The Best Decoy

"Wow, everyone really is chasing only you, Tae-hyun." Watching the rankers noisily pursuing them on their respective mounts from afar, Lee Da-bi muttered in a thoroughly fed-up voice.

How could not a single one of them fail to chase Tae-hyun?

Da-bi glanced sideways at Tae-hyun. Noticing her gaze, Tae-hyun said, "Da-bi, I can see exactly what you're thinking."

"M-Me? I wasn't thinking anything... I definitely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't thinking about leaving you behind and running away..."

Unlike their conversation, Cain was silently focusing on driving. If he got caught up in that conversation, the sparks would definitely fly his way! Cain knew. In these situations, the one who suffered was always him!

Normally, the situation would have gone like this:

—Why are there so many guys chasing only you, Kim Tae-hyun? Don't you have too many enemies?

—What? Did you just insult me? You punk. You ride at the very back! That's your punishment!

Just saying one word would lead to him getting thoroughly scolded by Tae-hyun and forced into the sacrificial role. Cain knew that now. So he kept his mouth shut. If he didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠speak at all, there would be nothing to nitpick!

'I won't fall for it this time!'

Poke, poke—

"?"

Executive Director Kim, whom Cain had reluctantly taken on the back of his mount, poked Cain's back.

"What is it?"

"Ahem. What is your relationship with the Chairman?"

"What? What chairman? Who's a chairman?"

"?!"

It seemed Cain didn't even know who Chairman Yoo was. Executive Director Kim was startled.

"You don't even know who he is?"

"He's just someone Kim Tae-hyun brought along. I don't know who he is. We're just playing together, so I'm helping."

'As expected, he must be close to that young man, Kim Tae-hyun.' Executive Director Kim nodded to himself. He could guess how Chairman Yoo had ended up fitting into this party.

"But a chairman... don't tell me..."

"!"

Executive Director Kim tensed. If Chairman Yoo hadn't revealed his identity, it was surely because he had his reasons. For him to blabber about it... if the Chairman found out, he would get a severe scolding. But Executive Director Kim didn't know. He didn't know he was dealing with Cain.

"Is he like, the president of an early morning soccer club or something?"

"...Y-Yes. Something like that."

Thanks to Cain misunderstanding on his own, Executive Director Kim managed to get through the situation safely. But Cain wasn't safe.

"Tae-hyun! Cain is whispering secrets!"

"Then let's have Cain act as the decoy."

"Hey!!!"

"Everyone, get ready to run! If we leave ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now, we can escape!"

"T-That seems impossible..."

Time was of the essence, but the Woodstock Guild members were hesitating. Some were so panicked they summoned their mounts only to put them back away! Meanwhile, the ranker party approached the fortress.

"It's too late to run! We have to fight!"

"How are we supposed to fight those guys here?!"

If the fortress were in its original state, maybe, but right now it was in ruins after dealing with the demons. A slight push would bring it crumbling down!

"They're coming! They're coming!"

"Kim Tae-hyun! You bastard!"

Rumble, rumble—

The ranker party rapidly approached from afar... and then just passed right by.

"???"

"They're chasing Kim Tae-hyun?"

"They're not touching us?"

"W-We're saved!"

The ranker party literally ignored the Woodstock Guild and passed right by! Normally, they would have felt humiliated, thinking, 'How dare they ignore us!' But right now, they were so glad to be alive that they couldn't care less.

"Let's get out of here!"

"Come to think of it, I think Kim Tae-hyun went ahead for this very reason! He sacrificed himself for us!"

Once they survived, the Woodstock Guild Leader's coping mechanism began running at maximum capacity. It was like a scam victim saying, 'The scammer did nothing wrong!'

"I-I don't think that's it..."

"Didn't he just ignore us and keep going?"

The new guild members who had recently joined due to the demonization were still rational. To them, no matter how generously they looked at it, Tae-hyun's escape was not for their sake. He had literally ignored them and sped right past!

But the veteran guild members had long since become like the Woodstock Guild Leader. As soon as someone criticized Tae-hyun, a barrage of rebukes followed!

"No, you idiot! You don't know anything!"

"Yeah! Kim Tae-hyun always looks out for us like that!"

"Kim Tae-hyun is just bad at expressing himself, but he's not a bad guy!"

Faced with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the sudden onslaught of criticism, the new guild members shrank back and shut their mouths.

'Is that really how it is?'

'No, no matter how I look at it, that wasn't it...'

Just because the rankers were chasing didn't mean they could catch up immediately. That was how outstanding the performance of the motorcycle Tae-hyun made was. Currently, the mechanical engineer blacksmith who was furthest ahead among all players was Tae-hyun! Of course, he was specialized in destruction rather than creation, but...

"Why is that thing so fast?"

"I think that's the motorcycle Kim Tae-hyun made himself."

"Do those things not go up on the auction house? I loved motorcycles back in Pan-On 1 too..."

When the rankers kept chattering instead of focusing on the pursuit, Su Ning screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Is this the time to chat?! Speed up!"

"Alright, alright."

"What's wrong with Su Ning?"

"Leave him be. He's paying us, so let's not complain too much."

The whispering rankers made Su Ning even more furious. But the rankers had the right to act like that.

Although they weren't mechanical engineering mounts like Tae-hyun's, they all had living mounts. As expected of rankers, the level of each mount was substantial. On top of that, when multiple players used skills together, they received synergy effects! The ranker party was tearing through the sky at a speed rarely seen.

And yet, the distance was not easily closing!

"Hey. This is a bit..."

"Even with all this, the distance isn't closing?"

"Its performance is insane. In the first place, it's not a living mount, so it doesn't get tired. It's incomparable in terms of endurance."

The rankers whispered, marveling at Tae-hyun's mount.

"Is the rumor that Kim Tae-hyun reached Advanced in Engineering true?"

"No, how on earth did a rogue-type class reach Advanced in Engineering?"

"I don't think he's a rogue-type class. I think he raised his combat-type skills a lot as a Lazedan Blacksmith."

"A blacksmith + rogue hybrid? Who would play such a trash build?"

"If that's true, he really is just like the Kim Tae-hyun from Pan-On 1. He said he was a fan of Pan-On 1's Kim Tae-hyun, but to copy even that?"

The conversation was going in a different direction, but it was heading exactly where Jekas wanted! Jekas smiled at the conversation. But Su Ning was not satisfied. He couldn't just stand by when his mortal enemy's back was shimmering in the distance!

"Do something! Long-range attacks should be within reach!"

"You want us to hit that?"

They were moving at high speeds, and everyone was running through the air. Hitting Tae-hyun in this situation was of the highest difficulty.

"You can't even do that?! And you call yourselves rankers!"

"He's the one who begged us to come, and now he's throwing a fit."

"In the first place, Kim Tae-hyun's evasion is too high, so there's a limit to how we can attack. He just dodges or evades most attacks anyway..."

"It can't be helped. Let's attack the others. The others won't be as good as Kim Tae-hyun. If his party members get attacked, Kim Tae-hyun will show some reaction."

Hearing that, Su Ning and Jekas flinched. Because no matter how they thought about it, they felt Tae-hyun wouldn't react much. But they couldn't complain right now. The rankers were already on the verge of saying, 'Stop whining.' If they complained, the spearhead might turn back to them.

"Who should we target? The Power Warrior Guild Leader?"

"Even if we target her, would Kim Tae-hyun even bat an eye? She's the Power Warrior Guild Leader."

Although Lee Da-bi, the Power Warrior Guild Leader, and Tae-hyun had been hanging out for quite a while, people found it hard to accept. The top-tier ranker Tae-hyun and the leader of the infamous Power Warrior Guild hanging out! Thanks to that, all sorts of wild rumors were circulating.

Whatever the rumors, most people thought similarly:

The rankers thought the same.

"Then..."

"It's Cain."

"We have to target Cain. If we target Cain, even Kim Tae-hyun won't be able to just stand by."

"That's true."

"I'm not doing it! I said I'm not doing it!"

"It's a joke. Calm down."

Tae-hyun calmed Cain down at his protest. He had no intention of using Cain as bait anyway.

"Unless something happens, they won't be able to close the distance. We'll head straight to the Atali Kingdom. Since those guys have brains, once they see us heading to the Atali Kingdom, they'll back off. Unlike Su Ning, they have a lot to lose."

"I-I see."

Cain felt relieved after hearing Tae-hyun's plan. As expected, Tae-hyun wasn't so evil as to use him as bait here!

Whoosh—

Clang!

"!?!?"

At that moment, an attack flew in from behind! Someone had thrown a spear, and it was flying toward them, enveloped in a crimson aura. And the spear was aiming for Cain.

"What?! Kim Tae-hyun is right here!"

"Cain. What did you mean by that just now?"

Cain had let his guard down. He thought that unless Tae-hyun actively used him as bait, enemies would always attack Tae-hyun first when they were together! He believed no one would be crazy enough to attack him first when Kim Tae-hyun was right there. But the rankers attacked Cain.

"Now! Kim Tae-hyun! What are you going to do! Your friend Cain is going to die!"

"Try and block this! Kim Tae-hyun!"

The rankers shouted as they targeted Cain. Seeing this, Tae-hyun...

"Hey!!!"

...quietly widened the distance.

Leaving Cain all alone on the left! Cain grit his teeth and went into full evasive maneuvers. It was a brilliant display of evasive driving that made even the onlookers marvel!

The potential of a cornered human was truly remarkable. Cain endured the rankers' attacks for several minutes using various defensive skills and flashy evasive maneuvers. Sensing that the rankers were too focused on pouring attacks on Cain to pay attention to anything else, Tae-hyun immediately launched a counterattack.

"Yong-yong. Go help him."

"Understood, Master!"

Crackle... Flash!

A massive lightning storm spread across the empty air! As Yong-yong flapped his wings and repeatedly spat out lightning, the rankers panicked and scrambled to defend. It was an unexpected ambush.

"Damn it!"

"Block it! Block it!"

"My mount is paralyzed! Someone cast a recovery spell... Argh!"

Bang!

One of the rankers dodging the lightning staggered from the impact. Tae-hyun had pulled out his musket and fired.

"H-He hit from this distance?!"

The archer ranker, Suana, stared at Tae-hyun in sheer terror. There were many rumors about Tae-hyun's class, but the most common speculation was that he was a hybrid of a blacksmith with a rogue or warrior class. After all, he rarely showed magic or long-range attacks. Yet he had just hit a rapidly moving ranker from this distance!

'D-Don't tell me his Marksmanship skill is also at Advanced...? For a human, that's impossible!'

While Suana was in shock, Tae-hyun actually had a surprised expression on his face. He actually hit!

"Wow. I just shot to threaten them. Cain, did you see that? ...Cain?"