“The Thunder God has passed away.”

Gong Ju-Ha hadn’t heard wrongly. Her body swayed a bit. She narrowly avoided falling over by grabbing onto a desk, but her head was spinning as she felt sick.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

“...How?” she asked,

She couldn’t say with confidence that they were close, but she had met him many times in official settings. He had a warmth to him that put people at ease. As the hero of this age, she had no other choice but to look up to him.

“It was the Heavenly Demon. Everyone thought he was dead, but he was still alive.”

“...”

The news was a great shock. She hadn’t been there when the Heavenly Demon was killed, but her Guild Master had definitely told her that the Heavenly Demon’s heart had been pierced through.

‘As long as he’s human, it would have guaranteed his death.’

Maybe that meant that the Heavenly Demon had already become something beyond human.

She had a short look of anguish on her face before she opened her eyes.

“...Where was he buried?” she asked.

“His grave is on the 2nd Floor, but they set up an incense altar in the Hall of Heroes. The address is…”

As soon as the receptionist wrote down the address for her on a piece of paper, she turned around. “I need to go visit.”

“But Princess, the other news…”

“Later. Tell me later.”

The receptionist watched as she quickly disappeared.

“...There’s something that you would’ve enjoyed hearing,” they finished.

***

In a large conference room, tens of people were seated around a round table.

“Why did you gather us here today?” someone asked. At the question, countless pairs of eyes turned. They were all staring at two people.

One of them spoke, “Soon, the Korean Player Association will join hands with Silent Moon and go up to clear the 4th floor.”

“Geez, and how long ago did they close access to the 4th floor?”

“We can’t just stand idle.”

“Of course not.” The man nodded. “After all, our organization Climb was founded to climb the floors without any disruptions.”

“Indeed.”

“No disruptions… It always makes me happy hearing that.”

The people—the 57 Guild Masters who made up Climb all smiled. There was no idiot here who didn’t know how they could make use of this piece of information.

“We’ll have a good pretest.”

“A Player Association and a Guild from the same country will try to break the agreement made at the global conference…”

“We should start by emphasizing the exact circumstances and tarnish their honor.”

If they ended up entering the 4th floor, Climb could use the same excuse to do the same thing.

“Once we’re in, there will be nothing to worry about.”

This was a grave misunderstanding, but the other Guild Masters nodded along as if it were a given.

“Of course. With all of us cooperating, we can interrupt the 5 Heroes’ activities.”

“Not only that, but we can also steal credit from them.”

They weren’t deluding themselves because they were crazy. There was a good reason for their faith.

It was thanks to two people sitting at the round table.

“Two Big 6 Guild Masters will be on our side, so who would dare try to deny us?”

“I guarantee that the 5 Heroes will not be able to make any sort of contributions on the 4th floor. They will merely be humiliated.”

Fifty-seven large Guilds and 2 beastly Big 6 Guilds were uniting to bury them, so how could the pathetic Heroes endure it?

“Artifacts of the past are most appealing when they’re displayed at a museum.”

Once the meeting ended, the Guild Masters disappeared into thin air. After all, they were merely holograms from the very beginning.

Once everyone disappeared, the only ones left were the two Big 6 Guild Masters.

An old man wearing traditional Japanese clothing faced the other person. “...Truly, it still feels strange. I never expected to do something like this with you.”

“...”

The other had stayed silent throughout the entire meeting. They were wearing a sharp suit and a slender helmet that covered their entire head. The face blinked with LED lights and displayed an emoticon.

[^_^]

“You are the same as ever. Shoot, I have never been able to understand you.”

[>_0]

“...I will take my leave.”

[B.Y.E]

Once the old man’s hologram faded, the LED turned off, which made the helmet go dark.

***

The Hall of Heroes in Seoul had incense altars set up for Players who had made great contributions. But unfortunately, there weren’t many visitors.

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho was staring at a picture frame. It was covered in white flowers, and the old man in the picture was smiling warmly at something.

‘Kid, you need to smile more. Why is a youngster like you so worried all the time?’

Was it because it had rained a few days ago? Seo Jun-Ho felt like he could hear the Thunder God’s nagging.

“...Then why were you smiling all the time?”

Seo Jun-Ho placed a flower in front of the smiling old man, who didn’t give him an answer.

Even though this was the incense altar of the greatest hero of the era, there weren’t many flowers, let alone burning incense. Seo Jun-Ho continued speaking, feeling like the elder might be lonely.

“...Geon-Woo hyung has disappeared. He won’t return my calls,” he said, lighting an incense stick.

When the Thunder God’s death was revealed, Baek Geon-Woo had taken it the hardest. He had gone white, muttering “no, that’s impossible” as he left the auditorium. Seo Jun-Ho didn’t know what he was doing now, as he couldn’t contact him.

“I’m going to keep looking for him. Because that was your final wish.”

Seo Jun-Ho also explained his future plans. “And I’m going to resume climbing the floors soon.”

His comrades had found traces of the Heavenly Demon while hunting on the 3rd floor, but they hadn’t found anything else. However, there could be traces of him on the 4th floor as well.

“I’ll find him and avenge—”

“Mr. Jun-Ho?”

Seo Jun-Ho turned when he heard a voice calling from behind. His eyes became a little bigger. He had known that there was someone walking toward him, but…

“Captain Gong?”

He hadn’t expected it to be her. He panicked for a moment, unsure of what expression he should have when he greeted her. But at the same moment, she smoothly approached him, looking worried.

“Are you alright?”

“...Huh?”

“Before I went to the 4th floor, I heard that you had been training with the Thunder God.” No one would be indifferent in the face of their master’s death.

Seo Jun-Ho relaxed when he saw the concern in her eyes. “...Somehow. It’s already been three months.”

“You don’t look okay, though? You look so pale and haggard,” she said.

“Well… That’s because I suddenly ran into someone I didn’t expect…”

“Are you talking about me?” she asked, pointing a slender finger at herself. A moment later, she wrinkled her nose a little. “Oh, right. Now that I think about it, you did something mean to me.”

“It wasn’t mean…”

“Anyway, just stay here right here. Don’t go anywhere,” she warned sharply. She went to pay her respects to the Thunder God before coming back.

“Nothing?” she asked.

“...What do you mean?”

“Do you have nothing to say to me?”

Of course, he had something to say. There was so much he wanted to say to her.

Seo Jun-Ho scratched the back of his head.

‘Seeing how she has returned from the 4th floor… I bet she already knows everything.’

That he was the Specter she admired so much...

A few memories flickered through his head.

‘I did lie to her a few times about my identity.’

And he had even given her his autograph while pretending that Specter was another person. He had done the same thing when they fought Janabi, too.

‘Maybe she’s mad that I made her look stupid.’ 

Seeing her wide eyes demanding an answer, he realized that he should apologize first.

“...I’m sorry.”

“Hmph. If you knew you were in the wrong, why did you do it in the first place?”

“I was… Just shy.”

“Hmm.” She crossed her arms and studied his face. Seo Jun-Ho didn’t really seem like he was lying.

‘Geez, why would you feel shy about that?’ 

Seo Jun-Ho had been seriously injured while fighting Janabi. Perhaps he felt embarrassed as a man for showing her his weakness. Gong Ju-Ha understood that very well.

‘But… It’s not like I’m the fragile type.’ 

She was ranked 3rd in the Goblin Guild, which was one of the Big 6. Even compared to all the Players in the world, she was powerful.

She grinned. ‘Wait, that’s kind of cute.’ 

Gong Ju-Ha hit his shoulder. “It’s fine. That’s understandable. I’ve heard that men are sensitive about those kinds of things.”

“...Men?”

“Yes. Because it was a side of you you didn’t want to show, something like that.”

“That’s true.” Seo Jun-Ho had no desire to go around pronouncing he was Specter.

The two of them were talking about different things, but the conversation was surprisingly going smoothly.

“Just tell me. What were you doing while I was up on the 4th floor?” she asked.

“Huh? Did you not hear the news?”

“I was in a rush to get here, so I didn’t hear much.”

Seo Jun-Ho nodded in understanding. “Well, I’ve been working to exterminate the Fiend Association for the past three months.”

“Eh?” She stopped, eyes going wide. “You?”

“Yes.”

“Wait… I understand that you hate fiends, but isn’t that too dangerous? You barely survived,” she said.

“Not really. I was never in real danger. It just took a long time, but I ended up killing all of them either way,” he explained.

“Wait. You actually got rid of the Fiend Association?”

“Yes.” He nodded before continuing, “Of course, I didn’t do it all by myself. The emperor helped greatly.”

“A-ha.” This time, Gong Ju-Ha nodded.

‘So, it was Ruben’s Emperor who destroyed the Fiend Association.’ 

And as for the fiends on Earth, the Player Associations and Guilds would have helped him. Seo Jun-Ho himself… He had probably killed around a few hundred fiends at most.

“Still, that’s amazing,” she said.

“Finding them was annoying, but the fighting itself was simple. The last ones I killed were three Squadron leaders, and I caught them all at once…”

As he told her the story, Gong Ju-Ha looked at him with amusement and a knowing expression.

Seo Jun-Ho realized this belatedly and narrowed his eyes. “What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing~ Nothing at all.” Gong Ju-Ha held back her laughter. She found it cute that he was putting on airs to try to impress her.

‘Pfft, three squadron leaders at once…’ 

Of course, she knew that Seo Jun-Ho had the Frost skill, and she knew he was powerful. However, the Fiend Association’s Squadron leaders were so powerful that even Gong Ju-Ha would have trouble taking on more than two.

“...I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Tell me about the 4th floor.”

“Alright…”

Just as she was about to start speaking, a few Players approached them and bowed. They had been watching them from afar for quite some time now.

“H-hello, Specter-nim!”

“I’ve always looked up to you ever since I was little!”

“I-if it’s not too much, could you take a picture with us and give us autographs…?”

“...Huh?” Gong Ju-Ha blinked. She lowered her voice. “Mr. Jun-Ho. Why are those people calling you Specter-nim?”

“...?” Seo Jun-Ho looked at her like it was obvious. Both of them looked momentarily confused at each other. “Wait… Didn’t you hear about me before you came?”

“I only heard about the Thunder God.”

Seo Jun-Ho stared at her blank face and covered his face with his hand. He spoke a moment later, looking exhausted.

“I’m him.”

“...?”

“I’m actually Specter.”

“Come on, that makes no sense. Why do you look so serious about a joke?” Gong Ju-Ha waved him off, grinning. However, her face slowly crumbled. “...I-it’s a joke, right?”

“Um...”

Seeing was believing.

Seo Jun-Ho sighed and casually lifted a finger.