Interview (1)

Once the tests ended, the scenery changed in an instant. Before they knew it, the two were back in the hospital room.

They stared at each other and asked at the same time.

"Where did you go..."

"Did you get the archer skill book..."

After a brief silence, Seo Yerim nodded and spoke.

"I did. SSS-rank. Where did you go, Minwoo?"

"I took a test myself. Not one for changing classes. Apparently, there's a separate way to take tests."

"A test?"

"Yes."

"How did you take it? Did that angel help you?"

"Something like that. She gave me what looked like a sponsorship certificate. It seemed you needed one to take the tests."

"... Oh. Then I won't be able to take them."

Seo Yerim nodded, looking disappointed.

It was an understandable reaction. Now that she was an archer, she would want to get stronger quickly and earn her grandfather's recognition.

"There might be a way."

"... Really?"

"Yes. But I think you'll have to wait a few months."

There was the Heavenly City Travel Ticket he had just acquired. It seemed the Trainee test was held there. Perhaps he could obtain more travel tickets or sponsorship certificates there, too.

He would need to reach level 300 before going, so it would take some time.

'I should help if I can.'

From the Sword Immortal, who had given him the Ancient Dragon's corpse and byproducts, to the Sword Phoenix, who had risked her life to help him in the gate, he owed the people of Sword Sea Pavilion a great deal.

That was why he intended to help if possible.

Of course, he would have to get something in return first.

"Yerim."

"Yes?"

"Wouldn't you like to get stronger?"

"If I can?"

"Then join our guild."

"... The, uh, Money-Blowing Guild?"

"Yes. An elite guild that accepts only people with the potential to become world rankers. You don't have a guild right now, do you?"

"That's true, but..."

"Then join us. I'll treat you well."

She was an SSS-rank archer.

It was obvious her value would skyrocket, and the guild's prestige would rise along with it. Having her on the roster would be perfect for attracting more investment.

Sword Phoenix Seo Yerim.

Wasn't that a name with some clout not just in Korea, but around the world?

He had to lock her down first.

"... Would I have to participate in guild activities?"

"No. I can't be bothered with things like that myself."

Necromancers were made for solo play. Except in special circumstances, he had no intention of going out of his way to play in a party. Seo Yerim tilted her head at his answer.

"If a guild doesn't do anything together, what's the point...?"

He turned on his phone, tapped at it briefly, then showed her the group chat.

[Park Siwoo]

—I'm so glad you made it back from the gate alive, Minwoo! I was seriously scared something might happen to you. You're okay, right?

(An emoji biting its thumb while breaking into a cold sweat)

[1 hour ago]

[Kim Minwoo]

—Yep. All good.

[1 second ago]

"It's a sort of community, like this. If someone's having a hard time, we talk about it and help each other. Surely you can manage that much?"

"That's true, but..."

"The benefits are excellent, too."

"Benefits?"

"I just helped you change classes, didn't I? Do you think that's going to be a one-time thing?"

"Now that you mention it, I was curious..."

"To put it simply, I have something like a shop. I buy things with a resource other than money."

"You have something like that?"

"Yes. That's how I got it for you. So, will you join?"

"... All right. I'll join."

He grinned and offered his hand.

"Welcome to our guild."

"... I'm looking forward to working with you."

They shook hands.

"Join our guild group chat, too. Oh, and you should learn that skill book while you're at it."

"... I should."

She took the skill book out of her inventory.

A moment later, a brilliant flash erupted.

● The fate of Seo Yerim, one of the main characters, is beginning to change drastically!

● Achievement Points awarded!

● You possess the Achievement Vending Machine! Double points awarded!

Dazzling light engulfed the room.

He checked the Achievement Shop. His previous balance of zero had become...

'...100 points?'

Wait a second. This was double the points?

'That's way too little.'

That meant he had been awarded fifty points.

Getting her to practice archery had earned him two hundred, but actually turning her into a full-fledged archer earned him a hundred?

The math didn't add up.

Together, they came to three hundred points. Coincidentally, that was exactly what he had earned when he awakened Park Siwoo.

'What's going on?'

Well, there was nothing he could do about points he had already received.

He looked at Seo Yerim.

"What did you get?"

"... This."

[Seo Yerim is sharing her skill window!]

[Divine Bow Iperin (SSS)]

[Effect 1. Summons the Divine Bow. The Divine Bow grows alongside its master.]

[Effect 2. Grants powerful enhancements while holding the Divine Bow.]

[Effect 3. Fires arrows using mana. Mana arrows carry random attributes.]

[Effect 4. Allows the user to designate a certain area as a 'Kill Zone.']

A bow materialized in her hand a moment later.

Park Siwoo's holy sword had been a similar sort of skill, if he remembered correctly.

'Is there some connection?'

Or was it a coincidence?

There was no way to know yet.

"Does it happen to say it knows me?"

"... My weapon?"

"Yes."

She blinked, then looked back and forth between the bow and Kim Minwoo for a moment.

"... What's a Death Lord?"

"Cedric."

Summoned without warning, Cedric tilted his head.

"What is it?"

"Do you happen to know what that weapon is, too?"

Cedric stared at Seo Yerim's bow, then nodded.

"... I believe I do. The Divine Bow Iperin?"

Seo Yerim's eyes widened.

"How do you know my skill's name?"

Cedric looked straight at Kim Minwoo. When Minwoo nodded, he turned to Seo Yerim and spoke.

"Someone else in my master's guild possesses a weapon similar to yours."

"A similar weapon?"

"A holy sword. That sword once targeted my former master, the Death Lord. Iperin was much the same."

"Why were my bow and that holy sword after your former master?"

"They belonged to the same party."

"A party...?"

"A hero's party. That sort of thing."

"A hero's party?"

"Yes. My former master was a formidable undead being. They formed a party to stop him. They failed in the end, though."

Kim Minwoo was listening with interest as well.

'A hero's party.'

Park Siwoo and Seo Yerim. Was it pure coincidence that those two had received weapons from the hero's party that had fought the Death Lord?

'I doubt it.'

No matter how he looked at it, it wasn't. It certainly seemed as though someone had intervened.

But who could interfere in something like this?

"Cedric."

"Yes?"

"About the Lord's arrangements. Could they have something to do with this, too?"

"... I doubt it. Even the Lord would find it difficult to manipulate the weapons of the hero's party."

Then some being other than the Lord had intervened.

'... Could it be that being the angel Ziphael mentioned?'

The one she felt uneasy even mentioning.

Thinking about it, that seemed quite possible.

Even achievements of the same rank yielded different skills. Yet those weapons had emerged from two SSS-rank skill books.

Manipulating odds like that would probably require a being of such stature.

The question was...

'Why?'

Why put the hero's party's weapons on his side?

'To bring me down?'

Too many things didn't fit that theory.

Take what had just happened: the ninety-nine-percent discount on the Class Change Ticket, being pulled into the reassessment along with her, and even intermediate angel Ziphael's sponsorship.

Could all of that really be coincidence? It felt for all the world as though that supposedly great being was helping him.

'Is there any reason to stab me in the back now?'

No. At least, not from what he had seen so far.

'Then did they give us these weapons because they thought it would benefit me?'

What benefit was there in giving the hero's party's weapons to the Death Lord's successor?

Was there some kind of synergy?

He couldn't tell yet.

"Cedric. How many members were in the hero's party?"

"A swordsman, an archer, a mage, and an assassin. Four in total."

'... It matches perfectly.'

Park Siwoo, the swordsmanship genius.

Han Sia, the magic genius.

Seo Yerim, the archery genius.

And finally, Namgung Min...

'He was born with a talent for assassination.'

The four main characters who had gathered in one place on difficulty level six. And a four-member hero's party.

'I'll have to approach Namgung Min and Han Sia, too, if I want Achievement Points.'

In the process, those two would probably wind up getting weapons like these somehow.

Someone had clearly put a grand plan in motion.

'A great being. Great beings I've met...'

A thought suddenly came to him.

The beings he had seen while unconscious, right after sparring with the Sword Immortal for an achievement.

[Warning!]

[The beings behind the veil have noticed an anomaly!]

That message from back then.

Afterward, he had seen a message saying he had opened new horizons.

'That led to the Achievement Shop.'

The Achievement Shop had driven him to approach the main characters, and that had led them to acquire the hero's party's weapons.

'1, 2, 3, 4.'

Four beings, each assigned a number.

Of them, Number 1 had been particularly unusual.

For starters, even the brackets around its messages had been different. They resembled those of the message he had seen just before starting the difficulty-six stage.

And there was more.

〈1. He has shown potential. Should we raise humanity's growth limit?〉

It had been the first of the four to express an opinion.

〈1. There is no time for idle chatter. We must resolve this matter before he wakes. I vote in favor.〉

And it had been the most enthusiastic in its support.

'Number 1. That one's the most likely to have orchestrated this. Could it be the being that brought me here?'

He could make one more inference.

Based on Ziphael's remarks, Number 1 might be a high-ranking angel. Of course, that was far from certain. There simply wasn't enough information to draw firm conclusions.

'... Then the two hundred points and the hundred points probably weren't a coincidence, either.'

Turning Seo Yerim into an archer.

Assuming that was worth three hundred points in total, the natural order would have been to receive a hundred first, then two hundred.

But the points had come in reverse order.

'Was it to give me exactly enough for the discounted Class Change Ticket?'

Or had that been the only time they could offer the discount?

Looking only at the outcome, he couldn't say it was entirely bad.

Seo Yerim had become a promising archer, and he had acquired an Achievement Vending Machine he could keep using.

'For now...'

He decided to keep earning Achievement Points. The shop's wares were incredibly enticing—enough that he was willing to take the risk even if there was some ulterior motive behind all this.

"Finished thinking?"

"More or less."

"What were you thinking about so seriously? I couldn't even interrupt you."

"... It's a little complicated to explain right now. I'll tell you later."

"All right. But answer one question for me. Does this Death Lord have something to do with you?"

"You can think of me as his successor, roughly speaking."

"Popo said there were ranks above SSS. Then you're..."

"That's right."

He admitted it without hesitation.

Even all the hero's party's weapons together hadn't been enough to defeat the Death Lord.

Naturally, she would assume he was above SSS-rank. It was something she would more or less figure out from talking to her bow anyway.

"Wow... No wonder. You didn't seem S-rank at all..."

Just then, a knock came at the hospital room door. A bodyguard cautiously opened it and stepped inside.

"Um, young master. It seems the reporters have realized you're awake. Would you like to leave quietly?"

"No. I'll give an interview."

No matter how hard he tried to hide it, he couldn't keep it secret forever. He had already decided to stir up the world.

Now it was time to show everyone what he was truly worth.

He looked at Seo Yerim.

"Let's go. We have an interview to give."

"... How much should I tell them?"

"Since you've become an archer, why not announce it loud and clear? It would be even better to announce you've joined the guild, too."

"Grandfather will be so shocked..."

"I'll go with you to see him, so don't worry. Shall we?"

He left the hospital room with her.

Immediately, they were met by a barrage of cameras.

"Mr. Kim Minwoo! The public is very curious about how you cleared the gate! Please, even a few words..."

He took a microphone and spoke.

"It was a martial-arts world inside, and our contributions to the clear were fifty-fifty."

"What? Fifty-fifty? What do you mean...?"

That would mean he had contributed just as much as the Sword Phoenix.

Did that make any sense at all?

As the reporters began murmuring at the unbelievable claim, Seo Yerim spoke from his side.

"Everything Kim Minwoo said is true. I, the Sword Phoenix, guarantee it. Oh, I suppose I'm not the Sword Phoenix anymore."

She raised her bow and continued.

"I'm an archer now, not a swordsman. I've also joined the guild led by the man standing beside me. A lot has changed, but who I am at heart hasn't. I'll keep doing my best. Thank you."

"...?"

"...?"

"...?"

"...?"

The barrage of bombshell announcements left the reporters utterly speechless.