“What balance?” Gi-Gyu asked. 

-Life and Death have reached a balance inside you. In the past, Lucifer, that bitchy wench, said the stronger I am, the greater my effect will be on you.

Gi-Gyu nodded, remembering the conversation with Soo-Jung. Since Lou was the darkness itself and stronger than El, the light, Gi-Gyu could lean toward the dark side.

-But this problem has been solved. I don’t know what you did to fix this gap, but I know it couldn’t have been easy.

Lou sounded a little proud as he continued,

-Anyway, since there is no longer a power gap between Life and Death, there is now a balance inside you. But you must remember that this balance is still not perfect. In a way, your current state might be even worse than befor—

Before Gi-Gyu could respond, El suddenly yelled, having realized something. 

“I get it now! You are standing at the borderline between the two, Master! Because you’re standing right in the middle, you’ve balanced it out for now, but…”

Gi-Gyu still couldn’t understand their conversation. He became especially concerned when he saw El’s eyes waver worriedly. “El?” 

“If anything goes wrong, no one knows which side you would end up on. Once that happens, you’ll have no control over your personality and natur—” 

Before El could finish her sentence, Lou added,

-You might become someone completely different.

“Haa…” Gi-Gyu sighed. His confusion was growing by the minute. It seemed that he was becoming an even more complicated existence.

-Let’s just check one thing.

When Lou suggested, Gi-Gyu asked, “Check what?”

-I’m still concerned about where that Life piece settled down. Try activating your evil eye again. 

Gi-Gyu did so without any objection. Lou and El were the experts in this field, so they were the only experts who could figure out what was going on inside him. 

“Ugh,” Gi-Gyu groaned when he activated his evil eye. It was the same pain he felt before, but he didn’t faint this time. Slowly, one of his eyes changed color, but something was different.

-I knew it.

Lou murmured, and El agreed as she stated, “Both of your eyes have completely different colors. One of them is carrying the evil eye’s power, and..”

-I have no idea what the hell is going on in the other eye.

One of Gi-Gyu’s eyes turned violet as expected, but the other eye turned gray.

***

Gi-Gyu spent another day inside his gate. After checking on the gate’s changes, he met with Rogers. 

“Rogers. I heard you wanted to speak to me,” Gi-Gyu said calmly. Rogers Han was kneeling before him with his head touching the ground. Rogers was no longer the powerful player he once was; he was now akin to the Gi-Gyu of the Maze of Heryond. 

“P-please, I beg of you…” Trembling, Rogers replied, “Please… give me a chance…” 

Rogers had to plead for so long just to get this meeting, so he now begged even more desperately, believing this was his last chance. 

“What chance are you asking for?” Gi-Gyu’s voice was cold. Rogers was starved, denied sleep, and whatnot. He could guess how much pain and suffering a weakened Rogers must have endured while building the pyramid.

However, he still clearly remembered how Rogers tortured him and how Rogers behaved and spoke to him. He thought enough time had passed for him to forget the matter, but when he faced Rogers again, the memory came back rushing.

Gi-Gyu smirked, thinking, ‘Have I always been such an unforgiving man?’

Gi-Gyu’s hands trembled slightly as he tried to control his rage. The problem was that Rogers mistook Gi-Gyu’s smile as a sign of forgiveness. 

Rogers thought in excitement, ‘This is my chance!’

The neck stabbing and all that pyramid work had made Rogers’ voice terribly hoarse. Sounding like one of the undead monsters, Rogers begged, “Ironshield! Your goal is to kill Ironshield, isn’t it? I will help. I will help you with everything I have got!” 

Rogers no longer resented Gi-Gyu. Actually, he did, but Gi-Gyu was no longer on the top of his “I wanna drink their blood” list—Ironshield was. His former guild master used him by giving him Nine, so he believed his current unfortunate state was all because of Ironshield. 

‘I want revenge.’ Rogers thought with a shiver. He wanted to rip Ironshield into a million pieces. Feeling Rogers’ desperate need to kill Ironshield, Gi-Gyu thought, ‘I guess Hart did very well.’

An insidious idea Gi-Gyu and Hart came up with was why Rogers felt so strongly about Ironshield. When he first captured Rogers, physical torture didn’t seem all that appealing. So, he came up with a better way to make Rogers suffer, and the idea involved Hart, who could use black magic. 

Brainwashing and hypnotism played a significant part in Rogers’ torture. Of course, he resented his old guild master, but not to this extent. Hart increased Roger’s hatred toward Ironshield by a hundredfold using magic and psychology.

Gi-Gyu asked coldly, “You want to help? You no longer have any power as a player. You’re basically a non-player, so how could you help me?” 

“I can level up again quickly! I’ve already climbed the Tower once! I can do it again, and it will be much quicker this time. I will become strong fast an—” Rogers explained hurriedly, but Gi-Gyu cut him off, “No.” 

Gi-Gyu shook his head firmly and continued, “The abilities you lost to Nine aren’t something you can get back. You probably can’t even level up now. Even if you could, you can not become as strong as before.”

When Rogers got Nine, he thought it was a holy sword. Ironshield fooled him into taking this sneaky sword, but Nine could only absorb Rogers’ power because Rogers had given his permission.

Rogers didn’t know, but Gi-Gyu could see very clearly. When Nine took away Rogers’ power, it broke his shell. It wasn’t damaged enough to kill Rogers, but the life he had left wasn’t much of a life either. There was no way for Rogers to recover from this.

“T-this can’t be…” Rogers moaned helplessly. 

Gi-Gyu continued, “Ironshield had always considered you disposable. Even if you survive and return to him now, the Iron Guild wouldn’t accept you. You can’t convince your old friends to revolt against him either, if that’s your plan.” 

After making clear how worthless Rogers was, Gi-Gyu even said, “You’re nothing now. You’re useless.”

“Ackkk! Ackk!” Rogers buried his head in the ground and began to scream. The howls were so gruesome that Gi-Gyu couldn’t even tell if Rogers was screaming or crying. Gi-Gyu remained quiet and waited patiently. 

“But I…!” Suddenly, Rogers jerked his head back up and looked at Gi-Gyu as if he had remembered something. The tears, snot, and dirt made his already horrendously bony face even more ghastly. 

But…

‘I can see the fire still burning in his eyes.’ Gi-Gyu noted that Rogers’ eyes were burning with something strong. 

Rogers continued, “I know all the corrupt things Ironshield has done till now! Every illegal and unethical deed! If these things are revealed to the public, it will damage his perfect reputation! Please! Let me at least do that to him!” 

It was Rogers’ last desperate attempt at his revenge.

Disregarding his desperation, Gi-Gyu asked bluntly, “How can I trust you?”

“...” 

Hatred was a strong emotion, but it wasn’t enough for Gi-Gyu to trust his prisoner. He could ask Rogers to tell him all about Ironshield’s corrupt ways and then expose Ironshield himself. However, who do you think the public would believe: An up-and-coming ranker badmouthing Ironshield or the head of Iron Guild’s Korean branch?

So, everything came back to trust, or the lack of thereof. Gi-Gyu had brainwashed Rogers, but it wasn’t a perfect process. If Gi-Gyu allowed Rogers to leave the gate, there was no way of knowing what he might do. He was currently living a life worse than death, so he had nothing to lose or fear. Consequently, Gi-Gyu couldn’t force Rogers to obey him outside the gate. A player’s contract was the best binding contract in the player world, but the worst punishment for breaking this contract was death. It could exercise no power over Rogers. 

Realizing what Gi-Gyu was thinking, Rogers stammered, “I-I will do anything…” He was beginning to lose hope, and the belief that he could never convince Gi-Gyu was also slowly settling in.

‘The fire in his eyes is dying.’ Gi-Gyu could see Rogers losing all hope. “Are you willing to do anything?”

“Of course!” Rogers answered immediately. 

“I value your determination.” When Gi-Gyu commented, Rogers replied, “Thank yo—”

Slice.

Before Rogers could even blink, Lou beheaded him. 

“u…” Rogers finished the last word as his head rolled on the ground until it hit Gi-Gyu’s foot. 

***

Finally, Gi-Gyu set out to leave the gate. Save for the time he spent in that exceptional gate after El’s death, he had spent most of his time in Brunheart’s gate. When he tried to leave, he was met with a little problem.

“Our knight’s order must serve you, Grandmaster!” Hal roared in determination.

“I will protect you even outside the gate, Grandmaster!” Hamiel begged. 

Unlike Hart, who focused on protecting the gate, newly named death knight Hal and angel Hamiel insisted on following Gi-Gyu outside the gate. 

“Are you crazy?” Gi-Gyu exclaimed in shock. With his giant wings, anyone could tell that Hamiel was an angel. And there was no mistaking Hal, with his armor and gloomy appearance, for an innocent civilian. If he walked around with these two creatures, he would be the center of attention everywhere he went. He had decided that he would no longer hide his identity, but he certainly didn’t want to become the center of everyone’s attention. 

“But I must stay by your side, Grandmaster! If I can’t…! If anything happens to you…!” When Hal kneeled and bowed deeply, one of the other durahans approached him and raised his halberd to behead Hal.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Gi-Gyu yelled in confusion as he pushed the durahan away. The durahan with the halberd took an awkward step back before falling. 

Hal tried to explain, “If I can’t be by your side to protect you, death is my only punishment.” 

“Just be quiet already!” Gi-Gyu ordered in frustration. The other durahans no longer tried to behead their leader, but Hal still refused to stand up. 

Meanwhile, Hamiel begged loudly as well, “Grandmaster! I feel the same way! I must be by your side to protect you! Grandmaster!” 

Gi-Gyu’s head began to pound as their insistence on accompanying him frustrated him to no end. Hal had become as strong as a ranker thanks to the recent change; Hamiel and the other angels were even more powerful than Hal. They would undoubtedly be a great help to Gi-Gyu, but their appearance was too noticeable.

Old Man Hwang reassured him, “Don’t worry.”

The blacksmith was spending a lot of time inside the gate lately. Even Min-Su entered the gate often nowadays. His eyes glowing at the challenge, Old Man Hwang announced, “I will try to find a way.” 

Gi-Gyu suspected Old Man Hwang had an idea to help this situation. After spending so much time inside the gate, the blacksmith probably found new and different ways to use the gate. 

With a sigh of relief, Gi-Gyu ordered, “Then Hal and Hamiel, you will stay here until Mr. Hwang can find a way.”

“But…!” When Hal and Hamiel tried to protest, Gi-Gyu glared at them and asked, “Are you disrespecting Lou and El’s ability to protect me?”

“...” Hal and Hamiel became speechless. Hal feared Lou, perhaps because Lou used to be the demon king, while Hamiel and the other angels had great respect for El, probably because she was the Empress of holy swords. Gi-Gyu didn’t exactly know what El was, but he was told that she was also the empress of the angels. 

In the end, Hal and Hamiel replied, “As you wish, Grandmaster.”

“Haha, they may be very stubborn, but you must be very pleased with their loyalty, Young Man. This world is so different from outside,” Old Man Hwang laughed and commented. He said to Hal and Hamiel confidently, “Don’t worry. I will find a way soon.” 

“Ah, also”—Old Man Hwang turned toward Gi-Gyu—“keep the details of this gate a secret. I’m talking about its abilities and the number of soldiers it holds. Someday, this gate will become your secret weapon.”

“Of course.” Gi-Gyu nodded with a serious look in his eyes. “I will see you soon, Sir. And please take good care of everyone inside this gate.”

“I will.”

“Hart, you take care of yourself too.” When Gi-Gyu said to Hart, the monster nodded quickly.

“Then I'll be back soon.” 

Finally, Gi-Gyu left the gate. When he left the basement and entered the front yard, he saw Bi, in his puppy form, running around, playing. It was snowing, and Bi was having a lot of fun. 

“Oppa!” Yoo-Jung, who came out to feed Bi, spotted Gi-Gyu and yelled. 

With a smile, Gi-Gyu greeted her, “Hey. Long time no see, Yoo-Jung.”

“Ugh, don’t be so nice. It’s creepy. By the way, what brings you here finally?! Ah! I know! I guess you’re human after all!” When Yoo-Jung exclaimed, Gi-Gyu’s eyes widened in confusion. Realizing Gi-Gyu had no idea what she was talking about, Yoo-Jung gasped and asked, “You didn’t know?”

“Know what?” 

Unable to hide her shock, Yoo-Jung screamed, “Today is Christmas!”

“...?” 

She stared at him while he continued to gape. Meanwhile, Bi rushed toward her for food as snow continued to fall.