Insanely-Talented Player

Episode 173:

When the hero and saint of the game face each other over the vacant position of overlord.

In the endless labyrinth, Maria held out her hand to Yoosung. By willingly claiming to be the star he must move towards and a guidepost in the dark night sky.

And the Lord of the Game, a saint who had seen countless broken heroes before the resolution of the hero and the saint, and who was in despair, opened her mouth.

“That is your decision.”]

“Yes.”

Maria answered. It was a voice without the slightest hesitation, doubt, or even wavering.

“It’s our decision.”

“Do you mean dragging the man you love into endless madness and despair and encouraging him to suffer under the chains of the name of a hero?” the

Lord of the Game asked back. The remains of broken saints who had no choice but to be with the broken hero.

The shadow beneath the hood was very dark.

“is it so.”

[“....”]

They were always like that. Just like they always did.

Sigh!

Countless chains began to wriggle like living creatures along the hem of the game lord's robe.

Like hundreds of snakes writhing beneath her feet.

“You and we are by no means stars.”]

said the Lord of the Game. She was still explaining the cold and impossible logic of reality as to why Yoosung could not become a hero.

As the broken heroes failed one by one and piled up the remains of the heroes in despair, that number of saints stood by and watched. I watched the hero suffer and break in the endless cycle of destruction and tragedy.

The pieces of the hero, broken and shattered endlessly, cut out the heart of the saint.

That is why the despairing saint did not back down either. No, I couldn't back down.

“

It is a fire that leads to destruction of the poor fire moth.”]

Because it was the same for her.

He knew what kind of outcome this moment's decision to trust in the Lord of Heroes, the words of courage he whispered to the wandering man, and the hand he extended as if he were his star had ended.

I knew what kind of terrible ending the courage that stood by and supported the Lord of Heroes until the end so that he would not fall to his knees would lead to.

“Do you regret your decision?”

[“You will not understand my despair, young and immature saint.”]

The Lord of the Game sneered coldly.

“But one day you will understand.”]

This was the foolishness of her decision, and there she was, trying to repeat that foolishness again.

The man, the clown monarch, was always smiling.

At the same time, he was not smiling even for a moment.

It was her fault for making him like this. Because the road to hell was paved with good intentions.

[“The hero is broken, the saint despairs... repeating the same foolishness endlessly.”] Therefore,

the saint who despaired said to the saint who had not despaired yet.

As the broken hero said earlier before the not-yet-broken hero.

[“I keep repeating to myself that next time it will really be different.”]

“It will be different.”

Just then Maria answered.

[“....”]

The Lord of the Game did not answer.

She is just silent, with a shadow that is blacker and darker than ever before under the pitch-black hood she covers.

“Oh, how foolish humans are.”]

“Unfortunately, Yoosung and I are no longer human.”

And Maria answered what she said.

“Oh my god, is that so?”]

A cold mockery inadvertently came out in response.

[“It’s cute too.”]

Like an adult looking at a seven-year-old child who claims he is all grown up.

You're not human. In her view, the two people there were very human beings.

In the distant past that she couldn't even remember, she was also human. Just as he was a broken hero.

And now, as the ruler of the game and as a god, she has seen so many things that she can't even remember the humans of those days.

[“In the life we believe to be ours, how many decisions do you think we actually made out of our own will?”]

So the Lord of the Game said.

“No decision we make can change this world.”]

Because everything is just a part of fate.

It was the undeniable harshness of reality.

As countless heroes were broken and saints despaired, their remains were piled up there.

Heroes can't change the world. A saint cannot save a hero.

Even your will to go against fate is only a part of that greater fate.

And that was right then.

“......If the.”

At the very place where the two saints were talking, the silent monarch of heroes spoke.

“If everything in this world were determined and nothing was ‘our will.’”

It's like I just can't understand it.

“Why are you blocking our path?”

[“....”]

The Lord of the Game did not answer. However, I couldn't help but be at a loss for words at that question.

“If we don’t have the right to make choices or decisions to be ridiculed, then why do we try to block ‘our choices’?”

Yoosung asked.

“For you, that wouldn’t even be a choice.”

The Lord of the Game, the despairing saint still did not respond.

That's why Yooseong continued speaking.

“What I want to become is not a ‘successful hero.’”

From the very day that the broken hero and clown lord reached out to him.

“I just wanted to be a hero.”

[“....”]

The Lord of the Game still remained silent.

But underneath her hood, the shadow was writhing like a living creature.

“It doesn’t matter whether the dream succeeds or fails.”

That is why Yooseong, the Lord of Heroes, spoke.

“It’s okay to fail.”

There is no such thing as logic by force.

“...Because I want to be a hero and I don’t want to give up on that dream.”

There were no easy fights or battles.

The Lord of Heroes simply spoke, and Mary, the despairing saint and Lord of Games, remained silent.

[“Are you saying it’s okay even if I fail?”]

After silence, Maria asked.

“Yes. That will be fine.”

Yooseong answered.

“I promise.”

It was no longer a story of two saints.

“Even if after about five years you realize that the path you chose was wrong...

said the Lord of Heroes.

“I will never point a finger at you, who supported me that day, and I will never blame her for my misfortune and pain.”

Take your oath there.

Even that oath was laughable for the Lord of the Game.

Because she knew better than anyone else the end of that resolution and oath.

[“You and I, we... have always been like that.”]

That’s why Maria said.

Just like ‘he', she also wanted to be by her side, carry out his resolution and remain a hero.

“Can you promise me one thing?”]

After speaking, the despairing saint opened her mouth.

“Please tell me, Holy Lady.” The hero answered.

[“Don’t be unhappy.”]

“You won’t be unhappy.”

And Maria answered.

[“Yes.”]

The Lord of the Game smiled sadly in front of the hero and saint’s answers.

He smiled and then said.

“I hope that your future will be happy.”]

No matter how many times they have made the same foolish mistakes and endlessly repeated the same despair and destruction.

I could only repeat it to myself.

It will really be different next time.

Because that was the very definition of insanity.

[The Lord of the Game breaks the rules and exerts absolute influence...!]

[Tier 16 Human Tower has been conquered!]

A message came to mind and the scenery around me quickly faded away.

I just looked around.

There was a very familiar scene there.

The guild headquarters of the International Players Guild Circus, to which the King of Heroes belongs.

Dusk fell over the horizon, and I looked around at the scenery reflected under the glass window beyond.

There, there was no sign of the UN Peacekeeping Force (UNPKF), the barricades, the player police, or the national army that had surrounded the King of Heroes until just moments before.

I turned my head again.

Reporters were there.

There were no people who were caught up in anxiety and fear and pointed fingers at the King of Heroes. Those who reprimanded the hero for abandoning his duty were nowhere to be seen.

Just as usual, they were praising the ‘King of Heroes'.

Like people who don't remember anything about what happened to them or what they did.

“Breaking news! The King of Heroes and the Holy Maiden have just successfully defeated the season boss at the ‘Tier 16 Tower’!” “I

can’t believe it when I see it! Only two players defeated the ‘season boss’ and preserved world peace!”

“Is it the power of love, after all? The only way to see it is...

the 16th tier human tower.

A human monarch who represents the will of the humans who urge the hero to make sacrifices. And even the despairing saintess and lord of the game who stopped Yoo Seong and the ‘Lord of Heroes’ until the very last moment.

The series of events felt like just a fleeting one-night dream.

The humans still there knew nothing.

As if all the commotion that had been blocking the path of Yoosung and the saintess until now was a lie.

It's as if he doesn't know anything about the heroes and powers that fell in Yooseong's way there.

“You can think whatever you want. “How did I survive a day or two?”

That's why Yoosung shrugged his shoulders as if it were someone else's business.

In the face of the endless barrage of flashes and the loud shouts of reporters in front of camera shutters, I couldn't even just laugh out loud.

As he has done so far, Kang Yoo-seong, the king of heroes and player, protected the world. Along with him are other heroes who gave their all for the world.

A few months later.

Yoosung raised his head, looking behind the endless camera flashes.

“Yoosung, please say something kind, even if it’s something you don’t like. “I’ll ask you this, okay?”

“Please give us your thoughts on the heroic performance you risked your life to protect the world!” the

reporter said, and Yoosung reluctantly moved his face in front of the microphone.

“I...■

That very day.

At the throne at the end, he remembers the ‘adult' who blocked his path and the lover who supported his dream of becoming a hero until the end.

“Now it begins.”

That day, the world became a game.

Eleven years have passed since then, and five years have passed since “Endless Labyrinth.”