The Pure and Innocent Hunters

"What?!" Lee Da-bi gasped, utterly blindsided by the unexpected decision. There were plenty of perfectly fine knight orders available, so why on earth was he choosing a warrior band with *that* kind of background?

The Arkhisus Crusaders were easily the most bizarre force in existence. It was an army organized by Galakpad, who had traveled all over the kingdom gathering players and fanatical Archisus NPC followers! Once the conquest was over, most of the players had left, and Galakpad had meticulously filtered through the remaining fanatics to officially form the Arkhisus Crusaders. Unlike a proper knight order, they were a hodgepodge unit composed of NPCs from every class imaginable.

"...Wouldn't literally anything else be better?!" No matter how much she thought about it, it made absolutely no sense!

"Well, the other units have their own duties to attend to. If they leave their posts, it could cause problems. Besides, if a formal knight order gets caught, it becomes way too hard to play dumb."

"Ah..." Lee Da-bi was instantly convinced. If the nobles saw a formal knight order marching into battle, they wouldn't just sit back and take it, no matter how desperate their situation. They weren't fools! In contrast, if it was the Arkhisus Crusaders, Tae-hyun could easily shrug and say, 'Hey, I don't even know who those guys are. They just did their own thing.'

"But is that really enough to count as support?"

"Well, even if their objective combat power is a bit lacking, their sheer numbers in that area are quite impressive, aren't they? Just having them show up as reinforcements will keep our people from deserting. Plus, it'll probably attract a lot of new players who want to join in. Hmm... Yes. I should send some of the Mechanical Engineering Blacksmiths over as well."

A siege was the perfect place to level up the Engineering skill. The mechanical engineering blacksmiths currently crafting bombs in the Demon's Forge would be absolutely thrilled to hear this news!

"Your Majesty! The encirclement is complete!"

"Ah. Good job. It's about time we head in."

The Unicorn's Forest was located on one of the tallest peaks in the mountainous Salz Kingdom, and it was a mountain that restricted entry to anyone who wasn't a Salz Kingdom player. In any other kingdom, players would have constantly swarmed the place to see if they could find anything, but...

The Salz Kingdom was notoriously the most neglected region in all of Pan-On! Because of this, there was a secret that players remained completely unaware of: this very mountain was home to the Unicorn's Forest, one of the rare places in Pan-On where unicorns actually spawned!

Still, for the existence of the Unicorn's Forest to remain completely unrevealed... isn't that a bit much? Tae-hyun felt a pang of pity at the sheer lack of public interest!

It wasn't for nothing that people referred to the Salz Kingdom as 'the exile zone,' 'the penal colony,' or 'the graveyard of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠life.' It had gotten so bad that a popular bet among players lately was: "The loser has to go set up a base in the Salz Kingdom!" Being forced to play in the Salz Kingdom without even being allowed to quit the game was truly a malicious penalty.

Well, it's not like you can just catch a unicorn just because you want to. In a game like Pan-On, where players were utterly obsessed with mounts, a unicorn was a prize that anyone would covet. Their greatest selling points were their exceptionally beautiful appearance and incredible mobility! Although they possessed high levels and massive health pools, unicorns weren't actually exceptionally powerful divine beasts. Instead, putting strength aside, their sheer speed and evasive capabilities were beyond imagination. Under normal circumstances, they were virtually impossible to capture!

Even if players knew they were here, very few would actually be capable of catching one. Of course, they would first have to transfer their citizenship to the Salz Kingdom just to enter, which filtered out most candidates from the start... In any case, the Tyrum Hunters were well-versed in this hidden lore of the Salz Kingdom, and they were highly confident in their ability to hunt unicorns.

"So you're saying we can actually catch them if we do this?"

"Yes! If Your Majesty can just block their escape routes, we will show you that we can capture them once again!"

The problem was that the target they needed to catch was a Corrupted Unicorn. Unlike the pure and innocent regular unicorns, the Corrupted Unicorns were incredibly cunning creatures. Because of this, the simple, pure, and innocent Tyrum Hunters kept letting them slip through their fingers...

"...No, wait a minute." Tae-hyun stopped mid-sentence, utterly flabbergasted as he listened to the explanation. *Who* did they say was simple, pure, and innocent? Beside him, Yu Ji-soo was looking away, looking as if she wanted to die of embarrassment. But the Tyrum Hunters remained completely shameless and confident.

"Is something the matter, Your Majesty?"

"...I don't think 'pure and innocent' is quite the right description for you guys...?"

"What! Your Majesty! Are you insulting us? Where else could you find people as pure as us! Look over there! There's a unicorn right there! Isn't that proof enough?!" To Tae-hyun's astonishment, while the Tyrum Hunters had failed to catch a Corrupted Unicorn, they had actually managed to capture a regular, pure unicorn! Anyone else would have gasped in sheer disbelief at the sight.

I must absolutely never let it go.

Raising his Luck stat any further right now would literally be like tying a noose around his own neck! The two captured unicorns cast incredibly pitiful, pleading gazes toward them, but Tae-hyun and Carbanog remained utterly cold-hearted. Yong-yong and Heuk-heuk were no different.

Snort! The unicorns shook their horns in fury at the dragons' provocations. Those wicked dragons! Seeing the evil, corrupted energy radiating from them, they were undoubtedly evil beasts.

The unicorns' inner thoughts were clearly transmitted to the dragons. Yong-yong practically leaped in indignation.

Heuk-heuk felt a sudden surge of betrayal. Wait, I thought we were friends now?!

"Both of you, shut up. Why are you bickering over nothing?" Tae-hyun silenced the dragons before turning his gaze back toward the forest.

The system messages kept popping up. The Unicorn's Forest possessed a terrain that made capturing the already elusive unicorns even more difficult. On top of that, unicorns were divine beasts naturally armed with short-range teleportation and various escape skills!

...Honestly, it's a miracle these guys managed to catch one in the first place.

The Tyrum Hunters had managed to thoroughly disturb even Carbanog!

"Alright. Now that we've set up the perimeter, let's see what you guys can do."

"I think it's best if you don't get your hopes up, Hyung..." Yu Ji-soo murmured softly from behind him.

"U-Unicorns? Do unicorns really appear here, Player Kim Tae-hyun?"

"To think unicorns exist in a place like this...!"

"What do you mean, 'a place like this'? What are you trying to say?" The Tyrum Hunters glared sharply at the speaker. The MC stammered in panic.

"Ah, no. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I mean, that is..."

"Are you saying this place is garbage?"

"No! Absolutely not!"

"Then you wouldn't mind moving here to live, right?"

"Huh? No, well... E-everyone, please help me out here..." Tae-hyun's group completely ignored him. Everyone had to fend for themselves! Even the broadcasting staff just watched with amused interest. Honestly, as long as it wasn't happening to them, it was highly entertaining!

"Are we filming in the Salz Kingdom from now on?"

"Stop joking around and help me, please!"

Having received Tae-hyun's support, the Tyrum Hunters set out on their hunt once more with ambitious determination. The very first thing they demonstrated was... the Play Dead skill!

"Oh... Ohhh?" They dug a pit, climbed inside, pretended to be dead, and waited.

"And then what?"

"That's it, Hyung..." Yu Ji-soo replied. The next step was infinite waiting! They would simply wait until a unicorn eventually walked over them. If one did, they would spring up, pounce on it, and cling to it for dear life!

"You were expecting something grand, so you're disappointed, right?"

"Huh? No. I'm actually impressed."

"?!" Yu Ji-soo was stunned. He was *impressed* by this?

"It's a method that requires pure grit." Having been a blacksmith back in Pan-On 1, Tae-hyun absolutely loved this kind of approach. Keep doing it until it works!

Q: How do you craft a Legendary-grade weapon?

A: You just keep crafting until one appears!

It was a simple and brutish method, but for crafting classes, this was the only real answer. Back then, he didn't even have his absurd Luck stat to rely on...

"...Now that I think about it, it actually seems like a pretty decent method..." Yu Ji-soo quickly changed her tune.

"But even with this, they still can't catch a Corrupted Unicorn?"

"Yes. They've missed them every single time." Among the unicorns that spawned in the Unicorn's Forest, there were occasionally those with pitch-black coats and sinister eyes. The Corrupted Unicorns! While their basic stats were similar, the Corrupted Unicorns were far more cunning than their pure counterparts.

Patter-patter-patter! They would kick dirt directly over the pits where the Tyrum Hunters were hiding, burying them alive. "Pfft! *Cough, cough!*"

"Gotcha, you bastard! Taste my magic-enchanted lasso!"

They would send out illusionary clones to toy with the hunters. The Corrupted Unicorns never let their guard down like the regular ones did. They were thoroughly, relentlessly cunning!

Hmm. Is there really someone like that?

Even after several hours, the Tyrum Hunters only succeeded in making fools of themselves, eventually returning in tears. Watching these burly, bearded hunters sobbing, the MC whispered, "I don't think we really need to film that part."

Tae-hyun assessed the situation and muttered, "Hmm... This has gotten a bit tricky." Unless they could somehow get the Corrupted Unicorn to lower its guard, the entire operation would be impossible!

"What if we just set the forest on fire?"

"...Ji-soo. This is literally your mountain, you know...?" Tae-hyun stared at Yu Ji-soo, utterly appalled by her suggestion. The moment they set fire to this place, the entire Salz Kingdom administration would probably have a collective heart attack!

"If we just light it and run..."

"...No. I don't want to make another enemy just to get some horns. Let's try another way. What do you think a Corrupted Unicorn would like?"

"Maybe someone who is equally corrupt and cunning?"

"Ugh... It's because we're just too pure and innocent..." the hunters sobbed. Tae-hyun completely ignored them.

"But isn't basically everyone gathered here corrupt and cunning by default?" At Tae-hyun's words, everyone flinched.

"W-wait, Player Kim Tae-hyun...! What did we do to deserve that?!"

"Well, as long as you're human, it's impossible not to have greed. That's all I meant."

"Ah...! Phew. So that's what you meant." The PD standing in the back let out a massive sigh of relief. He had momentarily thought Tae-hyun was calling them out with something like, 'You guys are only following me around for the viewership ratings, aren't you?'

Normally, in MBS broadcasts, the PD held all the power. There was an endless supply of players desperate to appear on screen, but only a limited number of slots. The PD would routinely order players around to make the show more entertaining. Even if the Pan-On players were famous figures in their own right, the PD took immense pride in the fact that *he* was the mastermind behind the program!

Of course, that pride was one thing, but actually telling Tae-hyun what to do was a completely different story. He wouldn't dare open his mouth.

“Player Kim Tae-hyun, the pace is a bit too fast right now. Could we pause for a moment and have a quick chat before moving on?”

“Ah, no need for that. Let's just keep going. What else is there to film anyway? You've already got plenty of footage, haven't you?”

...Because he knew exactly how that conversation would go!

"For now, let's position everyone individually and see who shows up."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea. Let's try it!"

"Oh! Can we try it too?"

"Well, there's no harm in trying." The more bait they had, the better. For the first time, Tae-hyun felt genuinely satisfied with the broadcast cast. I just hope at least one of them bites.