“Even After I Explained It All, Anyone Still Got a Problem?”
People glanced at one another, reading the room.
No matter how you looked at it, Tae-hyun did not sound like he was asking kindly. If anything, it felt like he was about to pick one person and make an example out of them.
“If you’ve got a complaint, step forward. I’ll refund your money, and you can go back. I’m basically sharing a quest like this for free, so I’m not interested in dragging along anyone who’s going to whine about it.”
“Uh… h-how are we supposed to get back?”
“Figure it out yourselves.”
“...”
It wasn’t that far, but it definitely wasn’t a distance you could swim from here to the mainland. If you stayed in the sea too long, you started taking stamina penalties.
And most of the people here were crafting or art classes. Very few of them had high Stamina stats.
Even people with high Stamina could easily drown.
These people?
One hundred percent dead.
“So. Anyone dissatisfied?”
No one stepped forward.
“Good! Cooks, over here! Blacksmiths, over there! Who else do we have?”
“I-I’m a painter...”
“A painter? We got a painter too? What the hell do we use a painter for?”
“Who knows?”
The pirates exchanged looks and tilted their heads. To them, painter was one of those professions that did... something, probably, but nobody knew what.
“What can you do?”
“I-I’m not sure? Um... I can paint on fortress walls, or make pirate flags...”
“That’s not bad.”
“Make ’em look impressive. Painters, over there! What else?”
“I-I’m a fisherman...”
“A fisherman? Then get up on that cliff and catch us some fish!”
The players who had gotten off the ship split up in confusion. The pirates standing in front of them had started barking orders.
They were definitely not friendly NPCs.
The players, who had spent most of their time in a major city around relatively polite NPCs, had a hard time adapting to this rough crowd.
And since they were pirates, nobody dared talk back.
If they messed up and got killed here, they’d just eat the penalty.
“Hey... we’ve gotta do what they say, right?”
“What else are you gonna do? You think you can resist?”
“Well, no, but...”
Everyone whispered nervously and watched each other.
Then one of the pirates roared:
“Move it already! Want me to knock some sense into you?”
“Eek!”
At that, everyone hurried into motion.
Survival came first.
“You don’t think we’ll get in trouble with the Kingdom for doing this later, do you?”
Among the players were a few who had brains. It was only natural to think that.
If it was discovered that they had helped pirates—enemies of the Kingdom—then what?
The Kingdom definitely wouldn’t like it.
“W-we were forced into this, weren’t we?”
“Strictly speaking, we weren’t forced...”
“No, we didn’t hear anything, okay?!”
“The problem is, the Kingdom people would have to believe that.”
“Then...”
“We just can’t get caught.”
“...!”
Only then did they truly understand the situation.
Even if Tae-hyun had tricked them, they couldn’t go back to the Kingdom and report him. They were already accomplices now.
That left only one option.
Work as hard as they could.
“What the hell is this?!”
“It’s always nice to see hardworking people.”
“...What are you, some kind of slave owner?”
Rufo stared at Tae-hyun in disbelief as Tae-hyun muttered to himself.
Tae-hyun was standing atop one of the fortress towers, watching the players below.
The players, split into groups according to the pirates’ orders, were all hard at work.
“They haven’t noticed anything, right?”
“No. I don’t believe they’ve caught on.”
“Where do you think it is?”
“If the ancient record is correct, beneath the island... probably...”
Rufo pointed a finger toward the center of the fortress.
“You’ll likely need to go down beneath there.”
“What’s there?”
“I believe the pirates use it as a prison. It should be underneath that.”
“Heavy guard, then.”
“Yes. Thoroughly guarded. It’s where they keep hostages, after all.”
“Think we can break through?”
“What? I’m a warrior, not a thief!”
“No thieves around?”
“Why would a merchant company be looking for thieves?”
“Fair point. Then how do we get down there...”
Tae-hyun scratched his chin and sank into thought.
Truthfully, getting to that underground prison wasn’t the hard part.
It was dealing with the aftermath.
This was the middle of an island crawling with pirates. If anything went wrong, they would have to punch their way out through the whole pirate force.
And after that, they’d still have to shake off the pirates chasing them.
Across the sea.
A difficulty spike on top of an already difficult situation.
The best option is ending this quietly.
If the players currently working so hard would just put in even more effort, they might win the pirates’ favor.
If that happened, staying here a little longer would be possible, and Tae-hyun might be able to slip down there unnoticed.
No idea if Stealth will be enough, but I can at least test the waters.
Tae-hyun was confident.
Not that he wouldn’t get caught—
but that if he did get caught, he could talk his way out of it.
Stealth
The newly acquired Wanderer’s Cloak had a variety of skill options.
One of them was Stealth.
It was the kind of skill thief-type classes naturally possessed, but Tae-hyun wasn’t a thief-type class. Which made a usable item skill like this all the more precious.
You have used Stealth.
Because you are not a thief-type class, penalties apply.
If you make loud noises or cause a disturbance, Stealth may be canceled.
Depending on the target, Stealth may not be effective.
Your high Luck grants a bonus to Stealth.
Watching the windows flash by, Tae-hyun carefully landed on the ground.
As befitted a prison, several pirates stood guard nearby.
He wanted an opening, but they were tougher than expected.
They weren’t actively alert, yet their stances left no obvious gap.
“Hey, did you see those new guys?”
“What about them?”
“Their skills are incredible. You know those blacksmiths we dragged in before? These new guys are way better. Look at this sword. One of the new guys worked on it.”
“Oh. Damn, that’s good.”
The pirates were pleased with the skills of the players who had been aboard the merchant ship.
Which made perfect sense. These were players who had honed their production skills in Genoma City.
“I oughta go ask ’em to work on mine too.”
“You should. Seriously. Look at the edge on this thing.”
Hmm...
Listening to the pirates’ conversation, Tae-hyun had an idea.
“Hey! You there! Sharpen all these blades!”
“Uh, I haven’t finished repairing the armor yet...”
“What? You’re still not done?! Hurry it up! What kind of useless slowpoke are you?”
Pirate Vanguard Captain Rodran is angry.
If you do not finish your work quickly, Affinity will decrease.
“Aw, c’mon, Captain. Don’t be like that. They do good work.”
“Yeah, just look at this armor. All that rust’s gone!”
Blacksmith player Park Seong-chan suddenly felt his throat tighten, like tears were about to come.
Why the hell am I getting emotional over this?!
The moment they arrived on the island, they hadn’t even been allowed to sightsee before being dragged straight into the workshop.
Fantasy Online 2 was famous for its beautiful and varied scenery. One of the pleasures of going somewhere new was simply taking in the landscape.
But here, there had been none of that.
Since getting off the ship, all he had seen were the workshop walls and ceiling.
Sure, he’d gained two levels, and his blacksmithing skill had shot upward like crazy—explosive growth, really.
But...
I want to rest! I want a break already!
He wanted to stop, but if he rested now, it felt like he’d be missing out on a huge opportunity, so he kept hammering armor nonstop.
In that situation, hearing a pirate encourage him was enough to move him.
Park Seong-chan pinched his nose and tilted his head back.
To hide the tears.
“There’s still so much to do... Ah, fine. Go take a break.”
“...!”
After hearing his subordinate speak up, Rodran clicked his tongue and finally gave permission.
Park Seong-chan looked over at his friend, Kim Ji-sahn, with a deeply moved expression.
“Finally...”
“He said we can rest!”
The two of them collapsed to the ground.
They had never worked this hard in a game before.
“How much did your skill go up?”
“Huh? I didn’t check... whoa!”
Kim Ji-sahn looked at his skill window and jerked in shock.
Compared to practicing in the city, the increase was absurd.
After all, they had been working on a huge number of high-level pirate items.
“Wow... if I keep this up, I might become a ranker in no time.”
“Say something that actually makes sense.”
“I’m joking. But seriously, this place kind of rocks, doesn’t it?”
“What? This place rocks? Are you out of your mind?”
Kim Ji-sahn stared at Park Seong-chan like he’d lost it and tapped his own temple.
How could this place be good?
They had been dragged here and hadn’t gotten to enjoy the scenery or a fun experience at all.
All they’d done since arriving was swing hammers in the pirates’ workshop.
“No, listen. How many levels did you gain here?”
“More than I would’ve in the city...”
“And your skill?”
“That went up a lot too...”
“Then how is this bad?”
“...”
Put like that, he had no comeback.
“But we can’t even rest—we’re just working nonstop!”
“Hey. When are we ever gonna get another quest like this? This is a chance. We’ve gotta grind the hell out of it while we can!”
“...!”
The more he listened, the more convincing it sounded.
At first, all they could think was that they’d been conned by pirates, but this was turning out to be unexpectedly sweet.
If they played it right, this was a chance to open up a gap between themselves and the other blacksmiths.
The two friends grabbed each other’s hands.
“All right! We level up here and now! Who cares if they’re pirates? As long as we get experience, that’s what matters!”
“Should we start right away?”
“...Let’s rest just a little longer first.”
They had worked way too hard to jump right back in.
They needed a break.
But they weren’t going to get one.
Because Tae-hyun had arrived.
“You two.”
“...?”
The two recognized Tae-hyun immediately.
Among the players aboard the McCraney Merchant Group’s vessel, Tae-hyun had already become infamous.
Usually he was referred to as “that masked bastard” or “that coat-wearing bastard.”
“Scammer” was one of the milder labels.
Of course, nobody was stupid enough to say any of that to his face.
At a glance, Tae-hyun looked high-level.
If he was close with the merchant company’s higher-ups and personally handling a rare quest like this, he had to be a ranker—or at least just below one.
They couldn’t even imagine the truth.
That Tae-hyun wasn’t even above level 30.
“Uh... what do you need?”
“A good job just came up. Come with me.”
“...?”
“Don’t want to? Fine. I’ll ask someone else.”
When the two hesitated, Tae-hyun simply turned away.
“No, wait! We’ll do it!”
“I’m in too!”
By now, the two had already realized this island was an opportunity.
Turning down work here would be idiotic.
Sure, it might mean another brutal grind...
But could it really be worse than what they had already been through?
That was what they thought as they raised their hands.
Tae-hyun grinned under his mask.
One nice thing about wearing a mask was that you could grin all you wanted and nobody would notice.
The two had forgotten one important fact.
They had come to this island precisely because they’d fallen for lines like this before.
“See those pirates over there?”
“Yes.”
“Go act friendly with them.”
“...What?”
“What, do you not understand Korean?”
“N-no, I mean—what do you mean, act friendly?”
“Exactly what I said. Go act friendly so I can get in there.”
“...!”
Park Seong-chan and Kim Ji-sahn looked at each other.
What is this guy plotting now?
“How are we supposed to act friendly...?”
“Do I have to explain that too? Just go over there and say, ‘We’re newly arrived, but we can take a look at your weapons and equipment~’”
Tae-hyun answered instantly, without even a second’s thought.
And hearing that, the two let out an involuntary little sound of admiration.