“What?” Shim Deok-Gu’s face fell. He was holding a large bottle of champagne and was even wearing a cone party hat in preparation for the congratulations party for Rahmadat’s return. “I see…So, he’s not coming here right away…”

He took off the hat. “Yeah, I get why he wouldn’t want to hang out with a bald old man.”

“That’s not the reason—probably,” Seo Jun-Ho said. He shrugged and sat down on the sofa, eating the crackers that Shim Deok-Gu had prepared. “And why are you throwing a party all of a sudden? You should’ve thrown one for Skaya. She would’ve liked it.”

“A-ahem.” Shim Deok-Gu quietly looked away, making an excuse. “It’s just that Rahmadat is the type that likes to eat and drink, so I was gonna throw one for him.”

“Yeah, he still eats as much as always. That’s why I told you to join us for dinner.”

“It was a time for you guys to catch up as comrades for the first time in a while. Why would I go? I was just being tactful.”

“...You rascal.” Seo Jun-Ho grinned. Even though Shim Deok-Gu didn’t think of himself as Seo Jun-Ho’s comrade, Seo Jun-Ho still saw him as one.

‘It would’ve been fine if he came.’ 

Actually, Shim Deok-Gu was quite close to the 5 Heroes, close enough to be considered a friend.

After all, he was Seo Jun-Ho’s best friend and Skaya’s former lover.

“Well, since things turned out like this, let’s talk business.”

“...I just got back. Can’t I rest for a bit?” Seo Jun-Ho complained.

“No,” Shim Deok-Gu said firmly, like a strict teacher. “I have some important news. It’s hot off the press from the 3rd floor.”

“...The 3rd floor?” Seo Jun-Ho immediately sat up after lying down like a dried fish. “Wow, you guys are in contact with the 3rd Floor?”

“There are quite a few Association employees who went up there, and more importantly, we’ve been maintaining contact with the Big 6.”

“Wow~ Our Deok-Gu’s so cool. So what is it? Is it good news?” Seo Jun-Ho asked quietly with interest.

“There’s good news and something that you’ll find fun.”

“So that means there’s no bad news.”

“Thankfully. What do you want to hear first?” Deok-Gu asked.

Jun-Ho considered this for a second before he spoke, “The good news.”

“I knew you would. The good news is that they’ve already discovered the Floor Master of the 3rd floor.”

“Already?! I mean, how long have they even been up there?” As Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes went wide. Shim Deok-Gu opened a hologram window in the air. It displayed a graph analyzing the power of the monsters on the 3rd floor in comparison to Players. “...It’s not even close.”

“We have been tied up on the 2nd floor for too long. The Nine Heavens and the High Rankers have enthusiastically been grinding on the 3rd floor nonstop.”

“I mean, I heard the rumors, but…” He hadn’t expected them to discover the Floor Master already. If that was the case, the next step was obvious. “So, have they decided which Guild would kill it yet?”

“That’s the fun part.” Shim Deok-Gu had a mischievous expression on his face. “Hey, Jun-Ho. Who do you think would get to kill the Floor Master?”

“I’m not sure. If whoever discovered it first wanted to sell the information, they would hold a public auction for it. Or, they might hold duels to decide who gets to join the campaign.”

“Usually, that’s what would happen. But it’s different this time.”

“...It sounds like the 3rd floor is a real mess right now.”

“Well, that depends on who you ask…”

Shim Deok-Gu glanced down at his watch.

[PM 11:59]

“It’s almost time,” he said.

“What are you talking about?” Seo Jun-Ho asked.

“Well, it’ll be faster to show you rather than to explain.”

Just as he finished speaking, both Seo Jun-Ho and Shim Deok-Gu’s Vitas started to go off, beeping loudly.

“I think the articles are out. Take a look.”

“Articles…?” Seo Jun-Ho quickly opened up the Internet. His eyes narrowed. As Shim Deok-Gu had said, there were dozens of articles, and they were labeled ‘breaking news.’

[Breaking news! Big 6 begins individual campaigns to defeat the 3rd floor Floor Master.]

[Will this be the fastest a Floor has ever been cleared?]

[Player Association Presidents from multiple countries criticize the current situation. “The Big 6 should not act like this when they are supposed to be role models”]

[The treasure in front of you makes you blind.[1] The Big 6 finally shows their greed after 26 years.]

…

Seo Jun-Ho played the short video attached to the article. It showed a turtle as big as an island, and the volcano on its shell had lava leaking out of it. The ones fighting it were the Big 6’s elite Players. They were getting in each other’s ways, each trying to hunt the Floor Master down for themselves. It was total chaos.

‘...There are Heavens there too?’ 

In that case, the articles must be telling the truth.

Seo Jun-Ho was furious. “Those crazy bastards!”

“It makes no sense, right?”

“Forget that; what the hell are they even doing?!”

“...That’s why I need you to do something.” Shim Deok-Gu gestured for Seo Jun-Ho to come closer, and he whispered in the latter’s ear.

***

“...”

The Heavenly Demon was standing on an unnamed cliff, leisurely watching the Community window.

He spoke, “Shadow.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“What do you think defines humans?”

“...” It was a hard question. Shadow wasn’t sure whether he should say his honest opinion or he should say what the Heavenly Demon wanted to hear.

“Speak freely,” the Heavenly Demon reassured.

Only then did Shadow speak, “I believe that it is adaptability.”

“Why do you think so?”

“There are no other organisms that can assimilate as well as humans. Based on the environment, they can become a demon or an angel. I believe that is the nature of humans.”

“An interesting thought.” The Heavenly Demon nodded. “I think that humans are defined by their innocence.”

“...Innocence, you say.” Shadow was a little surprised. He had expected the Heavenly Demon he knew to answer with something like “violence” or “destruction.”

“After all, naive greed[2] can make one fall deep into the depths of darkness.”

“Do you speak of the innocence of a child?” Shadow asked.

“It is a little different, but it will take too long to answer, so I shall leave it at that.”

The Heavenly Demon closed the article he had been reading. According to what it said, the Big 6 were blinded by greed and were carrying out individual campaigns against the Floor Master.

“This naive kind of greed makes people lose their reason,” he concluded.

“Even so, the members of the Big 6 are not an unreasonable lot,” Shadow said. The article was clearly strange. No matter how he tried to wrap his head around it, he couldn’t see the Big 6 being so incompetent.

‘If they truly have fallen to the level of beasts…’ 

Shadow slumped. Had the Fiend Association been preparing all this time for the likes of them? He had lost sleep gathering forces and planning missions, but it felt like it had all been in vain.

“Does it feel like a waste?” The Heavenly Demon saw right through his emotions.

“N-no.”

“I told you to speak freely.”

“...Truthfully, I am a little—no, I am very disappointed.”

It would make more sense to rejoice if your enemy was weak. However, Shadow had spent more than ten years tenaciously planning against them, and he felt like it had all been for nothing. He was disappointed that his efforts had gone to waste.

“6 years ago, I went to the capital with Valencia,” the Heavenly Demon said.

“Oh!” Shadow exclaimed. This was a story that had been passed down as a legend in the Fiend Association. The two of them had come back unscathed after defeating the imperial soldiers, three Heavens, and members of the Big 6.

“I was disappointed. The Players who had once annihilated the fiends were merely at that level.”

“You are simply too powerful, Chairman.”

“Correct.” He nodded. “It was because I was too powerful. So on that day, I decided to change my methods.”

“...?”

The Heavenly Demon’s original goal had been to become powerful enough so that no one else could ever beat him. That had once been his ideals.

“That day, I showed off my great power. But I realized something when I saw the futile anger in their eyes.”

It wasn’t enough.

It was too easy to make someone kneel through force.

So, he needed more...[3]

“Let us depart.”

At his order, Shadow gestured with his hand. At that, the tens of thousands of fiends on standby below the cliff started to move.

[So neither the Player Association nor I, Specter, will let the Big 6 get away with…]

The Heavenly Demon closed the Community window. It had been showing the emergency press conference Specter held in regard to the Big 6’s selfish actions.

“...Do not disappoint me,” he muttered.

He turned around and started to walk in the same direction as the fiends.

They were headed toward the Starting City Gilleon. The Fiend Association would capture it today.

***

“Hm.” Rahmadat fixed his eyes on the giant pillar at the end of the horizon. “Is that the Dimensional Elevator?”

“Yeah. It’s huge, isn’t it?”

“If we can see it so clearly all the way here… Yeah, it definitely is.”

His heart pounded. He wanted to hurry up and go to the 2nd floor to pummel fiends and new monsters. He felt a strange sort of anticipation as he straightened his clothes.

“Do I look okay?” he asked.

“...Better than usual,” Skaya said.

“Hehe, that’s good enough.”

Rahmadat was wearing a suit, and he and Skaya were in an area near the Pacific. This place was called Nest,[4] also called the Player Cadet Academy. It was a place that cultivated young Players, those who had awakened their skills at a young age, and those trying to become one.

‘Your dream came true, Joya.’

Rahmadat’s lover, Joya Vishuta, was also a Player. More precisely, she was a healer. He smiled when he recalled that her dream had been to become a school nurse.

“Where’s the infirmary?” he asked.

“This way.”

Skaya led the way using the school’s map. They walked for about ten minutes before they came to face a building.

“Is it this one?”

“Yup. But Rahmadat…” Skaya started carefully. But before she could finish, a beautiful woman opened the door and stepped out of the infirmary. She stretched under the tropical sun.

“Joya…” Rahmadat whispered. The woman he knew hadn’t aged a day, and she looked exactly the same as she had in the past.

“Wait!” Skaya stopped him before he could step forward. “...That’s not Joya.”

“What do you mean? Joya’s right…” The words died in his throat. Behind her, a ladylike woman stepped out of the infirmary, smiling as she spoke.

“I won’t get to see you much once you’re off to college.”

“Come on, Mom. It’s not like I’m going to the Frontier. It’s just in Europe.”

“...Make sure not to skip any meals.”

“I’ll only be able to do that if you give me more allowance… Hehe.”

The two of them linked arms and slowly walked away.

“...This is what it means for time to pass.”

“...”

Their today was other people’s tomorrow. Rahmadat looked like he wanted to run after her, but he let out a long sigh.

Joya looked happy.

If they met, Rahmadat knew that she would probably start crying and bask in his happiness like it was her own.

“...Well, there’s no point in doing that. It looks like she got married and has a happy life, so it’s fine,” he said.

Rahmadat turned around and started toward the path they had come from. Skaya walked by his side.

“It’s hard, isn’t it?” she said, trying to comfort him.

“I don’t need your pity… Oh, that was insensitive. I’m sorry.” Rahmadat realized what he had done and apologized right away.

Skaya had definitely gone through the same thing.

“Still, I have always—”

Just as she was about to say something, a loud explosion rang in their ears, and it sounded as if the world were falling apart.

Baaaaam!

“...?!”

“W-what was that?”

They quickly turned around, and their faces fell.

It came from the giant pillar in the horizon. Black smoke was coming out of the Dimensional Elevator.

1. A Korean idiom basically warning against the dangers of avarice. ☜

2. It doesn’t translate over too well, but it basically describes having greed itself as blameless and natural. ☜

3. The word for ‘ideals’ and ‘more’ are the same. So it could also be read as ‘he needed to achieve those ideals,’ as in a different one from before. ☜

4. This is a romanized word, which is different from the Frost Queen’s nest. ☜