Every abandoned island had players on it.
“No, seriously, why isn’t he saying anything?”
Most of them were Easy difficulty users. Most of them held End Ocean–exclusive smartphones and waited for someone to post something.
“Hey. If he logged into the community, doesn’t that mean he plans to use the community?”
“Right. If he didn’t plan to use it, he wouldn’t log in at all. There’s no reason to announce your login record for no reason.”
“Damn it! Then why is there no reaction at all? Our Hell bro!”
When did they ever see him to be calling him “bro”?
But if someone’s handsome, even a kid is “oppa,” and if someone’s cool, even if you’re seeing him for the first time, he’s “bro.”
“Ah, please, just react to something!”
If it’s a greeting, then greet us!
If you saw it, then say you saw it!
If it’s declaring a dictatorship, then declare it...! Anything...!!
“Huh?!”
That was when it happened. An Easy clearer who’d been smoking alone over there jumped up.
“Hell bro posted!!!”
“Huh?!”
“Whaaaaat!”
It was a lie.
“Ah, damn it! You wanna die?”
“Grab that bastard!”
...He got caught and beat up good.
Anyway. Time passed—one day, or maybe two—inside that longing wait.
‘No, if he’s Hell difficulty, his combat power has to be in the hundreds of thousands. He came all the way here, so what the hell is he doing?’
It was torture, like a puppy panicking because it could smell meat right in front of its nose but didn’t know where it was.
“Hey! Hell bro posted!!!”
That same guy jumped up again.
“He’s pulling that shXt again.”
“Hey. Get lost.”
“No, no no no! This time it’s real!!”
It was a lie.
...No, it wasn’t.
“It’s reaaaal!!”
───
Title: This is Hell difficulty clearer Dante Hiacapo.
Author: Dante[Hell]
───
‘Whoa. Holy shXt!!’
Next to the author’s name, their origin difficulty shows.
Like Robin[Easy].
That was a symbol of power.
Like an inborn class.
‘For the last ten years, even seeing [Hard] on the board made my blood run backward....’
Because it felt like seeing something like “landlord” or “noble.”
‘[Hell], though?!’
Royalty had appeared.
Everyone felt something like that.
Anyway. They opened the post.
───
Greetings to the players of End Ocean.
Thank you for the warm welcome.
I am Dante, a Hell difficulty clearer.
I am only a single player, but many of you seem curious about my stance, so I am posting this.
⋮
───
At least up to here, it passed.
‘What is this?’
No—was it just “passed”?
‘Polite speech...!’
‘He’s nice...!’
It was maximum favorable.
Normally, the first paragraph of posts from those [Hard difficulty] bastards—hegemons—was always something like <I proclaim from above>, or <I announce to End Ocean>, or they didn’t even write it themselves and had some underling post <This is a global notice>.
But he was writing it himself. Stating his name. Speaking politely. Being kind.
‘Ah. I really was livestock.’
Getting happy over something like this...!
───
I apologize for not being able to reply to the messages. There were too many....
However, I understand that many of you have many questions about me, End Ocean, and Hell difficulty. To state my position:
First, I have no intention of belonging to any conflict or faction within End Ocean.
I simply want to obtain information about any errors or bugs within the main game [Hiaca Academy].
Many Hell difficulty players have died because of those bugs, and because of that, no clearer has appeared until now.
Therefore, if anyone knows the bugs, please send me a message. If you add [Bug Report] or similar at the beginning of your message, it will be easier for me to find.
⋮
───
“Ah!”
A player reading slapped his knee.
“Ahhh, so that’s why....”
It was so entertaining.
A secret buried in this world for over ten years.
Why is there no [Hell difficulty] clearer? Not even one?
The answer was written there honestly.
‘It was because of bugs!’
There were only rumors. It’s too hard. There are bugs. Someone cleared it but turned into some immortal sage and didn’t need to come, and so on....
They’d been curious.
And now an actual clearer had appeared and given a definite answer.
“Hey.”
“Hm?”
“But if it’s bugs, we barely know anything.”
“Ah, right.”
All they knew was the commonly known 2.1.5 bug... they knew almost nothing.
“Only Hard difficulty would know a bit. Didn’t those guys hotfix a few bugs?”
Sure enough—
───
Also, I would like to meet separately with the five Hard difficulty clearers.
───
That was as far as the post went.
Below it, hundreds of anonymous comments were pouring in.
- A real man answers everything ♥ Hell bro ♥
- After only seeing those shXtheads who always ignored us, it feels weird seeing a post that respects us.
- This is what class is, for real...
- I love you ♥ Hell bro ♥
- Wow.
- Huh, if you only want to look into bugs, you won’t make your own faction? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
- Bro, please team up with the Sub-king and kill the lord ㅠ
└ The Sub-king is a piece of shXt too, same difference, yeah;;
└ Still better than that lord bastard.
- Let’s get married ♥ Hell bro ♥
There still wasn’t any reaction from the [Hard] guys yet.
But the players knew.
‘Those bastards are being cautious right now.’
A bomb had dropped into a power balance that had been stretched taut.
They didn’t know how to react, so they were having internal meetings among themselves.
‘Conversation and deals have to match your level, too.’
Right now, the Hard difficulty people would be busy figuring out what level Hell bro was at. How strong he was.
- Hell bro question!! What’s your overall combat power? Over/under 1,000,000!!
Someone asked in the middle of it.
And Dante, who’d been quiet the whole time, posted a reply.
└ Dante[Hell]: Over
Just that one word, and everyone went rabid again.
- Over a million? That’s insane lol
- Wow, holy shXt lololololol
- Not even “a million,” but “over,” what the hell lololololololololol
Even the [Hard] guys, who loved flaunting their overwhelming combat power, couldn’t reach even 700,000 here even if they held [Myth] weapons.
After that, for hours, there was still no reaction at all from [Hard difficulty].
Sitting in the corner of the island, I scratched my chin.
“Quiet.”
“They probably need time to think.”
At Ran’s words, I nodded too.
Revealing my combat power wasn’t just pointless bragging.
From the look of things, [Hard] users seemed like the type to pick a fight if they thought you were easy.
‘If I take the first hit, I’ll have to hit back.’
If I hit back, they’d die. The relationship would turn into a mess.
‘It’s that feeling that we’re both dangerous.’
As an analogy, it was like an American traffic cop and a threatening-looking driver.
Because both sides have guns, you show exaggerated respect like, “Haha, officer, I’m safe~,”
That was what I intended to do, but—
“The analogy might be a bit off.”
“Huh?”
“They have a gun, but you have a cannon, Professor.”
“.......”
I frowned.
“Don’t they have cannons too? Hard difficulty, plus End Ocean–exclusive items....”
“Even then, they won’t reach one million.”
“Instead, they have numbers.”
I closed my eyes.
It was a very subtle point.
Sometimes, just existing makes people feel conflict or threat.
No matter how nicely you show both hands and say, “Officer, I don’t have a gun in my hands~”
If you’re a huge, terrifying-looking guy covered in tattoos, the cop still gets tense....
In the end, humans are animals too. And most animals are territorial.
Just by existing, I was a tiger, an elephant, and a whale that had intruded on their territory.
“...I just want to meet them and talk, but is that really so hard?”
I sincerely hoped the five lions wouldn’t tense up.
As an elephant, I wanted to communicate peacefully with them.
Oh, these are your manes? They’re so soft. ^0^
This is my trunk, it’s long and it can suck up water. ^3^
...Like that.
***
But the flow of the world doesn’t go the way I want.
While the strong watched each other and enjoyed their silence,
That night, a weird post went up.
< Rabbit[Easy]: We are starting a fundraising drive for Hell bro. >
Fundraising?
“Kim Yoonchan. What kind of post is this?”
Robin glanced at my face and answered.
“Ah, it’s the Liberation Army.”
“Liberation Army?”
“He’s an [Easy difficulty] user who uses that weird nickname ‘Rabbit.’ He’s been waiting for a Hell difficulty user to come for years.”
Kim Yoonchan showed me a photo of an H-shaped flag.
What flashed through my head was an [Easy difficulty] user who’d intensely tried to project himself onto me.
...Could it be that guy?
“He’s extremely hostile toward Hard difficulty users, so he waited for a Hell difficulty user—uh, for you—to come.”
He said the guy tried all kinds of ways to make a rebel group and failed, and kept getting everything taken.
“Why is he so hostile toward the faction.”
“As far as I know, he’s capable, so he built up a lot of wealth, then the Hard guys tore it all away.”
“And he says he’s been killed by the lord’s faction almost 500 times.”
My god. Five hundred times.
Even dying once makes you flip out.
But I wasn’t interested in Liberation Armies or rebellions against the lord’s faction....
The problem was—
< Star Runes raised so far: 155,258 >
< Star Runes raised so far: 377,330 >
< Star Runes raised so far: 590,002 >
⋮
The Star Runes they meant to give me started piling up like crazy in an instant.
“Wow. This is insane, bro. They raised 600,000 in two hours.”
Uh-oh.
This is bad.
If Star Runes pile up like that, there’s no way I can not take them.
It’s a gift given in goodwill.
And I’m curious about the [End Ocean Shop] items too.
But if I accept it, it’s like strapping a machine gun to an elephant’s tusks.
The lions would get even more tense.
“Huh. Bro. At this rate, it’ll be over a million by tonight.”
And it wasn’t fundraising with pure intentions.
The body of the post said (A gift for Hell difficulty bro who worked hard coming to an unfamiliar world),
But—
‘I’m not an idiot.’
It was fundraising because they wanted me to do something for them.
‘Ah, I don’t want to fight for no reason.’
The elephant just wanted to ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) talk and leave....
But it seemed the mice thought differently.
“Wow. Wow. This is insane. An Easy user just donated 200,000 runes.”
“Isn’t that basically everything he saved for ten years?”
“Right. He paid tribute up top and donated every last bit that was left.”
Kim Yoonchan and the other Easy guys watched my face and laughed, chattering “Hehe.”
‘This is a headache.’
Even now, there was no statement from [Hard], so I decided to just wait quietly.
Then subtle, indirect movement began.
- Batalen[Easy]: Please stop this illegal fundraising event.
“This guy?”
“Ah, he’s the action captain of Lord Balthazar’s faction.”
“Yes. He’s our superior too.”
Then Rabbit posted right away.
- Rabbit[Easy]: Refused. It is not illegal to begin with. It violates none of the terms of any game company.
- Batalen[Easy]: Why are you doing this. You’re someone who knows better.
- Batalen[Easy]: Don’t create needless collective action. Stop the fundraising. Refund the donors.
- Rabbit[Easy]: Refused. This fundraising is for respect for and gratitude toward the Hell difficulty player Dante bro and his hard work. No one has the right to stop such a voluntary and free fundraising event.
Other users suddenly split and started fighting too.
And I realized something—
An ominous air was starting to flow.
They were still wearing masks.
But something was about to burst on its own.
Soon.
Flash—
That was when it happened.
“Ah!”
“L-light!”
Light Step⁺₊⋆ burst from the sky and spread out in all directions like a spiderweb.
It was the power of the Morning Star⁺₊⋆.
It was smaller than what I understood. From overall scale to depth.
In other words, it was definitely the Morning Star Constellation⁺₊⋆ of [Hard difficulty].
“It’s Ibamon! Hard difficulty...!”
Night seas everywhere were lit up like a spotlight.
The lions had started moving in earnest.