Game of Divine Thrones

On a peaceful day.

Gods who felt dissatisfaction over their mundane lives decided to rebel against the Creator. 

The Creator, in his wrathful anger, imprisoned all the gods, and summoned all sentient beings into a single game world.

The Nebulus world. 

There, all beings had the opportunity to gain limitless power. Once they’d reached a certain level, they would then be able to take on the challenge for the Divine Thrones. 

Since these beings would only be able to return to their world once all the Divine Thrones have been replaced, they overcame any challenges that were thrown at them.

And after forty years…

“I’ve sealed away the 72 demon kings of Solomon.”

Chun Woohyuk, the black-haired youth on the Steel throne, spoke.

He was looking over his subjects just as a lord would. 

“I’ve destroyed Lilith’s subjects, I’ve driven the Dragon and Giant races close to extinction. Not to mention the countless other mythical creatures I’ve destroyed as well.”

Woohyuk’s subjects did not speak. They had nothing to add to such a simple truth.

“Why then am I still not qualified to challenge a Divine Throne?”

No one could match Woohyuk in terms of fighting prowess.

Be it the Elf Queen, who reached the pinnacle of all magic, nor the Necromancer who commanded a hundred thousand souls, none were his opponent. 

“Excuse me, but...”

Allen, the grand wizard spoke up, causing all others in the room to turn to him.

“Maybe the timing just isn’t right, if you could just wait until the next update...”

“I can’t. The others would come for me.”

Woohyuk had created many enemies. 

His immense power had caused many people to create factions with the sole purpose of opposing him. Also, he didn’t have many allies either.

At this rate, he would slowly get driven into a corner.

“There must be something I’m missing. It can’t be the fault of this world, from the very start this had always been a perfect system.”

Woohyuk had no doubt that the Creator wouldn’t have bothered making a world that couldn’t be beaten in the first place.

Subsequent updates only existed to give the players small advantages.

“Are you really planning on returning to the past?”

“Do you really think I’d just stay here and play house with you all? There are no more regions to explore and no quests left to complete.”

He’d already done everything that could have been done.

Still, for some reason there were many things that he couldn’t attain.

It was his first attempt, so he had gone fumbling around making mistakes, and it wasn’t like the other players were just lazing about either.

If he had the chance to restart… He would surely do things differently.

“But...”

Woohyuk stopped Allen from continuing.

“This peace won’t last. You should know that better than anyone, sir Allen.”

There was no such thing as guaranteed safety in the Nebulus world.

Soon, another challenge would befall the inhabitants of the world, and many would die once again.

Woohyuk was confident that he was the only one who could put an end to this endless nightmare.

“Lord, I trust you’ll take care of that bastard Logan when you go back.”

“You might as well deal with Marcus as well. There’s no saving him once he goes mad.”

“Ivanov and Alice as well, you should just...”

Names of their most hated enemies started being thrown around by his subjects. 

Woohyuk nodded and turned to the pink-haired knight next to him.

“Lady Leifina, do you have anything to add?”

“...Please leave the cooking to someone else. I simply have no talent for it.”

Leifina said this with a trembling voice seeming rather unwilling to admit it. 

Woohyuk took out a scroll from his pocket with a satisfied look.

“It can’t be helped if you don’t like it. I’ll be leaving, then.”

[Return Scroll].

It was the reward he had gotten from the three goddesses of Urdabrun, upon completing an Epic quest. 

It was a unique item that could only belong to a single person, and would become soul-bound the instant it was given to a human being.

“We’ll meet again, men. Thank you for everything.”

A piercing light erupted as Woohyuk tore the scroll.

* * *

Woohyuk opened his eyes to the chirping of the birds as he took in his surroundings

Poorly-made cabins with a firepit in the middle.

A large forest.

Unconscious people strewn about all around him.

‘Base camp, huh.’

It was the the starting zone for all adventurers, a place which had disappeared many years ago.

He was finally back.

‘I’ll finish this damned game once and for all.’

A single failure was enough.

Woohyuk immediately stood up from his spot.

‘Things are about to get noisy over here.’

He recalled his memories from his first day at base camp clear as day. 

He didn’t really want to stand out, so he stealthily made his way over to the edge of the group

A few seconds later, a little girl appeared in mid-air, stepping out of a black portal.

She had blond ponytails tied with  cute ribbons, sapphire blue eyes and a stunning red dress.

She looked just like a noble from out of a movie.

‘That girl was always problematic.’

Keeping a low profile was always the answer when it came to her.

Therefore, Woohyuk decided not to make a move unless things got out of hand.

“Wake up, everyone! There’s a lot to do today!”

The first thing the girl did when she appeared was to shout loudly.

Combined with her high pitched voice, the screech startled most of the camp awake.

“T-the hell is this?”

“She’s flying?!”

The people at camp were incredibly surprised upon seeing the girl, who promptly smiled back at them.

“Hello! My name is Eve. It is a pleasure to meet you all.”

“You brought us here?”

A muscular man pointed at Eve while asking.

Eve shook her head.

“The Creator was the one who brought you here to this Nebulus world. So, don’t worry about anything and just work hard, alright?“

Eve winked at him with a cutesy pose.

“Creator my ass.”

“Send me back home!”

“I have to go to work tomorrow, jeez!”

People began to voice their complaints from all over the camp. 

Eve sighed in annoyance as she raised her right hand and a pistol appeared in it

Bang!

Startled, they all took a step back, fear clearly seen in their eyes.

“Listen while you still can, you simply have no choice in the matter. If you insult the Creator or cut me off again, I’ll kill you.”

The base camp immediately became quiet.

Eve smiled happily and continued with her speech.

“Good, good. Then let’s begin the tutorial.”

A massive screen appeared next to her with a wave of her hand.

The screen depicted  a map of the forest.

“Common sense no longer applies here. If you want to survive, you will have to do your best.”

Eve silently scanned those before her. 

Her eyes eventually falling on a little girl which appeared to have a similar age to her.

“Hey, you. You’ve been living under your parents’ care your whole life, right?”

“Uh? Yes...”

The girl replied nervously.

Eve shook her fingers as she spoke.

“No, no. No need to be afraid. I’m trying to help.”

The girl looked at Eve blankly. Her innocence was clear as day.

“No need to be a good girl here. No one’s going to compliment you for doing good deeds. Well, you might get attacked for committing bad ones though.”

“What should I do, then?”

The girl raised her hand as she spoke.

Eve pointed at the map with the gun in her hand.

“You just need to survive. Also, if you manage to find some items in the forest, it’ll help you a great deal.”

“Like a treasure hunt?”

“Exactly, except that other people can steal your treasure, so you best be careful.”

The people at base camp were simply shocked upon hearing it.

Steal? From a little girl like her?

They weren’t able to understand Eve’s advice. After all, they simply had no idea what was waiting for them in the forest.

“Ah right, aside from the items, there are dangerous monsters in there as well, so don’t go around alone, ok? You should stick together if you don’t know how to fight.”

The little girl immediately paled upon hearing the word monster.

Eve snickered for a second before turning back to the rest of the crowd and then pointed at Woohyuk with her left hand.

“You there, you’ve been very calm from the start. Would you please come here for a bit?”

Everyone’s eyes landed on Woohyuk, who promptly nodded and stepped forward.

‘Same as last time.’

This was to be expected. He hadn’t done anything that would warrant any change just as of yet.

“You seem like a calm person, so I’ll give you a small test. I’ll bring a monster here, would you like to try defeating it? I’ll even give you a weapon to help you out.”

“Fine.”

A single dagger fell in front of him as soon as he voiced his agreement. 

At the same time, a green-skinned goblin ran out of the forest. It was equipped with a poorly made leather armor and a crescent axe.

“M-monster!”

“Run!”

Eve sent out another warning seeing the crowd become agitated.

“Stay still and observe until the end of the tutorial, else I’ll put a bullet in your head.”

“....”

Everyone collectively stopped in their tracks and those who had ran relatively far quickly scuttled back nervously.

“Let’s continue.”

The goblin stepped forward with a snarl, causing the crowd to flinch back in fear.

Woohyuk was obviously bigger than the green creature, but the axe looked far more threatening compared to Woohyuk’s dagger.

Everyone thought that even if Woohyuk were to win, he’d be sure sustain great injuries.

Naturally, monsters would obviously be better in a fight than humans.

Whoosh!

The goblin’s axe cut through the air, aiming for Woohyuk’s right shoulder.

It was rather fast, but Woohyuk managed to dodge it fairly easily.

‘What a joke.’

His abilities may have been reset, but his battle prowess hadn’t gone anywhere.

He was easily able to predict the goblin’s movements simply based on its posture.

‘It’s been too long since I toyed around with one like this.’

Still, he didn’t let his guard down.

At this stage a single mistake could still be fatal.

Woohyuk quickly thrust a dagger into the goblin’s neck.

“Gyeeh!!”

Everyone’s eyes widened as the goblin went down with a squeal.

“He took it down so easily.”

“Does he know martial arts?”

Woohyuk crouched down, ignoring the crowd’s reaction. 

He removed the monster’s armor and attempted to put it on.

“Is he really trying to wear that?”

“No way that’s going to fit.”

The goblin’s armor was far too small for Woohyuk.

So… why was he even trying, was what was racing through everyone's mind.

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