The promotion of the demon world through the stream was a great success. The rankers saw it and flocked to Phinis like crazy. Everyone knew that the rewards would exceed those of other tasks as long as they just inserted a spoon into the main scenario. The nobles of the main scenario who had actually received the rewards before knew better.

However, some people were in a hurry due to Hyeonu’s promotion of the main scenario. It wasn't just one or two people but quite a high number of them. They were from the big guilds that previously jumped into the main scenario.

“What is going on?! Why are these small fries coming over to the demon world?!”

The large guilds, who were colluding in secret, frowned when they found the players flocking to Etono. They started to search for the reason and figured it out in less than one minute. It was because every Arena community they entered was filled with Hyeonu’s words.

“I don’t think this is the normal course.”

“He really is doing everything by himself.”

“Shouldn’t we go to him and argue about this?”

In the house of a large guild active in Etono, there were voices denouncing Alley Leader. It was natural behavior from their point of view. Hyeonu’s stream was equivalent to reducing the amount of treasures in their hands.

“Argue? With who? Alley Leader?” the guild master asked as he looked at the executives raising their voices. His expression wasn’t a positive one, but he maintained his composure. There was nothing good about becoming agitated. If he had taken actions in accordance with his emotions on impulse, it would have been impossible for him to reach his current position.

“Let’s think about it, everybody. Your head isn’t an ornament that you carry on your shoulders, right?” The guild master tapped his index finger against his temple. “If you go to Alley Leader and argue with him, will he apologize? Well, let’s say yes. Can he turn back time to before the stream? Or will you go to New World? If anyone wants to pursue matters with this monster, please raise your hand. I’ll send you right away.” 

The guild master dished out sharp criticism. His form of speech was obviously with honorifics, but there was extreme sarcasm hidden inside.

“Before you speak, filter it through your brains first, you idiots. At least try weighing out the options! Do you only know how to wield a knife? No, you can’t even wield a knife. You just know how to move your mouth without thinking.” The guild master eventually exploded.

He was called the leader, but it was just in a game.

“Then what should we do?” an executive asked the guild master for his opinion after the ruthless criticism.

“What should we do? We need to gather the large guilds right now to talk about the main scenario—to be exact, the demon world war. In any case, there is a large gap between those who are coming over now and the guilds who came over first. Our competitors should be seen as the existing ones,” the guild master said. 

The man who asked the question nodded and replied, “Then I’ll contact the other guilds right away. Let’s arrange the positions.” 

“Yes, I hope you’ll think about it on your own in the future. Understood? I can’t handle everything all the time.”

It was only then that the guild master smiled.

A few years after the guild was founded, there was finally a guild member who said what the guild master wanted to hear.

***

The largest building in Etono was the place where the emperor stayed. However, it was inside the lord’s castle, so ordinary players weren’t able to see it. For the players, the ‘Drunken Tree in Etono’, a large pub opened by the Goldberg Group, was the largest and most colorful building.

There were currently many people gathered in it. They looked like the masters of Arena's large and famous guilds. There were masters of the large guilds that had already settled in Etono as well as the masters of guilds who had just come over.

“It seems we are all here, so let’s start talking. It is already the appointed time. My time isn’t cheap enough to be considerate of those who don’t keep their time promise.” Liu Shei, the master of the Kowloon Guild, opened the door to the conversation.

He was in a bad mood. There were around 100 people gathered here. It was lower than the 120 people who were told about it in advance.

“I feel the same way. I see no reason to think about the people who are late.” The one who replied to Liu Shei was Sun Lin—the master of Dujieng, another large Chinese Guild.

At these words, the venue became noisy. Everyone was raising complaints.

Meanwhile, New World’s Gang Junggu got up from his seat and coughed several times to catch the people’s attention.

Gang Junggu laughed and explained why they were gathered today: “Then I’ll start right away. According to Alley Leader’s words in his stream, the demon world war will begin a week later. So what are we deciding here? We are going to decide the guild placements. To be honest, some of the people gathered here will find it hard to smile at each other. I want to separate those guilds as much as possible.”

In fact, he didn’t create this position. The right to preside was naturally handed over to him.

New World, the best guild in Arena that no one could overcome—this was the halo that supported Gang Junggu. Gang Junggu read out the contents that had been delivered to him in advance: “I don’t know how many attack routes we will be divided into, but I think there won’t be more than 10. We can divide the guilds gathered here into 10 categories.” 

He even had a piece of paper in his hand like he hadn’t memorized it at all.

“Then I’ll give one guild name per number from 1 to 10. Please tell me the number you want to go to.”

At the end of Gang Junggu’s words, two men appeared holding a rectangular wooden board. The wooden board had a bag with the numbers 1 to 10. One man pulled a bag out of his inventory that contained beads with the names of each guild.

“If no one will tell me, I’ll start first. New World will go to number 1. I also have something to do now, so I’ll go first. I hope the remaining people will fill in the rest by yourselves.” Gang Junggu lifted the bead with the name of New World, placed it in bag 1, and exited the pub.

No one called out to Gang Junggu even until he completely disappeared.

“Please put the New York Warriors at number 1 as well. I’m sorry, but I’ll also go first because of my schedule. I’ll see you next time.” Reina also disappeared behind Gang Junggu.

“Dujieng will go to number 10.”

“Mano will go to number 4.”

“Kowloon will go to number 1.”

Shortly after the two of them disappeared, the over 100 guild masters started choosing the positions for their guild. The more they did so, the faster the hands of the man standing in front started to move. The numbered bags became bulging over time.

***

“So Hyung-nim, you left that place?” Hyeonu couldn’t hold back his laughter upon seeing Gang Junggu. It was so ridiculous. Why did Gang Junggu leave that important position?

“No, I would be able to understand if Seokjung hyung-nim did that. Hyung-nim, why did you leave there? Are you starting to resemble each other?” Hyeonu asked. 

Gang Junggu nodded. He was also feeling it these days that he had begun feeling uncomfortable with that type of position. He replied, “I guess I’ve become older. Now I’m sick and tired of such things. What can I get from staying there anyway? Who will stab New World in the back? There is Hyung-nim, me... you as well.”

It was a waste of time. The result would be the same regardless of whether he was there. He would rather spend that time happily. This meant he was also becoming more similar to Kim Seokjung. 

Hyeonu smiled and continued to talk: “Then you will have to bring in someone like you. If the two of you make trouble together, who will fix things?”

“Make trouble together? It isn’t to that extent yet. I’m too weak to be tied up at the same level as Hyung-nim.” Gang Junggu laughed too.

To reach the same level as Kim Seokjung… 

Gang Junggu had only left his position once. In order to get to the same level as Kim Seokjung, he had to repeat this same behavior dozens more times.

“So how will the main scenario go specifically?” Gang Junggu finally brought up the reason for meeting Hyeonu. To be precise, Hyeonu called Gang Junggu to convey the news.

“I won’t say anything else about the known information. The emperor and Duke Lebron will actively participate in the war.” Hyeonu told Gang Junggu the identities of the NPCs that weren't revealed in the stream.

“If those two people are participating... maybe the guilds will only be divided into two groups.”

“That’s right. I think so as well. More importantly, this war will be unconditionally won by us.”

“Yes, it is a war involving monsters...”

Gang Junggu anticipated that this main scenario would be unconditionally successful. The emperor and Lebron shown in Hyeonu’s video matched the word of ‘monster’. The emperor killed a demon king easily, and Lebron was comparable to him. How could there be a problem when the two of them were together?

“Hyung-nim, I am only telling you this, but... In fact, this main scenario has a big reversal.”

Hyeonu’s words caused an interesting smile to appear on Gang Junggu’s face.

“That story. Hyung-nim will also find it very interesting when he hears it. Won’t he feel a bit sorry if you are the only one who hears it?” Hyeonu asked. 

“I can tell him. What’s the problem?” Gang Junggu urged Hyeonu with his eyes as if telling him to hurry.

“Do you know the term ‘borrowing a knife to kill someone’?”

"I do. What about it?”

'Borrowing a knife to kill someone'—it was an idiom that meant to kill a person by borrowing another person’s strength.

They were words that didn’t match the main scenario.

‘...This is? Don’t tell me?’ A pretty good scenario was drawn in Gang Junggu’s head.

“Is there a demon king involved? The demon king who died the other day is just part of the process?”

The video of the demon king dying at the hands of the emperor was still one of the videos with the most views in the Arena communities. The emperor was an example of what an NPC’s power was like.

“That’s right. The demon king who died that day and the demon king who was on the verge of death—they are the targets.”

“So why continue the war?”

“Remove the roots in advance. What is the use of hitting the head? It's the limbs that we have to cut off.”

“Hah...” Gang Junggu had to laugh. It was really a completely unexpected reversal. There was a figure colluding with them in the main scenario.

“By the way, do you know what is even more interesting?”

“There's even more?”

“The war zone that the demon king we're working with allowed is limited to three cities. However, the map I created depicts five cities,” Hyeonu said. 

Gang Junggu’s eyes widened.

Hyeonu saw it, and his lips curled up in a smile. Then he said, “The emperor has no intention of keeping his promise.”

(3/7) Weekly chapters. No set days. 

Editor: LD

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If there are Korean honorifics you don't understand, please check out my Glossary of Common Korean Terms

Glossary of Common Korean Terms