Chapter 211

Wait, why is it Harmony?!

Before I could even call forth my blade, the second Transcendent of Ardenia had been born—by an entirely unexpected means.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?”

“Why won’t she pledge loyalty?”

Despite the murmurs around her, Hahmony simply looked around. Her nonchalant attitude caused the whispers to grow louder.

“How dare this ceremony waste His Imperial Majesty’s time at such a glorious occasion?”

“I can’t believe they’re allowing a mere pop singer to participate…”

Comments began to crop up here and there. It was natural—there had undoubtedly been several rehearsals for this event involving the ruler of the Human Empire, whose pompous form towered over everyone as he donned a golden robe that gleamed under the light of the brightly lit stage.

But I couldn’t care about the rustling sounds around me.

No way…

What a remarkable human being Harmony is, truly exceptional. In Ardenia, she wasn’t highly regarded, but had she been born on Earth-34, she would’ve become a universal star.

Naturally, I had searched for occupations related to her.

“Yet there was no mention of any profession…”

But the situation had already unfolded, and Harmony was conferred with the. [Supremacy]

A Mythical Rank, no less.

Her circumstances differed greatly from Edward’s, who overcame infiltration through his innate blind faith. Besides, he was only a hero rank back then, wasn’t he?

His momentum… surpasses that of the Transcendents.

Surprisingly, Harmony went from not even being a completionist to becoming a Transcendent in a single bound.

This is an astonishing tale, one that would leave everyone in “Reality” utterly astounded.

To think that by simply handing them a card, an ordinary person could turn into a Transcendent?

The formation of the Alliance would draw the attention of all major powers within the macrocosm. The existence of a Transcendent defied the cosmic law that such beings could only arise when a [special individual] accomplished a [special deed]. It was truly an absurd tale.

And yet, it seems possible in Ardenia.

The game master had revealed that the purpose of the second ‘Creator God’ was to create a supreme deity. If the ultimate goal was to create a supreme being, it might not be difficult to manifest lesser gods along the way. Indeed, Transcendent-level monsters were being created as well.

The Divine Word, which had been faltering for a moment, suddenly shrank and disappeared as if the volume on a speaker had been turned down.

“Yes, sir.”

“Hmm?”

I looked at Harmony’s quiet voice. She was kneeling on one knee.

“I’ll do my utmost to show my devotion.”

I gazed at Harmony as she offered her respectful greeting.

Should I kill her?

Eliminating her wouldn’t be difficult. Despite being Transcendents, their presence wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful. I was already considered quite strong among low-rank Transcendents, so for a mere cleric like her to survive at a distance of just a few meters seemed impossible.

“Um… What’s going on?”

“Why the pause?”

This time, when I remained silent, the subjects of the Empire grew restless. I gathered my thoughts.

“Continue the ceremony,” I commanded.

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“Right away, Your Imperial Majesty.”

The investiture ceremony resumed after its brief interruption. The Sword God class, which I had briefly considered conferring upon Namgung Iljeon, was canceled, and instead, he was given a suitable legendary close-quarters class. Since the Sword God class was merely my own idea and I hadn’t consulted anyone else about it, changing his class didn’t cause any issues.

“Long live the Emperor!”

“Long live!”

Responding to their cheers, I waved my hand and quietly murmured:

“Log out.”

I was back on Earth, sitting in front of my computer.

Ruby was flabbergasted.

“Wait… you’re debiting me 150 billion immediately?”

In truth, giving a Mythical rank card to Harmony wasn’t necessarily a good thing. As an artist, not a warrior, even with Transcendent stats, her combat prowess wouldn’t improve much.

Despite this, I still bestowed the Mythical rank upon her.

After all, she had brought me over 100 billion won in profit.

”…I’ll be back for a moment. I need to visit Nemesis.”

“What? Why? Did the gacha fail?”

“That’s not it.”

“Well, I can see why you’d be upset after losing 150 billion…”

“I already told you, it’s not that. And what kind of person do you think I am to go to Nemesis after a failed gacha?”

I grumbled as I put on the suit. Ruby stayed behind in StartDragon, saying she had to work.

I suppose since she received a 15-billion-won song, she must be busy with album production.

Oh Ryung didn’t pay 15 billion won for just one song. The 15 billion won he gave me was an advance fee, agreed upon when we decided to create an album with the ten songs revealed by Harmony.

I never expected this. Even when the first sprouts were growing amidst all the confusion, we hadn’t made 15 billion won yet…

To have been given this much money even before the album has been created is truly a distribution befitting the Space Star. Even more shocking is that this isn’t the end of it; if it reaches a certain level of popularity, more money will come in.

The only problem is the existence of the Age Card in Ardenia, which was taken there thanks to the purchasing power of this 15 billion won.

It was all perfect… until this situation became so complicated.

I crossed the spatial boundary and arrived at the Surreal Research Institute, which persisted outside space and time. I had been registered as [Moguls], so I was able to enter the facility without any issues.

“Jaeyeon-ssi?”

“Hello. Carlton-ssi. Could I please meet President Bae?”

Carlton, Secretary of Love, narrowed his eyes at my question.

“Why? Does Jaeyeon-ssi not have beautiful and powerful dragons?”

I shook my head at his resentful tone.

“That’s not the problem.”

”…Then what is it?”

“I wanted to discuss the worldview of Ardenia with you.”

“What do you mean? No…” He wore an expression of disbelief for a moment, but before he could say more, the puppy that had been following him barked:

“Woof!”

“Oh… right. Follow me. The president is inside.”

As I entered the Guild Office with him, I saw Saram, with her sensual figure half-hidden under a baggy exercise outfit, her abundant hair tied back by a string. She was sitting by a large desk, hard at work.

“Ah, you’re here?”

Despite becoming quite close, this was a completely different sight from what I’d seen before. I also relaxed my speech.

“You look busy.”

“Without a doubt. This is the moment that will decide whether Nemesis falters or soars.”

This was the period when the entire universe was groaning due to the monster crisis.

In such a cosmic disaster, even Earth-34, relatively peaceful and detached from the problems abroad, was greatly affected.

Even on Earth-34, where games reigned supreme, games were still games. Especially for pay-to-win titles like Revenge—which lacked any training aspect in genres like Great War or Blade & Magic—surviving without bone-shattering innovation and change had become an arduous challenge.

“Apologies for this sudden request amidst your busy schedule… but do you happen to recall Grand Angel?”

“Grand Angel? Ah, the singing angels?”

“Yes, exactly. Do you remember anything about their background?”

Shockingly, the information sprang forth from my mind immediately. Love smiled incredulously at my response.

“That’s all? Did you really need to drop in unannounced like this just for that?”

Her words jolted me back to reality. No matter how close we were, as the CEO of an entire company, it was incredibly rude of me to simply show up without prior notice.

I should’ve at least called ahead.

“Ah… I’m sorry. I’ve been out of my mind lately. Something suddenly came up and I needed to know.”

“Why the sudden curiosity?”

“Huh?”

Taken aback by her question, I looked to Sangah for clarification.

“Why do you suddenly want to know? What made you suddenly curious about the Grand Angel’s background?”

Despite my disheveled appearance, my eyes must have twinkled with curiosity. My thoughts quickly sorted themselves out.

Of course, I couldn’t say such words to her. Instead, I revealed a secret within the realm of her understanding.

“Like you might’ve guessed… I’m writing a novel.”

“What’s it about?”

“New sprouts.”

”…You actually wrote it?”

His eyes widened with love, staring at me with an expression of disbelief.

Ah, my conscience is pricking me.

I had stolen a masterpiece and even appropriated its honor, but I couldn’t help it. This was especially true for Bae Saram, the planner of Revenge.

I had already consulted her about the copyright issue for Revenge and was answering all inquiries regarding copyright or plagiarism with a statement like “I have permission from the original author.”

She would inevitably hear about it, even without taking the time to investigate.

And as I mentioned when we first spoke about “When the tender sprouts appear,” she immediately understood.

“You have a few more works besides that one.”

“Haa… yes. I’ve often seen familiar place names and characters. Even in a work close to pure literature, a gate suddenly opens…”

It seemed she had also deduced when I had turned a corner. Her voice was tinged with nostalgia as she spoke.

“You truly are… one of a kind. Even when I adapted my own setting for a novel, the finished product was night and day… Then again, considering who you are, it’s no surprise you’ve already reached a transcendent state your father never managed.”

I sensed a peculiar weariness in her demeanor, but now wasn’t the time to probe further.

“More importantly, Grand Angel.”

”…Wow. And here I thought.”

Lee Sangyoon wore an expression of utter disbelief, but I merely gazed at her quietly. Both she and her secretary Carlton seemed strangely unsettled, but honestly, there was nothing I’d done to deserve their ire.

It wasn’t as if I had promised him the future or made any moves on him before. A physical relationship or even skin-to-skin contact was entirely normal between us.

Of course, I also think of love as a charming woman… but honestly, our relationship isn’t one that invokes a sense of responsibility. If anything, we’re more like boy and girl friends.

And as if he’d read my thoughts, Love smiled wryly and explained:

“Grand Angel. The sixteenth or seventeenth myth-class being I created, born from the soul of a girl who never bloomed, chosen by the Heavenly God. That’s the background story.”

“Is there a related character?”

Love tilted his head at my question.

“A character? No, I didn’t create anything that precise. But if you want to narrow it down, let’s say someone from the Holy Empire with a singing voice that could move the heavens?”

I asked, caught up in this all-too-familiar explanation.

“Name…?”

“No, I didn’t create one, didn’t I? Though if I had to come up with something, it’d be either ‘Sing’ or ‘Song’. Or maybe even ‘Singsong’.”

”…”

It seemed that my love hadn’t fully fleshed out her creation, despite being such a devoted fan of detailed settings.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s nothing for a VVIP poser like you. After all, your involvement will smooth out the flow of funds considerably.”

“Right. Keep up the good work.”

I rose from my seat. It was time to consider whether to eliminate or recruit the Transcendent who had recently appeared in Ardenia.

Bae Saram laughed at the absurdity of it all.

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re seriously leaving after just one question.”

Come to think of it, that’s always how he’d been. He was immune to her beauty and undeterred by her wealth. His eyes were always fixed on the future, though whether they were seeing things “rightly” or not was questionable. But for a Transcendent undergoing his mid-twenties, such a degree of madness wouldn’t be considered a flaw.

”…I’m truly impressed.”

He was, indeed, a shining star. How alluring he must have been for not one, not two, but five dragons—who saw humans as mere pets—to be infatuated with him?

Not just anyone could maintain a simple friendship with the eldest daughter of Earth-34’s second most absurdly rich family.

Ha, I never thought I’d entertain such pathetic notions even after dating over a hundred men.

The woman, grumbling as she reviewed the proposal, hesitated before she was about to add new elements to her story.

“Ah, perhaps ‘Singsong’ isn’t quite fitting? Maybe ‘Harmony,’ with its undertone of unison, would be better.”

She muttered to herself.

Love was about to undergo an update.