The First Major Update of Season 40

"Ms. Kim Sujin, will this be okay...?"

"It'll be fine. The Chairman's backing us all the way from behind."

So the vice principal had been acting like that because he trusted the Chairman too. Even so... the vice principal was really something. Talking like that right in front of government officials.

"Hahahaha!"

"Ahahaha!"

"Heheheh!"

The students burst out laughing every time the vice principal took another shot at the officials. I felt pretty satisfied myself. That didn't mean the anxiety sitting in my chest had completely vanished, though.

"Dowun, there's nothing more to see here. Let's go to the club room."

"Yes, teacher."

We headed to the club room, and I finally put the worry in my heart into words.

"Teacher, will this really be okay? The other side is..."

"Don't worry. If you knew who the Chairman of Human Games was, you wouldn't be worrying like this..."

"Who is it?"

Ms. Kim Sujin smiled and let the silence hang for a moment. Then:

"That's a secret."

She'd made it sound like she was about to tell me, then refused to say who the Chairman was.

"Anyway, Dowun, don't worry."

"Yes..."

The next day, the school was in an uproar from the moment morning arrived.

Lee Hanmin's father, a National Assemblyman, had been expelled from his party for corruption. From early morning, the details of his crimes were plastered across the internet. Everything from the major offenses to the petty ones was laid bare. Witnesses kept coming forward, and evidence poured out without end. Prosecutors, police — every agency was moving to dig up the Assemblyman's corruption. According to the news, the scandal was serious enough that he was expected to lose his seat entirely.

"How..."

In a single day, the entire situation had flipped on its ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head. The Ministry of Education and National Tax Service officials who'd been tearing through the school had vanished without a trace.

"See that, Dowun?"

"This is... the Chairman?"

"That's right..."

"How is this even possible?"

Did this even make sense? This wasn't something the chairman of a mere game company should have been able to pull off.

"That's a secret."

The questions lingered, but it was a relief that things had been resolved. Especially that the people around me hadn't been caught in the crossfire...

"Ah, Dowun."

"Yes, teacher."

"You remember that teacher who called you a loach last time?"

"Yes..."

"He got fired."

"Really?"

"Yep~. We can't have someone like that as a teacher."

"Was that the Chairman too...?"

"Yep! Great, right?"

Ms. Kim Sujin was so happy she grabbed my hands and started bouncing up and down. Today, I matched her energy and bounced right along with her. That's how happy I was. The heavy weight that had been sitting in my chest was gone, and my body felt light. So I jumped too. Just like she did.

"Huff, huff. Teacher, please stop. Aren't you tired?"

I was so exhausted I'd forgotten how happy I was. I had no idea how that slender frame of hers produced that kind of stamina. I let go of her hands and dropped into a chair. Even then, Ms. Kim Sujin kept racing around the club room, cheering at the top of her lungs.

The door rattled open.

"Dowun. Huh? Ms. Kim Sujin, what are you doing?"

Na-eun said as she stepped into the club room.

"Hohoho!!!"

"What the... Teacher, you're scary."

Na-eun came over and sat down next to me.

The door rattled again.

"Teacher? What's going on?"

"Hohohohoho!!!!"

"Ugh... Teacher?"

Eunhye crept into the club room and sat down beside us. Na-eun, Eunhye, and I watched our teacher express her joy with her entire body for a while.

"Oh my. When did you all get here?"

"A while ago."

"Quite a while ago..."

Ms. Kim Sujin sat down in the chair across from us without a hint of fatigue.

"Everyone, listen up."

"Yes!"

"Yes, teacher."

"Yes..."

"There's a message from the Chairman."

"The Chairman!"

"The Chairman!?"

Ms. Kim Sujin nodded vigorously, then spoke as if she were sharing a very important secret.

"He says to work hard on your club activities."

"What!?"

"That's it?"

Ms. Kim Sujin nodded vigorously again.

"Of course! Do you have any idea how important this is? Everyone, work hard! Log into Hero right now!"

The afterglow still hadn't faded — Ms. Kim Sujin's energy was through the roof.

Puppeteer nodded and pointed toward the warehouse.

He had a point. We'd been in the Apse Mountain Range for quite some time. Our levels had climbed and monster byproducts had piled up — but the essentials had been steadily dwindling in the opposite direction. Food, equipment repair kits, and so on.

I logged into the Hero community and started reading through a variety of posts. There was no need to go into town in-game just to gather information. Plenty of players had already written up all kinds of intel on the internet forums.

The older posts were dominated by methods for not getting killed by paladins, one way or another. But the more recent the posts, the more new content started showing up.

The atmosphere in the southern Holy Royal Empire seemed to be shifting. And posts written within the last three days spelled out the reason.

"Whew..."

"Why? Dowun, is the situation bad?"

Na-eun leaned in close to the monitor in front of me.

"It's better than before... but it's still a mess."

Better than the Witch Hunt, at least. Back then, getting flagged by an Inquisitor meant you were dead, no questions asked. What worried me was the part about forced conscription. If we went into town for supplies and got drafted, we'd be dragged straight into a war.

"Na-eun, I'll talk in-game. Go back to your seat."

"Got it~"

Puppeteer was right. If the essentials ran out, we wouldn't be able to hold on in the Apse Mountain Range. Part of me wanted to just send an NPC to buy the supplies and bring them back. But NPCs didn't have inventories. In the end, if we wanted to haul back the volume we actually needed, a player had to go in person.

Seolhwa raised her hand. Considering individual combat ability, she was the best fit. It was a poor assignment for Puppeteer, a necromancer. Elena was a cleric — if she ran into monsters along the way, her life would be in danger. As for me... I was suitable enough, but I held the Head of the Household class. I was the core of the party. As long as I stayed alive, even if Seolhwa died, we could level her back up quickly.

We escorted Seolhwa as far as the entrance to the Apse Mountain Range.

She'd have to slip past the lord's conscription orders just to reach a shop. Getting there would be hard enough — and even after she arrived, there was a real chance the shopkeeper would report her.

Hero didn't accommodate its players. It just kept writing its own story. From the Witch Hunt to a civil war — Hero didn't wait for anyone to grow. The NPCs brawled among themselves, and players died in droves, shrimp crushed between colliding whales.

We couldn't just leave Seolhwa to go to war alone.

Not long ago, a demon summoning had thrown the Holy Royal Empire into an uproar. If a necromancer showed up in the middle of that, no one would look on him kindly. In the worst case, he could be killed — even by the Emperor's southern faction.

I handed him the food and equipment repair kits I had on me. Whether Seolhwa made it back or not, I wouldn't be needing them.

"Dowun!"

Eunhye, who'd been playing, called my name like a scream. I shot up from my seat and went to her. On the monitor, Seolhwa's character was surrounded by territorial soldiers.

"What do I do...?"

"Accept the conscription. We'll come to the village."

"Sorry..."

"Don't be. It's fine."

It had been a difficult mission. Difficult, but one we'd had no choice but to attempt. This wasn't a situation where I was going to blame Eunhye for failing.

Puppeteer seemed to have already grasped the situation.

We left Puppeteer behind and descended the Apse Mountain Range. Once we were down from the mountains, we headed to where Seolhwa was, and we found her.

And just like that, the five of us — myself, Seolhwa, Elena, Fersin, and Sarah — were assigned to Viscount Bloody's unit of the Emperor's Allied Forces.

Castle Bloody.

A knight stood before the mercenaries.

Considering the dangers of war, the pay was remarkably low. Even so, once you'd been forcibly conscripted, you didn't have a choice.

I raised my hand and asked whether we could update our mercenary ranks.

The knight asked, but there were no further questions.

With that, the knight left the parade ground.

We entered the tent set up on the parade ground, and every one of us received a C-rank.

Once the rank updates were done, we logged out early. There was nothing to do inside the parade ground.

The next day, Viscount Bloody's forces began their march north — toward the southern Golden Plains, where the Emperor's Allied Forces were gathering. The army's numbers kept swelling as we moved. We couldn't hunt. For days, all we did was march.

We marched for several more days and arrived at a vast expanse of plains. Our destination — the Golden Plains. The name came from the way the enormous fields turned gold when the grain ripened.

The number of troops was beyond estimation.

Clip-clop. Clip-clop.

From both the allied and enemy sides, a handful of horsemen rode out to meet each other.

"Huh!? Dowun."

"It's fine. It's an event cinematic."

"Event cinematic?"

Na-eun asked again, as if she'd never heard the term.

"It's a video that shows the game's story. You can't control your character right now."

"Oh.... Then I'll sit next to you and watch."

Na-eun sat down beside me. Eunhye got up from her seat and came over too.

"I'll watch with you..."

Everyone settled in, and we turned our attention back to the monitor.