The Eve (1)

The sheer authority of the Main Manager—the Judak—was nothing short of staggering.

Because he was never mentioned or seen on the forum under normal circumstances, I had assumed his power and standing would be roughly comparable to those of the assistant managers. That assumption was utterly shattered. Watching the chaos get smothered and the forum restored to textbook order in the blink of an eye made me wonder what on earth the Demon Lord Gallery had even been up to this point.

To put it into perspective: a single official notice from the Head Manager had every agitator turning themselves in, and demon lords whose default mindset was that they were the absolute center of creation were bowing their heads and falling in line. No matter how supreme an administrator might be, getting that kind of reaction bordered on uncanny.

Driven by curiosity, I sat down and began drafting a few posts to ask about this mysterious Head Manager, 'Ban-gal-juk.'

The one who answered my burning question fastest was Odin—the resident 24/7 forum addict, gallery Speedwagon, and someone whose absence would feel genuinely disappointing by now.

An information restriction? Just what kind of entity was he to lock down data about his own existence? With virtually zero intel, drama, or casual mentions floating around the board, a newbie like me hadn't a clue.

I barely had to wait after Odin dropped that comment and vanished. A rapid succession of notification pings chimed, and I promptly brought up the comment feed.

The revelation hit like a thunderbolt.

I had wondered what his deal was, but he was the creator of this entire forum? He was an administrator on an entirely different scale from the forum owners of the Earth internet communities that had inspired this place.

My follow-up post received a barrage of replies the moment it went live. It was as if everyone had been waiting for an excuse to talk about him.

Whether my inquiry was the catalyst or not, the entire board's topic drifted into ancient forum ghosts reminiscing about the old days.

Every time threads like these popped up, I couldn't help but marvel at the Judak, Ban-gal-juk. To establish, operate, and regulate an online community in the face of countless cosmic lunatics... Powerful, uncompromising, and supremely capable—wasn't he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the absolute ideal of an administrator, or rather, a Demon Lord?

Yet that realization spawned another question.

To be completely honest, I wanted him camped on the forum twenty-four hours a day, guaranteeing a clean, sane community environment. Spending ten or twenty years in this madhouse of an abnormal Demon Lord Gallery felt like it would steadily drag me into insanity as well.

It didn't take long, however, to learn why that wish was impossible.

Grand terms far beyond my everyday realm of common sense—the Divine-Demonic War, dimensional mutual annihilation, and the like—were tossed around, but I didn't panic anymore. I was growing accustomed to it. All I needed to do was wait for the resident lore dumper, who seemed to watch my every post, to materialize.

My intuition proved exact.

So the sudden silence hadn't merely been the result of the Head Manager stepping in and laying down the law.

As I browsed the forum, processing this new context, a chime rang out. A private direct message had arrived, and reading its contents promptly plunged me into deep thought.

The Pandemonium Conference, was it?

"What on earth am I supposed to do with this?"