The residents freaked out.

“A-Are you suggesting a rebellion?”

“A rebellion? It is the lord who is causing the rebellion! We are the people of Earl Steim. We’ll go against the demons who joined hands to go against Earl Steim’s will!”

The residents were reminded that they had justification to go against the lord, and their morale started rising.

“Okay! I will follow Khan!”

“It is impossible to drive out the lord with our strength, but with our indignation, we will let the world know that something is wrong in Winston. Then Earl Steim will eventually hear the news about Winston.”

‘We have to fight for Grid, who is locked up because of us.”

“I am going to fight!”

The residents decided to change Winston’s fate with their own strength!

Khan opened the door of the warehouse and checked it. The warehouse was full of battle gear. They were the very same items that Grid had produced while practicing for the game. Their performance wasn’t excellent due to the limitations of the materials, but they were still better than farming equipment.

“Ohh!”

The residents felt excited as they armed themselves under Khan’s command.

“Head toward the Mero Company right now!”

“Yes! Grab Valmont!”

Khan restrained them, “If we attack the Mero Company, the news of our uprising will be delivered quickly to the lord and then the castle will be heavily defended.”

“Then... should we go to the castle first?”

“Correct. We must enter the castle before news of our rebellion is passed onto the lord. If the lord is taken as a hostage, the soldiers won’t be able to move and we can easily dismiss the Mero Company!”

A man came forward and said, “The architect who designed the castle is my great-grandfather. So I have a blueprint of the castle in my home. We can grasp the secret passages through the blueprint, allowing us to easily infiltrate the castle.”

“Ohh!”

The residents saw hope. They weren’t helpless anymore. In fact, they were confident they could drive out the lord and Mero Company. However, their confidence only lasted for a moment.

Jaengurang!

The windows of the blacksmith’s second floor were shattered, and soldiers armed with bows entered.

“Drop your weapons if you don’t want to die!”

The smithy’s second floor was occupied by dozens of archers in an instant, all aiming their bows at the residents on the first floor. The residents were terrified as Valmont entered the smithy.

He laughed loudly, “Hey, I just came to take over the smithy, only to earn the chance for a big merit! Hahaha!”

The fat on his chin wobbled as he laughed.

Khan cried out to the laughing Valmont, “You framed Grid and had him arrested so that the result of the game wouldn’t be revealed!”

Valmont shrugged. “You talk as if the result of the game is undetermined. That’s ridiculous! It was the Mero Company’s complete victory. Didn’t you see the work of the blacksmith we hired? Even if the details of the dagger that you and Grid made were disclosed, you wouldn’t be able to beat her work. Ask the crowd, everybody would agree. The Mero Company won the game, so the proper owner of this smithy is the Mero Company.”

“You! You definitely noticed that Grid’s work was much better than your blacksmith’s, so you hastily arrested Grid in fear of being defeated in the game!”

Valmont ridiculed him, “If you want to blame someone, shouldn’t you blame the eyes of the public? Anyway, throw away your weapon if you don’t want to be immediately executed for causing a rebellion.”

“Who would listen to the commands of a merchant?”

“Hoh, is it a problem that I’m a merchant? Then follow the command of Sir Philipson, not me. Sir Philipson, those people are armed. Doesn’t that constitute as a rebellion? You should pacify them.”

Philipson standing next to Valmont nodded. He waved his hand, and the soldiers occupying the second floor pulled back their bows.

Then he said, “Surrender all your weapons. And Khan, I will arrest you as the ringleader of the rebellion.”

The residents were furious. “Dirty bastard! Are you a knight? Valmont’s dog! I don’t have to listen to your commands!”

Philipson glanced at the soldiers on the second floor, and arrows poured down.

Puuok!

“Kuaack!”

“Hiik!”

One of the residents fell down after getting hit by an arrow.

Khan shook at the sight. “Vicious bastards!”

Philipson declared, “The next attack will aim at your heads. Drop your weapons if you don’t want to die.”

Even though the residents were all holding weapons, ordinary people didn’t have a chance against trained soldiers. If they were to fight, they would just die a meaningless death.

“Ohhh…”

Jaengurang!

Their weapons fell weakly to the ground. The residents’ determination dropped, and the helpless people lay down on the ground in fear.

Valmont watched the crying people and laughed, “Hahahaha! You fools! In the end, dogs like you will resist uselessly! Clearly understand this! You are meant to be ruled! All you need to do is obey unconditionally! Don’t think about rebelling again!”

Then Valmont gave an order to Philipson and his troops, “Confiscate everything in this smithy, and arrest Khan, the ringleader of the rebellion.”

“Yes!” The soldiers moved in an orderly fashion.

Valmont approached Philipson and whispered, “Sir Philipson, the lord will clearly give a great reward to us, who stopped the rebellion before any damage was done. Why don’t we have a drink tonight to celebrate? I will prepare beauties and delicacies.”

“It is appreciated. We can play tonight. But you don’t need to prepare separate beauties,” Philipson said, with his greedy gaze fixed on one side.

Valmont followed his gaze and saw some elderly people and women standing on one side. Among the females, there was one around 15 years old. When she was an adult, she would be a great beauty.

Valmont frowned and muttered to himself, “Wanting a young girl... you are worse than me.”

“Huh? What did you say just now? I’m sorry, but I didn’t hear it.”

“No, nothing. You didn’t hear anything. I was just talking to myself.”

While Valmont and Philipson were filled with anticipation at the lord’s reward, the residents felt desperate as they watched Khan get dragged away.

“What do we do now?”

“What should we do? This is the end... There is no one else to rely on in Winston.”

“I should’ve left when I could... Now I can’t leave this place…”

Khan was the last remaining source of hope for the Winston residents, but he was now being dragged to the dungeon. The residents lost their hope.

They needed a savior.

***

In Winston Castle’s dungeon...

“......”

How many days had passed? Light never entered the dungeon, and Huroi despaired as he remained trapped in the darkness. He couldn’t tell whether this was reality or virtual reality.

‘Where is this? Why am I doing this? How can I get out of this hell?’

He would rather die.

Meanwhile, in reality, Huroi’s EEG was showing severe instability. The atmosphere of the S.A Mongolian branch was very heavy.

“The EEG is too unstable. We can’t guarantee Allunbatar’s health. If we don’t forcefully log him out right now, he might need to be locked up in a mental hospital.” The experts advised them to give up on this quest.

However, the Mongolian branch director, Park Eunhyuk, thought differently. “Allunbatar has endured 48 hours and 10 minutes. It has reached up to here, so it isn’t about PR anymore. We can’t waste the effort of Allunbatar. There is only 1 hour and 50 minutes remaining. Until then, we will watch Allunbatar until the end.”

It meant he wouldn’t allow the forced logout.

The faces of the executives turned white.

“Satisfy deserves criticism for the existence of a quest that puts the user at risk. If we don’t take responsibility for the safety of the user, the company will take a big hit.”

“The whole world will think Satisfy is dangerous, and service will be disrupted!”

Park Eunhyuk didn’t back down from the executives. “My decision has been made. If anything goes wrong, I will take all responsibility. I will do my best to avoid damaging the company.”

“Why would you go so far? The current situation isn’t that encouraging. The probability of Grid rescuing Huroi is only 9%! Furthermore, Grid was arrested as Huroi’s accomplice. Rather than rescuing Huroi, Grid will be stuck in the same dungeon. Isn’t it a wise decision to force him to logout, since the quest will fail anyway?”

Park Eunhyuk’s thoughts were different. “Isn’t it a positive thing that Grid was arrested? They are now close to each other in the dungeon.”

The executives were shocked. “Grid is a legendary class, but he is of a low level. Furthermore, his items and weapons have been seized. How will he get out of the dungeon and rescue Huroi with just his body?”

“It has already been decided, so don’t say anything more,” Park Eunhyuk dismissed them and focused on the monitor again.

The first monitor had ‘48 hours’ stated on it. That meant Huroi had been stuck in the game for 192 hours, so he was starting to panic.

On the second monitor, the soldiers had just brought Grid into Winston Castle.

‘Obviously, the situation is desperate. Huroi can’t be rescued with Grid’s strength. However, it seems like something will happen.’

After the ‘Wait’ quest had been triggered, Park Eunhyuk watched Grid all the time. Grid was greedy, his tone was rude, and his behavior wasn’t prudent. He was a figure far from the Apostle of Justice in the movies.

Nevertheless, Park Eunhyuk gained more confidence as he watched. Grid always tried hard. He stood in front of a furnace for several hours, hammering repeatedly. He designed and made different items using the same materials. He moved his body and mind without any rest. He grumbled all day, but his actions were totally different. Then finally, he produced an amazing piece of work in the item production game.

‘A user created the first...’

Even if Grid had the fraudulent Legendary Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship Skill, it was still ridiculous that he was able to produce such an item so quickly.

‘He might not have talent, but his spirit is exceptional. It would be nice to believe in him.’

Regardless of the hardships they suffered, heroes in movies never gave up. Furthermore, the hero should always win in the end.

‘Perhaps Grid deserves to be a hero too,’ Park Eunhyuk thought.