This Isn't the Fishing I Wanted!
"This isn't what I wanted!"
"Haha, Chairman. Life doesn't always go exactly the way we want it to, does it? If you want to fish in a prime spot, you have to put up with a little discomfort."
A "little" discomfort was an understatement, but Tae-hyun didn't care. After all, it wasn't his problem!
Chairman Yoo realized that arguing further was pointless and shut his mouth.
"But one thing is for sure, Chairman. If a place requires you to take on such penalties just to enter, it must be an incredibly good spot. Don't miss this opportunity! Get your money's worth!"
"...Fine. I get it."
Chairman Yoo nodded. Come to think of it, Tae-hyun's words made sense. If a place required enduring such penalties to enter, it was bound to be an amazing spot! As the saying goes: No pain, no gain!
Although he felt a bit uneasy about being swayed by Tae-hyun's smooth talking, Chairman Yoo resolved to make the most of his fishing trip now that things had come to this.
However, Chairman Yoo still had no idea. He didn't know just how dangerous and difficult the place he was about to enter truly was!
Whoosh—
"...!"
As they walked down, the pitch-black darkness ahead suddenly brightened. What appeared before them was a massive pool of boiling lava!
The glowing, bubbling lava pool was so deep its bottom was invisible. They were walking along a narrow path suspended directly over it. A single misstep would undoubtedly send them plunging straight down.
"What on earth is this?!"
"Shh. Stay sharp, rookie. They're coming out soon."
The tribal fishermen lowered their postures and tensed up on the precarious, narrow path.
Splash!
"They're here!"
"It's them! Catch them!"
At that moment, something leaped out from the boiling lava. It was a sleek, agile fish glowing with a brilliant crimson light.
"Watch out! It shoots lava!"
"Argh! I got hit!"
The Red Lava Fish flew through the air, spitting lava. It looked like a simple water gun attack, but what the fish was shooting wasn't water—it was molten lava. A single hit dealt massive damage, instantly draining their HP!
"Aaargh!"
One of the tribal fishermen slipped while trying to dodge the lava. He flailed wildly, but it was already too late.
Plop!
He plunged straight into the boiling lava pool below!
"Aaaaaaargh!"
"What an idiot!"
"Ignore him! He was the weakest fisherman among us anyway!"
Even though one of their own had fallen in, the fishermen didn't spare him a second glance. Their eyes were completely bloodshot as they focused entirely on catching a fish.
Swish! Swish, swish!
"I caught one!"
One of the fish flying through the air snagged on the end of a hook. The fisherman rejoiced as if he had won the entire world.
"No... This isn't the kind of fishing I had in mind...!"
Chairman Yoo wailed in despair. The fishing he had envisioned was something much more elegant, noble, and polite! Dodging, rolling, and screaming like they were in a survival movie was not fishing.
"Huff, huff, wheeze...!"
Chairman Yoo gasped for breath. Even though it was clearly a game, the sheer pressure he felt was no different from reality. And thanks to that...
• You have continued to move while enduring intense heat. Constitution has increased.
• You have successfully evaded the incoming lava. Dexterity has increased.
• You have successfully caught a Red Lava Fish. Fishing skill has increased.
It was a literal growth spurt! His stats and levels were shooting up rapidly. His stats were rising at a rate comparable to classes specialized in stat growth bonuses. Of course, Chairman Yoo himself didn't even have time to care about that, as he was too busy rolling around to dodge the flying fish!
"Do... you... bastards... know... who... I... am...!"
Trials make a player grow. That adage applied perfectly to Chairman Yoo. Though he was a clumsy novice, the life-or-death struggle in the lava mine was forcing him to adapt at an explosive rate.
"The ability to identify monster patterns!"
"That fish always leaps out from behind the rocks!"
"The ability to understand his skills and use them in the right place!"
"If I chain this skill and that skill together, and then activate this one, it's much more effective!"
Before this, Chairman Yoo didn't even know what a combo was, let alone how to use his skills properly. But when pushed to the brink of desperation, humans are bound to learn.
• You have been directly hit by boiling lava. Equipment durability has decreased.
• Movement speed has decreased.
HP has fallen below 10%!
"Po... Potion...! Potion!"
Chairman Yoo frantically rummaged through his bag. 'I heard using something called a potion restores HP...!'
When he was buying items with real money, Lee Da-bi had stood by his side and advised him on everything—from the equipment he needed to the consumables he might use. That advice was now proving to be an absolute lifesaver.
Gulp, gulp!
Chairman Yoo chugged potions that cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of won each without a single shred of hesitation. The only thing that mattered right now was surviving! He would absolutely make it out of here alive and smack that cheeky Kim Tae-hyun right in the face with his fishing rod!
While Chairman Yoo was undergoing his rapid growth spurt, Tae-hyun's party was carefully surveying their surroundings.
Where would be the most effective place to cause absolute chaos?
Judging by his track record alone, Tae-hyun could have easily published several volumes of a book titled The Art of Causing Chaos.
"Huh? Those people over there... they look like players, not NPCs."
"What? That Bur... Bur-something?"
Tae-hyun still couldn't remember Burford's name properly.
"Do you mean Burford?"
"Right. Are there other players who joined the Sadique Order besides Burford?"
"Some time has passed, so there probably are. But it's a bit strange. It's not like the Sadique Order is doing well; they ruined themselves and fled, yet people are still joining."
Cain, who was listening to their conversation, chimed in.
"Well, the world is full of weirdos."
Cain meant: "There are players who join weird guilds or factions, so of course there are people who would join the Sadique Order!"
However, Lee Da-bi and Tae-hyun completely missed Cain's underlying meaning and simply nodded.
"True, the world is full of strange people."
"Not everyone acts solely out of self-interest. It's quite fascinating, isn't it?"
They're talking about you guys!!
Cain screamed internally. He was utterly dumbfounded by how the two people who should have felt the most targeted had absolutely zero self-awareness.
Completely unaware that wicked players capable of tearing the order apart had entered, Burford was excitedly chatting with the newly joined players.
"...So that's about all you need to watch out for in the Sadique Order."
"Oh, I see!"
"Thank you!"
The players reacted enthusiastically to every single word he said. Burford wiped under his nose, feeling immensely pleased.
Ah, this is why I play games!
His past ambition of "joining the Sadique Order alone, monopolizing it, and dominating Pan-On" was long gone. That ambition had been thoroughly crushed by Tae-hyun, the subjugation force, Evangeline, and even other NPCs within the order.
Now, he had only one wish.
I wish more players would join the Sadique Order!
Clearing secret quests alone all the time was miserable and never went well. It would be much better if other players joined so they could clear them easily together!
So Burford had started posting on the community boards:
- Sadique Order, you can join too!
- Is joining the Sadique Order hard? It's not hard at all.
- We recommend the Sadique Order for those who want powerful attack and defense!
- A class for the infamous! Come to the Sadique Order!
With interest in the Prica Continent rising, the Sadique Order, which had established a foothold there, naturally attracted players. There was a reason players gathered despite its ruin in the Central Continent!
But Burford was overlooking one crucial thing.
The Sadique Order was an evil-aligned faction. This meant the players joining usually had higher Infamy than Reputation. And such players usually...
Indeed, the new players who joined after seeing Burford's posts all had hidden motives! They were thinking of how to backstab him and make a quick buck first.
Unaware of this, Burford smiled happily, imagining a rosy future.
Seeing this, Cain tilted his head. "Why are they laughing and chatting like that? It's creepy."
"Who cares? That Bur-whatever was always a bit weird."
Tae-hyun's ruthless evaluation!
Besides, since he had already taken the ring from Evangeline, Tae-hyun had no more interest in Burford.
"Still, wouldn't he know the most about this place?"
"Hmm, that's true."
Tae-hyun nodded. He looked down on Burford, but he couldn't ignore his experience. He was the player who knew the Sadique Order best in Pan-On.
"Should we go ask him?"
"...Are you crazy?"
"No, I think it'll work. Looking at them, those guys seem to be new recruits to the Sadique Order. I can just pretend to be one of them."
Thanks to his disguise, Tae-hyun rarely got caught. Still, it took a level of audacity that normal people couldn't match!
"I'll be right back."
"Hey, hey! What if you get caught?!"
Cain tried to stop him, but Tae-hyun was already walking over confidently.
"Hello there!"
"?"
"???"
Both Burford and the newly arrived raider players looked puzzled. He was a player they had never seen before.
Player A: Do you know him?
Player B: No? Never seen him.
Player C: Did he come after seeing the forum post? We weren't the only ones who saw it.
Player D: Why does someone who came after seeing that look so weak?
Player A: Probably just some low-level who wandered into the Prica Continent, saw the post, and came out of curiosity. It's a miracle he made it here alive.
Leaving Burford aside, the raider party quickly conversed. They planned to milk the Sadique Order and leave. Normally, a new player like Tae-hyun would be a hindrance and they'd block him, but...
Player B: It doesn't really matter.
Player C: Yeah, his level doesn't look high anyway. If anything happens, we can just kill him off together.
Tae-hyun's outward appearance looked too weak to be wary of! The raider players shrugged and ignored him.
Only Burford paid attention to him.
"Oh! Did you come to join? You read my post!"
He wrote a post like that?
Tae-hyun finally understood. This guy actually posted on the forums because they were short on people!
"Yes! I read your post, Bur... Bur-something-nim!"
"...It's Burford."
"Ah, yes. Burford-nim."
"Y-yes. It can be confusing. It's a difficult name, after all."
It wasn't a particularly difficult name. But Burford deceived himself. It's a hard name, so it's understandable he'd get it wrong!
"It's not really a hard name, though?"
"Yeah."
Ignoring the whispering raider party, Tae-hyun shouted enthusiastically:
"By the way, Burford-nim! What is the most important building here?"
"Pfft!"
Cain, who was loitering in the distance pretending to be a Sadique Paladin, lowered his head.
That crazy bastard!
Even a caveman would ask more subtly than that!