A Shiver Down the Spine

"H-how?!" Cain stammered in panic.

Tae-hyun stared at Cain, utterly dumbfounded.

—Hey...

—Gasp!

He had blurted out a response when he should have played dumb! An answer like that was practically a confession. Tae-hyun clicked his tongue. It was already too late to deny it.

"Yeah. I'm Kim Tae-hyun."

"Then is that weird guy Cain?"

"..."

Cain remained silent. Tae-hyun asked, genuinely curious, "How did you recognize us? Did you use some kind of skill?"

"No, I just had a feeling and took a wild guess," Alcott replied, his voice still a bit dazed.

In truth, Alcott had never dreamed he would run into Tae-hyun here. He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been wandering around tracking Sadiq's Avatar—so why on earth did Kim Tae-hyun suddenly pop out?

"By feeling? Is that even possible?" Cain asked, his face twisted in shock.

Their faces, their gear—everything was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠completely different. Yet he had identified them purely by intuition? Come to think of it, Alcott was a famous assassin player. Did high-level assassins develop some kind of extrasensory perception?

Sensing Cain's bizarre misunderstanding, Alcott quickly clarified. "No, it's not like I can do that with everyone. It's only Kim Tae-hyun..."

"So out of all the countless people in the world, you can only recognize Kim Tae-hyun...?"

Cain's gaze turned incredibly suspicious. Is this guy a total stalker?

Wait. Come to think of it, even though he's part of the Guild Alliance, he's always cooperated surprisingly well with Tae-hyun, hasn't he? Is he really a stalker?

Cain was harboring suspicions that would have driven Alcott mad with frustration had he known. Meanwhile, Alcott and Tae-hyun resumed their conversation.

"The moment I saw you, goosebumps broke out all over my body. That's why I wondered if it was you."

"W-what?" Cain gasped again. He really is...

"Hmm. I never expected you to recognize me that way. I'll have to be more careful in the future," Tae-hyun mused.

"Well, if you had just insisted it wasn't you, I probably would've written it off as my imagination, so you should be fine, right?"

"Perhaps."

Completely oblivious to Cain's wild theories, Alcott felt a swell of pride. To think he could face Kim Tae-hyun so calmly! He felt as though he had truly moved past his trauma from the past. This time, he didn't even use formal honorifics; he was speaking to him completely casually. If only the others could see him now! Especially that bastard Crawford!

Crawford, the high-ranking fire mage, teased him every single time they met.

"By the way, what are you doing here?" Tae-hyun asked.

"I was running the Arena, but..."

Despite the constant nagging from the Guild Alliance, Alcott simply couldn't escape the sheer allure of the Archisus Arena! He had been desperately clinging to it, determined to win just once.

—Just... just let me win once!

Of course, that was before Dominic had caused a massive disaster.

"But the Arena closed down because of the siege, so I came here to do another quest. Oh, right. By any chance, if you have any spare Arena tickets, could you..."

"No."

"R-right. If you don't, then never mind." Alcott instantly shrank back.

"What kind of quest is it?"

"What? You don't know? It's the quest to track down and subjugate Sadiq's Avatar."

"Ah. That."

"It popped up for every single player in the Auston Kingdom."

The reason Alcott was tracking Sadiq's Avatar wasn't solely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠because the Guild Alliance had ordered him to. Since Sadiq's Avatar hadn't been captured immediately and the damage was steadily mounting, the quest had been issued not just to players near the border, but to players across both kingdoms.

Even if a cult falls, a god does not easily vanish. Sadiq's cult had collapsed and vanished from the continent, but Sadiq's Avatar had successfully resurrected and begun to burn the land. If this rampaging avatar of the god wasn't stopped immediately, a catastrophe might befall the continent!

The kingdom was searching for a hero to resolve this crisis. Solving this crisis would yield a massive reward.

—!!

—I-Is this a peerage quest?

—If it's decided after an audience with the King... doesn't that mean we could get a title?

It was merely speculation, but it was a highly plausible one. A noble title in the Erangs Kingdom, the most prosperous nation on the Central Continent! Unlike the devastated Auston Kingdom or the fractured Atali Kingdom, the Erangs Kingdom was fully intact, and many players' eyes gleamed at the prospect of gaining a title there. Alcott was no exception.

"But you're part of the Guild Alliance. Is it okay for you to receive a fief in the Erangs Kingdom?"

"A fief is always good! Land is unconditionally great!"

He sounds just like my dad... Tae-hyun thought.

It seemed Alcott planned to secure it first and worry about the details later. From the Guild Alliance's perspective, the minor loss of Alcott leaving the Auston Kingdom was far outweighed by the massive benefit of him gaining a prime territory in the Erangs Kingdom.

Did Kim Tae-hyun really not know? Alcott wondered.

Looking at him, Tae-hyun truly seemed clueless about how the Sadiq's Avatar quest was progressing. If Tae-hyun had been the one to summon it, he wouldn't be acting this indifferent.

As expected, Sadiq's Avatar wasn't Kim Tae-hyun's doing. The guild higher-ups have gotten way too paranoid. How could Kim Tae-hyun possibly have pulled that off too?

A few guild members had argued, "Isn't this Kim Tae-hyun's doing? We should launch a preemptive strike! We have to do it now!" Of course, the vast majority of the guild had dismissed it, saying, "Come on... even he couldn't possibly do something like that."

"But if you didn't come here to subjugate Sadiq's Avatar, what are you doing here? There's nothing good for you guys around these parts." Alcott looked at the two of them, puzzled by their bizarre, bandit-like attire.

"Well, that's..."

"Hmm..."

"?"

At that moment, a whisper arrived for Alcott. It was from the executives of the Guild Alliance.

"..."

As Alcott listened to the explanation via whisper, his complexion turned pale. A duo of bandits had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and were wreaking havoc.

"U-uh..."

"Huh? That means yes, right?"

"Uh..."

Cain looked at Alcott, who had suddenly gone mute, and asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"Hmm. Judging by his expression, it looks like he just received a whisper ordering him to capture me."

"?!?!?"

Alcott was horrified, and Cain was equally shocked.

Are there only crazy bastards in this place?!

One guy could recognize someone's identity just by looking at them, and the other could figure out what a whisper said just by looking at someone's expression. It was a terrifying world of extrasensory perception!

"H-how..."

"Your face stiffened when you looked at me, so I took a guess, and what do you know? Did the Guild Alliance really order you to do it?"

"Ah, damn it!" Alcott realized his mistake too late. He should have played dumb!

Seeing this, Cain felt an odd sense of kinship. Man... I understand how you feel.

No matter how much a person prepared themselves mentally, when faced with such a situation, their reflexes would always betray them.

"Well... you are a high-ranking assassin, and it wouldn't be strange for the Guild Alliance to order you to do it," Tae-hyun said.

"Ha, haha. Right."

"Alright. Goodbye." Tae-hyun drew his weapon.

Seeing this, Cain also drew his weapon and said, "I'm sorry. I actually quite liked you..."

"Wait, wait, wait! Why?! I haven't even attacked you!"

"But you're about to."

"I-I won't attack you! Why would I ever attack you?!"

"Even if you don't attack me, you'll still report where I am and who the bandit duo really is. This is so sad, Alcott. I trusted you, but you're going to report every single detail to your superiors..."

Tae-hyun was already assuming Alcott had done it before he even had the chance! Cold sweat poured down Alcott's back.

"I said I won't!"

"You haven't done it yet, but you will soon. That will hurt my feelings, and to make myself feel better, I'll have to track you down and beat you to a pulp... but doing that later is such a hassle, so I might as well do it now. Alcott, my heart aches too. Just take the hit quietly."

"I won't attack, and I won't report! Just trust me!" Alcott screamed with absolute sincerity.

Watching this, Cain thought, Why does this high-ranking Guild Alliance member suddenly become so incredibly polite and submissive the moment he sees Kim Tae-hyun? The rumors said he has a terrible temper. Were the rumors wrong?

Alcott's anger management issues were automatically cured in front of Tae-hyun, but there was no way Cain could know that.

"Really?"

"Really!"

"If you break your promise, I'll hunt you down, kill you, find your respawn point, and keep killing you... Actually, there's no need to explain it in such detail. I'll just treat you the same way I did back in Pan-On 1."

Shiver!

Tae-hyun's single sentence froze Alcott's heart and sent a chill straight down his spine. Alcott nodded his head up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and down frantically. Only then did Tae-hyun and Cain sheathe their weapons.

I-I survived...

Though he had saved his life, Alcott's crisis was far from over. Tae-hyun and Cain began to demand all sorts of things from him.

"Don't say you saw us, and don't say you found us."

"Just say you kept searching but couldn't find us! Isn't my excuse great?" Cain chimed in.

"Oh, right. If the Guild Alliance has any expensive supplies, share some of that info with us."

"And if there's anyone walking around wearing expensive gear, let us know about them too. Focus on the tanks."

"..."

Alcott cursed them in his heart. These absolute highwaymen...

"Wait, wait. I need a plausible excuse too. Does it make any sense for a high-ranking player like me to fail to find two newbie bandits?"

"True..."

"Since I'm currently on the quest to find Sadiq's Avatar, I'll use that quest as an excuse and say I can't do it. How about that?"

"Well, I suppose I can allow that much."

"Th-thanks?"

"Don't mention it."

As they spoke, another whisper arrived for Alcott.

The guild executive had completely misunderstood Alcott's hesitant responses!

—N-No, you don't need to send anyone.

—What? I already sent them. They should be arriving any second.

—W-What?!

Alcott looked at the two of them in sheer panic. "Hey! The guild members are on their way here right now!"

Hearing this, Cain exploded in anger. "What?! You ratted us out already?! You absolute bastard! I trusted you! I thought we were friends!"

"What the hell are you talking about?! They don't know you're here! Just take off those clothes that scream 'I'm a bandit' and change into something else as fast as possible! You guys are good at that, aren't you?!"

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the two of them hurriedly began to change their gear. For Tae-hyun, whose body moved faster than his mind and who already had a mask, it was easy. But Cain was not accustomed to this kind of quick-change act.

The most... the most bizarre and least-used gear I have in my inventory!

The result was a masterpiece of pure, avant-garde fashion.

*Patter, patter—*

"Alcott-nim! Are you here?"

"We've come to help!"

Their tone was stiff and polite. The Guild Alliance members entered the cave with respectful postures. Knowing Alcott's notoriously bad temper, they were being extremely cautious.

We can't let him find any fault with us.

I know. They said Alcott-nim is incredibly picky.

"C-Come on in!"

"?"

Alcott's voice sounded strangely awkward.

As they stepped inside the cave, they saw two unfamiliar players. One was a rogue player, and the other was...

"...???"

"????"

His outfit was so bizarre that it was impossible to even guess his class. It looked like something straight out of a "World's Most Eccentric Fashion" contest!

"A-Alcott-nim. Who are those two?"

"Th-They're my friends."

"Friends? Who are they? Are they high-ranking players we might have heard of?"

They had certainly heard of them, but the moment Alcott revealed their real names, he would likely be branded a traitor and hung out to dry. Even Jang Ssu-an, who wasn't even part of the Guild Alliance but was merely on friendly terms, was currently being dragged through the mud just for hanging out with Tae-hyun...

Alcott desperately racked his brain. An alias, he needed to come up with a suitable alias...

"They aren't high-rankers... Uh... they're Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping."

"..."

Tae-hyun stared at Alcott as if he had completely lost his mind. Why on earth did this crazy bastard choose those of all names?!