Chapter 12: [Side Story] Meeting with the Director I wanted to Kill

“I can’t hide it any longer! That’s right! I am the Director of <Empire Defense>, Aider~”

“......”

My mind froze up.

Director? This guy?

Then it's this bastard who brought me here…?

All sorts of thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant. It was at that moment—

Aider laid flat on the floor like a frog. . His arms and legs and forehead were pressed to the bathroom floor.

“......?”

I froze up, unable to understand a single thing that was happening.

“I’m so sorry for kidnapping you to a place like this!”

He apologized with all he had.

“But I, No! This world needs you, Mr. Classic Nerd!!!”

“......”

“Could you please lend us a helping hand just this onceeee?!”

“......”

I remained silent for a moment and said with a soft voice,

“Mr. Aider, stand up for now.”

I grabbed Aider's arm and helped him get up. Aider shed tears with a moved face.

“Mr. Classic Nerd…! Oh, so merciful… You’re going to help us, riiight?!”

I smiled warmly and answered Aider's request very clearly.

“No, I just wanted to do this.”

I grabbed this damn bastard by the collar and smashed his head on the bathroom floor. Crash!

“Gueeegh?!”

“Die! Die! You fuckin’ bastard, diiiieee!”

I sat on top of him and pushed my fist down on Aider. I’m really going to kill you, you asshole!

* * *

A moment later.

“I’m so soorryy…”

Aider was sitting on his knees and holding up both his hands.

His face was swollen after being beaten by me for a long time.

“Alright, let’s get this straight.”

I squatted in front of him and let out a sigh. After beating him up for a while, my mind became cooler and clearer.

“So you… are that ‘Director’ that sent a message in my chat right after I cleared the game.”

“Yeess…”

“And you’re really the Director of this game—no—this world.”

“That’s riiight.”

Why the hell does this guy talk like this? Now that I think about it, he always talked like this in the game too.

I pressed down on the desire to give him another blow and continued the questioning.

“Why did you bring me into this world?”

“…In this world, there’s a ‘true ending’.”

Ader rolled up a tissue and wiped his nosebleed, then made eye contact with me.

“There’s an ending that nobody has ever been able to reach.”

The eyes behind his glasses were also blank gray, like his hair.

“I’ve reset this world countless times in order to reach that ending. However, I’ve never reached the ending that I desired.”

“So you decided to seek out help from someone else?”

“In summary, yes!”

Aider snapped his finger, and a series of system windows appeared in the air.

I realized when I saw it, that he truly was someone related to the core of this world…

“I turned this world into a game and presented it to players from other worlds.”

The names of the servers were lined up in the system window that Aider opened in the air.

I saw a server named ‘Earth’ on the list. Does that mean that Earth was merely just one of the many servers?

“The players have opened up possibilities in many ways that I didn't think of. However…”

Aider slightly shook his head.

“They also could not reach the true ending.”

“…Aren’t I the same case then? I never knew about that thing called ‘true ending’.”

Although I played <Empire Defense> and dug down to its core in the 6 months I played it, this was the first time I heard about a different ending.

“Although you never reached the true ending, you achieved a feat that no one else had.”

Hell difficulty in Ironman mode. Also known as—Hell Ironman.

Only I was able to clear that. Could that be why?

“I thought you had the highest possibility of reaching it, so I decided to bring you here as a last resort.”

“Bring me here? Bullshit! You kidnapped me! And you threw me in that shithole, in this guy’s body?! You were basically telling me to die!”

“Th-that was some kind of mistake, like a bug… I also didn’t expect that to happen…”

Aider blurred his words and noticed that I had a frown on my face. He immediately laid flat on the floor.

“A-anyways! Allow me to tell you this first. About the ‘reward’ you will be receiving if you help us.”

I frowned my eyes.

“A reward?”

“If you lead this world to the true ending, then I’ll grant you a wish.”

“A wish…?”

What is this, Dragon Ball? You’re gonna grant me a wish?

“Technically, I am a being that is close to a deity in this world.”

Said Aider proudly with his face swollen from the beating I gave him. How trustful.

“It won’t be a difficult task for me to give you a lot of gifts when I send you back to your world.”

“Anything?”

“Anything!”

“Like 10 billion won in cash?”

“Only 10 billion? I can give you 100 billion too. Would you like more?”

…I feel like this bastard’s just giving away bad checks.

But honestly, I am quite interested. I did have a lot of things that I wanted to achieve.

‘Bro!’

…No.

I had a wish that I wanted to fulfill at all costs.

I took a dry gulp down my throat. If this guy can really grant me a wish, then…

Aider smiled softly and looked at me.

“There’s a wish that you wanted to fulfill, right? Something more important than just mere money.”

“......”

“There’s a dream that you gave up on, thinking you’d never be able to achieve, right?”

That’s when I realized…

* * *

[Translator: Dawn ]

[Proofreader: Alissa ]

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* * *

That this self-claimed deity called me knowing that already.

Knowing that I’ve been regretting something. That I’ve been living with regret in my heart.

“That wish, I’ll grant it for you.”

“...It’s already something I gave up on.”

“As long as you still bear it in your heart, it’s not over yet.”

For some reason, Aider spoke in a confident tone as if he knew about it very well.

“Let’s make a deal, Mr. Classic Nerd.”

“......”

“Clear this world, and lead it to the true ending. Then I shall grant your wish.”

I gave a chin gesture after the silence.

“But if you have that much power, shouldn’t you just be able to see the true ending yourself?”

“I’ve got many restrictions on my power. I can use many abilities on the ‘outside’ of this world, but on the ‘inside’, I’m merely an average human. That’s why I needed an agent to act on my behalf, like you, Mr. Classic Nerd.”

I let out a small sigh.

I can’t fully trust him yet, but I can understand a little about what he’s trying to achieve. However—

“Lemme ask you something.”

“Yeees?”

“If I die here, what happens?”

To be honest, this was the most important question.

“Winner takes all. If you manage to successfully clear this world, then you will be returned to your world, to that time when you were streaming, after having your wish granted, but…”

Aider smiled.

“If you die here, it’s all over.”

“......”

“Life is a one-coin play. There’s no such thing as saving and loading. I thought you’d know this very well since you cleared the game in Ironman mode, no?”

That’s right. This game was always like that.

It may look after your convenience in some parts, but it was always merciless when it came to death.

“If you wish to return to Earth right now, then I’ll send you back right awayyy.”

“What? Really?”

“Of course. To be honest, I was going to ask you this in the first place. However, there was an interruption and you were sent to the tutorial level.”

Aider, scratching his chin shyly, looked at me.

“What will you do? Will you take on the challenge to reach the true ending, and obtain a chance to have your wish granted? Or… Will you return to a peaceful daily life that does not require you to put your life at risk?”

“......”

“The choice is completely up to you, Mr. Classic Nerd.”

Normally, I’d return immediately.

However, two things were stopping me from doing so. One was my desire to get that wish, and the other one was,

‘It’s pretty doable, no?’

Confidence.

I’ve cleared this game in Hell Ironman mode. I basically knew everything about this game.

Clearing the game one more time?

Doesn’t sound too hard to me.

Aider kept his mouth shut and waited for me as I pondered.

“Sigh…”

After a long time spent contemplating, I let out a long sigh.

“…I’ll do it.”

Aider’s face brightened up.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

I’ve got more than enough chance to win.

Then it’s worth a bet, no? A bet with everything on stake…!

“I’ll actually try hard, so you better help me with your everything. Don’t forget to grant my wish once I reach the true ending.”

“Of course, of course! Please work my ass off like a dog!”

Aider actually laid flat on the floor like a dog and tried to lick my shoes. Get off me, you crazy bastard!

After getting Aider off me, I glanced at him with a sigh.

“Alright, then… Assistant of the Feudal Lord, Aider? In order to clear this game successfully, let us get to work.”

“Hooray! I’ll do whatever it takes!”

I raised my hand and pushed the smiling Aider’s chest with my index finger.

“Before morning, sell all the Black Spider magic crystals.”

“Pardon?”

Aider’s face froze up. However, I didn’t show any mercy.

“What? It’s an item to exchange for cash. You must have a sales route, right?”

“W-well, yes. But it’s already late, and the market is closed…”

“Sounds like a you problem. Open it up again. All the merchants trying to purchase magic crystals are in the city anyway.”

I placed my index finger on the lips of Aider, who was about to say something back in protest.

“Shut up and do as I say, alright? Sell it overnight, or at dawn, I don’t care. Just finish it up before the morning, you got it?”

“O-okayyy…”

Aider was in tears but accepted.

“There are 388 Black Spider magic crystals. These will earn you a massive amount of money even if you sell them at the average price. J-just what are you planning on doing with all this money?”

“I plan on doing a lot of things, but those are none of your business.”

As I pushed Aider out of the bathroom, I growled fiercely.

“Exchange all of them even if it means you don’t get to sleep tonight. If you don’t, then I’ll…”

“You’ll…?”

“Throw the game and run it down mid!”

Aider’s face got pale after hearing me say I’ll troll.

“I’ll make sure to sell them aaall!!”

Slam!

Slamming the bathroom door shut, I sighed and headed for the bathtub.

But the water in the bathtub had already cooled. Oh, for god’s sake.

* * *

The next day.

When I woke up from a good night's sleep on the soft and clean bed in my room, Lucas was waiting in front of the door.

“Lucas. I told you to get some rest.”

“I got enough rest. So I’ve resumed my guarding duties since the morning.”

He says morning, but I’m sure he started even before the sun came up. What a diligent guy.

As I was washing my face and putting on my clothes in the service of Lucas, I heard a knock. It was Aider who came.

“Huff, huff… I’ve finished the exchangeee…”

Aider pointed his finger out the window completely drenched in sweat.

When I looked out the window, I could see wagons filled with gold. Since there was a huge amount, I could also see some soldiers standing guard.

“I called in the merchants overnight… Opened up the auction at dawn… And finished exchanging them into cashhh.”

Wow, he really did it. I thought he’d sell only half of them, but I guess he’s more useful than I thought.

Ader handed me the sales records. I didn't take it, I just gave a chin gesture.

“Jump to the conclusion. How much is that?”

“I sold 388 crystals for over 10k Adel per crystal, so in total, 4.5 million Adel!”

4.5 million!

During the third year of this game, high-quality magic crystals become severely inflated due to how widely available they are. However, that amount was not something I’d be able to touch at the beginning of the game.

Surprised, Lucas whistled with his eyes wide open. These funds will do for the time being.

“Alright, we’re heading out. Get ready, Lucas.”

“Where do you plan on going, Your Highness?”

Lucas asked as he hurriedly brought my coat. I smiled at him.

“Our party’s empty. It’s time to hire some useful units.”

First is the mercenary guild.

I was thinking of going there to select new members to join my party.

“For now, let’s see…”

I flicked the gold coin certificate that Aider had given me and raised the corners of my mouth.

“How about 100 pulls?”