The Return of the Legendary All-Master

A man visited Earth Korea, grinding his teeth.

Lee Hwa-rang.

If he hadn’t encountered that bastard named Hoon before New World became reality, he would have maintained his position as the number one archer.

Although he had fallen from the ranks, his archery skills were still sharp.

The reason he visited Earth Korea.

“They must have information about that bastard here.”

Earth Korea would have information about the South Korean users who played New World.

Even if not in detail, they should be able to confirm at least some information.

What he wanted to confirm was information about Hoon.

Everything about how he moved and how he was able to defeat him.

“Welcome to the Association.”

The person who greeted Lee Hwa-rang was an employee guarding the entrance to the Association.

“Hmm?”

Lee Hwa-rang frowned.

The employee’s voice felt very unnatural.

To be precise, it was monotonous.

===

[NPC Information]

-Nickname: Hong Hyun-woo

-Level: 100

-Class: Association Security Guard

===

What’s this…?

Lee Hwa-rang’s eyes widened slightly.

“…Why is it an NPC instead of a user?”

He realized that Hong Hyun-woo wasn’t an ordinary NPC because of the employee ID card hanging around his neck.

Earth Korea Human Resources Team 3.

Hong Hyun-woo.

That’s what was written on the ID card.

“How may I help you?”

“…What are you?”

“Entry is not allowed without an access card.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Step aside if you don’t want to die.”

Lee Hwa-rang tried to pass by him and enter.

“Intruder!”

Hong Hyun-woo blocked Lee Hwa-rang’s path.

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[An unauthorized person is attempting to enter the Association.]

[All NPCs belonging to the Association will have their levels and stats increased as they are considered intruders.]

Following the warning, Hong Hyun-woo’s level instantly jumped to 400.

“Crazy!”

Lee Hwa-rang was startled and stepped back.

“The intruder will be eliminated.”

With those words, the main gate of Earth Korea opened, and 20 more employees appeared.

All of them had their levels jumped to 400.

“…Damn it.”

Lee Hwa-rang gritted his teeth and left the Association.

He didn’t know what was going on, but those people weren’t normal.

He didn’t know what would happen to him if he forced his way in.

Buzz-

At that moment, his smartphone in his pocket vibrated.

[Sa Jae-hyeok]

The caller was Sa Jae-hyeok.

‘Ha, not a single call since the suspension.’

After the suspension, Sa Jae-hyeok had completely cut off contact with Lee Hwa-rang.

He had abandoned him after getting him suspended for a year.

Just thinking about that bastard made him angry, and now he was calling without a care?

Lee Hwa-rang hesitated for a moment before answering the call.

He was furious, but he was curious to hear what that shameless bastard had to say.

‘You son of a bitch, if you talk nonsense, I’ll curse you out.’

He would unleash a torrent of curses and hang up.

[Hwa-rang.]

“What is it?”

[I know the suspension is meaningless now. So come back to Myth.]

“Ha, you suspended me for a year and now you want me back? Do you think I’m your fool?”

[There’s a way to get revenge on that bastard.]

“Revenge…?”

[Yes. If Myth hadn’t been messed with by that damn guy, we would have soared even higher. Don’t you think so too?]

“…”

He was right.

If he hadn’t gotten involved with that bastard, he would be the number one archer right now, with the game turned into reality.

[You can get revenge! So come back.]

“How?”

Lee Hwa-rang gritted his teeth whenever he thought of Myth.

He was so pleased when he heard that Myth had been eliminated early in the siege.

[You’ll know when you come.]

“No thanks. Who knows what other tricks you’ll play?”

[Did you enter any dungeons after the game became reality?]

“No.”

Even though the game had become reality, Lee Hwa-rang hadn’t entered any dungeons.

‘Observe the situation.’

He had lost much of his touch due to the long suspension.

So he focused on regaining his senses by hunting monsters on the streets.

[Then you might not know. I’ve made a contract.]

“A contract…?”

[Yes. I’ve gained immense power.]

“Nonsense.”

Lee Hwa-rang couldn’t understand.

[Whether it’s nonsense or not, you’ll see when you come. So, what will you do? Don’t you want revenge?]

“Are you sure I can get revenge?”

[Of course. And I won’t let Park Jin-Hyeok, who betrayed you, go unpunished either.]

“…Park Jin-Hyeok.”

Lee Hwa-rang gritted his teeth.

The friend he trusted more than anyone had abandoned him and joined Ho-Yeong.

It was all because he was overshadowed by that bastard Hoon.

He was someone he couldn’t let go of.

[Come back. Let’s get revenge together.]

“…If we fail, I won’t let you go unpunished.”

[Of course. I’ll stake my life on it.]

“Alright.”

Lee Hwa-rang’s eyes changed.

* * *

NPCs were generated all over the world.

Or rather, people were turned into NPCs, and these NPCs were composed of those who had worked at Earth and Genesis.

[Those bastards are truly evil…]

‘They’ve lost their sense of self.’

Mukho and Anima looked at them with pity.

Jeong-hoon felt the same.

“Yes… They are truly evil.”

The concept of human dignity didn’t exist for them.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t turn people into such a state.

[Is it impossible to heal them with something like Healing?]

‘Maybe there’s a way to restore them?’

“It’s impossible for now.”

If there was a way, he wouldn’t just be watching; he would be taking action right away.

The only way to return them to their original state was to end the game and revert the world to how it was before it started.

Jeong-hoon walked over to an NPC.

The NPC was a woman wearing an employee ID card with the name Yoo Ji-ah.

===

[NPC Information]

– Nickname: Yoo Ji-ah

– Level: 100

– Class: Sundries Manager

===

Her position was Sundries Manager.

[Her eyes are lifeless…]

‘How terrible.’

Turned into NPCs, they were literally puppets.

They couldn’t make judgments beyond their programmed responses.

Jeong-hoon approached her.

“I’d like to use my points.”

“Yes. Please choose the items you need.”

She snapped her fingers, and a list of items appeared before Jeong-hoon’s eyes.

But the item Jeong-hoon wanted wasn’t there.

“I need something else, not these.”

“Please tell me.”

“An Association access card. I need that.”

“You need 10,000 points to purchase an access card.”

10,000 points.

It wasn’t a small amount of points.

However, Jeong-hoon had closed 20 dungeons and even defeated Rakandra, the boss of the tutorial dungeon.

He could easily afford 10,000 points.

“Yes, I’ll buy it.”

“You have 10,000 points. Understood.”

Yoo Ji-ah nodded, and 10,000 points were deducted from Jeong-hoon’s balance.

At the same time, a black employee ID card was generated in his inventory.

[Association Access Card]

– Type: Access Card

– Grade: Epic

– Allows entry to the New World Association when in possession.

– Access is restricted to floors 1 through 8.

An access card that could be purchased from the Sundries Manager.

Originally, it should have been on the item list, but it was missing because the NPC conversion wasn’t fully complete yet.

‘I need to lower the difficulty of the dungeons that impose penalties.’

That was the reason Jeong-hoon purchased the access card.

Unlike now, in his previous life, Earth had been devastated by the tutorial.

In that situation, dungeons had erupted.

Among them, the difficulty of the dungeons that imposed penalties was beyond imagination, and disasters constantly plagued Earth.

But there was a way to lower the difficulty of those dungeons.

In his previous life, they imposed penalties, but now it would be different.

Jeong-hoon headed straight for Earth Korea.

But there were about twenty NPCs standing in front of the Association.

‘It seems someone visited.’

Moreover, their levels were 400, not 100.

That meant someone had tried to force their way in.

Jeong-hoon quickly lost interest and walked towards the main entrance.

As he approached, the NPCs’ gazes all turned towards him.

“Entry is not allowed without an access card.”

They seemed ready to attack if he didn’t present the access card.

Of course, that wouldn’t happen.

“Yes.”

Because Jeong-hoon presented his access card.

At the sight of the access card, the NPCs’ expressions softened.

And their levels dropped from 400 to 100.

“What is the purpose of your visit?”

“Just looking around.”

“Alright. You may pass.”

The NPC stepped aside.

Jeong-hoon passed them and entered Earth Korea.

The first floor was the lobby, and he could see a cafe and a lounge to the side.

‘It’s functioning normally.’

In the lobby, employees undergoing NPC conversion were staring blankly at the ceiling.

They were the ones who hadn’t been assigned roles yet.

Jeong-hoon approached a nearby NPC and took out his smartphone from his pocket.

A red message was displayed on the smartphone.

[NPC conversion in progress.]

[49%]

49%

In about 4-5 hours, it would reach 100%.

He had to finish his business before then.

“Yes, thank you.”

Jeong-hoon returned the smartphone to the NPC and headed towards the elevator to go upstairs.

To access the elevator, he had to scan his employee ID card, which, of course, the access card could also do.

Beep-

He used the access card to enter and boarded the elevator.

‘The management team is on the 7th floor, right?’

The management team.

They were the team responsible for immediately responding to bugs occurring in New World through real-time monitoring, but in reality, they were just highly-paid slackers with nothing to do.

There was no way bugs would occur in a game designed by beings who had transcended humanity.

Even if there were occasional bugs, they were a kind of arrangement disguised as bugs, so those with sharp minds noticed them and took advantage of the arrangements.

So, in reality, there was practically nothing for them to respond to.

[You have entered the 7th floor.]

Jeong-hoon opened the door blocking the elevator using his access card.

Beyond it, NPCs were sitting at their desks, seemingly working.

===

[NPC Information]

– Nickname: Oh Jin-soo

– Level: 100

– Class: Dungeon Manager

===

Oh Jin-soo, who had been sitting at the manager’s desk in the management team, had become a Dungeon Manager.

“How may I help you?”

Oh Jin-soo turned his head and looked at Jeong-hoon.

As expected, there was no focus in his eyes.

“Ah, I have some business.”

“Business?”

“Yes.”

Jeong-hoon activated Heavenly Vault and grabbed Oh Jin-soo’s neck.

“…”

But his body didn’t even flinch.

A cold sensation from the hand gripping his neck.

He didn’t seem like a living human at all.

[Activating Brainwashing.]

Jeong-hoon immediately cast Brainwashing.

At level 100, it should work without a problem.

Jeong-hoon gestured towards the computer with his chin.

“There’s a program for managing dungeons, right? Can you open it?”

“Yes.”

A positive answer came from Oh Jin-soo’s mouth.

It was proof that the Brainwashing had been successful.

“Open it.”

Jeong-hoon released his grip on his neck.

“Yes.”

The freed Oh Jin-soo sat down and opened the program.

‘That must be the program that only worked before the NPC conversion was complete.’

The program that would be cleanly deleted the moment the NPC conversion was finished.

And a new program would appear, one that even the administrator couldn’t change the settings of.

[161 hours remaining until normal dungeon generation.]

[Setting penalty-imposing dungeon difficulty to ‘Hell’ mode.]

161 hours until dungeon generation.

And the difficulty of the penalty-imposing dungeons was set to ‘Hell’.

If he waited for the dungeons to be generated like this, clearing them would become incredibly difficult.

‘I can’t change the time, but I can change the Hell mode.’

If he could just change that damn Hell mode, many countries would be able to avoid the penalties.

“Lower the mode.”

“Yes.”

Oh Jin-soo, under the influence of Brainwashing, tapped on the keyboard.

Warning messages flooded the monitor.

[Warning! Warning!]

[An attempt is being made to modify the program.]

[All individuals within a 200-meter radius of the computer attempting the modification will be killed.]

[Lv.??? demon Baal will appear to carry out the execution.]

———-