Ending Maker Chapter 1
Ending Maker Chapter 1
Prologue
[Outboxer009 has logged in.]
Southern Barbarian Cat: Oh, the fossil's here.
Outboxer009: Fossil my ass, we're rotting together. Why are you all still sitting around playing this? It's been out for over ten years.
Kowabunga: Go look in a mirror and ask yourself that.
At the answer that came from beyond the monitor, Outboxer009—Kang Jin-ho—snickered.
Hero Legend 2.
Not only had it been out for over ten years, but even though the sequel, Hero Legend 3, had already been released, there were still die-hard users grinding away at it. In the truest sense, it was a classic masterpiece.
Why play a game that's over ten years old?
'Because it's fun.'
What other reason do you need to play a game?
Actually, there was one more decisive reason.
Among the die-hard Hero Legend 2 players, Kang Jin-ho was a top-tier ranker—not just a fossil, but a full-blown rotten fossil.
And there was one more rotten fossil in this chat room who was every bit as bad as Kang Jin-ho.
Yellow Storm: Boxer's here? Ready to drop down to second place?
Outboxer009: Child, are you still dreaming? Give it up. One does not even look at a tree one cannot climb.
Yellow Storm: Bullshit. I'm definitely taking first place this time.
Outboxer009: Sure, sure. Everyone has the freedom to dream. I grant you your dream.
Southern Barbarian Cat: Both of you shut up, this month's rankings are up.
Hero Legend 2 announced server rankings every month by combining various points, including Time Attack. And this leaderboard had long since become a battle of the fossils.
[1st Place: Outboxer009 - 315,234,999 points] [23 consecutive months!]
[2nd Place: Yellow Storm - 315,234,125 points] [22 consecutive months!]
[3rd Place.......]
Yellow Storm: Fuck! Fuck whta is tihs! What is this!
AAA: Look at those typos. They're having a real meltdown.
Kowabunga: I can practically hear the trembling!
It really did sound like someone was trembling. Kang Jin-ho swallowed dryly, let out a sigh of relief, then burst into a hearty laugh pulled up from the depths of his lungs.
Outboxer009: lololololololololololololololol Did you see that?
Outboxer009: You're forever second place! S-econd! Second place! Number two!
Yellow Storm: sdlkghiosdghsodigh sdi ghiofsdoighio
AAA: Ah, there it is. Meltdown.
Kowabunga: They react like that, so of course you tease them more. Tsk tsk.
Outboxer009: Ah, that was fun. I'll sleep well tonight. You sleep well too, Yellow Second Place. Try a little harder next month.
Yellow Storm: Hey! It's only about an 800-point difference?!
Outboxer009: Right? I wonder why you couldn't earn those 874 points. Ah, is this the difference between first and second place?
Yellow Storm: Excessive profanity is subject to sanctions.
Yellow Storm: Excessive profanity is subject to sanctions.
Yellow Storm: Excessive profanity is subject to sanctions.
Yellow Storm: Excessive profanity is subject to sanctions.
Yellow Storm: F|uck is an interjection, not a swear word!
Outboxer009: Anyway, I'm off to bed. Sleep well. Dream of me♥
Yellow Storm: Excessive profanity is subject to sanctions.
And a few minutes later.
When no new messages appeared in the chat window, the fossils who had been watching the monthly event with popcorn in one hand began to speak up again.
Southern Barbarian Cat: What, did he really go to sleep?
Kowabunga: Did Yellow Storm go to sleep too? They're quiet too.
AAA: The eternal first and second place, side by side. Just get married already, you two.
Kowabunga: Sounds like a spicy BL novel in the making.
AAA: Ah, damn. Now I'm imagining it.
Southern Barbarian Cat: What's this? I don't know about Boxer, but Yellow Storm should be throwing a fit and telling us to shut up. Did they both really go to sleep?
.
..
...
[Outboxer009 has logged out.]
[Yellow Storm has logged out.]
.
..
...
[Kang Jin-ho has entered Pleiades.]
[Hong Yu-hui has entered Pleiades.]
Chapter 1 - Pleiades
Count Bayel Household.
A renowned martial house that had once held a near-monopoly on the position of northern margrave of the Saelun Kingdom. As could be inferred from the past tense, it was now a family past its prime.
But even so, it was still the Count Bayel Household.
As the saying goes, even a ruined rich man lasts three years. Even in decline, the family still maintained enough influence to hold the lowest seat among the twelve northern houses.
The mansion of such a Count Bayel Household.
In the room of the second son known as the Count Bayel Household's greatest headache, someone was agonizing.
"Uuuurgh..."
The one clutching his head while letting out a strange groan was a boy who appeared to be in his late teens.
His dark blue hair, pale, slender face, and mysterious green eyes combined into an extraordinarily beautiful appearance, yet for some reason he was scowling deeply.
The boy.
Yuder Bayel, the second son of the Count Bayel Household, stared blankly at the mirror standing against one wall and thought.
'This seems real, doesn't it?'
Everything before his eyes.
The fact that Yuder Bayel himself was Yuder Bayel.
It sounded like wordplay, but Yuder was serious. And he had reason to be, because he was both Yuder and Kang Jin-ho at the same time.
'No matter how I look at it, this is the world of Hero Legend 2.'
Two days had passed since Yuder had 'awakened' Kang Jin-ho's memories.
And two days was by no means a short time.
The name Yuder Bayel.
The situation of the Count Bayel Household.
The Saelun Kingdom and the surrounding political landscape.
Not a single thing contradicted Hero Legend 2.
'Pleiades.'
The world that served as the setting for the entire Hero Legend series.
'Let's accept it. This is Pleiades, and I am Yuder Bayel.'
It felt a little different from simply entering a game, as was common in novels and comics.
Rather, how should he put it—it felt more like he had been born as Yuder Bayel and remembered a 'past life' as Kang Jin-ho.
Perhaps because of that, even though he had become Yuder, there was almost no sense of dissonance.
After all, he was both Yuder and Kang Jin-ho.
Yuder raised his head and looked at the mirror again.
A beautiful boy who looked as though he had stepped out of a painting sat there with a melancholic expression.
'He's handsome.'
Not just handsome—seriously handsome.
Yuder rose from his seat and looked around the room.
It was spacious, stylish, and clean.
It seemed larger than the apartment he had lived in as Kang Jin-ho, and although the furniture showed slight signs of age, there was no denying that every piece was luxurious.
Yuder objectively considered his situation.
The differences between his Kang Jin-ho days and his Yuder days.
First, he had gotten younger, become several times better-looking, and become a silver-spoon noble.
It was truly a complete transformation.
An upgrade worthy of applause.
But Yuder thought.
'Still, I think I got screwed, didn't I?'
It wasn't because of Yuder.
Yuder Bayel was certainly a character with considerable flaws among the cast of Hero Legend 2, but the bigger problem lay in the very fact that this was the world of Hero Legend 2.
The setting of Hero Legend 2 was not a peaceful fantasy world.
Demons descended from the Demon Realm, and angels came down to fight them, causing chaos—a world of the Great Upheaval, where every nation and race on the continent was dragged into war, killing and being killed.
In short, it was a world with an apocalypse waiting for it.
'At least it's not the Hero Legend 3 timeline.'
Hero Legend 3 dealt with the aftermath of the great war between demons and angels, after all human nations had collapsed.
If he had entered Hero Legend 3, he wouldn't be sitting here looking at a mirror—he'd be getting swarmed by monsters and enthusiastically chewed to pieces.
'As expected, there's only one way.'
He had to become strong.
Strong enough to endure even when the era of the Great Upheaval arrived.
And if possible, strong enough to protect not only himself but those around him.
If this were the reality where Kang Jin-ho had lived, there would be clear limits to how strong a human could become, but this was Pleiades, the world of Hero Legend.
It was possible for a single individual to become an absolute powerhouse who shattered mountains and shook the heavens.
'Hmm...... I'm not sure if that'll really happen, but anyway.'
Yuder stared at his own slender, long arms for a moment, but soon steeled himself and clenched his fist again.
'Let's do this.'
He could do it.
He could pull it off.
Yuder himself was Outboxer009.
Wasn't he the rotten fossil who had held first place in the server rankings for a whopping twenty-three consecutive months?!
Yuder decided to first examine Yuder Bayel.
Yuder Bayel.
The second son of the Count Bayel Household.
Though he came from the Bayel family, which had produced outstanding warriors for generations, he was an outcast who had never properly learned even basic swordsmanship.
Of course, as one of the Playable Characters, he wasn't completely useless.
Yuder definitely had talent.
And not ordinary talent, but truly peerless talent.
The Heavenly Martial Body.
As the name suggested, a martial talent bestowed by heaven.
'But there's another trap card here too.'
Yuder had a body with abnormalities throughout his blood meridians—in martial arts terms, he was born with the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage.
'Short lifespan, frailty, inability to use mana, and overwhelming yin energy.'
Those were roughly the effects(?) of the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage.
A tragic genius born with both the Heavenly Martial Body and the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage in one body.
That was the boy named Yuder Bayel.
'Couldn't I have just been Maximilian? Or Leon?'
Hero Legend 2 had various Playable Characters, but there was a figure who served as the true protagonist—Maximilian.
A cheat character born with tremendous talent in both sword and magic.
He was the so-called title protagonist prepared by the developers so that even beginners could see the ending.
'Come to think of it, Maximilian probably exists here too, right?'
It wasn't just Maximilian.
There was a high probability that all the characters of Hero Legend 2 existed.
'My heart's pounding for no reason.'
He had just lamented being dropped into a hellish world, but still, this was Hero Legend 2.
The thought that he might meet the characters of Hero Legend 2 in the flesh made his heart race wildly.
'Alright, whatever the case, I just need to cure the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage.'
Then the Heavenly Martial Body would begin to bloom.
Of course, curing the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage was by no means easy.
The fact that the Count Bayel Household had been unable to do anything about Yuder's Nine Yin Meridian Blockage up to this very day was proof of that.
'There are methods.'
As a rotten fossil of Hero Legend 2, Yuder knew several cures for the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage. But knowing what to do and being able to do it were two different things.
With his current body, which was frailty itself due to the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, could he secure a cure?
No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible.
It wasn't something he could do alone.
But could he entrust it to someone else? That was out too.
The methods were all quite complicated, and he wasn't even sure whether the people of the Bayel family would believe what Yuder himself said.
'I need an ally.'
Someone who would believe what Yuder himself said and carry it out.
Someone who would always be on Yuder's side, no matter when or where.
But it was right then.
"Young master, may I come in?"
The voice from beyond the door belonged to Maia, Yuder's personal maid.
'A personal maid, huh.'
Even if he had been born into this world with the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage and a foretold Great Upheaval hanging over him, wasn't this still far better than living as Kang Jin-ho?
Yuder, who had briefly drifted into idle thoughts, soon raised his head and spoke.
"Yeah, it's fine."
Upon receiving permission, Maia silently opened the door and revealed herself.
A woman in her early twenties with neatly tied blue hair and a cold expression that only added to her beauty.
As soon as she entered the room, Maia gave Yuder a brief bow, then immediately continued speaking.
"Your fiancée, Lady Cordelia Chase, has come to visit you."
"Ah."
A get-well visit.
Come to think of it, it made sense. Right after awakening Kang Jin-ho's memories, he had spouted a whole lot of 'nonsense.'
And besides, wasn't Yuder frail even on a normal day?
'What should I do.'
He had only awakened Kang Jin-ho's memories; Yuder's memories had not disappeared.
In other words, meeting his fiancée Cordelia wouldn't particularly cause any problems.
'Cordelia, huh.'
A peerless beauty with red hair close to pink.
The ratio of handsome men and beautiful women seemed a bit too high, but wasn't that just how games were?
In any case, when it came to Cordelia Chase, Kang Jin-ho also knew quite a lot.
'House Chase, renowned for its magic.'
If Yuder's family, the Bayels, was a renowned swordsmanship house, then the Chase Family was a renowned magic house.
Of course, both families were now in a weakened state.
Anyway, to summarize once more, Cordelia Chase was born with quite outstanding magical talent—simply put, a mage character.
She wasn't born with the Heavenly Martial Body like Yuder, but she also didn't have a penalty like the Nine Yin Meridian Blockage, so she was relatively easy to handle.
'I'm nervous.'
At the thought of meeting his fiancée—and a Playable Character of Hero Legend 2, no less.
"Young master?"
"Huh? Ah, yeah. It's fine. I'll go meet her right now."
When Yuder answered readily, Maia seemed to hesitate for a moment, then nodded and stepped back.
"She is waiting in the drawing room."
Having said that, Maia stepped ahead to guide him.
'I really am a noble.'
It was belated, but stepping out into the hallway made him realize that this was a noble household—the mansion of a family that had once boasted tremendous power.
As befitting a martial house, the hallway emphasized practicality over splendor, but it was so large and grand that it felt less like walking through a mansion and more like walking through a great castle.
"The young master has arrived."
Maia raised her voice once in front of the drawing room door, then opened it with a precise motion.
Unlike the hallway, which had felt almost bleak, the drawing room was quite well appointed. Inside sat a girl with hair that was red verging on pink, while a female knight stood beside her as if on guard.
'Cordelia Chase.'
Yuder Bayel's fiancée.
Yuder swallowed dryly and entered the drawing room. He faced Cordelia with a smile he tried to make natural.
But the very next moment.
The moment he met Cordelia's eyes.
Yuder's eyes went wide. And the same was true for Cordelia.
The two shouted almost simultaneously.
"Why are you here?!" they shouted in unison.