Is There Anyone Who Hates Money?

"Su Ning! Please, snap out of it!"

"That makes absolutely no sense!"

Some executives were tempted, but others hadn't lost their minds yet. No matter how good the money and profit were, they still had their pride. Colluding with Kim Tae-hyun! And not even to win, but to play the role of the loser!

"Think about what that bastard Kim Tae-hyun has done to us so far. Doesn't it make you bolt upright in the middle of the night?!"

"You swore you'd get stronger one day and get revenge on Kim Tae-hyun!"

The executives close to Su Ning remembered what he had said in the past. A drunken Su Ning crying, "Ughhh! Kim Tae-hyun, you son of a bitch! Just you wait! Once I rule the continent, you're getting executed! Executed!"—his true, heartfelt feelings!

And even putting aside emotional reasons, match-fixing to lose seemed way too risky. If they got caught later, it would be an absolute disgrace to the guild! They might ruin the guild's image just to pull in some quick investment money.

"But they're offering to invest!"

"If you care so much about face and pride, does money just fall from the sky?"

Opinions were split among the executives. Pride was pride, money was money! Complaining about this and that when receiving an investment was a luxury. Even if they were told to do something unspeakable with Kim Tae-hyun, they'd have to seriously consider it!

The executives split into two sides and bickered. As the argument grew heated, the employee cleared his throat.

"Ahem. You can fight later... I merely delivered the proposal. Please give it some serious thought."

"No, first of all, the idea that Kim Tae-hyun would cooperate just because we share the profits is..."

"Is there anyone who hates money?" the employee asked, looking genuinely puzzled. The Guild Alliance gets to lose *and* get paid, so why would they hate it?

"Kim Tae-hyun is different!"

"Is that so? I wouldn't know about that... At any rate, please think it over carefully and make a decision. After all, the Guild Alliance isn't the only one currently engaged in a territory war."

The executives winced at the employee's words. Originally, the only ones waging a large-scale territory war were the Guild Alliance and Midas. They were the only ones sucking up the sweet honey...

But it seemed other guilds had realized they were monopolizing the profits, and they had quickly started acquiring territories all over the place to jump in.

Once the giant guilds set their minds to it, their mobilization power was terrifying. Those bastards were acquiring territories through all sorts of bizarre methods.

The most mind-boggling of all was the Midas guild! What on earth did they do to buy territory from Kim Tae-hyun?!

Thanks to that, the territory war was no longer exclusive to the Guild Alliance. Other guilds were starting their own territory wars.

To win the competition, they had to show something flashier and more intense.

...Of course, attacking Kim Tae-hyun was a bit much, but they needed some other way!

"Found them. They're being dragged away."

In the distance, a party with a peculiar appearance was moving. It was almost like...

Yeah, they look like Cain... wait.

Tae-hyun, who had unconsciously followed Carbanog's train of thought, paused.

I was thinking of the Chimeras of Archisus back in the territory, not Cain.

They certainly were Chimeras!

Why did you have to bring up Cain...

Aside from how pitiful Cain was, the targets they had just discovered belonged to a very peculiar race.

The Chimera race was extremely rare in Pan-On! Since they couldn't occur naturally, they were a highly uncommon species.

"Don't those guys look like Cain?"

"What? What did you say, you bastard? Just because they have multiple arms, they automatically look like me?!"

"Uh... yeah."

"......"

Cain, who had flared up, had nothing to say to Alcott's remark. Come to think of it, how many players in Pan-On had multiple arms...?

"Whatever. For now, we leave them be. They might have hidden it, so we should start by searching."

"But shouldn't we at least keep track of where they're going?"

"Hmm. Good point. Alcott, I'll leave it to you."

"......"

Oh, damn it! Why did I have to open my big mouth...!

Alcott regretted it, but the words had already left his mouth. Since it had come to this, he had no choice but to accept it coolly and gracefully.

"Understood. Leave it to me."

"Ohhh... Alcott...!"

Cain was slightly impressed. He hadn't noticed the subtle tension in the conversation that had just taken place.

That Alcott guy is pretty confident.

Ah, I should have dragged that guy along.

Lee Da-bi nodded as if she had realized something.

"I see."

"What do you see?"

"Normally, Cain-ssi would have mindlessly opened his mouth and ended up in that role, but Alcott did it first this time. Thanks to that, Cain-ssi avoided any trouble."

"Ah-ha...!"

While Alcott was trembling as he tailed the prisoners of the Ancient Empire, Tae-hyun turned on Divine Foresight.

Hmm. Three paths.

The Divine Foresight skill was showing three different paths. One was the path the Ancient Empire prisoners had taken.

Carbanog. I'm the Avatar of Archisus...

He had already come too far to worry about being fooled! You should have told me that before I changed classes!

It probably wants me to clear a quest related to the Ancient Empire monsters. If I'm lucky, I might even find a temple related to Archisus...

He had thought about this before, but finding an Ancient Empire city also increased the chances of finding an Archisus temple or an Archisus relic. This path was likely shown with such a quest in mind.

...Of course, the difficulty would be brutally high!

I doubt the system would be considerate enough to adjust the difficulty.

The next path was easy to understand. It stretched straight back in the direction they had come from. *Get the hell out of Frozeland immediately!*

I did think about that for about a second.

The remaining path led in a completely unknown direction. This was likely the path Tae-hyun was looking for. Divine ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Foresight was an incredibly powerful skill that showed paths using Archisus's power, but it wasn't always straightforward. The user had to interpret its meaning correctly!

Whooooosh—

"There's nothing around here, though?"

"No, the skill activated, so there must be something. Search every nook and cranny."

Thanks to their newly crafted gear, Tae-hyun's party could move without being bothered by the cold penalty. It was a level of cold that would have made other players collapse after just a brief search!

"A cave! I found a cave!"

Choi Sang-yun shouted from afar. The party rushed over. Indeed, it was a cave large enough for several people to stay inside. It had gone unnoticed because the entrance was hidden.

"Those bastards and their cheap tricks..."

"When you play as a raider, this is basic stuff."

"Y-yeah. Basic."

Cain cleared his throat as he spoke. Seeing this, Tae-hyun thought to himself:

Did this guy live his life without even knowing the basics...?

How on earth did he play as a raider?

"It's not inside?"

"They must have hidden it somewhere else. They've got some brains."

Tae-hyun looked around. They wouldn't have gone far to hide it; it had to be somewhere nearby. Divine Foresight wasn't leading any further than this point either...

"Hey. This might be a bit troublesome."

Choi Sang-yun had a flustered expression. He had used his tracking skills, but they all failed with the message `[The traces have been covered by the blizzard]`.

This Frozeland was the perfect place to hide something. Since everything was covered in snow and ice, if you dug a hole, hid it, and covered it up, all traces would vanish instantly.

"Do we have to dig up the whole area?"

If they had to dig up everything from inside the cave to the surrounding area...

The party's eyes momentarily drifted to one person.

"Huh? Why?"

"Haha. It's nothing."

A look of absolute trust! A look they would never show Cain under any other circumstances. However, Tae-hyun shook his head.

"No, even for Cain, digging up this entire area is impossible. Hmm... everyone step back. I'll search using a skill."

"Will that be okay?"

"I think it'd be faster to just make Cain dig."

"Wait. Was that why you guys looked at me just now?!"

As the party backed away, Tae-hyun activated his skill.

Flash!

The Authority skill he had obtained in the past, Akisus's Totem! It was a powerful skill that randomly pulled one nearby item, but it was surprisingly difficult to use. It was too hard to pull exactly what you wanted.

By the time players reached a high level, they carried hundreds of items in their bags—all sorts of junk, potions, and scrolls! And if there were multiple people nearby, the pool of items increased accordingly...

No matter how I look at it, this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is more of a quirky skill that trolls like than a serious, practical one.

But no matter how trashy a skill was, there was always a way to use it. In a space like this, where all nearby players were cleared away and there wasn't a single item around...

What the?

...Well, I got something that was buried somewhere, so it's not a loss.

Besides, the Ancient Empire's Prison Fortress. It was indeed what Tae-hyun had been looking for. Just as Carbanog had said, it was definitely nearby.

Found it!

He had pulled a few useless items, but fortunately, the item he was looking for came out before his MP ran out. Tae-hyun couldn't verify it either, but that very inability to verify made its identity certain. What else could it be but the Dragon's Stone Tablet!

Thank goodness, I can breathe a sigh of relief.

If he hadn't found it, the quest would have dragged on and gotten tangled up. Just finding the item meant the first condition of the quest was resolved! Now, he had to return this to the dragon and persuade it.

Could they just make someone else do it?

Tae-hyun wanted to do that too, but he couldn't.

There's probably no one else who can persuade a dragon besides me. And above all...

A true player doesn't hand over a Legendary Quest to someone else just because it's dangerous! Even if it's a gamble, you have to do it yourself. You can't just give it away.

Thanks, Carbanog. I'll keep that in mind.

Both of them were magical pieces of equipment that could provoke a dragon just by holding them! It was truly invaluable advice.

Meanwhile, a whisper arrived from Alcott. Alcott's voice, having successfully tailed them through the cold, was filled with excitement.

Alcott, who was sending the whisper, was shocked. How on earth?!!?