Episode 208
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m really sorry.”
Sitting in the living room, the twins offered a sincere apology.
Looking at their grandmother, who seemed like a symbol of spontaneity, it was as if I could understand how the two of them had matured.
“It’s okay. I’m not sure if it’s okay to ask for permission like this, though. Would it be better to show you the documents again?”
“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that. She’s used to paperwork because she’s worked at the court for a long time. Especially the contracts…”
Noeul added an explanation along with their grandmother’s background .
A civil servant who had worked at the court for over 30 years.
It was a significant discrepancy when recalling the attire from earlier.
“So, what do you mean your father is an employee at a record project? I thought you told me you didn’t have parents.”
“It’s true that he doesn’t have any. He abandoned us.”
“…What?”
They froze for a moment at the shocking news.
Seeing their expressions, Haneul looked around and spoke.
“When I was seven, Mom passed away from illness, and we came to live here at Grandma. And Dad disappeared. He kept sending us living expenses, but he never once contacted us.”
A dry expression, as if muttering a boring story.
Providing living expenses alone does not fulfill the role of a parent.
Moreover, it was difficult to understand abandoning children who were in shock after losing their mother.
After a brief silence, Noeul continued.
“We just assumed Father had left and have lived our lives ever since. Grandmother never said anything else either. Then, five years ago, a letter arrived.”
“A letter?”
“It said I would be working at the Record Project. That was the single line. I didn’t know what it was back then, but I found out it was a game company after RP was released.”
“…….”
It was clear he was an incredibly irresponsible person.
The problem was the Record Project.
If he mentioned that term five years ago, he must have been involved from the development stage.
'…The Goddess must have been involved.'
The image of the twins from another world that had vaguely overlapped in Noeul and Haneul.
They couldn't possibly be the same person, but they harbored the suspicion that there was a connection.
However, if a father who had been involved in the Record Project from an early age also existed, it was clear that something caused by a god had occurred.
“Have you tried contacting them? I wonder if Grandma knows?”
“No. She just read the letter and walked past. Besides, she’s not the type to reach out first.”
“Hmm.”
Hanbit pondered for a moment.
Would telling them the story of the twins from the other world now be of any help?
Wouldn’t it just confuse them at such a young age?
To begin with, it was difficult for Hanbit to explain it clearly, too.
However, despite those concerns, he had no desire to hide it.
“Listen carefully. I once met twins in another world who are similar to you.”
“Twins?”
“When I say they are similar to us…”
The siblings reacted with identical expressions.
Hanbit recounted the story of the other world to the two of them.
Having gone through countless iterations, there were plenty of representative episodes to speak of.
“Uh, so…”
“Did we undergo some kind of reincarnation?”
The twins were flustered.
Although the very person who had experienced regression, possession, and reincarnation was right in front of them, it was a different story if it was about them.
“No, it can’t be reincarnation. Aside from the abilities, you two are completely different from those twins. Just keep in mind the possibility that your father is also connected to the Goddess.”
“…Understood.”
“I’ll keep it in mind. Though, the fact that he abandoned us won’t change.”
The wrath of the heavens still lingered vividly.
Regardless of gods or other worlds, it was only natural that what their father had done to them was more important.
This was not something time would resolve; it was a task the twins’ father himself had to solve.
“I should be going now.”
“Huh? Already?”
“Ah, the time…”
As he stood up, the twins let out a voice of regret.
Looking at them again, they were truly just children.
Hanbit checked his watch as he watched them and said,
“Shall we grab something to eat nearby?”
“Yes!”
“Sure!”
The twins beamed with joy.
After quickly getting ready, Hanbit headed to a nearby restaurant with the two of them.
Dinner with the children, who were excited about eating out for the first time in a while, took place in an excited atmosphere.
***
“It’s 5:40.”
Arriving home, Hanbit changed his clothes and organized his gear.
Even though only about a day was missing, he felt a strange awkwardness.
Sitting on the bed, he opened the Astra app.
“Ah.”
A familiar name appeared while checking notes.
Hanbit immediately examined the contents.
"Luna."
"Congratulations on joining Astra. I'm sure you'll do well, Black Dragon, but make sure to filter out those who are just trying to leech off you."
A short message containing both congratulations and advice.
It was so typical of her that there wasn't a single question about updates or in-game information.
"I suppose it would be best to gather allies." It
is true that everyone is a competitor, but a common enemy is bound to exist.
It would be right to gauge the atmosphere inside and consult with those with whom one has connections as much as possible.
"Thank you. You be careful in the game too, Luna. I will contact you again soon."
After sending his thanks, Hanbit put on his gear and lay down on the bed.
And exactly when it turned 6 PM. A humming sound of the device
kicked in
, and a light swirled in his vision.
It was no surprise that a familiar scene appeared before his eyes.
"Momo!"
Kenji's voice was the first to be heard.
Standing in a space resembling the living room of the guild headquarters, he was frantically looking around.
"Huh?"
A black-haired girl poked her head out from the kitchen.
He was wearing gloves, as if he had been cooking.
“Haa.”
A sigh of relief escaped Kenji the moment he saw his face.
Hanbit approached Momo, who was wearing a puzzled expression, and asked,
“Well, did anything strange happen?”
“Something strange? Hmm…”
At that question, the girl fell into thought, as if retracing her memories.
Then, as if something had just occurred to her, she spoke.
“Ah, the door leading outside wouldn’t open.”
“The door?”
“I was just trying to go buy something, but no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t open! The spirits and the tiger didn’t help at all; they just got in the way.”
Momo pouted and grumbled.
Chirp!
Just then, a Sylph flew toward Hanbit.
Other spirits and mythical beasts were with him as well.
Grrr—
The Celestial Tiger perched on his shoulder rubbed its face against his collar.
Lightly stroking its head, Hanbit roughly realized what had happened.
'Did they pull a hand?'
Access to the guild grounds was managed systematically.
The only ones who could directly intervene were developers like Team Zero or the management team.
I wasn't sure of the exact details, but it seemed they had been paying close attention to Momo's situation.
“Huh? Is Momo okay?”
“We’re here.”
When I turned my head, all the members of DD Studio had finished logging in.
While Haneul was holding Momo’s hand and talking, Hanbit looked at Kenji, who still hadn’t found his composure.
“It’s a relief that there were no issues.”
“…I’m truly relieved. It’s all thanks to Lord Black Dragon.”
“I didn’t do anything, though. Let’s try to prepare to minimize any variables going forward.”
“Yes. Of course.”
Even while having that conversation, Hanbit was monitoring the community in real-time.
As expected, it was practically a complete mess.
[Edlen East Forest, please help.]
[Look at this apocalyptic atmosphere;]
[The Royal Guards are damn strong.] [LOL]
[If PK is super fun, give it a thumbs up.]
[The death penalty is
totally messed up ㅗㅗㅗㅗ] [Stop killing your own faction, you bastards.]
[I dropped an item, did I really get robbed?]
With the shackles of PK now broken, the tendencies of certain players began to stand out.
Guys like Nesto were obviously moving like fish in water.
The distinction between factions meant nothing to them.
Then, one thing I hadn't known before caught my eye.
[What are faction points?]
You get faction points for killing other factions?
Is there something good about accumulating them? It
was an element that hadn't even appeared in the update announcement.
It seemed likely to be used for the content mentioned by the game company.
Hanbit looked away and shifted his gaze to the conversation of the advance party.
[Why are there so many Adult Faction bastards?]
People trying to come to Forbidden Zone 5-2, stop for a moment.
A bunch of bastards openly advertising themselves as the Adult Faction have swarmed in; we can't beat this.
Whether hardliners or moderates, it looks like we need to unite and push them out.
-Seriously, this is just awful.
-How am I supposed to progress through Episode 7 like this?
└It's the same for Episode 8.
└Haha, the path to Feria Island is blocked.
└Episodes or not, hunting is impossible.
-The Adult faction had a ton of advance parties, though;
-Leaving factions aside, it's just madness right now.
-This won't do. I'm going to kill them all and find the light.
The advance party members voiced their dissatisfaction with the situation, which had become difficult to proceed with.
However, there was no operator to listen to their concerns now.
It was right to respond quickly by forming an alliance or whatever.
If the timing was delayed, their position as losers would truly be solidified.
'Astra has already started.'
Realizing the situation, the members of Astra shared the information they needed and set out to deal with it.
It certainly looked like the advance party Grace had chosen.
“The rankings aren't out yet.”
Just then, Avant-garde, who had been checking the information with him, spoke up.
Hanbit moved to the RP homepage.
[Player Ranking]
Player rankings are released at midnight.
As it was stated that they would be updated every midnight, the ranking page contained only a single line of explanation.
Hanbit brought up his character information window.
[Black Dragon – Lv.246]
[Title: None]
[Faction: Hardliners]
[Ranking: -]
Strength: 480(+96)
Agility: 480(+96)
Intelligence: 480(+96)
Stamina: 470(+94)
Remaining Stat Points: 0.
The faction and ranking categories had been newly added.
Hanbit recalled hearing that rankings were determined by a complex consideration of all sorts of factors, but he was quite unsure. This
was because, even though he had been uncovering the truth behind the episodes, his absolute progress was insufficient.
He had no idea what rank he would end up with.
“Then, I’ll head out. I’d like to get through as quickly as possible before midnight.”
“I’ll have to stay here to monitor the situation. Ah, I’ve already finished the guild site and function upgrades you mentioned, and I’ll wrap up the rest quickly.”
What he had asked Kenji to do was change the guild site.
The top priority was to create a workshop for Kim Jae-ha and to convert the one-way guild headquarters return function into a two-way one.
Although a massive amount of gold was required, Kenji readily agreed as if it were no big deal.
“Thank you. You said you’ll work here, Jaeha, and Mr. Avant-garde will move separately, right?”
“Yes. It’s faster for me to go from this direction.”
Kim Jaeha proceeded with the work, having received the items entrusted to Yeonwoo.
Avant-garde stated that he planned to head to the player black market.
In other words, it was time to disband here.
“Then we’ll head ahead. We’ll share with you as soon as we find out anything.”
“Yes. Please be careful.”
“I’ll prepare as well as I can.”
“I will do my best as well.”
Immediately after hearing their responses, Hanbit looked at the twins.
“Let’s go.”
Whoosh—
A “Return to Original Position” option appeared under the Guild Return function.
Upon using it, the scene of the Royal Capital Square appeared with a sensation of teleportation.
“Huh?”
“It’s the Black Dragon!”
Voices rang out from the surroundings the moment it appeared.
The eyes of the players, whose gazes had gathered, were shining with greed.
It felt as if they were seeing a real Golden Goblin.
*Crunch*
—Ignoring them, Hanbit headed toward the gates of the royal capital.
A swarm of people followed him, seemingly making no attempt to hide their presence.
Upon reaching the walls, he nonchalantly stepped outside with the twins.
“The first one to grab them gets to keep it, right?”
“You think you can beat that? Just think about splitting the loot, you idiots.”
“Right, there’s no escaping a mob attack.”
Most of those crowd had formed their own parties.
*Swoosh*
—Drawing his sword, Hanbit leisurely surveyed his surroundings.
Roughly speaking, the numbers were over 500.
Which faction they belonged to was irrelevant right now.
“Are you going to kill them all?”
Haneul, holding a dagger, asked quietly.
Gathering wind into the blade, Hanbit took a stance and said,
“Kill them all. No need to hold back.”
