The Original and the Copycats
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However, not all players exuded a murderous aura like Tae-hyun.
A few Guild Alliance players who arrived on Sky Island before Su Ning sensed a strange atmosphere. For some reason, it felt incredibly hostile! The way other players whispered and stared at them made them feel deeply uncomfortable.
“Why are they acting like that?”
“Are we standing out too much?”
“Our gear is pretty cool, but...”
“No, I don't think that's it!”
No matter how they looked at it, those weren't friendly glances. They were suspicious glares that seemed to ask, 'Should we beat them up or what?'
With a soft *thud*, a player stepped in front of them. The Guild Alliance members glared and demanded,
“Do you know who we are?”
“Aren't you guys from the Guild Alliance?”
“...You know that and still dare to block our path?”
“Hmph. What, are you going to issue a kill-on-sight order here on Sky Island too? This isn't the Central Continent, you bastards!”
“How insolent... I can take down a punk like you even without any help!”
The enraged guild member drew his weapon. The opponent drew theirs as well. And so did the dozens of players standing around them.
“??????”
The Guild Alliance members panicked. Wait, what...? Wasn't this supposed to be a one-on-one duel?
“What kind of situ—”
“Stomp them!”
When dozens of players rushed them at once, party synergy and strategy flew out the window. Staying calm in a situation like this was something only top-tier rankers could manage! The Guild Alliance party couldn't even mount a proper defense before being utterly trampled.
“Argh! Urgh! You bastards! You won't get away with this! Argh! I'm really going to die!”
And this wasn't an isolated incident. Guild Alliance members arriving on Sky Island were being targeted left and right. While a lucky few managed to avoid the ambushes, anyone openly displaying their Guild Alliance affiliation was thoroughly beaten.
Since they had spent so much time abusing their power on the Central Continent, it wasn't surprising that they were getting stabbed in the back on the relatively lawless Sky Island. Furthermore, it was soon revealed that they weren't the only ones being targeted. Members of the Midas Guild were also starting to get ambushed!
The executives whispered among themselves. Honestly, they had been certain it was Kim Tae-hyun! In any case, they were relieved it wasn't him, but they still needed to come up with a countermeasure.
The Guild Alliance executives recalled a bitter memory from the past. Back when the Guild Alliance had been humiliated by Tae-hyun, all sorts of pathetic nobodies had started acting as if they were Kim Tae-hyun themselves!
Honestly, they could at least respect Kim Tae-hyun. With skill like his, they could accept the defeat, no matter how frustrating or unfair it felt. But watching weaklings who couldn't even hold a candle to Kim Tae-hyun mock them, saying things like, "The Guild Alliance is completely washed up," was truly... truly blood-pressure-raising!
To prevent this from happening again, they needed to make a proper display of force.
The rankers were also highly motivated once they heard the target wasn't Kim Tae-hyun. As long as their opponent wasn't Kim Tae-hyun, the Guild Alliance rankers were always brave as lions!
Indeed, the Auston Kingdom was currently crawling with an ever-increasing number of monsters! Unlike the Atali Kingdom, where Tae-hyun had waged an all-out war of extermination, many monsters still remained scattered throughout the Auston Kingdom.
The Guild Alliance only bothered to hunt in areas that offered efficient EXP farming, leaving the rest untouched. In truth, Tae-hyun was the abnormal one for hunting like an absolute madman; everyone else behaved pretty much the same as the Guild Alliance.
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“Wow, Uncle! I love it so much!”
Su Ning felt relieved at his niece's reaction. Since she did nothing but badger him to "go see Kim Tae-hyun" every time she opened her mouth, he had brought her to Sky Island, the most popular region lately.
'Come to think of it, some guys sent a rather unusual proposal, didn't they?'
A fairly well-known group of explorers had sent him a message saying, "We need your help, Lord Su Ning, to open the Sky Castle!" Of course, Su Ning received just as many spam messages as Tae-hyun.
“Ah, how on earth do these Power Warrior bastards keep sending these messages?!”
Power Warrior, shamelessly advertising transfers to other guilds' members! They were truly like mold in the guild community.
In any case, because Su Ning received so many useless proposals, he was indifferent to such offers. To move him, they needed to bring a much sweeter deal! Specifically, coming to kneel and kowtow before him...
But looking at his niece, showing her the Sky Castle seemed like a good idea. If it actually opened, she would be absolutely thrilled.
“Wow! Uncle! None of my friends have ever seen a place like this!”
“Uncle, but when are we going to see player Kim Tae-hyun?”
“...My dear! Look over there, isn't that Sky Castle interesting? Shall we go take a look?”
“Wow! Exciting! But when are we going to see player Kim Tae-hyun...”
“Everyone! Let's head to the Sky Castle!”
“Yes, Guild Master!”
The Guild Alliance rankers replied quickly.
“Die!!”
“They really exist?!”
The startled Guild Alliance members moved immediately. No matter how gutsy you were, who in their right mind would attack the rankers escorting the Guild Master?
“How dare you attack the Guild Alliance?! Do you know who we are?!”
“What are you talking about, you washed-up losers who got crushed by Kim Tae-hyun!”
“.......”
“.......”
The rankers fell into a collective silence. Honestly, the attacker wasn't even that strong, but his words had dealt a critical blow straight to their hearts. This bastard...!!
“Trample them!”
“Make sure they can never play Pan-On again!”
“Argh! Urgh! You Guild Alliance bastards! You can't beat Kim Tae-hyun, so you're taking it out on me!”
“This bastard still has a big mouth!”
Watching the player get thoroughly beaten after attempting an ambush, the niece asked in confusion, “Uncle, what are 'washed-up losers who got crushed by Kim Tae-hyun'?”
“.......”
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“Hmm. I feel like there are exceptionally many fights on Sky Island.”
“It is a bit of a lawless zone. Are the PK penalties lighter?”
“No, doesn't seem like it. Why are they fighting so much?”
Tae-hyun's group walked along while watching the fights breaking out around them. Even though it wasn't a territory war, they saw players attacking other players everywhere. Most of them looked like members of the Midas Guild or the Guild Alliance, but surely it was just their imagination?
“Since they aren't attacking us, it has nothing to do with us.”
“Maybe the Guild Alliance bought themselves a lot of grudges?”
“I'm glad we lived virtuous lives.”
The group felt quite pleased with themselves as they made their way toward the Sky Castle. When Tae-hyun's party arrived, the explorer players were utterly shocked.
“Uh... Huh???”
“Is... isn't that Kim Tae-hyun?”
“Could be an impostor! Check!”
Ever since Tae-hyun became famous, there had been a massive surge of copycats mimicking him. Countless players copied the appearance of his gear. It was practically a trend.
“No, look at the six-armed guy next to him.”
“Ah, right.”
However, the real one was easily distinguished by the fact that he traveled with the six-armed Cain. An original that couldn't be easily replicated!
“P-P-Player Kim Tae-hyun. It is truly an honor to meet you!”
“I thought the idea of using the crowns of the continental kingdoms to open the floating castles of Sky Island was interesting and worth a shot.”
At Tae-hyun's praise, the explorer players blushed. Kim Tae-hyun praised us! Us!!
“Th-Thank you! I also thought it was a good idea after coming up with it...”
“He only thought of it, I was the one who actually suggested we do it...”
“I think my contribution in compiling everything was greater than both of theirs...”
As the explorers instantly threw away their teamwork and began bickering, the expressions of Tae-hyun's party turned awkward.
“W-We're sorry. Cough.”
Noticing their reaction, the explorers quickly composed themselves.
“We gathered some items related to Archisus here. They might not be very useful to you, Player Kim Tae-hyun, but we hoped they might help even a little...”
“Not at all. I actually need a lot of these.”
At Tae-hyun's reply, the explorer felt tears welling up. He was so kind! He wanted to punch his colleague who had claimed Kim Tae-hyun had a terrible personality in Pan-On 1. Why would Kim Tae-hyun need such items? Yet he accepted them to spare their feelings! Such benevolence, unseen in other rankers.
'Wow. They really gathered a lot of Archisus Church stuff. Books, documents, parchments? What kind of church has zero records, forcing me to run around doing quests manually...'
Of course, Tae-hyun was thrilled to get a free windfall. It was rare to get things handed to him so easily.
'I feel like things are going well for the Archisus Church lately.'
[Carbanog notes that hearing you say things are going well for the Archisus Church makes them feel inexplicably uneasy...]
'...'
With a low rumble, a group of players appeared from behind just as Tae-hyun was putting away the items. Huffing and puffing with weapons drawn, having just fought... they were, of course, Su Ning and his escorts.
“???”
Tae-hyun's party stared in surprise at the unexpected faces. Why are they here?
Of course, no matter how surprised Tae-hyun's party was, it was nothing compared to the shock of Su Ning and his escorts. Why on earth are you guys here?!
“Ah, Uncle! It's Player Kim Tae-hyun! It's really him!”
“No, it's not. That's not Player Kim Tae-hyun. It's just someone who looks like him.”
“It is Kim Tae-hyun! Look, there's the six-armed person next to him!”
“.......”