Episode 163
[Entering the 16th Tier Human Tower.]
As soon as I entered the Tower of the Future, a new message appeared.
Tier 16: The highest level tower that can be conquered after the 6th season begins. Moreover,
the name of the tower was also unusual.
[The tower belongs to the ‘Overlord’.]
[Within the tower, the ‘Human Monarch’ can exercise absolute influence!]
Sure enough, a description of the tower worthy of its name came to mind.
The surrounding landscape quickly became engulfed in darkness, and a new landscape greeted the Lord of Heroes and the Saint. New scenery? As soon as I thought about it like that, I burst into laughter.
Click, click!
The camera shutter was firing endlessly. As soon as I came out of the tower, I was always hit by a shooting star, so it was a familiar flash barrage.
“Lord of heroes…!”
A reporter called Yoosung’s name. I just looked around. The place where the press conference was taking place was the guild headquarters of player Kang Yoo-seong and a UN-affiliated building, and at the same time, it was also Yoo-seong and Maria’s ‘home’.
Tier 16 Human Tower.
The tower that belonged to the overlord and could exercise absolute influence was by no means an unfamiliar, alien world.
“No way…
That’s why Saint Mary took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders, saying that shooting stars were nothing new.
“Well, didn’t you think it would end up like this?”
From the beginning, there were only two types of people on this stage. Actor and audience or hero and human.
“Player Kang Yoo-seong, how on earth did this happen…!”
“What the hell happened…
“It’s just as you see it.”
Yoosung answered in front of a barrage of questions from reporters.
“No more, just what you see.”
Calmly, as if it was nothing new.
At the same time, a different type of presence was felt among reporters. And I was able to realize it.
The decisions Yoosung made in the tower of the future will be repeated right here. As a traitor to humanity.
“…King of Heroes.”
And a cold, frozen voice came out from among the reporters. It was a voice full of incomparable intimidation, and it was easy to intuit it. They are the ‘player police’ of the International Player Police Organization (CIPO).
“You will know your sins.”
“What crime have I committed?”
“Crimes against humanity.”
Yoosung burst out laughing at the words ‘police’.
A sin against peace and a sin against humanity. That was the hero’s crime of refusing to submit before humans.
More specifically, it was the sin of not blindly sacrificing for humanity and not giving up one’s life for humanity without the slightest hesitation.
Because the hero’s life was not the hero’s.
“So what do you plan to do now?”
Immediately after, an unknown force swirled around the building where Yoosung was standing. At the same time, people rushed through the entrance to the press conference hall.
He was a soldier wearing the uniform of a multinational peacekeeping force directly under the UN.
Players police and soldiers. They were surrounding the ‘King of Heroes’ and in panic the reporters began to retreat.
“Don’t you already know how your fate will end?”
Immediately afterwards, one of the player police officers there responded. It was as he said. What happened to Yoosung after entering the Tower of the Future was not as ‘very distant in the future’ as he thought.
“No, I’m not sure?”
And the Lord of Heroes peacefully shook his head in front of the police and soldiers blocking him.
“Isn’t it funny?”
“What’s so funny?”
“Do you remember the monsters we faced when the game first started?”
And Yooseong asked back.
“We were greeted by all kinds of monsters that looked like something out of a fantasy novel. It was only yesterday that the end of the world came, demons poured in, and we fought against monsters we had never even heard of. But…
at some point, the monster Yooseong was fighting was no longer an easy-to-understand monster.
Police and soldiers were there.
“I was expecting something great to come out since it was a ‘monster’ worthy of the name of the 16th tier top, but isn’t it funny?”
The humans were there.
“Are you admitting that you have become a monster?”
“So, are you going to hold a prayer for rain until a new hero is born?”
Yoosung taunted, and the soldiers and police did not immediately answer. But the silence did not last long.
[“There are no such things as heroes for us anymore.”]
After silence, the humans answered.
It was the voice and will of the human monarch, and at the same time, it was also the voice of the humans themselves.
Kang Yu-seong, the ruler of heroes, has already saved the heroes. Therefore, no matter how much humans long for heroes and need them, heroes will no longer be able to save them.
“We, the human race, will no longer have to rely on the ‘King of Heroes’ and will gain the power to protect the world.”] “
Then you shouldn’t have done that a long time ago.”
Yooseong sneered and that was right then.
“Look at this.”
One of the player cops snapped his fingers and a holographic window in the form of augmented reality appeared.
It was news that broadcasters from around the world included videos of what was happening right here at the press conference.
And Yooseong couldn’t help but burst into laughter as the cries flowed in different languages.
The King of Heroes abandons humanity and becomes the ‘Lord of Heroes’.
The UN Peace Security Council player Kang Yu-seong, a
hero who betrayed his ‘hero’s loyalty’ in front of humans, was declared an ‘enemy of humanity.’
“What I was worried about happened.”
The player police left the holographic image behind and spoke calmly. In the video, the representatives of the Peace Security Council were talking about how dangerous the player Kang Yu-sung had become and how he had become an out-of-control monster
.
Gig, Kang Yoo-seong, a criminal against humanity, get down on your knees and surrender immediately!
Stop this betrayal of humanity and world peace!
Traitor to humanity!
In the past, in ‘Tower of the Future’, the same words that the leaders on the screen were talking about, without a single mistake, flowed out.
I felt like I was getting sick of the voice that was talking like a parrot about the worst situation I was worried about.
“I never said I would abandon you.”
“King of Heroes, the moment your life affirmed your life, you abandoned humanity.”
“Why?”
“Because a hero’s life is never a hero’s.”
Police and soldiers responded. That word again. Yoosung laughed again at those words.
“I think I’m misunderstanding something, but you humans are no longer in a position to talk smugly to me.”
And the Lord of Heroes answered.
“This is the last chance I give you, humans.”]
[The Lord of Heroes coldly declares to the humans.]
“Step back.”
Player Kang Yoo-seong said.
“Then I will protect the world of you humans, just like I have done so far.”
At that time.
Player Kang Yoo-seong was not the only one being forced to make a ‘choice’.
Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek is used as an operational base for UN peacekeeping forces in South Korea.
Lieutenant General ‘Kilgore’, one of the ten heroes and an American hero, was also forced to make a choice.
“Lieutenant General Kilgore, you remember the oath you swore before your country.”
At the same time, it was not just peacekeepers gathered at Humphreys Base.
The ‘President’, who was one of the leaders of the UN Peace Council and claimed to be the head of the United States of America, was there.
“The determination to willingly sacrifice one’s body for the peace of one’s country and mankind.”
——A hero’s life is not a hero’s.
Even war heroes were no exception.
And after a moment of silence, Lieutenant General Kilgore asked:
“Really… did the ‘King of Heroes’ betray humanity?”
“By his own will, he denied humanity and became the lord of heroes.”
The head of the United States answered.
To put it bluntly, he had no idea what decision the King of Heroes had made or what had happened. But I could vaguely ‘feel’ it.
Because he is closer to a human being than a hero.
“We clearly remember your ‘heroic performance’ as a player and as a human race.”
“Do you regret your actions?”
The President of the United States asked, and Lieutenant General Kilgore remained silent.
“Director Park Tae-sik, we remember the dedication you showed for the peace and stability of the Republic of Korea.”
Likewise, another nameless hero was facing the leaders of humans.
“Mr. President…..
“I remember that the player Kang Yoo-seong was a very special person to you. And I also express my deepest condolences to the fact that Kang Yoo-seong’s heroic performance over five seasons ended in such tragedy.”
“Really, that bastard…
“You’re feeling it too, aren’t you?”
It was as he said. An extremely ominous feeling that cannot be clearly explained.
I couldn’t control this feeling that the King of Heroes was a ‘monster’, as if it were a sense of disgust that was instinctively imprinted in my genes.
“And as you well know, sometimes in order to do the ‘right thing’ you have to be prepared to do it the ‘wrong way.’”
Not the right way. At those words, Master Park, the ‘head of the National Intelligence Service’ and the Assassin Lord’s contractor, burst out laughing. Even though his name was not at the top of the ranking board, he too was a hero. A hero whose name will never be revealed.
“Our country remembers your heroic dedication, Director Park.”
At that time.
Armed soldiers stormed into the circus guild headquarters building that was supposed to belong to the King of Players.
Separately from the press conference room, where the standoff was already in chaos, players loyal to Kang Yoo-seong and the saint knelt one by one there.
Additionally, the residence of the girl known as ‘the child of a hero king and a saint’ was no exception.
However, when CIPO’s player police officers, led by the hero Mistress, arrived there, they could not find anything resembling a girl.
[“It is too dangerous a place for that child.”]
That is why the Lord of Heroes whispered to the Lord of Witches early on, and Lily was no longer there.
“No world in the tower is safe for us or the child anymore.”]
[The Lord of Witches whispers to the Lord of Heroes.]
But both the Lords and Lily knew. That there is no longer any place for them to escape to.
Those who were once called heroes were being forced to show ‘heroic loyalty’ in front of those in power.
Tier 16 Human Tower.
There were absolutely no recognizable monsters or anything there.
There were only presidents, war heroes, and police and soldiers.
