Why Are You So Calm?

"Why are you so calm?"

"Well, it's not even cold water, so I wouldn't really care if I got splashed... and besides, I've actually been on this show once before. So this time, you'll probably have to solve the quiz all by yourself."

Tae-hyun turned his head at Lee Se-yeon's words.

"Wait. Aren't we a team?"

"We're only a team inside the arena. Outside, we're strangers."

Just as she had said, the interview went incredibly smoothly. How it felt to make it to the semifinals of this tournament, who felt like the biggest threat, what it was like living as a pro gamer... Tae-hyun's honest yet slick way of speaking completely dominated the atmosphere. On top of that, his banter with his teammate, Lee Se-yeon, flowed as naturally as water. A smile spread across the face of the PD watching from behind the scenes.

He's a godsend. A total godsend.

Starting from the Pandemonium Online tournament, Tae-hyun had excelled in every single program he appeared on, so it was impossible not to adore him.

"Now, the highlight of the Weekly Interview! It's quiz time!"

"You either answer correctly and make a cool donation, or get humiliated and make a donation anyway. Either way, it's for a good cause, right?"

"Come on, come on! Tae-hyun, please stand right here!"

The hosts had been chatting amiably just moments ago, but they were utterly ruthless when it came to this part. They gleefully sat Tae-hyun down right beneath a massive water balloon! Their only thought was to create an entertaining scene.

Tae-hyun felt an inexplicable sense of betrayal.

"What kind of questions did you have last week?"

"Hmm. What was it again? Ah, it was an earth science series. I think the first question was about the percentage of the Earth's surface covered by oceans."

"Did they get it right?"

"No, they were eliminated on the very first question."

"..."

Who on earth walks around memorizing stuff like that! Tae-hyun was dumbfounded.

"Don't look at us like that. It's not like we enjoy doing this either."

That was a blatant lie! The hosts grinned from ear to ear as they finished their preparations.

"Ah, since both of you are Pandemonium Online pro gamers, we have some special questions related to Pandemonium Online today. I wonder if you'll be able to answer these?"

Though he said that, the host didn't believe for a second that Tae-hyun would get them right.

"Alright, here is the first question!"

The moment the question was asked, Lee Se-yeon shook her head. The production team had tried to be clever, but they had chosen the wrong opponent.

A Pandemonium Online pro gamer getting a Pandemonium Online-related question and agonizing over not knowing the answer! That would certainly make for great television. The problem was... their opponent was Tae-hyun!

"Twenty-three."

"Pardon?"

"Twenty-three. That's the correct answer, right?"

Tae-hyun stood up abruptly. The host didn't comprehend the situation immediately, but then it finally clicked.

"T-that's correct?"

"Well then, I'll be on my way!"

"Wait! Wait a minute!"

"The quiz isn't over yet!"

The hosts grabbed hold of Tae-hyun. Tae-hyun clicked his tongue.

"Tsk."

They probably think Kim Tae-hyun only started playing from Pandemonium Online 2...

Lee Se-yeon clicked her tongue inwardly. Tae-hyun was famous as a top-tier blacksmith ranker in Pandemonium Online 1. He was bound to remember even the most absurdly detailed, perverted trivia!

"Next question!"

Tae-hyun was dumbfounded. They had literally designed these questions to force a wrong answer! But now that things had come to this, he couldn't just walk away without solving them. Tae-hyun was also reading the room.

Get it wrong! Get it wrong! Get it wrong!

But he couldn't bring himself to get it wrong. How could he fail a question when he already knew the answer!

"Thirty-four."

"?!?!?!"

When he got the second question right after the first, a wave of murmurs rippled through the staff.

"Hey, what's going on? I thought you said nobody would know anything about Pandemonium Online 1?"

"U-uh? This is weird. I thought Kim Tae-hyun only started playing from Pandemonium Online 2... No, even people who played Pandemonium Online 1 wouldn't normally know that! Look at Lee Se-yeon's face! Even she's shocked!"

"Do we have any other questions prepared?"

"I thought Pandemonium Online questions would do the trick, so I only brought those..."

"Keep asking them. He's bound to get one wrong! He's only human, how could he possibly know all of this!"

Contrary to the PD's hopeful expectations, when it came to gaming, Tae-hyun had long transcended the realm of mere mortals.

Tae-hyun felt a bit embarrassed even as he answered. Why are they asking stuff like this?

The questions kept coming, and Tae-hyun answered every single one of them without a second's hesitation. With every correct answer, despair deepened on the faces of the staff and hosts. Their sheer frustration was palpable.

How do you even know that! Just get one wrong already!

"Sniff... sob. This is the tenth and final question!"

"You didn't just cry, did you?"

"I-I did not cry!"

However, the host's voice was thick with sorrow. Seeing this, Tae-hyun decided to intentionally get the final question wrong.

Ah, whatever. It's a broadcast, I might as well take a hit for the team.

Tae-hyun had a soft spot for people who were that desperate. They were doing everything they could to make the show entertaining; the least he could do was get splashed with water once. He had already saved plenty of face by answering all the previous questions correctly. One look at Lee Se-yeon's face was enough to tell him that. It was a pity he couldn't drag Lee Se-yeon down with him, though...

"Ahem, ahem. Alright, here is the final question!"

"If I get this right, you'll let me go, right?"

At Tae-hyun's question, the host nodded with a look of grim determination. This final question was indeed about Pandemonium Online 1, but it wasn't a question about game data. No matter how monstrous Kim Tae-hyun was, there was no way he would know this!

"Of course. Now, here is the question. Currently, virtual reality game capsules are..."

Tae-hyun decided to be helpful. He just took a random guess without even listening to the rest of the question.

"Number seven."

"Pardon?"

"Number seven!"

Tae-hyun blurted out an answer before the question was even finished! Everyone in the studio stared at him as if he had lost his mind. But the host holding the question card froze in sheer panic. It was the correct answer.

There were eight options! How on earth did he guess that?!

"Why aren't you saying anything? I got it wrong, right?"

"T-that's... c-correct...!"

"Huh?"

Tae-hyun was genuinely flabbergasted by this. He had actually gotten it right?

"?!?!?!"

Lee Se-yeon stared at Tae-hyun in absolute shock. She could accept him answering the previous questions, but how on earth did he pull this off?!

Did he bribe them?! In that short span of time?!

It was a pure, random guess, but because of Tae-hyun's usual antics, Lee Se-yeon immediately suspected foul play.

While Tae-hyun was displaying his unimaginable quiz-solving skills on television, changes were slowly beginning to take place within Pandemonium Online. People had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠finally realized.

"Are they not selling food today?"

"Why aren't the chefs selling any food? Where did they all go?"

"What the hell? Why is there only black bread? Who would eat this garbage?"

Eating food to boost stats before heading out to hunt was a basic necessity. Because of this, chef players could usually be found easily around plazas or city gates... But now, not a single chef player was in sight.

"Where did everyone go?!"

"I heard they went to gather ingredients. Apparently, ingredients are so hard to find right now that the chefs are out harvesting them themselves."

"What?"

The players were dumbfounded, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that didn't change the reality of the situation.

"I need to clear the Underground Central Tomb, though! Is there really nowhere selling food? I need my buffs..."

"None. I'm telling you, the market around here is completely dried up. The only stuff left is basically trash."

"No, what were they doing letting the ingredients run out like this?"

As the combat-class players grumbled, the farmer players shot back in irritated voices.

"That's why we told you to help us hunt them when we said there were too many rabbits!"

"Who was it that ignored us, saying rabbits didn't give enough EXP!"

Of course, not all players would hear that and self-reflect, thinking, Ah, we were wrong. Pandemonium Online is a game about helping each other live!

"Ah, how were we supposed to know that would happen!"

"Just hurry up and farm! You're farming for your own good anyway, not ours! You need to harvest quickly so the supply opens up!"

It was a classic case of the thief calling the police! But no matter how shamelessly they acted, it didn't change the fact that farming had become nearly impossible. Ultimately, the farmer players began to migrate. For farmer players, who usually settled down on a single well-cultivated plot of land and rarely moved, this was an incredibly rare occurrence. But under the circumstances, they had no choice. In the farmer players' community forums, they shared information on which areas were good and where the rabbit infestation was relatively mild. And among those locations was the Valley of Despair and Sorrow.

In the end, not many farmer players headed toward the Valley of Despair and Sorrow. Most still preferred to go near larger cities or return to areas where they had previously farmed. The only farmer players heading to the Valley of Despair and Sorrow were those fully prepared to start entirely from scratch!

"Well, at least there won't be any competition since there are barely any farmers in the Valley of Despair and Sorrow."

"Yeah. It's much better to just work in peace by yourself rather than dealing with cutthroat competition."

The players heading toward the valley chatted as they walked. In the distance, the territory at the entrance of the valley came into view.

"Halt. What business brings you here?"

An NPC appeared to block their path. By the looks ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of it, he was a priest NPC of the Archisus Church.

"Huh? Oh, we came here to farm."

"Which god do you worship?"

"Goddess Demer...?"

The farmer class and Demer, the Goddess of the Earth, shared an excellent compatibility. Naturally, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠newly arrived farmer players were followers of Demer. However, upon hearing this, the Archisus priest flew into a rage.

"This is a sacred land where only those who believe in the great Lord Archisus may enter! How dare you!"

"Huh? Wasn't the Archisus Church supposed to be incredibly tolerant about that kind of stuff?"

"What's going on? When did it change?"

The players were utterly bewildered. They had known the Archisus Church to be a denomination that didn't care whether people believed in other gods or not. This had been one of the strategies Tae-hyun employed when reviving the church—the so-called "one-plus-one" strategy! Yet here they were, suddenly acting so unyielding.

"What should we do?"

"It's too late to go somewhere else now. We've already packed up everything we planted back home. Should we just convert to Archisus?"

"I haven't really accumulated that many contribution points with the Demer Order anyway, so converting doesn't really matter to me..."

Ultimately, the farmer players made their decision. They would jump ship to the Archisus Church! They had already traveled all this way; going back now would be a massive waste. The moment they declared their intent to join the Archisus Church, the priest's face lit up with a brilliant smile.

"You have made the right choice! Come! I shall guide you into the territory!"

The Valley of Despair and Sorrow looked no different from the videos that had been uploaded recently. The only difference was that the players wandering around the valley were walking on eggshells. They were constantly watching the reactions of the Archisus priests and paladins! If they so much as made eye contact, the players would instantly shout, "Long live Archisus! Loyalty, loyalty, absolute loyalty to Archisus!"

Aside from that, everything was the same. On one side of the territory, engineering players were busy constructing bizarre contraptions, while on the other side, crafting-class players were looking to strike it rich. The farmer players breathed a sigh of relief. At this rate, it looked like they wouldn't have any competition.

"Alright, let's start tilling the fields!"

"I wonder if there's anyone around here who can help us out?"

Creating fields from scratch, building fences, and setting up various installations required an immense amount of labor. It would be much easier if players with crafting skills lent a hand. Of course, finding such players on short notice was no easy task—especially in a remote place like this, far from any major city!

"There's no way people in a territory like this have that kind of free time. Everyone's too busy doing their own thing."

Rumble—

Before he could even finish his sentence, members of the Power Warrior Guild walked past, yawning loudly. They were currently on standby with nothing to do while waiting for their hoarding operations.

"...Let's just ask them anyway!"

The farmers rushed over to grab them. And that news quickly reached Tae-hyun's ears as well.

Tae-hyun felt relieved. Nothing had really changed just because Galakpad had arrived. As expected, Cain had just been making a mountain out of a molehill!

Only then did it finally dawn on Tae-hyun. The curse that had been unleashed when he entered the Sanctuary of the Rabbit God. Because of his perception that rabbits were just trivial, low-level monsters, he had completely overlooked it, but thinking about it now...

Could that curse be... this?

No matter how much he thought about it, the pieces fit together perfectly!

To think the entire continent is in this much chaos because of me...

Tae-hyun reflected on his actions for about a single second.

And then he reconsidered.

Well, it's not like I'm the one suffering, so who cares? The desperate ones will go and lift the curse themselves.

Having concluded his self-reflection, Tae-hyun decided to live a more productive life.

Ah. Come to think of it, I can probably install some rabbit-repelling items in my territory.