Dad’s Old Tricks
“Ahem. Kids. We’re old enough now. We can’t keep doing things like we used to…….”
“……?”
“……?”
The gathered guild members tilted their heads.
Kim Tae-san saying something like that? Of everyone who was best at that sort of thing—who had done it the most, worked the hardest at it, and shown the greatest talent for it—Kim Tae-san was the one.
If a player ran, he chased them down and killed them. If a player resisted, he kept attacking and attacking until they folded. If a guild came at him with a siege, he ground them to dust at the roots. He was vicious.
There had even been a time like that.
As Kim Tae-san’s guild kept dominating, the opposing guilds joined forces and made a plan to attack him together. The scale was so huge that even his own guild members had worried, This might actually be dangerous.
But Kim Tae-san had said calmly, “No need to worry!”
The guild members were flustered, but Kim Tae-san stayed perfectly at ease all the way until the day of the siege.
And on the day of the siege?
None of the enemy guilds logged in.
Kim Tae-san’s guild won by default.
“How the hell did you do that?”
“It’s a secret.”
Kim Tae-san never explained, but the guild members learned the reason another way.
A post appeared on the forum.
The post went on for pages.
Everyone knew all about the Ultimate Supreme Matchless Guild. It was that nasty guild occupying Evalendin Castle and the surrounding area. This time, the writer and his friends had teamed up with others to attack them.
Of course they needed numbers to take on the Ultimate Supreme Matchless Guild, so they gathered several guilds and planned to wage siege war from a PC bang.
But on the day of the siege, do you know what happened?
Some bastard cut the PC bang’s LAN cable and ran off!!!
Was that even possible?
No matter how badly you wanted to win, this was just wrong!
The post was drenched in misery from start to finish.
The guild members all stared with their mouths open.
Bribing an enemy guild member to cut the LAN cable.
What wickedness!
And yet the same Kim Tae-san was now saying, “We’re old enough now. We can’t keep doing things like we used to……”
It was awkward beyond belief.
“What does he mean, ‘things like we used to’?”
“Maybe he means we shouldn’t do it clumsily anymore—we should do it properly?”
“So instead of extorting tax from the guys we can see, he wants us to kill them and take all their items?”
“No, you idiots!”
* * *
After persuading the old guild members, they somehow managed to turn it into a normal guild.
Of course, the guild name was anything but normal.
“Should we go with Ultimate Supreme Matchless Guild again like last time?”
“Wait, wait. What about Ultimate Supreme Matchless Kim Tae-san Guild?”
“No. If we’re putting your name in it, then make it Ultimate Supreme Matchless King God Emperor. How’s that?”
“Cut it out, you lunatics!”
Kim Tae-san snapped, outraged.
Were they trying to make him die of embarrassment?
He cleared his throat with grave dignity and said, “We’ll keep it simple. It’s Ultimate Supreme Matchless Guild.”
Kim Tae-san wasn’t exactly known for great naming sense either.
But the guild members were all impressed.
“That’s amazing!”
“It means we’re preserving the old memories exactly as they were!”
“……You can forget that part.”
* * *
Kim Tae-san kept sighing.
Seeing that, Yang Seong-gyu asked, “Big brother, what’s wrong?”
“……Could you stop calling me big brother?”
“If I don’t call you big brother, what am I supposed to call you? Ah. Should I call you Lord?”
“……Just call me big brother.”
Kim Tae-san sighed.
He had known Yang Seong-gyu for a long time. They’d been brothers in all but blood.
Yang Seong-gyu had been a former athlete who ran a gym, and Kim Tae-san had learned exercise there. That was how they’d become close.
The staff working at the gym were all younger guys Yang Seong-gyu knew, and every one of them was huge.
When they moved around together, they drew every eye in the place.
“Oh my, are they gangsters……?”
“Shh! Quiet!”
“Don’t look at them!”
“Kids. You don’t want your dad to die young, right? Don’t look at them!”
The overwhelming presence they gave off just from their natural looks!
To Kim Tae-san, it was enough to make him cry.
At least he was a local big shot……
Kim Tae-san, Yang Seong-gyu, and the rest of the guild members had once played a game called Lineage like crazy.
The reason Kim Tae-san was called the guild master and lord there was simple. He was the oldest, the strongest, and the richest. Of course that made him the leader.
Even now, Tae-hyun still teased him about it.
“Father. Are you still going around being called Lord? After you told me not to play games!”
Creak.
It was a shameful history Kim Tae-san wanted to kick under the blanket and forget.
“Yes, big brother.”
“Use a quieter voice. Everyone’s staring.”
Yang Seong-gyu was playing an orc too.
He was less flashy than Kim Tae-san, but he was still decked out in all kinds of gleaming gear.
Kim Tae-san and Yang Seong-gyu had something in common with the rest of the guild members.
They were all over forty, and they all held respectable positions in the places they worked.
Whether or not they were the kind of overwhelming landlord Kim Tae-san was, they were a gathering of middle-aged men who ran small and medium-sized businesses, or at least had a CEO title to their name.
They hadn’t started the game from nothing.
They’d started by swiping their credit cards.
“If you pay to win from the start, then you have to replace your gear when you level up?”
“Then just replace it again.”
“They say we should buy stuff that has no level restriction. Potions? Potions are expensive, so use bandages or priests instead? Why bother? Buy the potions too!”
“Quests? You have to circle the whole kingdom to gather the quest items? Just buy them at auction!”
This was the power of paying to win!
The guild only had about ten members, but the money they’d already spent had easily climbed into the hundreds of millions of won.
“Did you hear? He called him big brother!”
“He must be a gangster!”
“A gangster plays this game too?”
Hearing the players murmuring as they passed by, Kim Tae-san felt his face heat up.
“At least call me guild master!”
“Yes, big brother.”
“You little punk!”
“Yes, guild master!”
Is he teasing me?
* * *
Right now, Kim Tae-san and his guild members were in the Espa Kingdom.
The Espa Kingdom lay west of the Erangs Kingdom and was completely separated from the Salz Kingdom. With the Erangs Kingdom between them, there was no chance of running into Tae-hyun for a while.
The reason they could choose the Espa Kingdom was thanks to Choi Sang-yun.
“Sang-yun. Long time no see.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m asking because I’m curious, kid—where did Tae-hyun start in Fantasy Online 2?”
“Huh?”
Choi Sang-yun didn’t understand.
Why are you asking me that?
“Did you fight with Tae-hyun again?”
“No! I’m just asking!”
“Sir…… it’s obvious.”
“Tae-hyun started in the Salz Kingdom. Are you playing Fantasy Online 2 too, sir?”
“Yeah. Ahem. Thanks!”
Because Choi Sang-yun knew their relationship so well, he told him easily.
It wasn’t like Tae-hyun would care much anyway.
Where in the Salz Kingdom is the farthest place from Tae-hyun……? Espa Kingdom, huh.
It was the starting location he’d chosen to avoid Tae-hyun.
There was no way he could tell the guild members that, so Kim Tae-san hid the reason.
“Why the Espa Kingdom?”
“Because it’s great for raising orcs!”
“I see! As expected, big brother, you’re right!”
The guild members were the kind of people who applauded whatever Kim Tae-san said.
* * *
Now Kim Tae-san’s guild members were scattered about, doing their own quests.
They were a little old, but they were growing quickly thanks to their overwhelming financial power and the experience they’d built up from gaming in the old days.
With Kim Tae-san were Yang Seong-gyu and a young guy Yang Seong-gyu had brought along.
Of course, all three of them were orcs.
Kim Tae-san pointed at the orc and asked, “So who’s this guy?”
“His name’s Kim Sang-cheol. He’s a new guy at our gym. Pretty talented.”
“Hello. I’m Kim Sang-cheol.”
“Good. Sang-cheol. Got anything you’re curious about?”
At Kim Tae-san’s question, Kim Sang-cheol hesitated for a moment.
Kim Sang-cheol had never been part of the guild that played games with Kim Tae-san or Yang Seong-gyu.
He was a young boxing athlete, training at Yang Seong-gyu’s gym.
Yang Seong-gyu, the gym owner, had dragged him in and gotten him to start playing, but he still couldn’t understand why the guild members acted so deferentially toward Kim Tae-san.
Seriously, why are they all like this?
Sometimes the guild members were middle-aged men who came by the gym in real life.
Every time they showed up, they’d hand out generous pocket money or buy food, so they were basically rich bosses!
But seeing those bosses bow politely to Kim Tae-san made no sense at all.
Kim Sang-cheol looked at Kim Tae-san’s equipment.
It clearly looked expensive, but the sense of style was bizarre beyond reason.
“This…… how much money did you spend on this?”
“This gear? Not much.”
Kim Tae-san said it lightly.
He really did sound casual, so Kim Sang-cheol thought, Oh, I guess it really wasn’t much.
“I just started out by spending, what, about a hundred million won.”
“……!”
“Sang-cheol, I’ll give you money too, so buy whatever you need.”
Yang Seong-gyu gave Kim Sang-cheol an odd look.
Only then did Kim Sang-cheol understand.
Why Kim Tae-san was the boss.
“Big brother!”
His head bowed on its own.
“I told you not to call me big brother, you punk!”
* * *
Moving around with Yang Seong-gyu and Kim Sang-cheol, Kim Tae-san steeled himself.
As a father, there was no way he could lose to his son.
That brat. Come on then! I’ve played games at least twice as much as you have!
The will of his old-game-addict self began to burn.
He knew Tae-hyun was good at games.
And Tae-hyun was still young—basically in his prime.
By contrast, Kim Tae-san was middle-aged. In terms of reflexes and stamina, he was bound to fall behind Tae-hyun.
But Kim Tae-san was confident he could make up the gap.
With numbers.
And with pay-to-win.
Kim Tae-san knew Tae-hyun well.
Of course he knew his style too.
He’s definitely off somewhere acting all cool and solo, isn’t he?
No matter how good a merchant was,