Another Hunter in the Dark

While they were busy clearing the underground dungeon, somewhere else, another player was on the move, searching for it.

"I'm here!"

A dimensional gate split open in midair, and a Necromancer stepped out.

She wore an ordinary-looking navy robe and held a completely unremarkable staff in her hand.

To anyone watching, she looked like a beginner mage.

But beginner mages couldn't use teleportation like this.

The black mage gave a small gesture.

And in an instant, eight Death Knights appeared.

It was Lee Se-yeon.

For a Necromancer, a place littered with corpses was the perfect stage.

The moment she arrived, Lee Se-yeon began preparing.

At this point, the whole area had effectively become a fortress where elite undead monsters could come pouring out the instant she so much as twitched a finger.

The entrance to the place leading to the Crown of the Forgotten Dead... is in the underground entrance beneath Aralta Castle.

The Black Rock Guild's quest and Lee Se-yeon's quest had overlapped.

The two sides were trying to enter the same dungeon through different entrances.

Lee Se-yeon instantly picked up on the hesitation in the voice of the younger guildmate she treated like a little sister.

After Tae-hyun revealed his identity, started broadcasting in earnest, and began openly promoting himself, Lee Se-yeon had developed one particular suspicion.

She had more than one reason for thinking so.

The first time they'd met had been when he'd repaired the carriage.

Why had he gone out of his way to use an alias then?

Sure, maybe he'd just been cautious. But Lee Se-yeon's instincts had sharply picked up on something there.

And that wasn't all.

His class and combat style were completely different from what they'd been in Fantasy Online 1, but even so, Lee Se-yeon had sensed something strangely familiar beneath it all.

Because of that, the rumor making the rounds—Kim Tae-hyun named himself that because he was a fan of Kim Tae-hyun from Fantasy Online 1—only seemed more suspicious to her.

What if that rumor itself had been something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kim Tae-hyun spread to hide the truth?

So Lee Se-yeon had run a little experiment.

She spread the rumor that Kim Tae-hyun was Kim Tae-hyun from Fantasy Online 1.

It was right after the Espa Kingdom quest ended.

And yet...

That rumor disappeared in a really strange way.

She'd done it to see what would happen, but the rumor had been buried as if someone had manipulated public opinion on a massive scale.

Which only made it more suspicious.

By the time she'd finished chatting and walking, she'd arrived in front of Aralta Castle.

Lee Se-yeon looked around the fortress.

They restored this faster than I expected. Are the people occupying it rich or something?

Inside, Orcs were hard at work patching up the walls.

For a moment she thought they were monsters, but they weren't.

"Excuse me—"

"...?"

At the voice from outside, the Orcs flinched.

Then they instantly started murmuring among themselves.

"That's not Tae-hyun, right?"

"It's a woman's voice."

"It's not some woman Tae-hyun sent, is it?"

"......"

These were Orc Uncles suffering from full-blown Kim Tae-hyun neurosis.

"Doesn't look like it."

"A mage? She looks low-level. Pretty impressive she made it this far."

"People are fearless when they're low-level. But still, can she really wander around here looking like that? Maybe we should ask her to join our guild."

The Orc Uncles kept chattering.

Listening to them, Lee Se-yeon smiled faintly.

Just from their conversation, she could tell this was a pretty decent guild.

"But whenever we ask people to join, they always turn us down. Why do you think that is?"

"Seriously. There's no better guild than this."

Completely forgetting what they themselves looked like, the uncles just kept talking.

Kim Tae-san let out a sigh and said, "Will you guys shut up... More importantly, what brings you here? This area isn't exactly a place you can just wander around."

"Ah, I need to see something in the underground area beneath this castle. Would it be all right if I went in?"

"Underground? Was there something under this castle?"

"Did you know about it, hyung-nim?"

"Nope. Never heard a thing."

"If you check the basement of the inner keep, there's an entrance leading into an underground dungeon."

Lee Se-yeon said it casually.

But ordinarily, this wasn't the kind of thing you just told people so easily.

Dungeon information ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had enormous value all on its own.

Whenever word got out that a decent field dungeon had appeared, every nearby guild would come charging in, trying to monopolize it no matter what.

If the situation allowed, they'd charge an entry fee. Sometimes they'd just flat-out bar others from entering.

Then ordinary players had no choice but to go find another dungeon.

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

It was unfair, and it was scummy, but what could they do?

And yet Lee Se-yeon had just told them without the slightest hesitation.

It wouldn't have been surprising if these uncles had thrown her out and claimed the dungeon for themselves.

Confidence.

Lee Se-yeon had confidence.

Even if they tried to kick her out, she was sure she could force her way in anyway.

But their reaction was not what she'd expected.

"What? There was a dungeon down there?"

"That explains it. I did think it was weird there were monster corpses showing up where they shouldn't."

"Hyung-nim, what should we do?"

Kim Tae-san shrugged.

"We should let her in. She's telling us something we didn't even know in the first place. Poor thing."

"Uh... what?"

Lee Se-yeon thought she'd misheard.

Why was she poor?

"If other guilds hadn't blocked dungeon access so badly, why would she come all the way out here looking for one? Poor thing."

"Well, our priority's the territory anyway, so letting her go in first doesn't really matter."

The uncles nodded along with Kim Tae-san.

They'd mistaken Lee Se-yeon for a low-level player.

And if it was a dungeon she was entering, they judged it couldn't be anything special.

"N-no... it's not really like that..."

Lee Se-yeon said, flustered, but the Orc Uncles had already finished misunderstanding the situation all on their own.

"Hang in there! You can do it!"

"Work hard!"

"......"

With an odd expression on her face, Lee Se-yeon nodded and walked inside.

"She liked that."

"She must've been touched. Haven't we become pretty nice people?"

The Orc Uncles exchanged compliments with each other, thoroughly pleased with themselves.

A concession and a good deed that would've been unimaginable for them in the past.

What they couldn't even imagine, however, was that the same act had just saved their lives.

"Hey. Get over here and finish repairing this wall! We don't have time!"

"My back's bad..."

"I'm a shaman. Heavy labor's not really my thing..."

"Quit the bullshit! Get over here!"

Grumbling, the Orc Uncles went back to construction.

They were short on hands, so they had no choice but to pitch in themselves.

All of them were high-level and decked out in great gear, so even without construction skills, they handled manual labor perfectly.

"Fuck off!"

"...!"

Tae-hyun looked genuinely shocked.

Seeing that, Cain asked, "Are you seriously surprised they'd react like that?"

"About halfway, yeah?"

Tae-hyun fixed his expression and looked up.

Kadalta Castle.

And standing atop those walls were...

The Suning Guild.

In that short span of time, the Suning Guild had apparently managed to reinforce the castle, at least to some degree.

From the outside, the walls looked completely intact.

And every single Suning Guild member on top of them wore a venomous expression.

Their faces held the kind of grim resolve you'd show a blood enemy.

And every last one of those stares was fixed squarely on Tae-hyun.

"I'd rather die than negotiate with you!"

"You son of a— you filthy— you absolute piece of—"

"Just die! Seriously, just die!"

The curses and hatred rained down on him.

Watching, Lee Da-bi said, "It doesn't look like negotiation is going to work at all."

"Hmm. I figured a guild like Suning would be rational enough to put aside whatever grudge they had and join hands once they understood the current situation."

"...Maybe you've just... done a bit too much..."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

After Tae-hyun had even scammed them out of items, the Suning Guild members had absolutely no intention of doing him any favors, even with a knife at their throats.

People couldn't always be expected to act rationally.

Tae-hyun shrugged.

If they wouldn't accept negotiation, then there was only one thing left—force.

Guess I'll just wait here until the Orcs arrive.

Of course, the thoroughly enraged Suning Guild had no intention of sitting still and taking it.

Shhk—

"...?"

"...!"

The Assassin player who had snuck up behind Tae-hyun had his stealth broken, and when his eyes met Tae-hyun's, he blinked.

He'd been planning to approach in stealth and land a precise ambush from behind, but...

It was an extremely awkward moment.

"So, my friend, you were trying to jump me from behind?"

"Yes..."

"And now that you've been caught, you're in a bit of a bind?"

Nod, nod.

"So... if you could just let me go..."

"What kind of bullshit are you spouting?! Attack him!"

When the Assassin hesitated, Su Ning screamed from atop the wall.

The Assassin player twisted his face in irritation.

If I die here, I'm the only one dying!

The plan had been to stealth in, strike Kim Tae-hyun, then instantly retreat into the castle.

His guild master only ever thought about himself.

"Damn it!"

With a shout, the Assassin player lunged.

At this point, all he could do was hit Kim Tae-hyun hard and then run for the castle.

If he got a big burst off in one shot, even Kim Tae-hyun wouldn't recklessly chase him.

Slash!

"...?"

System messages poured down in an instant.

The Assassin player was horrified.

He hadn't even managed to land a proper hit.

What the hell was this?

"What... is this?"

Because he'd charged in, Tae-hyun's cloak had been pulled slightly aside.

And what lay underneath was revealed.

"!!!"

Layer upon layer upon layer of equipment, packed on so densely it was shocking.

It was all the best loot he'd collected from plundering the Espa Kingdom.

Every single piece was a top-grade PK item with excellent effects, and by piling them all on at once, he'd created a terrifying synergy.

"Wow. These effects are great. Didn't expect them to stop everything before evasion even had to trigger."

"That's complete bullsh—"

Powpowpowpowpow!

After neatly finishing off the Assassin player, Tae-hyun swung his sword and pointed up at the castle wall.

"Su Ning, come out, you cowardly bastard! Abandoning your comrade like that? Come out and face judgment!"

"...Aren't we supposed to be the villains here?"