Chapter 56
Park Jeong-ho left home today as well with a bamboo basket strapped to his back, heading out to gather medicinal herbs. The mountainside village where he had spent his whole life lay at the foot of Jirisan, the old friend who had been with him since childhood. Around his house, only a little over ten households lived scattered along the slope.
As he stepped outside, Park Jeong-ho hummed softly under his breath. He was in good spirits, and for some reason he had a feeling he might find top-grade herbs today. Even though his house stood on the mountain’s flank, it still took more than thirty minutes at a brisk walk to reach the mountain trail.
Still humming, Park Jeong-ho looked around and muttered, “The fog is especially thick today.”
Fog at dawn was nothing unusual, but today it was unusually dense. Since he had walked this path for decades, he figured there was nothing to worry about and pushed into it, parting the mist.
But before long, Park Jeong-ho stopped. Inside the fog, he could barely see a single step ahead. Worse, an odd chill began to creep over his body.
“What’s wrong with me? Am I run-down? No way. I ate that hundred-year-old doraji just a few days ago.”
It had been a rare specimen, found after years of searching. He had meant to give it to his son, who had gone to the city, but the boy had refused again and again, saying his father’s health mattered more. In the end, Park Jeong-ho had eaten it himself. Perhaps because of that, he hadn’t felt tired when waking up lately.
Park Jeong-ho took a cautious step back. By the judgment of all his years climbing these mountains, a day like this was one to turn around and go home if he valued a long life.
Even as he left the fog, he felt something else was wrong. The moment he stepped beyond that thick veil, it vanished as if it had never been there at all. It was as though an invisible boundary had been keeping the mist from spilling out.
“Don’t tell me....”
The thought that surfaced made Park Jeong-ho shudder. He had never experienced one himself, but he had heard plenty of stories just like this. Places where the terrain suddenly changed, where the environment itself transformed without warning.
That meant this was probably...
Park Jeong-ho slowly looked up.
“H-huh?”
He jumped in alarm and stumbled backward. He caught his foot on a rock and fell, but he didn’t even notice the pain. Instead, he turned and sprinted back the way he had come.
Behind him, where one of Jirisan’s peaks should have been, something he had never seen in his life now stood towering with hair on its head. The mountain was unmistakably a mountain, but it was not the mountain he had known for decades. It was black through and through.
A mountain jutting up like the teeth of a demon. He fled far away, then looked back at the mountain wrapped in fog. It looked like the Northern Nether Mountain where the dead were said to go.
“Ah, right. I should report it.”
If a new dungeonized terrain appeared, it had to be reported immediately.
“Hello, yes. My name is Park Jeong-ho and...”
After making the report, Park Jeong-ho smiled brightly. It was because they said he would receive a reward. But that smile soon faded, and deep worry settled over his face.
“Ah, so I won’t be able to gather herbs anymore?”
The mountain had been his playground as a child and, after he grew up and raised children of his own, his workplace. At the thought that he could never go there again, a heavy sigh escaped Park Jeong-ho’s lips.
News from South Korea quickly stirred players all over the world.
The terrain along a slope of Jirisan in South Korea had been dungeonized.
A mountain black as pitch.
It was the Steel Mountains, famed far and wide in Eternal World.
The Steel Mountains were famous among players for two major reasons.
The first was that they were the first “raid-style” hunting ground ever implemented in Eternal World. To conquer the Steel Mountains, five parties of ten had to enter at the same time.
As befit a raid hunting ground, every monster that appeared there was strong.
The second reason was those monsters themselves.
The monsters that appeared in the Steel Mountains were golems. More precisely, they were golems made of metal harder than steel.
They were known as the Black Knights, Red Knights, and White Knights.
Almost all of the high-grade weapons, armor, and other items in Eternal World were crafted from the remains obtained by hunting the golems that appeared in the Steel Mountains.
The Black Knights were made of adamantium, the Red Knights of redihum, and the White Knights of mithril. Redihum was more valuable than adamantium, and mithril was more valuable than redihum.
In fact, even if one combined the value of adamantium and redihum, it still couldn’t compare to mithril. That was how precious mithril was.
But the rarer something was, the harder it was to obtain. In the Steel Mountains, the White Knights were raid-boss named monsters. Each White Knight had its own name, and in addition to being extraordinarily powerful, it was not easy to find them at all.
The fact that the Steel Mountains had now manifested meant the quality of weapons and armor that could be made in the real world would rise by one level, no, by several.
In terms of value, it was comparable to the mana stone mine that had appeared in England.
As soon as the Steel Mountains emerged, an enormous number of players entered South Korea. Not just the top ten guilds, but every guild with any degree of fame came pouring into the country.
It went without saying that President Yang Min-ho and the government officials had smiles stretched ear to ear.
The South Korean government tried to secure a tidy profit from the Steel Mountains by attaching all sorts of conditions to incoming players from other countries. But among the nations that housed the top ten guilds, not a single one was weaker than South Korea. The players mobilized the politicians in their own countries and pressed the South Korean government hard.
From the start, the South Korean government had no way to withstand the pressure from the great powers. In the end, President Yang Min-ho had no choice but to make a decision.
But it was not the decision the great powers had wanted.
The South Korean government entrusted management of the Steel Mountains to the Masked Lord and the Masked Castle. From then on, all matters related to the Steel Mountains were to be directed to the Masked Castle.
It was a decision made on the assumption that because Yoon Sang-hyuk was Korean, he would handle things in a way that benefited South Korea somehow.
And President Yang Min-ho’s decision proved to be a stroke of genius.
Who was there that could casually pressure Yoon Sang-hyuk, the Masked Lord?
In the end, players from the top ten guilds and everyone else who had entered South Korea had no choice but to knock on the gates of the Masked Castle.
Yoon Sang-hyuk sat in his office chair, quietly observing the people seated opposite him.
The Guild Masters of the top guilds: Richard Polsen, the Knight of the Sun and leader of America’s representative guild, Absolute; Michael Buren, the Hammer of God and leader of Britain’s representative guild, the Holy Knights; Manuel Mateus, the Dragon Slayer and leader of Germany’s representative guild, Dragon Slayers; and the rest.
And alongside them were the heads of the large guilds that, while weaker than the top ten guilds, had still earned plenty of clout in Eternal World.
“What a tedious mess I’ve been handed.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk murmured to himself.
President Yang Min-ho had played a little trick. He had tried to swallow a dumpling that looked easy to eat, only to realize it was a burden instead, and then tossed the burden over to Yoon Sang-hyuk.
They all wanted access to the Steel Mountains. But he couldn’t give every one of them the chance. In poker, if you’re holding the best possible hand, a royal straight flush, you don’t just call and sit there; you bet. Likewise, there was no way he could simply hand out opportunities to enter the Steel Mountains to anyone who asked.
And there was another reason he couldn’t let just anyone in.
“You think you can handle it?”
“......”
Everyone’s eyes turned toward Yoon Sang-hyuk.
“I’m asking whether you actually have the guts to raid the Steel Mountains. I think you people are under one hell of a misunderstanding. Most of the ones gathered here would die if they went there. Of course, you wouldn’t die. Your guild members who went with you would.”
That was exactly why he couldn’t allow entry to just anyone. The Steel Mountains were a raid hunting ground. The fact that fifty people had to organize into a single raid to conquer it meant the place was that difficult and the monsters there were that powerful.
“You’re going to challenge the Steel Mountains while barely keeping your heads above water in the unraidable hunting grounds back in your own countries? Are you trying to commit group suicide? Richard. You tell me. Are you really confident?”
“Well, I mean...”
Richard Polsen let the end of his sentence trail off.
“Listen carefully. In the Absolute Guild, the only one who’s properly geared is you. Yes, if you took the front and handled tanking during the raid, you might somehow, some way be able to hunt them. But there’s no guarantee everyone would be safe. What do you think? Am I wrong?”
Richard Polsen couldn’t answer. Not a single word Yoon Sang-hyuk had said was wrong. They had shown Yoon Sang-hyuk the unraidable hunting grounds in the United States and received all the gear they had used in Eternal World. But the only person who had been fully equipped was Richard Polsen himself.
“Manuel. What about you? Think you can do it?”
Manuel Mateus, the Dragon Slayer, shrugged.
“You all come swarming in here knowing full well it’s a place where people die.... For the leaders of major guilds, you really don’t think things through.”
“So you’re saying the Steel Mountains will be monopolized by the Masked Castle in the end?”
Michael Buren, the Hammer of God, shouted in anger. Hanging at his waist was the Punishment of Tayan, purchased at an auction held by the Masked Castle. It was the weapon that had earned him the name Hammer of God.
“You do have a talent for saying ridiculous things.”
“Hmph! What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Why is it all right for Britain to monopolize a mana stone mine, but not the Steel Mountains?”
“That’s...”
It was a line Michael Buren should never have tried on someone else. After the mana stone mine appeared in Britain, the British government and the Holy Knights Guild had tightly controlled it.
“You’re the one being selfish. Let me say it plainly here and now. From this point on, players affiliated with Britain will not be allowed into the Steel Mountains.”
Bang!
Michael Buren stamped the floor hard. At the same time, the eyes of Yoon Sang-hyuk, hidden behind the Mask of the Lord of Chaos, flashed coldly.
“Michael Buren.”
A voice so icy it made the skin crawl.
Only then did Michael Buren realize his mistake and try to speak, but he couldn’t force the words out. A storm of furious energy was sweeping through his entire body.
“Do you want to die?”
“I, I...”
Yoon Sang-hyuk didn’t bother listening to the end of Michael Buren’s excuse.
“Get out.”
Even as he flinched, Michael Buren still didn’t get up, and Yoon Sang-hyuk spoke with glacial contempt.
“You’ve gotten pretty brave. You think because we’re back in the real world, I won’t kill you for fear of what others might see? Was the Masked Lord you knew that kind of man? Hm? Say it.”
“......I’m sorry.”
“Save the apology. I said get out right now. If you stay glued to that seat until I finish this sentence, the thing on your shoulders will disappear.”
Before he had even finished speaking, Michael Buren sprang to his feet and walked out of the reception room. Once he had vanished completely, Yoon Sang-hyuk swept his gaze over the rest of them one by one.
“Do I really have to go this far? Anyone who’s dissatisfied can leave right now. We’re back in the real world, so does this feel like your own little kingdom now? Is that it? Burn this into your heads one more time: who exactly am I standing here in front of you as?”
Though he had not raised his voice much, the people facing Yoon Sang-hyuk shuddered all the same.
Leaning back in his chair, Yoon Sang-hyuk said coldly, “Don’t forget. I’m the Masked Lord.”