”My name is not Yong Yong.”

Now what’s this now, straight out of the blue.

“Hey, Yong Yong, would you like to eat a hotdog?”
“Yes!”

Yong Yong seemed happy about the thoughts of eating hotdogs. He smiled adorably for a moment, but then he suddenly hardened his expression and yelled again,

“My name is not Yong Yong!”

[I knew this would happen.]

The clone bastard was sitting next to me. He tried to get on my nerve, but I ignored it.

“Yong Yong. If your name is not Yong Yong, then who is Yong Yong?”
“It’s not Yong Yong!”

Ugh.

Well then, that Benedictus whatnot… Raocones what not… Are you talking about that?

“My name is Benedictus Raylisia Piakhan Raokones Nafplion Nistiamat Karusearin Valakas Shyanso Karuddanthes Nesaria the Third.”

That’s a super long name, yet you had it roll right out of your tongue with no trouble. I think my Yong Yong could be a news anchor when he grows up.
You didn’t get your tongue twisted. You didn’t smudge any of the pronunciations either. Have you been practicing?

[It seemed he had been doing it before sleeping every night.]

Ah, he really was practicing.

“That’s right. My Yong Yong’s name is Benedictus Raylisia Piakhan Raokones Nass Timat Karusearin Shyanso Karuddanthes Nesaria the Third.”
“No! It’s Benedictus Raylisia Piakhan Raokones Nafplion Nistiamat Karusearin Valakas Shyanso Karuddanthes Nesaria the Third!”

Which part did I get wrong?
I can’t even figure that out.

“Of course, of course. You are right.”

How am I supposed to console him?

[Just memorize the Benedic whatever name. Won’t that be faster?]

I don’t want to do that.

“Yong Yong. Do you know what daddy’s name is?”
“I know. Daddy’s name is Daddy!”
“No. Daddy’s name is Lee Ho-jae.”

Sense of panic could be felt from Yong Yong’s large eyes.

“That cannot be… It’s Daddy…”
“My name is Lee Ho-jae, Yong Yong. Daddy is a title that a son calls the parent by.”
“A title?”
“Yes. Of the parents, man is Daddy, and woman is Mommy.”

Yong Yong tried mumbling the words Daddy and Mommy. It seemed he was in deep thoughts.

“So, my Yong Yong, your name is Benedictus Raylisia Piakhan Raokones Nafplion Nis Tiamat Karusearin Valakas Shyanso Karuddanthes Nesaria the Third… However, I am calling you Yong Yong as a nickname.”
“Is that what it is?”
“That’s right.”

It seemed Yong Yong was satisfied with the answer. He smiled adorably again.
He smiles so well.

While I had the chance, I pushed in a fairy worm in Yong Yong’s mouth.
Fortunately, he didn’t complain. Instead, Yong Yong chewed the worm and swallowed it.
Oh my, you are eating so well.

Yong Yong, even if it is something as simple as watching you eat deliciously, that brings smile to your Daddy.

“Daddy.”
“What is it, Yong Yong?”
“Then who is Mommy?”

It was an unexpected question. My face, which had a smile, was now petrified.

[That ruined it. You just activated a trap card.]

Hey, help me.

[How am I supposed to help in this situation? You want me to pretend to be the Mommy? You already told him that a female parent is the Mommy?]

Hey, clone bastard…

[What, original bastard.]

You, would you like to try sex change operation?

[You crazy bastard.]

* * *

In the end, I told Yong Yong that his Mommy will come when he grows up a little longer. With that lie, I placed hotdogs and pizza on top of it to turn away Yong Yong’s interest in the subject.

[Have more excuses prepared for the future or try making a female homunculus.]

If possible, I prefer not to make an intelligent being.
If my symptoms of schizophrenia act up again, then that could be a serious problem.
Especially when I even have Yong Yong now…

[Well, that’s true.]

Yong Yong was sitting at the table and eating pizza as he made munching sound. I wiped the cheese from below Yong Yong’s chin as I looked around.
This was a family restaurant that the clone bastard, Yong Yong and I built a few days ago.
I could still smell the paint from the wall, but I didn’t bother to erase the smell from the wall using magic.
The paint was harmless to the body to begin with. Also, there was no paint in existence that could harm me, the clone bastard or Yong Yong.
Also, although it was not a pleasant smell, it somehow made me feel like people live here.
The scenery definitely had changed.
I can see the world in different color.

It’s a good thing.
I stroke Yong Yong’s head once and brought out this month’s newspaper from the inventory.
The clone bastard saw me do this, and he also brought out a book.
It was a book that I hand wrote by remembering the fantasy novel that I read back in school days.
It had been 20 years since I read the book. Of course, it was normally impossible to write it all down from memory without getting anything wrong.
It would have been impossible for a normal person.
However, I could remember things from my past at will, even the ones that I had forgotten due to passage of time.

As a reward for babysitting Yong Yong while I restored half destroyed residential area, I had allowed the clone bastard to stay in summoned state and wrote the novels for him to read based on the memories of what I read in the past before I entered the Tutorial.

Yong Yong addressed the clone bastard as uncle and followed him well.
I was concerned Yong Yong might find this confusing because the clone bastard looked exactly like me. However, Yong Yong used mana to identify the differences between me and the clone and distinguished us apart.

It had been a while since Yong Yong, my clone bastard and I had been spending days like this as a family.
Also, what I had been thinking lately is…

[Oh my, you sure are sensitive.]

Ugh, this god damn telepathy.
Do you really have to intrude in my private life?

“You think I’m hearing them because I want to? Yong Yong, eat up.”

The clone bastard gave another slice of pizza to Yong Yong and went back to focus on the book.

Ugh that rascal.
I should just read the newspaper.

[Kim Min-hyuk, former leader of the Order of Vigilance, forming a new Awakened Warriors Clan?]

Um…
I thought this rascal would go to the Blue House, but he is making a clan…

[TL: Blue House is Korea’s version of White House.]

Well, I’m sure he will do well.

Kim Min-hyuk is one of the two people who know about my plan.
He even promised that he will have things prepared for my plan. The Awakened Warriors Clan must be also related to that.

This is different from what I heard before, but if he changed his mind after seeing the situation in the outside world, then I trust his judgement.
I’m sure he will handle things well on his own.

[A newly developing rivalry in Hell Difficulty? Brian from America and Lee Yun-hye from Korea. Their similarities and differences?]

Brian from America was a Hell Difficulty player who was known to have cleared the 31st Floor.
31st Floor is not an easy floor to clear. He is one amazing guy.
Now that he cleared 31st Floor, he cannot return to the 30th Floor’s residential area.
It means he must charge toward the 60th Floor no matter what.
Alone.
I’m sure he probably knows what this means. After all, he is a player who got past 30th Floor in the Hell Difficulty.
I am not sure if this will give him courage or make him reckless.

Lee Yun-hye had been receiving much attention lately from the outside world.
It seemed she was being compared to me more often than to Brian.
She was called the second Lee Ho-jae or some other title with similar idea.

Personally, if I am to compare Brian and Lee Yun-hye, I would place her at a higher height than Brian.
Even the newspapers are assessing her to be superior to Brian despite the fact that she was at a lower floor.
Ofcourse that’s how it should be. After all, I was the one who raised her.

She is practically my successor.
Also, I think she has no objection to being called my successor.
To point out one negative thing about her, although her progress is very steady, her clearing speed is very slow.

[That’s still pretty fast.]

If you consider the power she has, it is actually on the slow side.

She grew up to be a duel class warrior as both archer and spell caster. She even mastered hidden skills and ways to use them when the method of obtaining them are not known at all.
She uses potions like water. In a little dangerous stage, she carries a lot of expendable items.
She now has over twenty summon spirits and monsters.
She even has two Power Skills.

However, she is still only at the 13th Floor.
Does that make sense?

Honestly, she should be at 40th Floor by now.

[Not everyone is like us.]

Frustration was slowly creeping up. It seemed Yong Yong read my emotions. He stopped eating pizza and looked at me.

I told him it was nothing and redirected his attention to the pizza again.
I think I should eat some pizza too.

[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: Big Bro, were you looking for me? I was on my way to the 91st Floor, so I didn’t get to see the message.]

I put the pizza down again.
I left Yong Yong in my clone bastard’s care and got out of the family restaurant.

I contacted Lee Jun-suk because, as Park Jung-ah said before, I wanted to try convincing him that it was time for him to go to the outside world.
It had been very long since he started his isolated training at the 90th Floor.
Now, the time he spent at the 90th Floor was longer than the time he spent going from the First Floor to the 89th Floor.

Isn’t it really about time you returned to the outside world?
There are families and friends waiting outside for him. He even has a contract with the Korean government.
Actually, in the outside world now, the media had been yapping about a conspiracy theory on Lee Jun-suk. They theorized that the Hard Difficulty player named Lee Jun-suk died a long time ago and the Order of Vigilance is hiding this for the Order’s benefit.

Now, it is really time for him to go.
I said things like that for over ten minutes.

[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: Is that so… Is it really time for me to return?]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: That’s right you rascal. Please go back to the outside world. Other than the NPCs, the first-year members who still remain in the Tutorial are just you and me. Aren’t you sick of this place?]

As for me, I would like to leave the Tutorial, but I cannot.
In the past, I felt that he and I were similar when he stayed at a residential area for the sake of growth. I was sympathetic toward him.
He made me feel better. I was thankful as well.
However, now, it really was time for him to return to the outside world.

Lee Jun-suk kept silence for a moment. He then sent me a message that was a bit of off topic.

[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: Big Bro, I thought I was the main character. I think I had been living while thinking that way.]

Was that the reason why?
I already know well about his goals and the things that he had been agonizing over.

[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: Big Bro… You and I… We are very different, right?]

Of course.
Fundamentally, you and I cannot even be compared.

[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: In that case… what if you made comparison based on your former self when I met you in person before?]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: As of now, you are a little stronger in comparison to my former self.]

Lee Jun-suk didn’t send any response for a long while again.

[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: When I got to the residential area and learned that the effectiveness of training in this place is not adjusted based on the difficulty, I thought about this.]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: What did you think about?]
[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: I thought that, if I stayed at a residential area and continued to grow for a long time, I might be able to catch up to you someday. However… As the time went by, the gap in our abilities only widened.]

That’s unfortunate.

[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: Big Bro. In your case, it’s probably difficult to expect any more growth at the 61st Floor. It’s the same here for me. There is nothing for me to gain at the 91st Floor now. Only thing I can still do is training by myself at the residential area. I know that there is no growth acceleration effect at the residential area, but… I wonder why…]

It’s a sad story to hear.
Lee Jun-suk is probably not asking me these questions because he does not know the answer.
He knows the answers, but he just does not want to acknowledge them.

People always treated me as an outlier.
They didn’t even try to compare themselves to me.
Because of this, I always welcomed Lee Jun-suk, and I was thankful.

He saw me within his view range and tried hard to catch up to me.
At first, he probably thought that the difference between us were just because I entered the Tutorial a few rounds before him.
He probably still thought that up to around 40th Round.

After that, he probably thought that it was the difference in the difficulty.
He probably still thought that for another 40 Rounds while I got stuck at this residential area.

The next reason could be found not in me but Lee Jun-suk.

He paused for a moment and sent me a response as if he organized his thoughts.

[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: Big Bro, I’ll go back to the outside world in the next round.]

I don’t know what to tell him now.
Based on personal experience, I knew that it will become a huge scar for him if I said anything to console him in a situation like this. So, I just kept my mouth shut.

Now that I think about it, something like this had not happened ever since I stopped being a professional gamer.
Ever since I gained power in Tutorial, Lee Jun-suk was the only one who could seriously consider me as a rival.
There may have been others who qualified, but they didn’t reveal their rivalry.

[Lee Jun-suk, 90th Floor: Big Bro, I’ll be leaving the Tutorial first. I’ll wait for you, so you have to clear the Tutorial and return too.]
[Lee Ho-jae, 60th Floor: Yes. See you at the outside.]

Other than that, I couldn’t say anything else.
The good memories we shared, my gratitude, apologies, how I enjoyed his friendship…
I had many things to say, but I only had a few words that I could actually tell him.

If we get another chance to talk before he leaves the Tutorial, then I hope that I’ll be able to ease up and talk with him to see him off.

Of the five bracelets on my arm, one of them made a cracking noise and shattered.
These were the safety devices I made after I half destroyed the residential area.
In the past, this was not a problem for me since I lived alone. However, now that I had Yong Yong, I had a need to be careful with my power.
I think I should go make another safety device.
Even if it is bothersome, I should maintain having five of them.

I suddenly got worried about the clone bastard.
He probably got the shock from my emotion too.

I quickly entered the family restaurant. The first thing I saw immediately was the clone bastard crying in unsightly manner and Yong Yong who was consoling that pathetic clone bastard.

“[I… Iruril… Uuuuhurrrrrrng…]”

[TL: Iruril is a beautiful female elf character from Dragon Raja, a famous Korean fantasy novel by Lee Young-do that started the fantasy novel boom in Korea.]

Ah, that lunatic…
What’s he doing with my face.

“[The book… The book is over… The Autumn of Magic is over… Uhuhuhunghuk…]”

* * *

Yong Yong was still looking at the clone bastard with concerned eyes. Yong Yong was licking his hand. I had Yong Yong sit on my lap and asked the clone bastard.

“Was the book that sad?”
“It’s a masterpiece… Amazing masterpiece! The author is a genius! Even Shakespeare cannot be compared to him.”
“But you never read Shakespeare before.”

[TL: Clone bastard, I totally agree with you.]

The clone bastard completely ignored what I just said and continued yapping away.

“Hey. Is there another work by this author? Hey, there are, right? There must be, right? You read it, right? Write it too, please.”
“There is one, but…”
“Hey, should I get on my knees and beg? Should I? Should I take my clothes off?”

Taking clothes off? Why? Are you a pervert? Stop it already, you lunatic. What do you think you are doing? Don’t you see you are in front of a child?

“Just wait a day. I’ll write you a story about a bird that died quickly.”
“What’s that about? A journal about a bird?”
“It’s a masterpiece of nuclear explosion level, so just shut up and wait.”

[TL: The author is talking about “The Bird that Drinks Tears” and “The Bird that Drinks Blood,’ both written by Lee Young-do.]

Collaboration with –

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