The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 5

Three years in real time, fifteen years in game time.

In that time, the footprint Pantheon left on the world was immense.

It was to the point where you could commonly see people with some money who had invested over ten billion won into Pantheon.

Now, let's use our heads for a moment here.

Individuals, corporations, and even nations had been investing in Pantheon.

In such a situation, what would happen if Pantheon were to suddenly disappear?

Chew, chew-

"The news is going to be interesting for a while."

However, it was a story that had nothing to do with Lee Shin.

Three days ago, in order to move from the tutorial to Pantheon and enjoy a comfortable and cozy 'game life', Lee Shin had sold all the stocks he owned and converted them to cash.

'I was lucky.'

Lee Shin thought it was a huge relief to have escaped the gyro drop of the stock market as he examined his reflection in the mirror.

He had always been thinner than average, but now it was beyond what could be described as simply thin.

To exaggerate slightly, the current Lee Shin was in a state similar to a skeleton wearing leather.

"Well, it's to be expected. I was lost in the game every day and barely even walked around."

He hadn't really noticed before because his eyes had been glued to the game, but thinking back, he had enjoyed it to a somewhat serious extent.

He had literally been lying here except for the time he spent eating and relieving himself.

While munching on the instant food he had bought in bulk to reduce eating time, Lee Shin organized the things he needed to do.

"Forget everything else, I need to deal with this body first. I should at least be able to carry a weapon."

Lee Shin put on some simple clothes and slung a bag filled with instant food over his back.

'I should just walk around the nearby park. Information... I can check it on my smartphone.'

Lee Shin went outside, his hair, as long as his prolonged life as a shut-in, fluttering.

It was his first time out in three years.

***

"Heok... heok... Ah, I'm dying."

Even before he could take a walk in the park, Lee Shin realized that his body's condition was extremely serious.

Just the short walk to get to the park had exhausted his body, leaving him limp.

"Haa, I didn't think it would be this bad, though."

Lee Shin lamented as he sat on a nearby bench, munching on an energy bar.

His stomach had also shrunk from the long period of eating little, so he didn't feel hungry.

However, thinking that if he didn't have muscle, he should at least have some fat, Lee Shin forced food into his stomach.

While doing so, Lee Shin took out his smartphone with his other hand.

Perhaps because some time had passed, the people who had been going crazy over the news of Pantheon's service termination were gradually calming down, and some constructive posts were starting to appear on the forums.

-Is what the system said for real? Isn't it just a slightly unusual teaser for Season 2 or something?

-No, I was suspicious too, so I asked for proof if it was real, and it said I could believe it if I went to reality and said 'system'.

As a test, Lee Shin also muttered 'system' under his breath.

Then, the translucent hologram he had seen so often in the game appeared in front of him.

For reference, the word 'inactive' was written on the hologram.

-So dungeons might really appear?

-It seems like the government is planning to make at least some minimal preparations.

However, since people didn't know the detailed situation, there wasn't much useful information.

-But I heard it's not just the government moving, but corporations too? I heard they're looking for people to enter the dungeons when they're created.

-Are there many people who want to enter the dungeons?

-I heard there are a surprising number of applicants. A lot of people's economic foundations were completely wiped out when Pantheon collapsed.

However, since many different stories were coming out, this was the easiest way to grasp the overall situation.

Lee Shin quickly scanned the rapidly appearing posts.

-Well, they did say the first ones to appear would be the weakest of the LV.1 monsters. It probably won't be too difficult.

-Well, they did say the monsters in reality are stronger than the ones in the game, but I just applied to a corporation.

-Me too. I saw that they prepare weapons and armor as you want, and you don't go in alone but in a party, so I applied right away.

Of course, not everyone was discussing things in such a constructive manner.

There were many people who desperately denied reality with a negative outlook, and there were also people who joked around as if it had nothing to do with them.

-By the way, what's the standard for the rankers that corporations want?

-Probably from the Millions. It would be a jackpot if there were rankers in the Thousands or Hundreds, but that seems realistically difficult, and the Billions are a bit much.

"Rankers..."

Lee Shin fell into thought quietly as he read the post.

Billion, Million, Thousand, Hundred.

They were all words referring to numbers, but in Pantheon, they had an additional meaning.

A term referring to the rankers who stood above countless competitors they had defeated.

One might dismiss the numbers one billion and one million, but considering the total user count was three billion, the number one million was enough to be called a ranker.

"I hope I get a chance to fight them someday."

Lee Shin said with a hopeful tone, his breathing now even, as he put his smartphone in his pocket.

Thump-

But as he was putting it in his pocket, the still-lit smartphone was accidentally touched by the impact and opened a link to a post.

-Come to think of it, is that person shrouded in mystery going to appear now? I've been curious all this time.

-Hmm? Who are you talking about?

The ten players who were revered at the very top of the rankings.

Skill, charisma, star power, and so on.

The reasons they were respected by many players were varied.

But the fundamental reason was not because of such trivial things.

The decisive reason they were respected was because of the overwhelming power they possessed.

Below them, even among the Hundreds, the rankings would fluctuate several times a day as rankers from the Thousands rose up.

However, the rankings of the ten at the very top, the [Kings], never changed.

Even if a change occurred, it was only a change among themselves; people from below never rose up.

A noble aloofness, like that of kings who did not mix with others, that was the decisive reason they were called [Kings].

However, there was one player who, like them, maintained his rank without mixing with others.

-Ah, I know who you're talking about. You mean that person at the very bottom of the rankings.

One day, a player happened to notice that the name at the very bottom of the rankings never changed and wrote about it on the forums.

That fact spread among the players like a ghost story, and thus, one player's name became known among them.

A few quick-witted players realized it was because he hadn't cleared the tutorial, but nothing changed.

Due to the nature of the system, it was impossible to go below the rank of that player who had connected first.

Therefore, the story quickly died down, but no one denied that it had enjoyed immense popularity for a short while.

It was to the point where it would still occasionally pop up like this.

And that player naturally received a title, something that could be called the exclusive property of a ranker.

Though it was a title mixed with jest, not respect.

-Was it [God of Hell]?

-That's right.

The lowest place, which puts even the bottom and the underground above it, Hell.

The title [God of Hell] was a title mixed with ridicule for the player in such a place.

-Come to think of it, there was a rumor that the [God of Hell] was actually the strongest person who could chew up even the [Kings].

-That's all nonsense that conspiracy theorists love. How could a guy who only ever did the tutorial possibly surpass them?

-That's true.

And so, that story was buried and disappeared amidst the countless new stories that were emerging.

***

A week had passed since Pantheon terminated its service.

During that time, Lee Shin lived with high-calorie foods constantly in his mouth and succeeded in going from a walking corpse to just a skinny person.

Of course, his body still had no visible muscle, but Lee Shin was satisfied.

This much strength was enough.

Swoosh-

Lee Shin swept back the hair covering his eyes and looked at his watch.

8:59

"One minute left."

In just a little while, exactly one week would have passed since the time the system had mentioned, and dungeons would appear.

And as the dungeons appeared, just like in the tutorial, Lee Shin would once again be able to fight monsters.

At that thought, the corners of Lee Shin's mouth naturally went up.

Lee Shin tried to calm his pounding heart, just like when he first entered the tutorial, and watched the moving hands of the clock.

Tick-tock-

And at the moment the longest minute in the world passed.

[You have awakened as a player.]

[[Status], [Skills], and [Inventory] are activated.]

Familiar yet unfamiliar messages appeared in front of Lee Shin.

***

Beep-! Beeeep-!

"Yes! It's alright! This is just a drill, so please move calmly!"

"You don't need to worry! With the help of nearby schools, there is plenty of space to evacuate!"

The government had hastily designated today as an emergency evacuation drill day a week ago and had requested the public to move to nearby shelters.

"Hoo, I don't know what all this fuss is about."

The rookie local police officer, waving a flashing LED signal baton here and there, muttered to himself without realizing it, as the procession of evacuees before him felt unreal.

If it had simply been the game's service ending, this would not have happened.

But the fact that Pantheon's system appeared before people after the service ended was enough to stir up anxiety.

And to dismiss it as simply the appearance of mentally ill people who were too engrossed in the game, there were too many eyewitness accounts of the system.

Nearly half of the world's population, all the people who had played Pantheon, could see that message.

At that, the government, after much deliberation, mobilized the police and took these measures.

It was so serious that people who would normally spew anger but not fear at news of North Korea firing a missile were now quietly evacuating to shelters or making preparations and hiding in their homes, following the police's guidance.

However, in the end, it was just a warning with no legal force, so there were also people who did not follow the warning and lived out an ordinary day.

People who took what Pantheon said after its service ended as a promotion for Season 2.

Normally, they would have been able to go online, investigate various things, and find out what happens when you say 'system'.

But people who were already so swamped with work that they couldn't even sleep properly didn't even think of going to the forums and just fell asleep.

And even if they had known, the economic blow they would suffer from taking a day off work was far more terrifying to them than a dungeon that might or might not appear.

The situation was already such that with the disappearance of Pantheon, the corporations that had jumped into it had all suffered great damage, and the global economy was teetering as if it would collapse at any moment.

Without any exaggeration, a rough wave, incomparable to the IMF crisis the elders used to talk about, was currently sweeping through the economic markets of the entire world, including Korea.

"Hoo, I don't know if this is the right choice. Should I just cancel it now?"

"Hey~ Think positively. Even if it doesn't work out, you'll just have a story to kick yourself in the blankets over for the rest of your life."

"That's serious enough!"

Of course, instead of hiding in fear or ignoring the system's warning, there were also people who chose a third option.

People who chose not to avoid or ignore, but to face them head-on and prepare to hunt them.

(End of Chapter)