A Reunion Not Worth the Wait
After his name was stripped away, every means of contact Ryu Hwi had ever used was frozen solid. He had no way to prove his identity, and no money to keep his phone lines alive in the first place.
I want to see you.
That was why the other party had left a hidden comment on one of the videos Ryu Hwi posted on Yggtube.
It was a message of apology and remorse for failing to help Ryu Hwi's mother, along with a wish to meet face-to-face before long.
One of the very people who had cut all ties the moment Ryu Hwi became an Unknown.
And now, of all times, an apology?
Ryu Hwi mulled it over, then decided to meet the man anyway.
"[And you aren't considering the possibility that it might be a trap?]"
"Trap or not."
Ryu Hwi snorted at YggON.
"Aren't you curious what kind of nerve it takes to ask for a meeting this late in the game?"
"[And do you intend to keep wandering around looking like that?]"
At YggON's pointed remark, Ryu Hwi finally took stock of himself. Ragged clothes, unkempt hair, a hollow, dead-eyed expression. It was, quite literally, the image that sprang to mind the instant anyone heard the word Unknown.
"There's no reason to clean up at this point...."
"[Might I remind you that you declared you were going to climb back up? Does that wreck of an appearance suit your goal, Master?]"
Ryu Hwi checked his reflection in the mirror and clicked his tongue. There was no denying it — YggON was right.
"[While we're on the subject, let me state for the record: it is a disgrace that YggON's Master looks like this. An utter humiliation. Kindly maintain a distance of at least ten meters.]"
"This robot vacuum, I swear."
He wanted to hit it. His fist was practically begging for permission.
"Fine, fine. Money isn't a problem."
Unlike the days before he'd pulled YggON, Ryu Hwi actually had money now. The proceeds from selling the magic stones alone were more cash than he'd ever seen in his life — and on top of that, there was the income from Yggtube. Compared to the top-ranked gamers it was pocket change, but for Ryu Hwi, it was real money.
Back then... if he'd had this kind of money....
Something precious that would never come back. What meaning could this much cash possibly hold now? The thing he'd been desperate to save was already gone.
"Thank you. Come again."
With the shop employee's parting words behind him, Ryu Hwi stepped out the door. His hair was roughly tamed, his clothes crisp and clean. The owner had balked at the sight of him at first, but the moment money appeared, the man's attitude had flipped on a dime.
Money really was king in this world.
The appointed time had come and gone nearly an hour ago, but Ryu Hwi didn't care. There was nothing to be disappointed over even if the meeting fell through — this was someone he had no use for either way.
He turned into a quiet back alley, and a streetscape frozen in time unfolded before him. Buildings left behind by the city's outward sprawl — scenes like this were common in the forgotten pockets of downtown.
When he entered the café, the surly manager shot him a wary glance. A customer walks in, and that's the welcome he gets.
Ryu Hwi said nothing and swept his gaze across the shop.
At a table in a dim corner sat a human being he had once called a friend. Spotting Ryu Hwi, the man twisted his face in irritation.
"You're late!"
"Ah. So I am."
Without a word of apology, Ryu Hwi sat down across from him. The man's face contorted further, ugliness stacking on ugliness — apparently the casual attitude had made things worse.
"Sorry to keep a Bronze waiting, seeing as I'm just a lowly Unknown."
"You—"
"Weren't you here to apologize?"
At those words, the man shut his mouth like a mute who'd swallowed honey. Ryu Hwi took his time studying the face across the table.
His name was Garcia.
They had run together all through middle and high school. Laughing together in the good times, crying together in the bad. He had truly believed they'd be friends for life.
Don't ever contact me again. I'm not about to let it get around that I hang out with an Unknown.
But that one sentence Garcia had spat at him was still carved deep into Ryu Hwi's chest.
"It's been a while, Ryu Hwi."
Garcia cleared his throat a couple of times and produced a faint smile. Any idiot could tell it was forced.
"[However I look at it, that is hardly the bearing of a man who wants to apologize.]"
YggON stared at Garcia with open disdain. Ryu Hwi shared the sentiment entirely.
He realized, all over again, that whatever he and Garcia once had was well and truly dead.
"[It seems he wishes to emphasize that he is one of the rare humans who still remembers and uses an Unknown's original name.]"
Thanks to YggON's interruptions, Ryu Hwi managed to keep his composure.
"I'm sorry about before. I know an apology won't fix what happened, but...."
"You're right about that."
Accepting an apology he didn't even want would be nothing but a headache at this point. He had no intention of forgiving the man. It wasn't something that could be forgiven. And besides....
"An apology that doesn't even come from the heart is worthless. Why would I take it?"
"Heartless? What do you mean, heartless! I genuinely—"
"Oh, really? Then tell me. Exactly what are you planning to do to make up for it? Just words?"
"I mean — obviously, proper compensation."
Proper compensation.
A hollow laugh escaped Ryu Hwi before he could stop it.
It hadn't been Garcia who dragged him down into Unknown status. But Garcia and the rest had looked straight through him the moment he fell. They had scorned and sneered at a man fighting desperately to save his own mother. In the end, his mother died, and everything Ryu Hwi had built his life on was denied.
And this man thought he could compensate for that?
"I'll cover your living expenses for a while, and help you get back to Bronze as fast as possible."
"And when exactly do you think I can get back to Bronze? I don't even know."
"Don't worry about it. This much support is nothing I can't handle."
It was a shockingly generous offer — and yet Ryu Hwi's face grew stiffer by the second.
"Ryu Hwi?"
If Garcia had truly repented — truly regretted what he'd done, and reached out a hand to make amends.... If they could go back to the days when they laughed and joked together like before....
"Ha."
Ryu Hwi let out a self-mocking sigh. A pointless hypothetical. How much longing could a man hoard for a past he could never return to?
He looked Garcia dead in the eye. Perhaps unnerved by the look that seemed to see straight through him, Garcia's gaze darted away.
"Garcia. We were friends, once."
"Y-yeah. We were. I made mistakes, but still—"
"Care for a word of advice from an old friend?"
"...?"
"You are a terrible actor."
"What the—?!"
The sighs just wouldn't stop. Arms crossed, Ryu Hwi clicked his tongue lightly.
"You think you can fool anyone like that? Forget it. Just tell me the real reason you wanted to meet me."
"W-well, you see...."
Something — a piece of information — flickered up in Ryu Hwi's field of view. He shared it with Garcia. With a shared feed, whatever he was looking at could be projected into someone else's vision.
"?!"
"It's the modern age. Finding a little information is easy. What, did you think an Unknown can't even get onto the 'net'?"
What Ryu Hwi had pulled up was a news article. It covered a certain game company.
"Even back then we were friends, so of course I know where you got a job. It was Activity, one of Latia's subsidiaries — wasn't it?"
According to the article, Latia Soft had recently purged its underperforming subsidiaries. Among them was Activity, the developer of Space Alien, the game labyrinth shut down not long ago.
"Your own company is on the chopping block, and you're offering to support me? You think that sounds credible?"
"Ugh...."
"I don't even need to guess. You came sniffing around because you want to use me."
Cornered, Garcia's eyes darted every which way. He was no doubt scrambling for an excuse.
Black Snake and their crew, Garcia too — back when Ryu Hwi was weak, they'd trampled him without a second thought, and now that the winds had shifted, they were changing their tune and crawling back to latch onto him.
Garbage. All of them.
Ryu Hwi didn't bother hiding his disgust as he clicked his tongue again.
"N-no, that's not it. I really have reflected on what I—"
"Even if that were true."
The lingering attachment in some corner of his heart. The nostalgia for a past that would never return. Memories of the happiest days of his life.
Only today, at last, Ryu Hwi could throw all of it away. None of it would be worth anything on the road ahead.
"I don't need your charity. Save your pitiful mercy for starving dogs."
There was nothing left to say.
Ryu Hwi rose from his seat.
"Wait!"
Garcia lunged desperately to grab him, but Ryu Hwi slipped the grasp with trivial ease. Off balance, Garcia caught his foot on his own chair and toppled straight over.
Ryu Hwi glanced down at the fallen man, then turned to leave, feigning total indifference —
"I'll sell your information to the Linzea Guild!"
Garcia's desperate scream froze Ryu Hwi mid-step.
"I still have the business card I got while working at Activity. And it's Gabriel Darius's!"
Garcia hauled himself up and pulled something from inside his jacket. Etched clearly across the card was a single name.
Gabriel Darius.
The man currently serving as the vice-guild master of the Linzea Guild, and the elder brother of Linpel Darius. He had stepped back from the front lines now, but he had been the ace of Linzea before Linpel ever was. Linpel was brilliant in his own right, yet the prevailing opinion held that he couldn't hold a candle to Gabriel Darius in his prime.
Ryu Hwi had been part of Linzea once, and he'd crossed paths with Gabriel Darius a few times himself — though "crossing paths" amounted to nothing more than a few exchanges of words over business.
"Your information will fetch a high price. And you think Gabriel Darius will just sit still once he has it? I've met that man face-to-face, so believe me — I know!"
Garcia's voice trembled.
"He's... he's a doll with no emotions."
Back when Ryu Hwi was still in the guild, a senior member had once given him this warning:
If there's ever any chance you'll meet Gabriel, be careful. Whatever you do, don't hold eye contact.
Not long after, Ryu Hwi did come face-to-face with Gabriel Darius.
It was only a brief business exchange, but inwardly, he had been thrilled. The ace who had blazed before Linpel Darius — the very man who had built the Linzea Guild into what it was. In his era, game after legendary game labyrinth had lined the shelves. Gabriel Darius had been the ace cutting through all of them at the front lines, and the first man to claim Phantasma in the earliest days of World of Phantasm. Some even disparaged Linpel Darius, saying he'd merely inherited ground Gabriel had already broken.
Meeting a living legend of the era, Ryu Hwi had been so swept up in the excitement that he forgot the senior's advice.
The instant he met those cold, sunken sanpaku eyes, he understood exactly why the senior had warned him.
What is with those eyes....
What was reflected in them — the entity called 'Ryu Hwi' — was no different from an NPC. For the first time in his life, he felt fear of another human being.
Years later, that senior had told him:
"I watched him bury someone without a moment's hesitation. The guy was an enemy from a rival guild, sure, but he crushed him so completely there was no coming back from it."
The one being you must never, ever turn into an enemy.
"And the thing is, he doesn't even enjoy it. No relish, no cruelty for its own sake. He just removes you, because it's necessary. Without a single flicker of expression. Without blinking once."
Ryu Hwi had never been able to forget those frigid eyes.
He closed the distance to Garcia.
Apparently concluding that the threat had landed, Garcia broke into a grin of pure triumph.
"That's right — you know exactly how scary Gabriel Darius is, don't you? This works out great for you and for me."
Letting Garcia's chatter wash over him, Ryu Hwi examined the card. It was Gabriel Darius's business card, no doubt about it. Activity had once been one of the successful subsidiaries, so there was nothing strange about the man possessing it.
"Activity is developing a new IP. They got cut loose from the Latia family, but they haven't given up on making game labyrinths."
Garcia babbled on, growing louder by the sentence.
"Activity isn't a company that ends here! Damn it, GA-ES — if it weren't for those bastards, none of this would've—"
The name was familiar from somewhere, but Ryu Hwi showed no reaction.
"You're going to be our billboard. First, the content we've prepared will run on your stream, and—"
"Garcia. You're loud. Shut your mouth."
"Excuse me?"
"I don't care about your revenue streams or your content. Shut up."
Having confirmed the card really was Gabriel Darius's, Ryu Hwi turned to go once more.
"You're ignoring me?! You really think it's fine if your information ends up with the Linzea Guild?"
"Is there anything about me worth selling to you?"
"Apparently you think I won't do it. You're making an enemy of Gabriel Darius right now!"
"That's none of your business."
At the sight of Ryu Hwi walking away without a flicker of hesitation, Garcia raised his voice in a last-ditch fit.
"Hey, Unknown!! Don't you dare ignore me, you Unknown trash!"
Garcia rushed forward and reached for Ryu Hwi's shoulder.
In that instant, Ryu Hwi slipped past the hand effortlessly and seized Garcia by the collar instead.
"Ghk—!"
"Have you forgotten how dangerous an Unknown can be? Hm? Garcia. You seem in a hurry to die."
"An Unknown... laying hands on a Bronze?"
The moment their eyes met, Garcia's breath caught in his throat.
Eyes gone cold and still, like deep water.
He had seen eyes like that before.
Ryu Hwi was wearing the same frigid gaze as Gabriel Darius.