A Necessary Reckoning
Yoon Sang-hyuk sat back on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, while President Yang Min-ho, seated opposite him, leaned forward and watched him closely.
"Thanks to you, I even got a tour of the presidential office."
After Yoon Sang-hyuk had said everything he needed to say at the presidential reception hall and was about to leave, President Yang Min-ho had asked for a private meeting.
"So. What did you want to say?"
"From now on, I'll address you as Lord."
"Suit yourself."
"Lord, I don't think what you said in the reception hall was your true intention."
"And what makes you think that?"
Yoon Sang-hyuk took a sip of the coffee in front of him and looked at President Yang Min-ho in silence.
"I thought it was a strong push to get your demands through. Am I wrong?"
There was some truth to that. But it was not the whole truth.
"I understood your position well enough. But once you live in this world long enough, you learn that relationships matter. Person to person, person to group, and then group to group, and eventually nation to nation. I am the president of this country. I bear the heavy responsibility of shaping the policies of the Republic of Korea and seeking national development through diplomacy with other countries."
"Keep it simple. We're both busy men."
President Yang Min-ho let out a short sigh and went on.
"What we need is something to show."
"Show to whom?"
"To the people, of course. That the government, that the president, is making all these efforts for the safety of the people and the development of the Republic of Korea."
"You want me to become a promotional tool for the government and the president?"
"Absolutely not. I promise you, I'll bring every ounce of my ability to bear for you, Lord, and for everyone under the Masked Castle."
Yoon Sang-hyuk set his coffee cup down.
"President."
"Yes. Go ahead."
"Have you ever heard the term Hell Joseon?"
“…….”
President Yang Min-ho made a sour face. Of course he knew exactly what it meant.
"It's a word loaded with a lot of meaning. Hell means hell. The worst possible place. It means things can't get any worse. And Joseon? A society of foolish kings and sycophants who told them only sweet lies, of scholar-officials who refused to give up their power, of nobles who treated commoners and the lowborn as property and tools. A society where no matter how talented you were, if your birth was low, you spent your whole life trapped in that low status."
Yoon Sang-hyuk stared directly at President Yang Min-ho. The gaze was heavy enough that Yang Min-ho quietly averted his eyes.
"What, exactly, is the difference between that Joseon and the society we live in now, you and I? Hell Joseon. That's what you call it. You say it's the whining of failures who gave up without even trying. But have you ever seriously asked yourself why the people started calling their own country Hell Joseon in the first place?"
President Yang Min-ho had no answer.
"And what about the phrase that's been getting popular lately, 'Withdraw from Korea'?"
"Ahem."
As the discussion turned harder to stomach, President Yang Min-ho reacted immediately.
Every day, the issues that dominated society were players, and the world had turned into something not unlike a game. People living in that world joked that their country was just another "server."
Watching politicians twist the law to suit their own appetites and throw chains around players, the public's anger had finally exploded.
And the words the people cried out were exactly those: "Withdraw from Korea."
It meant they wanted to leave the Korea server.
"Instead of thinking about what to show the people, shouldn't you be thinking first about what you should do for them? Instead of talking about controlling hunting grounds and dungeons and charging admission, or raising taxes on players even more, shouldn't you be encouraging players and finding ways to make hunting safer so the people can actually be protected?"
"……."
President Yang Min-ho shut his mouth and said nothing. He would have had no excuse, even if he had ten mouths.
"The Player Administration Bureau. I'm sure you founded it with good intentions. But do you know what it's doing these days? It's taking under-the-table money from players, arranging easy, lucrative hunting grounds for them, and blacklisting players who don't listen, then making life harder for them. Do you think that's normal?"
"……."
"Why aren't you saying anything? Didn't you call me here to talk? Why? Because the Masked Mercenary Group and the people of the Masked Castle keep clearing uncrackable dungeons, so Korea feels like a safe zone? But do you know this? We've only implemented about 30 percent of Eternal World so far. More dangerous, more terrifying things are going to keep appearing. Right now, when we should be raising low-level players as fast as possible, what exactly are you doing?"
As Yoon Sang-hyuk roared, President Yang Min-ho's body trembled. Yoon Sang-hyuk, having raised his voice more than he meant to, exhaled sharply and then continued in a calm tone.
"If you can grant me one demand, I'll leave the overseas expeditions to you."
President Yang Min-ho looked at him in surprise.
"I can't hand over everything. But every quarter, I'll go on an expedition to one country designated by the government."
"And what is the demand?"
Yoon Sang-hyuk fixed President Yang Min-ho with a hard stare.
"Disband the Player Administration Bureau."
* * *
From the bedroom window of the Masked Castle, he looked outside.
He could see people busily moving about, measuring the space in front of the parking lot.
President Yang Min-ho had accepted Yoon Sang-hyuk's demand. Of course, through the media, he had also made a great show of boasting that he had entered into a very close cooperative relationship with the Masked Lord.
As for the disbandment of the Player Administration Bureau, the government had been left to handle that for now. He had demanded its dissolution, but it could not happen at once. However unnecessary and stained with corruption the organization might be, it had not simply been idling until now. Time was needed to sort out its duties and transfer them to the newly established Player Association.
Naturally, the person who would become the first chairman of the Player Association was Lee Hyung-seok, the current head of the Player Administration Bureau. Lee Hyung-seok was holding regular meetings with players, listening to what they wanted, and deciding the direction the association should take.
"My Lord."
Marianne bowed her head.
"Yang Su-chan and the others wish to see you."
Yoon Sang-hyuk nodded as if he understood and waved a hand. Marianne stepped back.
When he left the bedroom and went to the reception room, Yang Su-chan and the rest of the basement family were all gathered there. He found himself hoping, just for a moment, that they had brought something new with them.
"What's this? A group outing from the basement?"
For some reason, they had recently stopped holed up in the basement.
"Don't we really need to get out of the house for once?"
"Huh?"
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at Yang Su-chan, not understanding what he meant. Yang Su-chan glanced at the others who had come with him and said,
"Their levels are too low for them to do anything. They're famous, sure, but they're total dead weight."
"I see."
Yoon Sang-hyuk thought he understood what Yang Su-chan was saying.
Lee Chul-woo, the Twilight Blacksmith; Dina Kruger, the magic engineer; Andrei Ivanov, the magic painter; Michael Chang, the Mad Alchemist; and Kurihara Ayane, the tattoo artist.
For different reasons, each of them had made a name for themselves in Eternal World, but they shared one thing in common. As Yang Su-chan had said, their levels were not high.
Each of them had been focused only on the field that interested them, and had seldom bothered to think about leveling up. Kurihara Ayane, at least, was a little higher level than the others.
Yoon Sang-hyuk had given them equipment so that they could get around some of the restrictions imposed by level, but there was no question that the stronger their own abilities became, the more they would be able to do.
"There are some things even gear can't fix."
Gear. In other words, decking oneself out in good items. But the world of Eternal World was not a gentle one. Good items and weapons came with usage restrictions. Most top-grade items of Unique rank and above had level requirements, with only a handful of exceptions.
In the end, if your level did not rise high enough, you could not make proper use of gear either.
"Can this group really pull it off?"
"What do you take me for? With just my pretty babies, we can wipe out almost any hunting ground clean."
Yang Su-chan's confidence was well founded. The power of his undead had already been proven several times over in the real world. In some hunting grounds, in fact, they had been faster at killing monsters than the Masked Mercenary Group.
Though their levels were low, the other members' abilities were nothing to scoff at either.
"Need anything else?"
"Of course. If you could support us with one succubus or incubus, that'd be great. Minimum rank: upper-grade."
"Why do you need them?"
Yang Su-chan gave a meaningful grin and said one thing.
"Monster pull. I saw what Lilith does before, and she's specially built for it."
"You're the only idiot who'd use a succubus for monster pulling."
"Didn't you already try it yourself, hyung? Anyway, will you support us or what?"
"Fine. I got it. But before you go hunting, make sure you prepare enough potions and scrolls for the others to use."
Andrei Ivanov spoke up in a dry voice.
"We've already made a ridiculous amount, so don't worry about it."
"Then have a good trip."
Watching them leave the reception room, Yoon Sang-hyuk gave a small snort of laughter. Coming back to the real world seemed to have sobered them up. He thought of how, in Eternal World, they had only ever turned up their noses when told to go hunting, yet now they were volunteering for it.
"Come to think of it, I should be hunting too."
After taking a Potion of Transcendence, Yoon Sang-hyuk could now level up as well. But even with his high level, the hunting grounds currently implemented were still nothing special, so no matter how diligently he hunted, the experience he could gain was limited.
Still, he could not afford to sit around. He also had to grow the tattoo Kurihara Ayane had engraved for him. Small changes were what eventually created great winds.
Lost in thought while sitting in his chair, Yoon Sang-hyuk finally lifted his head. The space in front of him blurred, and Lilith appeared.
"Oppa."
"You been to the Castle of Chaos?"
"Yes."
Lilith had been very busy lately.
She had been sending Masked Mercenary Group members to the Castle of Chaos in rotation.
"How's the clear going?"
"Seems to be going smoothly so far. They said a few people were injured a couple of days ago, but nothing serious enough to worry about."
Since they had gone in carrying a mountain of potions made by the people the Masked Castle referred to as the "basement shut-ins," ordinary injuries would not be much of a problem.
"Keep up the good work."
Lilith frowned slightly. She did not seem entirely satisfied with what she was doing right now.
"If it's not you, no one else can do it."
When he patted her head, Lilith's expression softened. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his touch. Who would ever guess that this woman was Lilith, the mistress of the Fortress of Seduction?
"You know I'm always grateful, right?"
Even today, Yoon Sang-hyuk made sure to give Lilith plenty of lip service.