We Messed with the Wrong Guy!
"L-Leave me out of this," Evangeline said, utterly flustered. She had too many quests to complete and had absolutely no desire to make enemies with the Guild Alliance! ...Sure, she had drawn quite a bit of aggro in the past, but the Guild Alliance had so many enemies. Surely they had forgotten about her by now?
Of course, Tae-hyun was not the kind of generous soul who would monopolize all this resentment. Grudges, after all, were meant to be shared!
"Haha. Evangeline. We did those quests together. Do you really think the Guild Alliance will see it that way? Let's fight together like good friends."
"Y-You drag-down demon...!"
While Evangeline gaped in horror, the surrounding fans tilted their heads and looked at her.
"Oh, who is this? Was there a player like this in Team KL?"
"...Is she the ranker Evangeline? I think so?"
"Wow! I heard she was close with Kim Tae-hyun, but to think she'd actually visit Korea!"
"If they're that close, it wouldn't be strange for her to fight the Guild Alliance alongside him!"
The whispering voices pierced Evangeline's ears with painful clarity.
"...I, I no speak Korean well. I don't know what you say."
"?!?!?"
Evangeline was desperately pushing her luck! But the gathered crowd wasn't stupid.
"Wait, don't you have a translator...?"
"It must be bwoken."
"It's okay, Evangeline. I'll translate for you," Tae-hyun offered helpfully. "Feel free to curse the Guild Alliance as much as you want."
"...I wish they would just dwop dead."
"Didn't she just curse them?"
"Nah. You must have misheard."
The impromptu fan meeting between Evangeline and Team KL was a heartwarming, wholesome story. Articles were published, and the public reactions were overwhelmingly positive.
It was a story that both fans and casual observers thoroughly enjoyed. However, it didn't have a massive, earth-shattering impact. Team KL didn't have a bad reputation to begin with, and since they were already incredibly successful, one more good deed was just a drop in the bucket. Most people simply went, "Well, of course, it's Team KL," or "Indeed, players as good-natured as Kim Tae-hyun are rare."
However, a select few saw something entirely different in the article.
"How did this happen!"
"G-General Manager. Isn't it just a common article? Team KL has always been like this..."
"Should we commission a reporter to write an article for us too?"
The General Manager of LK Galaxy, a team competing in the Pan-On 2nd Division, was absolutely furious. The staff were flustered.
"You fools! Don't you see what this article actually means?"
"???"
"?????"
The staff desperately racked their brains under the General Manager's intense glare.
"That Team KL has a lot of fans?"
"That Team KL has a good image?"
"That Cain has barely any presence? Ah! Since he's not treated well, we should scout him..."
"You absolute blockheads!" The General Manager beat his chest in sheer frustration. "Do you not even know who this player Evangeline is?!"
"Hmm. A foreigner, eating tteokbokki deliciously... Ah, is she going to appear on a Korean variety show soon?"
"......"
The General Manager staggered, clutching his forehead. Fortunately, there were other, more competent employees in the room.
"Wait, this player... isn't she the head coach currently acting as the interim manager for the Toronto Maple Bears?"
"What?!" The other staff members gasped in shock.
"Ah, her clothes are so different I didn't recognize her. I've only seen her wearing heavy armor and screaming in Pan-On."
They all knew who Evangeline was. They just remembered her as the hot-tempered coach who wielded weapons and drove her team crazy in Pan-On!
"-Minus one kill! Just get one kill, you crazy bastards!"
"-You idiot! Can't you see the healer next to you?! Block them! I said block them! Argh!"
Evangeline liked to think of herself as a highly intellectual and gentle coach, but that was a complete delusion. In the heat of a match, she was practically a hooligan. Videos of her coaching antics circulated widely under titles like "Crazy Managers Compilation."
"That was her?"
"Wow, she's gorgeous."
"But why did she come to Korea?"
"Exactly! That's the question. Why did she come? Why did she meet Kim Tae-hyun?"
"??"
"You clueless fools. Obviously, she came to scout him!"
"What?"
"...Unless Kim Tae-hyun has lost his mind, why would he go to a 2nd Division team?" The staff found the idea absurd. Why would Tae-hyun do that?
"He doesn't have to go as a player. There are other roles! Like a manager..."
"No. Right now, Player Kim Tae-hyun is focusing on clearing high-difficulty quests in Pan-On, and he's already the team captain, manager, and general manager of Team KL. Is that even possible?"
"I heard he even does Cain's housework."
"Is he even human?"
"He's a superhuman, a superhuman."
The General Manager silenced them with a wave of his hand. "Of course, he can't be a full-time manager. I know that's impossible. But what about acting as a temporary coach to help out? Doesn't that seem highly possible?"
"Well, that..."
"Certainly, that is..."
It was much more plausible than him taking over as a full-time manager. Hiring famous rankers as temporary coaches was quite common in the league.
The Pan-On League was highly volatile, with dozens of new strategies appearing and disappearing constantly, and opposing players using unfamiliar skills. To counter a threatening skill, teams would bring in a ranker who possessed that skill to train against them.
If that person was Kim Tae-hyun...
"If Kim Tae-hyun coaches... wow, that would be insane."
"It really would be amazing."
The staff admired the idea. Even as a temporary coach, his impact would be astronomical. Team KL played every match at a legendary level. If they could copy even half of that...
Gulp.
"Are you talking like this is someone else's business?! You..."
"W-We're sorry, General Manager."
"Am I the only one determined to promote to the 1st Division this year?!"
"No, sir!"
"Look at Yuseong Gaming! Look how well they're doing..."
The LK Galaxy General Manager muttered in resentment. Back when Yuseong Gaming was breaking losing streak records and crawling at the absolute bottom, LK Galaxy was right above them. The days when they were happy because Yuseong was there! LK Galaxy had felt a sense of companionship with Yuseong Gaming, who reliably held down the last-place spot. (Of course, Yuseong Gaming found this highly offensive!)
But now, the tables had turned. Yuseong Gaming's chairman had seemingly gone mad, pouring astronomical support into the team, launching them to the top tier of domestic gaming clubs... while LK Galaxy was suffocating in the 2nd Division, tightening their belts.
They had to get results!
"General Manager, we will definitely recruit Player Kim Tae-hyun!"
"If the Maple Bears are trying to recruit him, we must recruit him too!"
LK Galaxy's staff shouted in unison, their eyes burning with determination.
Swoooooosh—
"...Crazy."
[The monster uses its monstrous strength!]
[The sea splits!]
Tae-hyun, who had chased the monster charging into the ocean, was dumbfounded. What on earth was he looking at?
The sea... the sea was splitting!
[Carbanog is astonished by the monster's monstrous strength!]
The monster stomped its feet and used its skill, pushing the surrounding waves away and revealing the deep seabed. What absurd strength!
Duke Gellendel admired the sight. "Your Majesty, what truly marvelous strength."
"Indeed..."
"If we capture that beast, tame it, and use it to wipe out the Orcs... Ah. It seems my true feelings slipped out. How embarrassing!"
"No, you've always been like that."
While Duke Gellendel was excited, the other Elves looked utterly demoralized.
—We have to go down there?
—If the sea closes back up, won't we drown?
—If that beast takes just one step backward, we're dead...
Tae-hyun suddenly felt pity for the elite Elf warriors. They were proud elites trained by the kingdom, but they were suffering terribly because they met the wrong superior.
"Don't worry too much. If anything happens, I will help you escape somehow."
[The Speech skill level is extremely high...]
[Reputation...]
[...]
With those words, the elite Elf warriors' eyes welled with tears of deep emotion!
"Your Majesty...!"
"We have never met anyone like Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty should have been our commander!"
"Please visit our kingdom sometime!"
"No, if you just request us, we will..."
Tae-hyun was flustered by the passionate reaction of the Elves.
[Carbanog says he feels a bit sorry for these Elves.]
'Did you think so too? Me too.'
Just how much had they been tormented to react like this!
But there was no time to coddle the Elves. They had to follow the monster down to the seabed.
[Carbanog wonders what you will do if the sea path closes again.]
'We'll worry about that when it happens.'
[...]
"W-Wait. Isn't that Nodranche?"
"Why of all places did we end up where Kim Tae-hyun is...?"
"Maybe Kim Tae-hyun isn't there?"
"No. I asked a pioneer player there, and they said Kim Tae-hyun is indeed there."
The plunderer players, who had been tailing Duke Gellendel and the Dwarf envoy delegation, realized their destination and buzzed with anxiety on their ship.
Usually, plunderer players were fearless... but this was an exception!
Kim Tae-hyun was truly terrifying. He was skilled, powerful, and relentlessly persistent! He knew exactly how plunderer players operated, making it impossible to escape from him!
"......"
"......"
The plunderers hesitated. Rather than sticking their heads out where Kim Tae-hyun was and getting beaten to a pulp... they should just do some casual piracy nearby and head back!
"Ahem. I can't afford to ruin my relationship with the Dungland Kingdom... Out of respect for the Elf Duke, I'll let it slide this time."
"Cough. Yeah... It's not like there's anything great in a place like Nodranche anyway."
The plunderers understood each other with just a glance. *Let's just not mess with him!*
"Hey. Is there a decent ship nearby? Look quickly. We dragged our ship all the way out here, we have to get something. We won't even cover maintenance costs at this rate."
"Hold on. I'm looking. Oh. Is that a fishing boat over there? Looks like a fisherman's boat."
"Eh. Doesn't look like much."
The ships the plunderers sailed were agile, medium-sized sailing frigates. Large sailing ships were too expensive to buy and maintain. Even with medium frigates, they could swagger around the sea. Since there were plenty of players sailing around in tiny sailboats, a medium frigate was quite impressive.
To such plunderers, a small fishing boat naturally looked pathetic!
Of course, that didn't mean they wouldn't rob it.
"Stop! Stop right there!"
"?"
The fisherman on the boat tilted his head. "What is it?"
"Aha. This sea belongs to us, the lords of Bectel. So, we need to collect some taxes."
"??"
The fisherman pondered what they meant by "lords of Bectel," a lawless city with no actual owner, and then clapped his hands.
"Ah, you guys are pirates!"
He had wondered what they meant by "lords of Bectel"! He thought they were the Guild Alliance!
"W-What? How dare you call us pirates?"
"It's true, but unforgivable!"
The truth always hurts the most! The plunderer players angrily drew their weapons. They would have drawn them even without an excuse anyway.
"Haha, young men. If you wanted to fight, you should have just said so."
The fisherman smiled and stood up. Then, he threw off the cloak he was wearing.
Whoosh—
A dazzling set of equipment, forged entirely through heavy cash-shop purchases, was revealed.
"......"
"......"
"...Fuck."
The moment they saw it, they could estimate the cost.
A middle-aged whale who had poured the equivalent of several houses into Pan-On!
We messed with the wrong guy!