Ending Maker

Chapter 75.1 – Settlement (1)

We have slightly long chapters this time, so I’ve split it again. Today’s chapter is 2/3 of the chapter, and the remaining 1/3 will be released tomorrow together with 1/3 of chapter 76 since it’s also as long as this one.

Terms used in this chapter:

Spec – gaming term that can mean a character’s specifications or specialization, or how one distributes skill points among the various skill trees available.

Control – gaming term which means how a user ‘controls’ the actions of their playable character, including aiming and moving skills, and the ability to use skills appropriately.

Gae-mo-tae (???) – A Korean slang used in chat rooms to describe someone who is really bad at playing games. ?Gae (?) means inferior or worthless, while mo-tae (??) means mother’s womb/uterus. Mo-tae is also used to refer to ‘being born’, ‘born to be’, ‘naturally’, etc. If you combine ‘mo-tae’ with the word ‘sol-lo’, it refers to people who are single since birth (no GF/BF ever). So, gae-mo-tae literally means being inferior/bad since birth.

Jude remembered his first encounter with Cordelia.

It was the time before they were reincarnated as Jude and Cordelia, when they were still Outboxer009 and Yellow Storm.

They had lived as Jude and Cordelia for many years, and if you count the number of years they’ve known each other, it was 22 years ago, as Jude had first met her in the game more than 5 years ago when he was still Kang Jin-ho.

It was the time when Outboxer009, or Kang Jin-ho, started playing the game.

In fact, Kang Jin-ho had lived a life that was quite far from games. It was only a coincidence that he suddenly began playing games and RPGs with VR functions.

One could say that it was beginner’s luck.

Fortunately, Legend of Heroes 2 was a game that Kang Jin-ho really liked.

‘It’s fun. It’s why people play games.’

In Legend of Heroes 2, there were two modes: single player and multiplayer.

In single player, the player literally conquered the story alone. On the other hand, multiplayer was a mode where single players who have finished any kind of ending of any character can gather together to take part in adventures.

‘In order to become strong in multiplayer, you have to play all the characters in single player and get high scores. It was not a joke to delve every corner in order to get high scores.’

There was a ‘Deck System’ in multiplayer mode.

It was a system that strengthened the stats of multiplayer characters by combining the stats and so on of each playable character that a user played in single player mode.

In other words, it meant that the character of a user who cleared both Jude and Cordelia in single player mode was stronger in multiplayer than the character of a user who only cleared Jude in single player mode.

On top of that, the multiplayer character of a user who cleared Jude with 120 points was stronger than the user who cleared Jude with 100 points.

‘In short, one had to clear all the characters in single player mode with the highest scores.’

It was a system that emphasized hard work, so he found it interesting, but didn’t think of actually trying it.

He wasn’t really interested in competing in multiplayer mode.

‘But let’s try experiencing it once.’

The bad ending was also an ending, so when he lost and got the death ending in ‘The Northern Barbarians’ Great Invasion,’ he gained access to multiplayer mode.

‘Okay, enter a nickname…’

He entered multiplayer mode under the name ‘Outboxer009.’

At first glance, it didn’t seem much different from single player mode, but there were two very big differences.

One was that there were other players in Pleiades besides Outboxer009 himself, and the other was the fact that the battle difficulty of the game rapidly became difficult.

[You have died.]

Not long after he went out of town, Outboxer009 accidentally died and became a corpse that slumped on the ground.

‘So that’s why you needed to clear single player mode.’

First of all, it was ideal to be above a certain level, whether it was on spec or control.

The enlightened Outboxer009 waited for a while before clicking the Reset button.

Because there was a user who was approaching him at that time.

‘Oh…are you trying to help me?’

If one used the Resurrection Feather that was given at the beginning of multiplayer mode, it was possible to save those who had just died.

At that time, Jude was still a novice gamer, so he was unaware of the attitude of gamers playing multiplayer games.

Therefore, with a pure heart, he waited for the user to approach him.

‘Pretty.’

He was sure that character’s name was Cordelia.

She was a beautiful girl with striking red hair.

The Cordelia user walked right in front of him and looked at Outboxer009’s corpse, and Kang Jin-ho stared at the Cordelia user with expectant eyes.

Then the Cordelia user said.

[Yellow Storm: LOL game gae-mo-tae]

‘What?’

The bewildered Jude blinked his eyes, but his character was still dead.

The Cordelia user laughed a few more times before just passing Outboxer009 and went on their way.

After a few seconds…a few minutes…

LOL game gae-mo-tae

Game gae-mo-tae.

You’re bad at games since birth.

It was a trivial remark.

Words that he could just ignore.

But strangely, no, mysteriously, the words struck Kang Jin-ho’s mind hard.

It was completely stuck in his head and did not disappear.

So naturally, the user who said those words was also clearly stored in Kang Jin-ho’s memory.

‘Yellow Storm.’

It was the first meeting of the two which Jude remembered but Cordelia did not remember.

***

“Hey! Get it quickly!”

“Huh?”

“Quickly!”

It was right after they defeated Madgar.

Cordelia abruptly urged him as she stared and smiled at the Essence of the Blue Moon, and Jude was a little confused.

“The Essence of the Blue Moon?”

“The Essence of the Blue Moon! What if Gentle Snow Breeze takes it away! Take it quickly! No, just absorb it! Okay? Quickly!”

Gentle Snow Breeze clearly said it.

The Essence of the Blue Moon was a very important item, so the animals in the area did not touch it.

She decided that he should use it in this extreme emergency.

“Just touch it and say that you accidentally absorbed its power. Yes, that would be good. I’ll help you make excuses.”

Cordelia who had said so far, quickly picked up the Essence of the Blue Moon from the ground and even placed it on Jude’s hand.

The Essence of the Blue Moon was an essence of the pure moonlight, so it was a cluster of divine power.

Therefore, Cordelia could not use it properly because she uses the witch’s power.

‘No, she has the sacred rod Moonlight.’

Wouldn’t the Essence of the Blue Moon be absorbed by Moonlight since it is also moonlight?

“Hey, wait a second. What about Moonlight? Wouldn’t it be able to absorb it?”

“Eh? Oh…as expected of my Jude. That’s a good idea…no. Just absorb it yourself. That would be better than strengthening equipment.”

“No, you’ll be the one using Moonlight so…”

“No, no. You absorb it. You consume it and open the third door. That’s much better.”

The two were yielding the item to each other, which was something that was unimaginable for them to do in the past.

And time passed while they were doing things that was unlike them.

“Oh no, she’s coming.”

Gentle Snow Breeze was flying towards them.

She had a lovely smile on her face, but for Cordelia, it looked like an evil face that had come to take away the item.

“I’ll do something about it, okay?”

“Wha-”

That was it.

Cordelia hurriedly blocked Jude’s mouth, and Gentle Snow Breeze landed in front of Jude and Cordelia.

“You did it, you two! We did it!”

Gentle Snow Breeze broadly smiled and shouted with her arms stretched out wide open.

Instead of hugging Gentle Snow Breeze, Cordelia said with a determined face.

“Gentle Snow Breeze!”

“Yes?”

“My Jude is sick!”

“Eh?!”

Gentle Snow Breeze was startled and turned to Jude, and Cordelia poked Jude in the ribs hard and silently whispered.

‘Pretend to be sick! Pretend to be sick!’

What the hell is she doing?

However, Jude made an exhausted expression to adapt to Cordelia’s intention, and Cordelia continued her words.

“Actually, Jude was born with an illness called Gueumjulmaek. Because of that, his body had been very weak since he was young. Look at his forearm here…”

Cordelia tried to emphasize Jude’s thin wrist and forearm, but soon blinked her eyes, and Gentle Snow Breeze tilted her head in confusion.

They had no choice but to do that because…

‘What! When did you become so strong?!’

Jude’s forearm was no longer like a corn’s stalk. It was strong and firm like a club.

‘No, I mean. Think about it. What are our levels now?’

At Jude’s rebuttal, Cordelia unconsciously gulped.

When she thought about it, it was just as Jude said.

Because of repeatedly leveling up, the two were already above level 40.

It was estimated that the highest level of Legend of Heroes 2 was over level 300, but that was when the great demons appeared. In this world though, the average level of ordinary knights was level 20.

Yet the two were around level 40.

Basically, one’s physical abilities increased when their level had gone up, so Jude, a martial artist character, had a greater increase than the wizard character Cordelia.

In addition, Jude had been constantly exercising every day according to Landius’ teachings, so it was natural that his forearms had become thicker.

‘Come to think of it, you’ve also become…taller?’

Because the two were close together, she realized their height difference again. She had to raise her head now in order to make eye contact with Jude.

‘It’s not a teenager’s growth period, since his growth is too fast…no, he’s 17 years old so it’s correct to say that it’s his growth period now.’

“Cordelia?”

Gentle Snow Breeze asked.

Cordelia who was in a daze for a while was startled, before she resumed talking.

“No, that! Anyway! Even though Jude is fine on the outside, he is in bad shape on the inside. So he needs treatment!”

“In bad…shape?”

Gentle Snow Breeze looked at Jude again, and Cordelia frowned.

She was having a hard time since Jude looked too healthy.

Moreover, Gentle Snow Breeze had seen Jude moving vigorously.

It seemed very difficult to convince that Jude, who was running like a gale earlier, was actually weak and sickly.

But Cordelia didn’t give up.

“No, that! He’s really suffering from overworking earlier. Once he lies down later, I’m sure he’ll be throwing up blood.”

“Re-really?”

“Yes, so he needs treatment. To heal it, he needs a lot of good energy. Like the Essence of the Blue Moon.”

Having spoken so far, Cordelia stared at Gentle Snow Breeze with expectant eyes, and Jude managed to hold back his laughter by covering his mouth with his hand.

Cordelia was acting and saying nonsense while scamming, but he found her appearance of working hard to scam someone as very cute.

Moreover, a smile was drawn on Jude’s face because of the fact that she was trying so hard.

“Uh…so to summarize…Jude is actually sick right now and needs the Essence of the Blue Moon to be cured?”

“Yes, that is correct. That’s it.”

Cordelia nervously stared at Gentle Snow Breeze.

In fact, Cordelia was in a bit abnormal state right now.

Her reasoning and emotions have become simpler because of the Beast Mode’s effect.

“Hmm, I see.”

Gentle Snow Breeze looked back at Jude, and Jude gently opened his hand to show the Essence of the Blue Moon.

Gentle Snow Breeze nodded her head.

“It’s alright. After all, we can’t return the Essence of the Blue Moon to the Moonlight Hill anyway. It would be better if someone needed it.”

“Eh? You can’t return it?”

“Yes, the connection between the Essence of the Blue Moon and Moonlight Hill is already broken. We have no choice but to collect the moonlight and dew to make the essence for a long time again, so…”

Gentle Snow Breeze’s words trailed off in the end, but she warmly smiled as she looked at Jude and Cordelia.

“I’ve seen Cordelia’s beautiful feelings for her fiancé. I’ll give you the Essence of the Blue Moon because I have to repay you for saving me and my children.”

“Wow, thank you very much.”

Cordelia bowed down in gratitude, before she tapped Jude on the chest and then winked.

‘See? This is what I can do. Who’ll take care of you if not me?’

It was true that the Essence of the Blue Moon gem could no longer be returned.

And it was true that Cordelia’s actions led to the gem being handed over to Jude.

‘All right, should I get started too then?’

‘Huh?’

Instead of answering again with his eyes, Jude took a step forward.

“O Gentle Snow Breeze, this humble one dares to speak to you.”

“Go ahead.”

“I would like to express my utmost gratitude first. Thank you very much for giving me the Essence of the Blue Moon.”

“No problem, as it’s a fair reward. Without you and Cordelia, I and my children would have still been stuck in this crisis.”

Gentle Snow Breeze laughed softly, and Cordelia was suddenly embarrassed as her cheeks turned slightly red. But Jude was different.

“You’re right. As Gentle Snow Breeze said, it is thanks to the efforts of me and Cordelia. But in fact, Cordelia’s achievement is even bigger. Cordelia worked harder and was more active than me.”

What is he talking about all of a sudden?

Cordelia looked at Jude in confusion, and Gentle Snow Breeze innocently smiled.

“I see. Thank you very much, Cordelia.”

“Yes, so shouldn’t Cordelia also have a reward?”

Jude replied.

The Essence of the Blue Moon was given to Jude, not Cordelia.

Cordelia herself hadn’t received any rewards yet.

In fact, it was rather unreasonable to demand compensation so directly.

But Jude didn’t care.

For his fiancée who had worked hard for him, he had to demonstrate to her the sophisticated way of scamming so that she can do it better next time.

“Gentle Snow Breeze, in my opinion…”

Like an expert teaching his skills to his assistant, he showed it to the two innocent girls, Cordelia and Gentle Snow Breeze.