SSG 246

Episode 246

Yuseong stared at the sea unfolding before his eyes. Even at a glance, the unruly waves kept crashing onto the shore.

‘If I go in there without any preparation, I’ll be dead right away.’

In the face of that immense force of nature, whether it was his nano machines or reinforced exoskeleton, it was clear they would be chewed up and crushed in an instant.

On top of that, there was the separate threat of monsters and beasts lurking beneath the surface.

Yuseong set out to find the bridge. The bridge that connected Siberia and Alaska, the one marked on the map.

But the bridge he found was no longer capable of connecting the two continents.

‘It’s hard to even call this something that’s simply broken in the middle.’

Near the beach, the structure of the bridge still remained, barely. But looking just a bit further out to sea, there was no trace left that a bridge had ever been there.

Not only the rough winds and waves of the Bering Strait, but even the glaciers drifting down from the Arctic had torn the bridge apart entirely.

When civilization existed, the bridge had been repaired and maintained with advanced technology, but now that civilization was gone, there was no way the bridge could withstand the overwhelming power of nature.

‘Still, this place is better.’

Other places weren’t even close enough to consider building a bridge.

If he were to pick another candidate site close to the Americas, there was a route from western Russia or Norway via the mid-sea islands and Greenland to Canada, but that was much farther than here.

Before that, the long distance to western Russia or Norway was already a problem.

‘I still have some time. Let’s think this through slowly.’

For now, he decided to establish a base here.

After looking at the remains of the bridge once more, Yuseong turned his back and left the beach.

---

Quite some time had passed since the guild alliance led by C.O.T.S’s Apollon faction and Jemutdaero had formed and then split apart.

There had been several more wars during that period.

However, given the scarcity of cities and the immense risk incurred if a city was lost, wars didn’t break out often. On top of that, in order to launch a war, knowing the coordinates of the opponent’s city was a requirement, making it even less likely.

But even so, wars did happen, and as a result, various guilds either perished or prospered.

However, Jemutdaero still held the title of strongest guild.

Not only did they already possess many cities, but after swallowing up the cities of the alliance guilds that attacked them, Jemutdaero had grown to a size no other guild could compete with.

On top of that, thanks to Yuseong and Lucky Guy securing high-level NPC talent early on, their development was advanced compared to the scale of their city. And it’s not like their city was small.

As a result, other guilds didn’t even dare to attack Jemutdaero.

Of course, if several upper-tier guilds united, even Jemutdaero wouldn’t be able to do anything.

But, given they couldn’t fully trust each other, and out of fear that their guilds would be weakened and actually suffer losses if they caused large damage to Jemutdaero, so far, no guild had actively tried to attack them.

That Jemutdaero was not a belligerent guild was also a reason.

Still, it wasn’t as if guilds looked on Jemutdaero favorably.

The bigger the guild, the more they resented and watched with envy and vigilance as Jemutdaero monopolized people’s attention.

Especially C.O.T.S, who had lost its city to Jemutdaero, felt that even more so.

Willy was walking through the guild building.

With his unique physicality and information gained using his wealth, he was steadily leveling up. Already, there wasn’t anyone in the guild who could confidently claim to beat him one-on-one.

Willy himself already considered himself the strongest in the guild.

What was more surprising was that even if he went around openly making such claims, people might think ill of it, but no one would openly deny it.

His skill had reached that high of a level.

Naturally, his status within the guild kept rising. Now, among the Python faction, he was regarded as No. 2 after Python himself.

Moreover, the Python faction was currently the one actually leading C.O.T.S.

The Apollon faction, who always challenged the Python faction, had gone to war with Jemutdaero alone and gotten crushed, causing Apollon’s power within C.O.T.S to rapidly shrink. Many players had switched to the Python faction.

But that didn’t mean the Apollon faction had vanished. Python hadn’t oppressed Apollon more than necessary.

What he wanted was an intact guild, not a crippled guild with half its faction eliminated.

Even with its loss of power, the faction led by Apollon was still strong. If a provoked Apollon suddenly snapped and tried to leave the guild with his followers, Python would also suffer.

That’s why Python gradually chipped away at the Apollon faction, absorbing them by taking advantage of his ascendant influence.

Of course, Apollon wasn’t planning to go down without a fight, so he was resisting desperately, but the power difference meant he was steadily being pushed back.

Thus, Willy’s presence within C.O.T.S had naturally soared as well.

“Hm?”

Someone was walking down the corridor from the opposite side.

“Tsk!”

A man grimaced openly at the sight of Willy.

It was Mad Hammer.

Contrary to Willy’s smooth success, Mad Hammer’s situation was not good.

Unlike Willy of the Python faction, he belonged to the declining Apollon faction.

Moreover, after the last war, Apollon, trying to minimize his own mistakes, shifted a significant share of the responsibility to his subordinates. Unluckily, Mad Hammer ended up shouldering most of it.

There was only one reason.

He was the first to propose attacking Mordin.

Of course, Mad Hammer had a lot to say for himself.

He had only suggested attacking Mordin because Apollon, anxious over losing ground to Python — and indeed, that had been the case — had pressed him for solutions.

Besides, Mad Hammer had only offered his opinion. Back then, at best, he’d been treated as a good rookie, and had no clout to push his idea forward on his own.

Naturally, the concrete plans were drawn up by Apollon and his aides.

How much responsibility could really be assigned to Mad Hammer in those circumstances?

But Apollon didn’t hesitate to push the blame, and no one else stopped him.

Not only the Apollon faction, but also the Python faction didn’t care if a member from another faction bore the blame.

As a result, Mad Hammer was currently marginalized within C.O.T.S.

He was still officially regarded as part of the Apollon faction, but neither Apollon nor his followers treated him as one of their own.

Still, even in such circumstances, Mad Hammer continued to be active in C.O.T.S.

It was out of his belief that he was blameless, his pride that he would somehow claw his way back up and show those who slighted him, and the vast tangible and intangible benefits he still received as a member of C.O.T.S, even while marginalized.

Of course, regardless of what an individual thinks, if the organization decided to cut someone loose, there was nothing a person could do, but surprisingly, C.O.T.S hadn’t actively tried to expel him.

In fact, they supported him to an extent that would make it hard for guild members to even believe he was marginalized.

There was only one reason: his overwhelming skill.

He was one of the very few who could challenge Willy’s prowess with sheer ability. That was Mad Hammer.

Whenever C.O.T.S clashed with other guilds, Mad Hammer was often at the front, rampaging and making major contributions, and so C.O.T.S couldn’t help but grant him certain benefits and conveniences.

For that reason, Mad Hammer occupied a peculiar position within the guild.

But even so, it was true he was looked at with white eyes by other guild members. Naturally, Mad Hammer wasn’t in a good mood.

And now, he ran into Willy, who had once been called his rival.

Since now, everything but his skill was different, it was inevitable Mad Hammer was upset.

However, contrary to his foul temper, Mad Hammer tried to silently pass Willy by.

You can only mock someone if you’re at a comparable level; he knew that if he tried to sneer now, it would only come off as the whining of a loser.

But unexpectedly, Willy stopped him.

“Mad Hammer.”

“Huh?”

Mad Hammer scowled at Willy like a neighborhood thug. His face would intimidate the faint of heart, but it had no effect on Willy.

“Let’s talk.”

“Why is C.O.T.S’s golden boy looking for a fallen man like me?”

He’d tried to let things go without mockery, but his temper flared and he couldn’t help but let something slip.

Of course, Willy was no pushover either.

“I’m not a promising rookie; I’m already a core member and the top power. Get it right.”

“You bastard!”

“Cut the crap and come with me. It won’t be bad for you, either.”

With that, Willy started walking ahead. Watching his back, Mad Hammer hesitated. To simply follow behind like a puppy stung his pride.

But knowing that, Willy’s reason for calling him piqued his curiosity. Mad Hammer briefly wondered if it was to laugh at him, but at least Willy wasn’t that kind of guy.

“Not coming?”

“Tsk!”

Clicking his tongue again, Mad Hammer started following Willy.

The place Willy led him to was some room within the guild. Just as C.O.T.S’s influence was great, its guild building was large, so there were plenty of quiet spaces where people rarely passed by. This room was one of them.

“Sit.”

“What amazing thing are you going to say that you’ve brought me here?”

Even as he kept up his sarcasm until the end, Mad Hammer obediently picked up a chair lying around and sat. Willy sat across from him.

“Even though I invited you, there’s nothing here to offer. Ark is fine, but this is the problem. Want some black bread?”

“I’ll kill you!”

Mad Hammer snapped. Black bread within Ark had become almost synonymous with Yuseong.

Having fallen straight to ruin after attacking Jemutdaero, where Yuseong belonged, it was a food he never wanted to see.

“Stop joking and get to the point.”

“Yeah. That’s always easier for us.”

Willy looked Mad Hammer straight in the eye.

“Having a hard time lately, aren’t you?”

“Not at all.”

With a truly calm expression, Mad Hammer responded.

Of course, it was bravado.

But Willy didn’t call out that obvious bluff. It was his turn to make a proposal.

A guy who’d lost everything and was surviving on pride alone. If he attacked that last bit of pride, no matter how good the conditions, he might just refuse.

So Willy did his best to rein in his own bad temper and continue the conversation.

The fact that the gap between him and Mad Hammer was now so large also helped him keep the conversation going smoothly.

“Alright, then that’s good. But what if there was a way for you to succeed even more than now?”

“Don’t beat around the bush, just say it.”

“Join hands with me.”

A look of curiosity and interest flashed across Mad Hammer’s eyes.