Chapter 53
With Lilith’s help, Yoon Sang-hyuk had drifted off for a short while and made his way from Russia back to the Masked Castle.
He had no time to rest before he was forced to face the person who had been waiting for him.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes, it seems so, Lord. I hope you’ve been well.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk nodded and looked at the man sitting across from him.
Lee Hyung-seok, Director of Player Administration.
“What brings you here?”
He already knew why Lee Hyung-seok had come all the way to the Masked Castle. Even so, he asked anyway. If he could draw the request itself out of the other man’s mouth, he would control the conversation from the start.
“I heard you want to use the land in front of the Masked Castle.”
“When you say I want to use it, are you implying that I might not be able to use it, depending on the circumstances?”
“Ah, no. Please don’t misunderstand. The leader of the Masked Mercenary Group made that request to Seoul City, didn’t he? I was just sent here from above to speak with you about it, Lord.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk more or less guessed what was going on and gave a faint snort.
“So you’re trying to stick a straw in it again?”
“Ha, haha. That would be one way to put it.”
The situation was obvious enough without being told. Since Yoon Sang-hyuk was planning to develop the parking lot and open ground in front of the Masked Castle into a city district, someone wanted to get one foot in the door.
“Hasn’t the government already given up its rights to the Masked Castle?”
It had never been put into writing, but the government had effectively recognized the Masked Castle as Yoon Sang-hyuk’s private property.
“That is true, but the higher-ups seem to think the castle and the land in front of it are separate matters.”
“So? What do they want? Money? If it’s money, I can give them plenty. It’s state land, so the price shouldn’t be all that high, right? I’ll pay ten times market value. Good enough?”
Money meant little to Yoon Sang-hyuk. Even he did not know exactly how much wealth he had now. One media outlet had even published a speculative piece claiming he might have enough to buy all of Seoul.
Seeing that Lee Hyung-seok still couldn’t answer right away, Yoon Sang-hyuk went on.
“So they want something else. What is it? Do they want to sell the Masked Castle’s name to the world and get something out of it? Or are they trying to plant their spoon in the city district once it’s built?”
“That is…”
“Both, then.”
Lee Hyung-seok gave a bitter smile and nodded. He kept wiping his forehead as he faced Yoon Sang-hyuk. Sweat kept beading there despite the weather not being hot at all.
He wore the rather impressive title of Director of Player Administration, but in truth Lee Hyung-seok was just a sixteen-year veteran player. He wasn’t high enough level to be a top ranker, nor did he have any particularly dazzling reputation. He was simply one of those ordinary players in between.
In other words, he wasn’t qualified to negotiate with the Masked Lord, the absolute ruler of the Eternal World.
For now, Yoon Sang-hyuk wasn’t angry with him, but if he should take offense somehow...
Lee Hyung-seok had no confidence he’d be able to clean up the mess afterward.
“What exactly do they want?”
“That’s the thing…”
“Relax and just say it. You’re only the messenger, after all. Whatever they demand, I’m the one who decides whether to accept it. If it’s a ridiculous request, I’ll just refuse. Of course, I may not even bother expressing that refusal in words.”
That was why he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
In Eternal World, the Masked Lord had been a tyrant, a dictator. He handled everything with himself at the center. The reason the world’s famous guilds and rankers always had to mind Yoon Sang-hyuk’s mood was exactly that.
If they slipped out of his favor even a little, they had no confidence they could survive the aftermath.
“They’d like you to be dispatched to certain countries designated by the government. And they also say they want to invest in the city district’s construction.”
Exactly the answer he had expected.
“Who sent this down?”
“Pardon? I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I’m asking who at the very top came up with this request.”
“The Blue House.”
So the president had given the order directly.
“How much time is left in the president’s term?”
“Just a little over a year.”
“It’s the perfect time for a lame duck to start kicking around.”
“Yes. It looks like they’re trying to make use of your name to rack up accomplishments before the term ends, Lord.”
For all that he had been the government’s mouthpiece, Lee Hyung-seok was openly badmouthing the president in front of Yoon Sang-hyuk. He, too, was unhappy with what the government was doing.
“Do you need an answer right now?”
“No. Please think it over and contact me later. Do you happen to have my card?”
“It won’t take long to look up your contact information. I’ll deliver the answer myself for now.”
Lee Hyung-seok clenched his jaw.
The moment he heard that Yoon Sang-hyuk himself would be conveying the response, he worried the higher-ups would come down on him. But at the same time, he felt a strange sense of relief.
“Director.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“You’re a player too, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. My level’s low, and my abilities are nothing to brag about, but I am a player all the same.”
Lee Hyung-seok had become director simply because he had been a civil servant before crossing over to the other world and had pushed out the previous director.
“Doesn’t the job drive you insane?”
Lee Hyung-seok smiled bitterly.
He thought about quitting twelve times a day, every day. Even if his level wasn’t high, he was still a sixteen-year veteran player. If he quit as Director of Player Administration right now, he wouldn’t have to worry about making a living. But he couldn’t, because of the tangled interests bound up with the government.
No, it was more accurate to say the government had forced those shackles onto him.
“People who know nothing about that other world sit around as lawmakers and ministers and meddle in everything, don’t they?”
“It’s a suffocating mess.”
“What is the Player Administration Bureau supposed to do?”
“……”
“Does managing players mean restricting what they do and throwing your weight around?”
“Of course not. Naturally, we’re supposed to protect players’ rights...”
Lee Hyung-seok trailed off. There had definitely been good intentions behind the creation of the Player Administration Bureau. But in every sector of Korean society, no matter how good the intention at the beginning, things eventually rotted from within and turned to filth.
“It was made for a good purpose, so do good work with it.”
“I want to, but that’s beyond my capabilities.”
“If you could do it, would you have the confidence to?”
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at him quietly.
“If I made it so no one could interfere with you, would you be able to do the job properly?”
“That...”
Lee Hyung-seok thought he understood what Yoon Sang-hyuk was getting at. He meant giving him power. But Lee Hyung-seok couldn’t answer at once. He had spent his life in South Korea, and as a civil servant at that, so he knew better than most just how rotten the bureaucrats in this country were.
They were the sort of people who wouldn’t hesitate to sell the country if it served their interests. There was a reason people called lawmakers “trash lawmakers.”
“I’ll turn the Player Administration Bureau into a private organization, not one under the government. The Player Association. That sounds about right. Of course, you’d be the chairman.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Who do you think you’re talking to right now? Who am I?”
“The, the Masked Lord.”
If one compared the world of Eternal World to a real nation, Yoon Sang-hyuk, the Masked Lord, was effectively in the position of a world president.
“The Masked Castle will support everything the Player Association does. Of course, I’ll help it get properly established. But don’t misunderstand me. I’m not asking you to become one of my people. I’m saying, very literally, that I want you to build an association for players.”
“If I can really do that...”
“I’ll make sure you do. Want to give it a shot?”
Lee Hyung-seok nodded vigorously.
“Yes. I can do it.”
There were plenty of players stronger and higher leveled than he was. But if the Masked Lord stood behind him, what did he have to fear?
He could, to put it bluntly, borrow the tiger’s prestige. He could set the tiger called the Masked Lord behind him and build the kind of organization he had always wanted to create, the kind he had always dreamed of.
“Then let’s make one promise.”
At the word promise, Lee Hyung-seok straightened his posture.
“Don’t become like the people I hate, and the kind you despise too. Can you do that?”
He meant not to rot. Not to stagnate.
“I can.”
“Good. Before long, the Player Administration Bureau of the Republic of Korea will disappear. So persuade the employees you’ve had your eye on. You can recruit as many people as you need. Build something clean with them, something that truly exists for players.”
* * *
“As expected, Lord, you’re incredible.”
Without the Mask of the Chaos Lord on, Yoon Sang-hyuk sat drinking scotch and looked at Jey, the Master of the Dark Merchant Guild.
“What do you mean?”
“You swallowed the bear, didn’t you?”
Yoon Sang-hyuk gave her an odd look.
“The Dark Merchant Guild really does have fast information. So fast that I’m starting to wonder whether I should be wary of you.”
“How can you say something so hurtful? The Dark Merchant Guild exists for your sake, Lord. In that other world and in this one too. How could I possibly run the guild while standing against you?”
“Is that why you came?”
“I did have something to tell you, so I came while I was at it. But what happened to the Death God Guild?”
“You couldn’t find that out either?”
“I’m not a god. How could I know everything? I only barely managed to find out that you became the real owner of the Death God Guild. I’m genuinely curious. Just how greedy was Ian Galayev, anyway, to hand the Death God Guild over to you?”
Yoon Sang-hyuk let out a snort.
The Death God Guild, Russia’s representative guild, had entered into a contract with him. It was a subordination contract, the same kind he had made with Lilith. The terms were simple enough. Every member of the Death God Guild would be subordinate to Yoon Sang-hyuk and obey his orders.
It was a contract formed after every single guild member agreed to it. Those who opposed it left the guild, but they were few in number.
After obtaining the Death God Guild, the first thing Yoon Sang-hyuk did was replace its guild master. He demoted Ian Galayev to the lowest rank and installed Anton Pavlov as the new guild master.
“If you’re capable of finding out, then do it yourself.”
“You’d be much nicer if you’d just tell me. Fine. I’ll look into it myself.”
“That all?”
“Strictly speaking, I have something I want to ask you.”
At his gesture to continue, Jey spoke in an insinuating tone.
“The Castle of Chaos.”
“What about it?”
“The Death God Guild sent in a request. They want a clear on the Castle of Chaos, which has appeared in Siberia. You left for Russia, Lord. And then, all at once, every single member of the Masked Mercenary Group vanished.”
A smile curved on Yoon Sang-hyuk’s face.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to claim they were dispatched somewhere else. There’s no way you couldn’t have confirmed something that simple. Honestly, I’m curious about how they all suddenly disappeared like smoke too.”
“You keep asking the questions I can’t answer. That makes things awkward.”
“Why are you being like this with me?”
“What do you mean, why? Weren’t we always just about business? The Dark Merchant Guild wants something from me, and I want something from the Dark Merchant Guild too.”
“That’s true enough.”
Jey gave a small wink, then plucked the glass from Yoon Sang-hyuk’s hand and drained it in one go.
“Then I suppose you can’t answer this one either. The Castle of Chaos and the Chaos Box. Are they connected?”
Yoon Sang-hyuk stared at Jey in silence. His eyes were asking her the same question:
Just how much do you know?