Ending Maker

Chapter 2: Pleiades (2)

“Young master?”

“Miss?”

Maja and Cordelia’s escort, a knight, said almost simultaneously.

That’s because Jude and Cordelia looked at each other out of the blue and acted strangely.

Why are they here?

‘Didn’t we come here to meet the visitor?’

‘Isn’t it because we came here to visit?’

At a time when Maja and the female knight were thinking rationally, Jude calmed his astonished self and thought of the girl in front of him. Just like himself, Cordelia was also full of emotions, such as confusion, surprise, and so on.

‘What’s going on? Why does Yellow Storm come to my mind when I see her?’

The girl in front of him, Cordelia, was so beautiful that the word “incomparable” could be attached.

The eternal 2nd place Yellow Storm had nothing to do with Jude’s own fiancée.

But it was strange.

When their eyes met with each other, the player named Yellow Storm came to his mind.

It was good to say that it was an absolute feeling.

Moreover, it was important to note that the other person showed a similar reaction to him.

‘No way.’

Is she really that Yellow Storm?

It was a dizzying story, but it wasn’t impossible.

In the first place, Outboxer009, who was Kang Jin-ho, had also become Jude Bayer.

“Ahem, ahem…uh…umm. Excuse me for a moment.”

“Uh… Me, me too.”

When Jude talked hesitantly first, Cordelia also indecisively answered.

However, the way she looked at his side was also unusual.

“First… Please sit down.”

“Uh… yeah.”

Once the two have sat down, Maja and the female knight tilted their heads at the awkwardness of the two, but it was only for a short while.

Maja brought out the newly prepared tea, and Jude continued to exchange awkward glances with Cordelia.

‘Let’s test her.’

He didn’t know if only he felt something, but he thought that she would have felt something similar too.

If the other person really is Yellow Storm like he felt, it would seem like a catastrophe has come, but if it really is, he would likely understand.

“Hi, Ye-”

Hi, Yellow Storm.

Jude’s voice trembled because he was embarrassed to say it out of his mouth.

But her reaction was right. Cordelia flinched for a moment and her eyes widely opened.

“Hi, Out-”

Hi, Outboxer.

Cordelia also spoke quietly, and at the time when Maja and the female knight tilted their heads again, Jude drove the wedge in.

“Hey…you too?”

“Hey…me too.”

“Young master?”

“Miss?”

Maja and the female knight’s face now had a rather serious look of concern.

Why are the two suddenly acting like that?

But Jude couldn’t care less about the reaction of those two.

‘Crazy! Are you really Yellow Storm?!’

When he spoke with his eyes, the other returned a similar answer.

Jude first took a deep breath. He wanted to ask a lot of questions right away, like what happened and when did she became Cordelia, but there was Maja and the female knight here.

Therefore, Jude tried to speak indirectly to her.

“Coop reset 9 o’clock 3-9.”

One of the contents of Legend of Heroes 2 is the coop mode that resets every night at 12:00 – meaning it was reset at midnight.

9 o’clock refers to the 9 o’clock direction, and 3-9 meant 9 blocks down – that is, 18 meters below the entrance coordinates.

Therefore, the interpretation of Jude’s words was as follows.

‘Let’s meet at midnight in the corner of my garden.’

Honestly, it would be difficult for a normal Legend of Heroes 2 player to understand what he meant, but it would have been understandable if it was the rotten water Yellow Storm.

And indeed, Cordelia nodded and said in a whisper.

“Roger that.”

It was a radio term meaning “understood” and is one of Yellow Storm’s peculiar way of speaking.

“Ahem, ahem… I’m glad that you look healthy. It’s already late today, so I’ll be going back and seeing you next time.”

“Ahem, ahem… it was a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to seeing you next time.”

Well, they couldn’t have a proper conversation here.

So, after deciding on when and where to meet, they quickly ended their meeting.

When Cordelia and Jude stood up after talking to each other, it was Maja and the female knight who were confused again.

“Yo-you’re going already?”

“Miss?”

She was so surprised that Maja’s usual expressionless face was now full of surprise.

However, Jude and Cordelia had already reached an agreement and exchanged their greetings.

Jude laughed awkwardly and saw off Yellow Storm – no, Cordelia, who likewise went out with an awkward smile and a quick pace.

“Young master? What is going…”

“Umm, yeah.”

Just what on earth was this situation?

But Jude was at least certain of one thing.

The appearance of an ally who would be on his side and believe in Jude’s words.

Looking at the entrance of the drawing room where Cordelia had left, Jude clenched his fist.

***

Jude Bayer’s father, Count Bayer, was out on a northern expedition with his successor, Ga?l Bayer, who is the older brother of Jude.

It was an annual small-scale expedition where they subjugated northern monsters, and the period from their departure to their return lasted one month.

In any case, the quiet part of the house was now even quieter. This is because most of the retainers here went on the expedition following his father and brother.

Having finished dinner alone in the room, Jude waited impatiently for midnight to come.

And finally, the deepest of night, midnight, came.

Jude sneaked out of his room and hurried to the garden.

It was still summer in terms of time, but the night air was cold as they were in the northern part of the country.

‘Will she come to the right place?’

Standing under a big tree at the promised place, Jude looked up at the night sky with an anxious face.

‘I’m really in Pleiades.’

There were two moons hanging in the sky.

Selene and Helene.

Twin goddesses that illuminated the night sky.

In fact, the two moons were even more beautiful and mysterious looking than when they were seen through the monitor screen.

“Hey.”

It was at that moment. With the very small voice that came out of nowhere, Jude became alert and looked up the wall to identify the owner of the voice.

The owner of the voice was a red-haired girl wearing a hard-pressed brown hood reminiscent of a monk’s robes.

“Yellow Storm.”

“Outboxer009.”

Speaking quietly, the same little voice came back.

And, whoosh…

Cordelia crossed over the wall using magic and looked at Jude with a face full of mixed emotions.

“For real?”

“Yes, for real.”

They just confirmed each other’s nicknames.

“It’s really similar.”

“What?”

“Even though you’re crazy, it’s still nice to see you.”

At Cordelia’s words, Jude nodded. The same was true of himself.

He thought that he had fallen alone in a completely different world, but he knew a face – no, he was glad to see another person like him.

“Since when?”

“Two days ago. What about you?”

“Two days ago, too.”

“It happened suddenly when you opened your eyes?”

“Yeah.”

Jude and Cordelia squatted under the tree then and looked at each other with saying anything first.

It was Cordelia who opened her mouth again.

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be a guy? How did you get a girl to go over the wall of a man’s house?”

“What is this sexual discrimination all of a sudden? And don’t you know Jude? Jude Bayer. Gueumjulmaek. How am I supposed to cross the wall?”

And when he thought about it, it wasn’t just that.

“And how long have you been a woman?”

“From birth.”

“Huh?”

“Since I was born, you crazy bastard.”

At Cordelia’s confession, Jude rubbed his eyes and soon spoke in a rather embarrassed voice.

“Yellow Storm was a woman?”

“Then were you a man?”

“I was a man.”

“I was a woman.”

“Is that so? Okay…”

Then again, they’ve known each other for five years, but they’ve never talked with each other in the common voice chat. When they met in the game, they met as game characters, so there was nothing for them to recognize about the other’s real sex.

“That’s not what really matters now.”

When Jude spoke, Cordelia nodded, though she had a bit of a bitter expression.

What mattered was that Outboxer009 became Jude, and Yellow Storm became Cordelia, and that this world was the world of Legend of Heroes 2.

Jude decided to start with the basics first.

“So do you? I mean…rather than feeling that I’m inside the game, it was more like my past life was ‘Outboxer.’ So…I thought that it was the same for you too, ‘Yellow Storm.’”

“Me too. I feel the same.”

At first glance, there may not be much difference, but in fact, there was a crucial difference between the two.

Whether or not they could return.

If they were really reincarnated in Pleiades, the world of Legend of Heroes 2, the destination of ‘return’ would not exist. They were born again in this world, so where would they go to return?

But neither Jude nor Cordelia thought deeply about it. Though they felt strongly about the fact that they were both Jude and Cordelia now, there were also more important issues that they had to resolve.

““The Great Summons.””

An event that triggered when all the necessary conditions were in place, causing the angels and demons to descend.

At first, he only thought about being strong enough to survive in the time of great tribulation, but that was not enough now.

They had to stop the Great Summons itself, which would bring destruction to this world.

Of course, it was a desolate story.

The descent of angels and demons was indeed the fate of the world of Pleiades.

No matter how much of a rotten water he was, it was too much for him to do it all alone.

But if he’s not alone.

If the 1st and 2nd place in the server rankings were together.

“I like our character picks.”

Jude Bayer and Cordelia Chase.

Both were non-mainstream characters that were far from weak ones, but the characters they ‘picked’ that she spoke about wasn’t just about their character’s performance.

Cordelia said with a bitter smile.

“It’s perfect for sharing.”

“Bingo.”

Jude was a warrior, and Cordelia was a wizard.

As with all the goods in this world, there was a limit to the number of various skills and items that existed in Pleiades.

If Jude and Cordelia were characters walking on the same path, they would inevitably interfere with each other’s growth.

But they were both warrior and wizard, so they could share the goods of the Pleiades with each other, as Cordelia said.

“I never thought I’d form a party here that I haven’t done in five years.”

“You’re right. This world is truly nasty.”

It was ridiculous to be reincarnated in the world of a game, but he couldn’t believe that he reincarnated with the forever 2nd place girl. Moreover, they were also engaged.

“Anyway, I’d like to ask for your cooperation.”

“What cooperation?”

“I have to treat my Gueumjulmaek.”

“Doesn’t it automatically get healed during an event?”

Indeed, it was true.

In the game, after starting as Jude Bayer and somehow spending half a year, an event was supposed to take place where Count Chase would send to Count Bayer the cure of Gueumjulmaek.

In other words, it meant that if he just waited calmly, he could completely cure the Gueumjulmaek.

But at Cordelia’s question, Jude said, clicking his tongue.

“That’s why you’re eternally second place.”

“What did you say?”

“Hey, be honest. You’ve never played Jude, right?”

“That’s not true. I’ve tried it before. I know it gets cured because I’ve played as him.”

“But do you agree to that? To just wait for half a year to get treated?”

There are 6 months in half a year, 180 days in 6 months, and 4320 hours in 180 days.

It was a such a waste of a long time.

Cordelia returned a bitter expression at Jude’s point.

“Then what will you do?”

“I need to treat it before that. By mobilizing all sorts of tricks.”

In a way that only they who have climbed over the stagnant water and reached the stage of the rotten water can do.

“Come closer.” Jude gestured to Cordelia, and began to tell his plans.