Chapter 19
Could I have gotten the day my ban was supposed to be lifted wrong? I tried logging in with my alt account.
The result was the same.
Whenever I tried to post, the message [This IP address has been blocked.] appeared, and I couldn't do anything.
I wondered if maybe I'd accidentally forgotten to send the link. But no. I definitely sent it to the open chat room they'd told me to use.
So what did this situation mean?
"They banned me for no reason?"
A ban with no reason or justification. In other words, an abuse of power!
And the stated reason for the ban was 'inquiry via open chat.' What kind of utterly ridiculous reason is that?
Impeachment! We need to drag the bastard down right now!
……Of course, I was joking. Honestly, it was hard to be sure what the head mod's intentions were in approaching me.
"……Are they a fan of mine?"
Was this their way of saying, 'I have to do this or you won't pay attention to me'?
"Hmm."
No. That was taking it too far.
What authority could some unpaid slave like the head mod possibly have to delete posts from an official gallery?
It wouldn't hurt to stick to the facts first.
"No, but if they had something to say, they could've started an open chat themselves."
Why would they suspend an innocent citizen's wholesome leisure activity?
Are they insane? Just because I'm keeping quiet, do they take me for a sack of rice?
I need to show that bastard the majesty of the Heavenly Demon once and for all……
"Ah, no. Calm down."
They say writing the character for patience three times can keep you from committing murder.
Getting angry over something trivial would hardly become the Heavenly Demon.
Right, there might be some reason I don't know about.
It's entirely possible they only tried to check my proof post later and found that it had already been deleted by a part-timer.
'Mm-hmm. People should live rationally.'
If you live at the mercy of your emotions, are you even human? You're a beast.
So I'll remain a rational person.
First, let's ask about it through open chat, like they said.
-I'm 'Heavenly Demon' from Wizgal. My account's still banned, so I'm asking about it.
"Oh."
As soon as I sent it, the '1' disappeared.
Considering it was still early morning, that was practically the speed of light.
'Is this the head mod's caliber?'
So the rumor that even the mods of a mid-sized gallery like Wizgal make five million won a month was true after all.
Otherwise, that would mean this was some slave managing the gallery unpaid first thing in the morning. How could that be?
-https://!@#!….
Instead of answering, the head mod simply sent me a link.
"What the hell?"
I don't want to click it.
If you carelessly click a suspicious link like that, you're liable to get infected with ransomware or a backdoor. Did they think I was new to the internet?
-I don't want to click it. Just tell me here.
-It's an open chat link. You can click it without worrying.
Giving me an open chat link in open chat? What is this, a revolving door?
-No. Just tell me here. Why'd you ban me?
Obviously, I didn't click it.
I'm not an idiot.
-I have something I'd like to say, but this room isn't really the place for it.
Something they wanted to say?
-I've got nothing to say. Just unban me. You told me to prove it, so I did.
I had nothing to say.
-If you click the link, I'll unban you.
The other person was adamant.
Stay calm, stay calm. I carve another 忍, the character for patience, into my heart.
"Phew."
Right, I'm human.
A person should know when to back down, sometimes.
-You'd better be ready if you don't unban me.
I'll let myself get fooled just this once.
When I followed the link, another open chat room popped up.
"What the hell, it's a group chat?"
It wasn't a one-on-one chat. There was a third person in the room besides me and the head mod.
-Nice to meet you. I'm Lee Junho, Chief of the Awakened Management Bureau.
Chief of the Awakened Management Bureau?
That guy who gives a briefing every year-end on the 101 reasons Maestro still can't enter the Tower?
-Is this for real??
Why would someone that important contact me?
-It's true. Would it be possible to speak with you on the phone for a moment?
-A call? I'd rather not.
It felt wrong to give my number to a stranger, and if I talked with them on the phone, it'd be hard to hide my current circumstances.
Besides, give my personal number to the actual Bureau Chief?
It'd be no different from walking into a jail cell of my own accord. So no way in hell was I giving it to them.
-Let's just chat. Why did you want to meet?
Since the other person was being so polite, I considered returning the courtesy, but decided to stick to short answers.
-Ah, it's nothing in particular. Have you received any recruitment offers from other countries or guilds?
-No. You're the first.
The person who'd gone so far as to ban my perfectly good account just to contact me...
Thinking about it again made me angry. Stay calm, stay calm.
There must have been an important reason for it.
Though I had no idea how some Wizgal mod had connections to the Bureau Chief.
-In that case, Lord Heavenly Demon, do you intend to keep climbing the Tower?
-Yeah.
Of course I planned to keep climbing the Tower.
With a clear goal in mind, I wouldn't stop until I'd achieved it.
-Did you seriously ban my account just to ask me this?
-N-no. We wanted to make a proposal to you, Lord Heavenly Demon.
-A proposal?
If it was the same old pitch about becoming an Awakened affiliated with the Republic of Korea, I was going to get angry.
-If you aren't affiliated with anyone at the moment, we'd be honored to have you join the ranks of Korea's Awakened. Naturally, we guarantee the best terms in the industry, and promise full support with items so that you'll have everything you need as you climb the Tower.
So it really was that.
They'd interrupted my leisurely gallery browsing just to make a proposal like this?
"I really should show these guys the majesty of this sovereign once and for all……"
No, calm down.
It wouldn't be too late to hear them out a little more before deciding.
I pressed another 忍 into my heart. That made three in total.
-I refuse. Just unban my account.
I had no plans to join anyone for the time being.
Much less the Korean Bureau.
'The Bureau has Maestro, after all.'
Work alongside that bastard? I'd rather die.
-May I ask why, if you don't mind?
The reason? I couldn't exactly say, 'Honestly, Maestro's been pissing me off lately.'
-I don't plan to join anyone for the time being. I don't plan to emigrate, either. But if you're offering support, I'll take it.
I made up a reasonable excuse. It wasn't exactly a lie, either.
-If you heard the actual terms of the contract, you might change your mind……
-I won't. Just lift the ban. Hurry up.
I'm in a hurry.
My blood levels of gallery browsing are hitting rock bottom in real time.
-Lord Heavenly Demon. Of course I'll lift the ban on your account, but before I do, could you spare a moment to meet with us and hear us out?
-No. Just lift the ban. I won't say it twice.
Hurry up. I'm serious.
-Lord Heavenly Demon. Please, just meet with us once in person so we can show you how sincere we are……
But the other person was persistent.
-Ah, bye.
I couldn't take it anymore.
So you really want to settle this today, huh?
You brought this on yourselves. I gave you three chances, I really did.
***
[Heavenly Demon has left the chat.]
"What?"
Lee Junho, who'd been carefully considering what to say next to persuade him, couldn't hide their bewilderment when they saw the notification on the screen.
They'd left? They hadn't even gotten to lay out the proper terms yet.
"So talking without meeting face-to-face really is pointless."
Important matters should always be discussed in person.
A conversation taking place across the tiny screen of a smartphone was bound to be less persuasive.
"Let's try talking to him again through the gallery."
They'd probably respond once the ban was lifted. Thinking that, Lee Junho logged into Wizgal.
"Huh?"
[Title: The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow!]
[Title: Head mod! Head mod! The spam flood's out of control!]
[Title: The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow!]
[Title: Aaaah! You crazy bastard, stop already!]
[Title: Which bastard messed with that lunatic? Confess already;;]
[Title: The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow!]
The posting rate was absurd.
Since Wizgal was a place where Awakened people hung out, there were often times when it struggled to fill even a page in an hour.
But right now, the entire board was being swamped by a torrent of meaningless posts.
A spam flood.
Lee Junho, who'd spent years moderating the gallery unpaid, had only ever heard about this kind of malicious attack.
Wizgal was normally restricted to users who'd verified their identities, so something like this had never happened before.
Wondering if something was up, Lee Junho checked the usernames of the posters.
"They're all burner accounts, aren't they?"
They were all burner accounts. There were just far too many of them.
Fortunately, it wasn't hard to guess who was behind the spam. They didn't seem to be trying to hide their identity, either.
But……
"Where the hell did he get all those accounts?"
Had he hacked the gallery or something?
[Title: The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow!]
Even as he wondered, the spam didn't stop.
"Wait, could it be……?"
The posts weren't appearing at a consistent rate.
Which meant it wasn't an automated macro. A person was manually posting like crazy.
"Is he insane?"
Whether that was even possible could wait. He had to deal with the situation first.
Lee Junho quickly started banning the spam accounts. But even so, the situation didn't calm down.
[Title: The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow!]
[Title: The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow!]
[Title: The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow!]
More accounts sprang up from somewhere and set the board ablaze.
"Huh? Huh?"
He banned them, and more appeared.
Like a hydra that grew two heads every time one was cut off, the mysterious burner accounts kept multiplying and taking over Wizgal.
[Title: Head mod! Do something about that lunatic!]
[Loves Magic]
At least hear out what that bastard wants!
[Comments]
WarriorBro: Fuck, I can't use the board normally!
RoomboundArchmage: How has everyone been putting up with that lunatic until now?
WizardSi: The scariest part is that he's posting every single one by hand, fuck.
Thanks to that, the gallery users' anger had reached its limit. At this rate, it wouldn't be strange if Wizgal got taken down.
Normally, that would've been a welcome development, but not right now.
'Damn it, my connection to the Heavenly Demon…… And Maestro won't just sit still, either……'
Wizgal was currently his only connection to the Heavenly Demon.
In other words, if he let the gallery go down, his only line to that lunatic would be severed completely.
And then there was the shit fit Maestro would throw on top of that.
'What the hell……'
What was it about posting on a gallery that made someone go this far?
Despite having lived as an unpaid slave for years, Lee Junho couldn't understand the other guy at all. Nor did they want to.
"Ugh, damn it!"
Lee Junho was faced with a choice.
Freedom from unpaid slavery, or keeping their connection to the Heavenly Demon.
-I was wrong! I'll lift the ban and do whatever else you want, so please, just stop!
In the end, Lee Junho chose the latter.
[Title: The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow! The Heavenly Demon Has Descended! All Demons Bow!]
[Title: Huh, it stopped]
As soon as the message was sent, the spam abruptly stopped as if by magic.
-Unban me. Hurry up.
At the same time, a terse reply from the Heavenly Demon came through.
"Ah."
In that instant, Lee Junho realized with bone-deep certainty……
That this guy called the Heavenly Demon was far crazier than that goddamn Maestro.