1.

The acting had been excellent.

Only the demons, their world turned upside down in an instant, were left bewildered, their eyes darting as they tried to make sense of the situation.

Of course, it wasn’t easy to grasp what had happened.

How could it be?

They had clearly felt no dark magic from the Demon King, and when they saw her sent flying by their attack, that suspicion had hardened into near certainty.

They hadn’t let their guard down, either.

Facing the strongest and worst Demon King in history, fully aware she was the Succubus Queen, they had all but extinguished the lust boiling inside them and, without a moment’s hesitation, delivered that final blow.

Everything had been perfect.

They hadn’t even gotten excited at the thought that they might become the new Demon King.

So how had it come to this?

There was no one here who could answer that question for them.

They could hardly ask Epia, who had casually blocked their punch and whose lips, despite the trickle of blood at the corner, were still irresistibly seductive.

“H-How...”

They knew they couldn’t, and yet the words slipped from a demon’s mouth anyway.

It was simply impossible to accept.

No matter how they thought about it—demons might be a race born for battle, but that didn’t mean they were stupid.

They thought and thought again, but no answer came.

No, perhaps they simply wanted to deny reality.

Because this wasn’t a difficult problem.

“What do you mean, how? Epia was just acting like she couldn’t use dark magic, you idiots.”

They were too stunned to speak.

Since it wasn’t a difficult problem, Han Simin was the first to drive the reality of the situation into their thick skulls.

A kindness of sorts—clearing up their confusion before they died.

Only then did the demons finally grasp the situation.

At the same time, they prostrated themselves at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

They flattened themselves to the ground, faces pressed to the dirt in a completely defenseless posture.

Covered in dust and without wiping away the blood, Epia rose to her feet.

She smiled.

The fatal, seductive smile of a succubus held clear satisfaction.

“It’s been a while, this power.”

On her left hand, the Mystery Ring that had been on Simin’s finger now gleamed with a proud, pitch-black light, flaunting its presence.

*

He had done an incredible amount of preparation over the past month.

He had always played games with a passion that could have consumed his entire life, but this time he could say without the slightest exaggeration that he had never poured so much of his soul into a game since he first started playing 『Fantastic World』.

He didn’t even need to think about it to be sure; that was how completely he had devoted himself.

There was only one reason he could so simply and clearly settle that otherwise subjective question.

’Seriously, what am I even doing? The fact that I’m spending my own money on this game is making me feel pathetic.’

Han Simin had withdrawn cash from his real-world bank account and spent it on the game.

He had invested game money into reality before, but he had never taken real cash and converted it into game currency.

For Simin, it was a decision he had reached only after long and painful deliberation.

In this day and age, spending money on games was widely accepted, but not for Han Simin.

To him, spending real money on a game was tantamount to breaking his own creed.

Games had always been a means of making money.

There were users who spent money to generate profit, but Simin had always played to extract something purely through effort.

It was a one-way street, so to speak.

The only place you were allowed to withdraw money from was reality.

Spending real-world money on a game was something only people with nothing better to do and more money than they knew what to do with would do.

That was how he had lived and thought, and he had just broken that rule himself.

So it was only natural that he would be having these thoughts.

Haaah...

Of course, only his principles were hurting; his bank balance was not.

Han Simin still had tens of millions of dollars sitting in his accounts, and even if he burned through all his cash, his real estate holdings would quickly refill them. On top of that, the money he was earning in real time through his streams far exceeded what he had spent on the game.

That was why he could whine like this and still keep playing.

’In any case, I’ve put everything on the line.’

More than anything, his mindset going into this final war was a little different from before.

Even if he took a bit of a loss, at this point—when this might be the end of the game—he refused to lose.

In other words, even if the game went under, he refused to let Kenji walk away with the victory.

It was a mindset born of his truly stellar character.

And that mindset was backed by money.

This was the result of his spending.

Allowing Epia to use her dark magic despite the restrictions.

He hadn’t lifted the restriction itself.

“How is it? Usable?”

“Yeah. I’ll give you thirty praise points.”

’...! Only twenty more to go.’

“Got it. Keep track, and when you hit a hundred, let me know. I’ll give you a Heart right on the spot.”

He had simply applied the method he had used to temporarily lift Kardian’s restriction.

It was a temporary release of her constraints.

The curse on Kardian and the seal on Epia’s power from crossing dimensions were not the same, of course, but with an even greater supply of dark magic, Epia had become able to use at least some of her strength again.

Haaah.

When he thought about all the effort and all the money that had gone into this and was still going into it, he couldn’t help but sigh.

’I can’t believe I’m using this brain-dead, money-guzzling piece of garbage.’

“So how much did you spend?”

As she watched him, Specialists slipped out from hiding and asked.

It was Kang Yeseul’s innocent question, her tone relaxed like that of a veteran spender.

She naturally hooked her arm through his, her eyes sparkling cutely as she asked, full of pride.

“Like, a thousand dollars? Two thousand? At first, even spending a hundred is hard, that’s just how it goes. Hehe, but I actually spent quite a lot right from the start. Seolah, how much did I spend back then? Was it twenty thousand when I first started the game?”

’If you were thinking about marriage, a boyfriend who spends money on games isn’t exactly an ideal candidate.’

’But I can afford it, and I know he wouldn’t spend a dime even if I told him to. That’s why I can look at him like this.’

’I should at least pretend to be shocked when I hear how much he spent.’

With that in mind, she asked, but Han Simin just shook his head.

“It’s a number I don’t even want to say out loud.”

“What, did you seriously spend like ten thousand?”

“Mr. Simin did?”

“That’s unlike you.”

But when a serious answer came back to what she had asked half in jest, Specialists stared and asked again in disbelief.

Was he serious?

Given the situation, it was easy to believe he was.

’To be honest, turning things around now would take more than a modest sum.’

He had to fight and beat Kenji, who had become the Pope, with the mindset that he was fighting the entire continent.

Frankly, no matter how much money he spent, it was hard not to wonder what he could even do in this situation.

From her position at his side, having prepared together with him, she had seen firsthand how much progress they had made over the past month—enough to leave her jaw hanging—but she still couldn’t help but wonder if this would really be enough to pacify the continent.

Han Simin summed up that doubt in a single sentence.

“One hundred million dollars.”

She was dumbstruck.

“Huh?”

“Six hundred fifty thousand gold. Those bastard middlemen took sixteen thousand gold in fees.”

She was too stunned to speak.

He fell silent.

From the very beginning, Han Simin had always thought a little differently from other people.

2.

People always say you have to upgrade your specs efficiently.

In reality, if two people spend the same $2,000, one might end up more than twice as strong, while the other, under the same conditions, might leave everyone wondering if they spent the money at all or just threw it down the drain.

If you were to apply an economic term to a game, it would be opportunity cost.

In that regard, even though Han Simin had never formally studied the subject and didn’t sit around min-maxing Fantastic World with spreadsheets, he understood better than anyone how he needed to spend his money in this situation to truly get stronger.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Simin said. “If we want to win, Epia has to get her power back.”

“...That’s true.”

And Specialists agreed with that choice.

Of course, the best and most straightforward way to boost their power would be to unleash an indiscriminate magical bombardment using Squeaker.

However, that plan wasn’t efficient.

In a war that could drag on for who knows how long, burning through over a hundred thousand gold in a single volley was a surefire way to not only spend every last coin they had saved but also end up as beggars forced to quit the game without a single meaningful gain.

“If Epia can just use her power, she can unite the demons and command them as one. Then we’ll actually have a shot.”

“But if we side with the Demon King, we can never truly conquer the continent, can we?”

“Right. I told the Emperor I would separate the Demon King from her forces and bring her alone.”

“I see.”

Simin’s head was still a tangled mess, but even amidst the chaos, he had already worked out the conclusion.

[+12 Ring of the Demon World]

[Grade: Legendary]

[Required Level: 50]

[Special Option 1: Shares HP and MP between the two pairs of ring wearers] 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

[Special Option 2: ??]

“Epia can use her power through this ring, so we’ll build our entire strategy around that. For the final war, we’ll go with a Heavenly King vs. Demon King concept and set up a one-on-one duel with Kenji. One way or another, that should work.”

“Six hundred and thirty thousand gold...”

“We just have to hope it’s enough. Right, Epia?”

“I will do my best,” Epia replied.

“No, doing your best isn’t enough. You absolutely have to scrimp and save every last drop.”

Epia remained silent.

This was everything Han Simin had prepared—his entire stake in the game. It was a top-secret plan that could never be made public.

The demons listening in flinched as all eyes swung back to them.

“You heard him, right?” Simin’s tone was sharp. “Whether or not we get to screw over the Celestials depends entirely on your performance.” To the demon nobles, he added, “Return and report this.”

“Yes, as you command.”

Even after hearing their leader’s weakness being discussed so openly, the demons’ deferential attitude didn’t change as they bowed. It didn’t matter to them. What mattered was that, even if conditionally, the Demon King could regain her power.

The demon nobles rose from their seats, about to depart and carry out their orders.

“Ah, wait a second.”

Han Simin stopped them.

“You need to film Part 2 before you go.”

*

After Part 2 went live, the continent exploded. It had already been a powder keg, but this video was the match that lit the fuse.

—What the hell is this?

—Is this for real?

—No, hold up. If this is real, what happens now?

—So this means the Heavenly King isn’t some purely good guy after all.

Chaos and confusion reigned.

—Seriously? You guys still don’t get it after being fooled every time? It’s obviously staged.

—Can’t believe people are actually falling for that.

Amid the chaos, the debate fractured.

—I kinda figured from the Heavenly King’s face there’d be some hidden quest like this.

—Wow, so Epia never actually planned to conquer the continent from the start? Yeah, if she wanted that, she would’ve been scheming back when Kenji was acting as the Heavenly King.

And as public opinion tilted, something changed.

—The Main Quest just updated, holy crap.

It was a single pebble, but it was enough to make waves that would overflow not just a small lake, but a wide ocean.