Second Life Ranker

Yeon-woo looked straight into Hades’ eyes. It was hard to read what Hades was thinking. The gods and demons Yeon-woo had met so far were transparent about their feelings: they laughed, grew angry, or smiled mysteriously.

But the cold smile on Hades’ face was different. Its depth made Yeon-woo feel like it would suck up his soul if he looked too long at it. It was like Tartarus itself. 

“You should choose the right question to ask.”

For a moment, Yeon-woo wondered why Hades was asking a question like this. 

“I prioritize fair trade over all. Trust? Respect? What does all that matter? They’re useless to me. I believe in giving as much as I receive. Trades are easier that way. I’m asking you to trade because I also have a question for you.”

Yeon-woo nodded. He could understand Hades’ personality. “Whose corpse did I see when I arrived?” The corpse of the Giant had been kilometers long. Perses was huge too, but compared to the corpse, he was nothing. The corpse was like a mountain. 

“So, that’s what you’re going to ask.” Hades smirked. “Kronos.”

Yeon-woo’s eyes widened. 

“You’ve heard of Kronos?”

“Isn’t he the king of the Titans?”

“That is so. And he’s also the father that Zeus, Poseidon, and I locked up. The horrible father who ate his own children.” The legends of Olympus began with the king of the gods, Kronos, eating his children. He’d heard a prophecy that one of his children would take position, and he began to swallow them as they were born. 

However, his wife, Rhea, couldn’t bear to see such an atrocity happen and hid the youngest, Zeus. Zeus grew up far away from everyone else and one day, returned to challenge Kronos. 

Kronos vomited out all the children he had swallowed, and they became Zeus’ trustworthy allies: Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera, and Demeter. After a long war, the brothers succeeded in locking Kronos and his supporters, the Titans, in Tartarus. 

That meant that Kronos was the beginning of the Olympian legends and their greatest villain. ‘Such a being has died?’ Can a god also die?’ Another thought occurred to Yeon-woo. ‘I thought Kronos was the Black King?’

So far, none of the gods had called the Black King by his name. They only referred to him as “he”, and Hermes said it was because of the pledge of the Styx. It turned out that Yeon-woo had misidentified him.

“You seem to be wondering if a being like that can die.”

“That…is correct.”

“We stole time from him.”

Yeon-woo was puzzled.

“I mean that we stole everything he had. To become a true god, you need absolute immortality, and people with immortality need time. After all, a true god is a being who rules over time. But then he left, and he died.”

Kronos was the god of time and death. Was Hades saying that because they had taken time from him, only death remained?

“And thanks to that, I managed to receive a part of the death. Anyway, that’s what happened.” Hades waved his hand as if he didn’t want to speak about it any further. However, Yeon-woo didn’t the quick glance Hades had given him, as if he were trying to ascertain something.

‘From me? What could it be?’

But Hades must have thought he couldn’t learn much from Yeon-woo and spoke again. “It’s my turn to ask now.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you hear anything else from Persephone?”

Yeon-woo thought of his visit to Persephone’s holy territory. “My only task was to look for you.”

“Is that so? I see…” Hades smiled bitterly. It was the first emotion that Yeon-woo had seen behind the cold smile. He thought that Hades looked rather lonely. “Ask your next question.”

“That was all you wanted to know with that question?”

“Yes, why?” Hades looked as if he was asking Yeon-woo what the problem was. 

Yeon-woo swallowed. Hades had said that he prioritized fair trade. Was that how much he valued Persephone’s message? “It’s nothing.”

“You say a lot of useless things. Hurry and ask your next question.”

“Is the eternal battle tiring?” Yeon-woo had already seen the battlefield, but he wanted to listen to Hades’ perspective. 

“The battle? Hehe. The battle.” Hades smirked and laughed. “If you can call it a battle.” The laugh became a cold smile that seemed to blame himself. “Tartarus is already on the verge of destruction.”

Hades’ explanation began with how he’d come to Tartarus hundreds of years ago because of some strange occurrences. However, the situation hadn’t improved since then. “Didn’t you think that the first Titan you saw, Perses, was abnormally large? Even though he’s a god, he shouldn’t have been that big or had that much soul power.”

Yeon-woo thought of the Giant god who was tall enough to reach the sky and nodded. 

“It’s because he absorbed Kronos’ holy power.” Kronos’ holy power had not disappeared after his death, and the Titans and Giants who sought revenge had been looking for ways to take advantage of Kronos’ legacy and managed to discover something. Their abnormal sizes were a side effect. 

‘Then, the black smoke I saw must have been Kronos’ holy power?’ He thought of the smoke that leaked from Perses’ body when Hades attacked him. 

“It’s not easy to deal with criminals who have an old king’s holy power. I continued losing territory the more they gained holy power, and now, I’m left with only this area,” Hades muttered, reflecting on the irony of the inmates taking over the prison.  

‘So…’ Yeon-woo recalled the exhausted faces of Dis Pluto. They were soldiers who expected that the Titans and Giants would soon take over Tartarus. ‘What will happen if they do?’

This time, it was time for Hades to ask his question. “Human, why have you come here?”

Yeon-woo paused and looked directly at Hades as he spoke. “To take Kynee.”

* * *

“Yes, sir.”

Hades laughed again. He was flabbergasted. “How funny. Do you know what that even means?”

Yeon-woo didn’t look away from Hades.

“It means that you’ll be a part of me. You’ll become my shadow and be the Apostle that leads all my followers. Can you do that?” Hades’s eyes narrowed.  “Just as I cannot accept you, it seems you don’t have any intention to serve anyone. Am I correct?”

Yeon-woo didn’t say anything. He just continued to look at Hades. He would’ve tried to look for another option under normal circumstances, but even though Hades was talking about rejecting him, his behavior belied that statement. “What an amusing human. You don’t react much either.” Hades put his arms on the armrest of his throne and looked down at Yeon-woo. “You said you wanted Kynee? Then I’ll tell you the quick answer: it’s impossible. Not because I don’t want to but because I don’t have it.”

Yeon-woo’s eyes became bigger. “That means…”

“It was damaged a long time ago, when I was fighting with Typhon, the king of the Giants. If Kynee were still here…I wonder if we would’ve been defeated so easily.” Astrape shot lightning bolts which symbolized Zeus, Triaina caused tornadoes which symbolized Poseidon, and Kynee emanated a heavy darkness that pushed enemies towards death. It could also hide the presence of its owner and end the lives of its enemies without a single sound. Since Hades was using a sword instead of Kynee, he couldn’t use his holy power to its fullest. He always felt something was missing without the holy artifact by his side If only he had the helm he used to take Kronos down, the situation wouldn’t have turned out like this. “No. If only all the Cyclopes could be gathered…”

Yeon-woo’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“If the three Cyclops brothers who gave me Kynee could work together again, they could recreate it.”

Yeon-woo speechless.

“However, with only one present, that’s not possible.”

Urrrng! Urrrng! The Despair of the Black King trembled. Brontes was screaming. Yeon-woo pressed his bracelet down as he spoke. “Only one? Didn’t the Apostles of Steropes and Arges get here safely?”

This time, Hades was the one who was surprised. “How did you know that? However, it’s just as I said. Brontes’ Apostle went missing on the way here, and Steropes died from a Titan attack. Only Arges’ Apostle is left, and he’s helping us as much as he can. However, there are limits to what he can do on his own. Kynee was created by all the brothers working together. His abilities aren’t what they used to be, as well.”

Urrrng! The bracelet began to tremble violently. Brontes was crying after learning that his second brother was dead. ‘If I can take advantage of this…’ Yeon-woo thought that things might go more smoothly than he expected. “Hades, if the three Cyclops brother come together and restore Kynee, does that mean you’ll have the upper hand in the war?”

Hades couldn’t read Yeon-woo’s mind and furrowed his eyebrows. “That is so. But the tide of battle won’t reverse that quickly. There is a way to improve things now, although I don’t want to use it. What are you talking about…?”

“If I solve your problem, can you give me Kynee in return after the war is over?”

“What in the world are you talking about?”

“Please, just give me an answer. Will you give me Kynee even if I don’t become your Apostle?”

Hades frowned. “Fine. If you want it, I’ll give it to you! I swear on my name! But if you can’t keep your promise, you won’t meet a good end...”

“Now that you’ve sworn on your name, please call Arges here with an item that belonged to Steropes.”

Displeasure appeared on Hades’ face when Yeon-woo cut his words off, but from Yeon-woo’s confident eyes, he could tell that Yeon-woo was planning something. What was he trying to do? He couldn’t read Yeon-woo’s mind. He guessed Yeon-woo would attempt something with the power of the Black King, but he didn’t know what it would be exactly. 

Although he was also a god of death, all he did was punish the dead. He couldn’t imagine doing anything else with them. However, it wouldn’t hurt to try, and he could always punish Yeon-woo later if Yeon-woo humiliated him.

Hades clapped his hands to summon a servant, instructing them to bring over the Cyclops Arges, along with an item belonging to his dead brother, Steropes. Then, he looked at Yeon-woo, a player who had his item. Hades didn’t plan on becoming angry as Poseidon had. He considered what he’d done in the past a mistake, although he would have done the same thing if given another chance.

He'd reached his current position as a result of his actions in the past. All his powers were from him. Like the Titans and Giants. Just then, the door opened, and Arges slowly walked in. His face was exhausted from the long war, just like Dis Pluto’s. He held worn anvils in his hands. “Did you call for me?”

“Arges, put those items down in front of that player over there.”

“Yes, sir.” Arges carefully put down the anvils in front of Yeon-woo without any hesitation. 

“Today, you’re going to meet your brothers.”

“What…?”

Yeon-woo stretched his hand out for the anvils. He looked at Arges’ questioning eye. Arges was about to ask him what he was doing when a ray of light spread around them. A soul appeared in front of Arges, whose eye widened when he saw a face that he’d missed appear in front of him.

『Arges…』

“B-Brother?”

『Why are you so thin? How did things end up so badly?』

“I-is it really you, brother?”

『Finally, after 200 years…we will be together again.』

Arges’ eye widened. 

[‘Summon of the Dead’ has been activated.]

[Who would you like to summon?]

“Steropes.”

A blue light began to glow.