TNAAS Ch 18

Episode 18

As Yeonwoo talked about various things without any particular destination in mind, he became so shocked by what he learned that he was left speechless.

First of all, most of the stories he knew about the game were completely different from the truth. A representative example was the tales about the heroes in the Alliance. He had always thought they were heroes of this world, destined to defeat the final boss, but in reality, they were Helleo’s underlings.

The so-called heroes were used to win over the hearts of the people, only to later subjugate them. Which meant that all the players who had joined the Alliance had been devoting their blood and sweat to serve the final boss all along. The reason the Ivant Guild had refused to join the Alliance was, naturally, along the same lines.

Another thing he learned was that Rai and Helleo were half-brothers, and that Rai, too, was from the Demon Realm. Rai apparently had no interest in any sort of succession dispute and was instead enjoying small hobbies in the human world. Yeonwoo hadn’t dared to ask what those hobbies were, fearing it might be like opening Pandora’s box.

In summary, Helleo had only revealed information in the game that worked to his advantage, while keeping anything important or potentially harmful to him completely hidden in case of emergencies.

The same went for Spirit Masters. Although not a very popular class, it wasn’t as though there were no players who chose it. Yeonwoo, who had been ranked number one by an overwhelming margin among them, had been chosen, and the characters of the remaining players were apparently destroyed. What Yeonwoo found most regrettable was all the money those players had spent on the game.

“Ah, then what’s going to happen to the game now? There must still be plenty of players in that world.”

“I’m not sure about that system, but it’s likely been shut down. Didn’t you say there was a big incident right before you came here? There’s a high possibility it was deliberately caused.”

Wow, what a complete bastard.

There had to be countless people who had poured in hundreds of millions of won into that game. As Yeonwoo recalled the events that had happened back in his original world, his face twisted in anger. Then, as they arrived at their destination, Rai had the bird land behind the hotel and spoke casually.

“Ah, now that I think about it, the number of Alliance members has increased recently. That might have something to do with it.”

“Huh? How could that possibly be related…?”

“Just like how you were brought here, it’s possible that other created characters are being used in this world. It would take a lot of energy, but for Helleo, it wouldn’t be much of a burden.”

“Then are you saying there are more people trapped in this world like me?”

Yeonwoo was stunned. No matter how powerful Helleo was, it seemed impossible for him to pull off something like that. Crossing dimensions was an extremely difficult feat, even in novels or movies. Fortunately, however, it didn’t seem to be the worst-case scenario.

“To do that, he would need to sacrifice everyone in this world, and even that wouldn’t be enough. It doesn’t seem like he brought people’s souls, but only their ‘characters’. Efficiency is all about getting the maximum effect with minimal power. Of course, the characters still retain all of their original strength.”

That meant the characters of heavy users who had attempted solo raids against the final boss were also present in this world. It was already overwhelming enough to deal with Helleo alone, but now he would have to face those characters as well. His future looked bleak.

“Um… Mr. Rai.”

“Yes?”

“According to the story, you’re supposed to be the strongest in the entire world, Mr. Rai.”

“Me?”

Rai burst out laughing as if he had just heard something ridiculous. He laughed so hard that tears formed at the corners of his eyes. Even while Rai was laughing right in front of him, Yeonwoo couldn’t relax. He could only hope desperately that what he knew was true.

“I didn’t expect Helleo to have added a setting like that.”

“Right…? Wait, then… does that mean you could possibly kill Helleo?”

“Well, it’s not that I can’t.”

Yeonwoo’s anxious eyes began to gleam with hope again. Oh, my savior. With an earnest look in his eyes, desperate in a completely different way from before, he grabbed Rai’s arm tightly.

“Lord Rai, then… could you please kill Helleo for me? I really want to go home. Seriously, I’m begging you.”

After gazing deeply into Yeonwoo’s eyes for a moment, Rai’s eyes curved like crescents as he smiled beautifully. It was an unsettling smile.

“As I said earlier, you’d have to wait about a hundred years for that. Would you be alright with that? I don’t really have much strength right now.”

The words struck like a bolt from the blue. Wait a second, weren’t you supposed to be the strongest in the world? Then why don’t you have any strength! Yeonwoo wanted to yell at him right then and there, but since he was the one asking for a favor, that seemed shameless. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. Then suddenly, something about Rai’s words caught his attention.

“Right now?”

“Yes. About two hundred years ago, when I fought Helleo, he used some strange trick, and my power shattered into pieces. It’s probably scattered somewhere across the world.”

“How many pieces did it break into?”

“It was completely shattered, so I have no idea.”

Despite it being a matter concerning himself, Rai just smiled nonchalantly. Yeonwoo found that annoyingly infuriating. So, to get Rai’s help, he would have to collect all those fragments scattered who-knows-where? What was this, some kind of soul orb from an anime?

“I think it’d be better if I just tried to handle it myself.”

While Yeonwoo was sinking into gloom, Rai descended from the bird, still holding him in his arms. Yeonwoo didn’t complain; he’d grown rather used to being carried, and Rai didn’t seem inclined to put him down anyway.

As they strode through the hotel’s back door, an employee Yeonwoo recognized from the office hurried over, apparently having waited for their return.

“Mr. Yeonwoo, are you alright? I heard you used up a lot of mana. We’ve prepared a mana replenisher in the room you stayed in, so if you’ll just…”

“No, I’ll take him to my room.”

“Pardon…? But…”

“That replenisher is useless right now. I’ll handle it myself.”

The shocked employee could only gape wordlessly, mouth opening and closing. Rai glanced at him briefly, then ignored him and walked past. Still in his arms, Yeonwoo felt embarrassed for no good reason and gave a quick wave to the employee over Rai’s shoulder.

The employee, still dazed, unconsciously waved back.

That poor guy. Must be hard, having a boss like this.

Feeling a twinge of sympathy for the employee, Yeonwoo turned his gaze back to Rai once the man was out of sight. Since Rai was walking forward, the first thing Yeonwoo saw was the sharp line of his jaw. Well-defined and smooth.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been staring when Rai’s gaze flicked downward for a second before looking straight ahead again.

“At this rate, you’ll burn a hole in my face.”

“I know it won’t burn a hole. Ah, right! What happened to that guy? The one who got stabbed in the stomach! I remember seeing his smooth back at the end, but I don’t think I saw his face after that.”

Rai, who had been listening quietly, suddenly stopped walking. His legs, which had been moving so easily, froze mid-step. He frowned deeply and looked down at Yeonwoo, his voice full of irritation.

“Unfortunately, he’s still alive. Thanks to you fully unleashing your power to save him, he doesn’t even have a scar left. Completely unblemished.”

Yeonwoo tilted his head, unable to understand why Rai sounded regretful about someone being alive.

“Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? Why are you irritated?”

“I’m not irritated.”

“No, you definitely are. You’re talking stiffly, saying ‘I’m not irritated’ while sounding clearly irritated. Anyway, please put me down.”

Yeonwoo, satisfied that he had said everything he wanted to say, looked at Rai with a quietly proud expression. In response, Rai’s eyes narrowed sharply, and he glared at Yeonwoo with visible intensity.

But Yeonwoo didn’t flinch. He met Rai’s gaze confidently, refusing to look away. Seeing this, Rai sighed heavily, as if admitting defeat, and began walking again.

“You held Derek so preciously in your arms, but you don’t seem to like being in mine.”

What, is he jealous right now? So it’s fine when others do it, but not me? He’s more childish than I thought.

Yeonwoo couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The man he thought was as unshakable as a mountain was showing such a petty side that he actually found it cute. The fact that he found this man cute made Yeonwoo feel like he was losing his mind, but Rai, sulking over something so trivial, didn’t seem any saner either.

After laughing for a while, they finally arrived in front of a certain room. It seemed to be Rai’s. The room Yeonwoo had stayed in before was already large and ornate, but it couldn’t even compare to this one.

The entire door was covered in gold, so bright it was almost blinding. The doorknob was engraved with the face of a dragon, making the whole thing look even more ostentatious.

When Yeonwoo’s expression turned slightly daunted, Rai, looking embarrassed, cleared his throat and began making excuses.

“This isn’t my taste.”

“Of course it isn’t.”

“It’s really not like that. I just ordered it because I like shiny things, and it arrived like this.”

“Shiny… and black…”

As Yeonwoo thought about the colors that suited Rai, an image suddenly flashed through his mind.

“A raven!”

“Cough, cough, cough…!”

Even though he hadn’t said anything strange, Rai suddenly started coughing violently, as if he’d swallowed wrong. The reaction was so suspicious that Yeonwoo widened his eyes like a startled rabbit and studied Rai’s expression carefully.

He looked like someone who’d just been caught red-handed, and judging by how flustered and embarrassed he was, Yeonwoo was pretty sure he’d hit the mark.

“Is it really a raven…?”

Rai coughed a few more times, took a deep breath to calm his startled chest, then averted his gaze and spoke in a small voice.

“…In the Demon Realm, everyone has an animal that symbolizes them.”

“Oh, so yours is a raven, Mr. Rai?”

“It’s just a symbol.”

“Then last night, when you came into my room, did you come in after transforming into a raven?”

No answer came.

It was the moment when the impregnable Guild Master of Ivant was brought down by an ordinary citizen like Yeonwoo.