Chapter 519

Seong Jihan surveyed his surroundings.

With HeavenNet gone, he found himself in a world steeped in darkness.

In this place not suited for anyone below administrator level, various energies ran rampant, swirling chaotically.

'HeavenNet was installed near Washington, if I remember correctly.'

Recalling his past memories, Seong Jihan navigated through the dark expanse.

While maintaining the Blue and red sword behind his back restricted his full capacity, he still progressed at a transcendent pace.

After advancing for a while,

Flash...!

Suddenly, light invaded the omnipresent darkness.

Light and darkness.

Positioned in the realm of darkness, Seong Jihan spotted a light-filled building and his eyes gleamed.

'I see English on that building.'

Even from here, the mismatched sizes of buildings looked unmanaged, but the signs displayed a language clearly used in America.

'I arrived earlier than I thought.'

Thud, thud.

Seong Jihan approached the sharp boundary where light and darkness diverged.

Just as he was about to cross it,

[BattleNet system detects 'irregularity'.]

Ziiiiing...!

A message window blocked his path.

'I thought it was going too smoothly.'

He thought just walking back would solve everything, but that was rarely how things worked.

Seong Jihan paused to see what would display next.

[Excluded Administrator, 'Blue Administrator,' information partially matches with player.]

[BattleNet entry is denied.]

'What?'

Why was he marked as an expelled member?

Seong Jihan looked incredulous.

He had wholeheartedly defended against BattleNet's rival platform, HeavenNet, yet the system now treated him as a criminal.

[Initiating detailed inspection.]

[Level... detected as 2. No match found with Blue Administrator.]

[Stat... 'Blue' is significantly detected. 99 percent match with Blue Administrator.]

[Title... 'The Martial God' detected. 100 percent match with Blue Administrator.]

While these messages began to appear,

The system continued comparing Seong Jihan's information with that of the Blue Administrator.

Excluding his level, all other matching data aligned.

Beep, beep...

An alarm sounded from the message window,

[Inspection results, the player matches 98 percent with the Blue Administrator.]

'Not 100 percent. Was it because my level is 2?'

Level seemed to account significantly in the inspection.

Seong Jihan pondered as he waited to see what the system would say next.

Ziiiiing...

A white-background message window popped up.

[Entry is not permitted.]

[To enter BattleNet, please reduce your resemblance with the Blue Administrator.]

[It is recommended to reset your 'Blue' stat.]

[It is recommended to reset your 'Red' stat.]

'Reset my stats?'

Seong Jihan snorted.

As if he would do that.

Dropping to level 2 might be an opportunity to re-grow easily and gain more points, but resetting his stats was out of the question.

"There's a better way than resetting."

Swoosh.

Seong Jihan grasped the Blue and Red sword floating behind him.

Although it was created to seal HeavenNet, its power as a sword was formidable.

'Maybe it's even superior to Taiji Sword.'

Thunk!

Seong Jihan raised Blue and Red Sword, piercing through the pristine message window.

Then, not only the message window but the boundary between light and darkness was immediately breached.

Crackle...

The shattered message window turned into light, and cracks began forming in the world.

'One more thrust should get me through.'

Swoosh.

As Seong Jihan prepared to thrust Blue and red again,

Tap, tap...

Sounds of cracks from beyond his location were heard.

Then,

Swoosh!

A hat pierced through the space.

'Is that...'

The hat owned by the Arena's Owner?

As Seong Jihan's eyes widened,

Swoosh...

A void energy emanated from the hat.

"There, there... Uncle!!"

Tears streaming, Yoon Seah appeared and embraced him tightly.

* * *

"Really, why did you take so long...?!"

Seong Jihan patted the back of the tearful Yoon Seah within his embrace.

"Seeing you like this, seems like some time has passed."

At his words, Yoon Seah pouted.

"A bit? More than five years have passed since Uncle disappeared!"

"...Five years?"

Seong Jihan's eyes widened slightly.

More time had passed than he thought.

Although reducing the level and the domain of HeavenNet took a while,

He hadn't realized it had been five years.

"Has everything been alright in the meantime?"

"Alright?..."

At Seong Jihan's question, Yoon Seah's complexion darkend.

Even at her arrival through the hat, her face had looked pale.

Seeing her face change color now,

It seemed something significant had indeed occurred.

"What, something happened to sister?"

"Mom? Mom's fine. It's you who's the problem, uncle."

"Me?"

No.

He was trapped for five years, what could possibly be the issue?

As Seong Jihan looked puzzled,

"Uh... this isn't the best place to talk. Should we go home first?"

Yoon Seah looked around and then suggested.

"Yes. Let's go home."

"Okay."

As she removed the hat,

Shooo...

From an inner space of the bowler hat, a dark vortex swirled, and a purple portal appeared.

'This... that's a considerable amount of void.'

Seeing the strength contained in such a casual gesture, awe appeared in Seong Jihan's eyes.

"You've become powerful?"

"I put in some effort trying to find you, uncle."

"Have you already become the owner of the Arena?"

"No, not yet. But it's almost the same."

"It seems so. The energy of the void gives it away."

As Seong Jihan conversed, he stepped into the portal.

And soon, the familiar scene of the living room came into view.

"Long time no see."

Returning home after five years.

Truthfully, he was so busy sealing HeavenNet that he hadn't realized how much time had passed.

Still, the familiar sight of the living room brought him relief.

Then,

Fwoosh...

From within Blue and red sword, a burst of red light flashed, spreading intense heat around.

'Ah, can't carry this around in daily life.'

Blue and Red, rebelling against HeavenNet's control, emanated tremendous heat.

Carrying it in everyday life was impractical.

Seong Jihan pondered how to handle Blue and Red.

'I should store it inside me for now.'

He brought the sword up behind his neck.

Chiik...

Then, Blue and Red seeped into his neck and back, forming a tattoo-like sword on his back.

'I'll keep it like this until I can safely bring it out.'

As Seong Jihan contemplated how to deal with Blue and Red,

Swoosh!

Yoon Seah arrived belatedly.

"Ugh, uncle... what is that sword? The portal got cut off, so I had to open it again."

"It's a rather strong sword."

"That doesn't seem like just 'strong'... and hey, you've got a new tattoo on your neck? And it's sealed?"

"Well, I figured it would melt the house if I left it be."

"Ahaha."

Yoon Seah nodded as she surveyed the scorched interior of the house.

"So, what was that you were saying earlier?"

"The thing about a problem with me?"

"Yes, what kind of issue would I be unaware of?"

"That's... where do I even begin..."

Struggling with how to explain the situation to Seong Jihan,

"Oh, uncle. Can you look outside the window? It's night right now."

Pointing to the living room window,

"Why the window?"

"You'll feel the change immediately. I'll sort my thoughts in the meantime."

What sort of trouble required time to sort thoughts?

Seong Jihan chuckled and approached the living room window.

Usually, Seong Jihan preferred this window over the main door.

A large full moon was hanging in the sky.

Had the cityscape changed?

Swoosh.

Seong Jihan leaned out to look below the window,

'Well, no major changes.'

The night view of Seoul made it hard to sense extraordinary changes.

Just the usual big city.

'She's not talking about remnants of the sword scar.'

A streak of blue light that stretched from the land to the sky.

The traces of the sword Seong Jihan had used to slay the Red Administrator still shone brilliantly after five years, but it hardly felt like a significant change over five years.

Then what was he supposed to see?

Just as Seong Jihan was about to survey the world once more,

Flash...!

Above in the sky, the full moon suddenly radiated light,

"...What's that?"

A green tree-like figure appeared.

"Did you see, uncle?"

"Yeah. Why's there a tree popping out of the full moon?"

"That's because... the Earth has become a colony of the World Tree Alliance."

"...What? A colony?"

* * *

During the five years Seong Jihan was gone,

Humanity, belonging to the Bronze league, thrived.

"Throughout the regular season of three years, we eventually finished as the first in the Bronze league."

"Without falling behind the World Tree Alliance?"

"Yeah. Objectively, they are stronger than humanity, but strangely, they conceded a lot, even in your absence, uncle."

Humanity had retained their number one ranking with the World Tree Alliance's concessions.

At that time, humanity's confidence peaked.

Then, during the playoffs that followed the regular season,

"They didn't ban me from the World Tree Alliance, so we swept all matches 3:0."

"They didn't ban you?"

"Yeah. It was almost like they were encouraging us to win every match 3:0."

Yoon Seah, soon to be the Arena's Owner.

Her power was too much for the Bronze league to handle.

Normally, the opposing teams would always ban her outright,

But the World Tree Alliance, fully aware of her strength, always allowed her to play.

Thus, humanity finished first in the regular season and swept through the playoffs.

"BattleNet gave us the option to either withdraw or advance to the Silver league."

"Really? I heard you need to win the Bronze league three times to get that option."

"We thought so too... but when we achieved 'undefeated victory in playoffs,' they allowed us to choose early."

Seong Jihan's gaze darkened.

'Was this why the World Tree Alliance deliberately conceded to humanity?'

Withdraw or advance.

To present this choice,

The World Tree Alliance had deliberately induced their own defeat.

"So, did humanity choose to advance?"

"Yes... A lot of people experienced it when the Red Administrator descended, right? What it feels like to be reduced to the lowest species."

Stumbling in the BattleNet league was one thing,

But having dominated the Bronze league, humanity was overflowing with confidence.

They could smoothly sail in BattleNet while enjoying these benefits.

And that confidence,

"Right after moving up to the Silver league, humanity was completely crushed."

"Really?"

"Yes, I was immediately banned, and the capabilities of the other players didn't measure up to the Silver league average."

The overwhelming performance that brought them to the Silver league.

But that place was far more brutal than humanity had anticipated.

"We managed to win one match in a year..."

"So you ended up at the bottom."

"Yes, we were overwhelmingly last in the league. If things continued, we would have faced species extermination..."

Even if they finished last in the Silver league,

It was not a matter of dropping to Bronze, but facing extinction, that's the BattleNet system.

"Did the Green Administrator save you? In return, made this a colony?"

"Exactly."

"From what you've said, it sounds like the World Tree Alliance planned to make this a colony."

"Yes. I suspect so."

Yggdrasil.

The Green Administrator had been fairly cooperative before,

But he hadn't expected them to turn Earth into a colony while he was away.

"So the issue you mentioned, that's about humanity becoming a colony?"

"...No. The problem's with the World Tree Alliance. They said if humanity wants to be a colony, they must first relinquish their faith."

"What faith?"

"In the 'Blue Administrator Seong Jihan'."

"What is this, a religion?"

As Seong Jihan looked bewildered by the talk of 'faith',

"It was, until recently."

Yoon Seah replied seriously.

"...Anyway, humanity agreed to survive. And the 'Blue Administrator Seong Jihan' was subjected to 'eradication from records'."

"Eradication from records?"

"Look at this."

Extending her hand, a handset flew towards her.

Swoosh.

After unlocking it, she typed 'Seong Jihan' into a portal site.

Then,

Only records of people with the same name appeared,

But none were related to Seong Jihan.

"Nothing."

"Yep, not just on the internet. You have been completely forgotten by people too..."

"...Really?"

"Yeah... For survival, humanity has abandoned you."

Yoon Seah's expression grew somber.

"...The traces of that blue sword are now considered an inexplicable natural phenomenon. The credit for evolving humanity to this point has been taken by the Green Administrator."

The Green Administrator suggested an eradication from records.

Was this not only about erasing records but also making people forget Seong Jihan from their memories?

Still.

"Seah, you remember me?"

"...Mom and I were so pissed, we fully switched to the Void. We're no longer affiliated with humanity."

"Sister too? Then it's no big deal."

"No, uncle. It's not that it's not a problem...! People have forgotten, they did it to save themselves!"

Yoon Seah grew even more upset.

"Why, it's enough if the family remembers, right?"

Seong Jihan chuckled at her reaction.

"It'll be easier to go to restaurants, at least. I was too famous to go anywhere before."

"...What are you talking about restaurants? You don't even eat."

"To me, that's all my name was worth."

Seong Jihan responded while recalling the earlier messages.

-BattleNet system detects 'irregularity'.

-Excluded Administrator, 'Blue Administrator,' information matches with player.

Irregularity.

Excluded Administrator.

And eradication from records.

In the last five years, apart from humanity's downfall,

It seemed a lot had happened in the administrative realm concerning his status.

'First, I need to understand what's going on.'

Thinking this, Seong Jihan waved goodbye to Yoon Seah.

"I'll step out for a bit."

"Okay... where are you going?"

"To see the world."

Whoosh!

He jumped from the window down to downtown Gangnam.

There, people briefly turned their gaze towards him.

"What, who is that guy..."

"He jumped from that building... Can anyone really land from that height?"

"Ah, forget it. Must be a player."

Unlike before, when everyone would notice Seong Jihan's landing,

Now, only a few reacted to such a spectacle.

"Really, nobody recognizes me..."

This felt strangely liberating.

Smirking at the crowd's reaction, Seong Jihan,

Thud, thud.

Naturally blended into the throngs of people.

Thus, he returned to Earth after five years as an anonymous figure.

(The Martial God Regressed to Level 2, Part 1 Conclusion)