Chapter 62
I laughed inwardly as I listened to Eugene’s question.
It was one of the questions I had anticipated.
Evil deeds!
I knew very well the meaning behind that word in Eugene’s question.
He was likely talking about how I controlled the fields and dungeons to raise funds for the war and levied heavy taxes. I had already prepared my answer to that.
I naturally countered Eugene’s question.
“What do I think? That’s too broad a question. What kind of answer would you like……?”
I paused for a moment. My answer was going to be a long one.
“First of all, those evil deeds were mistakes I made in the past and are one of my shameful memories. I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to all the users in Ard World who were harmed by me.”
The path I chose in the past was wrong!
I truly believed that.
Yes, it was the wrong way, my mistake, and ultimately a foolish act that led to my own destruction.
I was incredibly stupid back then.
I was obsessed with just one goal: completing the Overlord Quest and unifying the continent. Because of that, I not only squeezed war funds through control and taxes, but also resorted to loan sharks to try and achieve that goal. And even after unification, I made the mistake of maintaining that control structure to repay debts and fill the greedy stomachs of the guilds belonging to the Guild Alliance that had rallied around me.
The result was my own destruction.
Only then did I realize how naive I had been in thinking that I could simply suppress dissent with overwhelming power.
The past me, who chose such an exploitative structure that was inefficient, ineffective, and even immoral, was truly an idiot.
In the short term, it might have seemed like the control structure was bringing in a lot of profit, but in the long run, it was a house of cards destined to collapse!
That was the very governing structure I had created back then.
To rule the world, I needed the support of the people. However, the unbelievably idiotic fool that I was six years ago, was blinded by the immediate profits and power, and failed to see the truth.
‘It was a failed and wrong method anyway. Acknowledging it and apologizing isn’t difficult.’
Thinking that, I looked directly at the main camera and knelt down.
Thud.
As I knelt as planned, I could see Eugene and Yoo Hye-Kyeong’s faces stiffen.
I continued speaking in a serious voice.
“I won’t make excuses for my evil deeds. It was clearly my fault. I sincerely apologize to all users. And as I promised before all the users, I will promise once again that I will never repeat the mistakes of the past, the control.”
Control was a mistake made by the foolish me of the past, a flaw that I must shake off before I can reach the top ranker position again.
Since my return, I’ve been gathering a fanbase in various ways and have managed to turn public opinion around considerably. If things continue like this, I might even be able to reach the Over-Ranker position without much difficulty.
But my goal wasn’t just to be an Over-Ranker.
Top Ranker!
To succeed in my grand plan of rebellion and seize the position currently held by Eugene, it was impossible with just this.
I had to shake off the mistakes of my past. To defeat Eugene and ultimately take control of Ard World!
I knew very well that I needed the broad support of not just my fanbase, but all users.
To win the hearts of the users, that’s why!
To gain the power that destroyed my former self as a Top Ranker, to make the world’s hegemony mine, I needed to deny my past self. Even if it meant kneeling.
‘If I can win the hearts of the users, I can kneel as many times as I need to.
Pride doesn’t put food on the table.’
I realized this truth when I was doing manual labor to pay off my massive debt, when I was on a deep-sea fishing vessel catching tuna in the biting wind of the dawn sea.
If I could gain the hearts of the users by kneeling and selling my pride, I could kneel a hundred, a thousand times more.
At that moment.
“Drakan-nim.”
I heard Eugene call my name.
▄ ▄ ▄
Thud!
Eugene was startled as he watched Drakan suddenly kneel down.
‘Drakan, knelt?’
Drakan’s apology!
He could somehow understand that.
As Drakan said, when they first met, regardless of his true intentions, he promised not to repeat the evil deeds of the past.
But kneeling was beyond his expectations.
Drakan!
He knew better than anyone that Drakan was as arrogant and proud as he was skilled. Seeing Drakan kneel was a shock comparable to a nuclear b*mb.
Even in the final battle, where defeat was certain, Drakan never knelt until the very end.
Drakan was the type of person who would rather break than bend or be broken.
For such a Drakan to kneel in apology!
Drakan’s current actions had already gone beyond what could be interpreted as a political gesture.
Once, Verda, the guild’s brain, had told Eugene.
Drakan!
His heart hasn’t changed, and Drakan’s actions, which may appear altruistic at first glance, are all just highly calculated political moves to gain public opinion!
His true nature remains the same, and given the opportunity, he will recreate the oppressive ruling structure symbolized by ‘control’ in Ard World!
She had said that.
Perhaps, Verda’s prediction was wrong this time?
Beyond political maneuvering, Eugene believed that everyone has a line they cannot cross, something akin to ‘goodness.’
And it was clear that Drakan had crossed that line.
“Drakan-nim.”
Eugene called out the name of Drakan, who was still kneeling with his head bowed.
Drakan’s gaze turned towards Eugene.
The moment their eyes met, Eugene realized.
Eugene, the principle he had established from the very beginning!
It was to believe in the goodness of people.
There were no exceptions to that principle. Even if it was his former rival and villain, Drakan!
Eugene extended his hand towards the kneeling Drakan.
“I believe in your promise.”
Eugene decided to believe in Drakan, who had proven his change by even kneeling.
It was enough that Verda was the one in his guild who was responsible for being suspicious of others.
Thinking so, Eugene looked at Drakan, and Drakan took his hand.
▄ ▄ ▄
‘He’s truly an unchanging fool.’
I laughed inwardly as I took Eugene’s outstretched hand and rose from the floor.
Eugene!
In the end, he had essentially put wings on a tiger with his own hands.
Of course, I would never break my promise not to implement control again.
Because I had learned the hard way that you can conquer the world from horseback, but you can’t rule it that way.
But regardless, it was a huge fact that he had greatly contributed to shedding my past flaws.
Kneeling would certainly be a shocking scene.
But even so, I didn’t think everyone would believe in my change.
But if Eugene, of all people, acknowledged my change?
Then the story would be completely different.
Even if not everyone, a significant number of people would believe in my change.
The name Eugene held that much power. I had decided to answer his question this way from the beginning to utilize that power.
‘Believing in the goodness of humanity, what a truly empty phrase.’
I don’t believe in the goodness of humanity.
How many times have I been betrayed after believing in the goodness of others?
In this d*mn world, to avoid being backstabbed first, you need to believe in malice, not goodness.
Blindly believing in the goodness of humanity!
That foolish personality would surely strangle him in the future.
I smiled, thinking so.
‘Verda will have a headache.’
Verda!
The mage of the Lightwing Guild and Eugene’s strategist.
I knew her very well.
And not just her.
I knew all of Eugene’s closest aides, including her, the members of the Lightwing Guild, very well.
Just as you can’t rule the world from horseback, you can’t rule the world with just dreams and ideals.
Building a utopia is impossible, both in reality and in Ard World.
There is no perfect ruling system in the world, and all attempts to implement a utopia in this world have ended in terrible failures.
In such a situation, I believed that the reason why Eugene’s hegemony, filled with nothing but ideals and dreams, a head full of flowers, could last for six years was all thanks to Verda, her behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
Perhaps she has already realized that I used Eugene.
But even if that’s the case, I didn’t care. Because Eugene would truly believe in me.
Thinking so, I stood up and said.
“Thank you for believing in me.”
A smile appeared on his face as he heard my words.
And only then could I bring out the smile I had been hiding inside.
▄ ▄ ▄
The interview that day concluded successfully.
Thanks to Eugene’s appearance, not only did the viewership ratings explode, but the number of viewers watching the live broadcast on Ard Live also increased dramatically. The real-time search rankings were dominated by words related to my interview, from 1st to 10th place.
The gaming media, of course, were diligently turning this into articles.
After finishing all the scheduled events, I shook hands with Eugene and parted ways. Then, I got into the back seat of Shin Ha-yeon’s black sedan that was waiting for me.
As I felt the car smoothly start moving, I leaned back in the seat and picked up my smartphone.
I wanted to check the public opinion on the interview.
I tapped my smartphone a few times to enter the Ard Forum, and soon headlines about the interview began to appear one after another.
