Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: Pay-to-Win Knight
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‘Huh, wait a second…… Is this actually possible?’
I hadn’t paid it much mind, but looking back, it was an incredibly bizarre situation.
‘A newly added mythic class, no less?’
The world of Ardenia was already ‘fixed.’
The day I first entered Ardenia. That was the state of Revenge right before I was discharged from the military.
It was a fact confirmed through countless investigations and gameplay sessions that any updates or added items after that weren’t implemented in Ardenia.
‘But if I apply a patch, the newly updated content can be reflected. And if that’s the case…….’
I developed the thought further.
‘Couldn’t I apply an update that benefits me and then patch it in?’
It wasn’t a joke—it was like entering cheats in a console game. Of course, if I were an ordinary user, that would be impossible.
But I was close with Bae Sarang, the CEO of Nemesis and the core planner for Revenge—we even ate meals together and collaborated on development.
If I wanted…… adding a system or setting that wouldn’t disrupt game balance but would act as a cheat for me personally wasn’t a big deal.
‘I need to test this.’
“Your Majesty?”
Flower, who had been approaching me, expressed doubt as I stood there motionless. I shook off the stray thoughts and smiled.
“Ah, sorry. I just had a good idea.”
“A good idea…… Oh.”
Flower paused, and I turned my head. Emerging from the dungeon gate was my young son, Jiseong.
Naturally, I couldn’t acknowledge him. Jiseong was currently adventuring under an alias.
‘He looks like me, but…… no one recognizes him.’
Of course—Jiseong was known to be eleven this year. Unless you saw him with a bullet hole in his head, no one would mistake that sturdy young man for an eleven-year-old.
But upon closer inspection, his party was quite unusual.
‘……What the hell is that?’
“Be careful, Granny.”
“Hehe. I appreciate the concern, but my stats are high enough now that running around isn’t an issue.”
“Wow. Speaking of which, Lady Zenta is seriously strong! I thought I’d gotten pretty tough myself.”
“You were impressive too, Yes.”
Jiseong’s party consisted of him, the werewolf Long Legs I’d assigned as his bodyguard, and Rozarian and Yes.
‘No way. A novelist party?’
It was absurd how that party composition had come together. Come to think of it, wasn’t Long Legs, the bodyguard, a fairly famous novelist too?
But that wasn’t the only problem.
Jiseong was wearing plain hemp robes.
‘No, a kid born with a dantian becoming a mage? That’s insane…….’
It was ridiculous, but since I’d left his education entirely to Flower, I had no grounds to complain.
Besides, even if he looked that sturdy, Jiseong was still eleven.
It wasn’t wrong for him to play and do what he wanted at that age.
“Let’s go in. The hunting festival still has a long way to go.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
I returned to the guild tower and finished my duties.
Even though I’d increased the number of administrators, major decisions still had to go through me.
“Alright, all done…… Log out.”
Back on Earth, I checked my schedule.
“Writing session in 21 hours…… I’ll schedule it for then.”
I got back to work.
I’d already filmed enough ads, and the remaining ones were minor, so following Adumserni’s advice about unnecessary image consumption, I passed on them.
“Next game is team tug-of-war!”
“Uwaaaah! Why are we getting pulled even when we all pull together!?”
“Nice to meet you! I’m Han Garam, playing the villain role!”
I appeared on multiple action variety shows that involved physical exertion and shot scenes for a movie.
“Emperor Han Jaeyeon here!”
“Oppa Jaeyeon—!”
“Ooh! It’s Han Jaeyeon!”
Now, it was rarer to find someone who didn’t recognize me.
There was no bullying either. No matter how cutthroat the entertainment industry was, no one would be crazy enough to mess with a transcendent being and apostle of the Game God.
‘Is this what popularity feels like?’
Everyone was kind to me, and everyone recognized me.
Some get intoxicated by the attention and catch a celebrity complex; others shrink away. But I felt nothing.
These things weren’t important to begin with.
What mattered was……
‘Money.’
“Meow!”
“Ah, please don’t cry…….”
I wanted to cry too.
Still, just in case, I checked my stocks.
[Spike App Alert!]
Nemesis ↓
Hit the lowest price in the past year……
I hurriedly closed the screen.
‘Shit.’
Composing myself from the gut-punch feeling, I headed straight to Nemesis Soft’s CEO office upon arriving.
Even the secretary didn’t stop me. Sarang and I were that close.
“It happened again?”
Entering the CEO office, I saw Sarang on a call. She spotted me and put a finger to her lips, signaling to stay quiet for a moment.
‘I should step out for a bit.’
That’s what I thought when……
[It’s not as bad as last time. Nemesis Soft vanished from precognition, but the VIPs confirmed it didn’t collapse and made a comeback.]
“Hmm…… When did the precognition get blocked?”
[August 14th.]
‘……Huh?’
I froze. A familiar date.
The day I started buying stocks.
“No idea. Doesn’t seem like an attack from someone…….”
Listening to the call, I thought.
‘Wait, this……’
A sudden realization hit me, so I subtly reached for Cheda.
I switched him to manner mode, opened the stock app, and sold all my holdings.
[……Huh?]
“What’s wrong?”
[News just came in. Nemesis is starting to appear in precognition again.]
“……Suddenly?”
Then Cheda vibrated.
[Spike App Alert!]
Nemesis.
Your watched stock is surging (5%↑)!
‘No! Damn it!’
Startled, I bought back all the stocks.
The old man on the other end of the call spoke.
[……Nemesis has vanished from precognition again.]
“What the hell is going on?”
Hearing Sarang’s curt words, I shed bitter tears inwardly.
‘Seriously, it was just for a moment, but this massive…… loss…….’
I’d sold and rebought at 5% higher. A straight 5% loss.
But that 5% was 2.5 billion.
Gone in a mere ten seconds or so.
‘Kugh…….’
My chest felt torn, but at least I’d gained one piece of information.
‘When I buy stocks, they become unreadable via precognition…….’
There was only one explanation.
‘Another creation god…… [Her] doing.’
No matter what, precognition that crumbles from mere intervention by material-world transcendents couldn’t possibly read issues tied to a being outside this world like her.
‘Ah, wait. Could I exploit this somehow? No, that might get me tangled in financial crimes if I’m not careful…….’
As I pondered, Sarang ended the call and asked.
“Long time no see! Busy these days—what brings you here?”
We’d grown incredibly close while endlessly talking about Ardenia. Of course—we were at the point where I could just barge into her CEO office.
“What business? Just came to chat.”
“Oh…….”
Sarang beamed. She loved talking about Ardenia.
She was happy just listening to me, but if I even offered opinions, she’d get so excited it showed.
“Did I ever tell you about Shine Light?”
“Oh, the mythic class story for Shine Light?”
“Yeah, the first mythic class.”
I chatted with Sarang for about three hours.
Though I had a purpose, jumping straight to it would be amateurish.
‘Besides, even without that, there’s plenty of useful info.’
I naturally steered the conversation and brought it up at what felt like the right moment.
“What if it’s underground?”
“Huh? Underground? Wouldn’t it be easier to place it in another world like the world dungeons? You teleport there with scrolls anyway?”
Her perfectly reasonable counterargument was one I’d anticipated.
I persuaded her.
“It’s a tower that goes downward. Underground 1st floor, 2nd floor, 3rd…… descending deeper and deeper into hell. Wouldn’t it feel more fitting to have it buried in the earth rather than some other dimension?”
“But it’s already an existing tower…….”
Seeing her flustered by my unusual request, I took her hand.
“Do it. Please? Just tweak a few lines of text.”
“……!”
Sarang’s expression hardened like stone.
‘Oh no, did I piss her off? Was that a mistake?’
I grew anxious, but fortunately, instead of getting mad, she spoke awkwardly.
“Uh…… sure, yeah. It’s not a big deal…….”
“Thanks! I even thought of a location.”
Thank goodness the persuasion worked.
And the next day.
[Hell Tower]
A tower embedded deep in the continent’s earth.
Called the Hell Tower because it’s upside down—conquering floors digs deeper underground—but it spews vast riches and treasures, drawing countless adventurers.
“Perfect.”
Seeing the changed in-game text, I clenched my fist.
Obviously, no players cared about a mere text edit. Why would they, when gameplay hadn’t changed?
But with this text edit, I……
“Meow.”
“Ah, please.”
Heart pounding, I checked Cheda.
Fortunately, it was a message.
[Colagom: It’s Hyunil. Got a mission.]
“Finally.”
The mercenary job I’d expected big profits from had been scrapped when transcendent monsters invaded Earth. Earth’s transcendents had been tied down as emergency forces.
Of course, they weren’t just leashed for free—they got paid, but it was naturally less than running missions personally.
“Cheda. Reply: I’ll take it. Please send related info.”
Meanwhile, I bought more stocks.
‘Yeah, just keep buying.’
The blow from this stock failure was immense. 50 billion—no, nearly 60 billion in losses. Heart-wrenching.
However.
“I’ll just earn it back.”
I was a transcendent, an apostle of the Game Master, a top star, and CEO leading hundreds of writers.
Not just tens of billions—even hundreds of billions were just a matter of time for me.
No matter the loss…… worst case, earn for a few more years, right?
“Log in.”
I entered Ardenia.
After leaving vague instructions with my adjutant, I headed to the wilderness near Mandokseong.
About 500 meters as the crow flies.
‘Nearby’ my ass—it was practically next door. Within the effective range of the Human Empire’s archers.
And above all.
‘Within defense tower range.’
“Landworm.”
Kwarung-kwarung-kwarung!
At my call, the building-sized crawling beast, the Landworm, appeared.
[What? Where to?]
“Not that. Let’s dig.”
[……?]
The Landworm seemed confused but obediently let me ride as it burrowed into the earth.
100 meters, 200, nearly 500.
And finally, we reached……
Just ordinary bedrock.
“Nothing, huh.”
[Looking for what?]
“The Hell Tower.”
Revenge had the [Tower of Myths] and [World Dungeons]. The Tower of Myths was top-tier content with mythic monsters, and the World Dungeons were three locations just below it.
Hell Tower, Great Demonic Realm, Infinite Labyrinth.
In Revenge, these weren’t walkable spots. Places you paid gold thrice daily to teleport to, forcing all players into collision for pay-to-win inducement—hunting grounds and battlefields.
But like mail or quest NPCs, they weren’t implemented, and [creating new dungeons] wasn’t feasible without massive stocks, so I hadn’t attempted it.
‘Even if possible, time-limited means pointless.’
But what if…… like the Nine Flame Points……
What if that dungeon ‘originally’ existed in this world?
“I implement the Hell Tower.”
The moment I spoke.
Keeeng---
The stock text floating before me vanished like it was erased.
And then.
Pop!
A new window appeared.
Ownership: Less than 0.1%.
Usable: 8,771.
“……Yeah. I figured I’d see this someday.”
I smiled at the text.
Yes, finally, I was facing it too.
The box office power that Merlin had faced……