Drrrk -!

In a large meeting room .

With a large U-shaped table in the center of it, and all the people sitting around it were in unison .

“Mr . Chairman is coming in . ”

A middle-aged man dressed in a black suit came into the room after the door was opened by the doormen and walked in the direction of the chairman .

Was he around forty?

Although he looked young and sophisticated to be considered as middle-aged, the wrinkles around the man's eyes were deep .

He was 'Nam Taehoon', the chairman of the planning team, which was responsible for the overall planning of Kailan's huge gaming industry .

He entered the gaming market when he was in his early twenties and became a founding member of the LB company and now had a profound influence on the development of Kailan .

Even though he was in his forties, he still had a great sense of game planning and that was the reason why he was still a respected person .

Thud-!

As he was sitting down in his chair, he placed the paperwork that he brought with him onto the table and the people who stood as he arrived sat down .

The situation in the conference room was rather serious and nerve-wracking .

The reason why the whole gaming company was giving out serious vibes was because the meeting for today had a very important cause .

Seven executives, general managers and three executives from each of the seven planning teams .

This meeting that was being held today along with the marketing team was an important meeting that was held only twice every year .

It would be no exaggeration to say that this meeting would determine Kailan's planning direction for the coming second half of the year .

Nam Taehoon looked around the room and said after much thought .

“It isn't just one or two things that I want to talk about… but for now, I'll start with the most pressing and concerning issue . ”

The same moment his words ended, the screen behind him was turned on showing everyone in the room a presentation .

On the screen, were ten beautifully arranged pictures .

Nam Taehoon's gaze moved towards the man who was sitting in the far right .

“Yu Hwan . You can start . ”

“Sure Mr . Chairman . ”

He was the head of Team 3 and the youngest team leader of the planning department .

Yu Hwan spoke with a strong voice and got up from his chair and approached the screen .

As he reached his hand out to the screen, the image selected by him was magnified .

The enlarged image directly produced an image .

“Currently, you're seeing the guild of the two countries . As you can see on the right-hand side of the screen, it is very similar to what we have predicted at the beginning of the year . ”

The contents reproduced by the image were the largely divided 3 continents of Kailan .

The images of the guilds that were in the continent were in 3D which were very attractive to one's eyes .

Nam Taehoon nodded and said .

“So, the one in red is t.i.tan and the territory of Lotus is in blue . ”

At which Hwan answered immediately .

“Yes, Mr . Chairman . As you can see, everything is properly balanced . ”

“Hmm… it was an excellent choice, it was indeed necessary to set the number of the Manors that a guild can possess . ”

“Right . If we didn't put up limits, then almost all of the ba.s.ses would've been owned by either the Lotus or the t.i.tan Guild . The balance of the guilds would've crumbled too . ”

If one could look at the displayed map on the screen, both the territory of the Lotus and t.i.tan weren't so overwhelmingly huge .

There were around 20 to 30 guilds that had a territory with the same size .

However, the power of Lotus and t.i.tan was evil . The map was different in contrast to the mighty power of the two guilds .

This was the structure that was originally intended by the planning team .

It was planned in advance because they were worried about the guild eco-system that could get destroyed .

Unless one declared a Kingdom, they had to set up a system which would no longer increase the growth of their territories .

If that was so, then the two guilds with overwhelming power would think that being a Kingdom was a task that needn't to be done right away .

However, it wasn't so easy .

It doesn't matter if the guild was still in the empire until the dukedom, the moment one went to the Kingdom, they would get out of the Empire .

Once they leave the fenced protection of the Empire, no one would know when they would be attacked by either the Kaimon or the Luspel . No matter how powerful the forces of t.i.tan and Lotus were, they weren't comparable to the ones in the Empire .

It was a safety measure which they installed as a means to prevent the collapse of balance .

It was the planning team's decision to hold onto the legs of these two fast-growing guilds and gave them time to rebuild their roots of being a guild .

The intentions of the developers might seem too unfair for Lotus and t.i.tan, but that wasn't the case .

As long as the guild eco-system was being maintained properly, the value of the existing high-leveled guilds would keep increasing .

Kailan was a virtual reality game .

A virtual reality game that pursued as much reality as possible .

However, since it was a game, there was a clear need to limit the reality in it .

It was important to invest more time and game rewards to the top rankers and the top guilds, but it was equally important to give new user's a fighting chance as well

It was the planning team's mission to maintain the equality and balance of the two .

Nam Taehoo, who listened to Kim Yu-Hwan's briefing, said .

“Nice . It certainly seems like the balance is right . But the bigger the guilds, the more fights there will be I a.s.sume?”

“Yes . Now in the case of Lotus and t.i.tan guild, both have grown to the maximum expansion 'Empire', but if we weren't able to create an environment where one could create a Kingdom, the lack of guild content will increase complaints . ”

Nam Taehoon nodded .

“Okay . Let's open a new episode next week then . ”

The team leaders of the other planning teams who were discussing it through stopped midway .

They were not expecting what Nam Taehoon just said .

“Next week?”

“Isn't that a bit too sudden?”

“Yes . The forces of the Lotus Guild and the t.i.tan Guild are still getting stronger… I think we should give the other guilds enough time to grow . ”

However, Nam Taehoon shook his head .

“No, No . the time given for the other guild to come up was enough . Can't you see the screen? There are 20 guilds of that sort in the continents, we have given them enough time . ”

The most senior among all the team leaders—the team leader of team 1, Woo Min-chol—spoke with an anxious expression .

“But once the empire wars break out… the t.i.tan and Lotus will instantly grow out . We will need an alternative . ”

Nam Taehoon smiled and nodded .

“Team Leader Woo is right . An alternative is surely needed . ”

Nam Taehoon rose from his seat while Kim Yee-hwan sat down .

A second video then began to emerge .

Nam Taehoon smiled and spoke again .

“Here, there is a clear alternative . ”

Ding Dong-!

A ringing sound was heard .

Jinsung who was lying on the sofa was startled by the sound .

“Who is it?”

The sound made Jinsung's gaze turn away from the screen and s.h.i.+ft towards the porch with a reflexive question .

There were a few welcoming faces out there .

“What do you mean by who? Idiot! Open the door now! It's so hot in here that I feel like I'm dying!”

Jinsung laughed a little at how irritated Yoo Hyun was and opened the door .

Keeuk-!

He saw Yoo Hyun and a few others standing there .

“Hey! Park Jinsung! You've got a very nice place huh?”

“That is so my word . Here is a poverty-stricken university student, and the other is a game crazy student buying houses . ”

“Keu, Jinsung the great . I still don't understand the full extent of what you do . ”

“Full extent?! No student can own an apartment worth a billion won . An apartment worth a billion won, seriously?”

With a pleased smile, Jinsung gestured to them with his hands to enter inside .

“Come inside you jerks . Hyung you too come inside . The air conditioner is on . It's a waste of electricity to keep the door open . ”

Among them was someone who was a year older—Sewon . He then said .

“Uhuh, you little . Coming in coming in . ”

Just a few days ago .

Jinsung moved out from his 2 bedroom apartment and moved into a 30 square-meter luxury apartment .

It was a high-priced apartment costing more than a billion won, but he still bought it since he had enough money .

Today was the day he decided to call his friends to come and visit his place .

“Wow, but what is that smell?”

“Are you making something? Maybe Harin is cooking something . ”

Minnie who was sitting on the sofa was sniffing and Sewon was the one who asked the question .

Harin came out of the kitchen to greet them .

“Ding dong dang! Gentlemen welcome to the house of Jinsung and Harin!”

Sewon then asked with a dumbfounded expression .

“What was that? Why is this place called Jinsung and Harin's house? This is Jinsung's house . ”

Harin laughed at that and responded .

“Why, will it not become my house as well? I'm going to be living here moving forward . ”

Both Yoo Hyun and Minnie were shocked .

“Ugh? As in, living together?!”

“What? You're living together now?”

Harin was the one who responded to them .

“Yeah, yeah . I also had rights to this house!”

Jinsung who was changing the channel on the TV just laughed nervously .

“We decided to do this . Harin was uncomfortable living in her cousin's house, so she moved into a much s.p.a.cious one…”

Yoo Hyun who had conservative thoughts once again felt the need to ask a question .

“OMG… living together…! That means Jinsung and Harin won't have a problem since both their parents are far away…”

Minnie—Yoo Hyun's girlfriend—looked at him with narrowed eyes .

“Well, it is a bit embarra.s.sing in some ways…”

Jinsung said to ease the intense atmosphere .

They were a little nervous thinking about the issue of living together, but when Harin brought out the food, everyone became quiet .

They were all eating food while watching TV .

Sewon was laughing while looking at the TV's huge screen .

“I guess there was a reason why you decided to call us over for housewarming at this specific date . ”

“I told you, hyung . Today is Kailan server's maintenance day, that's why you called us, right?”

Jinsung responded with a gentle look .

“Well, detective, isn't this good? You are also users of Kailan . ”

The channel that they were currently watching was the Game Broadcast .

A ma.s.sive update was being patched today after having no updates for quite some time . It was the day when LB announced it would release major contents .

This upcoming update wasn't just a simple release .

According to the announced schedule on Kailan's website, high-quality videos were going to be broadcasted non-stop for 6 hours .

It was easy to say that all the users had watched the six-hour long broadcast to get as much information as they could about the new updates .

Only LB would be able to drift away from common logic when putting content into their game .

LB's software offered a lot of fun for their users who were currently waiting for such large scale update .

The users praised the developers endlessly, and the whole world admired Kailan .

“Uh, It's starting!”

At the same time, everyone's gaze turned towards the TV .

Though they all teased Jinsung as a game lover, they all undeniably love Kailan as well .

Muran, the capital of Luspel Empire .

At the center of Muran City, a spectacular image of the Luspel empire had come up .

The screen soon s.h.i.+ned .

Starting with the appearance of the emperor of the Luspel Empire sitting near the table and dozens of large people seated on both sides .

The knight of the imperial family—h.e.l.liem—was facing Serius with a knee bent on the ground .

Serius, the emperor of the Luspel Empire spoke with a stern look .

“Okay, h.e.l.liem . Did you find anything more?”

“Yes, your majesty . ”

“Then go on . ”

Chuk-!

He slowly spoke after seeing Serius' hand .

“The Emperor of the Kaimon Empire, Juan Lucas . So, it is true that he already died . ”

The Emperor's deep golden eyes s.h.i.+ned brightly .

The many scholars who were in the area were all shocked by the news .

Serius then spoke .

“This is… an opportunity . ”

“Yes, your majesty . The G.o.d of War, Mares has taken the inviolable oracle without handing it back . ”

The war between the two empires had taken place simultaneously with the opening of the Central Continent .

The Luspel Empire suffered a great loss at that time, and it was considerably weaker than the Kaimon Empire when it came to military might .

If the war continued, Luspel wouldn't have managed to turn the tables over .

It was very fortunate since the Devildom opened up at that very moment, so the G.o.d of War, Mares had to trust the two countries .

The oracle was then placed to prevent the war from ever happening .

But not long ago, it was true that the oracle of trust was taken away . It was decided that the war would eventually take place .

If there was a chance that a war was going to happen, Kaimon would indeed have the upper hand .

A situation no one would have ever thought of .

The Emperor of the Kaimon Empire—Lucas—died, and opportunity had come for the Luspel Empire .

“Guards listen…!”

“Yes, your majesty . ”

The emperor stood up from his seat .

He pulled out his golden sword which was dangling down his waist and raised it to the sky .

“A week from now . ”

Serius gave them a moment and looked around them .

His golden eyes were s.h.i.+ning brightly .

“Victory will come to us by itself!”

It was the prelude to the war .