Seo Jun-Ho felt as light as a feather on his way to meet Shim Deok-Gu. Even he was surprised by it. In fact, he wondered if his body and mind had ever felt this light before.

“What’s the occasion? You came here without contacting me,” Shim Deok-Gu said, a little surprised. Seo Jun-Ho was normally bad at staying in contact, often saying that he was too busy, but he had suddenly come down.

“Contacting you? Didn’t Secretary Cha… I mean, didn’t Miss Si-Eun tell you?”

“I thought she was just saying that as a formality.” Shim Deok-Gu opened the refrigerator and poured Seo Jun-Ho a cup of orange juice.

“I would like a Yakult. With a straw,” the Frost Queen ordered.

“...Your wish is my command.” He handed her the drink and squinted at Seo Jun-Ho. “Seeing how quickly you came back down… Did you cause trouble again?”

“Do you think I’m a child? I don’t go around causing trouble all the time.”

“Forget it, then. Actually, I already heard the basics of your current situation.” He sipped on his coffee and continued, “There have been rumors all over the place saying that you’ve been running all over the empire, meeting with nobles. Is it related to that?”

“Bingo.” Seo Jun-Ho gestured him forward with his finger and grinned. “Deok-Gu. My friend.”

“You’re giving me chills, you rascal. Why are you beating around the bush so much?”

“...Huh?” Seo Jun-Ho nodded slowly in agreement.

It was over. And it had taken nearly taken thirty years for him to be able to say that short, simple phrase.

“Wow, and now you’re just smiling to yourself?”

“It’s because I’m happy…”

“...Funny bastard. Seeing how you’re acting, it doesn’t seem like you’ve caused trouble. So, what is it?” Shim Deok-Gu said with a little bit of curiosity.

Seo Jun-Ho explained everything to him. While he was telling the story, Shim Deok-Gu’s expression kept on changing.

“So, for my wish, I asked him to kill all the fiends,” Seo Jun-Ho concluded.

“...Jun-Ho.”

“What?”

“You’re not trying to prank me, are you?”

Seo Jun-Ho let out a small laugh. Shim Deok-Gu looked like he would kill him if he were lying.

“I swear on my life that I’m telling the truth. When have I ever joked about something like this?” Seo Jun-Ho pointed out.

“You never have… But… It’s just so hard to believe.” Shim Deok-Gu snorted and melted into the sofa as if all the energy had left his body. “I never thought you’d be able to use the Iron Blood Emperor.”

“Well, I don’t think it was that hard.”

“Are you serious? No one has ever been able to do that in the last 26 years.”

It was difficult to make the emperor indebted to you. Actually, quite frankly, it was nearly impossible because he was a man who wanted nothing. He owned everything in abundance, and he could do anything he wanted.

“...But if the emperor makes a move, the Fiend Association is completely done for,” Shim Deok-Gu said. Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t tell from his overjoyed face whether he was laughing or crying. “So this long war… is truly coming to an end.”

“It’s still hard to believe, isn’t it? I actually feel the same way.”

“Once the fiends are exterminated, and crime rates plummet… Even then, I don’t think I’ll be able to believe it until a month or two after.”

The two of them exchanged looks and snickered.

“Oh, just a moment,” Shim Deok-Gu remembered something and opened the calendar in his Vita. “Hm… Seems like we’ll be able to make it just in time.”

“For what?”

“There’s going to be an event at the Association in four days’ time.”

“What for?”

“You,” Shim Deok-Gu said, looking straight at Jun-Ho. “Officially, Specter is still hospitalized. But we’re going to announce that he will be taking a seat in the Nine Heavens since the Heavenly Demon left one open. There’s going to be all sorts of famous Players and Guildies, including the Thunder God-nim.”

“Oh, so they went through with it.”

“I think it would be good to announce the news about the fiends then, too.” Shim Deok-Gu couldn’t hide the smile on his face when he imagined it unfolding. “You’re going to give the world a new wave of hope.”

“The Fiend Association is going to disappear without a trace, and the Players will have a new Heaven…” Seo Jun-Ho took a moment to picture it in his head and nodded. “Not bad.”

“It’s not just ‘not bad’. Especially these days, when everyone feels so uneasy.”

“What do you mean? Did something happen again?” Seo Jun-Ho asked. He had been busy curing the nobles in the past few weeks, so he wasn’t very aware of the current events.

“You… Don’t you look at Community?”

“I was busy taking care of the nobles, you see.”

“Mm.” Shim Deok-Gu’s face grew grave as he began to speak. “You know that Players have gone up to the 4th floor, right?”

“I do. Weren’t most of them part of the Big 6 or other big Guilds?”

“That’s right. Not many solo Players went up to the 4th floor. Most of them are in a Guild,” Shim Deok-Gu explained.

“Did something happen to them? Is the 4th floor too hard?”

“I wish we could know. Unfortunately, they’ve cut off contact.”

“Huh?” Seo Jun-Ho didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”

“It’s exactly as I say. We’ve lost all contact with the advance parties. Community doesn’t work, obviously, and not a single Player has returned from the 4th floor.”

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho swallowed. No matter how difficult the floor could be, those were powerful Players who knew their body’s limits and when they should retreat.

‘On top of that, both Shin Sung-Hyun and Wei Chun-Hak are on the 4th floor at the moment.’ 

Had the two Heavens been killed without even a struggle?

‘That’s impossible. There’s no way that the difficulty would suddenly shoot up that high.’ 

Moreover, the 3rd floor was cleared at an unprecedented speed. This meant that with their current overpowered strength, the Players should be able to take care of the 4th floor as well.

“So, there’s something up with the floor itself,” Seo Jun-Ho concluded.

“The Player Association thinks so as well. There are a total of 32,810 Players currently on the 4th floor. There’s no way that all of them died there.”

The advance party was made up of the most elite Players in the world. If they had been completely wiped out, they would have no future. So, they came up with another hypothesis.

“I wonder if the 4th floor is a different type of Floor.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe you can’t move up or down until you defeat the Floor Master.”

A shiver went down Shim Deok-Gu’s spine when he heard that. It was because of none other than the fiends. “If they flocked to the 4th floor as soon as it opened…”

“Yeah, they couldn’t have taken anything with them up there.”

Shim Deok-Gu let out a sigh of relief. “To be honest, that’s what I’ve been most worried about these days. But you’ve put my worries to rest just in time.” It couldn’t be described as anything other than luck.

“I suppose I’ll start getting busy again…” Seo Jun-Ho said.

“The minimum level for entering the 4th floor is 150. Yeah, you’ll be busy.”

It wasn’t just Seo Jun-Ho. His comrades also had to reach level 150.

“It’ll be fun,” he said. He had spent most of his time alone ever since he returned. He stood.

“You’re leaving already?”

“I’m going to visit the hospital.”

“Alright. You’ve worked really hard,” Shim Deok-Gu said as he walked him out the door. He patted Jun-Ho’s shoulder. “Now that I think about it, isn’t it about time for you to wake Mio up?”

“It is,” he replied, glancing at his Vita. “In two days, the 90-day cooldown will be over. I’m going to wake her right away.”

“...So you guys will be five again. My heart is pounding.”

Seo Jun-Ho snickered. But even though he was acting cool, he was even more nervous than anyone else.

“I’ll be back.” He waved and headed to the hospital.

After sending off his friend, Shim Deok-Gu sat back down. Just as he was about to tackle the mountain of documents, he was interrupted.

“Give me one more Yakult. With a straw.”

“...?”

He jumped when he saw the Frost Queen sitting all alone on the sofa. “Wait, aren’t you going to follow Jun-Ho?”

“No.”

“...Why not?”

“If he is visiting Gilberto, it is likely that I will see Skaya.” If she were going to get her cheeks squeezed, she would rather just sit and drink in the cool office, even if it was boring.

“Yakult,” she demanded.

***

“Skaya’s going to meet up with us tomorrow, and Rahmadat said he’s coming right down tonight,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

“That’s good news.”

Gilberto’s hospital room was dreary, especially so because he had never been very talkative or expressive.

“You’ll be able to join us by then, right?”

“I could join you even now. The only reason I’m lying down is that the doctor would throw a fit otherwise.”

“That’s settled, then.” Seo Jun-Ho gathered his belongings and stood up.

Gilberto’s eyes were full of warmth when he looked at him. “I’m sorry and thank you. For taking care of the mess that we made.”

“It’s nothing. When you’re traveling, the one who wakes up the earliest is supposed to make breakfast.” Similarly, the first one to escape from the ice had to hunt the fiends.

Gilberto let out a small laugh. “That sure is something you would say.”

“Take care of yourself, and I’ll see you in two days.”

Once he stepped out of the hospital room, Jun-Ho didn’t go right back to the Player Association.

“He should be at this hospital too…”

The Sword Saint, Kim Woo-Joong had helped him out a lot before, and Seo Jun-Ho knew he was staying in the same hospital. He asked a nurse and was immediately escorted to his room.

Knock knock.

- Come in.

Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes widened when he saw Seo Jun-Ho step in. He was in the middle of slicing an apple for himself.

“M-Mr… Jun-Ho?”

“Didn’t expect me, did you?” Seo Jun-Ho scratched his head. He approached him and pointed to the chair next to the bed. “Can I sit here for a bit?”

“Of course...”

“What kind of patient cuts fruit for himself so pitifully?” He teased.

“...The hospital food tastes bad.”

“Oh, that’s true.” Seo Jun-Ho had eaten plenty of hospital food before, so he nodded in agreement. “Give it to me.”

His hands started to move elegantly once he received the knife. Kim Woo-Joong devoured the apple slices.

“...Ahem.”

Frankly, it was a little awkward. Other than the few times they had met before, they weren’t exactly close.

“You can speak comfortably,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

“...May I?” Kim Woo-Joong’s eyes sparkled a little, and he nodded. “Alright. We’re only one or two years apart, so let us both speak comfortably.”[1]

“Alright.”

“...”

“...”

The conversation fizzled out. They were both too scared to speak casually.

Seo Jun-Ho had cut the apple into different animal shapes without even thinking about it. Perhaps it was because of Weapons Mastery, but he carved out a rabbit, butterfly, swan, tiger, and even a dragon without breaking a sweat.

“It’s good…”[2] Kim Woo-Joong muttered, chewing on the apple slices.

***

“Hm.” The Thunder God looked up at the sky as he stood on the cliff with his hands behind his back. A moment later, he sensed someone behind him.

“The preparations are complete, Master.”

The Thunder God turned at his words and let out a small laugh.

He had given Baek Geon-Woo everything he had. Of course, that didn’t mean that the latter had become as strong as him.

‘All I’ve given him is a snowball and a goalpost.’ 

From now on, Baek Geon-Woo would have to start rolling and rolling the small snowball. Once it was as big as a mountain, he would become the Thunder God.

“...Geon-Woo. It must’ve been hard spendin’ the last few years doin’ nothing but training in the mountains with this old man.”

“Not at all. It was the most valuable time of my life.” It wasn’t just flattery. He truly meant it. Knowing this, the Thunder God couldn’t hold back his laughter. “The only one who has ever had expectations of me and pushed me—saying that I could become strong—is you, Master.”

A tear fell down his face. Whenever the Thunder God gave him a hard time, it made him think of his dead parents.

“Why’s a big kid like ya cryin’?” he scolded.

“...I’m sorry.” Baek Geon-Woo wiped away his tears and spoke. “Master, I’ll ask you one more time. Will you come down with me?”

“Listen, ya rascal. I’ve come to take a likin’ to this place, and I’m going to go down in a few days later anyway.”

“Then I’ll go with—”

“Hush! Hurry up and go before it rains!” The Thunder God said, leering at him. Baek Geon-Woo had no other choice but to bow his head.

“...I will see you on Earth, then.”

“Indeed. I’ll see ya in two days.”

The student had to force his feet to move before he started down the mountain. And even then, he still looked back a few times, with lingering feelings.

“Tsk, tsk. He’s such a softie,” the Thunder God said with a small sigh. He wondered if Baek Geon-Woo would survive in such a perilous world when he had such a kind heart. He sighed again and silently looked up at the sky. He watched the dark clouds gather.

“Geez, and the sky looks like a devil too…” He clicked his tongue and returned to his abode. He had stayed in this house in the mountains for a few years now. It wasn’t much, but he thought it looked quite nice, probably because he had taken a liking to it.

“...”

The Thunder God entered his room and changed his clothes. He took off the worn acolyte robes he always wore and changed into another set of robes that looked as clean as new. After that, he stepped out onto the grounds and sat down on a rock.

As if he were waiting for someone…

Plip, plip…Shwaaaa!

Time passed, and fat raindrops started to fall as if a hole was torn in the sky.

‘He should have gone down the mountain by now.’ 

Just as he began to feel relieved, he heard footsteps. Though they were even, the sharp sounds they produced were frightening.

The Thunder God silently stared at the man who had climbed up the slope and entered his property.

“It has been a while, Thunder God.”

“...I thought you were dead.”

“I have returned. From hell, that is.”

As the Thunder God stood, he slowly gathered his magic energy, warming his body. He looked around and let out a small snort. “Heh, seems like you’re still scared of this old man even after coming back from hell. Seeing how many troops you’ve brought.”

“Be at ease. I will be the only one fighting you.” The man let out a soft laugh and tied back his long, white hair. “I have recently learned something important. Sometimes, this world is too dangerous to walk around alone.”

“...”

The Thunder God silently expanded his senses. He sensed no more than thirty people. However, some of their auras were familiar.

‘Nazad Hallow, Valencia Citrin, Isaac Dvor…’ 

They were all powerful Players who were part of the Nine Heavens. He grinned wide with excitement.

‘What a relief. Thank heavens that I sent him down first.’ 

Crackle. 

Sparks jumped at his fingertips. Thankfully, the sky hadn’t abandoned him. The rainwater splashing at his feet would enhance his power and help him greatly.

“Come,” the Heavenly Demon said solemnly.

The Thunder God did not refuse.

1. In Korea, you’re supposed to speak formally to people you don’t know very well. Even if you do, the younger one has to speak formally to the older one, even if they’re only a year older. But both of them keep using formal speech, despite agreeing to use the casual form. ☜

2. He finally uses casual speak here. ☜