Chapter 310: End of THE WORLD (1)
A lot has happened in the past six months.
First, it all started with the Holy Cross and Kyung-joon forming an alliance.
The people of the Holy Cross and Kyung-joon always worked together to defeat the variant monsters, and thanks to this, the Holy Cross’s dwindling faith was quickly restored.
At the point when most of the variant monsters were being cleared up.
The ‘Demon King’s Curse’ began to run rampant again.
It started in Luxemb.
“Kyaaak! He, Help me!”
“Veronica! Get a hold of yourself! You have to overcome the curse!”
“Graaaaaah!”
“Abanovich! Are you crazy?! Veronica is already gone! Run away now!”
“But……But……! If I don’t do this, Veronica won’t even care about me!”
The Demon King’s Curse that started in Luxemb didn’t just end with death like in the past.
Rather, they didn’t die.
Just like a curse, strange patterns were engraved all over their bodies, and no matter how much they were attacked or their necks were cut, they came back to life.
They didn’t die.
In the end, the only way to deal with those afflicted by the Demon King’s Curse was to put them to sleep.
“『Sleep, brother. Until the next answer comes to us.』 It will be quiet now.”
“Sob……! Can’t it be completely purified? Apostle!”
“……I’m really sorry, but this is the limit for now. I will ask God for a new way as soon as possible. You can rest assured that they will be asleep for at least 『half a year』.”
“Sob……Sob……Veronica! Veronica!”
“Abanovich……Let’s give up and go now. If you stay here, you might get infected with the Demon King’s Curse too.”
“Sob sob sob! Veronica……!”
Put them to sleep with the Holy Cross’s divine power.
“Kyung-joon-nim……! Is this really the limit? Please……Please save our Teclyn……Kyung-joon-nim……”
“Graaaaaah!”
“Zot, put the anti-magic tool on her neck right now.”
“Okay.”
“No……! No……!”
Stab!
“Whew, this will be fine for at least 『half a year』. We’ll definitely find a complete solution within that time.”
“Sob……Sob……Teclyn……!”
“Edict. You too, stop crying and help. If you really want to save Teclyn.”
“Ugh……! Wait, Teclyn! I’ll definitely save you! You’ve always cleaned up my messes, so this time I’ll definitely……! Definitely……! Ugh……!”
Or put them to sleep with Kyung-joon’s anti-magic tool.
There was nothing else that could be done.
But until now, people didn’t know.
That this was just the beginning of a real hell.
“Hey, Rone. I heard you got promoted recently? From a low-ranking priest to a high-ranking priest soon?”
“Groan……Groan……”
“Hmm? Rone. What’s wrong?”
“Groan……Groan……Graaaaaah!”
“R, Rone! What’s suddenly wrong with you……! C, Could it be……! Kyaaak?!”
“Tell the higher-ups right away! A priest has been infected with the Demon King’s Curse! I’ll hold them off here!”
“……”
“Hey! Go and tell them right now?! What are you doing……Huh.”
“Groan……Groan……Graaaaaah!!”
The infection didn’t stop with ordinary people.
As the Demon King’s seal continued to unravel and its power grew stronger, the Demon King’s Curse eventually erupted within the Holy Cross.
“P, Pope! A mass infection has occurred at the 36th branch church! The estimated number of infected is 86!”
“Order the evacuation of branches 31 through 40 immediately. And select those with excellent divine power and dispatch them immediately as the 36th Branch Special Countermeasures Team.”
“We’re running out of relief supplies!”
“Additional relief supplies have just arrived from the Study Territory. They have already been divinely baptized, so you can use them right away.”
“As expected of the Study Territory! Oh, no, as expected of the Pope! Understood! I’ll do that right away!”
It didn’t matter if it was the Humanity Cantons or the Holy Cross Faction.
All regions were in a panic.
The Demon King’s Curse spread even to Whale Forest, affecting even the monsters.
“Kingyear-nim! Half of the orcs who came to the territory to cooperate have been infected with the Demon King’s Curse!”
“Ugh……Increase the production of the Sleep Imprinting immediately! I’ll try my best to hold them off until production is complete!”
“A, Are you going alone?! It’s dangerous!”
“The only ones who can stop this crisis are Kyung-joon-nim, Miss Kim Elsa, and me. The other two are already elsewhere. So it’s just me.”
“Kingyear-nim……! If we lose you too, our Study Territory will……!”
“Don’t worry. We have Kyung-joon-nim. He can overcome any crisis……Oh, wait a minute. (Yes, yes. Kyung-joon-nim. Yes? You want me to come quickly? Ahem……Understood.).”
“Kingyear-nim?”
“Ahem. Anyway, I can’t lose any more precious people! I’ve abandoned my old self! I only live for the present! So while I’m gone, defend this place with your lives!”
“Ugh……! Kingyear-nim……!”
The entire world was in a panic.
There was not a single safe place.
Of course, the strange thing was that there hadn’t been a ‘single death’ so far, but everyone was distracted by the powerful curse called the Demon King’s Curse.
And this.
Was the same for the Seolha Group.
“Khehehe……Kekeke……Kekekekeke!”
Chairman Yoo laughed loudly.
“Everything’s going according to plan. According to plan! You fool! I knew you’d get screwed over like this someday with your arrogance! To think you’d be caught in the seal you released yourself! Kekeke!”
Chairman Yoo laughed loudly while watching the recorded monitoring screen.
“Um……Chairman?”
Team Leader Jo watched from the side with a rather eerie expression, not knowing what to do.
“Ah, ah. Sorry. Yes, you were reporting, right? Keep talking.”
“Yes, then I’ll continue. So, as you saw in the monitoring screen just now, the entire world is in a state of panic, and as a result, the number of users who have logged in within the last week is only 5% of the last quarter. Even that is mostly high-ranking players, and there are virtually no new logins.”
Team Leader Jo’s report was, in a nutshell, as follows.
The World is going down the drain.
Nevertheless, Chairman Yoo.
“Hmm, hmm. I see.”
Didn’t seem to care at all.
Team Leader Jo continued his report with a troubled expression.
“……Moreover, as a result, Seolha Entertainment’s stock price is plummeting. It’s already dropped by more than half. I think this is all due to the ‘Demon King’s Curse’ patch that happened so suddenly in the last few months……”
“Team Leader Jo.”
Chairman Yoo interrupted Team Leader Jo.
“Yes?”
“By the way, did you complete the task I gave Secretary Oh earlier?”
“Ah, you mean stealing the ‘Hero’s Mark’ from the Study Territory?”
“Yes, that’s right. What happened?”
“Well……We succeeded, but there were a few dummies mixed in, so……We couldn’t steal all the marks.”
Kyung-joon had given Ceram the Hero’s Mark and told him to replicate the No. 1 Mark.
Team Leader Jo had obtained that information within the territory and, following company orders, had stolen it the moment the replication was complete.
It was an order he really didn’t want to hear in his life, but he couldn’t refuse.
Because that company order was a direct order from the chairman.
“You must have gotten close to Kyung-joon while you were in his territory. Did that influence you?”
Chairman Yoo glared at Team Leader Jo with an expression that suggested he would kill someone if things went wrong.
Team Leader Jo swallowed hard and barely managed to answer clearly.
“……Of course, I got close to him, but not to the point of neglecting my company duties. I have a wife and children to feed.”
“Hahaha! I was just being suspicious! Yes, you did well. Very well, Team Leader Jo. Excellent. So where is that mark now?”
“Yes? Of course it’s in the World……”
“I’m asking where it is in the World.”
“Ah. It’s in my character’s inventory.”
“That’s good. It’s in your inventory……”
It was the moment Chairman Yoo said that.
[World 37@*d 2892nd place!^!@*Enlarge?!@^]
A strange energy suddenly surged within Chairman Yoo’s office.
“Uh, uh? What was that just now……?”
Team Leader Jo blinked and rubbed his eyes.
The strange status window he had seen earlier was gone.
“What’s wrong, Team Leader Jo?”
“Ah, it’s nothing……I thought I saw a status window for a moment……Hahaha, that can’t be right, I must be tired from all the overtime I’ve been working lately.”
“Hehehe. I see. You must be tired from all the overtime. In that case, I’ll get rid of overtime starting today.”
“Yes? Really?”
Team Leader Jo’s face brightened slightly.
It had been almost half a year since he hadn’t been able to go home and had been eating, sleeping, and washing at the company.
His bank account had grown tremendously, but his family was already in an uproar, saying things like,”Is there even a dad anymore?”
But.
Chairman Yoo’s next words made Team Leader Jo’s face turn pale in an instant.
“Yes. Really. You’ve worked very hard, so you deserve a proper reward. Since it’s come to this, it wouldn’t be bad to apply it to the entire Kyung-joon Special Management Team.”
“R, Really?! Thank you! Chairman!”
Team Leader Jo was overjoyed that he could bring good news to the management team, who had been working overtime every day.
“But before that.”
“Yes. Chairman.”
“Can you take out the Hero’s Mark from your inventory and give it to me?”
“The Hero’s Mark, sir?”
“Yes. That’s right. Open your inventory quickly.”
“Yes, yes? My inventory, sir? To do that, I need to log in to the World first……”
“No, there’s no need to log in. Open your inventory quickly.”
“Chairman. I don’t understand what you mean……”
Suddenly asking him to open his inventory in reality.
It was a ridiculous request.
Team Leader Jo didn’t know what to do with Chairman Yoo’s strange request.
“Open it right now!”
Chairman Yoo suddenly raised his voice and shouted.
Team Leader Jo was flustered by Chairman Yoo’s sudden outburst.
At that moment.
Rustle……
A black shadow seemed to fall over Chairman Yoo from behind.
“C, Chairman……?”
Team Leader Jo rubbed his eyes as if he had seen something wrong.
“Hmm, hmm. I got excited without realizing it. So this is what it feels like……Khehehe……”
The black shadow behind Chairman Yoo disappeared as if it had been a lie.
The real Chairman Yoo spoke again.
“Team Leader Jo. Open your inventory. It’s not difficult. Just like in other web novels, just say ‘Inventory’ or think it in your mind. You can do that much, can’t you?”
“Ah, I understand……”
Team Leader Jo had no choice but to comply with Chairman Yoo’s strange request.
He uttered the word with a slightly embarrassed look.
“I, Inventory.”
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