The Final Boss Has Returned 94

Chapter 94

Jeil Hotel.

Owned by the Jeil Group, it stands proudly in the heart of Seoul as a five-star hotel.

Known as the best hotel in Korea, Jeil Hotel’s restaurant boasts a reputation worthy of its status, famous for its high-class cuisine created by Korea’s top chefs, catering to VIPs such as the upper class and chaebols, as well as foreign dignitaries visiting Korea.

“How is it? Does it suit your taste?”

Drakan sliced the steak and put it in his mouth, listening to Shin Ha-yeon’s seemingly anxious voice.

The texture of the meat, melting in his mouth as if it were made of the finest quality, satisfied his taste buds.

Indeed, it was a dish worthy of the renowned Jeil Hotel restaurant.

“Delicious.”

A bright smile bloomed on Shin Ha-yeon’s face as she heard Drakan’s simple praise.

Drakan stared at her face and chuckled.

It was a useless fact that he had realized anew, but Shin Ha-yeon was surprisingly sensitive to Drakan’s emotional changes.

Although she treated others coldly, as if she didn’t care what happened to them, Drakan was an exception.

Drakan thought Shin Ha-yeon had a surprisingly cute side to her.

“I’m relieved that you seem to enjoy it.”

Nodding at Shin Ha-yeon’s words, spoken in a genuinely relieved tone, Drakan listened to the classical music flowing from the restaurant.

There were no other guests in the restaurant besides Drakan and Shin Ha-yeon.

Only the waiters serving and the musicians playing classical music were present.

Shin Ha-yeon.

It was thanks to her that she had rented out the entire restaurant.

“Drakan-nim.”

Shin Ha-yeon’s voice calling out to Drakan flowed from her lips.

“Is there anything else you desire? Whether it’s the Hannam-dong mansion, the Garosu-gil building, or a supercar, please don’t hesitate to tell me. Anything my beloved Drakan-nim desires, I can get it for you!”

Shin Ha-yeon spoke to Drakan as if she were pouring out words she had been holding back.

The results of this war had exceeded expectations, enough to warrant such a reaction from her.

“Or how about some shopping for a change of mood? Shall I empty the entire Jeil Department Store in Jongno right now?”

Drakan laughed as he heard her words pouring out like a rapid-fire cannon.

A supercar, a luxury mansion in Hannam-dong, and even the Garosu-gil building!

He let out a hollow laugh at the scale of the ‘gifts,’ things that ordinary commoners couldn’t even imagine, things that only chaebols could think of.

In the previous game, even when he reigned as a top-ranked player and handled quite a lot of money, Drakan didn’t indulge in much luxury.

As the saying goes, “Those who have spent money know how to spend it well.” Drakan, who originally came from a poor background, could only afford simple luxuries such as ordering delivery food for all three meals or buying a house for his parents.

Above all, Drakan had reinvested almost all of his money into the game, excluding his living expenses and the money he gave to his parents, so he didn’t have much room for luxury.

But that was in the past, and Drakan thought it might not be a bad idea to indulge in some minor desires.

He had realized through his experience of catching tuna on a deep-sea fishing vessel to pay off his debts that real life was just as important as the game.

Of course, if Drakan achieved his ultimate goal – defeating Eugene and seizing control of Ard World – wealth in reality would naturally come rolling in. But regardless of that, Drakan wasn’t foolish or naive enough to refuse the offered rice cake and the set table.

After listening to Shin Ha-yeon’s proposal, Drakan spoke in an indifferent voice.

“The Hannam-dong mansion, the Garosu-gil building, and a supercar. Do I have to choose just one of them? I want them all.”

And upon hearing those words, Shin Ha-yeon’s eyes widened slightly, and then her eyes curved into crescents.

A satisfied smile spread across the lips of Shin Ha-yeon, who was already head over heels for him.

An ordinary person would have been overwhelmed by his words, unable to speak and stuttering, or would have spoken in a roundabout way, feigning humility that they didn’t even feel, under the pretense of being polite.

And they certainly wouldn’t have had the audacity to choose all three.

Only he, the one in front of her, could speak so directly and honestly about his desires, without any burden, to her, his one and only.

And Shin Ha-yeon loved his honest, straightforward, and ambitious nature more than anything.

The Drakan in front of her was her blood ally, the only one in the world worthy of having such desires.

Above all, even if she gave all three to Drakan, it wouldn’t even make a dent in Shin Ha-yeon’s endless wealth.

The scale of wealth possessed by a ‘chaebol’ was far beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

So, she could easily give this much as a gift to her blood ally, her beloved lover.

“Really? Then shall we go choose gifts after we finish eating? Are you sure you don’t want to go shopping at the department store?”

“I don’t need to shop.”

“Okay! I understand. Oh, and this. This is a surprise gift I prepared.”

Shin Ha-yeon took out the gift she had prepared beforehand and carefully presented it to Drakan.

“What is this?”

“Open it!”

At Shin Ha-yeon’s words, Drakan unwrapped the gift box, and inside, a sparkling luxury watch, meticulously packaged, awaited him.

“It’s a Patek Philippe Grand Complications. What do you think? Do you like it?”

Patek Philippe?

It was a brand name that Drakan had never heard of before, but he could tell that it was no ordinary item, as an extraordinary aura flowed from the watch.

Above all, it was Shin Ha-yeon who had given him a fountain pen worth over a million won as a gift on their first meeting.

There was no way the watch she was giving him now would be an ordinary one.

‘It seems to be a luxury watch.’

Drakan stopped thinking deeply and put the Patek Philippe Grand Complications on his right wrist.

A smile spread across Drakan’s lips at the feeling of the watch strap comfortably clinging to his wrist.

“I like it.”

“I’m glad.”

Looking at Shin Ha-yeon’s smile, Drakan finished off the rest of his steak.

After that, Drakan and Shin Ha-yeon finished their last dessert and got up from their seats.

It was time to go choose ‘gifts.’

▄ ▄ ▄

“Wake up.”

Ugh.

I tossed and turned.

“Wake up, Drakan-nim.”

Only after hearing the sweet voice in my ear once more could I lift my heavy eyelids.

The feeling of the soft bed enveloping my entire body and the spacious room, which could almost be called a playground, came into view.

And the sight of Shin Ha-yeon smiling in front of me.

“Ugh.”

I sat up halfway and grabbed my forehead.

I remembered what had happened yesterday.

I received various gifts from Shin Ha-yeon, gifts, gifts…… and drank alcohol.

And then……

As my memory reached that point, I felt my face flush unnecessarily.

“Do you remember last night?”

Shin Ha-yeon asked me in a playful voice, and I replied with a smile.

“Of course.”

At my words, Shin Ha-yeon smiled and hugged me gently from behind like a cat.

“I feel like we’ve gotten a little closer. Like we can’t escape each other, that kind of……”

Shin Ha-yeon trailed off.

I could guess what she had omitted by cutting her words short, but I didn’t bother to voice it.

“Drakan-nim, you’re completely mine now.”

Shin Ha-yeon’s sweet voice tickled my ear.

I chuckled at her words.

“Think what you want.”

At my words, Shin Ha-yeon burst into laughter as if she was overjoyed, and then released her back hug and sat close beside me, saying,

“Drakan-nim, may I ask what your plans are for the future?”

At Shin Ha-yeon’s question, I held my throbbing forehead from the hangover and organized my thoughts.

Plans, plans, huh.

For now, I had achieved all the mid-term goals I had set.

Although I had encountered an unexpected obstacle called the Simseong Milky Way guild and ended up taking the north instead of the east, which I had originally planned to conquer, nothing had gone wrong in the grand scheme of things.

I became the first conqueror to conquer a region in Ard Saga Second, and I was climbing towards the top ranks, where the ranked players were, at a terrifying speed.

No, perhaps I had already reached the top ranks, considering that the performance of my character itself was comparable to that of most ranked players.

Considering the characteristics of Ard Saga, where it was difficult for latecomers to catch up to those who started earlier, this could be considered a very encouraging achievement, but I had no intention of being satisfied with this.

“First, I need to reach max level.”

Max level!

Of course, theoretically, there was no max level in Ard Saga Second, but users considered level 380, where the so-called ‘experience cliff’ began, to be the practical max level.

The experience required to level up from 380 to 381 was greater than the total experience required to level up from level 1 to 380, so it truly lived up to its name as a cliff.

Therefore, there was a saying that Ard Saga Second truly began at max level, unlike the previous game where leveling up was all that mattered.

“Then, I need to receive the Legacy Quest.”

Legacy Quest!

It was a special quest that only Legacy inheritors could undertake, corresponding to the ‘Awakening Quest’ for regular users.

Anyway, the main point of both the Legacy Quest and the Awakening Quest was the same.

Upon completing the quest, the character’s stats would be greatly enhanced!

And they would gain an ultimate skill, the so-called ‘Awakening Skill’!

That was one of the biggest differences between the previous game and Second.

“After completing the quest, I need to register my information in the Combat Information Archive.”

Combat Information Archive!

It was Miracle Entertainment’s official add-on page that measured a user’s ‘strength’ by comprehensively analyzing all kinds of data, including items, stats, quests, and fame!

Naturally, the top spot in the Combat Information Archive was occupied by Eugene.

Hero Eugene.

He was also the only ranked player to receive an EX rating in the Combat Information Archive.

At the current point in time, where even the Over-Rankers, known as the powerhouses above the heavens, were only at the SSS rating, receiving an EX rating meant that the power Eugene had accumulated was on a completely different level compared to even Over-Rankers.

In such a situation, it was impossible for me, who had just reached max level and completed the Legacy Quest, to catch up to him.

However.

“If that happens, the currently vacant 19th Over-Ranker position will be mine.”

Over-Ranker was within reach.

I was confident that I could achieve the SSS rating as soon as I reached max level and completed the Legacy Quest.

“And then?”

“He’s not alone, so I need to use the prestige of an Over-Ranker to gather forces to counter his close guard, the Five Eyes.”

Five Eyes!

It referred to the alliance of the top five guilds among the Ten Great Guilds centered around Eugene’s Lightwing Guild, and it was an alliance similar in nature to the Guild Alliance that I had formed in the past!

The fear of the Five Eyes did not stem simply from the fact that five of the Ten Great Guilds moved as one.

It was the other guilds allied with the Five Eyes, the ordinary users who supported them wholeheartedly, including the Infinite Eugene Church, and even the Goddess of Light, the Pantheon, the Holy Kingdom, and the Empire that sponsored him!

To confront the power of the Five Eyes, which could be said to be Ard World itself, we needed to build up comparable strength.

However, the current power held by Jeil E&M, including myself, was like throwing an egg at a rock when facing Eugene and the Five Eyes!

Therefore, we needed to reinforce our forces.

And to expand our influence, we needed the prestige of an Over-Ranker.

“And at the same time, we need to divide them.”

However, there would definitely be limits to expanding our forces.

Therefore, we needed to divide the enemies united under the name of Five Eyes, just in case.

Once we had gathered all our forces and the enemy was divided, that would be the true starting point of our revenge.

After hearing all my words, Shin Ha-yeon smiled.

“I have no doubt that you will do well this time as well.”

Her warm arms wrapped around my neck.

“When have I ever disappointed you?”

At my words, Shin Ha-yeon playfully shook her head, and I brought my face close enough to feel her breath on my skin, saying,

“And there’s one more thing you’ve got wrong.”

“What is it?”

“Shin Ha-yeon, it’s not that I belong to you, but that you belong to me.”

Shin Ha-yeon’s face flushed red after hearing my answer, and then she whispered in my ear in a shy voice that I had rarely heard before,

“Yes, I belong to Drakan-nim.”

After finishing her whisper, her warm lips gently pressed against mine.