“Globally speaking, there are several dungeons where the dead appear.”
At the sudden remark, the noisy conference room fell silent in an instant. It was Yang Yumi.
Yang Yumi had her long straight hair tied in two sections and was wearing a short skirt suit. It seemed she had dressed somewhat properly since today was a meeting.
Jaehee wondered if Yang Yumi had quit the Management Bureau and come to Eternal Guild because of the dress code.
Yang Yumi briefly bowed her head as if asking for permission while looking at Jaehee and the executives beside him, then stood up from her seat.
“The Management Bureau exchanges information with the management bureaus of each country regarding dungeons that have occurred worldwide, collecting and analyzing data. Of course, there are cases where each country hides things to some extent or lies. Officially, there were several Awakened Ones who said they encountered the dead during the tutorial process. And there are several dungeons where the dead appear—from what I remember, there’s one in Mexico, one in the United States, and ones in France, the Netherlands, and China.”
People focused on Yang Yumi’s words. While the Management Bureau did post information on their website, not all such content was made public.
“Are there any patterns or characteristics of dungeons where the dead have appeared?”
“When you say the dead, do they appear as they looked when alive? Or like zombies?”
“First, please keep in mind that the information I have may not be accurate, and that the dead from dungeons might be different from the dead in this mission. First of all, there wasn’t just one type of dead. There were two categories: the dead who bore no resemblance to their living appearance, and the dead who retained their living appearance.”
“Haah. Their living appearance…”
“Those who retained their living appearance had some consciousness and could even converse, but because of that… usually greater tragedies occurred. After all… if the dead that appeared looked like someone close to you, well.”
Sighs escaped here and there at Yang Yumi’s words. Those who had lost close family members must have felt their hearts drop.
“In terms of needing to be defeated, they’re no different from other dungeon monsters, and apparently their combat ability isn’t that high. You can think of the rest as similar to zombies in movies. Of course, since they’re not actual zombies, you won’t become one if bitten, but looking at the additional explanation for this mission… Since it says your vitality gets drained, I think it’s okay to think of them similarly to zombies.”
Zombies… Right, the mission notification had a warning that if you failed to drive away the dead and got caught, your vitality would be drained and you’d eventually become another one of the dead. Jaehee frowned as he confirmed the text once more.
He hadn’t thought to connect it to zombies, but it really did feel similar. Moreover, reading it carefully again, the nuance of the text was somewhat subtle. Not “kill” or “eliminate,” but “send back”?
“Wait. Everyone. Seeing that it says ‘send back,’ I’m getting a rather bad feeling about this.”
Jaehee scratched his head and looked at Jeongwoo. Jeongwoo nodded without saying anything. It meant Jaehee’s thinking was correct.
“It says ‘send back’ or ‘repel,’ not ‘eliminate’ or ‘kill.’ I think it’s probably because they’re already dead… If that’s the case, in the worst-case scenario, I’m thinking we might not be able to kill them.”
The color drained from people’s faces. It felt like he could see despair swelling up, gaining strength, and taking over the space. That’s when Jeongwoo stepped forward.
“But everyone, remember the previous system message. In that message, there was definitely a condition that said ‘if you use the King’s Veil.’ The King’s Veil is probably what repels the dead or provides protection.”
“Ah! That’s right! The King’s Veil! There was the King’s Veil!”
The agitated people murmured, clinging to the thread-like possibility with hope.
Jaehee let out a short sigh, feeling everyone’s gaze on him.
“Deploying the King’s Veil itself isn’t a problem. The King’s Veil is unique in that it doesn’t require mana or anything like that. But the problem is, the veil in areas where I’m not present has an extremely short duration and is incomplete.”
Among Awakened One skills, those related to Kings were extremely little known. The fact that most were defensive skills and hadn’t shown great effectiveness during dungeon raids also played a part. So there was no way others would know about these drawbacks of the King’s Veil.
In fact, Jaehee himself had only learned this during the rescue of Kang Mingyu.
“Th-then, couldn’t you deploy the veil as wide as possible from where you are, Guild Master?”
At someone’s words, people murmured and nodded.
This was something Jaehee had also considered.
“The size of the King’s Veil is related to that King’s forces. And it can’t overlap with another King’s territory. There are surely those who still haven’t revealed that they are Kings. Even if we plan for a certain size, if another King’s Veil is generated in between, it could be drastically reduced.”
“Ah…”
People began murmuring among themselves at the unexpected information. That’s when Jaehee’s father stepped forward.
“Then for now, let’s call all guild members to this building. We can’t help it if they refuse, but for now, we should tell everyone who can to gather nearby.”
“Ah, Father, but…”
“Guild Master. While you were away, we completed the purchase of this building where our office is and the newly constructed building next door. Since they’re office buildings, they won’t be very comfortable for people to live in, but this is an emergency, isn’t it? Some degree of inconvenience can’t be helped.”
Jaehee remembered that they’d said they would look for a new office, but he looked at his father in surprise that they’d bought the entire building in those few days.
“Understood. Then I’ll tell the guild members to gather here immediately. And…”
Shin Jisu hesitated for a moment before looking at Jaehee.
“Guild Master. Would it be possible for you to accept as many guild members as possible—no, as many subjects as possible? Right now… if this prediction is correct… everyone who can’t enter a King’s protection in this mission will all…”
“…Understood.”
Jaehee nodded heavily. In fact, he had anticipated this to some extent.
The system was continuously forcing them to choose the right King, and this game wouldn’t end until a single King was elected.
At that moment, as if it had been listening to this conversation, a system window appeared before Jaehee’s eyes.
[Would you like to view the Great Sovereign’s special functions? You have exceeded the minimum number of subjects required to use the Great Sovereign’s special functions.
◆ General Appointment: If it’s difficult to handle many tasks alone, utilizing talented people appropriately is also one method. Great Sovereign Shin Jaehee can appoint 3 generals. If you gain more subjects, the number of generals you can appoint will also increase.
You can exchange messages with generals at any time from anywhere.
Generals can receive and use some abilities with the King’s permission.
Generals can be delegated some rights with the King’s permission.
◆ Subject Management: An increase in subjects signifies the prosperity of the kingdom, but as a King, it becomes difficult to manage each and every subject. In such cases, try using the automatic enrollment approval function. Then subjects who wish to join will be automatically approved.
One more thing!: With automatic enrollment approval, you can set subjects to a temporary rank. Note that temporary ranks will lose their qualification after three months if not upgraded! ]
“Ha… Why are they only telling me this now…”
It was pointless to even mention how unhelpful and spiteful the system was. It never explained or informed about the various usable functions in advance. It only told you one by one as each situation arose.
Still, this information was quite useful, so he read through it carefully. Among them, the most useful was the General Appointment. This “message” probably wasn’t an actual text message, but a system message.
Jaehee first appointed Jeongwoo as General 1. Then the name Woo Jeongwoo appeared in blue with a letter icon beside it.
[Woo Jeongwoo idiot]
When he was staring at Woo Jeongwoo, their eyes met. He had checked his message. The letter icon next to Woo Jeongwoo’s name blinked.
[Shin Jaehee mutt]
Jaehee smirked looking at Jeongwoo. Jeongwoo was pretending he hadn’t done anything, looking somewhere else with a coy expression. He thought it was such childish behavior, not even fit for an elementary schooler, but his tension eased and his heart relaxed a little.
“Checking now, there’s an option to automatically accept subject applications and set them to temporary rank. For now, I’ll set subject enrollment to automatic. Yumi-ssi, please inform everyone about this matter. And, Father. I’ll leave the real estate matters in this area to you. It’ll be hectic since the mission starts tomorrow, but…”
Everyone was nodding, about to wrap up the meeting.
[ Peek-a-boo! Everyone, I really like seeing you prepare so hard for the mission. (･ω<)☆
If everyone had worked this hard from the beginning, I would have been even more excited!
Now, seeing you work so hard, I should give you a gift!
Tonight, I’ll give you a preview taste of the dead’s attack. Kyahahahaha ۴(ꆨ◡ꉺ) ]
“What is this!”
The conference room descended into chaos once again.
