The Heart of Pan-On

"Are you really targeting that dungeon? The Ancient Empire University is indeed a place where you can obtain many skills, but we've already acquired everything we can get for now. Even if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we go in, it'll probably be quite difficult to learn anything new..."

"The Ancient Empire University is one thing, but that's not what we should be focusing on right now. What matters is that a massive dungeon has finally appeared."

There were countless dungeons in Pan-On, but only a handful were famous enough to be on every player's lips. A dungeon needed to meet several conditions to achieve such fame.

First, it couldn't be completely impossible. If it was, players would quickly lose interest and forget about it. Naturally, it couldn't be too easy either; it had to be a dungeon that players could continuously challenge and attempt to clear. The more famous parties failed, the more reputation the dungeon accumulated. In Pan-On, there were even several parties that specialized solely in clearing these high-profile dungeons.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"For a while, the Arena League was such a massive hit that interest in dungeon raids died down, but originally, dungeon raids were the most popular content in Pan-On."

"You're absolutely right."

While the massive success of the Arena League had somewhat overshadowed them, dungeon-clearing tournaments were still being held consistently. Their performance was actually quite decent—it was just that they looked small compared to the absolute giant that was the Arena League.

"With a dungeon like this popping up out of nowhere under these circumstances, it's only natural everyone wants a piece of it."

"Several parties have already posted announcements stating they intend to clear this dungeon."

"It's a battle of pride. In my opinion, professional gaming teams are highly likely to participate in this as well."

From the perspective of gaming teams looking for any opportunity to promote themselves, a dungeon like this was a highly worthwhile challenge. Most importantly, they had rosters of outstanding players who had been constantly practicing and building teamwork. They were in a much more advantageous position than anyone else.

"Send an official notice to the rankers. Tell them if anyone plans to clear the Labyrinth of Hungry Chaos this time, we will support them. Every single one of them will jump at the chance."

Those greedy rankers would always rush in if there was something in it for them. Since everyone knew the hype surrounding this dungeon was heating up, the rankers would undoubtedly covet it as well.

"Uh, Guildmaster. Did they tell you to do this as a mission in the All-Star Super Player too?"

"What do you mean?"

The All-Star Super Player was an audition tournament to select Pan-On players. Many of the judges were from overseas, so even Su Ning couldn't easily influence them or get them to listen to him.

"This has been set as the next mission."

"?!"

"As expected, the Labyrinth of Hungry Chaos..."

"It's true we've been doing nothing but highly unusual missions lately. A classic dungeon raid sounds like a great change of pace, doesn't it?"

"But isn't it too difficult?"

Tae-hyun tilted his head, puzzled. Among the judges, he was the only one currently active as a player.

'Kim Tae-hyun! Speak up louder!'

'Those people are just throwing this out there irresponsibly because they aren't the ones playing...!'

The participating players desperately wanted to avoid losing their lives—and their hard-earned experience points. Of course, a dungeon raid mission was a standard, orthodox challenge. Compared to the bizarre missions that had been assigned so far, it actually looked incredibly normal. However, the difficulty level was dangerously high.

'If we die, are you guys going to take responsibility for the death penalty?!'

'Other parties can just go in and come back out, but if we go in, we have to see it through to the end!'

The first and second missions might have been strange and bizarre, but there had been almost no risk of dying. In contrast, a serious dungeon raid ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠meant putting their lives on the line!

"Player Kim Tae-hyun. Of course, we know you are an amazing player, but the players gathered here are also incredible. Please don't underestimate them. Right, everyone?"

"...Yes..."

"Wow... so exciting..."

Observing their intensely 'excited' reactions, Tae-hyun raised an eyebrow.

"You guys sound like you're at a funeral right now."

"Maybe their voices are just hoarse from pure joy?"

"Anyway, I want to go ahead with this! Everyone, isn't the dungeon the true flower of Pan-On? Even though the Arena has become much more popular lately, I still think dungeons are the heart of Pan-On!"

"Well, if you say so, I understand."

Since he didn't have to risk his own life for the mission, Tae-hyun agreed easily. If the other judges wanted it so badly...

"The rules are simple. The first to clear it will receive the highest score. If everyone fails, the one who progressed the furthest will get the highest score."

"Can we form our own parties?"

"You can form parties among yourselves here, or with players who aren't present."

'Wait. Does that mean we can recruit Kim Tae-hyun?' one of the players thought to himself.

...Wait, that actually seemed possible, didn't it?

"We did it! We actually did it!"

"Yes! We did it!"

The two hugged each other, shedding tears of joy.

"I'm happier now than when we won the league!"

"If Senior Tae-hyun hears you say that, he'll throw a punch, so I'll pretend I didn't hear it!"

"Thanks!"

Bang! Bang!

Sky Island NPCs gathered around them, popping firecrackers and scattering flower petals. It was a privilege reserved only for the victors!

"...Let's ask Tae-hyun to open this."

"That would be best!"

To achieve this single victory, the two had gone through an immense amount of trial and error. Riding rockets that constantly exploded, crashing, colliding, flying backward... How much ridicule had they endured? They had been so embarrassed that they had even hidden their identities.

But in the end, they had succeeded!

"Daniel. It's all thanks to you."

"When I first heard you were kicked out of the Valley, I thought you were truly crazy."

"...Could you put that a bit more gently...?" Daniel said bitterly.

"Thanks to this, my engineering crafting skill has improved a lot. In the future, I want to let more people know that engineering isn't just about bombs."

'Won't that be hard?'

'It seems like it'll be pretty tough.'

No matter how hard Daniel tried to educate people, the vast majority of mechanical engineering blacksmiths ran around shouting, "Hehe, bomb launch!" so public perception wasn't going to change easily. And honestly, bomb items were the bread and butter of engineering. They were highly cost-effective, high-damage AoE items! It wasn't easy to abandon that and try something else.

"Since we've won once, it'll be easier to win in the future."

"That's true."

Winning the first time was always the hardest part; once you succeeded, you got the hang of it. I will definitely become the monthly top winner and claim a territory!

"That's the spirit! I'll continue to improve the rockets to help you!"

"No, please stop improving them."

"Yes. I think it would be best if you stopped improving them. Let's stick to the basics."

"......"

As they were chatting, a group of players approached the three of them. Choi Sang-yun instinctively reached for his sword. While he wasn't quite on Tae-hyun's level, Sang-yun had accumulated a fair share of enemies himself! Furthermore, in Pan-On, there was a passive "You're Kim Tae-hyun's friend!" effect that could conjure enemies out of thin air.

"You are Player Choi Sang-yun and Player Jeong Su-hyeok, right?"

"...Su-hyeok! It's an enemy! An enemy!"

"Huh? No! No! We're not enemies!"

The approaching party raised their hands in surprise.

"What, you're not? You called out our names, so I thought you were."

'Isn't that just a normal greeting?' the organizers thought.

"Then what brings you here?"

"We are the people preparing to host a Sky Island Race tournament."

"A tournament for this race?" Choi Sang-yun asked back, dumbfounded.

A tournament for this garbage ga—no, a game where luck played such a massive role? But thinking about it, it wasn't entirely nonsensical. It was thrilling, unpredictable, and visually spectacular...

"We believe the Sky Island Race has that kind of value!"

"I-I see."

The players gathered here were completely obsessed with the race. Not content with just broadcasting, promoting, and recommending the Sky Island Race, they were now trying to host an actual tournament! However, hosting a tournament as individuals was no easy feat. Even organizing a casual friendly match required a lot of preparation, and a proper tournament would require several times more effort. They had to establish rules, recruit participants, find a way to broadcast it, promote it...

"If you're hosting a tournament, is everything ready? Which broadcasting station agreed to cooperate?"

"Uh..."

"?"

"We have to start preparing that from now on."

"...I-I see. Good luck."

Choi Sang-yun tried to brush them off and leave. He had a strong feeling about this. 'These guys are weirdos!'

"Please don't go!!"

"We can't let someone like Player Choi Sang-yun leave!"

The players clung to Choi Sang-yun's ankles, crying. They had already been rejected by rankers multiple times.

Although the Sky Island Race was gaining massive popularity, that was strictly within the confines of Sky Island. To the proud rankers, a race tournament that wasn't an Arena or a dungeon raid was nothing but a joke.

"We really want to host this tournament! We want to show people how great it is!"

"If not people like you two, who else could make this a success!"

After all, who was it that had turned a Korean-broadcasted Arena tournament into a massive global league?

"...Tae-hyun did that. And it's not like he had some grand mission to spread the Arena tournament worldwide, it just happened to become popular..."

"You are far too humble!"

"Please help us! We'll do whatever you say! No matter what you order!"

"We are Gold Rank in the Archisus Church!"

"That's truly amazing... No, wait, that's not the point! Fine, I'll try contacting Tae-hyun first."

Since they were Gold Rank members of the Archisus Church, he couldn't bring himself to coldly reject them, so Choi Sang-yun gave them a tentative promise.

"But Tae-hyun is extremely busy lately."

"Because he's doing chores instead of Player Cain?"

"...N-No. No, he's not. Well, he does do a lot of chores lately. But I meant the Pan-On World Cup."

"Ah... We're rooting for him!"

Shouldn't the World Cup have been mentioned before chores?

"They want to host a tournament?"

"From what I saw, they have the passion, but they have no idea how to actually do it. Shouldn't we stop them? It's not easy to host something like this from scratch."

"Is the race tournament fun?" Tae-hyun asked, curious.

Come to think of it, Choi Sang-yun and Jeong Su-hyeok had been quite obsessed with it lately.

"C-cough. It's not that it's boring..."

"I suppose... you could say it's pretty fun..."

Despite their embarrassed attitudes, Tae-hyun realized the truth.

'It must be fun.'

"If you two find it fun, why not do it? It's all promotion and gathering people anyway. Contact them. We'll probably have to prepare everything from A to Z, so we'll host it under Team KL's name, but tell them if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they're okay with that, we'll consider it."

"Huh? Really?!"

"You guys need to experience doing things like this to grow. Do I have to be the only one running around, promoting, and doing everything every single day?"

"......"

"......"

The two had nothing to say in their defense.

We're sorry, Boss...!