1.

Late Monday evening.

As it got close to 8 p.m., there were noticeably fewer people out on the streets.

Normally, it wasn’t that late, but maybe because it was a Monday night?

It felt like there was unusually no one around.

In the middle of that, Seong and Lee Geon-dong had come out for a simple wrap-up party, but—

The restaurants they used to go to a lot just happened to have tons of Monday closing days, so they had no choice but to walk around feeling disappointed.

On top of that, Seong had his mask on and a cap pulled down low, so he scratched his cheek like he felt pretty stifled.

“Hm. Looks like a lot of places are closed.”

“Yeah.”

It couldn’t be helped that most of the good spots they’d been going to were closed.

Even if it wasn’t anything fancy, they decided they’d just eat something decent, and Seong and Lee Geon-dong went into a nearby hof bar.

The reason they picked this place was also because, for Seong—whose fame was spreading—it was a hof bar with partitions, so it was a safer choice.

Once Lee Geon-dong and Seong grabbed a seat—

They looked at the menu and lightly ordered some beer and food-type bar snacks they could actually eat as a meal.

“Whew. Whenever a big event ends, you always kind of slump like this, you know?”

“Haha. I get what you mean.”

At Lee Geon-dong’s comment that sounded kind of like an old man, Seong nodded in agreement.

He definitely got that feeling.

Maybe because they’d wrapped up something huge and the tension had finally loosened?

Anyway, they’d successfully finished the live broadcast.

Seong and Lee Geon-dong clinked their glasses like they were raising a toast and cheered.

“Good work.”

“You too.”

They didn’t say much more than that, just downed their beer, and the cool carbonation and crispness ran down their throats and spread through their whole bodies.

Summer’s heat hadn’t fully gone away yet, but still—drinking beer like this cooled them down, and little by little, they could feel autumn in it.

After the toast and a quick sip to wet their throats—

The real conversation continued.

“So next, you’re planning to travel with everyone?”

“Yeah. It’s just more convenient, honestly.”

At Seong’s answer, Lee Geon-dong looked at him like it was unexpected.

And it made sense.

Up to now, sure, part of it was that their speeds didn’t match so they hadn’t moved together, but even so, Seong hadn’t really mixed with the other guild members.

His pace was so fast that even when there were moments he could’ve gotten help from the guild, he only used his vassals, so Lee Geon-dong had wondered if he just didn’t like being around people.

Guess that wasn’t it.

While Lee Geon-dong was clearing up that misunderstanding by himself—

Seong looked at him and said,

“It’s a game you’re supposed to play together in the first place. And you guys handle a lot of stuff for me too, so it’s comfortable.”

“Mmm. That’s true.”

Now that they’d gotten travel passes anyway—

If they moved together, it would make things easier in a hundred different ways.

Wouldn’t it be weirder to keep them separated?

It was a bit noisy, sure, but that was the same with the vassals too.

While Seong was thinking that, a thought suddenly popped up.

Vassals and the backup team?

Since his strength was split into two groups—

‘What if I make them compete?’

That competition content they’d just done had blown up too, hadn’t it.

That was why the idea came to him, and just in case, Seong looked at Lee Geon-dong, who was eating and drinking in front of him.

Lee Geon-dong was technically video editing and filming staff—

But his sense and talent for planning content had already been acknowledged by Ahn Yujin.

So Seong asked him carefully.

“Geon-dong, what do you think about this?”

“??? About what?”

“A setup where my vassals compete with the backup team. Obviously, Helena’s excluded.”

“Oh? Huh? Uh—uhhhhh!?”

Just from his reaction, it felt like a jackpot.

Seeing Lee Geon-dong freak out like that—

Seong also relaxed a bit and smiled.

Looks like it really was solid content.

That’s what he thought, but—

“This is huge???”

“Is it that big?”

“Of course it is. What do you think your viewers are the most curious about right now?”

“Uh... the next content?”

“No, obviously that. But one of the biggest topics right now is this: are the Demon King’s vassals actually true Almighty-class or not? That’s like the headline question.”

“Oh, really?”

Hearing something Seong hadn’t even known from his friend Lee Geon-dong felt kind of weird.

Anyway.

So what about it?

When Seong leaned in like he was interested—

Lee Geon-dong got serious.

“Right now, the backup team’s status is crazy. People are saying they definitely have Almighty-grade members, and that they’re even beyond the ‘double ranker’ status. So if you make them fight your vassals? That’s insane. Everyone already knows how strong Helena is, so if you exclude Helena...”

“It’d be huge.”

“Exactly!!!”

Lee Geon-dong said that, completely fired up.

It was even more true because everyone already knew Helena was an out-of-spec monster.

At the point where you could only summon one, Seong summoned Helena and she took second place in contribution points—so the hype and curiosity around Helena had already been satisfied.

So now, what people were left curious about were the other vassals.

And then you smash that curiosity open again with competition content?

How could anyone resist that? 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Watching Lee Geon-dong get that excited, Seong °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° nodded.

It made total sense.

“Sounds fun.”

They’d also gotten clues about the next Corruption Lord.

So maybe they could do it on the way there—or make it a competition while taking down the Corruption Lord.

Of course, before that—

‘I should train them a bit.’

The backup team’s skill hadn’t fully risen yet.

If he looked at things right now, as they were—

In Seong’s opinion,

‘The backup team loses.’

It was certain.

More than half of the vassals Seong had with him right now were people who had originally been Helena’s vassals.

Those guys’ skill wasn’t just about raw power—its depth was so deep that even Seong had a hard time fully grasping it.

They were masters of martial arts, swordsmanship, magic, and more.

So he still needed to raise the backup team’s level.

They had more than enough talent.

‘If I just teach them a little, it’ll be fine.’

Of course, without the ability to absorb memories from souls, Seong would’ve just had ordinary talent—

So he was confident he could teach better than anyone.

That was why Seong grinned and said,

“This sounds fun. Yeah, let’s go with this.”

“Now we’ve even decided the next content—nice. So what is that Corruption Lord thing, anyway?”

It was a sudden question from Lee Geon-dong.

Honestly, Seong didn’t really know either.

He couldn’t figure out why the Galaxy Sword Dance was even tangled up in it.

If he asked Helena, it’d probably come right out—

But if there was anything he could guess right now...

“It seems like it’s connected to the Sword Saint.”

“The Sword Saint?”

“Not the current Sword Saint. The old one—back in the era when the hero Hindel was around.”

“The Rieskan Kingdom?”

“Yeah.”

At Seong’s words, Lee Geon-dong answered like he was remembering what he’d heard before.

In other words, Seong thought the Corruption Lord might be connected to the Rieskan Kingdom.

He didn’t know what had happened now—

But there had to be some connection, right?

Anyway, since there was a Corruption Lord in a hidden dungeon—

And they already knew the location, it was time to move to the next region.

Finally, the tenth region.

The land after level 300, also called the rankers’ territory.

“But are you sure? The backup team too—aren’t they still in the high 200s?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine. In the first place, I already have plenty of level-300 potential. Same with the backup team.”

Seong was right.

Most rankers wouldn’t be a match for them.

However—

“That’s not what I mean. After the tenth region, it’s a free land where even rankers who moved on to later regions can come back, right? You can even cross continents.”

“Mmm. True.”

That was exactly why the 300+ zone was called the rankers’ territory.

The beginning of a land where travel was unlocked.

From this point on, it was a place anyone could move through freely, like getting issued a pass.

And you could move down to lower regions too.

Which meant—

“Other single rankers might try to keep you in check.”

“I don’t really care, honestly. If anything, wouldn’t it be fun if they come? It means war content opens up.”

“...Wow. When did Seong turn into a content-crazed bastard?”

“Hahaha. Doing broadcasts kind of made me that way.”

Lee Geon-dong said that like he was genuinely shocked, and Seong replied with a laugh.

Even while they talked about this and that—

Seong thought about the Corruption Lord more than he thought about single rankers.

He brought up the concept of corruption, tried to imagine what it would feel like, and also wondered why it would have the Galaxy Sword Dance—

And only one conclusion came out.

Maybe it was the biggest culprit behind what happened to Hindel.

Because it didn’t make sense to him that Hindel would’ve changed like that just from the sadness of losing his little sister.

Maybe the Corruption Lord used the power of corruption and turned Hindel into that.

And maybe, in that process, the Corruption Lord obtained the Galaxy Sword Dance.

It was the most plausible guess—

But Seong wasn’t sure.

‘I’ll just see it for myself.’

As he got closer to one of the goals he’d sworn as a beginner—

It felt strangely emotional.

The deeper the game got, the more interesting and fun it became.

It was still a bit far, but—

He could feel that the day he’d arrive at Overpalace, where Heukseong was waiting for him, wasn’t that far off either.

‘But for now, the Corruption Lord comes first.’

And it still wasn’t confirmed, but—

‘I’m also looking forward to seeing how the single rankers move.’

His older sister, Yumina, might move too—

But Seong planned to tell her not to.

He’d seen her fight directly before.

What would the other single rankers be like?

He was curious how big the gap would be between single rankers and the current him.

There was still a gap between him and his sister Yumina—

So hoping the other single rankers would please come try to keep him in check—

Seong spent a fun night drinking with Lee Geon-dong.