[The Red Administrator has been resurrected… Are you certain?]
"Yeah. The red's distortion increased, and the Martial God's restrictions are gradually being lifted. Only the Red Administrator could make this possible."
[Distortion? I'm not sure what you mean by that…]
"It's something the Administrators know about. Just relay it as is."
[Understood. I'll convey that news immediately.]
"Ah, by the way."
Seong Jihan paused while speaking to the Messenger and observed him closely.
"The 'Great Sponsor' the Red Administrator mentioned, it's not related to the Black Administrator, is it?"
The Great Sponsor that the Red Administrator had mentioned when fighting Dongbang Sak.
An entity worthy of being called great by someone of that caliber,
There were only two such beings in the BattleNet.
The Black Administrator and the White Administrator.
[The Hell that the Red Administrator built is originally a domain that the Black Administrator should strictly oversee. Why would he cooperate with such a madman?]
"Is that so? But couldn't he be trying to change from the existing Void to the Hell?"
[The Black Administrator is not that kind of person. Besides, he wouldn't entrust such an important task to someone like Red.]
The Messenger strongly denied any connection between the 'Great Sponsor' and the Black Administrator.
"Then if not Black, is it White?"
[That… is something a lowly being like me cannot know.]
He was not denying it outright.
Seong Jihan asked, just in case.
"Surely there isn't a third party in the BattleNet, right?"
[…Yes. Only the two permanent Administrators would qualify as sponsors great enough for the Red Administrator to call them that.]
"Then it's White. According to what you're saying."
[I'm just a mere messenger… I know nothing about this matter!]
The Messenger only claimed ignorance, without denying it.
He couldn't get anything more out of this guy.
"Alright. I guess there's nothing more from you."
[That's right, there isn't!]
"But we'll be able to tell whether the Black Administrator is related to Red or not by his subsequent actions."
[What do you mean by that…]
"If there's no response even after I've informed him that the Red Administrator has been resurrected in Tuseong, it would mean Black is also connected to them."
[Ah… That's impossible. He will take action immediately.]
"Right, let's see."
Seong Jihan said this with a face that didn't seem very expectant, then pointed his thumb at Yoon Seah behind him.
"And when you report, also inform them about the Arena owner issue."
[…Understood.]
Swish…
With those final words, the Messenger disappeared, buried in purple void.
"Hmm, I wonder if it'll work out…"
"I doubt it. We'll have to wait and see about the Red issue… As for the Arena owner problem, they seem quite obsessed with you."
At Seong Jihan's words, Yoon Seah pointed to her head.
"They say I have the best compatibility with that hat. Among all the Arena owners in history."
"…Isn't that just something nice they're saying? No matter what, you're still human."
"They said the Great Vessel of the Void, this gift, originally had SSS-grade as its maximum. Apparently, this is the first time an EX has appeared?"
"Hmm."
It was the first time an EX grade had appeared, huh.
How was that possible given how vast the BattleNet world is?
'Seah is an exceptional player, but she's not exactly the best in the universe… I guess it must be related to humanity's limits not being set.'
Thinking that Seah receiving an EX was probably related to species characteristics, Seong Jihan judged that they wouldn't easily give up on her.
If that was the case,
'Should I just destroy that hat?'
Seong Jihan looked at the black fedora floating above Yoon Seah's head, which had become more distinct than before.
That thing, he might be able to get rid of it with Blue if he did it right.
"Seah, should I just destroy the hat for you?"
"Huh? That hat is still on me?"
"Yeah, it's become more vivid."
"But, but shouldn't we try to resolve this through dialogue with them first? It's not that urgent. I'm not particularly uncomfortable either."
"Hmm…"
"Rather, look at this."
Yoon Seah placed her hand on Seong Jihan's face.
Then,
Whoosh…!
The void rising from his face was completely cleared away.
Seeing Seong Jihan's revealed face,
"Ah…"
Yoon Seah let out a gasp.
Compared to the intact right side of his face, The left side was cracked like broken glass in all directions, and some fragments were missing,
With purple void continuously flowing out of the empty spaces.
Even if she absorbed the void into the Great Vessel of the Void like this, As long as those cracks exist, void would keep flowing out.
She looked at Seong Jihan with trembling eyes.
"Un, Uncle. Doesn't it hurt…?"
"Not at all. It's fine."
Seong Jihan touched his face with an expression that suggested it was no big deal.
The sense of pain in this area had long been lost anyway.
'But, when the void completely disappears, the recovery seems to speed up a bit.'
Until then, the regenerative power of Eternity was mainly used to prevent the wound from widening further.
After Yoon Seah removed the void, the shattered face was slowly, very slowly, starting to fill in the gaps.
"Oh… Uncle. The wound is healing!"
And Yoon Seah, seeing this, her eyes lit up.
"Uncle's void, it can be handled like this! Am I not helpful?"
"Well, this time you were helpful."
"Great! Let's use this until Uncle's face gets better, okay?"
"Hey, it's fine. Didn't you see me recover last time?"
"You mean when that wheel thing came out? You can't use that freely, can you?"
"No, I can use it freely."
Yoon Seah narrowed her eyes at this and looked at Seong Jihan.
"Come on, if that were true, knowing Uncle's personality, you would have used it already. No matter how I look at it, isn't that an overpowered skill with limited uses? That's the only way it would be balanced."
"Do you think there's balance in the BattleNet?"
"But, but still! Anyway, there must be some restriction, that's why you didn't use it…! Let's just treat it like this until we get an answer!"
Yoon Seah insisted on playing the role of a void absorber like this.
Seong Jihan looked at her with a slightly disgruntled expression.
'Well, honestly, it is helpful in the current situation, but…'
Just doing this once, a little more, she said.
He was worried that this might eventually lead to her becoming the Arena owner.
'Should I just destroy it?'
As Seong Jihan once again looked at the fedora floating above Yoon Seah's head,
"Oh, and…! Uncle, you said you couldn't enter the Void Training Room, right?"
"Yeah."
"I got a training room! Want to train here?"
"…Training room?"
Yoon Seah started to offer yet another convenience.
* * *
The Void Training Room.
This place, where time flowed differently from the outside,
Was a very useful location for Seong Jihan, who was pressed for time.
'At the end, it was 100 to 1.'
In the Void Training Room modified by the previous Arena owner,
When 100 days passed in the training room, only one day passed outside.
Thanks to training here consistently every time, he was able to keep up with cosmic-level strong opponents without falling behind.
But after the Arena owner disappeared and this place was closed, it was really regrettable.
"…The training room, it really works."
Seong Jihan entered the Void Training Room opened by Yoon Seah and blinked his eyes.
"Yeah, they said as a provisional Arena owner, various functions were added. There was also a training room option. Since I'm still provisional, the maximum time flow adjustment is about 5 times, though."
"5 times is not bad at all."
The training room in the penthouse not only had the same time flow,
But because Seong Jihan was so strong, it was difficult to properly train his power inside.
In contrast, the Void Training Room was a space where he could rampage moderately,
For Seong Jihan, who needed to unite Blue and Martial Soul, it was the most suitable place for training.
'Arena owner… it's good, isn't it?'
It eliminates the void. It provided a training room.
If it wasn't for Yoon Seah, he would have just told her to do it.
Seong Jihan thought this and gave a bitter smile.
He couldn't make his niece do something like becoming the Arena owner.
At that moment,
"Uncle, but there's a small problem…"
Yoon Seah trailed off while looking at Seong Jihan.
"What problem?"
"Since it's my first time inviting someone else, I went out for a bit earlier to see if it still applied outside?"
"Yeah."
"The training room is maintained even when I'm outside, but if Uncle trains here, I can peek inside."
"Really? How does it look?"
"It just appears like a BattleTube screen."
Did the previous Arena owner also peek at the training in the training room then?
'He always appeared with perfect timing. So he had such surveillance means.'
Seong Jihan thought this and shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, you can look as much as you want. There's nothing special to see anyway."
"Ah, I won't look! I was just telling you."
"Alright, alright. Then, can I train for a bit?"
"Yeah, then… we're postponing breaking my hat until we hear from the Void side, right?"
As she said this, Yoon Seah pointed to her head.
The black fedora, which seemed to have a stronger presence now that they were in the Void Training Room.
'…Let's wait until Blue and Martial Soul are united.'
It wouldn't be right to take action before confirming the Void side's intention.
Besides, it would be better to deal with it after uniting Blue and Martial Soul, to handle it more effectively.
Seong Jihan rationalized like this and nodded.
"Right. Let me know when you get an answer."
"Okay! Ah, the void is flowing out again… I'll remove it once more!"
Yoon Seah absorbed Seong Jihan's void one more time and then left the training room.
'This is full-care service.'
Removing void and providing a training room.
Seong Jihan marveled once again at the conveniences his niece was providing, then began his earnest training.
'Blue and Martial Soul… Dongbang Sak definitely said they were already practically united.'
Recalling that time, Seong Jihan was changing the training room map settings to the underwater location where he had talked with Dongbang Sak, when,
"…Hmm, it's definitely healing."
Yoon Seah, who had told Seong Jihan she wouldn't look inside the training room,
As soon as she went outside, she brought up a screen and was closely examining his face.
Seong Jihan's face, with the cracks slowly but surely filling in.
Seeing this, she felt a sense of accomplishment.
'Lately, people calling Uncle a monster has been really annoying…'
Humanity, which had evolved as a species and greatly improved in health thanks to Seong Jihan's achievements.
It wouldn't be strange to say that all of humanity owed him a debt at this point.
But still, there were twisted people everywhere in the world.
When Seong Jihan was normal, there wasn't much for them to pick on, but,
'After his face became like that, there have been too many malicious comments.'
After Seong Jihan's cracks widened,
While the majority felt sorry for him, a tiny minority of people,
-Seong Jihan's face really became f*cked up lol
-At this point, he's not human anymore.
-Isn't he an Administrator?
-Administrator my ass, he's just a mosaic monster lolol
They mocked him, saying he had become a monster.
Of course, their proportion was extremely low, to the point where it shouldn't even be worth paying attention to, but,
'Trash.'
Even that made Yoon Seah angry.
Moreover, even those who didn't mock Seong Jihan,
There were quite a few people who felt a sense of alienation and fear at his changed appearance.
Seeing these reactions, she even felt betrayed.
'People who benefited so much from Uncle. How can they react like that just because his face is a bit broken…'
No matter how different he looks from before,
Shouldn't humanity not act like this?
Of course, the majority wasn't like that, but, she didn't like even those few reactions.
'I'll somehow return him to his original state.'
Yoon Seah made this resolution while watching the screen showing the inside of the training room.
And a few days later,
[Seah, don't you need to go now? Isn't your Space League match today?]
"Ah, Mom…"
Locked up in her room, watching Seong Jihan's training,
She briefly took her eyes off the screen when her mother, Seong Jiah, entered the room.
"I have something more important to do."
[…More important than the Space League match? You know you're ranked 1st, right?]
"Yeah, I know. But this is more important."
As she said this, watching Seong Jihan's face,
Seeing void starting to rise again, she suddenly got up from the bed.
"I'll be right back."
With those words, Yoon Seah disappeared.
Seong Jiah looked at the empty bed and sighed.
[What is she trying to do…]