『The history of the Banquet dates back to the time when a mysterious pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p was found at the Mariposa Sea near the city of Nur. The first eyewitness, José Sánchez (Spain), described the moment as follows:

'It was early dawn. I was looking out from the Port of Nur at the serene sea when I suddenly felt a huge shadow creep up. The night fog blurred my vision, so I couldn't make out its size, but I could tell that its size far surpa.s.sed a normal pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p. It swayed in the sea for about two minutes before vanis.h.i.+ng into thin air.'

The mysterious s.h.i.+p attracted an unusual level of attention, and Earthlings flocked to the Port of Nur to solve the mystery. However, the s.h.i.+p didn't appear again, and the Earthlings disbanded, thinking it was just a simple incident.

Just like that, the incident seemed to have come to a conclusion. But eight days later… an Earthling appeared, claiming to have seen a mysterious s.h.i.+p at the Libera Lake near the city of Eva.

Ze Mei's (China) account corroborated José Sánchez's story, but it didn't attract much attention due to the following two reasons:

1) Nur and Eva were cities on opposite ends of the map, and it was impossible to cross the distance in eight days even by sea.

2) More importantly, Mariposa and Libera weren't connected bodies of water.

However, six days later, an incident arose that took public opinion by a storm. A third account of the same incident came out of Haramark's Ramman River….』

Seol Jihu took his eyes off the paper and took a short break. His eyes were starting to get tired, but he also needed some time to organize his thoughts.

The records showed that the appearances of mysterious ghost s.h.i.+ps signaled the start of the Banquet. After appearing and vanis.h.i.+ng in the waters of the seven kingdoms for two months, 'entrances' would appear all over Paradise.

Then where did these entrances lead to? And why were Earthlings so enthusiastic about the Banquet?

Unquenchable curiosity compelled Seol Jihu to turn his gaze to the records.

『…The entrances all share a few characteristics-

1) They come in all colors and forms.

2) Once ten people enter, they lose the ability to admit more people.

3) Once created, they reappear in the same spot every two years.

4) People who enter are moved to an unknown place that is different every time.』

'An unknown place?'

This particular phrase caught Seol Jihu's attention, but remembering the transfer magic circles used in the rescue mission, he guessed that the entrances had a similar mechanism.

'So that's why the Banquet is unpredictable.'

The fourth characteristic gave a clue as to why the Banquet was unpredictable. The overall structure might be the same every time, but since the place and the detailed contents of the Banquet changed every time, it made sense why there was no clear way to prepare for the Banquet.

The Banquet was separated into three stages. Although finding the entrances were once considered a separate stage, these days, it didn't have much meaning because several organizations noticed the third rule during the second Banquet and had secured over 80 percent of the entrances.

In any case, after moving to the unknown place, the partic.i.p.ants had to go through Stage 1 and Stage 2. The goal for these two stages was to safely arrive at a designated location.

In Stage 2, partic.i.p.ants could receive an item called the 'Dissonant Wish', and the ultimate goal of this stage was to board a s.h.i.+p.

To summarize, Stage 1 and Stage 2 were battles of wits with cooperation as the overarching theme.

If the partic.i.p.ants worked together, although it would take them more time, they would be able to obtain equal rewards. However, it was hard to expect people to cooperate in a situation where selfishness was encouraged.

This was surmised to be the reason for the 'catastrophe' that had erupted during the fourth Banquet.

As for Stage 3, it was unfortunately wrapped in a veil of mystery. Unlike Stage 1 and Stage 2, the requirement for entering Stage 3 changed every time, and almost nothing was known about the goal or the content of this stage.

That was because the survivors of Stage 3 refused to talk about it. To be precise, they were prohibited from talking about it due to an 'oath'.

However, one survivor explained, "That place wasn't a ghost s.h.i.+p, but a treasure s.h.i.+p." From this, people guessed that Stage 3 was inside the mysterious s.h.i.+p that appeared all over Paradise and that the 'Harmonious Wish' could be found inside.

'Dissonant Wish and Harmonious Wish….'

Seol Jihu mulled over the two phrases. The partic.i.p.ants of the Banquet had two opportunities to receive rewards. The interesting thing was that these rewards granted the partic.i.p.ants' wishes.

Of course, absurd wishes like 'Give me the entire world' didn't work, but even within a set limit, being able to obtain whatever one desired was incredibly alluring.

'I see why everyone is so heated up for the Banquet.'

With his interest piqued, Seol Jihu read through the remaining records. As his eyes went down, they became clouded with tension.

『—First Banquet Stage 3 Survivors: 8 / Escapees: 2 / Deaths: 0 Special Note: One of the survivors, Phil Kanoo (Cameroon), announces receiving '+4 Rampaging Fierce Longsword' as Stage 3 reward.

—Second Banquet Stage 3 Survivors: 5 / Escapees: 4 / Deaths: 1 Special Note: One of the survivors, Damv Nyam (Jamaica), advances to Level 5 immediately after the Banquet.

—Third Banquet Stage 3 Survivors: 1 / Escapees: 1 / Deaths: 8 Special Note: The sole survivor, Baek Haeju (Korea), kills everyone other than the sole escapee. She declared, "Stage 3 wasn't a cooperative mission, but a battle royale."

—Fourth Banquet Stage 3 Survivors: 0 / Escapees: 0 / Deaths: 10 Special Note: During Stage 2, a catastrophe occurs, in which partic.i.p.ants kill each other unconditionally. Nothing about Stage 3 has been confirmed, but seeing that no one made it back….』

'…It is estimated that there are no survivors.'

Seol Jihu fell in thought.

[That catastrophic incident only occurred once…. And besides, this one is a special Banquet.]

[What about the Haramark Royal Family? I heard that they planned to ban Earthlings from partic.i.p.ating in the Banquet after that incident.]

[It's been canceled. The recent high death count among High Rankers seems to have affected their decision.]

["If you look at the distribution of partic.i.p.ants, a vast majority of them are Level 4s. Almost everyone who is remotely decent will flock to this event.]

Remembering the words he didn't understand back then, a corner of his heart turned cold. He didn't expect the Banquet to be easy, but the huge drop in the survival rate after the third Banquet was something he couldn't gloss over.

'But why?'

After thinking about the matter for a long time, Seol Jihu's curiosity suddenly approached the root of the problem.

'This Banquet….'

Who, what, when, where, why, how?

Without a doubt, every Earthling who knew about the Banquet would have speculated about the same thing. But no one had a clear answer, with only theories and conjectures being known.

Even Seol Jihu, who had solved one of Haramark's great mysteries, could not think of anything brilliant.

'Whatever.'

Seol Jihu organized the records and lied down on his bed.

Two days before the departure, Kazuki held a simple briefing. A detailed strategy couldn't be formed until the start of the Banquet, but the team wanted to at least make some preparations. They also needed to learn each other's faces.

As such, a total of eight people gathered together. Among them, seven would be partic.i.p.ating in the Banquet.

On Carpe Diem's side were Seol Jihu, Hugo, Chohong, and the Priest Seol Jihu invited, Maria. On Umi Tsubame's side were Ayase Kazuki and…

"O-su!"

A 170-centimeter-tall man whose hair was dyed red and puffed up like a lion's mane.

"My name is Sakamoto Jun!"

The man introduced himself energetically before grabbing Seol Jihu's hands and vigorously shaking them up and down.

Seol Jihu was taken aback. Translucent sungla.s.ses, a casual Hawaiian s.h.i.+rt, wrinkly shorts, and sandals…. How could he put it?…. He felt like the man's att.i.tude and clothes gave off the aura of a free spirit.

"h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo! You're one of the three rising stars who've been the talk of Paradise, right? The First Star Warrior who gave up on becoming a Magician and even brushed aside Sinyoung!"

The man shoved his face up close before Seol Jihu could say anything. Exchanging glances at a nose-close distance, confusion set in Seol Jihu's face. Behind Sakatamo Jun's black sungla.s.ses, his eyes were gleaming sharply like a wild beast.

"Hyung-nim, let me tell you something just in case."

"Huh?"

"I love bulgogi. I like kimchi too. I know most of Korea's famous athletes and I'm a big fan of them."

Jun quickly recited with a serious face. When Seol Jihu laughed and replied, 'Me too', his eyes widened and he smiled back cheerfully.

"Iya~! Looks like I'll get along with Hyung-nim! Great, great. Ah, want one?"

He put his arm over Seol Jihu's shoulders and offered him a cigarette. Hugo, who was watching the exchange, went, "Me too, me too!"

"It's been a while, Hugo Hyung-nim. I heard you recently got yourself into a rough spot."

"It's been ages since then. Hey, you got anything other than mild?"

"Just be happy with it.

"Mmm…."

Jun and Hugo seemed to know each other well. Frankly, given Jun's amiable personality, it wasn't surprising that he would get along with Hugo.

Jun puffed out smoke before going "Oh, shoot!" and hitting his forehead. He then offered Chohong his pack of cigarettes.

"I almost forgot about my Chung-dan Cho-dan Hong-dan