“Who’s Kim Tae-hyun?” “What? Was There a Ranker Like That?”
It wasn’t just the other players who were shocked.
Kim Tae-hyun rose from his seat. Then, as calmly as ever, he walked forward through the murmuring crowd of players.
Since he was receiving a reward in front of the king, he had taken off his mask.
Still, a few players who recognized what he was wearing spoke up.
“Isn’t that Kim Tae-san?”
“Kim Tae-san? Huh. You’re right.”
“And he’s not even wearing a mask... Was that an alias?”
There were, surprisingly, plenty of players who used fake names instead of the nickname they had chosen at the start.
Fantasy Online 2 was a game with nearly limitless freedom, and naturally, using a few false names was one of the freedoms it allowed.
So even when people realized that the man who had gone by Kim Tae-san was actually Kim Tae-hyun, they weren’t all that surprised.
“Wait, isn’t that the guy who was going around with Sayu?”
“That’s right! The one who fought the Red Zone Guild!”
But not everyone here was seeing Tae-hyun for the first time.
Some of them had already seen him when he fought the Red Zone Guild.
And the fact that he had been traveling with Choi Sang-yun had left an especially deep impression.
A few of Choi Sang-yun’s obsessive fans cursed and insulted Tae-hyun, but most players were simply intrigued by this new revelation.
“So the Kim Tae-hyun who cleared the Katerand Island quest is the same player who wrecked Red Zone?”
“That’s insane. What class is he?”
“I’m more curious about his level than his class. He’s a ranker, right?”
“Has to be. That player Sayu he was with was a ranker too.”
Hearing them, Tae-hyun twitched an eyebrow.
Yeah... definitely can’t tell them I’m level 50.
The mood was becoming more and more hostile to the idea of revealing his level.
While Tae-hyun had his own private concerns, the people gathered there were all busily chattering away about the identity of this newly revealed ranker.
“What do you think his class is? Rogue?”
“I heard from someone who did the Katerand Island quest with him that he’s a blacksmith.”
“What? I heard he was a cook.”
“...What?”
The players turned to stare at one another like the others had lost their minds.
“Does that even make sense?”
“Maybe the rumors got mixed together. That’s why you can’t trust rumors.”
In truth, they were all right.
But the players, on their own, began misunderstanding things.
No way he’s really that much of a mishmash build!
While they kept buzzing, Tae-hyun stepped up before King Damiano II of the Atali Kingdom.
The hall fell silent at once.
Everyone was curious.
What kind of reward would Tae-hyun, the player with the highest contribution score, receive from this quest?
The Acacia Guild Master, who had placed third, had received all sorts of rewards along with the Royal Palace Artifact.
It was a powerful artifact on display in the palace lobby, loaded with flashy options for mages.
The ranker Johansson, who had come in second, had received the Heroic Warrior’s Greatsword.
The exact stats weren’t known, but it was obviously an excellent weapon for warrior-type classes.
If those two had gotten rewards that amazing, then what about Tae-hyun, who had placed first?
Gulp.
Someone swallowed hard.
“To Kim Tae-hyun, who rendered the greatest service in this subjugation, We...”
Thump. Thump.
It was such an eagerly anticipated moment that even Tae-hyun, of all people, felt tense.
“Bestow the title of Count, along with a fief!”
“...?”
The completely unexpected reward made Tae-hyun freeze for a moment.
A title and a fief?
“A count? A fief?”
“What does that even...?”
“Wait, don’t tell me that means he’s being given a castle or a city to rule?”
“!!!”
The people who reacted before Tae-hyun did were the other players.
A position ruling over a castle or city was exactly the kind of thing every player dreamed of.
Of course, that dream was almost impossible. In reality, even controlling a single village was difficult.
Sure, a player could occupy one by force, but if they tried something like that in a kingdom that already had an owner, the royal army and the knight orders would come crashing down on them.
It was suicide.
One option was to go to a kingdom where a civil war quest had broken out and seize territory there, but even that rarely went well.
As befitted a kingdom in the middle of civil war, public order was terrible, and the moment someone tried to do anything, they were attacked at once.
The classic example of a guild that had tried exactly that and crashed and burned was the Red Zone Guild.
And yet here was Tae-hyun, formally receiving a noble title and fief directly from the king of a kingdom.
This wasn’t just shocking.
It was earth-shattering.
Every player in the room stared at Tae-hyun and Damiano II in stunned disbelief.
Tae-hyun gathered himself and bowed his head.
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
Reputation has increased by 500.
You have gained experience.
You have leveled up.
Your standing within the Atali Royal Palace has reached the highest level.
You have been granted the noble title of Count of the Atali Kingdom.
Your fief is the Valley of Despair and Sorrow.
You may now exercise noble authority.
“...?”
Tae-hyun, who had been happily reading the message window, suddenly paused.
What had it just said?
Where did they say my fief was?
Your fief is the Valley of Despair and Sorrow.
“...”
Tae-hyun looked at the king.
Damiano II met his gaze with a grave, satisfied smile.
“The place most fitting to honor Count Kim Tae-hyun’s achievements. That place is Count Kim Tae-hyun’s domain!”
“Oooh, Your Majesty! Truly, such profound wisdom!”
“We would never dare hope to match your insight!”
“Magnificent!”
The other nobles responded in perfect sync the moment Damiano II finished speaking.
Watching them, Tae-hyun was dumbfounded.
These people...
It didn’t seem as if Damiano II or the other nobles were trying to screw him over with this reward.
In the first place, no player known so far had ever received a noble title and fief.
Judged purely by value, it was an enormous reward, perfectly suited for first place in a large-scale quest.
But the fief was the Valley of Despair and Sorrow.
There was no castle. No city. No people.
There had been something inside the valley once, but Tae-hyun had already smashed it all to pieces on his way through.
What little remained had been destroyed by other players afterward.
It was just a valley.
...
As the son of a landlord, Tae-hyun knew very well what made good property and bad property.
In the end, location was everything.
And by that standard, the Valley of Despair and Sorrow was no different from unsellable land.
There are plenty of prosperous cities and castles, so why this one of all places...?!
Those places all already had noble NPC owners, so there wasn’t much to be done about that.
Still, the Valley of Despair and Sorrow was just too much.
Tae-hyun had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to make use of this territory.
And I can’t even sell it.
It wasn’t as though he could simply auction off his title of count because he felt like it.
There would be countless players who would kill to get their hands on it, but this had been bestowed by the king. Even if Tae-hyun wanted to sell it, he couldn’t.
Pointlessly realistic.
“Th... thank you.”
“I trust you will become a mighty pillar of our kingdom!”
“Ha ha!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Hahahahaha!”
Outwardly, it looked like a warm and harmonious scene.
Tae-hyun, however, was seething inside.
Meanwhile, the players below stared at him with eyes full of envy and jealousy.
The first player ever to get a lord’s seat. I’m so damn jealous!
This stupid luck-based game! Why not me?!
A player named Kim Tae-hyun just became the first lord. What changes now? How can our guild exploit this?
That bastard got to run around with Sayu?! Damn him!
All kinds of thoughts churned together among the players.
Everyone was so fixated on the fact that Tae-hyun had received a count’s title that they completely overlooked where the territory actually was.
“Ah, seriously, damn it... They should’ve just given me an item...”
Tae-hyun muttered to himself from his chair.
“Congratulations, Tae-san-nim! No, I mean, Tae-hyun-nim now!”
“You didn’t have to use an alias with us too!”
While he was swallowing down his irritation, the blacksmiths came in.
Tae-hyun didn’t even have the energy to snap at them, so he just flicked a hand.
“What territory did you receive?”
“Why? What’s it to you?”
“We want to come help too!”
“Let us work for everything we’ve received!”
The blacksmiths’ eyes were shining.
“It’s nice of you to say that, but... there won’t be any work for blacksmiths there.”
“??”
No work for blacksmiths in a fief?
They couldn’t understand it.
Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan looked at each other.
Ah!
He’s pretending again!
On the outside, Tae-hyun was rough and prickly, but underneath, he was thoughtful and considerate.
He was obviously saying there would be no work there because he was trying to spare them.
“It’s okay!”
“We’ve grown too. Just give us anything at all!”
“I said there’s nothing, you idiots!”
Thud! Thud!
“Urk!”
“Gah!”
Tae-hyun got up from his chair and shoved both blacksmiths over.
Then he let out a sigh.
“A valley, a valley... How the hell am I supposed to use this...”
While that was happening, something completely unexpected was going on outside.
“That guy! That guy’s the Red Zone Guild Master!”
“What?!”
“I’m telling you, I saw it! When he got his reward, they called him Kane! I thought he looked suspicious, and sure enough!”
“...!”
Kane was sweating buckets inside his helmet.
He had never expected to get caught like this.
A player like Tae-hyun, who had ranked first in contribution points, had to receive his reward openly in front of everyone.
But Kane had been far down the rankings.
So he had simply gone quietly to a palace official to collect his reward.
Apparently, though, someone had secretly overheard it.
Ah, damn it...!
“That’s Kane?”
“But his gear is completely different.”
“He probably just changed equipment! Red Zone Guild collapsed, didn’t it?”
Players came flooding over as word spread.
It wasn’t just players who had personally suffered at Red Zone’s hands, either. Plenty of others wanted to take down Red Zone’s former guild master and get their own names known.
There was nothing in the world easier to gang up on than the guild master of a failed guild with nowhere to run.
Kane felt his mouth go dry.
He was completely trapped.
There were so many players around him that it didn’t seem possible to break through.
“You! Take off that helmet!”
“W-what are you talking about? Why should I?”
“If you’ve got nothing to hide, then take it off!”
“Why the hell should I?! At least give me a reason first!”
Kane knew there was nothing to gain by cowering in a situation like this.
If anything, he had to push back harder.
In a voice full of grievance and outrage, Kane shouted loudly.
“And if I’m not him, are you all going to take responsibility? Huh? Are you going to take responsibility? You think you can just accuse me like this and walk away? You! You accused me, didn’t you?!”
Kane was no pushover.
When he came at them this boldly, the players flinched.
“Maybe it’s not him?”
“Yeah. Why would the Red Zone Guild Master be here alone without any guild members?”
“Besides, this guy fought against PK players, didn’t he?”
“That’s true.”
The fact that he had fought with former Red Zone Guild members was coming back around to save him in a way he never could have expected.
“And isn’t he the guy who used to go around with Kim Tae-hyun? I mean, come on. No one with any pride would hang around the same person who destroyed their guild, right?”
“That’s true too. Unless he had absolutely no self-respect, there’s no way he’d do that.”
“...”
Those words hit Kane right in the solar plexus.
Inside his helmet, he wiped away a tear.
Still, aside from the catastrophic damage to his pride, the situation was improving.
The other players were starting to let go of their suspicions.
But there was one rogue player there who happened to be especially suspicious.
Unequip Gear
“?!”
It was one of the rogue skills that temporarily stripped an opponent of their equipment.
It was such an off-meta skill that you almost never saw it used, and yet there really was a player who had learned it.
Kane realized at once that everything was ruined.
His helmet had come off.
“Th-th-that face!”
“It’s the Red Zone Guild Master!”
“It really is! It’s him!”
“Damn it...”
Kane dropped his head.
So this is death again, huh?
“Hang him up!”
“No, bury him!”
“What about burning him?”
These bastards, seriously... They’re really pushing it.
Kane felt something surge up inside him.
He had finally given up, and now they had somehow managed to make him want to fight again.
“Wait!”