A Masterclass in Gaslighting

The players present were utterly dumbfounded. *What?*

"Ugh... My head hurts, and I can't seem to remember..."

"Wait... did he lose his memory?"

"Man, what do we do now?"

The guild members panicked. Tae-hyun's original goal in capturing the priest was to extract information. But if the guy had amnesia, he was practically useless.

"We should just finish him off."

"Yeah. Tae-hyun, should we kill him?"

"No."

"?"

When Tae-hyun refused, everyone looked puzzled. Was there any other option besides killing him here?

"It's not uncommon for NPCs to lose their memories in Pandemonium Online," Tae-hyun said. "Killing them every time that happens isn't a very smart choice."

"...Huh?"

"Wait, no, that definitely doesn't happen often."

None of the players present had ever encountered an amnesiac NPC. *Does that really happen often?*

Maybe there's someone with amnesia in the Archisus Church?

Why would they have someone like that?

If they were injured badly enough to lose their memory, shouldn't they retire instead of staying in the church...? While everyone was busy doubting, Tae-hyun took action. Showing them was far better than explaining it a hundred times.

"Of course, I know who you are," Tae-hyun said.

"Ah...! Who am I?"

"You belong to the Archisus Church..."

It was the exact same trick he had pulled on the amnesiac heroes of other denominations! *Actually, you were a member of the Archisus Church all along!*

...Of course, the target this time was a priest of an evil god, but there was no denying it was an effective method.

Gaslighting him into believing he's from the Archisus Church will make things so much easier.

Not only could he put the priest to work for free, but he could also sow absolute chaos. It was infinitely better than simply killing him.

The guild members were aghast. They wondered what he was up to, and it turned out he was straight-up scamming an NPC!

The guild members watched with a mix of anticipation and anxiety. Would this actually work?

"Ah! Wait. The Archisus Church! I... I remember that name!"

"Oh, really?"

Perfect! ...Or so Tae-hyun thought, before pausing. The priest's reaction was slightly off. If he had been successfully tricked, shouldn't he be asking something like, 'What kind of church is the Archisus Church?'

"Yes! The Archisus Church... That name... That is the name of our sworn enemy!"

"..."

"..."

A completely useless memory had resurfaced! Even though the Idergo Priest couldn't remember anything else, the moment he heard the name 'Archisus,' his deep-seated hatred triggered the memory of their rivalry.

"Ugh... my head... Ahhh! Lord Idergo...! I must have been a faithful believer of Lord Idergo! Yes, I'm sure of it! Under Lord Idergo's divine command, I was meant to destroy the Archisus Church..."

Tae-hyun sighed as he watched the priest. The man had forgotten his own name, his class, and everything else, yet he remembered his hatred for the Archisus Church with crystal clarity. *I tried to get a free ride, and of course it backfires like this!*

"But... why did you bring up the name of the Archisus Church?"

"Well, that's because I am also a member of the Idergo Cult, working tirelessly to bring about the destruction of those Archisus bastards."

"!?!?!??!"

Tae-hyun's ability to manipulate NPCs had already reached the realm of the divine. He wasn't about to freeze or panic just because his target regained a sliver of memory! Without missing a beat, Tae-hyun executed a flawless drift right into the Idergo Cult.

Usually, religious factions in the game were extremely strict about these things. If a player was caught badmouthing their own order, or caught worshipping another ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠deity, they would immediately receive notifications like [Contribution Points Decreased] or [Reputation Decreased]. Yet Tae-hyun had transcended such petty rules, casually impersonating a rival cult and declaring he would destroy his own church!

The guild members watched in sheer horror as their common sense was utterly shattered.

"I knew it! You really are a brother of the Idergo Cult! No wonder I felt the divine grace of Lord Idergo radiating from you!"

"Indeed. I am overjoyed to meet you like this! Let us join forces and wipe those Archisus bastards off the face of the earth!"

"Subjugate Archisus! Subjugate Archis—ugh." The chanting priest suddenly stiffened.

"What is it? Did you recall the strategies we prepared to deal with Archisus? If so, tell me in detail." Tae-hyun patted the priest's shoulder, already pulling out a virtual notepad. If the Idergo Cult had developed counter-measures against his church, he intended to intercept them beforehand.

"It's not that... A memory just flashed through my mind. My immediate objective wasn't to defeat the Archisus scum, but to capture the prince."

"!"

Come to think of it, the Idergo Cult NPCs had originally come here to capture the 1st Prince of Erangse before an accident blew them off course. It made perfect sense that he would prioritize the prince over Tae-hyun.

"That prince... you must be referring to John, the 1st Prince of Erangse."

"Yes, that's him!"

...Can I actually use those Contribution Points? It would be great if he could spend them without getting caught, but he'd likely be exposed long before that. If Tae-hyun strolled into an Idergo temple and said, "Excuse me, I'm here to cash in my Contribution Points," the reaction would be explosive, to say the least.

"Indeed. The 1st Prince has persecuted our Idergo Cult mercilessly. The recent raid on our temple was also his doing."

"He is absolute scum! How dare he...!"

"?"

The guild members listening nearby tilted their heads in confusion. *Uh... wasn't it you who raided that temple...?* They shook their heads in awe at his seamless ability to shift the blame for his own actions. The brief conversation with the priest NPC was so dizzyingly brilliant it made their heads spin!

The explorer player, Hallus, stared with wide eyes, furiously taking notes. *I have to learn this!* To be honest, Hallus hadn't been particularly thrilled when he was first dragged along to follow Tae-hyun.

The explorers of Pandemonium Online possessed immense pride. They prided themselves on finding and clearing quests faster than anyone else! When a questline stalled and everyone was lost, the most reliable class wasn't a warrior, a mage, or a rogue—it was the explorer. Armed with specialized NPC interaction skills and clue-gathering abilities, explorers acted as the ultimate problem solvers.

But tagging along with Tae-hyun meant there would be no room for such exploits. Tae-hyun would monopolize the quest progression, and based on what Hallus had heard, he expected nothing but mindless, brute-force grinding... Yet what he was witnessing now was completely different. It was pure, unadulterated sophistication! Hallus was deeply moved by the sheer elegance of manipulating an NPC to extract quests without swinging a sword even once.

Shouldn't Kim Tae-hyun have chosen the Explorer class? If he were an explorer, he would have cleared dozens of legendary quests by now! Hallus felt that even the quests other players had miserably failed could have been easily solved if Tae-hyun had been there. People often associated Tae-hyun with high-damage dealer classes, making it easy to overlook his other talents, but seeing him now, it was clear he could excel at absolutely anything.

"Why are you standing there like a statue?" the guild members next to him asked, looking puzzled. "Are you..."

Gasp. Did they read my mind?

"...still upset because we dragged you here against your will?"

"Sorry, Hallus. I know we're supposed to help each other out as guildmates, but forcing you to come when you didn't want to was wrong."

"We didn't think it would take this long. I apologize, Hallus."

"...!"

The guild members assumed Hallus was sulking. After all, he had made it very clear before they set out that he didn't want to participate. Besides, for an explorer like Hallus, wandering around with Kim Tae-hyun was bound to be incredibly boring. Sure, Tae-hyun cleared dungeons like a madman and raked in massive amounts of EXP, but explorers valued entirely different aspects of the game.

"...Y-you don't have to apologize that much," Hallus mumbled. Having complained so loudly before coming, he found it too embarrassing to suddenly admit, 'Actually, watching Kim Tae-hyun is the most fun I've had in ages!' It was a matter of pride!

"Seeing him act like that makes it even weirder."

"He really, really hates being here."

"Don't worry, Hallus. Once we find a way out, we'll send you back first. And if we ever get tangled up with Kim Tae-hyun again, we'll make sure to leave you out of it."

"...Again? There's going to be a next time?"

"Ah, no! It's just a figure of speech."

"Don't say such ominous things..."

Hearing the guild members whispering, Hallus quickly tried to control his expression and spoke up.

"No, we're guildmates. Of course we should do this together next time too."

"I told you, there is no next time! Stop jinxing us."

"Anyway, let's go talk to Kim Tae-hyun. We should ask him to give Hallus something to do."

The guild members decided to speak to Tae-hyun on Hallus's behalf, hoping to get him assigned to some quest-related tasks. Normally, they would have been too terrified to make demands of Tae-hyun, but they were willing to brave the danger for the sake of their fellow guildmate.

"No! There's absolutely no need for that!" Hallus blurted out in a panic. He was currently having the time of his life watching and learning from Tae-hyun's quest-solving methods—why were they trying to ruin it?!

"No need to be polite, Hallus. We know you're frustrated because you haven't been able to do anything."

"For a fellow guildmate, we can easily handle talking to Kim Tae-hyun."

The sudden appearance of a building from the Ancient Empire era threw the player base into utter chaos.

However, the confusion was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠short-lived as players began gathering and compiling information on their own.

Finding even a single NPC who possessed an Arcane skill usually required running laps around the entire continent of Pandemonium, so the news that such skills were gathered in one place naturally made the players' eyes pop.

Indeed. No matter how incredible the Ancient Empire University was, the players currently had no way of entering.

The King had not yet granted permission to enter. For the players, the wait was agonizing.

However, there was one way to gain early access: finding the missing Pope of the Archisus Church! The quest issued by the King drove the player base into an absolute frenzy.

An overwhelming deluge of messages flooded every reachable channel, including Team KL's official accounts and Power Warrior's stream channels.

Where are you! Please, just meet with us once!