Artistry and Hostages

"M-Master. Why are you looking at us like that?"

"Now that I think about it, isn't your specialty disguising yourselves as statues?"

"What?! No, it's not!"

The winged demons waved their hands in frantic denial. Such a specialty didn't exist. No demon possessed such a ridiculous skill. They had only disguised themselves as statues last time because they were left all alone in the castle and had no other choice. If they had been caught, they would have died!

"But you hid so well last time, didn't you?"

"T-That was only because there were actual statues that looked just like us, and those damn adventurers didn't pay any attention! If they had looked even slightly closely, we would've been caught instantly!"

"Come on, don't be like that. Have some confidence."

"No, that's not what we mean..."

"Should I help you find that confidence?"

"...No, thank you..."

"Mmm, perfect. Now, stand right here. Nice. It fits perfectly. It's like this spot was made just for you."

While Tae-hyun adjusted their angles and composition with the meticulous eye of an artist, the Woodstock Guild Leader, who was waiting below, shouted up.

"Hey! Kim Tae-hyun! Can we come up now?!"

"It's too cramped, we have enough people up here. Stay down there!"

"Hey! We just got a message!"

"What kind of message?"

"They want to negotiate!"

"Negotiate?"

To Tae-hyun, 'negotiation' usually meant: 'Haha, let's both get what we want. Though, of course, I have no intention of giving you what you want.'

"Who reached out? Well, good luck with that."

"N-No, it's from the Guild Alliance."

"What? You bastard. Are you a spy?"

"No! Can't you see I'm literally fighting on your side right now?! They contacted me because I used to be part of the Guild Alliance!"

Tae-hyun had blocked most of his whispers to avoid being spammed by random solicitors. Even Cain was currently blocked! That was why the Guild Alliance had contacted the Woodstock Guild Leader instead.

"So, what do they want to negotiate?"

"They say they know what you're up to."

Tae-hyun shrugged.

"Huh, impressive. How did they figure out I'm planning to turn this city into a sea of fire?"

"Wouldn't anyone with eyes and ears be able to tell?" Lee Da-bi said.

"True. Da-bi, could you hand me that hammer over there?"

"Here you go."

As a merchant class, Lee Da-bi carried a vast inventory of equipment and items she didn't normally use.

"Hmm. It's a shame I haven't leveled up my Artistry skill. I should reflect on this."

"...Normal people don't level up that many skills in the first place..." Da-bi muttered, trailing off in disbelief.

It was a stroke of luck that he had picked up some artistic knowledge while helping the Caterand Pirates, but even so, his skill level was lacking.

"Well, I'll just have to make up for the deficit with my Blacksmithing Skill and Divine Foresight."

What Tae-hyun was trying to do was disguise the winged demons as statues. But this time, far more elaborately than before!

"I'll help too. I've actually leveled up my Artistry skill a bit."

"Oh. Nice. You're way better than Cain."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he always found leveling up utility skills to be a chore."

"Cain, surrender!"

"No!"

"Surrender!"

"I said no!"

"If you don't surrender, we'll kill you!"

"Then kill me! How many times do I have to tell you?!"

Cain lunged at the rankers in a frenzy. A whopping six players were targeting him alone! Although he was completely cornered, Cain refused to back down, throwing himself into the fray with reckless abandon.

"Is... is this guy actually insane?"

"Can't we just kill him? He's dangerous."

"No, we have to take him alive as a hostage!"

The rankers gritted their teeth. They had sacrificed a great deal to create this opportunity. First, to prevent the undead army led by the Lich from intervening, they had mobilized all their priests to cast a powerful holy barrier around the castle walls.

Fortunately, Cain had been rampaging like a madman ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠regardless, making him easy to surround. However, the rest of the enemy forces were still completely intact. They needed to capture Cain quickly and escape the walls before they faced a counterattack.

Yet, Cain was fighting to the bitter end as if he had lost his mind, stubbornly refusing to surrender.

"Is that bastard doing this because he knows people are watching?"

"So annoying..."

The battle was currently being broadcast live ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to the entire world. From the rankers' perspective, having six of them gang up on Cain was already embarrassing enough. He wasn't even Kim Tae-hyun, so why was this proving so humiliating? To the viewers, it undoubtedly looked like Cain was holding his own against six top-tier players simultaneously.

"Lord Cain! We're coming to help!"

"Don't come!"

"How can we just stand by?!"

"I said don't come! I'm going to die alone!"

Cain snapped in irritation. He was thoroughly sick of the shouts from Baher and his mage friends. Must be nice for you guys to have peace of mind! My insides are burning to ashes here!

Cain rampaged even harder.

"Come on! Kill me! Just try and kill me!"

"Argh..."

"This crazy bastard!"

"PD-nim, how are the numbers?"

"Wow, this is incredible. The top three most-viewed Pandemonium Online personal streams are all broadcasting this right now."

Without even realizing it, Cain was setting new records. The Siege of Odan Castle was reaching its absolute climax! The 1v1 against the ranker Mike, the sudden appearance of the Lich, the coordinated assault on Cain... Cain was at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠center of every single major event.

Of course, Cain himself was too frantic to notice, but he was leaving a massive impression on Pandemonium Online players worldwide.

"Now that I think about it, Cain barely gets any casting offers compared to how famous he is. He doesn't seem to do personal streams either."

"His reputation from when he was the Guild Leader of the Red Zone before meeting Kim Tae-hyun played a big part."

Back when Cain was the leader of the Red Zone, he actually had streamed. And those streams had been quite famous in their own right—for being incredibly boring!

To succeed in personal streaming, one either had to showcase overwhelming, top-tier content or be an incredibly entertaining talker. Cain was neither. At best, people occasionally tuned in to watch the Red Zone Guild cause chaos, but there were countless other players in Pandemonium Online doing the exact same thing.

"But he's so famous now, wouldn't it be worth restarting his stream? His name alone carries enough weight."

"It does."

"Then why isn't he doing it?"

"Hmm... If I had to guess, maybe he just doesn't feel the need to."

"Pardon?"

"Cain has matured. Unlike before, he knows his strengths and weaknesses now. He won the tournament, after all. He probably thinks managing his career as a professional player is his top priority, so why bother restarting a personal stream he isn't even good at?"

Of course, that wasn't the case at all. Cain was simply terrified that if he started streaming, all the people who held grudges against Tae-hyun would track him down to vent their anger on him. In reality, Cain had absolutely no idea that his streams were boring.

"Wow, he's so thoughtful. If it were me, I would've started streaming immediately. All my fans would flock to watch."

"Haha. That's just how top-tier players are in any field. I've actually met Kim Tae-hyun in person, and even the look in his eyes was different."

"How so?"

"Uh..."

The PD trailed off. He wanted to brag about meeting Kim Tae-hyun, but when it came to actually describing the encounter, he found himself at a loss for words.

You know Kim Chun-sik, right? I went to the gym he trains at to film a workout segment and ran into Kim Tae-hyun. I wanted to get some footage of Tae-hyun training too, so I set up a sparring match, and he absolutely pulverized the professional athlete.

...He couldn't exactly say that!

"...He was... cool. Very manly."

"Oh, I'd love to meet him too! By the way, didn't you say you were going to party up with Kim Tae-hyun recently? How did that go?"

"Strangely, he hasn't replied yet. Maybe there's some kind of system error?"

The PD couldn't even fathom the possibility that he had simply been ignored.

"PD-nim! The meeting is starting!"

"Right. I'm coming."

Watching newly uploaded Pandemonium Online videos during breaks had become a daily habit for players. And it was no different elsewhere.

"Isn't he amazing, Unni?!"

"Uh... well... wait. Ha-yeon, I didn't know you liked Pandemonium Online this much..."

"I didn't really get the appeal before, but now I do!"

"I-I see. That's great."

Lee Se-yeon stared at Ha-yeon with a bewildered expression. Ha-yeon was pointing at the video of Cain rampaging, her face glowing with excitement.

"He's so loyal, and so skilled..."

...It looks more like a victim of a scam rampaging out of sheer spite, though?

Unlike Ha-yeon, Lee Se-yeon saw right through Cain's situation. This wasn't the behavior of someone with a secret trump card; he was just fighting out of pure, desperate self-abandonment. In fact, it was obvious he would collapse at any moment.

More importantly, how on earth did Kim Tae-hyun summon a Lich?

What truly intrigued Lee Se-yeon was the Lich.

"Hmm, how does it look?"

"I think tilting the arm a bit more to the right would look better."

"Yeah, I think you're right. You've got a good eye."

"Hehe..."

Lee Da-bi lowered her head, blushing slightly. Emboldened by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the warm atmosphere, one of the winged demons spoke up.

"U-Um, Master..."

"Uh-uh. Stay still. Since when do statues speak?"

Tae-hyun intended to leave the winged demons here, thinking they might come in handy someday. It wasn't a plan born of deep, grand ambition. Tae-hyun always set up a few contingencies like this. If he got lucky, a situation where he could use them would present itself. Then, everyone else would misunderstand and think, 'Just how far ahead did Kim Tae-hyun plan?!'

"It worked once, it worked twice, so wouldn't it work a third time?"

"But Tae-hyun-nim, even so, do you really think it'll work a third time?"

"Well, I have my doubts too. But hey, if it doesn't work, too bad. It's not my blood being spilled anyway."

"M-Master? Master???"

"Shh. You're a statue. I told you to be quiet. Stay still for the sake of art. Alright, all done."

"I'll just name it exactly like the statue that was originally here... This should be completely indistinguishable, right?"

"Yes. I doubt anyone would notice unless they were looking for it."

"Let's pray we actually get to use them later."

Tae-hyun finished up, looking forward to an easy win down the line. He coolly ignored the desperate, pleading gazes of the winged demons.

"Alright, now that we're done here, should we blow this place sky-high?"

Gabriel immediately responded from below.

"Yes! I would love nothing more!"

"...I wasn't talking to you."

Sometimes, even Tae-hyun found Gabriel a little terrifying. He was the perfect embodiment of the phrase, 'Some people just want to watch the world burn.'

"Hey! Are you going to ignore the negotiation offer?"

"Foolish guy. We don't negotiate with terrorists!"

"...Aren't we the terrorists?"

The Woodstock Guild Leader tilted his head in confusion. Meanwhile, Lee Da-bi received a status report from the Power Warrior guild members and gasped.

"Tae-hyun-nim! They captured Cain!"

"What?! Only now?!"

"..."

"..."

"Haha. He held out longer than I expected. But only Cain got captured? What about the others?"

"They say only Cain was captured."

"Ah. I see how it is."

Tae-hyun immediately understood the situation. Since the Guild Alliance didn't have the luxury to capture the entire castle right away, they had secured Cain first.

Tsk, he should've just hunkered down quietly inside.

Tae-hyun smacked his lips, harboring thoughts that would have made Cain choke with rage had he heard them.

"Alright. Let's hear what they have to say. I'll allow whispers. Tell them to contact me."

"...We are the terrorists, right? Correct? I'm not the one who's confused here, am I?"

The Woodstock Guild Leader asked his guild members, utterly bewildered.