Chapter 15

Chapter 15
## Chapter 15: The Enigmas of Hudson

Those treacherous snakes.

‘If things keep going this way, the council is going to strip me of my casino.’

Hudson.

By trade, he was a Merchant, a man who had put down roots here in the city of Arcana with nothing but raw greed and grand designs.

Yet, despite his prosperous exterior, he was drowning in a desperate financial quagmire.

‘Increasing my tax burden under the guise of funding the great expedition? All while they keep lining their pockets with my grease money!’

To hell with Arcana. To hell with that city council!

The governing body had hiked up the rates for entertainment venues and retroactively demanded taxes on every gold coin that hadn’t been documented.

Hudson found the situation impossible to swallow.

The only reason those earnings went unreported in the first place was to fund his lobbying of those very councilors. They had intentionally looked the other way for years, fully aware of his books.

To suddenly be branded with ‘tax evasion’ felt like a complete betrayal of honor. Arcana was a place where wealth dictated morality, but even by those standards, the council had gone too far.

It was clear as day: Hudson had been turned into the council’s personal livestock. He was the loyal hound being slaughtered for the pot now that the season was over.

He saw only one path to salvation.

‘I’ll amass such a fortune that they’ll have no choice but to seat me on that council myself!’

Entering the halls of power was his endgame.

Hudson’s fixation on hitting level 10 was fueled by a desperation that defied logic.

“…What are you implying by ‘speak only the truth’? Are you suggesting I’ve been dishonest with you?”

It seemed as though a deity had finally taken notice of Hudson’s plight.

The opportunity before him felt like a miracle, arriving at the exact moment he needed it.

However, as he processed the proposal from the Star Awakener, Hudson could only squint in confusion.

“The celestial bodies grant no favor to those draped in deception. If you truly wish to be worthy, you must strip away every mask you wear.”

“I am a man of my word.”

“A falsehood.”

“What is the lie, exactly? Are you claiming even my name, Hudson, is a fabrication?”

“A falsehood.”

“······”

Even the name of the establishment, emblazoned for all to see, was Hudson, yet this Star Awakener dismissed it as a sham.

Hudson found himself unable to retort.

In truth, Hudson was not the name he was born with.

‘Does he see through my status as a player? Is he one of those hunters masquerading as a Star Awakener?’

He knew of certain NPCs who made a career out of tracking down players.

They labeled players as ‘sinners’ and carried out immediate executions upon discovery. Many had already fallen to their blades.

Their tactics and ways of sniffing out targets were unpredictable, leaving players with no choice but to live in a state of constant paranoia.

Even though he had just resolved to agree to any terms, a cold dread began to settle in his gut.

If the person standing across from him was truly a hunter in the Star Awakener’s robes…

“Serengeti.”

“······ Hold on. Just give me a second, please.”

The second that name hung in the air, the color fled from Hudson’s face.

He frantically checked his surroundings and began hitting a sequence of concealed toggles.

He killed the power to every device capable of surveillance or recording in the room.

It was as if he were trying to erase their existence from the world’s eyes and ears.

Trembling and pale, he managed to choke out a question.

“H-How… how could you possibly know that name?”

“The sole heir to the Wyer Marquess bloodline in the Valan Kingdom, the White Knight Serengeti. You two shared a private vow of betrothal.”

“······?!”

The stranger knew things that were buried in the deepest parts of his heart.

That engagement was a phantom secret, known only to the two lovers.

He had never breathed a word of it to a living soul, and he knew she was equally guarded.

How could a Star Awakener possess knowledge that didn’t exist in any record?

The revelation was enough to shatter his world, but the Star Awakener wasn’t finished.

“This casino is merely a tool. Your true ambition is to claim a seat on the council legitimately so you can walk through the front gates of the marquess estate and ask for her hand, isn’t it?”

“······.”

“The timing is quite poetic. Serengeti was robbed of her legs during the great expedition; she is now a shadow of her former self. A prestigious council member from the thriving city of Arcana would be a match the Marquess family couldn’t dream of rejecting. They would treat you like a savior.”

“······.”

“However… there is a problem. A man named Hudson, who possesses neither level 10 nor a seat of power, is worthless to the house of the Marquess.”

Hudson’s gaze swirled with a chaotic mix of hope and terror.

The reason I held these cards was straightforward.

I was the ultimate gamer—the one who had once reigned as the most powerful entity in this world, Wilhelm.

Naturally, my understanding of the crusade against the demon realm surpassed anyone else’s.

*-Wilhelm. The most noble Knight King, the one who never tasted defeat. If this campaign succeeds, I beg you to look after Hudson. Give him this and tell him… tell him I am sorry for leaving him behind. I truly, deeply loved him.*

Serengeti.

She had been a pillar of the great expedition. Known as the White Knight, she had charged into the fray at the head of five hundred elite warriors.

When I had walked into a demonic ambush, she was the one who threw herself into the gap to save me. At the time, I had simply dismissed it as a scripted event…

I had managed to pull her from the brink of death, but the cost was her legs. A vicious hex had even rendered her hands useless.

In the moments before she lost consciousness, Serengeti had pressed a locket into my palm. Tucked inside was a portrait of her and Hudson during their secret ceremony.

‘That shouldn’t have been possible. It makes no sense.’

As far as my lore knowledge went, Serengeti was never written to have a lover.

There was no such lore entry in the game’s database.

Hudson was a mere businessman in the metropolitan Arcana—there was no logical bridge between him and the daughter of a marquess from a distant land.

They were two souls from different spheres of existence.

Unless, of course, Hudson was a player.

‘A romance between a player and an NPC.’

For Hudson, this wasn’t some digital pastime.

It was his life. A passion that intense couldn’t be simulated by a mere gamer.

Looking broken and defeated, Hudson whispered,

“What is the truth… that you want from me?”

“I want it all.”

“Everything…?”

I needed a place to start.

Hudson was likely a goldmine of the information I lacked.

Details about the current state of the world, the players, and the so-called Eight Heroes.

But asking directly would make him doubt my “divine” insight.

I had to maintain the persona of an omniscient being who already knew his soul. That mystery was the only thing keeping him convinced I was the Star Awakener.

“Start from the very beginning. Your birth, your journey, and how you came to be here.”

It was time to listen.

The tale of Hudson.

The unvarnished story of his existence.

—

*Thud, thud, thud.*

The rhythmic strike of the blade against the cutting board was incredibly loud.

The restaurant was filled with the hum of other diners, but the sound of that knife was the only thing hitting my eardrums.

‘······ Is she actually furious?’

I had lost track of time listening to Hudson’s life story and ended up being late for our meeting.

I hadn’t expected him to be so thorough in his retelling.

And I couldn’t exactly cut him off when he was baring his soul.

Because of that delay, I found out the identities of those posing as the Eight Heroes—the ones who had deleted the legacy of Wilhelm to play at being legends…

They were almost certainly the snakes who had betrayed me. They were enemies I could never coexist with in this world.

“Is the steak meeting your expectations?”

“Yes. But isn’t a place like this a bit over the top?”

After a stifling silence, we finally started talking.

The venue was the issue.

A high-end steakhouse in Cheongdam-dong.

I had promised to buy her a meal where the steaks cost 160,000 won a plate, but then I showed up late.

For a second, I panicked thinking I’d have to scrounge up the cash to pay…

“You handled that stalker for me. This meal doesn’t even begin to settle the debt.”

Kim Hana gave me a small smile.

That stalker. The guy was legitimately unhinged.

“I just did what was right.”

“No. It takes a rare kind of courage to actually step in.”

Intervening when someone is being harassed isn’t a small thing.

The aggressor could easily turn their violence on you.

To be honest, I was surprised by my own actions.

If I hadn’t merged with Randolph’s essence, would I have moved?

Likely not. The intent might have been there, but my body would have frozen in fear.

Leaning in slightly, Kim Hana lowered her voice.

“But… isn’t that the woman from before sitting behind us? She hasn’t stopped stealing glances at you.”

······ So Kim Hana had spotted her too.

The woman at the table at our backs was indeed Kim Seoyeon.

‘What are the odds of a coincidence like this?’

Kim Seoyeon was there with her boyfriend—the one who had kept a low profile for a while.

A rich entrepreneur. The man she had run to right after our breakup.

The guy looked like a walking billboard for wealth. Designer clothes from head to toe, with a Rolex gleaming on his arm.

A complete contrast to me.

I had been trying my best to ignore their presence, but it seemed Kim Seoyeon had been tracking our every move.

“Don’t pay it any mind. There’s nothing going on between us anymore.”

“Mm, I see.”

Kim Hana clearly felt the tension, but she was polite enough not to push. She knew that getting tangled in someone else’s romantic history was a recipe for a headache.

“Park Hyun-myeong?”

······ If the man hadn’t stood up and approached us, I might have been able to walk away without a scene.

“Did you seriously follow our Seoyeon all the way to this restaurant?”

“······?”

What kind of delusional garbage was he spouting?

“Give it a rest, kid. You’re making a fool of yourself.”

“O-oppa, please just leave it alone.”

“Seoyeon. Your problem is that you’re too kind. You have to be blunt with trash like this for them to understand. He’s clearly stalking you because you’re too soft. Just another pathetic nobody.”

What kind of absolute lunacy were these two trying to pull?