Hansu Lee's room seemed familiar but unknown at the same time.
It... feels like a long time has passed.
Looking around for a moment to see if anything had changed, I sat in the chair and just moved my toe to turn on the computer.
¡Whirl!
My goal in the community today was simple. As always, information gathering was a top priority. The difference was that, unlike usual, the material had been accumulating for two and a half years.
You should check the bulletin board first.
The Round Table, which is arguably the main course of community activities, could only be entered three hours later, so I used the mouse to check several bulletin boards. It was quite a cumbersome task. To judge the atmosphere of this place, I had to go over the long chronological list.
[Wow, has anyone been to Bjorn Yandel's house?]
I went there with some people he helped on the first floor and it felt strange to see the flowers piled up. It really shocked me that he was dead too. His comrades are totally in mourning.
Hmm, since there's a lot of talk about me here, I can probably start reading from here.
tetyys: Why all the fuss over a dead NPC?
ᄂSogeking33: It's true, no one would care if a punk like you died, right?
ᄂSoDamnToxic: Candidate for next barbarian chief, first scout turned nobleman to leave in ten years, and the palace is said to send knights to hold the funeral procession to commemorate the death of a hero... It makes sense why bastards with the complexes of inferiority would come to this.
Ki11Humans77: What a waste. I heard he created a new clan and was curious how it would grow.
Reviewing the comments on the first post I clicked on, I hit the Back button. I then turned the pages slowly to read the posts. One month, two months, three months... As time went by, posts focused on the hottest topics of the moment appeared on the bulletin board.
Just look at the stories about my death that used to be all over the bulletin boards.
Only a month had passed, but the frequency of mentions not only decreased, but almost ceased. However, as of the following month, it was mentioned again. Someone had added new fuel.
[Is the rumor true that Bjorn Yandel is an evil spirit?]
Wherever I go these days, that's all I hear. They wouldn't talk about it if it was complete nonsense.
[Three reasons why Bjorn Yandel is an evil spirit.]
Click thumbs up while you're here~
[Logically, do you think it could be an evil spirit?]
If you refute it, you're a rookie who hasn't even seen Bjorn Yandel. If you agree, you will get a shapeshifting girlfriend.
arolf5205: You're right. All the people who say that Bjorn Yandel is an evil spirit are probably newbies.
spring 1: Bjorn Yandel is not an evil spirit. Will I have a shapeshifting girlfriend now?
Bling0_0: Hmm, but I still think it's an evil spirit...
Bjorn Yandel's life after death, two months later: the bulletin board was full of discussions about whether I was an evil spirit or not. Until now, most people thought it was a rumor. Although there was a comment in the middle that bothered me.
teckmonkey: That may not be a rumor but a fact. Some say suspicions first began with Bjorn Yandel's closest comrade.
When I saw that they described him as a partner and did not refer to a specific person, my interest was erased. He was used to trolls flocking to every hot topic.
Clic clich.
Three months after my death, my name was barely mentioned. Six months after my death, my name, which was slowly falling into oblivion, suddenly appeared on the bulletin board. The palace had made an official statement that Bjorn Yandel was an evil spirit.
[Hey, is the statement published by the palace real?]
[Is Bjorn Yandel an evil spirit?]
[He was a candidate for chief and even received a title of nobility. How can it be an evil spirit? Something has to be wrong.]
At first everyone seemed confused, but gradually tests began to emerge and the atmosphere changed towards admission. Assuming it was an evil spirit, there was more than one suspicious factor.
[Thinking about it, it was a little strange.]
How is it possible to grow so fast? To say it's just strange is too strange.
tunaboot: Fact 1, even if it was an evil spirit, it still doesn't make sense.
BrutalizerX: Fact 2, Bjorn Yandel lived with three women.
WingPizza: Fact 3, Bjorn Yandel is known as a giant over twenty centimeters tall. Of course, that refers to your kidney.
Of course, my name wasn't a hot topic for long. Aside from being a shocking story, there wasn't enough fuel to keep the fire going. Was Bjorn Yandel an evil spirit? How surprising, but what? How long were they going to talk about a dead child? That was the feeling. Well, some people hypothesized that the fact that these rumors were spreading about a dead person and that the palace had just revealed that they were true must have been some big secret behind it, but unfortunately, that was it. There was no way such a secret circumstance could circulate on the free bulletin board.
Clic clich.
I continued reading the posts after that, but there was no other topic that heated up the entire forum until several months later. It was just a normal atmosphere where people wanted to say what they wanted to say.
A year after his death, there was an incident that caused a fire in the community.
[Guys, have you heard of the Nartel Clan?]
The Nartel Clan was the clan headed by the explorer Melter Fend, with whom I had a close relationship during the battle against Noark. Almost 90% of that clan perished in the labyrinth. Even the cause was already widely known.
godFLEXyou: Yes, I heard that Noark attacked them and only a few came back alive.
Noark's bastards known to have emerged from the castle walls were discovered in the labyrinth. All kinds of speculation circulated around that: there was a portal outside the walls, or they may have created a new portal through some method. One person even said that they were probably people from the city who hid their identities.
A year and a month after the death, a medium-sized clan was annihilated in the labyrinth. It was an active clan in the Dark Continent, where the Nartel Clan suffered their disaster. As there were no survivors, the cause of the annihilation was unknown.
Within a year and three months, the number of clans disappearing on the seventh floor without a trace increased rapidly and there were even several witness accounts from people in Noark. Most of the sightings occurred on the seventh floor.
Within a year and four months, the palace recognized the seriousness of the incident with Noark and began distributing identity tags again. Knights were also sent to the labyrinth to patrol the lower floors, but nothing improved. Despite checking the participants on the first floor as soon as the maze opened, there was no one from Noark.
One year and six months: Paying attention to the fact that Noark's faction only appeared on the seventh floor, the palace made an alliance with several large clans to form an expedition team. After taking countless hits, they returned. Still, they won something.
[Breaking news: latest news about Noark]
This is solid information obtained from a prisoner taken captive during the expedition. Noark's bastards opened a portal outside the castle wall and it apparently takes you directly to the seventh floor. Of course, not even the captive bastard knows how it's possible, nor does the palace know anything.
New information was confirmed. More time passed. After a year and eight months, the palace banned ordinary explorers from entering the Dark Continent and formed a second expedition team. As a result of the deployment of countless troops, they achieved a Pyrrhic victory.
[It's really a war now.]
With the seventh floor as the setting, a large-scale power struggle began. They decided that if Noark's bastards stayed hidden on the seventh floor and expanded their power, this would create a big problem in the future. Numerous explorers participated in the battle for the enormous reward offered by the palace, and every day new heroes appeared who gained fame in the war. A representative example was the Mighty Seven, seven heroes who were not very famous before but who made a name for themselves by playing an important role in this war.
[But now that I see it, Bjorn Yandel's group had an incredible talent pool. How can two members of the Mighty Seven come from the same party?]
Time passed and once I finished reviewing the most recent post made ten minutes ago, I took my hand off the mouse. Even just flipping through it, reviewing the two-year, six-month material took more than two hours.
Why don't I take a break and organize this?
I got up from the chair and lay down on the bed. For starters, I learned very little new information while looking at the community. This was natural. I heard all kinds of stories from Erwen while spending over ten days at home. I was already aware of the big events in each timeline. Among them were stories about Noark.
Still, it was nice to get to know the atmosphere of the time by looking around us...
Additionally, there were posts with trivial information that Erwen hadn't told me about; For example, scouts who were declared brain dead due to the pillar of fire in the past were cured.
Anyway, should I check the exchange information this time?
After taking a short break, I sat in front of the computer and started reviewing the overdue posts one by one. Time passed. At 3:09 p.m. it was time to enter the Round Table.
***
Crujir.
Goblin entered through the open door and waved happily. «Oh, Mrs. Fox! Long time no see!»
«She, oil.»
«I guess we're first again today?»
At Goblin's question, the fox-masked woman, Versyl Gowland, laughed awkwardly. I knew that this question was not asked to verify facts, but to start a personal conversation. Versyl had nothing he wanted to say to Goblin.
«... Haha, does it seem like you have more things to think about? I will be silent».
«Thank you.»
As time passed, Antlers and Crescent arrived almost at the same time. When he checked, it was 3:05. There were still five minutes left until the start.
«Looks like those two haven't arrived yet?»
«...I'm sure they will come soon.» She answered Antlers' question with a bitter laugh.
Members who had not yet joined the meeting were Clown and Queen. They would probably participate today. Well, they'd probably check who had come, turn around, and disappear again, like they had for the past year.
«Still, since there are four of us, today we can hold a proper meeting».
«...We couldn't even start last time because Antlers wasn't here, right? Why didn't you come then?»
«Goblin, do I have to tell you why?»
«Well... no. Yeah. I was just curious.»
As they chatted senselessly before the meeting, the door opened again. This time it was a woman. «Oh God, it's been a while, everyone». Although her presence could not compare to Lion's, Queen crushed Clown with informational force and proved her worth at this meeting.
«Are you going to leave again this time?»
At Reina's polite question, Media Luna laughed awkwardly. That was enough response. Everyone knew what she was thinking.
It means that participating in this meeting is meaningless without that man.
Even after Lion stopped attending, she attended the meeting and shared various information. From some point on, she also checked on attendees and left the meeting before it began. This was the same for Clown.
«Pshehe, are you all together again?»
«Payaso...»
There were two minutes left until the meeting began. Everyone's eyes turned to Clown when he arrived. Most reactions were not favorable. There had been many clashes with Noark recently. Although not as much as Crescent, they could not act favorably towards someone who was a member of Noark.
«You can't kill someone with one look, you know?» Clown chose an empty seat and sat down, not caring about those looks. Looking at the clock on the wall, he waited desperately for a person. This was a very familiar sight now.
«Phew... looks like he won't be coming today either».
«... I heard there are sightings of Noark trying to crawl to the sixth floor. What is the reason?»
«Hey? Why would I tell you that when the meeting hasn't even started?»
«That's right... because you don't participate in the meeting...»
«Oh, Mr. Antlers... So I should have brought something fun a long time ago, don't you think? It's because it's so boring that I leave every time».
«... Do you think acting like this will make you look like León?»
«Pshehe, that wasn't my intention.»
When Clown laughed mockingly and stood up, Queen also stood up as if it were a sign. «Anyway, since it looks like he's not coming today either, I'll leave».
«Me too...» Fox looked at his back and sighed softly. As much as his absence was a waste, he remembered the need for a specific person.
Wow, where has Lion disappeared?
At first, Clown and Queen participated in all sorts of speculation about his disappearance: he lost interest, the GM banished him from the community, etc. There were many other hypotheses, but the most memorable was Goblin's: that he could be the same person as Björn Yandel. If he had died, that moment was a coincidence. "Pshehe, Mr. Goblin"n, why don't you stop being a paladin and become a writer?»
They only laughed at Goblin for his hypothesis. Although no one said anything harsh, the other members did not seriously consider their opinion. That was because when Leon first appeared at the Round Table, Bjorn Yandel had not even been an explorer for a year. Someone who was active on the third and fourth floors, at best, couldn't behave like that.
However... Maybe he got it right...
Fox thought that hypothesis might be correct. Although there were many contradictions, if it really were like that, it would explain why León had not been seen in two and a half years.
Crunch.
The moment his thoughts reached this far, the tightly closed door slowly opened and everyone shuddered. The reason was simple. Clown, who had stomped away from the table, hadn't even reached the door yet. There was no one left to come. No, there shouldn't have been, except for one person.
Tap.
On the other side of the open door a man appeared. The man who could freeze everyone with his mere presence spoke as if he had just gone through boredom.
«Long time without seeing it.»
Leon was back.