As usual, Hyeonu and Yeongchan were eating at the officetel. Then someone’s smartphone started vibrating in the living room. The vibration was loud in the silent atmosphere.

“Hey, your phone is ringing.”

“Isn’t that your phone? Mine is in my room?”

Hyeonu and Yeongchan placed the blame on the other person’s smartphone. In the meantime, the smartphone showed off its presence. The sound was very loud. It was probably because it was on the wooden tabletop in front of the sofa. Eventually, the impatient Yeongchan got up from his seat and went out into the living room.

“Hey, it really is yours!” Yeongchan stomped into the living room and threw the smartphone at Hyeonu.

Hyeonu quickly got up and received his smartphone.

“Really? Sorry.”

Hyeonu shrugged and answered the phone. It had already been around one minute since the vibration first sounded. It was on the verge of cutting off. “Hello?”

-Hello? Is this the contact number of Gang Hyeonu-nim—Alley Leader?

It was a voice he was hearing for the first time, so Hyeonu removed the smartphone from his ear and checked the number on the screen.

‘I’ve never seen this number before...’

“Yes, I am Gang Hyeonu. Who are you?”

Hyeonu naturally asked for the identity of the other person. He couldn’t continue a phone call with someone he didn’t know.

-My name is Kim Jinyeong and I’m the head of the operations team at Quency. Is it possible to talk to you?

The man who called Hyeonu was a Quency employee who serviced Arena.

‘What? Why is the company contacting me?’

Hyeonu had a blank face and was lost in thought for a moment. Contact with Quency wasn’t very common. He had never seen or heard of a player who had been contacted by them.

-You might have concerns about how I got your phone number, so I am informing you in advance. The number was provided by Nike Management and they probably contacted Gang Hyeonu-nim separately.

Kim Jinyeong added in detail when Hyeonu’s reply didn’t come out immediately. It was just in case.

“Ah, I wasn’t worried about that. It is just that no one has been contacted by Quency before... I’m surprised I got contacted.”

-Ah, is that so? In fact, I am the same. This is the first time we’ve contacted a client.

Kim Jinyeong sighed with relief at Hyeonu’s moderate response. It was slightly different from what was shown on the live streams or in Arena. He secretly thought that he would knock against this person.

“Can I hear about why you contacted me?”

-The reason we contacted you is because... it is to ask you to visit our headquarters.

“A visit to Quency? Do I have to go?”

Hyeonu expressed his instinctive rejection of the words ‘visit the headquarters.’ He didn’t know why. For some reason, this feeling just suddenly came.

-It won’t be harmful to you, Gang Hyeonu. It is a meeting related to the coronation of the emperor. The details have been sent to Nike Management.

“The coronation of the emperor? Is there such a thing?”

It was the first time Hyeonu heard about this.

A coronation—he thought there might be one, but he didn’t expect to hear about it through someone else’s mouth.

-Don’t you know? A message has already gone out all over Arena, but... it was also posted as an announcement. To give Gang Hyeonu-nim the most understandable example... think back to the time when a new demon king was born. 

Kim Jinyeong’s explanation was very straightforward. There was no easier explanation to understand.

‘From that time?’

Hyeonu seemed to roughly know when the message that Kim Jinyeong was talking about appeared.

‘It is when Lebron or those three people appeared.’

There were only two moments when he lost his sense of reason. Other than that, there were no times when he wouldn’t be able to see the message.

“Okay, I will talk to Nike Management and then send you an answer through my management.”

However, Hyeonu didn’t give an answer right away. His judgment would be made after gaining an accurate picture of the situation.

-Yes, I shall await your communication.

That was the end of the call with Kim Jinyeong.

“Why is Quency looking for you?” Yeongchan, who was quietly listening to Hyeonu’s call, opened his mouth.

“Why? They are looking for me because it is worth looking for.”

“Is it due to being the emperor?”

Despite Hyeonu’s mischievous reply, Yeongchan stated precisely the reason why.

“Did you know?”

“Then you don’t know? It is written everywhere.”

Hyeonu didn’t know it because he slept after the shocking incident, but the fact that Hyeonu had become the emperor was a huge topic. News about Arena took up a significant portion of not only the Arena community sites, but also the general search sites.

“Really? I didn’t know that.”

It was Hyeonu’s first time hearing about it.

“I’m sure you have received many congratulatory messages.”

Hyeonu heard Yeongchan’s words and ran to his messaging app. He turned on the app and the number 999+ greeted Hyeonu.

“Hey, there really is a lot? It is 999.”

“Is 999 right? I think it is more than that? The number probably only goes up to there.”

Yeongchan shook his head. It couldn’t be so little. Few people knew Hyeonu’s number, but it wasn’t to the extent that it would be this low.

“That’s right. I think a bit more has come.”

Hyeonu frowned as he looked at the numerous messages.

‘I have to reply...’

Hyeonu started to reply to a few people. He took care of his relatively close friends first. It was because it seemed like they would end up meeting first before he replied to them if he was to reply in the order of the messages.

-Seokjung hyung-nim: Congratulations, Brother. You eventually became the emperor. Why don’t we meet for a drink? I really miss you, our brother.

-Junggu hyung-nim: Congratulations on becoming emperor. Let’s work hard in the future. However, it will be a bit tough. It is never easy to take charge of people and lead them. Call me at that time. If there is anything I can do, I will help you.

The first ones Hyeonu replied to were Kim Seokjung and Gang Junggu. The two of them were the fastest to send the messages and were the most sincere ones. After the two of them, Hyeonu replied to congratulatory messages from Reina, Mascherano, and the others who had been with him that day. Then he placed his smartphone on the table.

‘I have to stop here.’

His fingers hurt when he tried to send so many messages when he had never done so before.

“Let’s just play the game.”

Hyeonu sighed and walked into the room.

*** 

Hyeonu saw unpleasant faces as soon as he logged into Arena.

The administrator and chief of staff—the two people greeted Hyeonu.

“Your Majesty, it is time to handle government affairs.”

“I will guide you to the office.”

The moment they saw him, they pushed Hyeonu without a break. They didn’t give Hyeonu time to answer.

“Time...”

Hyeonu raised his hand to the two of them, but it didn’t work. The chief of staff and the administrator grabbed Hyeonu’s hand one after the other.

“You can take a break in the office.”

“The chair in the office is very comfortable, Your Majesty.”

Hyeonu was led to the office by the two men. The office wasn’t far from the great hall. It was only a five minute walk.

“This is the office of Your Majesty.”

The office was good. It was full of gorgeous furniture. In particular, the chair was covered with different decorations to the point where the original form is unknown.

“The things on the desk are what Your Majesty should handle today.”

There was a pile of papers on the desk. It looked like hundreds at least.

“I have to do all of this?”

Hyeonu frowned as soon as he saw the papers. There were too many.

“Don’t be too surprised, Your Majesty. This is less than usual.”

“These are from all over the empire. It definitely isn’t a lot.”

The chief of staff and the administrator calmed Hyeonu down. Hyeonu sighed loudly and sat down on the chair.

“Sigh... I got it, so please stop and get out.”

Then he waved his hand at the two men.

“I’ll be going now.”

The chief of staff bowed and stepped back. However, the administrator didn’t leave. Rather, he approached Hyeonu.

“There is a jade seal if you open the first drawer. You should stamp it after looking at the government affairs. Make sure you do so.”

The administrator made a stamping action. Then he stepped back and exited the office.

‘Is there a jade seal here?’

It was as the administrator said. He opened the drawer and there was a colorful dragon-shaped jade seal. Hyeonu held the jade seal with a curious expression and looked around.

‘I have to take a look.’

Hyeonu picked up a stack of papers on the desk with an empty expression. Just then, message windows emerged in front of Hyeonu.

[The emperor’s tutorial on government affairs has begun.]

[Starting the government affairs.]

[Please look at the paper on the desk.]

Hyeonu followed the tutorial and picked up a piece of paper to look at it.

[Complaints from Korope]

[The frequent appearance of monsters in the wild hills near Korope has caused serious damage to the local residents. Let’s resolve the complaint.

Rating: D

Conditions: Kill the wild monsters near Korope 0/1,000, the satisfaction of the people of the Korope territory 0/1]

Rewards: Experience, imperial contribution.]

‘Where is Korope?’

Hyeonu didn’t know where Korope was. However, he noticed from the low rating that the degree of dissatisfaction wasn’t severe.

[Please select a solution.]

[Dispatch an imperial knights division.]

[Send an order to suppress the monsters to the lord of Korope.]

[Organize an adventurer’s suppression team.]

A total of three options appeared. Two were related to NPCs and the remaining one was related to players.

‘Isn’t number 3 the best?’

There must be players in Korope as well. Then it would be better to give the players a quest than to move the NPCs.

Bang!

Hyeonu stamped the jade seal on option 3.

[You have chosen a solution.]

[Please set up the rewards.]

[Experience.]

[Experience and imperial contributions.]

[Experience and items.]

[Experience and...]

The next step was to set a reward for the players who would clear the quest.

‘There is nothing more to look at. It is unconditionally experience.’

There were many options, but Hyeonu stamped the first option of experience points as soon as he saw it.

[Ending the government affairs.]

[Compensation will be paid.]

[If the complaint from Korope is resolved, then the remaining compensation will be paid.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

[You have acquired 1 empire contribution.]

 ‘It is really quite a lot of experience?’

Hyeonu’s eyes widened. He gained a lot more experience than he expected. He thought it would be possible to level up if he finished everything accumulated on the desk.

[The emperor’s tutorial on government affairs will end.]

The tutorial ended with this. It seemed that the rest of the work wouldn’t be too difficult. It was just that the amount was too much.

‘How many sheets are there?’

Hyeonu started to count the papers, sheet by sheet. The number went up endlessly. It went over 10, over 100, and headed toward 500. At the same time, the jade seal in Hyeonu’s right hand often made a banging sound.

“What type of emperor is this?!” Hyeonu wanted to throw away the jade seal, but he barely endured it as he shouted.

‘Extraordinary measures are needed.’

He needed other victims to rescue him from hell.