Chapter 207

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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“Ugh, I’m tired.”

A meeting room on the 5th floor of the SR Gaming building in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

Park Sung-ho, the Vice Center Director of the National Game Strategy Center, sat down as if collapsing into his chair.

“The timing of his death is quite mysterious.”

Adventurer A, whom he had met not long ago to trade information, had suddenly died. The news had come in just yesterday.

He had made contact as invisibly as possible, but call and text records were bound to remain.

If he hadn’t taken measures, something troublesome would have happened.

“What does it have to do with that item? Is it some kind of divine punishment from a god?”

Han Yuri, the Player Trend Analysis Team Leader who was looking at a tablet in the front seat, spoke while resting her chin on her hand.

The information they had handed over to Adventurer A was the location of an item called the Orb of the Sanctuary.

It was information obtained truly by chance from the player black market.

They couldn’t know why he needed it, but they were certain it must be clearly related to his death.

“…It’s a headache because I can’t immediately deny it. Just a few days ago, I would have dismissed it as nonsense.”

The information about Black Dragon heard from Adventurer A was hard to believe.

A human sent to another world by a goddess.

Furthermore, the shocking statement that both of them were such made his mind go blank for a moment.

“But could it be real? I don’t trust it because it’s Adventurer A.”

“It’s persuasive, isn’t it? Since we haven’t even discovered a scrap of a novel called Erport.”

The Center searched all information looking for the original web novel Black Dragon had mentioned on the broadcast.

Not to mention currently operating sites, there was no place they hadn’t looked, including defunct platforms.

However, a novel with the name Erport did not exist in any record.

“So, what are you going to do now? Do we keep waiting even though the RP update is out?”

“Sigh…”

The notice regarding the update contents had gone up yesterday.

Area expansion, the Holy State starting city, faction system, PK and death penalty adjustments, and ranking disclosure were all elements likely to cause a huge change.

Now they truly had to approach Black Dragon and make their existence known.

“Just where and what is he doing…”

Center Director Ryu Sung-ryong still hadn’t returned from abroad.

If it were him, a top-tier Advance Party member, he would be able to converse with Black Dragon on equal footing.

Park Sung-ho waited with such expectations, but there was no reply even to a text sent a month ago.

“Vice Center Director!”

At that moment, an employee entered while opening the meeting room door.

It was a quite urgent face.

“Large corporations have already expressed their affiliation with the Sacred Body Faction!”

“What? Sacred Body Faction?”

At the unexpected news, Park Sung-ho quickly checked his smartphone screen.

On the portal main page, articles about RP were listed everywhere.

Seeing that they all had similar titles, he could roughly guess how much the big shots had moved.

Massaging his brow, he touched an article from Sunhwa Ilbo.

Recently, Record Project delivered news that it would introduce a faction system through an update. Expectations were gathering that through this system, players would belong to different factions to compete and would be able to enjoy special content for each faction.

However, surprisingly, despite being before the official server start, 11 leading global corporations worldwide have already caused a stir by expressing their intent for affiliation. It has been confirmed that these companies released an official position that they would join the Sacred Body Faction, one of the new factions in the game.

Each major corporation stated through its SNS and press releases that this decision will have a huge impact on clearing the game in the future…

The contents of the long article passed by quickly.

The important thing was the content regarding who these large corporations were.

“Wow, this is a bit of a headache.”

“…I’ll say.”

Han Yuri wore an absurd expression while Park Sung-ho let out a sigh.

The gaze of the two was fixed on the listed company names.

…

“Is this for real?”

Large corporations from all over the world, including the US, Canada, France, and Italy, were on the list.

They were all places where the influence of RP was also large enough to possess top-tier Advance Party members.

Moreover.

The name was somewhat ambiguous to enter this line.

Of course, it was a large corporation, but it was a company evaluated as not that great except for its Advance Party member, Liwei.

Park Sung-ho, who was staring intently at the list, raised his head and asked.

“What is this? Why already, and why did they choose a faction that is obviously the Holy State?”

“Hmm…”

The employee who delivered the news fell into thought with a difficult expression.

The one who pulled out the answer was Han Yuri.

“Whatever it is, they must have seen a possibility. After all, the goal is to clear the game and obtain ownership, right?”

“So, how do they know that possibility? The server hasn’t even opened.”

“Well, didn’t they receive a divine revelation or something? Honestly, it can’t be explained otherwise, right?”

“Sigh…”

Park Sung-ho’s sigh poured out as if the desk would sink.

He didn’t even know well anymore whom he was competing against.

If he could directly meet Black Dragon and ask, he might know, but since the Center Director was absent…

Click—!

At that moment, the closed meeting room door suddenly opened.

Park Sung-ho, who had been hit by stress, turned a sharp gaze toward the entrance.

And there he was.

“…Center Director?”

He discovered the figure of Center Director Ryu Sung-ryong, from whom there hadn’t even been word.

“It’s been a long time. You seem to have aged a bit.”

“No…”

Ryu Sung-ryong, who entered leisurely while taking off his sunglasses, looked at the smartphone and tablet placed on the desk.

Then, with a smirk, he spoke to the employees.

“From now on, many enemies will appear. Let’s work hard.”

***

“So, I think it’s a faction on the side of the Goddess of Turbulence.”

At the Vestige headquarters building, Han-bit, who had arrived there immediately, delivered his speculative contents to the three people sitting in front of him.

There was only one way to explain the eleven major corporations that had suddenly expressed support for the Sacred Body Faction.

“…Is a proxy war of the gods truly breaking out?”

Grace asked while frowning.

The Goddess of Turbulence was the culprit who had made her younger brother go crazy.

The fact that the followers of that hidden goddess revealed themselves was not a good sign no matter how one looked at it.

“RP was a battlefield of the gods from the very beginning. The humans who followed the Goddess of Turbulence revealing themselves must have been decided for this time. That criterion must have been the point when I finished the sixth episode.”

“But why do they show so much interest only in you? Just as much as the Goddess of Turbulence, there must be a faction of the goddess on the opposite side too.”

“Adventurer A had seemed to be on the side of the Goddess of Silence, but I don’t know if the rest exist or not. They said targeting me appeared like that in the oracle.”

“…Oracle? They’re quite serious.”

At least the players of the Holy State seemed not to know that Han-bit was a person who had repeated the other world fifty-five times.

Seeing that even the Goddess of Turbulence, who gave the oracle, didn’t bother to mention it, perhaps it was completely hidden content.

“Then how should we set the direction? Most of our members started in Belmora, so it seems we’ll start as the Moderates for now.”

Diorama was concerned about the position of his affiliated players.

Because as long as the faction was decided based on the starting city, it was obvious that the Hardliners who started in Edlen would be the most numerous.

Moreover, he didn’t even want to imagine becoming Black Dragon’s enemy.

“I intend to watch for now. How the factions will be used will eventually appear inside the game.”

In the update notice, it was explained with the word ‘content’, but it was difficult to predict what meaning that would have.

The reason for dividing into three factions was ambiguous in the first place.

“Let’s make one thing clear. My goal is to find Erport first. I have no intention of yielding when it comes to the direction of competition.”

“I don’t need ownership. In the first place, it’s a game I started to treat my younger brother. I think Kenji-ssi must have a similar heart.”

At Han-bit’s assertion, Grace calmly brought out her inner thoughts.

Two people who had jumped into RP to save their family.

As she said, Kenji was also a person with no interest in ownership.

“Well, I’m on the side of helping Grace. Game ownership is a bother. Ah, but I do have quite a lot of interest in becoming stronger.”

Haemu spoke while shrugging his shoulders.

Certainly, the image of him running himself to death to win game ownership didn’t come to mind easily.

“Then I will participate in the competition for ownership. My company employees are on both my shoulders. Of course, since I’m on the side of putting meaning into the process, standing on Black Dragon-nim’s side remains unchanged.”

Diorama, the representative of Vestige, also gave an honest opinion.

Naturally, as it was a reasonable competition, it wasn’t strange to aim for first place as much as he liked.

“What will you do about the Astra members?”

“It seems better for this side to grasp the trend for the time being as well. Since it’s a time of change.”

The players had entered Astra through Grace’s decision.

Among them, members belonging to the eleven major corporations that appeared in the article also existed.

Of course, that was only the company’s position, and it was unknown how individuals would react.

“I understand. I will also tell you immediately if I learn something. I will strive for episode progress for the time being, but it seems things will crop up one by one in the middle.”

“Come to think of it, you said you received a contact from Team Zero in a restricted area? Since the second one opened after clearing the sixth episode, is it possible this time too?”

Haemu asked while retracing the story.

Han-bit, who nodded, spoke while checking the time.

“The possibility is high. If information comes up this time too, I’ll have to go immediately.”

A restricted area that looked exactly like the space he reached every time he died in the other world.

Even though a second one appeared this time, he had no intention of personally searching for it.

At that time, a privilege had been paid which became a hint, but there was no telling if they would give such an opportunity again.

If so, it was right to save time and proceed with the episode first.

“Is that so? Then I’ll have to dig around a bit. I’ll let you know if I find it.”

“I will also assist.”

“We will also tell you when our employees’ information comes in.”

The three gathered their intent, saying they would gladly give help.

Honestly, it was a grateful thing.

Since Han-bit’s entry qualification would only be activated if they achieved the first clear.

“Thank you. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Han-bit, who delivered a honest greeting, stood up from his seat.

At that moment, Haemu asked one more question.

“What are you going to do about Qingluo? Wasn’t Liwei a bit close to you?”

“I had received help.”

It was a bit surprising that Qingluo was on the side of the Goddess of Turbulence.

But the positions of the company and the individual were different.

“Liwei is out of the question. He already left the company.”

“Already?”

A little before arriving at this meeting room, Liwei had sent a text.

He had left Qingluo and suggested meeting in RP soon.

It was exactly such content.

“It’s almost time. I’ll go back and prepare after just finishing my business.”

The time the server would open was 6 PM.

Since it was a little past 3 now, considering the next appointment, it was time to move soon.

“Understood. I intend to see the situation from this side for the time being, so if you need anything, please tell me without burden. I brought my gear, so there’s no problem with connecting either.”

“I will also always keep my place.”

“Me? Well, contact me through the game.”

With such greetings, Han-bit left the building.

He didn’t mind the reporters waiting at the entrance.

Because the vehicle Diorama had prepared was in the basement.

“I will take you home.”

“Ah, please take me to this place.”

Han-bit called out the address of a house in Geumcheon-gu.

The driver, who completed confirmation, immediately began driving there.

The arrival didn’t take as long as expected.

“Thank you.”

Han-bit, who got out of the car, stood in front of a house built of red bricks.

“Black Dragon-nim!”

The one welcoming him was the younger twin sister, Haneul.

She, who was holding the door, quickly beckoned and guided him.

“Quickly, come in!”

Han-bit stepped into the small yard following that invitation.

“Oh my, is it this person? He’s handsome.”

There stood a grandmother in a quite hip outfit along with No-eul.

They were the twins’ guardians.

“Hello. My name is Kang Han-bit. I’m sorry for visiting late.”

“I told you I was going to Ulleungdo, anyway. But what to do? Another appointment has been caught.”

“…Grandmother?”

“What does that mean, again! We skipped school today because of this!”

A flustered No-eul and Haneul spoke in angry voices.

Despite the reaction of her grandchildren, the grandmother quickly slung her bag over her shoulder.

“Hmm.”

Taking a step closer, she silently looked into Han-bit’s eyes.

Then, with a smirk, she spoke.

“You brought the contract, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

Han-bit handed over the contract documents he had received from Yeon-woo.

The grandmother, who pulled them out and read them at an incredible speed, took a stamp out of her bag and stamped it in the necessary places.

It was a speed that made one wonder if she had really read it.

“Conditions that are good for the kids’ manners to go bad. Don’t be too indulgent, and please look after them strictly sometimes.”

“Understood. But the story…”

“I’m good at reading people. Seeing your face is enough. Ah, you haven’t heard that these kids’ father is an employee of the Record Project company?”

“Yes?”

Han-bit was flustered at the shocking fact that flew in so suddenly.

The grandmother, who passed him by, waved her hand as she left the door.

“The kids will tell you. Then, see you again next time.”

The retreating back disappeared along with the closed door.

Haneul and No-eul, who were watching that embarrassedly, said quietly.

“We’ll tell you…”