Chapter 198: Chapter 198
[The 'Witch of the Void' has shown interest in you.]
[She wishes to become your sponsoring constellation. Do you accept?]
[Note: This constellation is not officially registered in the BattleNet system. Unforeseen side effects may occur.]
The Witch of the Void
Yoon Seah was well aware of who that was through the previous illusion.
"Could it be… Mom?"
"What's going on?"
"I got a sponsorship offer from a constellation! From the Witch of the Void!"
"What?"
In the illusion, the Witch of the Void was Seong Jiah.
The idea of her as a 'constellation' was entirely unexpected.
"Well… I did get a warning message like this."
As she recited the final warning message, Seong Jihan's brow furrowed.
Not an official constellation.
"It's a bit disconcerting."
"But I want to do it. Even if the Witch of the Void isn't Mom, my class is already a Void Archer. It could be a big help."
"But you'd be too entangled with the void. Becoming too involved with that side might not be good."
"Yeah. Seah, let's try to find Jiah after I reach the Grand Master League…"
Nevertheless, regardless of the others' concerns,
"Hehe… I already accepted."
Yoon Seah had already pressed the accept button and was scratching her cheek.
"Hey!"
"It's okay. And… how long will we wait for Grand Master status anyway?"
Before the end of her words,
Whoosh…
From Yoon Seah's body, billowing purple smoke began to emanate.
[…I have already agreed to cooperate. Why show this illusion? Will of the void, do not mock me…]
The voice that leaped out of the smoke was Seong Jiah's.
Seong Jiah applied to be Yoon Seah's sponsor, her voice laden with irritation as she admonished the void.
Yoon Seah shouted at the smoke.
"Mom! Where are you? We came looking for you. Come out quickly!"
[Daring to imitate my daughter…! Seah's death is certain. Among tens of thousands of possibilities, it never changed. Void, you grant me such power yet play these tricks?]
"What are you talking about, really! I'm very much alive. Why do you keep killing your daughter?"
[If you continue to mock me like this, I will not fulfill the witch's duty. I will close my eyes and ears, not unfolding the end.]
"No, um, could you listen to your child for a moment?"
The mother and daughter's conversation ran on parallel lines.
Precisely, Seong Jiah was completely ignoring Yoon Seah, considering her an illusion.
'…Didn't she apply to be the sponsoring constellation? Why is she acting like this?'
Seong Jihan wedged a word into their argument as he watched.
"Noona. Didn't you choose to sponsor Seah?"
[Humph…! Adding Jihan's illusion as well. Void, this is why I don't trust you! If you're going to craft a story, at least get it right. Jihan coming to his senses while Seah is still alive? It's unbelievable!]
"…Geez. I see what you think of me, Noona."
"Hehe. That's the image Mom saw of you, Uncle."
"Jihan. Was it really like that?"
To Seong Jiah, Seong Jihan was always the immature and lazy younger brother.
With him here, she became even more certain this had to be just an illusion.
[And creating an illusion of my sister-in-law I saw in a few futures… Really, they go to great lengths.]
"Eh? Really? Sophia?"
"…Sister-in-law, what's that?"
Sophia, although she had studied hard and could speak some Korean, found the term 'sister-in-law' unfamiliar.
"It means your brother's wife…"
"Wha?? Really??"
Upon hearing Yoon Seah's explanation, Sophia's eyes lit up.
"Sister!! How did that future plan out? How did I seduce Jihan? Please tell me!"
Without fear, Sophia approached Yoon Seah and tried to grab the smoke.
Suddenly, she's calling Seong Jiah 'Sister.'
Then, the purple smoke writhed.
"So… Sophia… eh, really, just… stay still! Meddling in someone else's family affairs!"
"No! It might be my family affair!"
"Oh. Ah, seriously… Player Seong Jihan. I apologize. I won't bring her next time."
Christopher exclaimed as he saw Sophia exchange remarks with him, and from the smoke, a voice of disbelief flowed out.
[…Strange. For an illusion created by the will of the void, it's rather chaotic.]
"Ah, Mom really, I am real! Uncle got so much stronger~ Always winning first place~ Becoming a national representative after beating Dad!"
"Hmm… Seah. I have not lost to Seong Jihan"
"Anyway! So Dad came to his senses and got rid of that Japanese woman and returned to Korea~ And it's not a bad ending situation like before!"
[Ha… As if! It can't be that Jihan did that! He was nothing but a gambling addict before being selected by that monster!]
Seong Jihan realized firmly as his sister berated him as a gambling addict and a lazybones.
Seong Jiah, able to see a future of the last world, clearly didn't see the present.
"Jiah."
[Do not get involved in an enjoyable illusion, Yoon Sejin.]
"…Right, got it."
Yoon Sejin muttered, only to be instantly shot down.
Seong Jihan could tell that, to his sister, this was an 'enjoyable illusion.'
"Alright. As Noona says, an enjoyable illusion. Let's keep imagining. How can we get you out of there?"
[…Hehe.]
Seong Jiah chuckled.
[Oh, will of the void. Asking knowingly. The Witch of the Void oversees the end. If humanity escapes the brink of the end, the witch's power weakens too…]
"Are we highly ranked now?"
[Humanity? That can't be… As usual, it's a pointless illusion. Rankings aren't evaluated until mid-season. Flashes of victory don't assist much in assessment.]
Mid-season will show if humanity can survive or not.
Is the power of the witch overseeing the end weakening?
"Maybe it's faster to go to the Grand Master League."
"That's true. Entering the abyss straightaway might be faster that way."
[Hehe, to enter the abyss recklessly and disturb it could cause the Korean Peninsula to explode… Will of the void. To pretend such common sense is new to you, this illusion is well-crafted.]
"Ah… really? Isn't there another way?"
[…Unless Seah, who gained the power of void in the illusion, grows even more. But that's not easy.]
While Seong Jiah talked about illusions, she pointed out key things to consider.
When it came time to discuss it, the purple smoke swirling around Yoon Seah began to fade.
[Is it over now… This illusion was quite enjoyable.]
With that farewell, the smoke disappeared.
The party looked at each other.
"Noona had a lot to say for considering us an illusion."
"Mom… might she actually know this is real?"
"Maybe she can't really talk openly about it, being the Witch of the Void?"
"It's possible. Jiah was always quick-witted."
As they pondered,
Yoon Seah suddenly voiced a question.
"But who actually sponsored the constellation… it seemed even the orchestrating Mom didn't know, so who did it?"
"Who knows."
Even if Seong Jiah caught on midway and gave hints,
It was clear she did not initiate the sponsorship.
Then who facilitated the link?
'No obvious suspects at the moment…'
As Seong Jihan thought deeply but lacked clues,
He decided to keep it in mind while concluding,
"Let's… go back for now."
The dungeon expedition was wrapped up here.
* * *
[Disappearing dungeon portals. Peace returns to North Korean lands!]
[Hidden residents are being rescued.]
[The closed abyss demands Grand Master Leaguers or above?]
[Unsung hero of North Korean exploration, Christopher is revealed as the world's first S-rank explorer.]
[The BattleNet Association recognizes Yoon Sejin's achievements, allowing him to participate in national representative matches.]
Seong Jihan and the Sword King's dismantling of dungeon portals in North Korea.
Though their original goal was to find traces of Seong Jiah, the attention was on the disappearance of dungeons in North Korea.
-Was it this easy?
-I thought the dungeon break was going to happen again. It ended rather peacefully.
-If I had known it would be like this, I would have been more careful the last time.
-At that time, I didn't know that people with exploration skills could do that.
-But is it true that Christopher is an S-rank explorer?
-he's probably going to quit the commentary haha.
The results that North Korea's dungeon exploration team achieved through this work were significant.
They also built a large database of dungeons that threaten humanity.
Even the huge dungeon portal that was thought to be difficult to deal with turned out to be possible to subdue thanks to Christopher's joining.
Is that why?
The BattleNet Association summoned members of the investigation team to New York and praised them.
In particular, the Sword Kings' ban was lifted from participating in the national team and given a large reward.
"Aren't you sad, Uncle?"
Yoon Seah was surprised to see her father receiving an award from the BattleNet Association president on TV and turned her head towards Seong Jihan.
"What? receiving an award from the president?"
"Yeah. They wanted to host an awards ceremony for you, too."
"Nah. New York is too far. It's troublesome to go."
"But it's quite a memento…"
"They should come to Korea. Why should I go there? Honestly, if they hadn't lifted the ban on brother-in-law, he wouldn't have gone, would he?"
"Likely."
Yoon Sejin, recently avidly playing the game, aiming for the Grand Master League.
In Gangnam Area 1, players were trembling at the return of the monstrous gamer.
-Did Yoon Sejin join the Daegi guild?
-The Sword King doesn't need stat bonuses, right? Growth is more important.
-Not only the Sword King, but other well-known rankers are also knocking on the Daegi guild's door.
-Level expansion has all the old players racing for growth… The Daegi guild might become a gathering spot for top players.
"If the Daegi guild becomes a gathering place for rankers rather than a promising guild, it would be a pity."
"Uncle… aren't you worried about the top players joining up? You won't kick me out, right?"
"We'll see how you do. You have to become top-ranked first."
"I've been grinding the game hard anyway. Might not make it next January, but I'll catch up the following month!"
"Good. But has Noona contacted you since?"
"Oh. After that, it's been quiet… Just once. She pointed something out to me."
"What?"
"It was when I tried to evolve my class…"
Yoon Seah, a special class, Void Archer. Now in Platinum, she could upgrade this class to Void Shooter, a higher-level version of Void Archer, and one of the new 'Void Analyst.'
"Based on the additional effects, Void Shooter seemed way better. Void Analyst gave vague descriptions like 'further analyzes the void'. So, of course, I chose Void Shooter, but…"
"And then?"
"Suddenly, I heard Mom's voice."
[My daughter wasn't this foolish. She was always the top student in the class. If it's only an illusion, they haven't replicated… my daughter's wisdom.]
Quiet until now, Seong Jiah criticized Seah when she attempted to evolve the class.
"Ah, why? What's the issue, Mom? Shooter looked much better."
[…Sigh. Really, even though it's an illusion, are you a fool? Look. See! Oh, the power…]
As she tried to explain something, her voice disappeared.
Instead, Yoon Seah's class selection window shone brightly in violet only for Void Analyst.
Anyone who sees this would understand that it means to choose this.
"So, what did you do?"
"I listened to Mom. I chose Void Analyst. Well… I think Void Shooter would have been much better."
"There must be a deeper reason for it. If she's the Witch of the Void, she must know a lot about it."
"True… But other than that advice, there's not much support. Other constellations provide stats boost too."
Yoon Seah, disappointed that her mom, being a constellation, doesn't offer much support compared to other constellations, asked, "Uncle, did you get a lot from your constellation?"
"Well, not really. Nothing special. I have to complete the mission I received to get rewards."
Brahma made a promise to reward him with an EX-grade reward when he completes the mission.
However, there were still several steps left to complete it.
'My constellation slot is empty, but… Maybe it's because of the hideout that I'm not attracting much attention.'
Seong Jihan, who chose the hide card in Space League to conceal himself, wasn't catching the eye of other constellations despite his outstanding performances.
Should I consider receiving sponsorship from the Shadow Queen?
As he contemplates keeping the slot open due to the constellation's story, an unfamiliar name suddenly appears through the system window.
[The 'Constellation of the Dead Star' claims to have finally found you and shows interest.]
[He wishes to become your sponsoring constellation. Do you accept?]
An unwelcome name suddenly appeared through the system interface.
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