Nostalgic Memories
"How humble. But now is the time to show your capabilities. Go sweep away the nearby enemies and prove that you deserve to be the temporary lord of this castle!"
Drive Out the Sky Island Residents
Since the fall of the Ancient Empire, the Ancient Empire Deserters have shut themselves inside their castles, never venturing out. However, now that their castle has crashed onto Sky Island, a clash between the Deserters and the island's residents is inevitable.
Help the Ancient Empire Deserters drive out the residents of Sky Island! The rightful owners of this land are the Ancient Empire Deserters!
📍 Location: Sky Island
🎁 Reward: Temporary Lordship of the Sky Castle, Unlocking of Ancient Empire Secrets
"..."
[Carbanog stares at you in dead silence.]
Wow, it had been a long time since he'd encountered a quest he wanted to do this little!
He knew this faction possessed immense wealth and high levels, but on a personal level, they were incredibly unlikable. Did he really have to help these obnoxious jerks?
Can't I just plunder all the hidden secrets and skills inside the Sky Castle and bail?
[Carbanog points out that there is more than just one Sky Castle in this vicinity. It warns that if you want to search them all, you cannot afford to abandon these guys.]
"..."
"Destruction! Chaos! Oblivion!"
"Pillage! Pillage! Pillage!"
"In the name of the Empire!"
Even though their perfectly fine floating castle had just face-planted into the ground, the Deserters were looking on the bright side. Should we take this opportunity to step on the soil of Sky Island and conquer some land? Even Carbanog had to admire their sheer adaptability!
"Run, you idiots! Run!"
"Where is our backup?! Tell them to hurry up and regroup!"
"Understood!"
Amidst this chaotic situation, there was one group moving with absolute urgency: the Guild Alliance!
Having focused on recovering their health right next to Tae-hyun, they immediately sensed an opportunity the moment the Sky Castle crashed onto the island and the surroundings descended into madness. They had to escape now, before even more mobs swarmed the area!
"Kim Tae-hyun, it was absolutely miserable working with you, and let's never meet again!"
"Guild Leader, your true feelings slipped out! You're supposed to say the opposite!"
"Ah! Kim Tae-hyun, thank you for working with us, and let's... meet... Dammit, I can't bring myself to say it! What if we actually meet again?!"
"You tried your best, Guild Leader! I understand! *Sob*!"
"..."
Tae-hyun watched with a thoroughly unimpressed expression as the members of the Guild Alliance scrambled out of the Sky Castle in a chaotic stampede.
"Why? Do you miss them?" Lee Da-bi asked. "They were only ever plotting to backstab us anyway. They wouldn't have been much help."
"No, it's not that. I just wanted to use one or two of them as human bombs..."
Tae-hyun smacked his lips as he eyed the rankers' levels. If nothing else, those high levels were incredibly tempting!
The moment they gained some distance from the castle, the Guild Alliance members immediately summoned their mounts and took to the skies. They moved with frantic haste, terrified of being pursued. True to their status as the elite of the Guild Alliance, their mounts were exceptionally flashy—ranging from Pegasi to Silver Wyverns...
"Mr. Kim Tae-hyun, where did my uncle go?"
"...?"
"????"
Only then did the party realize that Su Ning had fled, completely forgetting his own niece! What a... what an absolute idiot!
"Hey! Su Ning! Get back here!" Tae-hyun bellowed.
"Guild Leader, Kim Tae-hyun is calling you! He's telling you to come back!"
"Is he insane? Who in their right mind would go back! Ignore him! Pretend you didn't hear a thing. If he knows we heard him, he'll just find some ridiculous excuse to torment us!"
"Understood!"
The guild members desperately covered their ears, determined to insist they hadn't heard a single word.
"You crazy bastard! I said get back here!"
"*Sniffle*... Did Uncle leave me behind? Is it because I was being stubborn?"
"No! No, of course not!" Tae-hyun quickly reassured her. "It's just that your uncle's head is purely decorative! He only uses it to hold his hat!"
"That's right! You don't have to worry at all. We'll stay with you," Lee Da-bi added gently.
As Su Ning's niece began to tear up, Tae-hyun and Lee Da-bi scrambled to comfort her. Perhaps because she was still young, being comforted by her two favorite players worked wonders, and she quickly brightened up with a beaming smile.
"Thank you!"
Perhaps because she was a young girl, she clung much closer to Lee Da-bi than to Tae-hyun.
"Oh, don't you like Tae-hyun more?" Lee Da-bi asked.
The girl nodded vigorously.
Lee Da-bi was bewildered. If she liked Tae-hyun more, why was she clinging to her instead of him?
"I guess you just feel more approachable," Tae-hyun offered.
"Is that so?"
"Well, you do look a lot more kind-hearted than me, Da-bi."
"You look perfectly kind-hearted too, Tae-hyun."
"?"
"??"
"????"
The party members standing behind them froze. Did... did he really??
"Anyway, let's look after her until that idiot Su Ning comes back. She's just a kid."
"Alright! Allow me to show you a trick!"
Cain confidently spread all six of his arms wide. Perhaps his extra limbs existed precisely for moments like this!
"Cre..."
"Cre?"
"Creepy...! You look like a bug!"
"..."
Cain slumped in dejection and quietly folded his arms back in.
In truth, the Guild Alliance's decision to flee had been entirely correct. Players who had finally regained their senses were already swarming toward the crashed Sky Castle. If only Su Ning had remembered to take his niece with him!
"They got away! Those bastards!"
"Tsk! We almost had them!"
Because the Sky Castle had suddenly taken off, their encirclement had completely collapsed. The players ground their teeth in frustration as they watched the distant backs of the Guild Alliance members rapidly flying away on their mounts.
"But..."
"What should we do about that castle?"
The players began to whisper among themselves. A massive castle had suddenly fallen out of the sky and crashed right into the peaceful fields of Sky Island! Even though its exterior was heavily damaged, there was no telling what kind of treasures might be hidden inside. After all, countless players had been desperately trying to raid the floating castles drifting near Sky Island.
"Our guild will take that side..."
"What are you talking about? We should divide it equally."
"Excuse me..."
"Equal? Yeah, right. Want to settle this with a duel?"
"Are you bragging just because you have a high-level player? Want to start a clan war right here?"
"I said, excuse me..."
"Look at these bastards acting all selfish the second the Guild Alliance is gone! This is our territory, so you should be accommodating us!"
"Will you shut up and listen to me?!"
"???"
"Kim Tae-hyun is still inside that castle!"
"Ah..."
Only then did reality sink in. Kim Tae-hyun was still in there!
"Hmm. Right. I'll just drag things out, milk them for everything they're worth, and then bail."
[Carbanog asks what you plan to do about the other Sky Castles.]
"I'll do as much as I can. It'll be a lot less stressful than trying to conquer this place with those guys."
While Tae-hyun was busy plotting his wicked schemes to exploit the Deserters, the players outside finished their discussions and began to approach. They were the sacrifices... err, representatives chosen by each guild!
They walked forward with expressions of grim determination.
Surely Kim Tae-hyun won't just attack us out of nowhere.
Like I said, given his current situation, he'll have to back down if we take a strong stance.
No matter how much they steeled themselves, they were still terrified! But it was a necessity. No matter how uncomfortable and frightening Tae-hyun was, leaving him to roam Sky Island would completely ruin their plans. They had to drive him out, even if it meant taking a massive risk!
"What is it? The Guild Alliance already went down," Tae-hyun said, sounding puzzled. They had seemed to be targeting the Guild Alliance earlier, but Su Ning and his crew were long gone.
"No. We didn't come to talk to the Guild Alliance. We came to talk to you, Kim Tae-hyun."
"?"
"As an alliance of the guilds here on Sky Island..."
"Oh, so a Guild Alliance?" Tae-hyun interrupted.
Guilds banding together... now where had he heard that kind of introduction before? At his words, the representatives flared up in anger.
"Who are you comparing us to?!"
"Exactly! How dare you compare us to the Guild Alliance?!"
"My bad. A coalition of large guilds just sounded pretty similar to me. So, what's the difference?"
"We barely have any Chinese players!"
"...Ah, I see. That is indeed a massive difference."
To Tae-hyun, who had spent his entire time fighting large guilds in both Pan-On 1 and Pan-On 2, they all looked exactly the same. Weren't they all just cut from the same cloth? Of course, to the large guilds of Sky Island, this distinction was of paramount importance.
"Anyway, so... what does the Bootleg Alliance want to talk to me about?"
"...Did he just call us the Bootleg Alliance?"
"Shh, that's not what's important right now. Quiet."
"Ahem. Kim Tae-hyun. We are here to deliver an ultimatum."
"??"
Tae-hyun was genuinely taken aback by the word "ultimatum." An ultimatum?
[Carbanog wonders if you've already caused some sort of trouble.]
I did block them from entering the castle, but there's no way they'd issue an ultimatum over just that, right? They're the ones who got blocked while trying to trespass.
[Carbanog suggests that perhaps they have caught wind of the wicked deeds the Avatar plans to commit in the near future.]
Ugh. I can't really deny that one.
"Our guilds were the first to set foot on Sky Island, and we were the first to claim territories here. Therefore, we strongly demand that you, a latecomer, withdraw from this place."
"...???"
Tae-hyun could hardly believe his ears. Was what he just heard actual human speech, or was it just Cain talking nonsense again?
"Uh... so you're saying that just because you stepped foot here a bit earlier, this entire place belongs to you? Like, finding a dungeon, claiming it, and calling it yours?"
"Exactly! You understand perfectly."
"No, I really don't think I do???"
A sharp-witted player standing nearby immediately sensed that something was terribly wrong. The atmosphere radiating from Tae-hyun was beginning to turn chillingly cold.
"And if I don't back down, all the guilds here will unite and attack me?"
"Yes!"
"And if I still don't back down, you'll place a kill-on-sight order on me, right?"
"Exactly! You know the drill!"
Tae-hyun looked up at the sky and let out a deep, heavy sigh.
"Now that I think about it, it's been so long since I last heard someone say something like this to me. I actually got flustered for a second. How amateur of me."
Back in Pan-On 1, he used to hear this kind of garbage on a daily basis. He'd be mining ore inside a dungeon when some random guild member would run up and yell, "Hey! Beat it! This is our spot! Leave or die!" Then Tae-hyun would reply, "Sure, your grave spot!" and slaughter them. Then they'd bring a crowd and threaten him in the name of their guild. And when he wiped out the entire guild, their allied guilds would show up to threaten him again...
In Pan-On 2, because he had focused so relentlessly and obsessively on beating down the Guild Alliance, he rarely had the chance to clash with other large guilds. But hearing those words now brought back a rush of nostalgic memories from his Pan-On 1 days.
"Oh, oh no... He's losing his temper!" Choi Sang-yun gasped in horror from behind. "Look at his eyes!"
"You guys... how is it that your behavior hasn't changed a single bit from Pan-On 1 to Pan-On 2? You always gather in packs to bully and drive out anyone you think is weaker than you... If you're going to play a game, why can't you just mind your own business instead of acting so pathetic?"
Tae-hyun drew his sword and began taking slow, deliberate steps forward. The quick-witted players immediately started backing away, but the rest of them stood there in a daze, completely failing to read the room.
"Kim Tae-hyun, think about this carefully! You already have the Guild Alliance as your enemy. Midas isn't friendly toward you either, and pro players like Lee Se-yeon are constantly keeping tabs on you! In a situation like this, do you really need to make enemies out of us too? All you have to do is leave Sky Island. It's not like you don't have plenty of other places to go!"
The players shouted, trying to bluff their way through. They only dared to speak this way because they thought they had a clear grasp of Tae-hyun's current predicament. Tae-hyun was on terrible terms with the Guild Alliance, his relationship with Midas was lukewarm at best, and on top of that, the pro league players were practically praying for his downfall... In such a state, would he really turn dozens of new large guilds into his enemies? Kim Tae-hyun couldn't possibly be that stupid!
Believing this blindly was what gave the players the courage to act so bold.
"If you accept our offer and withdraw, we'll accommodate you as well. We could even form a united front against the Guild Alliance!"
"Are you done talking?" Tae-hyun asked calmly.
"?"
"Ah. I guess those weren't words, but your last will and testament."
Before the representative could even finish processing the sentence, Tae-hyun lunged forward.
Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!
A dazzling flurry of multi-hits erupted, and the player standing at the very front was instantly logged out. A one-second kill! It was a clean, explosive burst of damage that didn't even leave them time to react.
"Hey. If I were the kind of person who played games while constantly calculating profit and loss, I would have joined hands with the Guild Alliance a long time ago."
"..."
Well, he certainly had a point there!
"I've always just beaten up anyone who spouts absolute bullshit."
With those final words, Tae-hyun stopped talking. Instead, he began swinging his sword like an absolute madman.