Money Makes the World Go Round! And More Money Matters Even More!

What mattered in this world was money.

And what mattered even more than money was more money.

That was Lee Da-bi's creed.

And Kim Tae-hyun was exactly the kind of person who could satisfy it perfectly.

"Huh? Going where?"

"Guild Master, are you ditching us?"

"How much gold did he pay you...?"

"...I said we, didn't I?"

That was how the guild members reacted to their guild master, with not a shred of trust to be found.

"Why Kim Tae-hyun?"

"I think he's trying to develop a territory. And besides, if it's Kim Tae-hyun, that's solid backing, isn't it?"

"I mean, a ranker like Kim Tae-hyun is solid, but... wouldn't it be better for us to just live quietly and keep things small but steady?"

"Exactly. If we start messing around with things above our station..."

The guild members' response was lukewarm at best.

Most of the members of Power Warrior Guild were people far removed from rankers and competition in general.

"Why are you all so timid?"

"Because we know ranker fights are no joke."

"Same with the big guilds. Why would Kim Tae-hyun even want to team up with us? What if he stabs us in the back later?"

"If some other guild reaches out, he'll grab that hand right away."

"There's no way he'd help us for nothing. We'd just end up doing all the work for someone else."

And none of that was wrong.

What the guild members were saying was true.

People called Tae-hyun evil, sure, but compared to others at his level, he was actually fairly decent.

Among other rankers and large guilds, there were plenty who were truly vicious, twisted to the core.

Half of Tae-hyun's popularity came from smashing players like that to pieces.

"Even so... this is too good an opportunity. Neither I nor our guild will get another chance like this. Can any of you bring in a ranker?"

"......"

Everyone fell silent.

They'd backed off out of fear, but getting to do anything with a player like Kim Tae-hyun was an enormous opportunity.

"I think this is our chance. Not just to keep scraping by in the red every time, but to build a guild with a real foundation. A guild that can actually run properly."

"Then let's do it."

"Yeah."

"If that's what you want, Guild Master..."

"?!"

Lee Da-bi was startled by how easily they agreed.

"W-what's with you?"

"Nothing, really. It's just... if you've made up your mind, Guild Master, then you probably thought it through properly..."

"When it comes to money, you're more thorough than a ghost."

"Right. You've definitely calculated this way better than we have. We trust you. Especially when money's involved."

...It was praise, but somehow it didn't feel good.

The members of Power Warrior Guild had immense faith in Lee Da-bi.

Especially when it came to money.

"If Guild Master's saying all this, then Kim Tae-hyun must be someone we can trust."

"Right? I've seen some posts lately bashing Kim Tae-hyun, but I guess they were written by people he screwed over."

"Uh..."

Lee Da-bi paused for a moment and thought.

Could Tae-hyun really be trusted?

He was the type to work someone to the bone if he got leverage over them, and if you became his enemy, he'd cling on and hound you to the bitter end...

...Still, if you're on the same side, I don't think he'd be the one to betray you first.

Lee Da-bi thought of Cain.

He'd once run wild as the guild master of Red Zone Guild, causing no end of chaos, and yet Tae-hyun still kept him around.

Of course, Da-bi had no idea just how much Cain was suffering under Tae-hyun's command.

"Yeah. It'll be fine!"

"Then let's do it!"

"Indeed! At last, across the continent, across the world, our names shall—"

"What exactly did you do to be talking so big?"

"Ah, but who was it that brought Tae-hyun here in the first place?"

Listening to the noise beside him, Tae-hyun closed his eyes.

Contrary to its name, the Valley of Despair and Sorrow was currently lively and deafening.

On one side, mountains of gold and loot stripped clean from the Espa Kingdom were piled high.

On the other, people hired by the McCraney Merchant Group were busily putting up buildings in grand, noisy fashion.

"Whoa. This really does look like territory development."

"I told you we should've gotten here first and claimed a spot. Who'd just leave a territory like this alone?"

Rumor bred rumor, and other players started showing up out of curiosity.

Compared to a major city, the facilities were unimpressive, but the very idea of a player-driven territory development project stirred tremendous interest.

And now Tae-hyun had to make a decision.

"We must officially build a temple for the Archisus Church and proclaim the church's return to the world!"

To announce that the Archisus Church had returned.

That wasn't a choice to make lightly.

Once he officially declared the church restored, Tae-hyun would become its highest authority and gain the power to make a wide range of decisions.

From Holy Knights and Priests to all manner of church buildings.

Of course, all of that would cost gold...

But that wasn't all.

It would also unlock all kinds of church-related events.

Part of the power of an Incarnation-type Legendary class lay in this kind of faction support.

In truth, Tae-hyun hadn't benefited much from the faction support of his Legendary class.

Lee Se-yeon had obtained the Legendary class Successor of the Necronomicon and gained the secret society of powerful Liches and Black Mages.

Smith had obtained the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Legendary class White Knight of the Ancient Empire and gained an order of knights devoted to the Ancient Empire.

They ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't even have to do much beyond class advancement to get them.

Compared to that, Tae-hyun...

Tae-hyun looked over at Pelmas and Ed-an.

Sure, they were useful NPCs, but compared to the Legendary-class players featured on broadcasts, the difference was impossible to ignore.

"Why are you looking at us like that, Tae-hyun? Do you have something to say?"

"No... nothing."

The reason he hesitated to proclaim the church's revival was the backlash that would follow.

The biggest concern was how the other churches would react.

In the worst-case scenario, they might move to check him immediately.

And my class will be exposed indirectly, too.

The moment he proclaimed the revival of the Archisus Church, he would effectively be revealing that he held a class related to it.

Not all the information, perhaps, but in Fantasy Online 2, where information was everything, Tae-hyun would be giving up one of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his key hidden cards.

Still... it's worth it.

When judged coldly, his territory's current level of development wasn't particularly high.

It only drew so much attention because it belonged to Tae-hyun.

So while interest was blazing hot, he would make the announcement and redirect that attention toward the Archisus Church.

And if that was the goal, then the best moment was right now.

"All right! Build the temple of the Archisus Church here in the center of the territory, and announce the church's revival!"

"Woooooooah!"

"Tae-hyun, we still have some rubble left over from that old Sadiq Church temple. Should we recycle it when we build the new temple?"

"Do you have a death wish?"

"Gah. My apologies!"

To Tae-hyun, who had once run into Galdu over reusing flags, the merchant company's employee suggesting another bit of recycling sounded no different from saying, Please cut off my head.

The temple began to rise swiftly.

It looked different from the crude buildings in the rest of the territory right from the outside.

Powerful. Grand.

Players began gathering in murmuring crowds.

The reason was simple: word had spread that Tae-hyun was about to make some kind of announcement.

"They say Kim Tae-hyun's making an announcement?"

"What could he even have to announce? The auction's still a long way off."

"I-it's not taxes, is it? An announcement about raising taxes..."

"To be fair, taxes have been ridiculously cheap until now..."

"No way! Kim Tae-hyun wouldn't do that!"

"Hey, Kim Tae-hyun's human too! You think greed won't get to him?"

"If he raises taxes, I'm out. What's so great about this place anyway?"

The moment Tae-hyun appeared in front of the temple—

—the noisy crowd naturally fell silent.

He had the kind of charisma that seized the entire atmosphere just by showing up.

The achievements he'd piled up so far were more than enough to justify it.

"Everyone!"

"...?"

"The reason I called you all here today is because I have good news to share with you."

"...???"

It sounded suspiciously like something they'd heard somewhere before.

The players tilted their heads.

"As a member of the Archisus Church, today I will declare the return of the Church!"

"?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!"

For a moment, the players couldn't even process what Tae-hyun had just said.

What was this supposed to mean?

"Church... revival?"

"What the hell is he talking about?"

"Explain what you mean! Who's Archisus?"

There were also players in the crowd who actually knew who Archisus was.

"Archisus is the god of luck, isn't he?"

"Wasn't he the god of gambling? Whenever you go to the casinos in the big cities, all those burnout NPCs keep rambling about Archisus."

"I think he's a god of luck, yeah. More importantly, Kim Tae-hyun belonged to the Archisus Church?"

"An Archisus Holy Knight? An Archisus Priest?"

"No way. If he's announcing the church's revival, then he must have a major class within the church! Something like Holy Knight Commander or Archbishop..."

"This is... huge."

The players who had come with no real expectations were instantly set ablaze by Tae-hyun's shocking announcement.

And the information spread in every direction at once.

It was a fair point.

Tae-hyun had only said that he was not a Heroic or Rare class.

He had never once said he wasn't Legendary.

Everyone else had simply misunderstood on their own.

But once the possibility had been voiced, curiosity only grew stronger.

"Wow... so he finally announced it."

Team Leader Choi Myung-sung muttered to himself while watching the video of Tae-hyun's announcement.

He tried to keep a calm expression, but the corners of his mouth kept lifting anyway.

"Are you really that happy?"

"Ahem. I was just wondering when he'd finally say it."

Yoon Ju-hwan looked at Choi Myung-sung as if he were pathetic.

Ever since Tae-hyun's broadcast started, no one in the office had reacted more intensely than Choi Myung-sung.

Anyone seeing him would have thought he was a stalker—a prickly fanboy who followed every detail with absurd intensity.

And radiating off him was one unmistakable conviction:

I've been his fan longer than anyone else.