Obviously, he had returned to Earth before it entered the Autoborn Stage, met his mother again, and returned to the woman he loved. And that was more than enough compensation for his decision not to move to the next stage called Mamont.

But the earth, which stopped developing without any further change or evolution, was a kind of prison for him. But he put up with it over and over again because that was his own choice. So it was only natural for him to face the consequences.

Then he fell asleep again because he had nothing else to do other than that.

Even though he called it a deep sleep, it was more like intentionally blocking his consciousness.

Therefore, he did not really dream anything while hibernating for 3,000 years.

But he could meet his lover Haein Song after a really long, long time.

“Honey, I love you.”

And he also met his mother.

“Son, cheer up!”

After that, he met many others who had relationships with him in one way or another when they were alive.

“How can he be so powerful when he is only Varium?”

“No way! This is absolutely impossible!”

:

:

“Blow! Blood Storm!”

“I will eat everything! Gluttony!”

“Time! Stop! Time Stop!”

Puck! Puck! Bang! Bang!

Jiwon Lee could watch his own battles with those called Seven Great Emperors on Earth as well as the Angels and Claudias he faced on the Continent of Judgement, and the monsters called Adora, his last enemy, as if he was watching them in a movie theater.

And he slightly trembled at such fighting scenes.

Of course, he didn’t tremble out of fear.

Instead, he felt delight, or joy and ecstasy.

And he definitely felt that he wanted to go to the stage called Mamont, for he saw no reason to stay on earth which had no people he loved or should protect.

At that moment, he seemed to feel that those who he missed so dearly had been really proactive in supporting his wishes.

“Honey, do whatever you want!”

“Son, I will always support you.”

“Jiwon, hang in there!”

“Thank you for your support. You no longer have to be bound by anything meaningless. Stagnation without any change means your presence is meaningless.”

They supported him strongly as if they were him.

But he took their words with a grain of salt because he knew that it was only a dream, and that they were trying to reinforce the conviction that it was the right choice.

At that moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and opened his mouth gently.

“At the time, it was definitely the right choice. But now I want to go to the stage called Mamont.”

Back then, as time passed, his eyes became blurry.

But now his eyes shone brighter than ever.

Anyway, he made the decision to move on to the stage of Marmont, and started preparing because he didn’t know how to get there again.

He had some legwork to do to find out.

***

In Kuhana 1000 years later.

Oh!

I’ve heard of that name…

Me too!

Even though he was stronger than anybody else, he refused to move on to the next stage.

Man, he really makes me have goosebumps! After all, all the rumors about him proved true!

It took him some time, but in the end, Jiwon Lee found a method.

And that’s why he came to Kuhana before moving on to the Continent of Judgement after passing the Autoborn Stage.

After briefly introducing himself, he opened his mouth again.

“I will bet all my power on it. Nine people here? If you guys share only 10% of my power, you guys will bring about an overwhelming victory not only in the Continent of Judgement, but also in the stage called Mamont.”

Of course, we know it. But do we really have to accept such a gamble?

That’s right!

“Don’t worry. I will not intervene, nor will I fight.”

What?

Jiwon Lee, you don’t want to intervene?

Are you serious?

“Sure. I won’t intervene. I will make it come true at the Autoborn Stage. The guys you will confront are as many as five years behind your capabilities. So you better think of it as a rehearsal for your true battle that will take place on the Continent of Judgement.”

Why are you being so kind as to make an offer like this?

“Otherwise, you won’t accept my offer just like the rulers of the other 178 places I visited.”

That was true. He had already been to 178 places, and Kuhana was the 179th place he visited. This was his 179th offer.

Alright. I agree.

Me, too…

Given the rumors about him, I’m a bit scared, but I think we have to accept his offer. But we have to make sure he should not intervene in our fight under any circumstances.

“Don’t worry. As soon as I finish designing what I am currently thinking of, I will choose to seal myself in front of you right away.”

Of course, what he was thinking of was a closed beta called ‘Forgotten Legend’ and an open beta ‘Revival Legend’.

Anyway, he made a contract with the nine rulers of Kuhana.

Of course, even he was not sure that this gamble would be successful. Actually, he felt the odds of failure were overwhelmingly high. But he went ahead because he had no other choice.

So he arranged a place called ‘Vten’ in America that he thought had the highest chance of success, and sealed himself with the rulers of Kuhana watching.

***

In Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, 10 years later.

Ring, ring!

A young boy studying hard at the desk paid attention to the message on his cell phone that suddenly rang. To be honest, he already spent more than one hour sitting in the chair for study, but he hardly learned anything.

“Wow!”

The boy let out a sound of joy at the message.

Congratulations. You have won access to the first closed beta of ‘Forgotten Legend’.

-You can use it after downloading the program after accessing ‘Forgotten Legend’ using a 2nd generation VR device.

Of course, the young boy wasn’t absorbed into the ‘Forgotten Legend’ from the beginning. He only thought of it as a new MMORPG.

But he could not help but shout for joy because he had been looking for a game that would save him from the toils of study in which he made little improvement no matter how much time he spent.

In any case, the boy accessed ‘Forgotten Legend’ right away.

***

In Cheongdam-dong, Seoul.

“…”

To be honest, I could not help but agonize, or more precisely, have lots of worries.

Obviously, I had returned to the world I used to know, but I could not simply ignore what I had gone through until now.

So I spent several days agonizing over what to do.

And I finally made a decision. Of course, my decision would affect my future course of action.

After I sorted out my complicated thoughts, I said to my father, mother, elder brother, and sister who were gathered in the living room.

“I think the Myongjin Guild is too small to embrace me.”

“?”

“??”

“???”