Chapter 493: Age After the Ending (7)

Sungwoo and the King of the Great Mountains were now on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. The two walked out to the beach after passing through the trees and gray buildings here and there.

Splash- Splash-

Soon the cobalt-colored sea spread out along with the sound of the refreshing waves. It was spectacular to see the sky assimilated with the sky blue, with its cool color refreshing the world.

The King of the Great Mountains whistled.

“I feel sorry for that. I wanted to have a great time with you after the game was over, but you are too busy. How about having a fling together sometime in the future?”

“…”

“Umm…”

The King of the Great Mountains glanced at him.

“…”

Sungwoo blatantly remained silent, but the king was very much used to it, so he just began to yak by himself, as always.

“Um, never mind. I was just giving you. Honestly, I want to go back to Mt. Sorak quickly. The blue sea and blue sky make me miss Mt. Sorak so much! Since I’m a boss monster born on the Korean peninsula, I guess I must have been designed for that environment, right?”

Of course, they were not walking on a foreign beach for fun or vacation. It’s because the dungeon where they found ‘Adam’s Bones’ was right here.

” Well, I might not stay on Mt. Sorak for a long time. Let me see. Well, I think a little over 4 years.”

He finished chatting sadly as if he lamented his situation.

The operating period of the ‘nanorobots’ in action around the world is now over 5 years left. As a result, the King of the Great Mountains can maintain his current body for about 5 years.

Sungwoo said, “If you keep talking nonsense like that, the lifespan of the nanorobot embedded in your body can be shortened faster.”

The King of the Great Mountains giggled at his unexpected response.

Sungwoo asked with a frown, “By the way, don’t you feel that ‘reaction’ yet?”

The King of the Great Mountains shook his head at his question.

“Well, you don’t necessarily feel it at the moment when you want to feel it. Sorry that I can’t help you when you have taken me for that reason.”

“Oh, never mind. If you feel the ‘reaction’, just focus on it properly. Don’t miss it like you did last time.”

“Don’t worry. Hold on tight and I’ll report you right away even if you feel a little bit.”

As for the ‘reaction’ that Sungwoo mentioned, it referred to a certain ‘voice’ that only the King of the Great Mountains could hear.

‘Who the hell would be next time?’

On the day when they met the ‘ending’ of the game, the King of the Great Mountains confessed that he heard another ‘voice’ other than the helper’s. He also said that it was none other than that ‘voice’, not the ‘helper,’ which helped him to get out of the control of the system.

‘He told me that it sounded much like a real God’s voice.’

The king’s argument had no substantial ground, but Sungwoo didn’t ignore it.

‘There must be something significant that I don’t know.’

Since the King of the Great Mountains served as an external medium, Sungwoo could not dismiss his testimony of another voice as a mere illusion or nonsense.

Soon he began to see that evidence.

‘System error…’

For some reason, the “system error” involving the King of the Great Mountains occurred.

It has happened four times so far. Because of that, the system in his location has malfunctioned, and every time that happened, the King of the Great Mountains said that he heard someone’s ‘voice’ that seemed to whisper into his ears.

Watching him nearby, Sungwoo instinctively felt something.

‘Certainly, there is something.’

Of course, since the system itself was created by humans, minor errors could occur.

But when he checked with the GMs from Zero Earth, who was in charge of system management, he confirmed that the system error was caused by ‘outside intervention’.

To put it simply, an unknown wave of unknown identity allegedly manipulated the ‘nanorobot’. The GMs said they could not figure out who was responsible for that, adding they could not prove who the hell stepped in, and where they did it.

Sungwoo even threatened the GMs to confess everything they might have hidden from him, but they said they didn’t know anything.

“It was the first time Walter complained to me so strongly that my threat was unfair.’

Since the wormhole was destroyed, the connection to the outside world was completely removed. Then, was it possible for outsiders to intervene?

Swearing on his honor, Walter emphasized that even the science and technology of ‘Zero Earth’, which created the system, would not be able to do it.

‘Then it should be the third party that even the GMs can’t identify…’

In other words, there was someone who handled the system better than the creator of the system. If that’s the case, are they friendly? Or are they just aggressors no different from those on Zero Earth?

‘Man, this is driving me nuts.”

Woooooooooooooo-

While Sungwoo was agonizing over it, a ‘magic drone’ flew from somewhere and started chasing him and the King of the Great Mountains.

Besides, dozens of drones were flying all over the island, monitoring everywhere.

“Man, they’re at it again.”

It seemed like a fairly large operation.

“They must have noticed you’ve come out of the dungeon. Seriously, it’s only natural for them to show this kind of protocol when somebody like you is coming!”

All of the drones belonged to the World Tree camp.

Sungwoo frowned, watching them.

“That’s not what I want.”

The purpose of those drones was to protect Sungwoo. Since he nominally served as the Chairman of the ‘Control Center’ and the World Tree camp, he had no choice but to be protected by the ‘Chairman’s Office’ at all times.

Nobody could dare to protect him, but it was a great help to him for them to give him an advance alert by checking out something unusual around him.

“Well, even if you don’t want it, you are in a position to get security protection, right? As the ruler of the world, it’s no wonder you have no privacy!”

“But this is overprotection! They’re going overboard…”

Soon two airships were seen at the edge of the beach facing the cliff in the distance.

And below them were about thirty players on standby. Sungwoo felt that the actual number of security and protocol personnel mobilized for him was at least fifty.

“It’s a pity they are wasting time protecting me here. They can be utilized for other purposes more efficiently.”

Sungwoo insisted that it was not necessary to mobilize such a large number of people, but the executive officers of the World Tree camp including Kyungsoo insisted he needed them for security reasons.

‘Yeah, it’s natural that they feel anxious if something unexpected happens to me.’

Without Sungwoo, it would be impossible for the ‘Control Center’ and even the World Tree camp to exist. They knew it, too, so protecting Sungwoo excessively was not for himself only, but for the whole world.

“Hmm, someone is running to us.”

At that moment someone was hurriedly running toward them along the beach.

It was a man.

“Oh! He’s that chief secretary!”

The ‘chief secretary’ referred to the man who served as both Sungwoo’s bodyguard and secretary. He was a 4-star priest at level 22, who was in charge of Sungwoo’s safety and health. He was a reliable person who Kyungsoo and Inho selected after vetting numerous candidates thoroughly.

He hurriedly came to Sungwoo and greeted him.

“Welcome back! Oh, you’re here, Sangoon! It’s been 11 days since I saw you last.”

‘Sangoon’ was the new name of the King of the Great Mountains. Since he could not use the same name that he had earned as the boss monster, he coined it for himself.

More precisely, his new name was Sangoon Kim.

The chief secretary brought bad news, saying, “Well, some big trouble occurred in Asadal, so I was wondering if I should enter the dungeon to convey the news to you. I’m so relieved to see you out here!”