novelraw Chapter 360: Episode 360_Epilogue (5)
Chapter 360: Episode 360_Epilogue (5)
11.
Epia did not return to the Demon World.
“The human world is more fun. I want to stay with my mate.”
Naturally, the backlash was fierce.
“You must not, Demon King! Please, Demon King, you must support the Demon World!”
“We cannot live without you, Demon King!”
“How can you choose to live on the continent with your power sealed?!”
The countless demons who had been ready to betray the Demon King the moment she lost her power now changed their tune in the blink of an eye.
The overwhelming might she had displayed in suppressing the war once again forced them to bow their heads in submission.
Besides, in chaotic times like these, with the demon race having suffered such enormous losses, they needed an absolute ruler like Epia who could decisively quell the confusion.
They could think about challenging her for the throne later; for now, they needed someone who would protect their shared home, the Demon World.
On top of that, Han Simin strongly objected as well.
“How about you just go back? It’s not good for a woman to build her whole life around a man, especially these days. You should love and rely on each other, sure, but you also need to have your own work, earn your own money, and be prepared to stand on your own two feet if something happens. You can’t just plan on living off your husband and lazing around at home.”
She remained silent.
He still had absolutely no intention of pursuing some so-called noble love in Fantastic World, especially not while he was enjoying a sweet relationship with Kang Yeseul.
However, he said it because he now understood that the NPCs of Fantastic World were no longer just scraps of data.
There was no guarantee that he would play Fantastic World for the rest of his life, and even if he could, he was a human who would live maybe another sixty years before dying.
Epia, on the other hand, would live eternally until the game shut down.
In his own way, he was being considerate, feeling anew the kind of racial divide he had only ever read about in fantasy novels.
“It’s absolutely not because I find you a hassle. You know how I feel, right?”
“...So it really was true that humans can’t be satisfied with just one woman.”
“What? Where did that come from?”
“You took my body and heart, the heart of the Succubus Queen, only to cast me aside.”
He was at a loss for words.
“It’s all right. A succubus’s pure love is eternal. I will wait. In my heart, I want to kill everyone and keep you for myself. But watching humans has made me feel, just a little, that I want to protect the love for which I gave my purity.”
After various little incidents like that, Epia, who had insisted she would not return to the Demon World, finally relented and headed back.
*
Epia did not return to the Demon World alone.
“Demon King, I am truly grateful. When I was serving that damned human like a dog, I seriously considered just dying and getting reincarnated a few hundred years from now at least eighteen times a day. I really, truly thank you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I foolishly signed a contract and had to swallow my demonic pride, living each day choking back tears. If I hadn’t been sharing that humiliation with that sickeningly cheerful angel, I might have gone insane already.”
Grokile had come along as well.
In the latter half of the Main Quest, his presence had been so negligible that no one cared whether he was alive or dead, but under the pretext of serving Epia, he had seized the opportunity to escape Han Simin.
Of course, it would have been impossible if Han Simin hadn’t given his permission.
Yet Han Simin had nodded more easily than expected.
“Yeah. If you stay here, you’ll just wander around and get yourself executed again. Go keep Epia company; she must be bored.”
“Thank you! Thank you, Master!”
“Come on, it’s nothing. It’s not like our contract is over. We’re just going our separate ways while keeping our relationship intact.”
“Of course! I will serve you for the rest of my life and never forget you, Master!”
“You’d better. Now, take good care of Epia. Make sure she doesn’t get hurt, and I’ll come check on her later.”
“Yes! Yes! Of course.”
Naturally, Grokile thought Han Simin was talking nonsense.
’What trick does he have up his sleeve to come check on her? He’s obviously just sending the Demon King away because he finds her annoying to keep around. This is perfect. Once that human loses interest in me, I need to run away as fast as I can.’
It wasn’t like you could just hop on a plane to Jeju Island; this was the chasm between the continent and the Demon World.
He knew there was a way for Han Simin to cross over, but he didn’t think it would lead to any major changes in the current situation.
’To come to the Demon World, that bastard of a master—no, that human bastard—has to spend a ton of money, so there’s no way he’ll do it. And even if he does come, if I just hide, he’ll never bother looking for someone as insignificant as me.’
Thanks to three years of experience serving as his dog, Grokile had come to understand Han Simin quite well, and his read was, to a certain extent, accurate.
That was why, once he arrived in the Demon World, he was finally able to relax.
“Well then, Demon King. Please enjoy your time here, and call for me whenever you need anything!”
“All right.”
“Then I will just...”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Pardon?”
“Where are you trying to go?”
“Ah, I was just going to withdraw so that you could rest comfortably, Demon King...”
“You said I should call you if I need anything, didn’t you?”
“Yes. That is, if you need anything...”
“All the attendants in the Demon King’s castle were killed by the Celestials. You will serve as the temporary chief attendant.”
“...Excuse me?”
“Why? You don’t want to?”
“No, it’s not that I dislike it...”
“Then I’m going to take a nap. Go recruit some attendants and get to work.”
He stood there, dumbfounded.
“Oh, you’ll need a rank for that, won’t you? As of today, you are a High Demon, Commander of the First Legion that serves at my side.”
He was too stunned to speak.
It didn’t take long for his expression to sour once more.
*
12.
Contrary to the many predictions that Fantastic World would enter a lull, the game saw an even greater influx of users.
There was only one reason.
—A chance to close the gap with existing players!
Fantastic World itself wasn’t running any official events, but many veteran players, wanting to promote their second world and help newcomers adapt, organized their own events and offered assistance. The influx was inevitable.
Furthermore, as the number of adventurers increased, the NPCs realized that the continent would grow more vibrant and developed. They began treating users with a far more favorable attitude than in the early days of the game.
As a result, new users could settle in and grow much more easily.
Unlike the old days, when they had to stumble through the early game, dying over and over, now not only other players but even NPCs stepped up to help them, offer quests, and hunt monsters together.
In the midst of this, Han Simin dropped another piece of news that would shake the continent.
He turned on his stream and announced, “I’ve brought new content not just for top-tier players, but for everyone. A trip to the Demon World, where you can experience a wider world, broader hunting grounds, and a variety of races beyond this cramped continent! Anyone can apply, and anyone can go!”
A trip to the Demon World!
Ninety-five percent of Fantastic World’s players had watched the Demon World saga; now they were being given the chance to experience it firsthand.
It was a monumental event.
Naturally, the community exploded.
—Wow, God-Simin strikes again.
—No way, we can really go to the Demon World?
—Holy shit. I wonder what the EXP is like there.
—The Demon World has to give better EXP than the Forbidden Zones, right?
—The rewards you can get there are probably on a whole other level.
—Even just mining resources there would be a goldmine.
The reaction was probably similar to how the world first heard the news of Columbus discovering a new continent.
Countless users were ecstatic.
Even without any certainty that they themselves could go, everyone was drunk on dreams of opportunity.
The feeling of a place being utterly out of reach was completely different from the feeling that, even if not now, you might someday be able to go.
—What are the conditions?
—How much is it?
—What level do you need to be to hunt there?
A flood of questions poured in.
Some users, as soon as they heard the news, started buying up Gold.
The price of Gold, which even experts were sure would never rise again, began to creep upward.
And it wasn’t just combat-focused players; the non-combat users were even more fired up.
The new continent certainly had tremendous value as a hunting ground, but only a tiny fraction of players—those on the leaderboards—would actually be able to hunt there. Far more users valued the idea of setting foot on untouched land, a place not even NPCs had explored, and bringing its strange items and resources back to the continent.
Of course, as always, such fervent enthusiasm was bound to be met with disappointment.
—...Wake up, people. The price is out.
—No conditions, no requirements, just one thing.
—First wave, first-come, first-served. 100,000 people, 30 Gold per person.
—$6,000 for a one-way trip to the Demon World. $12,000 for a round trip, hahahahahahaha.
No one had thought it would be a walk in the park, but no one had imagined it would cost $12,000 just to go there and back once, either.
—Yeah, I’m out.
—For $12,000, I’ll just go to the U.S.
—For real, this is a total rip-off.
—How are we supposed to make any profit off that?
People always think in ways that favor themselves, hoping for a slice of the pie.
However, despite the backlash, the price didn’t change.
Faced with the negative public opinion, Han Simin only smiled.
“Tsk, tsk. They’ll curse me out, but the ones who want to go will go.”
The Demon World he had visited was exactly that kind of place.
That was what made this business possible.
“The Gate costs 1.5 million Gold to open, so I clear 1.5 million Gold every time. It’s a cash cow.”
He was making $30 million in one shot.
Without investing a single cent.
That was why he could laugh, even if he took a century’s worth of abuse.
*
Above all, the strength of this business lay in the fact that it was all powered by feeding Gold to Squeaker.
It was its biggest advantage and also its critical weakness.
Without Squeaker, none of it would work.
Of course, in the current situation, that could hardly be considered a weakness.
Squeaker wasn’t even two years old yet; he wasn’t going to die of old age or cancer.
On the contrary, the fact that only Squeaker could do it was what allowed him to set such an extortionate price and still avoid any punishment, no matter how much he was cursed.
Moreover, strictly speaking, the profit was even higher than $30 million.
He collected Gold from users, but most of his supply came from the gold mine Sudal was creating, and as time went on, the amount of gold Sudal produced would only increase.
That meant he could resell the Gold he received from users almost untouched.
A miracle of creation from nothing!
Unlike the pure gold from the mine, whose price fluctuated wildly, Gold never dropped in value.
Even now, if he simply held onto the Gold trading at around $200 and sold it later when it hit $210, the profit from that price difference alone would be staggering.
All he needed were customers.
And the customers came.
One hundred thousand of them.
Despite the mockery and criticism from countless users, the first recruitment round closed in less than twenty-four hours.
That was how intense the interest was.
And while 30 Gold was a burden for most, there were also plenty of people for whom it was not.
Above all, it was an investment worth making.
It was a lot of money, but far more people believed that the unprecedented value they could gain in the unknown realm of the Demon World would far exceed 30 Gold.
And so, the Gate for the first Demon World tour opened.