***
***
“I understand, Branch Manager.”
The elf who had approached Seong Jihan looked slightly surprised, then bowed his head to the masked elf.
‘A branch manager, huh.’
The ancient elf who wore the mask last time was an executor of constellation rank, but if he’s the branch manager of the loan, what level is he? ‘
‘Hard to tell exactly, but he doesn’t seem weaker than that Ancient Elf.’
The branch manager had a pleasant smile plastered on his face.
But seeing him wearing that mask that contained immense void force, he didn’t seem like an easy opponent either.
After all, this was a place that handled loans for powerful players that ruled BattleNet. The person in charge here wouldn’t be weak.
“This way please, valued customer.”
Ziiing!
As the branch manager gestured, a green portal appeared.
“That portal… is it a VIP room?”
“You need to at least be a constellation to enter that.”
“Why would such a race…”
“I’ve never seen the branch manager personally handle a consultation either.”
The surrounding players scrutinized Seong Jihan upon seeing the branch manager’s guidance, but…
“I have no idea.”
“He seems much weaker than me…”
“He’s not a constellation, right?”
“Still, he has a premium membership. He’s no ordinary player.”
With his power concealed and possessing a premium membership, they couldn’t determine Seong Jihan’s strength.
‘A VIP room… I suppressed my force to an extent, but what did he glean from me?’
Shall I go and see.
Seong Jihan nodded and entered the portal.
What appeared was a vast space enclosed by brown walls on all sides.
“Because the customer who just had a consultation was a tree giant, the space wasn’t prepared. Please wait a moment.”
Clap! Clap!
As the branch manager clapped twice-
[The VIP room environment will be changed to match your race.]
This message appeared before Seong Jihan’s eyes.
Then-
Ziiing…
The interior transformed into a luxurious modern reception room.
“Now then… before starting the loan consultation, please provide the basic personal information required for the loan review.”
Sitting down, the branch manager grinned and opened his palm.
A message window popped up in front of Seong Jihan.
[The Green Administrator-operated ‘World Tree Alliance Loan Counter’ requests basic player information required for loan review.]
[Will you provide your basic personal information?]
Give my personal info to the World Tree Alliance?
That’s like entrusting a cat with fish.
Seong Jihan immediately pressed No and replied.
“I don’t want to give it.”
“Don’t worry. Although you are one of the World Tree Alliance’s targets, the loan counter will never leak your information.”
“…I’m a target?”
“Yes, you’re quite famous.”
Tap! Tap!
The branch manager smiled deeply and tapped his mask.
“Since my senior passed away, I’ve taken over this void disposal container.”
“Senior…”
“That foolish senior who normally acted so high and mighty, only to get blown up by you on that planet colonization map.”
The senior he referred to was likely the Ancient Elf who died along with the Brahma.
They invited me here knowing everything already.
Realizing there was a reason the branch manager personally stepped forward, Seong Jihan stared at his half-mask.
The mask the branch manager called a void disposal container, It also spewed out tremendous void when the Ancient Elf died.
“You call that mask a void disposal container? The other one broke though.”
“This is a trash can. You can just make another trash can.”
“Hmm…”
“Anyways, as the person in charge of the loan counter that must remain the most neutral in BattleNet – rest assured, your personal information will never be leaked.”
As if it won’t leak.
How can I trust a World Tree Elves?
Seong Jihan smiled and waved his hand.
“It’s fine since I didn’t come here for a loan anyways, I was just lured by your ad. Just give me the free gift.”
“Ah… is that so? Normally you’re supposed to fill out your personal info to receive the gift.”
Clap! Clap!
As the branch manager clapped twice, an elaborately wrapped fruit basket appeared on the desk.
“To commemorate meeting our target as well, I’ll give it to you directly using my branch manager authority.”
“You’re being nice to your target without even trying to catch me.”
“Haha. What’s the point of catching your avatar? Plus, from my personal perspective, you’re the benefactor who allowed me to inherit the void disposal container position.”
“Didn’t you say it was a trash can?”
“Yes. But being in charge of this trash can is quite a high position in our union.”
The branch manager continued smiling as he spoke.
But Seong Jihan didn’t believe his words for now.
There could be some device in that fruit basket he gave, like the fruit the administrator gave before.
‘Let’s see.’
Rip!
Seong Jihan tore open the fruit basket wrapping.
The scent of life force wafted out from inside.
“Will you eat it here? Since we’ve met like this, shall we have some tea time together?”
“Have tea with you? We have nothing to talk about.”
“Now, now. Hear me out. There are some things I looked into regarding that other world of yours…”
“By other world, you mean Earth?”
Swish!
Two teacups appeared on the desk, steam rising from them.
“That’s right. You probably won’t believe most of what I say anyways. But you can take what’s appropriate and filter out the rest, no? That fruit. It would be a bit unsettling to eat it on your original planet too.”
“Why is that?”
“Fruit exists to spread its seeds far and wide. If you consume it on your planet, our seeds could spread there.”
The phenomenon the branch manager spoke of.
It was something Seong Jihan also experienced when he ate the seed of life the Green Administrator gave as a reward.
‘For him to bring that up… interesting.’
Knowing it won’t spread once it enters Seong Jihan’s mouth.
Did he mention it first to gain his trust?
Well, let’s hear him out.
Seong Jihan brought a piece of fruit to his mouth and nodded.
“Alright. I’ll listen.”
“Thank you. Then, since you’re busy, let’s get straight to the point.”
Tap!
As the branch manager snapped his fingers, an image of Earth appeared in the air.
* * *
“Planet Earth… From what I found out, this place was a site where our union conducted experiments long ago.”
“I know that. That’s why the Ancient Elf tried to personally descend there but couldn’t.”
“Yes. Actually, such cases are very rare. The locations where experiments are conducted are all recorded. No matter how ignorant and reckless my senior was, our system basically keeps track of that much.”
The branch manager who seemed to dislike his ‘senior’ Ancient Elf.
He lightly dissed his senior and continued.
“But the fact that he didn’t know until trying to enter Earth means the experiment on Earth wasn’t registered in our system… After being humiliated, my senior returned and issued an order.”
“He arrogantly tried to descend to Earth then but had to back out.”
“Yes. He even asked me, his junior, to find out what happened. Seriously. He should look into it himself. He became branch manager but still thinks I’m his lackey.”
The branch manager looked like he would endlessly diss the dead Ancient Elf if left alone.
“The dead guy is irrelevant. So what did you find out?”
“Ah, my apologies. I have a lot of pent-up frustration with my senior… Haha. Anyways, I looked into it at my senior’s order. Earth… turns out some interesting experiments were conducted there.”
“What kind of experiments?”
Crunch!
Seong Jihan asked nonchalantly while eating the fruit.
With zero trust in elves, he figured the branch manager was trying to spout more lies.
No matter what he said, Seong Jihan had little interest.
“The director of the Earth lab fused himself with the World Tree. He even mixed in data from powerful races.”
“I don’t really get what that means.”
“Well, you wouldn’t know the situation on our side. We conduct various projects across the universe, but there is one thing we must never touch. That’s the assigned World Tree. But for some reason, the lab director touched it. He fused with it.”
“And?”
“We lost contact with the Earth side, and later the union’s investigation team was dispatched there… but they only sent a message saying ‘High-level Error Occurred’ before going missing.”
“A high-level error…”
An experiment the World Tree Alliance conducted on Earth.
Did some error occur there?
“Are there no details about the high-level error?”
“No. The report I found had the contents deleted. Such cases are rare.”
“Hmm…”
Seong Jihan looked at the branch manager who was still smiling.
It felt like rather than being unable to say due to deletion, he was deliberately not revealing that much.
Unfazed by Seong Jihan’s gaze, the branch manager continued.
“And at the end of the report, it said ‘Ultimately resolved the error in cooperation with the Void. Failed to recover data.'”
“If it was resolved, why did data recovery fail?”
“The Void Faction probably deleted it.”
“Hmm…”
The Void was involved, huh.
Hearing that, Seong Jihan thought of Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh who betrayed the Void.
The fact that he betrayed means he previously cooperated with or belonged to them.
Could it be related to this incident?
“So when was that error resolved?”
“The exact time isn’t specified, but it was likely quite long ago.”
“I see.”
If the elf says it was long ago, it’s probably an ancient incident.
Seong Jihan organized the information in his head.
A ‘high-level error’ that occurred due to the unusual experiment of the World Tree Elf who settled on Earth.
It was ultimately resolved through the cooperation of the World Tree Alliance and the Void.
‘The World Tree Alliance and Void don’t seem to be on good terms, but if they cooperated to that extent… it was an error worthy of being called high-level.’
Seong Jihan stared at the branch manager’s mask.
That mask the branch manager called a void disposal container, a trash can.
It compressed and stored an immense amount of void force.
If guys like them temporarily joined hands with the Void, the high-level error must have been a tremendous problem.
“Anyways, perhaps because it’s related to the high-level error issue – the higher-ups didn’t register the Earth-related problem in our system. That’s why my senior was humiliated after boldly declaring he would descend to Earth.”
“I see.”
Seong Jihan nodded and finished eating all the fruit.
The life force kept accumulating in his body.
He didn’t stop there and drank the tea on the table as well.
Among the life force building up inside him, something peculiar wriggled, but…
Zzt…
He expelled it by igniting Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit from his fingertips.
Seong Jihan, who deliberately used his old Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit instead of revealing his enemy force.
“The force only reacts with the tea too. Interesting.”
“What…! There was something like that?!”
The branch manager made a fuss upon seeing the green smoke rising from Seong Jihan’s fingertips.
Seeing that, Seong Jihan grinned.
He’s good at pretending to be oblivious.
“So, what’s the reason for giving me this information?”
“I’m just following orders due to my senior’s death…”
“Yeah. But there’s no reason for you to tell me, the one who killed that senior, right?”
Shik!
At Seong Jihan’s question, the branch manager only smiled without answering.
“Well then, will you proceed with the loan now, Target?”
“No, I’m good. Thanks for the meal.”
“Come visit again next time. We’ll prepare an even better gift.”
“Are you planning to put bugs in my body again?”
Swish!
As Seong Jihan said that and got up-
“Bugs? Oh no, it’s just a means for you and us to get to know each other better.”
“I’ll pass.”
Flash!
Seong Jihan immediately logged out.
“He really cleanly erased it…”
The branch manager exclaimed, looking at the green force Seong Jihan expelled from his body.
The ‘World Tree’s Domination’ that even constellations succumbed to, It was completed through the combination of fruit and tea.
But for a lowest-tier race player to secretly embed the force and spat it out refined.
As expected of someone worthy of being called a target.
“With this, it seems we can expect more, as the higher-ups intended.”
Seeing Seong Jihan who didn’t fall under the World Tree’s domination and cleanly spat out the force-
The smile under the branch manager’s mask only deepened.
***
***
