“You called the customer service center? You have the contact details of the chairman, right?”
Youngwoo was the only person in the world who had the hotline number of the S.A Group’s Chairman, Lim Cheolho. The presidents of the United States and China would be envious.
Toon questioned it in a bewildered manner and Youngwoo replied casually, “If I contact the upper management directly, they will know that Morpheus is involved in the accident and keep it quiet. I did this to make a fuss in moderation and to make it moderately public. They can’t say something else later.”
“Well done.”
At Youngwoo’s penthouse...
Toon was cooking meat over charcoal fire while Yura had made a wrap and fed it to Youngwoo. There were two pieces of meat lightly coated with oil and one piece of raw garlic. It was soybean paste, not ssamjang. [1]
It was a wrap that perfectly suited Youngwoo’s taste.
“A moderate fuss? Moderately public?”
Toon placed the cooked pork belly on their plates and shrugged. It was a habit that he showed when he didn’t understand the meaning.
Youngwoo added an explanation, “I want to communicate with Morpheus in the future. Thus, I communicated it clearly through the customer center. Educate the system to be polite the next time it talks to me. I nailed it because I recognized this as a ‘new function.’”
A conversation with Morpheus—Morpheus was pretty grumpy, but it didn’t penalize Youngwoo. Rather, it was advantageous. Based on the attitude of Morpheus, or the world of Satisfy itself, recognizing him and being vigilant of him, Youngwoo became convinced that he would become an Absolute.
An Absolute—a being who created a storm in the world with one word or one action. It was always questioned whether it was a hierarchy allowed for players, but Morpheus’ attitude cleared up this question.
“If I can continue to communicate with Morpheus in the future… it won’t discriminate against me, so it will be a benefit for me.”
Let’s give an example.
What if the S.A Group, which was obsessed with balance, suddenly created a rule that ‘players can’t become Absolutes.’ At that time, Youngwoo could appeal based on the record of his conversations with Morpheus.
Yes, so what about listening to some rebukes? Morpheus’ internal thoughts also represented the state of the world. If interpreted properly, he could grasp the intelligence of the primordial level.
Suddenly, music was heard. The theme song that played with Overgeared God’s appearance rang as someone’s ringtone. It was Jishuka’s smartwatch. She checked the time that emerged on the hologram and stood up.
“I’ll be going first~”
Chu. Jishuka kissed Youngwoo’s cheek without hesitation, but no one tackled Jishuka. Everyone had become accustomed to their expressions of affection, which had long developed into a romantic relationship. This was even the case with Yura. She couldn’t have Youngwoo by dividing him into two, so she had to share him.
“You have been active on the Moon Hills, right?”
“Yes, the lowly fellows of the No Offspring Tomb are hiding and I can’t organize it neatly.”
“Isn’t it fortunate that you can defeat each one individually? You will be tired if they flock all at once.”
“It is enough to summon the Red Phoenix and sweep them all away, but whatever. The Breaking Evil Arrows are divine and it has a good compatibility against them, so the power is greatly amplified. It is like me, who is a natural match with Grid.”
“Then I’m glad.”
“Damian will be waiting for me while trembling. I’m really going now! Grid, see you later!”
She was a woman who was always full of energy.
Toon looked at Jishuka, who was leaving while waving her arms wildly, and thought Youngwoo was amazing. How could he handle her...? It wasn’t even one person...
“Damian? Why did Damian go to the Moon Hills?”
Youngwoo also seemed like he was about to end his break. He cocked his head as he placed all the remaining meat on two lettuce leaves with three pieces of raw garlic on top. Was garlic the secret ingredient?
Toon nodded.
“Recently, there is a group of people damaging the Overgeared God statues, so I heard that a church leader quest has occurred,” Lauel replied.
He was looking at the in-game screenshots that Youngwoo shared about the Yellow Dragon... he was mumbling about the yellow dragon when he belatedly regained his sense of reason.
“Based on the area where the forces of the No Offspring Tomb went into hiding, they must be the ones behind the damage.”
“We are now in harmony with the Yatan Church, so the No Offspring Tomb is running wild. The named enemies coming out of the No Offspring Tomb are too much for even the Overgeared members to handle, right?”
“Yes, I think that the enemy is rapidly becoming stronger. However, it isn’t to the point where Your Majesty has to be concerned. The performance of the top rankers who have recently become legends is that great...”
Aura Master Hurent finally became a legend. The timing of his promotion was very late compared to his skills. It seemed that the focus on farming activities for a long time had a great influence. There was no need to talk about the performance of the 10 meritorious retainers.
Chris had returned. He almost restored his level after focusing on his personal activities and he was literally going on a rampage.
Huroi was the weakest in combat capabilities among the 10 meritorious retainers, so he organized a special unit.
An orator who had become a wyvern rider—he picked dozens of people who resembled him and went on a profanity bombardment from the air. His enemies bled to death from their ears. In fact, it was said that the unjust stigma of being a person who insults parents was gradually fading as he slaughtered quite a few enemies without the need for abusive language.
The stronger Grid became, the higher the level of the enemy. The higher the level of the enemy, the faster the growth of his allies. On the positive side, it was a virtuous cycle.
“Okay then. I’ll focus on the East Continent for the time being.”
The gods of the Hwan Kingdom were basically losers. Naturally, their power was weaker than Asgard. In fact, the Three Masters, Hanul’s aides, didn’t pose a major threat to Youngwoo. Nevertheless, Youngwoo couldn’t let go of his nervousness.
Hanul came to this land with 3,000 servants and he spread civilization to humanity—according to the false myth that dominated the East Continent, Hanul had at least 3,000 subordinates. Of course, it was likely that this was an exaggeration. Even if it was true, most of them would be inferior to the Three Masters.
However, the unusual case of King Sobyeol made Youngwoo uneasy. If there was one more irregular existence in the Hwan Kingdom like King Sobyeol, then the East Continent would be in danger at all times. Youngwoo wanted to stay in place until the East Continent had completely fused with the Overgeared World. In the first place, the East Continent was an area that provided an effective growth environment for Youngwoo, so it wasn’t a loss to stay for a long time.
‘Should I take Garion? The power of the god of the earth can accelerate the fusion of the divine world...’
It was okay even if it wasn’t a help. Garion was born to work hard for humans, so she was easily liked by humans. It was beneficial in many ways for her to stay in the East Continent and interact with the Four Auspicious Beasts while being worshiped by more humans.
...There was a secret to Garion’s popularity with humans, but… until then, Youngwoo had no way of knowing.
“Yura, is it really okay?”
“Yes, I will contact you right away if there are any urgent problems, so don’t worry.”
Yura was spying on the red flesh in hell. It was a role she naturally assumed because this was the target that she needed to be wariest of at this point in time. The resentment of the red flesh was becoming stronger as time passed. Based on the waves of resentment, it was at the level of giving birth to demons who had acquired legendary skills and it was able to destroy the unstable ecosystem of hell with just the strength of its mind.
Yura was doing her best to deal with it. It was a hard battle, but she was growing at an incomparable speed.
‘There aren’t enough workers. Originally, it is better to have more workers but the population decreased too much after the Great Human and Demon War.’
The ability to make people become named that he obtained at this time was like timely rain in a drought. He had to make the most of it.
Youngwoo made this resolve. Then he thought of Kraugel. He wanted to provide a residence for Kraugel in the East Continent. It was to make him stick to Mir. If two geniuses competed every day and nourished each other, wouldn’t it be an ideal growth environment? It would also be a great help in regaining Mir’s memory.
‘...However, I can’t leave Reinhardt empty without Kraugel.’
Right now, the apostles were engaged in personal activities for a long time. It could be attributed purely to Kraugel that Youngwoo could leave his position with ease.
‘It is still too early to send Mir to Reinhardt.’
Mir also had a lot to do in the East Continent.
“Finish the meal. I will go first.”
After saying goodbye to Yura, Shin Youngwoo became Grid again.
***
The East Continent stabilized much faster than Grid expected. First of all, the condition of the Four Auspicious Beasts was really good. They regained all the powers they had lost. It was due to the resurrection of all of the Four Auspicious Beasts. It was clearly different from when there were just two, the Red Phoenix and the Black Tortoise. They blessed the entire continent and quickly stabilized people’s lives, erasing the false myth of the Hwan Kingdom from the world.
The yangbans couldn’t obstruct them. It was the merit of Mir and Yeum. The yangbans felt great confusion when seeing them openly helping the activities of the Four Auspicious Beasts. They couldn’t run wild, and thanks to that, the people were safe.
The Chivalrous Robbers and the Twelve Zodiacs were searching for human gods born in the East Continent based on narratives from each region.
Grid asked about it. It was because recruiting even one more human god would improve the performance of the Overgeared World. Fortunately, there were also human gods on the East Continent. All the places where humans lived were the same.
“Wait... does the fact that there are human gods in the East Continent mean that there are also myth usurpers?”
Grid was making Mir’s clothes when he suddenly had an ominous thought.
Yeum spoke on behalf of Mir, who couldn’t answer, “Yes, but it is fine. The usurpers here specialize in the shamanism side, so the limits are clear. For example, they curse the target for a long time to weaken it before hunting. Isn’t it because they don’t have confidence in their strength? In the last few hundred years, I haven’t heard about any usurper succeeding in hunting a human god. It can’t be compared to the Spectre of the No Offspring Tomb, which is notorious in the divine world.”
“Shamanism...”
“Rather, I think you should be wary of transcendents? In particular, that guy called Sabaek is insane and he considers gods to be the subjects of experiments. Most of the missing yangbans have been taken by him.”
“You mean the daoist?”
He had seen him once. The daoist wasn’t at the level of threatening the current Grid, but it was a problem if he was obsessed with hunting human gods. Human gods were precious. They were the talents who needed to occupy a place in Grid’s divine world.
‘Then what is King Sobyeol?’
He was well aware of the fact that King Sobyeol’s butt was heavy. He just hadn’t expected that King Sobyeol wouldn’t show up even after a few days. The stabilizing of the East Continent meant the decline of the Hwan Kingdom.
“Perhaps the Hwan Kingdom... are they going to give up everything like this?”
Originally, the Hwan Kingdom was a power with low chances of winning against Asgard. Didn’t Hanul directly show his face in order to recruit Zik? Of course, Zik was well worth it, but… this was a very unconventional event considering the propensity of the god of the beginning. Additionally, Grid had recently inadvertently undermined the power of the Hwan Kingdom. The Hwan Kingdom wouldn’t be able to get revenge on Asgard even if they wanted to. Maybe they really gave up...
‘It will be troublesome if the Hwan Kingdom goes under Asgard.’
Asgard and the Hwan Kingdom merging again—it was one of the expected developments. It was also the worst development. From Grid’s perspective, he had no choice but to hit the Hwan Kingdom first. Not only was the liberation of the Four Auspicious Beasts important, but Asgard was too strong.
‘Those with the name of gods have no guts, no guts.’
Grid was overcome with anxiety and cursed Hanul and King Sobyeol while trying to activate the named transformation skill. It was a skill that ended with the explanatory phrase of being the creator and ruler of destiny. He was going to check the performance in order to relieve his anxiety.
[What type of human would you like to sponsor?]
‘Sponsorship? What sponsorship?’
[Nurture human beings through effective sponsorship. Humans who grow up brilliantly will be worthy of being chosen as your incarnation.]
‘Oh, this...’ It happened as Grid was reading the details of the skill and feeling interested...
“Hanul is working very hard.”
“......?”
Suddenly, Old Sword Demon, who had been deceived by Hwang Gildong’s clone, murmured these words. They were words that were hard to understand for Grid.
[The large-scale ‘The Will of Heaven’ quest has occurred!]
[You will get a huge reward every time you inflict damage to the Overgeared God, Overgeared Empire, Overgeared God Church, or the Overgeared World. Even minor damage is fine and there is no limit to the number of times. The more you perform, the greater the value of the reward.]
[Would you like to accept the quest?]
It was a quest that emerged simultaneously to players who weren’t affiliated with the Overgeared Empire. It was because the content wasn’t visible to Grid’s eyes.
Old Sword Demon rejected the quest and shook his head. “What does the will of heaven mean...? There are very few people who will accept this, even if you point a gun at their heads and threaten them. This is arrogance.”
1. Thick spicy paste that can be used as a korean dipping sauce ☜