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**E/N: AS DEFINED BY MERRIAM-WEBSTER, nepotism is ‘favoritism (as in appointment to a job) based on kinship’.**

Of course, I’ve begun to hate her more since joining the Tutorial. The documentary’s narrative was that the leader of the Order of Vigilance may be in a relationship with Ho-jae, but in reality, the woman only fought with him. There were no personal messages, but they had a good enough connection to confront each other openly in the community. Maybe it was a bit far-fetched to call it a confrontation. They were childishly hanging on to each other’s words, fighting over them, and clinging to each other. It was tough for me to like it.

Having read all the articles in the community, I was well aware of what happened in the Tutorial’s early days. It seemed to me that I was upset to see him talking down on me and fighting back on the subject that he had saved me.

Watching the couple date and eventually break up, then grow close again afterward, made me hate her even more.

And now that we’ve met face to face for the first time, I hated the woman more than ever. Look at that face. Oh, my God. Was that the face of a woman over thirty? The Tutorial was promoting a scam. Park Jung-ah would look like a high school student if she wore a school uniform.

But dressing in a professional suit made her look pretentious, putting too much effort into her looks.

“Will you tell me the reason?” she asked, eyes examining me.

“No.”

I wondered if the rumor that the Order of Vigilance was actually a group of whipped guys was true.

**Note from Imagine: in case you don’t know whipped means in love/infatuated. It’s usually used for the latter**

Maybe Park Jung-ah was tricking people with that face obliviously.

As soon as she saw me, she glanced down at the ring on her finger and pretended to hide it behind her back. No matter how much I thought about it, her supposedly subtle movement was a definite ‘f*ck you’ gesture. After being hit on the head by Park Jung-ah’s behavior, my doubts kept piling up.

“I’m sorry, but I need a reason to move you to an integrated server, for the sake of procedures.”

“I have an appointment. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you anymore because it’s too personal. And I don’t have much time, so I can’t follow all the procedures.”

I had a good excuse in store, but I didn’t want to say it. Not to this woman, at least.

“Personal?” she frowned, murmuring the word. Somehow, I took pleasure in her dissatisfaction.

That woman couldn’t force her rules on me. It wasn’t because there was a problem with her rules, but I just didn’t want to accept them.

With great power comes great responsibility. It was a famous saying, but it was complete bullshit. With great power comes respect.

The same went for the rules of the Order of Vigilance. I respected their plans, unquestioningly. But, the Order of Vigilance, who ruled the Tutorial with an iron fist, gave up its control to a strong woman whom the order could not control. The result was, of course, tragic.

In a way, it was good. Some things couldn’t be recklessly cut or controlled. If you forced rules on the ordinary people, the rules and those who enforced them would be destroyed.

I was confident that the Order of Vigilance wouldn’t stop me, and I was looking forward to forcing myself to the point where I’d have to stop myself. If so, I would be able to show without any regrets, the strength I had.

“I’ll permit you. But if there’s a problem with the integrated server, or if there’s a violation of the rules, we can’t help you,” Park Jung-ah said.

You can’t help me, anyway. Even if you could, I wouldn’t need it.

“Rules aren’t made for people to get punished for breaking them. It’s the same as why you shouldn’t commit a crime, not because you go to jail, but because it is inherently wrong. We’ll tolerate you ignoring our rules, but we won’t help you when you’re in trouble,” she continued,

How ironic. A woman who had committed more crimes than anyone else in the Tutorial was giving me this advice.

“Isn’t it fair?”

“Yes, it’s fair enough. Thank you.”

I didn’t have any complaints, nor did I need the help of these people anyway. However, I just didn’t like her attitude of teaching, as usual.

* * * *

[Park Jung-ah]

“Am I doing well?” I mumbled to myself.

The members talked in hushed voices in the passageway. The committee reacted very strongly to my statement regarding Lee Yeon-hee’s departure to an integrated server. The committee had planned to turn the integrated server zone into an empty area. They had wanted to leave it as empty as possible with exceptions made for public meetings and the like. Meanwhile, my announcement of Lee Yeon-hee’s departure must have sounded irresponsible to them, as I didn’t know her purpose. But all I could say to the committee was that we couldn’t help it.

[You’re doing enough.] Ho-jae’s voice flowed into my head through the ring.

“Ugh. I can’t even mutter this to myself.” I covered my face in embarrassment. A light laugh came from the ring.

[It’s just as you said. Rules cannot help you as one cannot be bound by discipline for too long. I thought it was obvious, too.]

What do you mean? I got up from my seat.

Entering the conference room, where the Order of Vigilance members had gathered, I could see several people moving in a row.

I asked one of the closest people, “What’s going on?”

“I got a report that a Ranker was making a fuss, that’s him.”

The man pointed to a ranker. I had never seen him before, but he was famous enough just by his looks. The man was now sleeping on the floor, reeking of liquor. There was an Order of Vigilance member who approached and talked to him.

“Mister, mister! Wake up!”

The drunk Ranker managed to open his eyes, but he couldn’t regain his senses.

“Mister, can’t you drink a bit less?”

“Oh, no,” the drunk Ranker answered. The Order of Vigilance member laughed at the sight.

“Who in the community would have known that such a reputable man could be so weak. Hahaha.”

“I never thought he’d be like this when he’s drunk.” Everyone started laughing loudly at what someone said. To be honest, I couldn’t comprehend why this was so funny.

“What about the victim?” I asked impatiently.

“No one was hurt, but he was so drunk that people around him reported feeling uneasy.”

It was dangerous. If that man had used his power on people while he was drunk, there could have been a massive accident. It occurred to me that I should have banned drinking in this tournament.

“Then we’ll go out again.”

“Yes. Have a good day.”

The field personnel of the Order of Vigilance left the conference room. I looked back on my memory, but I couldn’t remember where they had been stationed. Now everyone was doing their job well, even though I didn’t know everything.

I hesitated. The members were asking if this situation was funny or serious, and whether or not punishment should befall the man.

“Are you hurt?” I noticed an Order of Vigilance member with a towel on his face.

“Yes, I’ve got a slight cut,” the member replied.

No matter how drunk the Ranker was, injuring a person was going too far.

“This is...” I trailed off.

“It’s fine. When he wakes up, I’ll ask him for a meal as an apology.”

I couldn’t get used to this way of speaking. It wasn’t like this before.

“Don’t think about getting fed. Think about treatment. It’ll leave a scar,” I warned.

“Hey, it’s not like I can’t live with a scar. What’s wrong with getting a meal from a Ranker like him? He’s going to live like a king when he goes out on Earth.” The member shook his head.

I decided not to pressure him anymore when he said he was okay. I delivered some instructions and came out.

The Order of Vigilance’s atmosphere has changed a lot, and I was well aware of it.

Times had changed. People were clearing the Tutorial faster and going outside. The shorter the spent in the Tutorial, the smaller the problem.

The Earth was slowly stabilizing and awakened people gained wealth and honor. The higher the reward after the clearing, the more steadily the Tutorial’s challengers engaged in growth. The challengers, who used to resemble mercenaries and adventurers running for their lives, now looked like test-takers preparing for the exam.

The Order of Vigilance changed accordingly. The problems had diminished, and the atmosphere had softened. Rather than punishing people, it was full of things that helped them avoid any inconvenience or difficulty in clearing. Now that several generational shifts have taken place, the Order of Vigilance, which was in a position to control and govern the first Korean Tutorial servers, had turned into a supporter of the challengers.

That was what happened before. Initially, a fitting punishment for the drunk man should’ve been carried out. No matter how drunk he was, the penalty for attacking an Order of Vigilance member trying to guide him had to be made clear, and it was a proper incident to publicize it to the outside world. But now that the Order of Vigilance had changed, I couldn’t make them move the way I wanted them to.

[What are you thinking?]

“The world is changing these days.”

The advent of the Tutorials and the emergence of monsters was like opening a new world. People who had fallen into the new world had created all sorts of problems and confusion. But it has been stagnant ever since. At least for me, it was. No matter how turbulent the outside world was, it had always been the same routine for me.

I watched for crimes, made sure that the Order of Vigilance didn’t have any accidents, took care of the new arrivals, and sorted out the items and information they had gathered and distributed to the people. And I spent the rest of the time cheering for Lee Yeon-hee.

I remembered that Kim Min-hyuk cared a lot about his life in the Tutorial. He predicted that a lot of people would settle down in the Tutorial and that they’d create a lot of problems. In response, I told him that a decent society was needed for the settlers. But contrary to his expectations, the number of people left in the Tutorial was now minuscule. Naturally, since this problem had diminished, his arrangements had become meaningless. Now, I could see why he left.

Many things had changed, but I was still the same.

“Do you remember when the vice-captain went outside?” I asked.

[Remember what?] Ho-jae questioned.

“You told me that I should be the mother of the Order of Vigilance, but it turns out I was completely out of sync with them.”

[Sorry. That was a bit of a hassle. After Kim Min-hyuk left, it’s apparent that it would be more trouble.]

“Nobody asked,” I snapped

Whoo, I had almost lost my temper again. I needed to calm down.

[But you’ve been doing great.]

“You can’t convince me.”

Everyone expected me to do everything well. I should take care of the internal affairs that Kim Min-hyuk was in charge of, beyond my public appearances, but I didn’t get the job done correctly. The remaining Order of Vigilance members led the change on their own, and I could only tolerate and watch it.

The Order of Vigilance had changed a lot from when Kim Min-hyuk and I took charge of each other’s roles. Just as there was no problem with the Order of Vigilance, even when Kim Min-hyuk was gone, it seemed that there would be no problem with the Order of Vigilance without me now. No, I think it would be better without me.

Somehow I lost my energy and sighed. I took a seat on the bench by the roadside. I used to suffer from the threat of assassination, and I couldn’t even come out alone like this during tournament days, but now, sitting here made me feel refreshed and empty at the same time. While sitting here on the streets, I somehow understood the feelings of those who became jobless overnight.

[Just relax and say what you want to say.] Ho-jae whispered. [Speak out about how you feel.]

< Tournament Chapter (4) > End