The Art of the Real Estate Scam

Selling someone else's city to make gold. Just thinking about it brought a smile to his face.

Right?

My thoughts exactly.

"Lee Da-bi. What do we need to do to sell a territory?"

"...I-I've never sold a territory before either?!"

Just because she was a merchant didn't mean she had real estate experience on a feudal scale!

"Shouldn't we start by finding a buyer?"

"A buyer... Hmmm. It's not a normal item, so it's a bit of a headache."

Tae-hyun scratched his head, lost in thought. Now that he was actually trying to sell a territory, it felt surprisingly complicated.

First of all, he couldn't sell it to anyone suspicious. Mega-guilds like the Guild Alliance or the Midas Guild were out of the question.

For guilds like that, territorial wars and sieges were their primary sources of income. Since they operated like corporations backed by massive investments, they couldn't stop fighting even if they wanted to.

They were beasts that had to keep waging war just to maintain their massive size! And Lee Se-yeon's guild was also excluded. No particular reason—just excluded.

What? Why? What of it?

So, a reliable and solid mid-sized guild, then? With the recent lord boom, every Tom, Dick, and Harry was desperately trying to get their hands on a territory, so finding a buyer wouldn't be hard.

The key was whether they were trustworthy!

"Tae-hyun, you don't have to worry too much about it."

"...!" Tae-hyun was slightly touched by Lee Da-bi's words. Right. It wasn't like the world was only filled with shady bastards, and there was no need to stress out so early.

"If they cause any trouble, we can just go beat them up, take it back, and sell it again."

"?!?!" Da-bi?! But Tae-hyun couldn't even deny it. Her logic was absolutely flawless. The classic Archisus method of conflict resolution!

"That is actually a very good point."

"Right?" Da-bi looked incredibly proud of herself for coming up with such a brilliant idea. Of course, the rest of the party was staring at her in sheer horror...

- Isn't she like that entirely because of Tae-hyun?

- No, I think Da-bi was always secretly a bit like that.

"Anyway, it's better to find the buyers first before we overthink it."

Tae-hyun opened the auction board. As a hub for all kinds of items in Pandemonium Online, it supported various auction formats.

"Selling... a city... leave offers..."

"……."

"……." What era of forum posting was this from?!

"Hmm. All done."

"...S-Shouldn't you rewrite that?" Cain hadn't done much trading himself, but even he could tell that Tae-hyun's post was terribly written.

"Why?"

"Shouldn't you make it sound... more appealing? And above all, shouldn't it look a bit more trustworthy?"

No matter how you looked at it, it looked like a sketchy bait post! While the Pandemonium Online auction board had plenty of legitimate listings, it was also plagued by an absurd amount of false advertising.

Listing a legendary sword only for it to be a wooden sword painted yellow was practically child's play. No matter how strictly the system moderated it, the sheer volume of players made scam listings unavoidable.

"It doesn't matter. If the product is good, they'll come on their own."

Even back in Pandemonium Online 1, as long as the item was top-tier, people would flock to it no matter how garbage the listing was. Weren't Pan-On players the type to risk their lives over a single stat difference?

"Guild Master. Have you seen this?"

"What is it?"

"Some crazy bastard posted a bait thread on the auction board claiming they're selling territories."

"Are you new here? There are dozens of those every day."

"But the post says they're the southern cities of the Atali Kingdom..."

"What?!"

The rumor that Tae-hyun had sold Tillau to the Woodstock Guild had already spread like wildfire. Everyone was drooling with envy, but none dared to approach him directly!

"Is it... is it really Kim Tae-hyun?"

"Or it could be some troll who knows the situation and is just messing with people."

"If they get caught faking it, they'll get PK'd to oblivion."

"Come on, do you think trolls who pull these kinds of stunts care about that? They're usually throwaway accounts with nothing to lose."

Looking at the post, the comment section was already on fire.

It was too tempting to just dismiss as bait! Everyone was saying, "No way... there's no shot..." while their fingers automatically clicked the inquiry button.

Sitting around and waiting after posting wasn't Tae-hyun's style. The post is up, so let's get back to our own business!

Rumble—!

Watching the cascade of system messages, Tae-hyun felt a wave of nostalgia. In the beginning, there had been absolutely nothing in his territory, forcing him to scam... excuse me, persuade people to get any work done.

But now, The Valley was a proper, thriving territory. Thanks to the solid foundation Tae-hyun had built, even a massive construction project like this could be completed at a breakneck pace as long as he threw enough gold at it.

...I got emotional for nothing.

Whoosh!

Wait, why Sadiq?

Freeloading when he didn't even do anything? Did the God of Fire have no divine pride?!

...Carbanog... that applies to you too...

The system notifications continued.

Ah. I really don't like the sound of that...

A combination of basic enhancement skills for blacksmiths like him. It was a powerful blacksmithing skill Tae-hyun had received after reaching the Master rank. And now, it was being upgraded once more!

As expected, a perfect skill for me...!

Stackable skills like this were tailor-made for Tae-hyun, who held an absolute advantage in the Luck stat. His explosive burst damage was always built on a foundation of multiple stacked buffs before the fight even began.

This alone makes installing the Primeval Fire worth every penny.

Master Blacksmithing Skill: Level 4 (2%)

...Still got a long way to go, though.

"?!?!?" Tae-hyun was shocked. Wait, how did that even happen? No way...?

...I really don't want to do this. It felt incredibly ominous! Tae-hyun, who had been thoroughly enjoying the rewards of the Primeval Fire, now wore a sour expression.

Quests in Pandemonium Online always left clues scattered around. The system was tempting him with the availability of the Abyssal Ice, but everything about it reeked of danger.

"Even a Demon Archduke can't handle it easily," "Do not handle it carelessly"... If my luck runs out, won't I just end up frozen solid?

It would be the joke of the century if Tae-hyun, who had survived countless assassination attempts by hordes of players, died to a stupid environmental hazard!

But before long, Tae-hyun had no choice but to give in. The Curse of the Volcano swept through his territory far more aggressively than anticipated. The temperature was rising at an alarming rate!

Regardless of the Curse of the Volcano, the notification of the Primeval Fire popped up for every single player currently in the territory. When the equipment they were crafting suddenly received massive buffs, the players couldn't help but gasp in shock.

"Did... did the Lord lose his mind?!"

"What is this?!"

"...?!?!?!"

The high-ranking blacksmith, Phil, stared at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the sudden system message in utter disbelief. As a dedicated blacksmith, he was one of the few players who had fallen in love with The Valley and insisted on crafting here.

Other rankers said, "I'd rather use a well-equipped territory with NPC assistance than rely on those absurdly low chances," but Phil was different. The occasional, completely unexpected jackpot crafts were simply too addictive to resist!

Even though he had complained endlessly when he got dragged into the Archisus Church's affairs, he had made sure to do all his crafting in The Valley ever since.