Leaving the Trash Behind
When Cain spoke, the people around him looked at him with pity. Heuk-heuk stared at him with a look that said, No wonder he always gets scammed, and Lee Da-bi wore a similar expression... Cain flinched under their gazes. Wait, anyone else is fine, but she shouldn't be looking at me like that! Cain suddenly remembered what he had forgotten. Lee Da-bi had run away with them too! "Hey! You cheap...! You ran away too!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"You bunch of scammers!"
"Come to think of it, Cain, you swept the top three spots on the community boards this time."
"Huh? What do you mean? Oh no, did I mess up again? No way, I didn't do anything wrong, did I?" Cain was suddenly seized by anxiety. Lately, the only times he had received this much attention were when he had humiliated himself in tournaments.
"No... it's because of your heroic performance."
"What?! Really?! You're not lying, are you? Did your Power Warrior Guild members manipulate the view counts or something...?" Seeing Cain so terrified despite his great performance, Kim Tae-hyun looked at him with pity as well.
"We do manipulate them sometimes, but we can't manipulate them that much!"
So they do do it, Tae-hyun thought to himself upon hearing Lee Da-bi's words.
Checking the boards, Cain desperately tried to stop the corners of his mouth from twitching upward. "Hehe, ehehehe..."
"Just laugh."
"W-who's laughing?"
Despite his words, Cain's face was filled with sheer satisfaction. He was usually famous for some bizarre or embarrassing image; it was incredibly rare for him to gain fame for looking cool. To think his solo heroics had actually caught everyone's eyes!
"By the way, Cain, have you still not received any pro-gamer offers?"
"Uh... now that you mention it."
"Maybe they're just hesitant because of your caliber. They probably don't even know what kind of offer would be appropriate for someone of your level..."
"R-really? I hope that's the case!" Lee Da-bi's hopeful words instantly lifted Cain's spirits. Watching this, Heuk-heuk shook his head. Where on earth had all that hatred and rage he harbored earlier gone?
— Master. Even so, abandoning me, a descendant of the great Black Dragon lineage, is an act that would anger even Sadiq...
— Shut up. I saved you, didn't I? Your senior, Yong-yong, is currently catching rabbits back in the territory. Do you want to go catch rabbits too?
— N-no, of course not.
Heuk-heuk had tried to put on a serious, dignified front befitting a Black Dragon to protest, but Tae-hyun was utterly merciless. He had saved him and leveled him up, so what more did he want!
Meanwhile, Evangeline approached. "...Anyway, my debt is fully paid off! I really don't owe you anything anymore!"
"Of course. I have a conscience, you know. Why would I ask for anything more?"
"..."
Evangeline glared at Tae-hyun with deep suspicion, but Tae-hyun remained completely shameless. The Power Warrior guild members whispered among themselves.
Doesn't he lack a conscience?
I heard he doesn't carry around such cumbersome things...
"I'm really, really leaving, okay? No calling me out again?"
"Ah, just go already." Tae-hyun waved his hand dismissively, telling Evangeline to leave. Evangeline grumbled as she walked away. Watching her go, Lee Da-bi whispered, "With the right words, do you think we could have milked her for more labor?"
"Of course we could have."
What are these two even talking about... Cain, who had been in a great mood, froze and stared at them. The two of them were casually having such a sinister conversation with perfectly calm faces!
"But there's no need to force it. She'll come back on her own to ask for help later. Her face is thoroughly marked by the Guild Alliance now."
After suffering such a humiliating defeat, there was no way the Guild Alliance would just let things slide. A prominent ranker like Evangeline would be etched deeply into their memories. If they couldn't strike at Tae-hyun immediately, they would undoubtedly send assassins after Evangeline!
"Ah...! What a deep and wicked scheme!"
"Fufufu!"
"Hahaha!"
"..." Cain slowly backed away. He didn't want to be associated with people of their kind.
"Here, Baha. Take this dice. You've worked hard."
"Not at all! You did all the heavy lifting, Tae-hyun!" Baha, who had received the item he wanted, was grinning from ear to ear. Baher and his friends were the same. Just successfully completing such a massive quest was more than enough to leave them thoroughly satisfied!
As Tae-hyun went around praising the players who had worked hard, he suddenly realized something was off. "Huh? Why aren't the Black Mages coming out?"
"..."
"..."
The players who had been inside Odan Castle avoided eye contact. Tae-hyun looked at Cain and asked, "What happened?"
"I-it's not my fault!"
"Um, excuse me, fellow Black Mages. They said we've reached a negotiation, so we can leave now." Cain's attitude was extremely cautious. To be honest, Chese-do, who had transformed into a Lich, was incredibly terrifying.
"What? Are you telling us to retreat?"
"Uh... yes, I suppose so?"
"There is no retreat!"
"...Excuse me?" Cain doubted his ears.
"The honor of black magic! The honor of the Erangs Kingdom Magic Tower! The honor of Count Kim Tae-hyun!"
"I don't know about the others, but that last one definitely doesn't exist..."
"We will not retreat from this castle. The ones who must retreat are those bastards! Stop speaking so weakly and prepare for battle at once!"
"Eek!"
Crack-boom! As Chese-do slammed his staff onto the ground, dark lightning crackled and struck down repeatedly. The atmosphere made it seem like he would attack Cain himself if he didn't back off immediately!
"...So you just left them behind?"
"Ah, what did you expect me to do! I did my best!"
The Guild Alliance still didn't seem to have grasped the situation. From afar, they were merely glaring, wishing a dragon's breath would drop right on Kim Tae-hyun's head! Tae-hyun glanced at them, then looked back at Odan Castle. The peaceful and beautiful castle he had seen when he first arrived was gone; now, it exuded a pitch-black, ominous energy, looking like a literal demon's stronghold. It was only natural, given that Chese-do, now a Lich, had reinforced it with all kinds of skills.
"Hmm... Well, let's just leave them then."
"?!??!!?"
"My contribution points with the Erangs Kingdom Magic Tower will take a massive hit, but I can live with that." Since his class wasn't even a Mage anyway, it was a tolerable loss. Tae-hyun made a cool decision: they would leave the Lich and the Black Mages behind! The others were even more flabbergasted by this decision.
"Is it really okay to leave them behind?"
"They said they don't want to go. If we try to talk to them, we might just get attacked." Tae-hyun had his reasons for making this decision. A Lich was ultimately a monster. Even if Chese-do was on Tae-hyun's side for now, he might lose his mind and attack Tae-hyun later. If a boss monster of a Lich's caliber went on a rampage in Tae-hyun's territory, it would be a massive headache. Furthermore, there was Tae-hyun's public standing to consider. He was, after all, the Pope of the Archisus Church! If word got out that the Pope was keeping a Lich in his territory, his already delicate relations with other churches would take a fatal blow. In that case... leaving them behind was the best option! It was like illegally dumping trash on a rival's property!
"A-are we really leaving them?"
"Then stay and fight with them. I'm out!" Without looking back, Tae-hyun summoned his motorcycle. He wanted to escape before the Guild Alliance realized what was happening and protested.
"H-hey! I'm coming too!"
"Me too!"
Scramble! The other players quickly realized that staying behind meant taking the blame alone. Watching Tae-hyun's group rush away, the leaders of the Guild Alliance muttered, "We lost them in the end. Dammit."
"At least we saved the capital. Imagine if even that had been blown up."
Right now, the Guild Alliance was busy repairing the damaged buildings in Arene City and searching the clock tower.
— We found another bomb inside!
— Another one? Ugh, that wicked bastard Kim Tae-hyun... Search every nook and cranny! Thank goodness we found it now.
Every time they searched the clock tower, another bomb turned up. Fortunately, it seemed Tae-hyun hadn't had enough time to hide them properly. The discovery of the bombs actually relieved the Guild Alliance; it would have been far more suspicious if they hadn't found any.
"Even if it's a relief, it doesn't change the fact that we've been humiliated, does it?"
"True. We had all these forces and still couldn't break through that one guy, causing such a mess..." As the siege abruptly ended and Tae-hyun's group safely slipped away, onlookers began speculating about what had transpired.
Based on what everyone was saying, it sounded as if Tae-hyun had won.
"The guys who took responsibility for pushing this siege must be feeling pretty sick right now."
"No doubt. Oh, by the way, Su Ning contacted me. He asked if I wanted to join hands with him."
"And? Are you going to?"
"Su Ning is a solid choice. The terms are good, and if we just sit idle, we might end up taking the fall for this failed siege. You'd better line up early too."
"Hmm..."
Relieved by the outcome, Su Ning was moving aggressively. He was planning to use this defeat to eliminate his rivals.
"Wait, why did Kim Tae-hyun's gang leave but the undead are still here?"
"...Yeah, why???"
This player is currently not accepting whispers...
"..."
"..."
The leaders of the Guild Alliance stared at Odan Castle in utter disbelief. Naturally, they had assumed that reaching a peace agreement meant Odan Castle would fall into their hands on its own... Did they really have to attack it all over again?
"...What do we do?"
"For now, post an announcement within the guild."
A Lich's castle teeming with undead. Since so many players had already died, the number of undead was only bound to increase, not decrease. On top of that, Tae-hyun was no longer there, so there was no way the guild members—already exhausted from the failed siege—would agree to launch another assault.
The siege parties dissolved in an instant. Watching this, the leaders could only swallow their bitter disappointment. This wasn't an atmosphere where forcing them would work.
"Let's just leave that castle alone for now. We'll deal with it if that Lich bastard decides to crawl out first."
It was a half-baked measure, but they had no other choice. Having made their decision, they disbanded for the day.
While Tae-hyun and the Guild Alliance were engaged in their bloody clash, the other players of Pangaea Online were busy going about their own business. One of them was Jang Ssu-an.
"The player who has that Ure, we're supposed to meet them here, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"I don't really like Koreans, but... whew, I guess I have no choice." Jang Ssu-an swept his hair back with a dramatic flick of his head. It was a remarkably theatrical gesture.