The Mood Turned Ice-Cold in an Instant!
Lee Se-yeon slowly opened her mouth.
“I’m really curious how this situation happened… and I spent a very long time thinking about what I’d say if I ever met you….”
Judging by her words alone, it sounded almost wistful—like some reunion with a former lover.
But Kim Tae-hyun knew the truth hidden underneath them.
In short, wasn’t this just a grudge she’d been nursing for a very, very long time?
Cain whispered from the side, “What, is she your girlfriend?”
“You idiot. That’s Lee Se-yeon.”
“?!?!?!?!”
Cain nearly jumped out of his skin.
No wonder it had felt weird—Tae-hyun had been using polite speech, which didn’t suit him at all. And it was because this was Lee Se-yeon?!
But what’s this bastard’s relationship with Lee Se-yeon? They’ve never met, have they?
Tae-hyun let out a deep sigh.
He really should’ve worn a mask here too…
Who the hell would expect to run into someone like Lee Se-yeon in some out-of-the-way corner of a dungeon?
“So you really are Kim Tae-hyun, right?”
“Yeah. I am.”
Tae-hyun had realized there was no point lying anymore.
The careful politeness vanished somewhere, and he slipped back into his usual tone.
“Why did you lie last time?”
“I don’t remember….”
“Didn’t you say your name was Kim Dae-hyun when we met?”
“I’m a little shy, that’s all.”
“……”
A silent pressure.
Lee Se-yeon stared at him without a word.
“And I’d just gotten into it with the Red Zone Guild, so I had to keep my name hidden.”
“Oh. Really?”
Lee Se-yeon pointed at the person beside Tae-hyun.
“But isn’t that the former guild master of Red Zone?”
“...Yeah…”
“You can make that guy follow you around, but you still had to hide your identity?”
“At the time, yeah?”
“……Kim Tae-hyun. Do you know what I’m thinking right now?”
Lee Se-yeon let the words trail off meaningfully.
Tae-hyun felt his heart start beating faster for the first time in a while.
“That this conversation is boring, so you should just wrap it up and leave? It’s fine. I understand.”
“No. I was thinking that I might’ve met you in Fantasy Online 1.”
“You’re mistaken.”
“No. I don’t think I am. I’ve been thinking about it constantly lately, and now that I’m seeing you face-to-face… I’m almost sure.”
Listening from the side, Cain tilted his head.
What the hell were these two even talking about?
“You know what I mean, don’t you?”
“No idea.”
But Tae-hyun already knew.
Lee Se-yeon had reached a conclusion.
She figured it out. Damn it.
“Anyway, what brings you here?”
“Just… this and that… looking around….”
“Kim Tae-hyun. Want to join my guild?”
“!!!”
Cain jolted in shock.
Lee Se-yeon herself was offering to let him into her guild?!
“You obviously have to join— urk!”
After shutting Cain up again, Tae-hyun answered.
“What if I say no?”
“That’d be disappointing, but I guess I couldn’t do anything about it.”
“…….”
Tae-hyun sent Cain a whisper.
Even in this situation, Tae-hyun was identifying the exit with Divine Foresight.
Cutting Lee Da-bi off, Tae-hyun got to the point.
Cain smacked his lips.
He had to fight Lee Se-yeon.
No, but this idiot—Lee Se-yeon is offering to let him into her guild, so why the hell is he turning her down?! Has he gotten too full of himself or what?!
Cain, in his own way, was one of the many players who admired Lee Se-yeon.
And now that Lee Se-yeon was offering to bring Tae-hyun into her guild.
So why was this lunatic being so stubborn?
“The way you two went quiet all of a sudden, it looks like you’re getting ready to fight.”
“Haha. As if.”
“Right? Guess I misunderstood.”
Lee Se-yeon smiled as she spoke.
“It might seem rude for me to tell you to join my guild, but it’s honestly a very good offer. If the others found out I was offering you the vice guild master position, they’d freak out.”
“Vice guild master! She said vice guild master!”
“You want me to punch you in the solar plexus again?”
“……”
Cain crumpled into silence.
If it were me, I could do a great job…!
“And I hope you understand that your situation isn’t exactly great right now. Part of the reason I’m asking you to join my guild is because I’m worried about you. I don’t really want to watch you get beaten up by other people.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“So you really didn’t know? The big guilds have been forming alliances lately.”
“Guilds teaming up happens all the time. What does that have to do with me?”
“Because you’re one of the reasons they started banding together, obviously.”
The large guilds had originally been doing just fine on their own.
So why had they suddenly started uniting?
Because they’d suffered repeated failures in recent events.
And it wasn’t just because of Tae-hyun. A lot of big guilds were deeply unhappy after having quests or dungeons snatched away by skilled individual players and small guilds.
And so, several major guilds began grouping together in twos and threes.
“What the hell? That’s not because of me. I’m not the only one causing trouble, so why blame me?”
After hearing the explanation, Tae-hyun answered flatly.
But Lee Se-yeon was firm.
“No. You’re the biggest reason.”
“…….”
“Because the guilds that got wrecked by you are the most numerous. Nothing will happen right away, but among the guilds joining up, a lot of them have grudges against you. Can you imagine what happens when those people form an alliance?”
Tae-hyun clicked his tongue inwardly.
Thinking about it, the signs of this kind of alliance had already been showing.
Su Ning teaming up with the other guilds.
Once the big guilds realized they didn’t have enough power on their own, they’d started joining forces like this.
And most of them probably hate me.
It wasn’t hard to imagine who the guilds Tae-hyun had robbed, ruined, or humiliated would target first once they united.
As Tae-hyun fell silent in thought, Lee Se-yeon raised a finger.
“One more thing. If what happened in Fantasy Online 1 gets out, your enemies will multiply several times over. So now you understand why I’m telling you to join my guild, right?”
“Wow. Thanks so damn much.”
“No need to thank me. You just have to join.”
As they spoke, both of them took a step forward.
They already knew each other’s answers.
“Of course I refuse!”
“I expected that, but hearing you actually say it still pisses me off!”
Papat!
Tae-hyun and Cain moved at the same time.
Cain wailed in a sorrowful voice.
“Would it kill you to just join, you spoiled bastard?!”
Why the hell couldn’t he accept a gift when it was handed to him?!
But the moment had already come.
Grinding his teeth, Cain charged in.
Slave's Grit
Slave's Wrath
Slave's Chain
Three skills cast in rapid succession.
The class skills of the Slave of Archisus burst forth without hesitation.
“What is with those weird skill names?”
Lee Se-yeon looked incredulous, but she didn’t let her guard down.
Cain wasn’t some talentless player, after all.
Besides, a Necromancer was not exactly a class with great defense.
If she got hit a few times by mistake, it could get dangerous.
Chwararararak—
Cain’s body flashed with the buff, and chains shot out from beside him, trying to bind Lee Se-yeon.
Wall of Wraiths
An opaque wall sprang up in front of Lee Se-yeon in an instant.
The chain that shot out from Cain slammed into the wall and bounced back.
Wandering Skeleton
Summon Red Iron Golem
Then Lee Se-yeon launched her counterattack at once.
A skull sigil formed in midair, and dark blue-black arrows began firing wildly.
“Aaaagh!”
Cain raised his shield and activated a skill.
A heavy impact slammed into it.
You were hit by an arrow fired by Wandering Skeleton. Your arm is temporarily paralyzed.
You were struck by a black aura. You successfully resisted with Slave's Grit.
Even when he resisted, the message still felt unpleasant.
Meanwhile, Tae-hyun was already moving to counterattack.
Weapon switch!
Edaor's Hotly Boiling Crimson Greatsword was a fine weapon, but against a Necromancer there was a better choice.
The Ancient Hammer.
Just as I thought!
Lee Se-yeon tensed the moment Tae-hyun pulled out a hammer wreathed in blazing aura.
She had watched all of Tae-hyun’s footage.
She already knew about that hammer.
He only pulls that out against undead, so it has to be some kind of holy weapon that’s effective specifically against undead. And Kim Tae-hyun’s class is tied to Archisus too.
She had never expected to run into Kim Tae-hyun here, but Lee Se-yeon had long since prepared for the day she might face him.
The golems she was summoning right now were proof of that.
She pulled the rings from her fingers and tossed them, and in their place giant crimson golems began to appear.
Powerful summons that were not undead.
A Necromancer didn’t control only undead, after all.
“Stop Kim Tae-hyun!”
But Lee Se-yeon was mistaken about one thing.
The Ancient Hammer was not merely an anti-undead weapon.
As long as it wasn’t a living creature, it dealt damage.
Lucky Strike
Lucky Strike
Lucky Strike
Shadow Leap
Tae-hyun sprang forward and brought down a heavy blow on the golem’s shoulder.
Direct core strike!
Kwakwakwakwang!
A critical hit has been triggered!
You accurately identified the golem’s core and struck its weak point. You have acquired 14% of the Red Iron Golem Crafting Method.
Your Mechanical Engineering skill has increased.
Your swordsmanship skill has increased.
He did want the Red Iron Golem, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.
Tae-hyun planted his foot on the collapsing golem’s head and vaulted upward in a dazzling acrobatic display.
The kind of stunt that made onlookers’ jaws drop.
Another thunderous crash rang out, and the second golem came apart.
I leveled up from killing that?!
It made him wonder just what level those golems were.
Lee Se-yeon was using things this expensive and hard to obtain without the slightest hesitation, all just to take him down.
No, seriously—anyone else, sure, but Lee Se-yeon being this resentful when I was the one who lost to her? That doesn’t make any sense!
Complaining inwardly, Tae-hyun kept firing off skills.
Stealth and Shadow Dive.
Now that he’d cleared away the golems blocking his path, his next target was Lee Se-yeon herself.
Against a mage who specialized in summons, wasting time fighting the summons was idiotic.
He had to target the mage directly, no matter what.
“Tch!”
But Lee Se-yeon had already read his movement.
In an instant, her body turned black and vanished.
That weapon didn’t only work on undead?!
Even for her, it had been a shock to see the Red Iron Golems collapse so quickly.
They were powerful summons with enough defense to pin down most players with ease.
And yet they were being smashed apart by Tae-hyun’s attacks that effortlessly.
In truth, it was a combo of the Ancient Hammer’s raw attack power, the damage multiplier from Lucky Strike, and Divine Foresight letting him identify the golems’ weak point—the core—but there was no way Lee Se-yeon could’ve read all the way into that.
The effect is removed due to the opponent’s extremely high Luck.
To make matters worse, her skill had come undone because of Tae-hyun’s Luck.
Feeling her palms start to sweat, Lee Se-yeon activated her next skill.