***
***
Inside the BattleNet Association’s private jet.
Sitting in the seat behind Seong Jihan, Lee Hayeon, with a puzzled expression, struck up a conversation with him.
“Come to think of it, isn’t Seah coming with us? I thought you said she would join us.”
“I gave her a pretty expensive bow as a gift. She’s determined to pay back her debt through leveling up since I told her no returns are allowed.”
“How expensive could a bow be that she’s thinking about refunds?”
“20 billion GP.”
“…20 billion? In GP?”
To Seong Jihan’s response, Lim Gayeong, seated next to Lee Hayeon, instinctively retorted.
It’s not won but GP?
Considering the current exchange rate of 1 GP being approximately 2.5 dollars, that bow was effectively costing 50 billion dollars.
“Even so, isn’t that excessive for a weapon… Even The Sword King’s SSS-grade twin swords, Ganjang and Makya, wouldn’t cost that much, would they?”
“When you try to get them, they can name any price. You should buy SSS-grade weapons if you have money.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
Such huge figures felt surreal, leaving Lee Hayeon and Lim Gayeong to just look at each other bewildered.
Then, as if something dawned on Seong Jihan, he added,
“Oh, also with the upgrade of Phoenix Flag, we’ve got a +3 increase to our guild level, so let’s add 15 more slots to the random drawing.”
“It went up again from SSS…?”
“Yes, Artemus did a good job. It’s now SSS+.”
Wait, there’s also a grade called SSS+?
Thank goodness this person is on the same side.
“Ah, I have a present for you too, Hayeon.”
“For me?”
“Here.”
Seong Jihan handed over all the Akashic pages he had confiscated from Shizuru before.
He had given one page to Christopher, leaving him with nine remaining Akashic Pages.
In case they might be useful later, he kept them for now.
‘If I need them later, I can just buy them.’
Following the auction sale of the Palace of Pleasure invitation, Seong Jihan became quite the spendthrift.
No need to hold onto something you could simply buy with money.
“Oh, the Akashic pages…!”
“I can’t give you 100 of them like American First did. Still, I’ve accumulated these over time. Let’s aim for SSS-grade.”
“Alright, thank you!”
Lee Hayeon stood up promptly, nervously taking the golden pages.
After entering the main game, the value of the supporting gift ‘Nurturing’ had once again soared, hitting the daily limit, with Akashic Pages selling for high prices in the auction house.
Having nine of them was like having a treasure.
“Miss, would you mind tearing half of that for me?”
“No chance. We’re aiming for SSS-grade.”
Hayeon tightly clenched the Akashic Page.
Then, a brilliant golden light burst forth from the Akashic Page.
Looking at the system message that followed the same phenomenon as when the Nurturing gift was upgraded before, Hayeon’s eyes sparkled.
[To increase the gift grade, you need to grow more players.]
[Grow one of your guild members to rank 1 within the race.]
Swallowing her disappointment as she read the following system message, Hayeon accepted it.
“Ah… It won’t go straight to SSS. Conditions are given.”
“What conditions?”
“It says I need to nurture more players, and make one guild member reach rank 1 in our race.”
“Hmm, the latter conditions will be quickly satisfied. I’m here, after all.”
“That’s true.”
Seong Jihan spoke as if he had naturally left the rank 1 position for himself.
If it were any other player, it might have seemed out of place for him to speak as if he knew everything, but when Seong Jihan said it, there was no awkwardness at all.
“I’ll also practice for a while then.”
Seong Jihan opened his inventory and took out a Sunstone—a bright, sparkling white stone. Inside it, there was a peculiar light that exuded the unique aura that belonged to Artmus.
‘I’m not feeling this one.’
Until now, whenever he was uncertain, absorbing it into his body and analyzing it usually helped find some clues. However, the light energy within the Sunstone, once absorbed into the body, lost its uniqueness and transformed into ordinary mana light, making it impossible for Seong Jihan to find any clues.
‘There’s a lot to do, so I’ll have to look into this when I have some time.’
Seong Jihan put the Sunstone back into his inventory and took out Eclipse, now named the Shadow of Life.
A black sword with a central green emerald-like gem embedded in it. When he drew the sword, a voice echoed from within.
[…Master. Can you please remove this? Since it transformed into the Shadow of Life, I’ve felt an identity crisis.]
“An identity crisis? It’s an upgrade. It’s an upgrade. Besides, the Shadow Queen seemed to be suggesting something like this, right?”
[Uh… That may be so, but it’s troubling me. Oh. The Queen asked if it’s okay to sponsor you as her constellation once Hideout ends.]
A sponsorship from the Shadow Queen’s constellation.
This was of substantial use to Seong Jihan.
‘If she becomes my backing constellation, my gift grade would rise too.’
Seong Jihan’s current gift was an SS-grade ‘Moon’s Shadow.’
While this gift amplifying shadow power didn’t hold much significance in the current circumstances for Seong Jihan, who handled Void and Martial Soul, an upgrade to SSS would probably find some use.
“Why is she asking to sponsor after Hideout ends though?”
[The Queen is worried that your information might leak to the World Tree Alliance. She is concerned.]
Seong Jihan asked with a puzzled expression, “Aren’t Shadow Elves and the World Tree Alliance enemies? How could information leak?”
[…Internal surveillance isn’t perfect.]
It seemed there were some complicated circumstances on that side too. Seong Jihan nodded.
“Got it. Then, I’ll accept the sponsorship after the hideout is over.]
[Ugh. To think that the Constellation has to ask a player for sponsorship… it’s really…]
While Ariel lamented the reversed roles between constellation and player,
“Boss, it’s now March 2nd in Korean time. Shall we proceed with the random draw for guild members?”
“Already? Let’s do it.”
Having sighed and then stood up from a nap at the back, Hayeon informed them of the date change.
The root cause of the recent uproar, the random draw for guild members, was about to take place.
“Should we start the BattleTube?”
“Yes. Let’s do it here.”
The first random draw for the Daegi guild took place inside the airplane.
[The Daegi guild’s BattleTube broadcast onboard the private jet breaks all-time viewership records for guild-related content!]
[Rank 1 Oliver is eliminated, and Je Galheon joins! Will the ranking of Mage change in the future?]
[Where is the limit of the Daegi guild’s acceptance of guild members? Half of the top 200 are members of the Daegi guild.]
[In light of the Guild of the Year award, the Daegi guild recognizes TO. 20 players from the People’s Association receive buffs from the Daegi guild.]
[Heavenly Demon, Wang Lin finally joins the Daegi guild, posting a message of excitement before hastily deleting it.]
Seong Jihan continued to make headlines from the sky, and the world’s attention was fixed on him.
“We finally arrived.”
Even after Seong Jihan landed, far from diminishing, the attention on him only intensified.
* * * *
Inside the BattleNet Building in New York, there was a hall of glory where the Guild of the Year ceremony took place each year. In the past, the hall had been relatively empty during these ceremonies, as the American First and People’s Association took turns selecting the Guild of the Year.
However, this year was different.
=It’s the first time I’ve seen so many people gathered for the Guild of the Year ceremony.
=Wasn’t the crowd like this even during the selection of the world’s BattleNet MVP?
=It seems even more crowded this time. Look at the seats and the stairs—they’re filled with people!
When it came to selecting the most famous BattleNet player among the gaming community, Seong Jihan undoubtedly held that title.
With his victory in the final set of the Space League’s first match, witnessed by over billions of viewers, the scene had turned the tides of the game completely.
Despite his fame, Seong Jihan had kept a low profile in terms of public appearances, making people curious to catch a glimpse of the extraordinary player.
This year, with Seong Jihan’s participation in the Guild of the Year ceremony, the once-sparsely filled Hall of Glory instantly became packed.
“Waiting here after the news broke was a good decision…”
“Nick, I apologize for dismissing your crazy talk earlier. Look over there. Even celebrities are sitting on the stairs!”
“Uh, our professor is also there…”
“Hey, don’t look over there. He might ask for your seat.”
Various figures from different fields had come to witness the world’s top BattleNet player. Nick and his friends couldn’t find seats and ended up sitting on the stairs, observing the celebrities who had joined them.
They noticed their professor amidst the chaos and quickly averted their gaze, wondering how he managed to get into the bustling Hall of Glory, always complaining about his bad back and knees.
Then, a commotion arose inside the hall, and a person began walking towards the stage from within.
[My goodness! What on earth is happening! Is today the MVP selection day?]]
The host inside the Hall of Glory, gesturing dramatically, scanned the audience and appeared exaggeratedly surprised. On closer inspection, the host turned out to be a familiar face frequently featured in the news.
“Hey… isn’t that the Association President?”
“Huh? Is it really him? President Jeff?”
“Why is the Association President hosting a social event like this?”
“No, more importantly, how did the Association President manage to attend in this chaos?”
[Oh, there are even more people than on MVP selection day! The crowd wasn’t this packed when Oliver won MVP! Oh, my friend Beasley, the president, is squeezing in on the stairs! Sorry, buddy. As much as I’m the president here, pre-reserved seats can’t be offered! We operate on a first-come-first-serve basis here!]
The BattleNet Association President, Jeff, joked about the situation, pointing to a man sitting on the stairs.
Though it would typically be laughed off, the atmosphere among the people today was charged.
“A lot of useless chatter.”
“Quickly bring in Seong. I didn’t come here to see this geezer!”
Booo…! Boohoo…!
As Nick’s group started a chorus of boos, the echo quickly spread through the entire audience.
[Ah, I understand. If I say one more word here, I might get impeached! Now, let me introduce today’s protagonist right away!]
President Jeff, miming sweat wiping, gestured towards the inner area.
[The owner of the Daegi guild, player Seong Jihan!]
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
A thunderous round of applause erupted.
People who had been sitting on the stairs stood up to cheer.
And as Seong Jihan emerged from within,
“Wow…!”
“There he is, the real Seong Jihan!”
“Take his pictures!”
Everyone lifted their phones to snap pictures as flashes exploded from all corners.
Though photography was prohibited beforehand, it seemed forgotten by the enthusiastic crowd.
“You can’t go in!”
“Stop them!”
Rumble, rumble…!
The front of the audience hall already descended into chaos as crowd members tried to rush in, with bodyguards scrambling to maintain order.
Taken aback at the pandemonium that ensued just as Seong Jihan appeared, the usually nonchalant President Jeff made an anxious face.
[This is… It seems like we’re at a rock concert rather than the Guild of the Year ceremony! Please stay calm, everyone! If you can keep your seats until the ceremony, I promise we’ll also have an autograph session with Player Seong Jihan!]
“An autograph session?”
“Uh, sir, there might be a safety issue if we continue like this… How about having a short autograph session? Please?”
Taking the microphone away, Jeff, with a small voice, earnestly pleaded for a brief autograph session. They should have controlled the situation from the beginning, but due to the President’s eagerness for attention, the Hall of Glory had exceeded its capacity, leading to chaos.
‘Hmm.’
Seong Jihan glanced around.
“Autograph!”
“Autograph!”
The audience, who had momentarily stopped causing trouble, now united in shouting for autographs. The enthusiastic cries, not discriminating against age or gender, made even the onlookers feel the fervor.
It had been a long time since Seong Jihan experienced such a public response since his American First days in his previous life. Back then, he had to painfully sign each autograph one by one.
“Why wait to do it later? Let’s do it now.”
[Right now…?]
There was no need for that anymore.
“Yes.”
Swoosh!
Shadows arose from Seong Jihan’s left arm.
“Hold on in your seats for a moment, please.”
No sooner had he spoken than the shadow spread in an instant, engulfing the entire Hall of Glory.
“Uh…”
“What the… I can’t see!”
The audience stirred, thinking it was a blackout.
But then…
Crackle, crackle…
They felt an unusual sensation on their clothes, on their shoulders, before…
Flash!
The light returned.
“I have finished signing for everyone. All done.”
Seong Jihan said, tapping his left arm lightly.
Suddenly, the audience’s gaze turned towards their own clothes.
“Huh…”
“I-It’s really a signature!”
“Wow. It’s exactly the same as yours?”
“Wow. How did he do this…!”
Seong Jihan’s signature was engraved on everyone’s clothes.
People stared at him with astonished faces, as if witnessing something supernatural. While they had admired Seong Jihan’s remarkable performance in the BattleNet, actually experiencing his power firsthand left them in awe.
However…
Only one person remained unfazed. Sitting at the front of the Hall of Glory, an Asian woman’s left arm was devoid of Seong Jihan’s signature.
‘This girl. Is she worth considering?’
She tenderly stroked her left arm as her eyes ignited with an unusual glow.
‘How about I try predicting your future…’
A mysterious light began to flicker.
***
***
