Chapter 134: The Time of Choice

“You decline?”

“Yes.”

As Sung-Woon moved his hand to end the video chat, Jang-Wan hurriedly said, “Wait. You didn’t even hear everything.”

“I was going to end this for your sake.”

“For my sake?”

“We both know the other’s situation pretty well, don’t we? So why would we waste our time keeping this conversation going?”

“.....”

Jang-Wan hesitated, unable to come up with a response. Sung-Woon took that chance to quickly end the call.

From next to him, Lunda whispered, “What? Why did you decline? Isn’t it the best offer there is?”

“The call ended. You can talk normally.”

Lunda stood up from her crouching position.

Red Fruit’s capital, Agartin, was located at the bottom of a short mountain range. It was said that the Renards and even the other species who called Agartin home were born easy-going, which could be attributed to the abundant natural environment and the fact that they suffered no inconvenience when it came to living there.

Lunda then said, “Tell me. Wouldn’t it have been better to accept their surrender?”

“Maybe. To be honest, it wasn’t a bad deal.”

“Right?”

Sung-Woon continued to say, “It would take some time to integrate everything, but in the end, we would become stronger than their alliance. Simply put, we would have the advantage in war with more troops.”

As if she found Sung-Woon’s words unexpected, Lunda asked, “The war would continue?”

“Of course.”

“Why?” Lunda asked. “If you accept their surrender, wouldn’t that be your victory? No, just wait a minute and let me talk. Okay, look. If the whole continent is unified, that would be an advantage when things get to an intercontinental fight. But among the matches of The Lost World I’ve played until now, there weren’t many cases where a whole continent was unified against other continents. And even without that happening, there were many cases where I’ve won. What should I say? It’s kind of…similar to…perseverance.”

“Obsessiveness?”

“Yes. There’s no need to obsessively try to unify the continent.”

Sung-Woon replied, “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

“What do you mean by second thoughts?”

“Are you regretting the strategy you chose to win with? And because of that regret you think we should accommodate them?”

Lunda waved her hand.

“No way, of course not,” Lunda said, while thinking,

‘He has a keen side to him, which is unexpected.’

And Sung-Woon thought,

‘Maybe not.’

Sung-Woon then said, “If not, good. But it’s not what you think. I mean I don’t have an obsession to achieve perfect victory, or make every land on the continent mine. I also would prefer for the war to end. And if I could benefit before it ends, even better.”

“Then what is it?”

Sung-Woon replied, “The problem is that

they?

have no intention of ending the war. I can’t make the war end just because I want it to.”

“Huh?” Lunda said, “But Jang-Wan said they would surrender.”

“And she also asked for AR’s vassal statue.”

“What about that?”

Sung-Woon understood Lunda’s reaction.

In the game The Lost World, there weren’t many cases where a vassal statue was actually used. They were usually kept in the inventory, and when the game finished, the player would take a screenshot of the vassal statues piled up in their inventory for self-satisfaction.

“You don’t know? They’re trying to revive AR.”

“Oh.”

Generally, when a player died, they would be sealed in the form of a statue called a vassal statue. However, through a ritual with special procedures, the player could be revived, or the vassal statue itself could be completely destroyed.

“To obtain a vassal statue in the first place, you would have to kill the player who possesses it or make a trade, so resurrection is uncommon. Additionally, The Lost World is primarily a game meant to be played alone.”

Lunda nodded as she listened to Sung-Woon’s explanation.

In regular matches of The Lost World, it was true that vassal statues had little use because there would always be a next game, and thus they wouldn’t be too concerned about a match they already lost. And even if those who were in an alliance saved their teammate, it was common for AI to take over because the player had already started their next game. Of course, there would be no other game after this one, so Lunda thought the scenario was unlikely.

However, one would hesitate to say that releasing a vassal would necessarily be advantageous.

“Isn’t it costly to hold a vassal release ritual? I heard that it takes lots of time, and there are lots of things to pay attention to.”

“Exactly. But for them, it would be worth trying. If a vassal is released, they don’t start over at level 1 again or at the level they died at. Rather, their level would be adjusted. The fact that they could maintain their numerical advantage is big. And above all…”

“Above all?”

Sung-Woon pointed at the map of the third continent shown on one side of his screen. The location he was gesturing at sat in the nine o’clock direction of the continent, or in other words, at Golden Eye.

“It would allow Golden Eye’s palace, which is in disorder right now, to get back in order.”

Golden Eye was currently very chaotic with the loss of their god.

Sung-Woon continued to say, “Anyway, by reviving AR, that means they will challenge us again sooner or later. Of course, I won’t be sitting around doing nothing…but there’s no reason to create more unnecessary variables when we’re already at an advantage, right?”

Lunda nodded. She wondered if Sung-Woon was aware that the hardened vassal statue inside his inventory was a person.

‘But there’s no need to unnecessarily get on his nerves. We’re on the same team now.’

Lunda decided to change the subject.

“Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen Eldar around recently.”

“Oh, Eldar’s probably busy with something I asked him to do.”

“What is it?”

Sung-Woon shrugged without a word.

***

Golden Eye’s regent, Karloa Lotte, knew that many things would be decided tonight.

‘It’s been over a month since His Majesty came out of his chambers, so I need to decide everything.’?

But Karloa wondered if it would really be her decision. Things had gotten to this point independent of their will, and it seemed that it would continue to be the case in the future.

‘It’s been even longer since God gave us any kind of response. Does it mean that Concealed Text God has really died?’

Karloa thought that the death of her god was completely possible because in Golden Eye’s history, there was already a similar event where the evil god known as God of Blood and Rotten Meat got defeated along with the Bloodsucking Queen. After a hundred and some years, Karloa thought that they had recovered from the damage they had suffered at the time.

‘But that wasn’t the case.’

Even after a player died, information about their death wouldn’t appear in front of every individual. To be exact, no information would be shown, which made it possible to conceal or manipulate the information if necessary. However, it was almost impossible to hide from the people of Golden Eye the fact that a god could die.

The people of Golden Eye suffered losses because of the evil god, and they were also the ones who confirmed the evil god’s death. As a result, they more so than anyone believed that a god could die. Therefore, when they heard rumors that their god had died at the hands of Night Sky’s apostle, they did not deny the fact even when citizens of other countries did.

‘Because God isn’t responding to the priests’ prayers.’

The soldiers of Mangul and Danyum, who had fought alongside Golden Eye’s soldiers, also stated that they had all witnessed the death of the god.

‘And that God died at the hands of Lakrak, who also killed the evil god.’

The fact that it’d been the fabled god killer made it undeniable that their god had died. All of Golden Eye were slowly acknowledging the absence of their god, and their responses could be divided into two categories.

One was the inability to cope with their depression due to their awful defeat. Even those who were perfectly healthy struggled to carry out their daily routines. They endlessly shed tears or even took their own lives. Karloa considered such reactions foolish.

‘Without a god, you can’t even go to an afterlife and might end up being a wanderer forever.’

Death was a terrifying experience for anyone, but the people of Golden Eye were now more fearful than the people of other countries.

Those who were faithful like Karloa and the priests of Concealed Text God still held onto hope. But priests who couldn’t prove God’s existence were no different than an average person.

There was another type of response.

‘The damn opportunists. They behave so slyly even though they don’t know when God might come back…’

It was those who immediately believed in a different god. They didn’t simply have a change of heart, but argued that they had to fill the empty space with another god since Golden Eye was now godless. And they stated that converting to other beliefs was the only way the country called Golden Eye could properly operate again. It made Karloa miserable that their arguments weren’t entirely unfounded.

‘There are too many people who are lost in depression, so the country isn’t operating properly. Bands of thieves and rebels also keep appearing, and there’s a limit to how much we can rely on our allies, Mangul and Asbestos. We need to establish a basic direction for the country and make the people follow it.’

But it wasn’t an easy choice to make. The aristocrats quickly divided, and surprisingly, Night Sky was one of the candidates they were considering. Of course, Karloa knew that there were those who favored Black Scale in Golden Eye, but it hadn’t been this bad before.

Ultimately, if the people were most loyal to Golden Eye, not Black Scale, and Golden Eye was their top priority in the end, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to use those who favored Black Scale considering how powerful it was as a nation. Showing a friendly side to Black Scale could be advantageous in many ways.

However, that was far from the reality they were facing now.

‘Why…Why would they decide to side with those who killed Concealed Text God at this point in time?’

Those who favored Night Sky openly revealed themselves when Night Sky’s apostle killed Concealed Text God. But of course, they didn’t mock the death of Concealed Text God. They showed enough courtesy toward the loser, but still claimed that Night Sky was a powerful god the Concealed Text God could never rival. Karloa couldn’t accept this logic.

‘However…’

The opposing option didn’t really appeal to Karloa either. They were those who favored Mangul. Mangul was a long-time ally, so it was natural for people to feel a sense of closeness. Still, their attitude changed after Concealed Text God died. They stated that Golden Eye should take their side right away unless they wanted their country taken by Black Scale.

‘Golden Eye is only stumbling. We haven’t even lost everything yet. So why do they act as if we’re in their hands already?’

Additionally, the force that favored Mangul was receiving various support from Mangul, which was south of Golden Eye, and from Asbestos, which was north of Golden Eye. And with the excuse of dealing with rebellions, they had already brought quite a bit of Mangul’s troops into the borders. If those who favored Black Scale gained the upper hand, it seemed as if they would find an excuse to send the troops into the palace.

‘The same goes for Black Scale, but we can’t hand over our power to Mangul. The power would be used as a tool to keep Golden Eye from Black Scale.’

Karloa looked out the window. The sun was setting. And the leading figures of each force were scheduled to arrive at the next dinner banquet.

‘I can’t believe we need to choose between the lesser of two evils rather than choosing the better option. Oh, Concealed Text God, what should we do?’

Karloa got on her knees and prayed to God. Suddenly, someone opened the door to Karloa’s room and entered. Karloa had her eyes closed and assumed it was her maid, but strangely, the door that opened wasn’t the door to the hallway, but the door to her bedroom. It should’ve been empty.

She quickly shot to her feet.

“Who is it?”

Karloa thought it would be an armed assassin, but it wasn’t. The uninvited visitor was unarmed and had a wooden cane, and he belonged to an unusual species.

“...An Ent?”

The Ent began to talk.

“Ent? Ent doesn’t really reflect the core of my existence well.”

“What’s your name?”

“Talay. And the same is true for that. What could a name possibly prove?”

As Karloa furrowed her eyebrows, the Ent, Talay, introduced himself.

“Regent of Golden Eye, I am a Wizard.”