The D-Rank Guild Master of the No. 1 Guild

Aria opened her mouth, watching Rudel who was hesitating.

“What are you hesitating about?”

“……”

“Is it because your killing stat is low? Well, I expected that you wouldn’t be able to kill someone easily just with a sense of revenge.”

Soon, she gracefully rose from her seat.

“Then how about this? Aren’t you curious why I created all of you?”

Hearing those words, Rudel’s hand trembled slightly.

Honestly, she was curious. Why the game characters were created, and how they were able to be created.

‘There must have been something beyond the technology of modern times. Something that I couldn’t even begin to imagine.’

Perhaps because of that, Rudel wasn’t too surprised when she heard Aria’s next words.

“Actually, I’m a psychic. A psychic with the ability to manipulate people’s souls.”

“……”

“With that ability, I’ve been collecting various souls all this time. After numerous experiments, I succeeded in converting those souls into data and implementing them in virtual reality. That’s how I was able to create strong, beautiful, and intelligent beings like you.”

Aria then gave Rudel a kind smile.

“You are my greatest masterpiece. You clawed your way up to finally reach me.”

“……”

“How wonderful is it that a game character I created ultimately surpasses human limits? Honestly, I have no regrets left even if I die now. No, I would be glad to die.”

“You don’t care if I kill you?”

“Yes, as much as you want. I’ve achieved everything I wanted.”

While talking, Rudel closely observed Aria’s expression, but she seemed sincere about wanting to die.

‘That means, killing this woman wouldn’t bring any revenge at all?’

At that moment, Aria stretched out her arm and firmly grasped the hand in which Rudel held the knife.

“Of course, it might be a bit uncomfortable for you to fulfill my desire to die. You want to take revenge on me.”

“……”

“How about this then? If you don’t kill me now, I won’t stop collecting souls. There will continue to be innocent victims like you. Are you okay with that?”

Rudel’s pupils wavered slightly at those words.

Surely, this woman was a murderer.

If it was true that she sacrificed not only herself but also others to create game characters…

Wouldn’t it be better to eliminate her in advance for the greater good?

Countless thoughts crossed her mind. But there was still something suspicious.

‘If she wants to die so badly, she could just commit suicide. Why is she asking me to kill her? Why does it feel like I’m playing into her hands?’

She couldn’t understand. There was still so much Rudel didn’t know.

Also, the place they were standing in was a closed room somewhere in Mijon Corporation’s building without any windows.

A place where even if a murder occurred, no sound would escape outside.

Why did Aria go through the trouble of bringing her unconscious self to this sealed room?

There wasn’t even a clock in the room.

Because of that, Rudel didn’t know how much time had passed since she started hesitating.

Three minutes… four minutes…

And twenty-two seconds.

Soon, the situation changed.

Thump, thump, thump-!

Suddenly, a tremendous noise began to echo as if someone was pounding on the door from outside the sealed room.

But Rudel focused on the woman in front of her rather than the situation outside the door. Thanks to that, she quickly noticed the slight distortion around her eyes.

‘If Aria is flustered, wouldn’t this be a good thing for me in any case?’

With that thought, Rudel immediately turned around and approached the trembling door as if running.

She tried to open the door, but it was forced open from the outside. The hinges of the iron door were broken, probably due to some inhuman strength.

A power that an ordinary person in the real world couldn’t produce.

Standing against the light streaming in from outside was-

“Thank goodness. You haven’t stabbed her yet….”

It was Akata, his hair disheveled. Out of breath from frantically searching for Aria and Rudel within the unfamiliar building, his gaze finally landed on both women. 

There had been times when he confused the two, but now there was no way to mistake them. They were too different. One was dark and murky, the other pure and radiant. 

Rudel still held the knife, its tip pointed at Aria. Without hesitation, Akata stepped between them. Sweat dripped down from his chin, and he was visibly trembling. 

“……!”

Akata seized Rudel’s hand, the one holding the knife, and with his other hand, he snatched the blade away. Rudel was startled by his rough grip.

“You can’t kill her….”

Though it appeared as if he was protecting Aria, she didn’t seem pleased at all. On the contrary, her face turned even paler.

“Akata, you—!”

She couldn’t finish her sentence. A strange pain overwhelmed her, even sealing her mouth shut.

Akata had stabbed Aria.

Blood flowed from his bitten lips, mixing with tears and dripping down his chin, but Akata did not avert his eyes from the moment. He pierced through her ribcage, driving the blade into her heart.

“This was my duty.”

Aria, collapsing powerlessly, heard Akata’s whisper in her ear.

“You only used me. You destroyed both my mind and body for your convenience.”

The speed at which the fatal wound drained her life was swift. The pain was already fading.

All Aria could do was tremble, her pupils dilating in shock. She tried to clutch her chest with her hand, but it was too late; too much life had already bled away.

The perfect future within Aria’s consciousness crumbled like a catastrophe.

Her death was certainly part of her plan. However, it was not supposed to happen by Akata’s hand.

“How could you betray me?”

Akata didn’t respond to Aria’s words. He, too, seemed deeply shocked by what he had just done, collapsing to the floor as his legs gave out. 

Rudel gently covered Akata’s eyes and embraced his head, comforting him as if he were a child.

In the midst of her despair, realizing that no one could hear her anymore, Aria recalled the picture she originally painted.

‘I wanted to prove that my beautiful creations are superior to humans.’

The characters she created were manipulated and transformed souls under program control, making them more complete and beautiful. The idea of these beings being subjugated by lesser humans was absurd to her.

Aria had meticulously adjusted the scenario to ensure that these artificial beings could rise against the outside world. And now, Rudel, who had become their leader, stood before her.

The power Aria had given Rudel, the ability to extract souls through killing, was about to reveal its true potential.

Aria had planned for Rudel to kill her, freeing her soul from her body, which would then merge with Rudel’s to become a god that would rule the new world.

That was Aria’s plan all along.

She had deliberately set Rudel’s killing stat to the lowest level for this very reason. Since Rudel had never killed anyone in reality, her ability had remained hidden until now.

But where did it go wrong?

If Akata hadn’t intervened, everything would have gone according to plan.

‘Was my mistake in taking care of him personally?’

Trying to control Akata with feelings of admiration, by mimicking ordinary human emotions?

Yes, that was the cause.

She didn’t understand the human heart well enough.

Unaware that Akata already harbored resentment toward her, she had fallen for his act.

No, no. Maybe it had nothing to do with Akata at all.

Ultimately, if only Rudel had stabbed her in time. If only it had happened that way, none of this would have mattered. But Rudel hesitated. What went wrong then…? 

However, without time to reflect further on her mistakes, Aria’s body had already reached its limit. Unlike the thousands who died before her, her body didn’t vaporize; she met her end along with her soul.

* * *

“All this time, my world revolved around Aria. So… I ignored all the suspicious things about her. I kept turning a blind eye,” Akata confessed painfully, as if he was purging himself of his sins.

Around the time Aria drew her last breath, his sobbing had stopped, yet he didn’t try to escape my embrace.

He admitted that even though he knew Aria was a murderer, he cherished her so much that he overlooked her flaws. It was only after meeting me that he learned about ‘goodness and virtue.’ Meeting me made all the pieces in his head come together.

Once he acknowledged Aria’s evil, he finally pieced together the secret behind her power.

“There was a time I witnessed Aria killing someone. The shock was so great that I fainted. But when I woke up, there was no corpse, nothing.”

At first, he convinced himself it was just a nightmare.

“But then, the person who had died reappeared. By then… they seemed completely brainwashed, obedient to Aria.”

Through various complex situations, Akata discovered that ‘those whom Aria killed came under her control.’

“But when I found you, Rudel, it was the opposite. You were trying to kill Aria. Seeing that, and because you and Aria are alike… I thought maybe you shared her power.”

That’s why I killed Aria, Akata confessed.

Additionally, Akata mentioned that he had been receiving injections from Aria for as long as he could remember. It wasn’t until he awakened that he realized those experiments were meant to revert him to a controllable childlike state.

The immense shock he experienced caused fragments of his memory to return bit by bit after meeting Taggiros and reuniting with Aria. 

After his long explanation, he sighed deeply.

“Thank you for trusting me when I said I was going to see Aria.”

I placed my palm on his cheek like when he was a child, gently brushing the corner of his eye with my fingers.

He no longer needed to justify himself.

“You did well, Akata.”

“So did you, Rudel.”

To say I wasn’t anxious about Akata meeting Aria would be a lie. I was just as concerned for his safety as I was troubled by my own petty, impure feelings.

But I overcame that emotion. Not by suppressing it with reason, but by overcoming it with a better feeling, reassuring myself.

‘Just as I needed to resolve my relationship with Unahar, this child needed to confront his own matter.’

I held Akata’s hand and helped him to his feet.

“There’s no more Aria in my heart now. You are the most precious to me. I would forsake all the lives in the world to save just you.”

I replied with a smile.

“You don’t have to tell me; I already know.”

* * *

Whether it was a place prepared by Aria in advance, all of Mijon Corporation’s employees had gathered in a large auditorium. None of them had witnessed the reunion or the events that had unfolded in the sealed room just now. They were all in the auditorium without exception.

The number of employees had increased slightly since I last remembered, but it was still under 100. Considering they had created such a profitable game, the number was surprisingly small.

The rest must have been filled in by Aria’s mysterious power. They must have thought she was just a genius.

The employees of Mijon likely knew nothing about my past life or the true nature of the game characters. Aria had kept everything secret.

‘What was Aria’s true objective, so desperate that she wanted to be killed by me?’

One thing had become clear: I could no longer stand by and watch as our characters were exploited by greedy humans.

“Akata.”

Just before revealing myself to the people, I reached out my hand to him. Akata smiled and placed his hand over mine.

As we walked up to the podium, the employees erupted in murmurs.

“Akata? And the CEO…?”

Some employees mistook me for Aria because of our identical appearance, but the man holding my hand was unmistakable. This meant that a character from the game had emerged into reality—an unprecedented event.

Shock spread among them.

I stood on the stage where Aria should have been. I began to tell them about Aria, revealing all the crimes she had committed and disclosing that we were not mere AI but real souls with human identities. I also explained the role I had played in my past life at Mijon.

Aria had exploited both my past and present selves, but now it was my turn to take everything from her.

“Your CEO, known as ‘Aria,’ no longer exists in this world. Therefore, you have two choices. One, report the disappearance of Mijon’s CEO and elect a new one. If you do, I will expose all the crimes Aria committed to the world. The game will become a legend, unable to release any more content, and will eventually be shut down.”

At this point, Akata smiled slightly.

“The other choice is to appoint me, with the same face and abilities as Aria, as your new CEO. I will keep silent about Aria’s ‘experiments,’ allowing the company to continue as before. However, my condition is that ‘Ranking of Soul’ will henceforth be managed only through the planning of the game characters.”

A lengthy meeting followed. The conclusion was reached.

I was elected as the new CEO of Mijon.