A Hundred Enemies, One Middle Finger
Tae-hyun and Cain's suspicions were correct. Do Dong-su was indeed the only member of the winning team to receive the lowest-grade box!
Kim Chul-soo and Lee Se-yeon had both revealed their tournament rewards on their personal streams. Because of this, Do Dong-su was able to find out what everyone else had received. Both Se-yeon and Chul-soo had gotten silver boxes. The viewers were quite puzzled that both of them had received silver.
Unaware of the discussions taking place in corners of the internet they couldn't see, Tae-hyun and Cain were simply overjoyed by their unexpected rewards.
'I'll have to open this later,' Tae-hyun thought, stashing the box away in his inventory.
'Now, as for my stats...'
These stats were so monstrously high that no one would ever believe they belonged to a player who hadn't even reached level 100! This was the result of the stat growth buffs granted by his Akisus-related class, combined with the fact that Tae-hyun had only cleared major, high-impact quests.
Furthermore, there was one highly unusual aspect: the perfect balance of his stats. Excluding Luck, his other stats had risen with bizarre uniformity. Of course, this wasn't something Tae-hyun had planned; it was simply because his passive skills distributed stat increases completely at random...
'But thanks to that, the set effects of my Wanderer's gear are incredibly potent.'
From the early days of Pan-On until now, Tae-hyun's equipment had constantly shifted. He had swapped out accessories and weapons whenever he found better ones. However, he had kept the four pieces of the Wanderer's set—the Wanderer's Belt, Wanderer's Gloves, Wanderer's Cloak, and Wanderer's Boots—equipped the entire time.
This was due to the unique property of the items, which scaled in performance based on the wearer's stats! Because different classes required different primary stats, other players couldn't make good use of these items. Most players min-maxed a single primary stat. But for a player like Tae-hyun, whose stats grew in a forced, balanced harmony, this set was a perfect match. It wasn't classified as Heroic-grade for nothing.
'Hmm... should I gather materials and try crafting a new set of armor? Maybe I'll make it a divine artifact this time...'
The armor he currently wore was the Auston Royal Armor. It was armor he had stolen—no, received—after completing the questline in the Auston Kingdom. It was an incredibly powerful piece of equipment, the kind of item that would have countless players bidding frantically if he put it up on the auction house right now. Even so, Tae-hyun didn't need to limit himself to just one set of armor.
'Having multiple sets of armor gives me more options in combat, which is always convenient.'
He had the option of using the Akisus Artifact Crafting skill, and if he had the ability to make it, there was no reason not to.
'Armor or a weapon. I should narrow it down to those two. I wonder what kind of weapon would be good.'
He considered crafting a sword, but on second thought, the swords he currently possessed were already top-tier. Gathering the materials for a new one would be a massive headache as well.
'Maybe I should go with a musket?'
Muskets. Most players preferred bows or crossbows; muskets were rarely used. They had a slow rate of fire, a high chance of malfunctioning, and there were very few blacksmiths specializing in Engineering... In short, they had far too many drawbacks.
However, they possessed one saving grace: raw damage!
Since Tae-hyun possessed the Engineering skill himself, didn't have to worry about malfunctions thanks to his absurd Luck, and frequently utilized close-range ambush tactics to burst down enemies, it was actually a highly convenient weapon for him.
'Well, the musket I'm using right now is just some cheap thing I looted from a monster or a dungeon and hastily modified...'
Thud.
Tae-hyun's thoughts were cut short as he bumped into Cain, who had suddenly ground to a halt in front of him.
“Uh...”
“What's wrong?”
“T-There... what is that?”
As they stepped out of the main gates of the arena, a massive crowd of players came into view. That in itself was normal. The area surrounding the arena was always teeming with players of all kinds, gathered for various purposes.
But today was different. There wasn't a single merchant or crafter setting up stalls near the entrance. Instead, heavily armed players stood in a tight, imposing perimeter, waiting.
Cain gasped as he recognized several faces in the crowd. “Those guys are rankers...!”
At his words, the players surrounding the entrance began to speak.
“That's Cain!”
“The guy wearing those ugly nose and ear cosmetic items is definitely Cain. It can't be anyone else.”
“Then the guy next to him...”
“It's Kim Tae-hyun!”
Tae-hyun clicked his tongue. While changing his face was second nature to him, Cain was easily recognizable if anyone looked closely. He should have given him a more thorough disguise!
'Did I let my guard down just because the tournament is over...?'
He had let his excitement over the tournament rewards cloud his judgment and made a careless mistake. Tae-hyun scanned his surroundings. How many of the players here were hostile?
“Kim Tae-hyun! Take off your mask and face us like a man!” one of the players shouted, leveling his weapon at Tae-hyun.
The entire scene was being broadcast live. Naturally, everyone in the mob was puffing out their chests, trying to look as intimidating as possible. While everyone gathered here harbored a deep grudge against Tae-hyun, there was no denying that he was currently the most talked-about player in all of Pan-On. Not just in Korea, but globally! Confronting Tae-hyun like this was guaranteed to draw massive attention. As such, their resolve was absolute.
“I'm not Kim Tae-hyun.”
“...”
A complete mood killer! Everyone glared at Tae-hyun. Ever since his days in Pan-On 1, Tae-hyun had a knack for utterly shattering people's expectations.
“That crazy bastard...”
“Hey, don't let him get to you already.”
As the players muttered among themselves, whispers began to flood Tae-hyun's chat log.
“...”
A day late and a dollar short. Tae-hyun let out a sigh. It seemed they had been keeping a close eye on Cain, and the moment he stepped out, the entire mob had swarmed the entrance. It was a remarkably well-coordinated plan, especially considering they had only gathered after Tae-hyun revealed his identity during the finals. They truly, deeply detested him.
“Kim Tae-hyun. I bet you're dying to know how many of us have gathered here today.”
The speaker was being incredibly helpful, offering information Tae-hyun hadn't even asked for. Feeling a touch of gratitude, Tae-hyun replied, “Sure. By the way, who are you?”
“...You absolute son of a bitch!”
“Calm down! Don't fall for his provocations!”
“Huff, puff. I know. I know...”
Managing to regain his composure, the player gritted his teeth and snarled, “You want to know how many? Every single person here is your enemy!”
“?!”
Hearing this, Cain gasped in horror. “T-There must be at least a hundred of them...? Seriously?”
“That's how many people despise you! My only regret is that we didn't track you down and crush you sooner, you bastard!”
Most of the players gathered here were veterans who had played since Pan-On 1.
Rankers who had been hunted down by Tae-hyun in Pan-On 1.
PKers who had tried to mug him, shouting, “Bwahaha! Hand over your gear and we'll let you live!” only to be utterly obliterated.
Guild members who had warned him, “This is our guild's territory! Beat it! Fight us if you have a problem with that!” only to have their entire guild wiped out.
All of them had united under a single banner, spurred by the declaration Tae-hyun had made during the finals!
—Let's band together and crush Kim Tae-hyun!
Tae-hyun had managed to make them set aside their personal greed and differences to unite for a single cause.
“Kim Tae-hyun... it is so good to see you. Do you have any idea how disappointed I was when I heard you quit?! Huh?!”
Looking at the screaming player, Tae-hyun scratched the back of his head. He had absolutely no memory of who the guy was.
'What should I do?'
Inside the Prika Arena building, PK was strictly prohibited. Knowing this, Cain had sent a whisper. However, Tae-hyun calmly shook his head.
Those guys wouldn't have gathered like this without predicting that. They would definitely block teleportation and camp the entrance, waiting for them to come out. Tae-hyun's enemies would only multiply over time. Going back inside was a death trap.
Tae-hyun shrugged. Complaining wouldn't change their situation. He needed to use that time to figure out a way to break through.
Tae-hyun sent a whisper to Evangeline.
With that, Tae-hyun cut off the whisper. Meanwhile, the speaker was still going on and on, listing every single grievance and atrocity Tae-hyun had committed against them. The surrounding players nodded along, their eyes welling with tears. It was a pain they all shared!
“*Sniff*... How could a human being be so cruel...?”
“He's not human! He's a demon wearing human skin!”
Of course, Tae-hyun wasn't listening to a single word.
“Well, Kim Tae-hyun! Do you have anything to say for yourself?! If you kneel and beg for forgiveness right now, we might reconsider hunting your character down and PK'ing you for the rest of your days.”
'Whoa, that's surprisingly generous!' Cain was taken aback. If kneeling and begging meant they wouldn't hunt them down forever, it actually sounded like a pretty sweet deal.
Of course, that was only by Cain's standards.
“I heard you loud and clear,” Tae-hyun said. “And my answer is...”
Tae-hyun raised his middle finger. A universal gesture that required absolutely no translation, regardless of nationality!
“...”
“...”
The heated atmosphere instantly turned ice-cold, as if doused in freezing water. Seeing this, Cain buried his face in his hands. There are literally a hundred people here trying to kill us!
“Fine! You want to die?! We'll kill you!”
“Charge! Trample them! No matter how good he is, he can't survive all of us rushing him at once!”
And with that, the onslaught began.
The opening salvo came in the form of curses.
By now, a significant amount of information regarding Tae-hyun's capabilities in Pan-On 2 had been broadcasted. Even if they didn't know his exact class, almost everyone knew about his insane evasion rate. In that case, the most effective counter was curses—which bypassed evasion entirely to hit their target!
While the individual damage of each curse was negligible or nonexistent, they could easily overwhelm him with sheer numbers. Once the curses stacked up, Tae-hyun's evasion would inevitably plummet.
“This is insane...” Cain closed his eyes. The sheer volume of incoming curses was literally turning the sky black. It was a spectacular sight, the kind of rare event that would normally have him thinking, 'Wow, Pan-On's graphics are absolutely incredible!' if his own life weren't on the line.
“Snap out of it, idiot,” Tae-hyun said, pulling out an item.
Atali Royal Family's Curse Dispelling
With a resounding blast of the horn, the dark clouds of incoming curses instantly began to dissolve into nothingness.
“!!”
“Run,” Tae-hyun ordered. “You head in the opposite direction.”
“What?! Seriously?! Are you going to be okay?! Did you eat something weird?!”
“...”
Even when Tae-hyun was showing him genuine consideration, Cain's reaction was utter disbelief.