Han Woo-hyun had agonized over it until just before his regression.
―The world’s factory. China must be maintained. This is a separate issue from likes and dislikes regarding the Chinese government’s actions.
He did not care what happened to the Chinese Communist Party or any of its leadership.
But the goods produced by those factories and that vast population had to remain properly within the structure of world trade.
However, many bore grudges against China. Its own population was also far too large.
Its enemies within and its enemies without were both enormous.
Han Woo-hyun could not control all of them by himself.
In order for China’s trade, which spewed out countless raw materials, to operate normally, it needed its own defensive force.
And that force had to be entirely cooperative with Han Woo-hyun.
Furthermore, beyond cooperation, it had to obey him and bow its head.
But to whom, and how?
Who would hold the initiative?
Even if he handed it over to the Chinese Communist Party, could the Party handle the players well? Would the Party listen to Han Woo-hyun?
If he selected a representative from the strongest Chinese server players, would the Party recognize their representativeness? Would the players stay still?
The one who helped him was, as always, the words Riley Granger had left behind.
―Ah, there were many capable players in China too···
―What’s the point of talking about dead people now?
―I’m just thinking about other possibilities. If those players could have been gathered a little earlier···
―Korean players all had wonderfully artistic personalities. I doubt China would’ve been any different.
―There was one, wasn’t there? China’s final raid leader.
―The Elemental Lord? Are you talking about that severe misanthrope?
―He was a fascinating person. Even though he hated both ordinary people and players so much. In the end, he gathered China’s final raid party and attempted a raid.
―He was a failure anyway.
―Still, his leadership was certain. Every remaining player in China followed him.
―Because he killed everyone who didn’t.
―Ah! That isn’t the point!
Han Woo-hyun recalled Riley’s final words.
―He can speak Korean, has leadership, has a sense of responsibility, and is a neutral skeptic toward both ordinary people and players···
―Well, the way he talked was awful, but in the end, he wasn’t that bad a man.
―If it were me, if I went back to the past, I think I would look for him first in China.
"···."
As he let those words sink down, he met eyes with the young man lying before him.
“Li Haoran. You served as vice chairman of Tsinghua University’s Communist Youth League, didn’t you?”
The Communist Youth League had “once” been one of the three great forces of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Communist Youth League. The Princelings. The Shanghai Clique.
Three enormous organizations that symbolized effort, bloodline, and practical administration.
The cradle of talents that supported the enormous monster known as the Chinese Communist Party, with its hundred million Party members.
However, the words “once” meant it was not the case now.
Because under the current Chinese chairman, most of those from the Communist Youth League and the Shanghai Clique without backing had been pushed into sinecures.
Now, the Chinese Communist Party revolved mainly around the Princelings, the children of the highest-ranking pureblood Communist Party officials.
“Isn’t it fucking infuriating? Those Princeling bastards who trusted only in their parents’ bloodline and drove all of you out.”
"···Kgh."
And that was Li Haoran’s deepest reverse scale.
―GRIND!
Enough to completely reverse a man who had once been one of the most loyal members of the Chinese Communist Youth League.
“Then again, even the Shanghai Clique became relics of the past, so what could the likes of the Communist Youth League have done?”
"···You."
Slowly, light returned to Li Haoran’s eyes.
A light full of madness, jealousy, rage, and hatred.
“···You know me very well. Too well. This is not information a foreigner could know.”
Then Li Haoran murmured.
“I am not that important a person. I am not important in either the game or reality.”
Han Woo-hyun frowned slightly.
Had he needled him too much?
“But such things do not matter.”
However, at the words that followed, Han Woo-hyun was able to set that concern aside.
“I will not ask why you chose me. You have something you want from me, and you have acknowledged my ability.”
―Rustle.
―Swish.
Li Haoran straightened his clothes and tidied his disheveled hair.
“The current me is weak and has no ability. But that will change.”
Open desire. Desire for advancement and power.
It surged in Li Haoran’s eyes.
“In exchange for listening to your words, lend me your strength and authority.”
At that moment, Han Woo-hyun felt a sense of déjà vu.
―I cannot say I’m pleased to meet you, Koreans.
―Players like vermin, trash, and parasites···.
Although his level itself had been far lower, the power born from the will of the man himself, unrelated to level.
“I will devote absolute loyalty to that guild. In exchange, give me power. Give me responsibility.”
For a single moment in the past.
―If possible, I would like you to use these losers as usefully as you can.
―I ask this of you, Han Woo-hyun. Final raid leader.
The voice of Li Haoran, not the room-bound lying-flat shut-in, but China’s final raid leader, overlapped with the present.
“I am not the strongest player in China. I am not an important person in reality either."
And before him, the present moment approached once more.
"But I will become that.”
"Heh."
Han Woo-hyun laughed.
With great satisfaction.
“Excellent. Our guild will not disappoint you either.”
“[Guild Window].”
“I, Li Haoran. Character Name, Elemental Lord. I will join Lucid.”
“Welcome. China Administrator.”
―Clasp.
―Clasp.
The two shook hands.
As Han Woo-hyun had expected, recruiting the second guild member was not very difficult.
Then again, by nature, he had no choice but to possess far more will than the first guild member.
“If one is the head of an organization, one naturally has a duty to grant a price to those who voluntarily swear loyalty.”
“A price? I do wish for one, but not yet. I···”
“Receive it first. It is necessary not only for your sake, but for the guild’s purpose.”
―Snap.
Once more, Han Woo-hyun opened his Inventory.
―CLATTER!
To pour out the items he had decided to give him from the beginning.
“[Extreme Level Advancement Elixir]. Twelve of them. Drink them all.”
“Is this not a discontinued item from the Korean server? Just how many discontinued items do you···”
“You need to be level 290 for your role as leader to carry weight.”
Li Haoran was a perfect talent in every way. Except for one thing.
Namely, that his own level was slightly low.
Level 278 was not, objectively speaking, a particularly low level. It was enough to place within the top ten thousand of the world rankings.
However, as the level of someone who would manage all of China, it was somewhat lacking.
The [Extreme Level Advancement Elixir] was an item from long ago, when max level had been 200 rather than 300.
―Wow, you have to hunt all day for the experience bar to barely move, but this thing levels you up with one bottle?
―But the price is way too expensive···
―My time is more precious.
―I’m not sure.
So at the time, its value had not been all that high.
―Fuck, what? This works even after level 200?
―Then that’s a whole fucking different story!
However, after the max level rose to 300 due to a patch, its value increased tremendously.
Although it was patched so it could not be used above level 290, it still worked until then.
Since the developers recognized that as well, they never released that item again.
After reality became a game, it was an item of even greater value.
―This [Extreme Level Advancement Elixir] is the only item that can turn an ordinary person into a player.
―But for one ordinary person to have meaningful combat power, you would need to use 250 of them.
―Even making them drink every elixir that exists would not be enough.
―If we could just succeed in mass-producing this···
It was different from blessing items that simply increased the multiplier for experience gained.
Because it was the only item that raised experience and level itself “directly and unconditionally.”
The United States government had put out a search for that item in order to mass-produce players.
The item, of which only 173 remained in the entire world, eventually all entered the hands of the United States government.
Most of the elixirs evaporated in laboratories, but in the end, they failed to reproduce it.
Strictly speaking, they did not fail entirely, but the results were nearly meaningless.
The remaining elixirs came to be stored by Riley Granger, who was the spokesperson of the United States government.
―Riley! It’s dangerous! Hurry and get out!
―No! Just a little more! This too, and this···
To be precise, they were what she had hurriedly gathered when the United States Department of Defense fell to the Ninth Apostle.
Even then, she could not gather all of them. What she salvaged was barely more than thirty. Those were all Han Woo-hyun had brought after his regression as well.
But they were worth using now.
“Can I really drink this? If the world has become a game, this item may be far more valuable than the guild leader thinks.”
“I know. I am making this decision based on all of that.”
“···Just how many items does the guild have?”
“More than everything you just imagined combined.”
"···."
The Elemental Lord, Li Haoran, was that important a player.
Li Haoran had not become China’s final raid leader through his own level and skills.
Persuasion, coercion, and politics directed at countless players···
Judgments based on a perfect logical structure that everyone who followed him could accept.
And certain punishment for players who crossed the line.
Clear grounds and evidence for every order and decision.
That was why players far stronger and higher-level than Li Haoran had acknowledged his leadership.
“So drink.”
“The guild··· I do not know what kind of people they are, but they are astonishing. Not merely because you have many items, but because you would give such a thing to me, who has only just joined.”
“Do not worry. It is a rational investment.”
“Rational···.”
If such a man overcame his one weakness, his level…
What kind of organization would he become able to create?
Han Woo-hyun could not help feeling anticipation, and also a slight trace of fear.
“Then, I will now give you your first mission as guild leader of Lucid.”
But that was not particularly important.
“Swallow the Chinese Communist Party. From below. With the players at the front.”
The final monarch who, before Han Woo-hyun’s regression, had ultimately succeeded in slaughtering all of China’s Villain Players.
Li Haoran was a man who never forgot grudges or favors.
He received as much as he gave, and gave as much as he received.
Because he was a principled man who believed that was “Normalization.”
“From this moment onward, you are the China branch leader of Guild Lucid and a chairman player representing the Communist Youth League.”
So he would bestow, and believe.
“Can you do it?”
"Kgh."
Li Haoran tore the corners of his mouth upward.
“Kgh, khkhkh."
And he laughed.
"Kahahahaha!!”
He laughed as though he had gone mad.
“That is a very, very pleasing order.”
“I will do it. No, I want to do it!”
“A country without any principles, morality, or law. I will gladly establish the principle of Normalization! Led by us players!”
As he did, he uttered his twisted idealism aloud.
“Sworn brotherhood. Han Woo-hyun, from now on, you are my sworn elder brother.”
Sworn brotherhood. Its meaning was sworn brothers, a bond valued, if anything, even above blood siblings.
The highest stage in Chinese guanxi.
“Good. Then now, I will request your cooperation in earnest.”
Han Woo-hyun decided to begin his next task.
―Rustle!
From within his coat, he took out the Chinese server ranking information he had printed from the Yggdrasill homepage.
―Tap.
Among them, he pointed with his finger to players who had been famous even in the future. And to players who had followed Li Haoran until the end.
“Do you know any of them?”
“Putting aside the character information, how do you know their real identities?”
“That much is basic for the world’s strongest guild.”
“Hmm... I know some of them. But not all.”
He did not need to know all of them. For now, they only had to deal with the ten most important players.
“I know their locations, so we will go find them right now.”
“Understood. If we are plotting the shortest route... this should be best. [Dimensional Gate]!”
Elementalist was a mage-line class. Therefore, he had the common skill, Dimensional Gate.
Without being told, Li Haoran understood the intent on his own and did what needed to be done.
“Let’s go.”
“Guild leader, your planning is truly meticulous...”
“That is basic.”
Han Woo-hyun liked that as well.