By the same logic, aside from the young woman giving the opening explanation, the one in charge of clearing the game had her younger sister there as well. The two sisters had simply let many years of their lives drift by in this place. It really was a pity.
"The explanation has been completed. Please enter the game."
There it was again. The exact same line.
If Roy hadn't known she was a real person, he really might have mistaken her for a robot.
Looking at the young receptionist in front of him, who seemed completely impervious and kept urging him to go in, Roy thought for a moment, then said in an utterly serious tone, "Actually, I'm a friend of Ging's."
...
Outside, Gon looked helplessly at Milluki and Killua.
Roy had been the one to bring this game back, and since Roy had gone in first just now, naturally no one had any objections.
But after that, the group ended up arguing over who should go in next.
Actually, Gon had only brought it up casually, but Milluki and Killua had never gotten along in the first place, so the two of them started bickering again.
In the end, the three of them decided to determine the order by playing rock-paper-scissors.
As a result, Gon very easily secured the second spot to enter the game.
But for Killua and Milluki, it was as if fate itself had decided they had to clash. They had already gone through several rounds of rock-paper-scissors, and every single time they threw exactly the same hand.
Gon could only watch in exasperation.
"So this is the 'victory at rock-paper-scissors' the prophecy was talking about...?"
While they were playing rock-paper-scissors outside, Roy, inside the game's registration room, finally saw a change in the expression of the receptionist before him.
Clearly, the name "Ging" held a special meaning for her.
"You said you're also Ging's friend?" At last, after a stretch of silence, the receptionist said something different from before.
"Strictly speaking, I guess so. I know quite a bit about him, and I also brought his son along to play this game. Unless something unexpected happens, he should be the next person you receive."
Roy answered.
And then...
"The explanation has been completed. Please enter the game."
Roy: "..."
Looks like you really are dedicated to your job, miss.
Forget it. Since she clearly didn't want to chat with him, he wasn't going to keep pressing the issue and make things awkward.
Just as Roy was about to walk down the stairs and enter the game, a mechanical voice suddenly rang out beside his ear:
"[Witch's Rejuvenation Potion]. If you take one pill, your body becomes one year younger. It only affects the body. Mental knowledge and memories will be retained."
"I see," Roy said in understanding.
That was probably the reason this receptionist could remain here year after year, explaining the game to people without having to fear the passage of time or the fading of her beauty.
It seemed that she really was too lonely. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have spoken to him at all.
Wait a second. The release year of this game was the year 1987 in the Hunter world, and now there were only a few months left until 2000.
In other words, this receptionist had already been staying here for at least thirteen full years!
That bastard Ging really was something else...
And judging by her appearance, she looked no older than twenty at most. That Witch's Rejuvenation Potion really was incredible.
Roy felt a little emotional, then asked, "Then may I ask, beautiful lady, what your name is?"
The only answer Roy received was silence.
Some time after Roy had left, a low mechanical voice finally sounded inside that initial little room.
"Eta."
...
Eta and Elena were two of the game's creators, and together they made up the two Es in the English title of Greed Island.
Eta was responsible for giving players the game explanation when they entered the island, as well as handling the No. 000 quiz. At the same time, when she detected outsiders entering the island through non-game means, she would contact Razor.
Aside from the two sisters and Razor, who was responsible for guarding the island, there were also the two game creators Dwun and List on the island, living in the G.I. Castle in Limeiro.
These were the Greed Island creators Yoshihiro Togashi had revealed so far: Ging was the G, Eta and Elena were the two Es, Dwun was the D, and List was the L.
The other five creators still had not appeared yet. They were R, I, S, A, and N.
In Roy's judgment, Razor and the two receptionist ladies probably weren't the ones who had made all those special items inside the game.
As for the two in Limeiro Castle, List seemed slightly more likely, but Roy didn't think very highly of Dwun's chances either.
That meant the remaining five unrevealed game developers were probably the ones who had created the game's more unusual abilities.
...
After entering the game, the first thing that came into view was a boundless grassland.
This was the game's starting point. Aside from the initial hut, there was only an endless plain stretching as far as the eye could see, a dull landscape repeated day after day.
And then—
"So someone really is keeping an eye on this place every second of every day? They really don't get tired of it, huh..."
Roy glanced in a certain direction, then withdrew his gaze.
A bunch of people who only knew how to make up for quality with numbers, with no proper plan whatsoever. A crowd that Genthru had played for fools.
Leaving aside the fact that they had let Genthru plant bombs on them without the slightest vigilance, even the very principle behind their organization made it clear they were not worth much once they were threatened.
A whole group working together to collect cards—even if they actually managed to gather every single one, who would be the one to clear the game in the end?
That was a matter of trust.
Even if the person chosen to clear the game could resist the temptation of swallowing fifty billion Jenny alone, even if that person really was loyal and honest, then what?
How exactly would those fifty billion be divided?
They said it would be distributed according to contribution, sure, but what about the time people had invested?
The people who had joined the organization early and those who had joined later obviously wouldn't see eye to eye.
Someone who had been playing this game from the very beginning for nearly ten years and someone who had only joined for a month before the game was cleared were naturally in opposition to each other.
And then there was luck.
Suppose one person poured an enormous amount of effort and time into obtaining a certain card and finally got it in hand, only to be told when turning it in that someone else had happened to get the same card by sheer luck the day before and had already submitted it.
In that case, how was that supposed to be handled?
(End of Chapter)
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