A Buffet of Skill Experience

The player with the blade pointed at him hesitantly approached Chao.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you bastard! You took my money!"

"W-well, even if it doesn't spread from me, you're going to catch it from those other guys anyway!"

"How does that make any sense?!"

As the two bickered and argued, Tae-hyun kindly stepped in to mediate.

"Hey, stop making such a racket. Just hug and make up."

"..."

"Come on, hurry up!"

Chao and the player hugged each other, wearing expressions of pure disgust. A dramatic reconciliation between two people who had just been spitting venom at each other! ...Of course, it was nothing of the sort.

— Do you want to die? Huh? Are you insane?

— This is all your fault! Who was the one who said Kim Tae-hyun would be a one-shot kill because he was cursed with the plague?!

Chao and the player growled fiercely at each other. They both had plenty of grievances! The player, who had rushed all the way here believing Chao's words only to end up cursed, had nowhere to vent his frustration.

Clap, clap, clap—

Tae-hyun clapped his hands. "Look how nice it is to see you make up like this. Don't you guys feel great too?"

"..."

"..."

Neither answered. They just stared at each other with sullen faces.

"Not feeling it? Want me to make you feel it?"

Schwing—

"It's great! We love it!"

"Right? It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so heartwarming. I'm not usually one to cry, but this is bringing a tear to my eye."

Telling a lie that absolutely no one believed, Tae-hyun beckoned to the others with his finger.

"??"

"Get over here."

"W-why us?"

"What do you mean 'why,' you punks? You came here together. Do you want to get beaten up before you come over? Oh, wait, if you get hit, you won't even be able to make it, right? Since your HP must have dropped to 1 by now."

"..."

"Are you coming on your own, or do you want to die?"

Shuffle, shuffle—

The players who had been lying in wait for the ambush hung their heads and lined up in a single file. They were completely at Tae-hyun's mercy! The players who had come here were actually quite formidable in their own right. They were strong players positioned right between mid-to-high level players and rankers! Yet, they had been suppressed like this without even getting to fight a proper battle.

From Chao's perspective, it was mind-boggling, but the players had their own excuses. They hadn't known Tae-hyun was immune to the curse, and they never could have imagined he would use such a barbaric method as casting Threaten and then literally throwing his plague-infected allies at them.

Besides, Tae-hyun was someone who had become thoroughly accustomed to dealing with this type of player since the days of Pan-On 1. He had enough experience to write a textbook on the subject!

‘Once you back them into a corner, all you have to do is create an atmosphere that makes them think you'll let them off easy if they behave.’

These kinds of players cared immensely about their characters. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If they died even once and suffered the death penalty, their progress would be ruined. If he targeted that exact weakness, they were incredibly easy to play with.

"Alright, everyone hug each other."

"W-wait a minute..."

"Are you ignoring my attempt at reconciliation right now?"

One of the Restaurant Guild members who hadn't been cursed yet looked horrified, but Tae-hyun was cold. Every single bastard who came here had to be cursed! Except for Tae-hyun, of course!

Once the entire ambush party was cursed in perfect harmony, Tae-hyun nodded with a satisfied expression. In contrast, the ambushers all looked like they were on the verge of death.

"Can we go now?" they asked in extremely pitiful voices. Surely they could leave after doing this much?

"Huh? No."

"What? But we're all infected!"

"What are you talking about? When did I ever tell you to get cursed? All I did was make you guys reconcile."

"..."

"Don't tell me you misunderstood my good intentions?"

"N-no, of course not."

Fearing that Tae-hyun would find another excuse to torment them, the player shut his mouth.

"Whew, for a second I thought you guys had misunderstood and I almost got angry. Anyway, time to take care of my business."

"Pardon?"

— Dark Arrow!

The player's body turned gray and dispersed into light!

"?!?!?!?!?"

Everyone stared at Tae-hyun in sheer shock, but Tae-hyun was lost in his own thoughts.

"Should I level up my swordsmanship ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠skill? It's almost at Advanced level. No, maybe I should level up my magic a bit more? Or Throwing? I feel like I'll be using bombs a lot more in the future..."

He was completely ignoring the players in front of him, casually debating which skill to level up!

"Hey! We did everything you asked!"

"Good job."

"Thank you... Wait, no! If we did what you asked, you should at least do something for us in return!"

"Alright. I'll let you be on the broadcast."

"We don't want th— *Argh!*"

Tae-hyun threw a pebble, instantly taking down another player.

Tae-hyun had never intended to let these ambushers go in the first place. They were the ones who had initiated the attack. Free experience and items!

There was only one reason he had gone through the trouble of making them infect each other. While it did lower the difficulty of defeating them drastically, reducing their HP to 1 also...

‘Makes it incredibly easy to farm skill experience!’

Instant death by swordsmanship, instant death by magic, instant death by throwing...

It was a golden opportunity to rapidly accumulate the skill experience he had been lacking. It was practically a buffet of skill experience!

"You don't want to be on the broadcast? Cain was practically begging to get on air."

"When did I ever?!"

Cain threw a tantrum in the background, but Tae-hyun lightly ignored him.

"Hmm, is there a more creative way to level up my skills... Ah, I can level up my cooking skill too."

"How on earth do you level up a cooking skill through PK?!"

"There is a way."

As he spoke, Tae-hyun grabbed one of the players and shoved a dish made with Abnormal Cooking right into his mouth.

"I'm trying to manage my Infamy, but it's just not working out," Tae-hyun muttered, uttering words that lacked any shred of sincerity as he systematically took down the players one by one.

Of course, there were some who tried to fight back or run away...

But they were easily suppressed!

Even in their normal states, they were no match for Tae-hyun. Cursed as they were, they stood absolutely no chance.

"So many items are dropping that I can't even carry them all. Lee Da-bi, carry some of this."

"Yes, sir!!!!"

"You do know I remember every single item that dropped, right?"

"Yes..."

Lee Da-bi, having her inner thoughts read perfectly by Tae-hyun, slumped her shoulders. Her dream of a sudden windfall was shattered!

The players who had come here were clearly geared up specifically for PK. Naturally, their equipment was worth a pretty penny in real cash! Furthermore, Tae-hyun had a knack for selectively looting only the absolute best items from his victims during PK.

"Well, our friends are all taken care of. That leaves you guys, doesn't it?"

"!"

"Eek!"

When Tae-hyun turned his head, Chao's guild members flinched and averted their eyes in terror. Unlike the players who had just been forced to log out, these were chefs who had nothing to do with PK!

"It's fine, it's fine. What could I possibly do to you?"

"You literally just killed—"

"What was that?"

"N-nothing at all."

Tae-hyun approached in a friendly manner and slung his arm over Chao's shoulder. To any onlooker, they would have looked like genuine friends! Chao looked utterly repulsed, but he didn't dare brush Tae-hyun's arm away.

"Ah, right. This guy was cursed. Sheesh, take better care of yourself. Why are you walking around carrying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a curse like that?"

Tae-hyun shamelessly pushed Chao away. Chao thought to himself:

‘Why isn't this bastard getting infected?’

Come to think of it, it was bizarre. Even the most skilled players had caught it. Even the high-ranking player who had been unlucky enough to be present caught it. So why was Tae-hyun the only one completely unaffected?

And Chao wasn't the only one harboring such questions.

A few of Chao's guild members were playing with their streams turned on. Half the viewers were there to bash the Restaurant Guild, while the other half were watching to gather information. Still, being a Chinese broadcast, the viewer count was quite substantial.

And an incomprehensible situation was unfolding right before their eyes! They could write off the ambushers getting counter-wiped as just "look at those pathetic losers lol," but the fact that he wasn't catching the curse was definitely bizarre.

Chaos erupted between the Chinese viewers who knew Tae-hyun and those who didn't. Completely oblivious to what was happening elsewhere, Chao spoke up petulantly.

"If you're going to kill me, just do it quickly!"

"What? Really?"

"Did you think I'd be scared? Kill me! I can easily recover from a death penalty!"

"Hmm, looking at your quest line, your respawn point is probably the Capital of Erance. In that case, maybe I should just camp there and kill you every time you resurrect?"

"!?!?!"

There was always a greater threat to counter any threat. Tae-hyun was always one step ahead of whatever Chao could think of!

"Right now, because of the plague quest, there aren't many people who can help you anyway, right? If you ask your friends to come here, do you think they actually will? I wouldn't. They'll just get cursed if they come."

"..."

Chao was struck mute.

"I'm really going to kill you, okay? It's fine if I kill you, right?"

"N-no... that's a bit..."

"What? I can't hear you very well."

"I'd... prefer it if you didn't kill me..."

Chao finally tucked his tail! Tae-hyun nodded with a satisfied expression.

"Good. Now, start talking."

"Huh? Talk about what?"

"I heard you guys formed an alliance? The giant guilds. Tell me exactly which guilds joined, where they are, and what they're doing."

"T-that's a bit..."

"Do you want to die?"

"..."

"See, isn't it so much better when you talk? Let's get along from now on."

"I don't need to get along with you! Get lost!"

"Huh? What was that?"

"I... I said I don't need to..."

Having extracted the information about the giant guild alliance from Chao, Tae-hyun nodded in satisfaction. But as it turned out...

It was nothing major.

‘Doesn't really seem like much of a threat.’

He had been slightly tense because Kim Tae-san had told him about an alliance of guilds that hated him. But hearing the details...

They were practically a ragtag bunch!

The giant guild alliance was a coalition of a few large Chinese guilds, some European guilds, American guilds, and Korean guilds. Among them were people like Chao and Su Ning who held a personal grudge against Tae-hyun.

The problem was that there were far more guilds in the alliance that didn't have a grudge against Tae-hyun than those that did. Consequently, even when they tried to plan an attack on Tae-hyun, they rarely reached a consensus, and they often acted out of self-interest.

Even now, from what Chao said, most of the guilds were more focused on preparing for the upcoming Arena Pro League rather than attacking Tae-hyun. Honestly, it made sense. Killing Tae-hyun once would only give them a brief moment of satisfaction, but participating in the Arena Pro League and making a name for themselves would bring incomparable profits.

‘Right, right. That's how normal people should act. The guys back in Pan-On 1 were just freaks.’

Tae-hyun felt relieved. Back in Pan-On 1, there were so many people who would throw away everything just to take him down. Even Tae-hyun, who was confident in any PVP scenario, had grown sick of it! As expected, that had been the anomaly. Pan-On 2 was normal.