After Ten Millennia in Hell

Samuel Hayden disheveled his slicked-back hair and clenched his communication crystal orb.

"Why did this…"

As soon as he had heard that Kim Si-Hun would be coming, he had dispatched his forces and kept away all the native people from the routes that Si-Hun would be traveling. He had decorated the limousine windows so that they wouldn\'t be able to see outside and had planned routes as far away from the slum and entertainment district.

The broadcasting station\'s employees and the bodyguards had all been bought off by him, and everything seemed to be going according to his plan.

However…

"Those crazy bitches!"

He\'d never expected so many women to crowd together at the broadcasting station.

He had permitted their entry because he had simply thought they were just fans who had come to see a celebrity, but they had knocked down the bodyguards like some crazy group of cultists and had caused Si-Hun to run away.

It was still fine up until that point; he could brush it off as an unexpected variable. The problem began after Si-Hun and Oh Kang-Woo ran away.

"Why, just why…?"

Communication with them had been cut.

Normal people would have contacted him first to find a place to regroup. He\'d already explained that the party would be held in the city hall, so they should\'ve come to the city hall, even if they couldn\'t contact him.

… But they hadn\'t appeared at all, no matter how long Samuel waited for them around the city hall. It had been a completely unexpected variable.

One could ask him why he prepared for a situation like this in advance, but if one thought about it logically…

Who would imagine a VIP they\'d invited to suddenly break from their schedule to run off somewhere else? It would be equivalent to a famous celebrity being invited to a foreign country, but they cancel all the plans scheduled and completely ghost the team. This wasn\'t some B-list romance film. Samuel had never expected Si-Hun, who was rumored to be kind and upright, to act this way.

\'That crazy son of a bitch.\'

The unexpected variable had not been Si-Hun but the actions of Kang-Woo, the man who was apparently the apostle of Tirion, or Tyrande, or whoever the hell he was.

Although Kang-Woo was apparently a god\'s apostle, his achievements in the battlefield couldn\'t be compared to Si-Hun\'s.

The man, whom Samuel had also invited because Si-Hun apparently treated him like his biological older brother, had completely ruined the plan.

\'Don\'t tell me they went to the slum…\'

He anxiously twisted his mustache.

Their going to the slum was the worst possible scenario. Not even he could control that place—no, he had given up on controlling it. If Si-Hun reached the place that exposed the true face of Valencia…

\'It\'d be over.\'

Considering Si-Hun\'s personality, he would not stand for such injustice. He would slash apart the \'paradise\' Samuel was trying to build in Valencia.

"Kuh…"

Samuel clenched his eyes shut. Just then, his communication crystal orb rang. He quickly opened his eyes and clenched the orb with two hands to the point that the orb could break.

[Yo~ What\'s the status?] A relaxed voice came from the crystal.

"I-It is terrible. Kim Si-Hun is not picking up, and we have no idea where he even is. Worst-case scenario, he might have seen the slum…"

[Hahaha. I guess it really did turn out like that.]

"… Pardon?"

Samuel\'s eyes widened as he heard the laughter from the crystal. The person was talking as if he had expected this to happen.

Boom.

"Wh-What do you mean?!" Samuel shouted while slamming his hands against the table.

[Don\'t get so angry. I just thought something like this might happen in the worst-case scenario~]

The voice from the crystal had a humorous tone.

[Yeah… Now that it\'s come to this… that should be good,] the person mumbled as if they had thought of something.

Samuel bit his lip in anxiety.

"Wh-What should we do now? At this rate, our plan will—"

[Aah, don\'t worry.]

The voice coming out of the crystal was still calm, which made Samuel feel more at ease. If they were so calm, then they most definitely had a plan in mind.

[There\'s a way to turn this around.]

\'I knew it.\'

Samuel\'s eyes shone.

[So…]

The person kept talking, and as they talked, Samuel\'s expression became more and more distorted. He clenched his fists from how ridiculous it was.

"Do you… really think that will work?"

[Heroes are simple people.]

"No, but still, this is…!"

[Isn\'t it good?]

The person laughed.

"Even if that works, the plan will—"

[The plan isn\'t important right now. Would you scramble to grab your wallet when your house is burning down?]

"…"

[Be honest with yourself. It\'s not the plan you\'re worried about, is it?]

The person snickered. Samuel remained tight-lipped. It was just as they had said. It would be a shame for his paradise plan to fail, but he would be able to try again anytime if they managed to get through this hurdle.

The problem was…

[It\'s okay. Haven\'t you heard of Korea\'s plastic surgery skills? Get through this mess, and you\'ll be able to change your face and start anew.]

"That\'s…"

[Hahaha. Trust me. I\'ll make sure not even your parents will be able to recognize you.]

"…"

Samuel remained silent and grabbed a small remote control with a red button on it from a safe.

"… I will trust you."

[Don\'t worry. You know what Kim Si-Hun is like. This plan is foolproof.]

Samuel nodded at that calm voice. Putting his uneasiness aside, he gripped the remote control tighter.

* * *

"Where in the world have you been?!" Samuel shouted.

The three young men who had completely ghosted him after running away from the broadcasting station were sitting in his office.

"Haa, leaving the party aside, please think about my position when you suddenly disappear like that. You could have at least contacted me."

"…"

Samuel scolded Si-Hun while sighing.

Si-Hun glared at Samuel in silence and then let out what was on his mind while clenching his fists.

"Samuel."

"Ah… yes? What is it?" Samuel asked while tilting his head.

"I saw the slum of Valencia tonight."

"…"

Samuel flinched, and he cursed unconsciously. He fretted while not knowing what to do.

He gulped and said, "Fuuu. I-I guess you ended up seeing it. I actually planned to discuss it with you."

"You were?"

"Yes, about the problem regarding the Players currently residing in Valencia. They have been causing many problems while lording over the natives because they had saved them through the South America restoration operation."

"…"

"I have been trying my best to control them, but… it hasn\'t been enough."

Samuel lowered his head.

"It had not been like this from the beginning. We are still not sure who has been inciting the Players to do such things, but… things have been like this ever since a radical racist discrimination group had been stirring up the Players lately."

"So what you\'re saying is… it was not like this in the beginning?"

Si-Hun\'s clenched fists were trembling. Not noticing that, Samuel nodded with his eyes shining.

"Yes, of course."

"And what have you done to deal with this situation, Samuel?" Si-Hun asked.

"I have set up a force of Guardians Players that can maintain security. But… there are not many instances of reports. They hide like rats whenever we go on patrol, so it is difficult to deal with them."

"…"

Filled with chilling bloodlust, Si-Hun shut his eyes tight before slowly opening them again. He bared his teeth like a ferocious beast.

"That\'s odd."

"… I beg your pardon?"

"We didn\'t get a single call from the security forces that you mentioned when we made the report."

"…!"

Samuel\'s eyes widened.

\'H-He made a report?\'

Samuel knew how strong Si-Hun was. He would be able to wipe out hundreds of Players from that area even if they attacked him all at once, so why would he bother making a report to the security forces?

\'Sh-Shit.\'

Samuel felt cold sweat dripping down his back.

"We even heard directly from them about when the atrocities against the natives had begun. Recently? Are you saying that what has been happening from the very beginning has only happened recently?"

"…"

Samuel shut his eyes tight. The worst-case scenario was happening right in front of his eyes.

\'I have no other choice.\'

Samuel gripped the remote control in his pocket.

"If you don\'t have any more excuses…"

White light gathered in the air.

Si-Hun stood up and extended his hand, summoning Holy Sword Ludwig, the pure-white sword exuding brilliant light.

"W-Wait!!" Samuel quickly held up his hand. "D-Don\'t move!"

"Hah. You finally show your true c—"

"I-I\'ll press this if you take another step!!"

"…?"

Si-Hun looked at Samuel as if he were asking what nonsense he was talking about.

Breathing heavily, Samuel shook the remote control in his hand.

"You see this, don\'t you? It\'s the detonator for every control apparatus installed in all the Gates across South America."

"Wh-What?"

Si-Hun\'s eyes widened.

A Gate control apparatus, simply put, was a device that placed a magical barrier on the entrance of the Gate so that monsters would be unable to come out. Although blocking them entirely was impossible, it was enough to buy enough time to prepare countermeasures before monsters came out of the Gate.

If such devices exploded simultaneously, all of the monsters they\'d managed to push back into the Gates would just come back out.

"Crazy son of a bitch!" Si-Hun shouted. "Don\'t you know what will happen if you press that?!"

It hadn\'t been long since they had fully restored South America. Not only would their efforts to reclaim South America go down the drain, but the natives who had yet to fully move in would be slaughtered by the massive wave of monsters. Thousands would be sacrificed at most, and hundreds at the very least. The billions of dollars that had gone into the operation would go up in smoke.

Considering how much effort it would take to reclaim South America after that, it would be like severely regressing the progress that Guardians had allowed humanity to take.

"Hah."

A smile crept onto Samuel\'s face.

Although Si-Hun was shouting at him, he wasn\'t taking a single step.

\'It worked!\'

He hadn\'t been sure if a threat like this would work, but he had become sure of it when he saw Si-Hun\'s reaction.

"Ha… Hahaha." Samuel unconsciously laughed and bared his teeth as his eyes filled with madness.

"Heroes are simple people."

He remembered the voice he\'d heard before. Just like they had said, Si-Hun had been a simple person.

\'Despite the ones that would die only being worthless natives!\'

He was overcome with delight. He was filled with hope that he would be able to turn this worst-case scenario around.

\'I\'ll become an international criminal after this, but…\'

He would just need to get plastic surgery like he had been promised and start anew.

"Now, what\'s your play, Mr. Sword Dragon? Hm? Will you cut me down and sacrifice the lives of those poor natives?"

"Kuh!"

Si-Hun bit his lip. The sword in his hands felt far heavier than usual. The moment he swung it, thousands of innocent people would die. His hands trembled from the lives of so many innocents weighing down on him.

"Pfft, bwahahahaha! I can\'t believe that fucking worked!! What an exhausting life you all live!!" Samuel\'s laughter spread through the room. "Huh? Why don\'t you do something instead of just standing there?"

Samuel slowly increased the distance between them to avoid accidentally dropping the remote control due to a surprise attack.

"I\'m going to list my demands now. First, lower your weapon. And then, get me a helicopter. Oh, plus thirty million dollars in cash."

Samuel was so sure of his victory that he even demanded money that had not been in his plan.

\'You\'ll have to pay for having dared to meddle in my plan.\'

He could live without doing anything for the rest of his life with thirty million dollars.

"Y-You scumbag…!"

Si-Hun glared at Samuel while trembling. He was overflowing with rage, but…

"What are you doing? Huh? Drop your fucking weapon!!" Samuel said.

"… Shit."

Clatter.

Si-Hun closed his eyes and dropped Holy Sword Ludwig. Since thousands of lives were at stake, he had no other choice.

"… Hah." Kang-Woo feigned laughter as he was sitting down, watching the exchange between Si-Hun and Samuel.

\'That\'s fun.\'

Kang-Woo smirked as if he found them cute, and he looked at Samuel. No, to be more precise, he looked at Samuel\'s table.

\'I knew it.\'

He found the item he had been thinking of and laughed in disbelief.

\'What a fucking shitshow.\'

He clicked his tongue and turned his head.

- Balrog.

- Yes, my king.

He used an Authority to send a sound transmission directly into Balrog\'s mind. It had not been possible in the past because of Balrog\'s special characteristic, Demonic Armor, but his demonic energy control had gotten so much better than even his past self in Hell that he was able to get through Balrog\'s Demonic Armor with ease.

- Send a message to Lilith.

- I am listening.

- Tell her to…

Kang-Woo commanded, and Balrog subtly nodded.

\'Right, then.\'

He slowly got up. It was about time to end this stupid play.

"Hey, you! I told you not to m—"

"Press it."

"… What?"

Step, step.

Kang-Woo slowly approached him.

"I said, press it."

He raised one of the corners of his mouth.

"D-Don\'t you know what will happen if I press th—"

"All the Gates will explode and monsters will pour out, I bet. And the natives that are in relief from finally being free of the danger of monsters will be massacred."

"Th-That\'s right! If I press this, thousands of—"

"So what, man? What does that have to do with me?"

"Wh-What?"

Kang-Woo snickered. "Why should I care whether they die or not?"

"H-How could a hero say something like that…?!"

"Enough of this fucking bullshit."

He didn\'t care about meaningless humans with whom he had no relationship.

"Just kill them. I\'m not the one killing them, am I? Why are you putting this crap on me when you\'re the one with the detonator? People would think I\'m the culprit if they didn\'t know any better, don\'t you think?"

"…"

"What are you doing?"

Kang-Woo walked toward Samuel and grabbed his hand. He brought Samuel\'s finger right on top of the button and smiled fiercely.

"Press the fucking button."