Even a Tantrum Won't Change What's Set in Stone

Still, I hit level 70. The dreaded level 70! It was painful to think that others were already sprinting toward 150 or 200, but...

W-What truly matters isn't comparing yourself to others, but becoming better than you were yesterday...

Tae-hyun quickly consoled himself with some rapid-fire mental gymnastics.

Whoosh!

A dark energy emanating from the sealing monster surged forward and enveloped Tae-hyun's entire body.

"..."

A system message that had been going so well, only to deliver a refreshing backstab right at the end. Tae-hyun looked around with a sour expression.

The gathered priests and paladins were staring at him, their faces frozen in sheer shock.

And for good reason. They had braced themselves for a cataclysmic battle, only for him to seal the boss monster away before the fight could even begin.

"C-Count Kim Tae-hyun...!" Haron stammered, his voice trembling with deep emotion.

"To think you would make such a sacrifice for the continent, for us!"

"T-This makes no sense... A man like him, sacrificing himself for our sake..."

"But it's the truth, isn't it?!"

A stream of system messages flooded his vision!

Every single religious order present was profoundly moved by Tae-hyun's actions. Even if he had technically defeated the boss monster in a single shot, their level of adoration seemed a bit excessive. Sensing that something was amiss, Tae-hyun turned to Haron.

"Don't tell me... whoever defeated this monster was destined to be cursed?"

"...You didn't know?"

"How was I supposed to know if you didn't tell me, you idiot!"

"I-I am so sorry!"

"Mwahaha... Feel the power of my curse... Fly away to the very ends of the earth..."

"Ugh, shut up."

As the sealing monster continued to blather noisily behind him, Tae-hyun casually fired a Dark Arrow over his shoulder. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠black bolt flew swift and fierce!

Thwack! Thwack!

Tae-hyun fell deep into thought. The curse was already active, and evasion was impossible. He had no idea where he would end up, but a destination reached via a curse was bound to be unpleasant.

What's the best course of action in a situation like this?

Tae-hyun reached a conclusion instantly.

Grab!

He immediately snatched Cain's hand. Instantly, the dark energy swirling around Tae-hyun began to creep up Cain's arm as well.

"...What do you think you're doing?" Cain asked, staring blankly at his hand.

"Haha, we should share the good things in life, shouldn't we?"

"You crazy bastard!"

Cain shrieked in despair. Having dealt with Tae-hyun for quite some time now, he knew exactly what the man was doing. It was a classic drag-down-to-hell move!

Well... I suppose I would have been dragged along anyway because of my class penalty as the Avatar of Archisus's Slave...

Cain's eyes turned bloodshot as he scanned his surroundings. The people nearby flinched at his predatory gaze.

Grab!

"W-Why are you grabbing me?!"

"We're going down together!"

A chain reaction of misery!

Cain lunged forward like a madman, grabbing anyone within arm's reach. The nearby guild members couldn't even react before they were ensnared in his grasp.

Snatch!

Tae-hyun also dragged Ed-an into the fold.

"...My Lord Tae-hyun, did I do something wrong?"

"Ed-an. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If we want to have an easy time after we teleport, we need to bring as many people as possible, right?"

"I shall do my absolute best to drag them all down!"

Ed-an put on a dazzling performance. A thief's greatest pride was, after all, their Agility! He darted around, grabbing the fleeing church NPCs and exposing them to the curse left and right.

"That's our Ed-an. Absolutely ruthless."

"Did we really have to announce that he belongs to our order?" Rufo muttered in a resigned voice. Having already been caught in the curse's radius, he had half-given up on life.

"Argh! Why are you grabbing me?!"

"Haha! My hand slipped!"

"Count Kim Tae-hyun! Stop this madman!"

"Haha. Ed-an is a ferocious fellow who rarely listens to me."

The off-guard church NPCs were caught one by one, succumbing to the teleportation curse.

"Upward! Go back up and break the curse!"

"We must return to the ships!"

In their sheer panic, the priests and paladins didn't even stop to argue with Tae-hyun. They scrambled frantically toward the dungeon exit. Watching them run, Tae-hyun turned to Haron.

"Can you actually break the curse if you get back on the ships? Is there a way?"

"...Probably not."

Haron's face was utterly grim. Driven by the sheer terror of being cursed, the NPCs were merely running around like headless chickens, performing completely pointless actions.

"Hey, is the disguise perfect? These are paladins and priests. If they cast detection magic, we're done for, so look as innocent as possible."

"Do you think this is our first day on the job? Don't worry about it."

Jack and his men had thoroughly disguised themselves as they approached the church fleet. They had a peaceful exterior, a pre-prepared merchant guild flag, and outfits that made them look like ordinary merchant employees. They were fully prepared, utilizing all kinds of disguise skills!

But at that exact moment, something bizarre began to unfold on the decks of the church vessels.

"W-What's wrong with those guys? Why are they suddenly in an uproar? Did they notice us coming?"

"N-No way..."

"With the skills those church bastards have, it's entirely possible! Dammit... and we came all this way..."

However, the church fleet hadn't noticed them at all.

Rumble! Rumble!

A massive shroud of darkness began to envelop the church ships!

Jack's jaw dropped. Some incredibly powerful magic was unfolding right before his eyes.

"W-What on earth is that...?"

Swoosh!

A colossal rift tore open in midair, and the entire fleet was sucked inside. All that remained was a calm, peaceful sea, making the events of a moment ago feel like a hallucination.

"???"

Jack felt as if he had just been scammed out of his mind.

"Aaaaaaaaargh!"

Listening to Cain's blood-curdling scream right beside him, Tae-hyun landed on the ground.

Sizzle—

"Sizzle?"

The sound of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something burning!

"Hot! Hot! Ow, hot!"

Tae-hyun had successfully evaded the hazard, but Cain wasn't so lucky. Cain jumped up and down in a panic as notifications of his rapidly depleting HP flashed before his eyes.

"Where the hell are we?!"

Looking around, a vast wasteland stretched out before them. But it wasn't just any wasteland. Boiling lava flowed through cracks in the ground, and the earth beneath their feet was made of blackened, solidified volcanic rock rather than soil. There was no sun in the sky—only pitch-black darkness. The dark red hues bleeding through the sky felt incredibly ominous.

"T-This can't be, right? It's not what I think it is, is it?" Cain asked, his voice trembling. The system message just now had explicitly mentioned the 'boiling lava of the Demon Realm.' Surely, surely...

"Looks like we've arrived in the Demon Realm."

"Gyaaaaaah! Gyaaaaaaaah!"

While Cain was busy shrieking, Tae-hyun's other victims (?) began to materialize one after another. And finally...

Crash! Boom! Crash!

The church NPCs arrived, ships and all! The sight of massive wooden vessels crashing onto the waterless, barren wasteland of the Demon Realm was truly a spectacle to behold.

"Everyone, gather up!" Tae-hyun called out.

"..."

At his command, the scattered crowd began to assemble, their faces practically screaming, Let's hear what kind of excuse he has this time.

"We might have ended up in the Demon Realm due to an unfortunate curse, but that's no reason to despair."

"Wait, didn't we fall here because of you?!" one of the priests from the other order blurted out, utterly dumbfounded. Who was the one who had initiated the drag-down chain reaction in the first place?!

Yet, Tae-hyun remained completely unabashed. Never losing his shameless confidence under any circumstances was one of his greatest strengths.

"What did I do?"

"Count Kim Tae-hyun, you got hit by the curse and dragged us all—"

"Do you really think I did that on purpose? I didn't know the curse would do this either! Besides, most of the dragging was done by Ed-an over there."

A masterclass in shifting blame and stubborn denial that would make a seasoned politician blush! Tae-hyun didn't stop there and delivered a follow-up blow.

"And besides, I'm the one who defeated and sealed the monster. Surely you weren't planning to just leave me behind and wash your hands of the matter, right? I'm sure prestigious religious orders wouldn't be so shameless. Or would you?"

"O-Of course not."

From the churches' perspective, they could never bring themselves to say, Yes, we were absolutely planning to leave you behind! You're the one who got cursed, so why is it our problem?!

"Then there's no problem. Anyone else have a complaint?"

Since all the players present were on Tae-hyun's side, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the remaining NPCs had no choice but to be swayed by his high-level speech skill. In the end, despite dragging an entire army into the Demon Realm, Tae-hyun successfully brushed it off. It was an almost supernatural ability to dodge accountability!

On the broadcast, Kim Tae-san was having a conversation with a beautiful female host.

"I'm telling you, Tae-hyun is the complete opposite at home. I was shocked when I watched the broadcast. I mean, how did he manage to look so incredibly polite and well-behaved on TV?"

"Is Player Kim Tae-hyun really that different at home? What is he like?"

"Well, uh..."

Kim Tae-san hesitated. Come to think of it, if he spoke the absolute truth, it would only bring shame upon himself as well!

"Does he yell or throw tantrums at his family?"

"Of course not. He's my son, after all."

"Then is he lazy... or does he ignore everything else just to play games? Honestly, with Player Kim Tae-hyun's level of skill, playing games all day wouldn't even be a problem."

"No, it's not that either. He's not lazy. He takes excellent care of himself, and he goes to college diligently..."

"Ah, so Player Kim Tae-hyun is a college student."

"Believe it or not, the kid entered Hankook University at the top of his class... Wait, how did we end up talking about this?"

The female player hosting the show looked at Kim Tae-san with a warm, knowing gaze. Her eyes practically said:

Ah, so you just wanted to brag about your son. I completely understand.

He was a top-tier player with absolutely no apparent flaws. In fact, he sounded practically perfect! It was clear that Kim Tae-san's initial complaints about Tae-hyun were just the affectionate grumblings of a proud father.

There was no way Kim Tae-san could miss the meaning behind that look.

"No, it's not! That's not it at all!"

"Yes, yes, of course. I understand. Player Kim Tae-hyun just doesn't meet your high standards, right? My parents were the same way. No matter what I did, they were never satisfied and always wanted more... That's just how parents are, isn't it?"

"I'm telling you, that's not it! Listen to what I'm actually saying, woman!"

"And with that, let's move on to Player Kim Tae-san's gameplay footage. A massive guild battle! Everyone, please look forward to it!"

Beep—

Bae Jang-wook clicked the remote control and stood up. The hand holding the remote was trembling violently.

"Bae Mi-na, you little brat!!!"

While his guard was down, his younger sister had delivered a massive backstab.

The SBC live broadcast he had just watched—a special feature on Kim Tae-san. The moment Bae Jang-wook saw it, he knew. This was going to be a massive hit!

It had great entertainment value, it would draw in Tae-hyun's massive fanbase, and Kim Tae-san himself possessed incredible gaming skills.

I was too complacent! I shouldn't have let my guard down just because we were doing well!

At this point, a sudden wave of anxiety washed over him. Had Bae Mi-na already made contact with Tae-hyun as well?

Who held the most influence over Tae-hyun? His parents, of course. If she had recruited Kim Tae-san, she could easily use him to persuade Tae-hyun.

Tae-hyun wasn't bound by any exclusive contract; he was free to switch broadcasting stations whenever he pleased. Furthermore, his recent broadcast hadn't even gone through a major network, but had been streamed individually through that bizarre guild channel called Team KL!

"Get the car ready!"

"Huh? Where are we going, sir?"

"We're going to meet Player Kim Tae-hyun!"

"Can't we just call him?"

Smack! A sharp, resounding sound echoed through the room.

"Do you even have a brain in that skull of yours?! Have you never heard of showing sincerity?!"