The Survival Variety Trap
A vein throbbed on Tae-hyun's forehead as he clenched his fists. Seeing this, Choi Sang-yun realized they were doomed. Damn it! I thought we were finally in the clear!
"What does the text say?"
"Lee Se-yeon is mocking me."
"..."
"..."
Silence fell over the room.
Wow, does she really have to go that far?
They were on the same team, why is their relationship so terrible?
Both Se-yeon's teammates and Tae-hyun's teammates shared similar thoughts.
Why go to such lengths? Normally so cold and level-headed, yet they turn into absolute children whenever they clash!
But instead of exploding, Tae-hyun felt a strange, cold clarity wash over his mind. He tossed his phone aside and stood up.
"Actually, this is fine. It's better this way. Right. Lee Se-yeon was aiming for this from the start... I can't let her get away with any more."
Getting angry here would mean falling right into her trap. He absolutely could not allow that!
"Y-yeah! You can't let yourself get dragged down by such childish tricks!"
"Exactly, exactly!"
"That's right! Just block her already!"
"I can't do that because of work. Fine. We'll settle this in the main tournament..."
At that, Cain muttered.
"But we're the first and second-place teams, so we're on completely opposite sides of the bracket..."
"Shh. Shut up. Seriously."
The tournament bracket was structured so that the first-place team from the qualifiers faced the last-place team, while the second-place team faced the second-to-last. This placed the top two teams on opposite ends of the bracket.
For them to face each other, they would both have to make it all the way to the finals!
Of course, pointing that out right now was hardly the priority.
"Whatever. Let's just go get dinner."
"!"
"Why the surprised face? Didn't you say we should celebrate if we made it to the main tournament?"
At Tae-hyun's words, Cain's face lit up instantly.
"Let's get meat! When life gets you down, get down with some meat...!"
"That's an incredibly outdated dad joke, so don't ever say it again."
"..." Cain hung his head, thoroughly dejected.
"What about everyone else?"
"I'm fine with anything," Choi Sang-yun said.
"Sang-yun is skipping. Su-hyeok?"
"I want something sweet!"
Hearing him demand dessert with such a stern, solemn, and serious expression was slightly disconcerting.
"I'm fine with anything too."
"Why is everyone 'fine with anything'? Let's just go to a buffet then."
"A b-buffet... is that one of those places where you can eat every single kind of food in the world?"
"...Well, it's not quite that extreme."
Tae-hyun was taken aback by Lee Da-bi's question. What kind of mythical place does she think a buffet is?
"Da-bi, don't be such a country bumpkin. A buffet is just—"
"Cain, that's not the elevator."
"O-oh, it's not?"
Cain had stepped into the elevator, only to scramble back out in shock when he realized there were no floor buttons inside.
It was one of those modern elevators where you select your destination floor from a keypad outside before boarding!
As other patrons gave him strange looks and walked past, Cain's face flushed bright red.
"I mean... there was an elevator right here... so I thought I just had to get in..."
"We get it, so stop making excuses..."
Choi Sang-yun spoke with a look of profound pity. In situations like this, the more you tried to explain yourself, the more pathetic you looked.
"But this is a hotel, right?"
"Hotel buffets have the best food."
"Y-yes, but it's a hotel. Is it really okay for us to come dressed like this...?"
"Nobody cares, so it's fine."
Lee Da-bi looked down at herself. She couldn't help but feel self-conscious about her outfit of jeans, a simple T-shirt, and a casual jacket.
In truth, Lee Da-bi was no longer poor.
In the past, her finances had been a bottomless pit, with every penny she earned immediately vanishing into debt repayment. But now that the debt collectors were entirely out of the picture, her earnings were piling up.
And it wasn't as if she earned a modest amount, either.
Between her share of the Power Warrior stream revenue and the profits from selling various in-game items, her monthly income easily cleared ten million won.
She had tried to pay rent, but Tae-hyun had flatly refused with a stern expression...
So, for now, she was simply hoarding her wealth.
Having lived frugally for so long, she literally didn't know how to spend money even when she wanted to!
Seeing her continued anxiety, Tae-hyun pointed at Cain.
"Look at him. He's dressed way more casually than you are."
"You're right!"
Cain's sheer lack of sartorial effort instantly put her mind at ease! Seeing someone in an even worse state than oneself was always the ultimate source of comfort.
"Hello!"
"?!" Lee Da-bi gasped in shock as her two younger sisters, Lee Da-sol and Lee Da-saem, suddenly appeared in the distance. Why are they here?!
"I invited them," Tae-hyun said.
"What?! Why?!"
"What do you mean, why? It felt wrong for just us to eat all this delicious food."
Tae-hyun asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Da-bi glared at her sisters. If you wanted to eat something good, you should have told me!
The two younger sisters quickly averted their eyes and shrank behind Tae-hyun's back. Noticing this, Tae-hyun intervened.
"Don't be too hard on them. I called them because I wanted to treat them. You two have been doing well, right?"
"Yes!"
"You're not making your older sister do all the work, are you?"
"We do the housework."
"Especially the cooking... Ah." At their words, Lee Da-bi's face flushed crimson. Realizing their slip-up, the sisters abruptly shut their mouths.
"I-I mean, it's not that Sis is bad at cooking! She's actually great at it when she tries, she just... doesn't..."
"Exactly!"
"Just stop..." Lee Da-bi muttered, her shoulders slumping.
The meal was highly satisfying. Cain was in high spirits, piling his plate high with a chaotic mountain of random dishes.
Watching him, Tae-hyun fell into thought.
Come to think of it, I feel like I've been eating nothing but bizarre things lately.
There was a saying that some people played Pandemonium Online just for the food, given how many delicious delicacies existed in the game.
Yet, Tae-hyun felt like he had spent his recent days consuming nothing but "weird food"—dishes so horrific that most players wouldn't eat them even if paid.
It's all because of Stau. I need to get rid of that guy as soon as possible.
Instead of cracking down on the extravagant, wasteful cuisine in the territory like he was supposed to, that crazy goblin chef was busy making weird food a viral trend!
"Excuse me, sir. I'm terribly sorry, but that is a decorative centerpiece. It's not edible."
"O-oh, really? I-I'm so sorry."
Listening to Cain's embarrassed stammering in the distance, Tae-hyun began mapping out his future plans.
The dungeon speedrun tournament didn't actually require a massive time commitment. It was a competition he could easily manage while progressing through other quests.
Hmm... Should I search for more of Archisus's Authority skills, or should I focus on reinforcing my basic skills first?
First and foremost, he wanted to upgrade his Advanced Swordsmanship to Highest Swordsmanship.
The sword was currently one of his primary weapons. It was only natural to prioritize raising his swordsmanship skill.
Ugh. Since I don't have any class-specific passive modifiers for it, my swordsmanship is leveling up at a snail's pace... Can't be helped, though.
Honestly, expecting anything more would just be pure greed.
I need to raise my magic skills too. Thanks to my skills, I don't need to learn a bunch of miscellaneous spells, but the MP consumption is just too brutal.
His skills boasted a terrifying versatility that could replicate almost any spell, making them incredibly overpowered.
But the trade-off was an equally devastating drain on his mana pool.
I need to find items with MP recovery options and acquire some MP regeneration skills. Should I head back to the Magic Tower?
His time was limited, but his to-do list was endless. He had to prioritize.
Should he hunt for the Authority of Archisus, find a way to accelerate his swordsmanship growth, or patch up the flaws in his magic...?
Bzzzt— His phone vibrated.
Tae-hyun frowned. Surely Lee Se-yeon wasn't calling him just to gloat again, was she?
But the caller ID showed a different name. It was Kim Manager from SI Entertainment.
The Law of Survival. It was a show with a simple, straightforward concept. Dump the cast members on a deserted island for a one-night, two-day survival challenge! Naturally, there was no way Tae-hyun would ever want to do that.
"I'm already playing my own version of The Law of Survival in Pan-On every single day."
"W-wait, don't hang up!"
"I think you're the only one who can handle this."
"Excuse me? Me, sir?"
"Yes. I'm sure you can persuade Kim Tae-hyun. After all, they say you can't spit on a smiling face, right?"
CEO Lee Dong-pal patted Kim Manager on the shoulder as he spoke.
"Actually, I feel like Kim Tae-hyun is exactly the kind of person who would spit on a smiling face..."
"You're about due for a promotion, aren't you?"
"...I will do my absolute best. Still, I believe your words would carry far more weight, Representative..."
"Why should I stick my neck out and get cursed at first?"
"What?"
"Nothing."
The whole situation had arisen because of the PD of the previous variety show. After Tae-hyun appeared on it and gave an exclusive tour of Team KL's gaming house, the ratings for that episode had skyrocketed through the roof. There were even rumors that the production team had thrown multiple celebratory dinners, with the higher-ups praising them: "Incredible job! You really squeezed water from a stone! Those gaming-obsessed shut-ins actually pulled through!"
Naturally, this left a rival PD at KBC—who happened to be close friends with the first PD—burning with envy. He had been eyeing Tae-hyun's impressive physique for a long time, and he was absolutely devastated that Tae-hyun had snubbed The Law of Survival while appearing on that other show!
Look, the guy himself refuses to do it, so what do you want me to do...?
Even when Lee Dong-pal explained that Tae-hyun simply didn't want to participate, the PD refused to believe him.
Now, with public interest reaching a fever pitch after the qualifiers, was the absolute best moment! If he could get Tae-hyun on the show now, he could easily crush the pride of any rival PDs. And this PD's ambitions were far greater.
Lee Dong-pal groaned, unable to find the right words. Can we even classify that guy as a celebrity?
In any case, things had come to this, so he had to try and persuade Tae-hyun. The PD was clearly dead serious about this. There was absolutely nothing to gain from souring relations with major network PDs.
It'll be tough, but if I approach him the right way, I should be able to convince him.
Of all the times to do it, she had to choose right now!
If Se-yeon tried to bring it up, Tae-hyun would undoubtedly snap back with, "Yeah, go have fun on your own." If Lee Dong-pal tried, Tae-hyun would probably sneer, "Why don't you send your precious niece instead?" spitting out the word "niece" with maximum venom.
In the end, the only person suited for the job was Kim Manager. Given Tae-hyun's personality, he wouldn't be able to take his anger out on an innocent manager who was just doing his job!