Declaration of War

"Oh, they're up."

Ragna, an analyst at Linzea Guild, had just noticed two new uploads on one of the channels he subscribed to.

"Two at once?"

The new installments of Unknown Deep-Sea Escapee had appeared on Yggtube back to back. The first video had caused such a stir that countless people had been waiting for Ryu7017's next upload — Ragna among them.

The moment the follow-ups went live, the view counts began climbing at an even steeper rate than the first episode, and it wasn't hard to see why. Especially the third installment, which was essentially a textbook laying out the most efficient ways to clear three separate dungeons: White Lake, White Spider Forest, and the Ancient Ruins.

They were dungeons challengers could attempt relatively early in World of Phantasm, but their mechanics were so absurdly unreasonable that clearing them came with no small amount of suffering. What the video demonstrated were entirely new strategies for breaking each one. Any gamer currently grinding through those dungeons who adopted these methods would wipe the existing records off the rankings in an instant.

"Looks like our ace Linpel Darius's records are about to vanish from the leaderboard. Impressive stuff."

Ragna clicked his tongue. He had drafted a few dungeon strategies of his own over time, but the ones presented in installment three belonged to a completely different dimension. These weren't clumsy improvisations — no "damn the consequences" luck-farming. Every single trap and mechanism had been observed and analyzed over and over before a solution was ever attempted.

If anything, these were the kind of strategies you'd expect from a chief analyst at one of the mega-guilds.

Is another guild backing him? Honestly, it does make more sense than one person doing all this alone.

Some organization had to be providing support behind the scenes. That was what Ragna told himself.

But the real shock was installment two.

Something had recently gone wrong with the Witch's Hideout dungeon. Even Ragna, as a Linzea ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Guild analyst, was well aware of the fact — it had become fairly famous gossip in the communities. For the past three months, not a single soul had cleared that dungeon. A party of Phantasma-tier gamers, having heard the rumors, had charged in to find the cause and been wiped out to a man. That much was common knowledge.

Ryu7017 had cleared it.

What kind of bug had infested the dungeon? What traps were lying in wait? Unlike the first video, this one came with brief narration delivered through captions.

Everyone who watched the footage — where stepping into any section at all triggered an instant-death trap on contact — flooded the replies.

Before long, the gamer in the video succeeded in forcing his way into the boss room. The grotesque appearance of the mutated, bug-ridden boss drew yet another wave of replies. Why had such a bug occurred? What was that hideous thing it had become? Had data from another game labyrinth leaked in? Every reaction imaginable poured out.

And then the final battle with the boss began.

What unfolded shocked more people than even his fight against the Confusion Dark Knight. It went beyond sleight of hand — it was a miracle. A boss unleashing instant-death magic in relentless barrages, and the gamer standing against it. Even when the death magic blanketed the entire arena, the gamer did not die.

Some insisted it had to be a "bug." Others claimed he must have been wearing instant-death resistance gear. But if he could neutralize the magic through exploits or gear, there would have been no reason to weave across the battlefield dodging spells the way he did throughout the entire fight. According to the captions, even when the magic appeared to swallow the whole arena, gaps still existed within it — and he had escaped its effects through those gaps.

It was an explanation no one wanted to believe. Simply identifying a gap in that single instant was already beyond comprehension. And yet the gamer had survived the furious onslaught of instant-death magic and, in the end, brought the boss down. Plenty of people insisted the video itself had to be doctored — installment three they could accept, but two was simply too much to swallow at face value.

Still, one thing was undeniable: the long-blocked Witch's Hideout had, in fact, been cleared.

"This is going to blow up all over again."

Ragna was certain these videos would cause an even greater stir than the first. His prediction proved exactly right. Opinions about the Deep-Sea Escapee series split across every community, and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠series grew so famous that anyone with even a passing interest in World of Phantasm couldn't possibly have missed it.

Just as the communities were erupting, a new video from Ryu7017 was uploaded. People were thrilled. True or false, right or wrong — Deep-Sea Escapee was currently the hottest topic on the planet.

This time, it wasn't game labyrinth ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠footage. It was shorter than any of the previous uploads. What could it possibly be? People hit play without hesitation.

It's time.

I've kept dropping the bait. All these provocations in a row — the fish has to be getting irritated. Even with warnings from those around it to hold back, that fish will be circling, looking for its own chance to lash out.

For years, he had scraped together every scrap of information on that single fish and dissected its every move. What kind of temper it had, what made it react, when it grew careless — he had watched, and watched, and watched.

Now it was time to throw out the big bait and drag the fish into the open.

But he had already braced for that. To catch a tiger, you had to enter the tiger's den.

YggON's advice was sound. And yet he couldn't stop.

Three years ago, his "time" had stopped. Everything had frozen in place while only hatred and despair kept growing. Now he had the "means" for revenge. He had already decided exactly how the hunt would go.

More than anything else — to truly escape that frozen moment, to take a single step forward, he had decided to announce to the world that "Ryu Hwi" existed.

A man appeared on the screen. He sat in a chair, staring straight into the camera.

In all the Deep-Sea Escapee videos so far, his "face" had almost never been properly shown — distant shots, or fleeting glimpses of him in motion. But everyone watching this video knew, without being told, that the man staring into the lens was the protagonist of the Deep-Sea Escapee series. The aura that radiated from his whole body was unmistakably the same.

"Hello, everyone. I'm 'Ryu7017' from the Deep-Sea Escapee series. In the Yggdrasil game labyrinths, I go by the name 'Ryu Hwi.'"

The man introduced himself simply.

"Thank you to everyone who has watched my previous videos. I uploaded this one to formally greet my subscribers."

Ryu Hwi's manner was polite. Perhaps conscious of the recording, his expression was faintly awkward.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to address a few things you've all been curious about. First, regarding the title of the series — 'Unknown Deep-Sea Escapee'……"

A game labyrinth account could only be obtained by passing an examination reserved for Silver rank and above, or through a guild's recommendation. An Unknown couldn't possibly have one. That was what most people assumed, and they'd dismissed "Unknown" as a grab-for-attention gimmick.

"I am, without a doubt, an Unknown."

But Ryu Hwi declared his status plainly and without hesitation.

"7017. Those are the last four digits of my ID. You're free to doubt me, but I will say it again: I am an Unknown through and through. Yes — the very Unknowns you all call criminals. Human garbage."

He revealed even a fragment of his ID without the slightest flinch. Unknowns were the existence everyone avoided and despised — and yet his bearing was strikingly, almost defiantly proud.

"You must be wondering how an Unknown got an account in the first place. All I'll say is: I got lucky. I know a lot of you won't buy that — but what can I do? That's just the truth."

Ryu Hwi didn't so much as blink as he tossed provocation after provocation at his audience.

"There are a lot of people in this world who hate Unknowns purely because we're Unknowns, and who'd rather sweep us under the rug entirely. Even the people I trusted stopped treating me as human the moment I became one. Well — I understand. Unknowns are criminals. You wouldn't want to deal with us either."

By society's standards, an Unknown was someone who had committed an unforgivable offense. Defending an Unknown on a broadcast would win him no supporters, and indeed, the moment he declared himself one, the replies were buried under a flood of profanity.

"But I became an Unknown because I was framed for something I didn't do. I have no intention ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of groveling about it now, tearfully protesting my innocence. There's no one who'd believe me anyway."

Viewers burned with curiosity — what accusation could he possibly have been saddled with? But Ryu Hwi never said.

"So from here on, I intend to prove my worth through the Deep-Sea Escapee series. To the bastards who threw me away — I'll show you exactly what kind of man Ryu Hwi is."

The reactions ran the entire spectrum. Some raged at the audacity of a mere Unknown; others found themselves genuinely intrigued by this person called Ryu Hwi. But whatever they felt, one thing was certain: the name Ryu Hwi had burned itself deep into their minds.

"Many of you suspect the Deep-Sea Escapee footage is faked. For installments two and three, the dungeon runs ran long, so I edited them into summaries — but the content itself is one hundred percent real. If you doubt it, feel free to hire a verification firm and have them authenticate it."

Even without Ryu Hwi saying a word, quite a few people had already submitted the videos to professional analysis services. Every single one had come back with the same verdict: no signs of manipulation. Posts dissecting the findings were already spreading across the communities.

"As for what methods I use — I can't disclose that. A gamer can't just hand over his trade secrets, after all. I ask that you analyze my future videos and draw your own conclusions."

Ryu Hwi talked on for a while longer, touching on this and that.

"And then, before I close — one last thing……"

Just before the video ended, he dropped a bombshell of staggering size.

"Are you watching? Linpel Darius — and you bastards of the Linzea Guild!"

The polite demeanor of the past several minutes vanished, and the violent emotion he'd buried beneath it surged to the surface. Everyone who saw Ryu Hwi's face twist into something savage in that instant swallowed hard. They could feel the raw, festering rage packed inside it.

"Next time, it's your turn to fall into hell."