Chapter 183

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Hyung-nim, I heard a strange rumor.”

“A strange rumor?”

“Yes. They say a newbie with an insane weight class joined the Trinity Guild in America…”

“Ah, that.”

Looking at Hyung-nim’s expression, the rumor seems to be true.

“So it’s really…?”

“Yeah, it’s just as you heard.”

“Are you crazy? What guild accepts a US president as a guild member?!”

“Tsk. Presidents are people too. What hierarchy is there in games? In games, age and rank don’t matter. You just need the desire to play.”

“But still, it’s the US president!”

When I first heard the news, I was so dumbfounded I thought I misheard.

President Aiden suddenly wanted to join the Trinity Guild.

“Isn’t President Aiden like 80 years old?”

“I told you. Age doesn’t matter in games.”

“What if he exerts himself during a raid and collapses? It’s not just some ordinary guild member A collapsing. it’s the president responsible for America.”

“Ahem. W-well…”

“And to raid together, there’s a lot to study and prepare for. Can an 80-year-old keep up with that pace?”

Isn’t this a guy with various controversies about dementia and old age already?

Moreover, there was analysis that his condition worsened from stress as he became a figurehead president.

Playing a high-fatigue game in this situation?

It made no sense.

“What’s a game? It’s a second life. It’s also our escape. That guy Aiden. as you said, he must be under tremendous stress right now. He probably wants to focus on something for a bit and forget about worldly matters. You’re a gamer. you don’t understand that feeling?”

When he puts it that way, I couldn’t refute.

After all, games are both a rest area and an escape for office workers.

Forgetting all the burdens weighing on your shoulders and immersing in games.

That’s the positive function of games.

“……”

I calmed my emotions for a moment and murmured inside.

‘Is accepting President Aiden into our guild really the right thing?’

Then my intuition, which had been quietly waiting only for my question, sent an electric current.

As if my intuition also agreed with Hyung-nim’s words.

Right. What does age and rank matter to a gamer?

If you can enjoy games together, that makes you gaming friends.

“But there’s a condition.”

“What condition?”

“Just accepting him like this is honestly dangerous. So let’s assign a mentor to stay by his side for the time being.”

“A mentor?”

“Yes. Since he’s the US president, he’ll have bodyguards and 24-hour medical personnel on standby, so I don’t think we need to worry about that. But we need to improve his overall understanding of the game, so someone needs to stay by his side and keep explaining. Whether at the White House or the building where American Trinity Guild members gather, we need to enable personal coaching when gaming together.”

“That’s a good idea.”

Hyung-nim agreed with my opinion.

“Our game has definitely improved a lot from before, but it’s still too stagnant and not newbie-friendly.”

Since we acquired the gaming company Cyclone, we’ve been changing to newbie-friendly systems to recruit new members.

But it wasn’t as easy as expected.

Because the game is too old, and changing people’s perceptions isn’t easy either.

So we’ve been proceeding with a massive project to completely overhaul the game, from large-scale graphics updates to gathering developers in various fields.

“In the middle of that, President Aiden submitted his application. So let’s not assign just one mentor. put several on him. Give personal lessons at the White House or in personal spaces, and enable personal coaching when gathering to play at the American Trinity Guild building too.”

“That’s a great idea.”

The project to welcome President Aiden seemed to be progressing well.

“It would be fun to raid together in America later. Think about it. President Aiden rushing to our order to tank. Or maybe heal.”

“You’re not thinking of him being a dealer at all.”

“Sigh. It’ll be a miracle if he can just move the game character. How could we make him do the difficult dealer role?”

“You never know.”

But when I briefly imagined as Hyung-nim said, it certainly seemed like it would be fun.

Typically, for large-scale raids, the raid leader’s orders are essential, and all raid members must follow those orders.

So at that moment, the raid leader is the boss of all raid members.

When the raid leader gives an order, you have to follow without objection saying “Yes, sir!”

But imagining Aiden loudly answering to my orders as raid leader and running to his assigned position already made me laugh.

“Oh right. You said you’d build universities in Africa to focus on children’s education.”

“Ah, yes. How’s it going?”

“Well, most countries agreed. And they also agreed to place our Sentinel bases in those regions due to security issues. Africa is a place where it’s harder to find areas without rebels, after all. But exactly one place didn’t agree.”

“Is it Morocco by any chance?”

“Yeah. You know well.”

“Morocco is the one that rejected our foundation people and all business from the start.”

Morocco is, how should I put it.

They seem to extremely dislike outside intervention.

That’s probably because the US is behind them.

Maintaining a constitutional monarchy while receiving American aid, they’re blocking all intervention from anywhere except America to further solidify their royal authority.

“But we’re just offering to help, right? And do some infrastructure construction while we’re at it.”

“That’s right. But compared to other countries experiencing severe famine, they’re relatively better off. It seems like accepting our help would be equating themselves with such countries, and their pride won’t allow it.”

“Tsk. Their people are starving to death, but that pride.”

“What can we do? Their royal family says they don’t want help.”

Still, the foundation seems to be trying to negotiate well without giving up.

For my part, it’d be great if negotiations go well, and if not, I’ll regretfully give up.

I’d rather put that effort into other countries and achieve results. then Morocco might change their mind later too.

“Don’t worry too much about that. I’ll talk to the strategy team. And since Morocco is a US ally, let me at least ask them to put in a word through their political circles.”

“Yes. You don’t need to pay too much attention. I have no intention of forcing our way in when their royal family said no.”

“Alright. Oh, and prepare to go to London in a few days.”

“What? Suddenly?”

“Hehe. Yeah, you were expecting it too, weren’t you?”

“…?”

London suddenly?

And I was expecting it?

Not at all.

Why suddenly go to London?

***

[It’s a historic day. Tottenham has won the championship again this season, achieving the first-ever two consecutive titles in club history!]

Players holding the league trophy high.

They were cheering with the happiest faces in the world.

Also, the spectators in the stadium were shouting and crying.

[Look at those two people the camera is showing. They’re the club owners who ended the trophy drought, the benefactors who made Tottenham what it is today.]

Before long, the camera spotlighted two people applauding.

“It seems he’s no longer hesitating to appear in the media.”

President Aiden clicked his tongue looking at Jeong Jin-ho on the screen.

The man who was called a reclusive investor for barely showing his face in media was now showing his face at various official occasions.

“They must know too now. That showing and moving openly is more advantageous than acting secretively.”

“Right. If he builds favorable public opinion like that, the chance of being assassinated by someone decreases significantly.”

It’s not suddenly showing himself on impulse.

Now that Gwangwoon controls the media, this must be considered the optimal timing to reveal himself.

But no matter how many times he sees it, he can’t get used to it.

How can Jeong Jin-ho cause horrendous incidents again and again with such a bright face?

“So John, your coming to see me today means you brought the news I’ve been waiting for?”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“Hoo. I’ve finished mentally preparing, so tell me.”

“Well…”

John hesitated briefly then smiled and answered.

“Approval came down from Gwangwoon. They’ve decided to accept you, Mr. President.”

“…!”

Hearing that, Aiden let out a sigh of relief.

“S-so that means…”

“You’re safe now, Mr. President. Being accepted into the Trinity Guild means they’ve officially recognized you.”

His body seemed to lose all its strength.

When he first submitted his official application to the Trinity Guild, he had all sorts of thoughts.

While Gwangwoon was reviewing his application, he truly lived in a nightmare.

Gwangwoon rejecting his application would mean they’d wreck President Aiden’s career.

But Gwangwoon accepted Aiden with very open arms.

Did they judge that he was still useful to Gwangwoon?

“But there’s a condition.”

“A condition?”

“Yes. They’re planning to assign several mentors. from the White House to buildings exclusive to Trinity Guild members. They’ll mark you closely around you.”

“For what reason?”

“To coach you in the game. Since it’s such an old game, there’s a lot to learn.”

Aiden knows what that means.

It was Gwangwoon’s intention to openly monitor Aiden from now on.

But this much was already expected.

“I’ll have to accept that much. But Gwangwoon accepting me means… there’ll need to be compensation, right?”

“Yes. An instruction came down to me this time regarding Morocco.”

“Morocco?”

“Gwangwoon is pouring money all over African regions, building schools, and laying down various Gwangwoon infrastructure including Sentinel, isn’t it?”

Aiden had heard that news.

Gwangwoon had created specialized educational facilities in Africa and started mass-producing human resources.

Anyone could see at a glance it was a plan to turn all the promising youth in Africa into Gwangwoon’s slaves.

“But Morocco is adamantly refusing that. They’re blocking all Gwangwoon access. Gwangwoon seems to be trying to use American political circles to apply pressure over this issue.”

“You want me to do that?”

“Your voice would be far more powerful than other politicians’.”

“Morocco…”

Morocco is an ally of the US.

Why does the US have an alliance with Morocco?

To manage the African region?

No.

Their interest lies elsewhere.

“Morocco is a strategic stronghold. The optimal location to keep Europe in check. A country so close to Europe you can reach Spain in under an hour by boat.”

That’s why America has placed various weapons there, from missiles to fighter jets.

On the off chance of combat with Europe, they can strike very quickly from Morocco.

“But surely Gwangwoon isn’t trying to operate missiles?”

“Right. They probably aren’t trying to threaten with such direct weapons. But if Sentinel bases are placed there? The EU knows Sentinel’s danger and is extremely wary of them having bases in their countries. Except for Greece, Sentinel still can’t access other European countries.”

“But if Sentinel bases are placed in Morocco, which is close to Europe…”

“Gwangwoon will be able to deploy Sentinel agents to Europe from all directions there. That’s why they’re reaching out to our political circles now to get a foothold in Morocco.”

Only then did John understand why Gwangwoon was obsessed with Morocco.

It was to use it as a strategic stronghold to conquer Europe.

“I’ll have to send word to Morocco too.”

“What will you say?”

“To stop being stubborn and accept Gwangwoon. What else can I do?”

“But the royal family there is supposedly very wary and opposed to Gwangwoon. I’m not sure they’ll listen to you, Mr. President…”

“Then Morocco will eventually pay the price too. One way or another.”

What that backlash would be, even Aiden couldn’t know.

He was merely using his remaining strength to repay the grace Gwangwoon had bestowed.

Don’t they say politics is giving one thing when you receive one?

***

“Gwangwoon sent another negotiation request?”

“Yes.”

“Refuse.”

“B-but Your Majesty, Gwangwoon is called the messenger of God. So you well know how they’ve punished those who defy them.”

“That’s right. The White House has also directly sent word from the president to accept Gwangwoon’s request!”

King Abdul VI erupted in anger at the advisors’ counsel.

“Don’t you know the American president is already in cahoots with Gwangwoon? Gwangwoon are devils. The Dajjal spoken of in the Quran refers to Gwangwoon!”

Dajjal.

The deceiver, the false prophet.

In Christianity and Catholicism, they call that name this.

The Antichrist.

“They are devils according to the Quran. The ones who will bring this world to its end. The moment we give our territory to such beings, we become the same devil’s minions!”

The reason Abdul had opposed Gwangwoon all this time was because of his faith.

He thought Gwangwoon was the Dajjal who would cause the end times spoken of in the Islamic scriptures.

“But Your Majesty, we don’t know how Gwangwoon will react if we refuse this negotiation too. Is it not said they have the divine power to even cause natural disasters?”

“Don’t use the name of God carelessly. They are devils. And natural disasters? I’m not afraid of any of that. Our Morocco is protected by Allah. So let them attack all they want. even if they attack us with an earthquake like Turkey, I’m absolutely not afraid of…”

RUMBLE~!

It was at that very moment.

Coming from somewhere, a roar and the tremor felt alongside it made Abdul open his startled eyes wide.

“Wh-what was that just now?”

Then an even stronger tremor struck them.

“Th-this can’t be…!”

Morocco’s ground was shaking.

End