enough to kill his resolve entirely.
In that case, what would it take to give him a shock strong enough to make him not even want to pick a fight?
Perhaps the answer lay in something more fundamental.
“But why is he so angry at you? Is it because of the guidebook?”
Kim Jaeha, who had been finding this situation strange, also asked.
That wasn’t wrong — but it was still closer to the surface-level reason.
“That’s probably part of it.”
Hanbit nodded and thought of the goddess’s image, still vivid in his mind.
Looking at the things Adventurer A had said and done, he clearly held some powerful conviction within himself.
He was likely attaching a fanatic kind of meaning to the other world, or to his encounter with the goddess.
There was every possibility he had convinced himself he was someone chosen.
‘I suppose I have to meet him directly.’
The contact with the information broker’s owner had fallen through, but the possibility wasn’t zero.
Alternatively, the next time Adventurer A came to pick a fight, provoking him with talk of the goddess and the other world might get a reaction.
At the very least, there were things Hanbit knew that that man did not.
‘No word from the developer either.’
Hanbit himself still had nothing concrete to hold onto.
Lee Minho, who had been entrusted with deciphering the slab, had gone quiet too.
Making contact with Team Zero, the development team that would know the most, was also impossible.
A GM message would come in with the name as sender when the special privilege for the second episode he still hadn’t received was finally issued.
Would he have to find the next restricted area before he could speak with them again?
Truly no one could know.
“For now, let’s head back to Temoshá.”
Thoughts organized, Hanbit immediately used the Warp Crystal.
[There are 3 saved locations in the Warp Crystal.]
1. Raven Kingdom — Ifrit
2. Raven Kingdom — Temoshá
3. Raven Kingdom — Radianor
The episode and sub-quest that had been left on hold for two weeks.
The time had come to resume them.
Hanbit pressed 2 and transferred to Temoshá with everyone.
* * *
Shhk—!
Slash—!
A building standing tall in the center of Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.
On the top floor of that building, a few videos were playing.
“….”
A man with a fierce face, seated in a chair and staring at his monitor.
He was Matsumoto Kenji — chairman of the major corporation Nio, and a mid-tier vanguard.
He turned to the secretary general who had delivered the report.
“The name is Black Dragon, you said?”
“Yes. His growth rate, knowledge of RP, leadership, and combat ability — not one of them is ordinary. Just moments ago, footage was broadcast live showing him defeating Adventurer A, the guidebook’s creator.”
“He beat that vanguard?”
“Yes. Which is why other companies appear to be making more aggressive moves to establish connections with him.”
“…I’ve been lying down too long.”
Kenji, who had been involved in a traffic accident, had emerged from a coma of about one month following surgery only recently.
An enormous blow to a man who couldn’t afford to rest for even a moment.
That he had dragged himself out of the hospital this quickly was something close to penance.
“The report states that Black Dragon belongs to a company called DD Studio. Is there a separate reason he’s been seen making contact with Vestige?”
“The general assessment is that it’s in the nature of a business connection. Within Vestige, the vanguard on close terms with him is believed to be Raphina.”
“…Come to think of it, there are quite a few vanguards involved.”
The relationships between the highlighted figures in the documents.
There were many people — from Ranger to Liwei, Luna, Raphina — with no obvious common thread.
Haemu in particular was not a simple figure.
The documents stated he had participated in the Snow Drake subjugation together, but it would be hard to believe he had approached for that reason alone.
And then.
‘This piece of garbage… ‘
The name Adventurer A written at the bottom of the page made his eyes snap open.
Just thinking about that man — chewing him up, bones and all, wouldn’t be satisfaction enough.
“Chairman, are you alright!”
Just then, the secretary general’s eyes went wide as he grabbed Kenji’s wrist.
His clenched fist, seemingly without his awareness, had blood running from it.
“It’s nothing.”
Kenji had reached for a handkerchief, but instead pulled a tissue from the box beside him and gripped it.
Having composed himself once more, he asked the most important question.
“So then — what do you think?”
“During the time you were unable to open your eyes, I watched Black Dragon closely from beginning to end. He is different from base individuals like Adventurer A. I cannot be certain — but I believe he is probably… the real thing.”
The secretary general had not let his eyes off the player Black Dragon for a single moment, from when he was active in Edelen onward.
It had begun as part of an investigation — but at some point, he had been sincerely rooting for him.
Hoping, with all his heart, that this man might become the savior of the Nio Group’s family.
And the golden world message that appeared immediately after he uncovered the truth of Edelen — it had made his entire body break out in goosebumps.
“The real thing… is he.”
Kenji quietly turned his gaze toward the window.
Against the darkened sky, a single star was faintly visible.
After a brief silence, he said quietly:
“Is it possible to get in contact with the head of DD Studio?”
“Yes. A young director named Joo Yeonwoo — apparently he recently had a meeting with Sojo Works, a gear developer from Japan. I’ve obtained a direct number through that channel.”
The secretary general handed over the number he had copied into his memo pad.
Kenji looked at it, slowly nodded, and said:
“I’ll make the call myself. You — compile a list of team members to send to Seoul and report back.”
“Understood.”
The secretary general immediately left the chairman’s office.
Kenji rose from his chair and walked toward the left wall.
There was a small elevator there.
Slide—
At the recognition of his pupil, the door opened quietly.
Kenji stepped in and pressed the only floor number available.
Clunk—
The elevator moved slowly upward.
Slide—
As it arrived at the upper floor, the door opened without a chime.
A large room appeared, designed in vivid colors.
The true topmost floor of the building, known only to the smallest number of people.
“You actually came back alive? You sounded like you were dying on the phone.”
In front of six monitors sat a young woman in a white lab coat, waving a hand.
Kenji stepped closer and shifted his gaze through the large glass pane directly ahead.
There sat a single capsule-type gear of distinctive design.
“What’s the status?”
“I sent you everything — photos, videos, all of it. There’s a tiny spike in brainwave activity and nothing else wrong. Little miss Momo is hanging on bravely.”
“…I see.”
A girl with long black hair, inside the capsule gear.
She was Matsumoto Momo — Kenji’s only daughter.
The IV tubes coming out of the capsule were heartbreakingly numerous.
“Does God not exist? Trapping a person inside a game and still no after-service after all this time — what kind of service is that?”
“If God exists, he’d be better off not appearing before me. I’d kill him on the spot.”
“My, how frightening.”
The woman in the lab coat made a show of wrapping her arms around herself.
Kenji ignored the familiar display and fixed his gaze on his daughter.
‘I went to another world, I’m telling you! I was adventuring, and fighting monsters, and using magic and everything!’
Three years ago.
Momo, who had been twelve years old, changed overnight.
Her eyes as she poured out stories of the other world held a madness that was difficult to describe.
A mental illness.
That was what he had been convinced of then.
Until a game called the Record Project came out.
‘This is exactly like the other world I went to!’
Momo, who said it out of nowhere, begged him to buy her a gear.
He had been a little uneasy, but thinking it might help with her treatment, he bought her the best Level 2 gear available.
The contract when creating the account — he had agreed to it as her legal guardian.
But then.
‘Momo?’
Hours after his daughter connected to the game, there was no response.
Specialists of every kind were brought in, and no solution could be found.
Just like that, unable to return to reality, time slipped away helplessly.
‘Her pulse is dropping!’
When the gear was forcibly shut off, Momo’s vitals plummeted.
Only after the gear was switched back on did her condition stabilize.
The gear manufacturer and the doctors who had monitored her brainwaves said her state was identical to someone currently connected to RP.
In other words — his daughter had been trapped inside the game.
‘Turn the whole game inside out if you have to and find her!’
There was no way to know what character Momo had taken on inside RP.
Girls with a similar face, height, and voice were all tracked down, and still she couldn’t be found.
Even when a complaint and report triggered an investigation into the game company, there was no result whatsoever.
Only the gear manufacturer took the fall, and that was the end of it.
Kenji, on the verge of losing his mind, recalled the word ‘other world.’
And about three months later, he met Adventurer A.
‘Your daughter disappeared?’
The creator of the guidebook, who had the most information about RP.
Kenji poured an enormous sum of money to arrange a meeting with Adventurer A.
Grasping at straws, he brought up the stories his daughter had told him about the other world.
‘..The other world? Did she mention a goddess too?’
For some reason, Adventurer A looped back and asked about the word goddess.
But his daughter had never mentioned such a thing, so Kenji shook his head.
‘Oh, is that so? Must be mental illness then.’
Adventurer A, looking somehow relieved, launched into a string of words devoid of any courtesy.
Then he smiled faintly and said:
‘I do have some leads on the other world… You’re the chairman of a big company, so money’s no issue, right? Invest for now. I’m well-versed in all of this — I’ll find that Momo girl for you.’
He was not the sort of person one could trust — and yet Kenji was being driven to the edge of a cliff.
He transferred tens of billions of won to Adventurer A.
But even weeks later, no word came.
‘I’m still looking. You think finding someone in a world this vast is easy?’
Every time contact was made, the same answer came back.
When that continued for more than two months, Kenji became certain that everything about Adventurer A was a lie.
Because he had seen with his own eyes the news of that man’s new episode walkthrough.
‘That miserable wretch——!’
His blood boiled, but he couldn’t even afford the time for rage and revenge.
Searching for another method, he made the decision to dive into the game himself.
Pouring his entire effort into it, he reached the position of mid-tier vanguard.
Even if no clues about his daughter had been found, he believed without a doubt that climbing higher would show him more.
It was in the midst of steeling that resolve that he was struck by an unexpected traffic accident.
‘A month… ‘
When he opened his eyes, the lost month was devastating.
Hearing that there had been no change in his daughter left him half-relieved, half-despairing.
But now, it was different.
A new hope had appeared in the span of his absence.
‘This time, please… ‘
Black Dragon.
The person he had seen across countless videos was fundamentally different from people like Adventurer A.
His character and knowledge, of course — but his attitude toward RP, his approach, his perspective, all of it was too distinctive.
That man might know something.
Slide—
Kenji drew a notepad and his phone from his pocket.
The phone number of DD Studio’s director, Joo Yeonwoo.
Slightly tense, he carefully entered the number.
