The Ultimate Evolution of Watching a House Burn

"Let's grab the reward first, get out of here, and then think about it. If we absolutely can't handle Lalgrgal, we can always dump him on the royal palace." He was on relatively good terms with the King of Erance, but there was no need to make an enemy out of him just yet. He could make that decision when he was absolutely sure he couldn't shake Lalgrgal off!

Come to think of it, will Lalgrgal follow me even if I head out to sea? He probably will.

"Hey, Kim Tae-hyun."

"?"

When Cain spoke up, Tae-hyun looked at him, puzzled. What was he about to say?

"Instead of using Erance Kingdom as a sacrificial pawn, wouldn't it be better to ask Lee Se-yeon for help?"

"What kind of absolute nonsense are you spouting, Cain? Why on earth would she help me?"

"No, I mean, from what I heard earlier, she said she'd help you if you just apologized..."

"And that's exactly why it's nonsense."

"I-is it?" Cain couldn't understand. Why on earth was that nonsense?

"Besides, what do I even have to apologize for?"

"Deceiving her and using her...?"

"That was a perfectly fair transaction."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone around them fell dead silent.

"Guys. Just so you know, what you're riding right now is my mount."

"I-it was a perfectly fair transaction!"

"Exactly! Exactly! Lee Se-yeon is the weird one here!"

The party reacted instantly. None of them wanted to be thrown off and plummet to their deaths!

"But what Lee Se-yeon was talking about..."

"Cain. Do you want to get off?"

"N-no! Can't a guy even speak?!"

"Whew. Go ahead, speak. Just don't forget to think three times before you open your mouth."

"Ugh... She said the apology she wanted was for what happened back in Pan-On 1... What did you even do back then?"

Not Pan-On 2, but Pan-On 1! She was demanding an apology for something that happened during the first generation of Pandemonium Online.

"Hmm. There's even less reason for me to apologize for Pan-On 1."

I was the one who lost! Tae-hyun became even more confident. He was the loser, so why was she the one acting like this?

Alcott, who had been listening to the conversation, chimed in.

"You might just be forgetting something, Kim Tae-hyun."

"Nah. I don't think so."

"I'm telling you, you are! Think back carefully!"

Alcott shouted, losing his temper. I'm standing right here, someone who died to you countless times in Pan-On 1!

"Why are you the one getting angry?"

"N-no, it's not that... Just... try to remember...!"

Crawford looked at Alcott with pity. Alcott was supposed to be a pretty big deal, but whenever he crossed paths with Kim Tae-hyun, he turned into this...

"Hmm... Maybe one of the guilds I blew up or wiped out was close to Lee Se-yeon... But isn't that just part of the game? A guy's gotta make a living. When they block a dungeon entrance and claim 'this spot is taken,' what else am I supposed to say besides 'Sure, taken for your grave'?"

"If you just paid them..."

"Did they build the dungeon? Why should I pay?"

"True, that makes sense."

Crawford agreed. Kim Tae-hyun was notoriously infamous for beating up rankers left and right, but his refusal to bow down to anyone in that manner was highly commendable.

So what if they were a giant guild! When large guilds made unreasonable demands, ordinary players had no choice but to swallow their pride and endure it, no matter how dirty or unfair it felt. They were at too much of a disadvantage to fight back. But Tae-hyun was different. If something wasn't fair, he would throw a punch first, regardless of how strong or weak the opponent was. "You think you're that strong? Follow me into the dungeon, you bastard!" It wasn't for nothing that Tae-hyun was so popular. To the players suffering under the tyranny of the giant guilds, Tae-hyun was nothing short of a hero.

"Forget about Lee Se-yeon. Let's check the items first. Towang-i, you ready?"

Karung.

Towang-i nodded with a grimace. It made sense, considering his stomach was currently stuffed with every evil item imaginable.

Ptu, ptu, ptu!

"Demons. Start sorting. Separate the poison-related stuff, separate the alchemy-related stuff, and just organize everything so it's easy to look at."

"Yes, sir!"

"Wow! Chores! This is so exciting!"

The demons moved with enthusiasm. Compared to Lalgrgal, this was heaven! Meanwhile, Tae-hyun checked his newly acquired skills.

Hmm. But Carbanog.

Shouldn't it be 'bestow'? Why is it 'steal'? Don't tell me...

Haha. It's just my imagination, right?

Even putting the wording aside, the skill was hard to understand just by reading the description. It was a skill he had to use to truly grasp!

Is it just a random item skill? I already have the Goblin Fabricator. Is this a better version?

"Archisus's Contaminated Totem!"

Thud!

A heavy, pillar-like totem slammed down in front of Tae-hyun. Strange, bizarre patterns were engraved upon it.

"Which order's symbol is this? It doesn't look like the Archisus Church's symbol..."

"Yeah, you're right. It's a bizarre pattern I've never seen before."

"Wait. This part here, doesn't it look like the Sadiq Church's symbol?"

"And this part... looks like the Phytos Church..."

"This part looks like Lord Edaor's crest..."

The party stared at Tae-hyun with highly suspicious eyes. What on earth was going on here?

Tae-hyun ignored them and offered a prayer.

A Legendary-grade dagger!

The Nightstalker's Fang was a whopping Legendary-grade dagger perfectly suited for the Assassin class. It had a level requirement in the high 100s, along with various stat and skill restrictions—something only high-ranking players could use...

Wait. This equipment looks incredibly familiar.

Specifically, it looked exactly like the weapon he had seen in Alcott's hands countless times!

"M-my dagger?!"

Alcott shrieked in sheer horror. He thought he was past the point of being easily shocked, but this time he was genuinely terrified.

A message window like that had popped up, and then his weapon had simply vanished with a whoosh. He had never seen such a crazy skill in his entire life! What kind of highway robbery skill was this?!

"My... my gear! What happened to it?! That was incredibly hard to get..."

"Calm down, calm down. It's right here."

Tae-hyun handed the dagger back. Alcott let out a massive sigh of relief and stammered, "T-thank..."

Is that really something to be thankful for? Crawford ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thought to himself. He literally just stole it and handed it back, so crying tears of gratitude over that seemed a bit...

"Hmm. So that's what this skill does. I should test it out some more."

"..."

"..."

Cain and Crawford, quick on the uptake, quietly stood up and tried to back away. No matter how they looked at it, nothing good was going to come of this!

"Haha. Guys, stay right there. Do you really think I'd steal your stuff and return it?"

Pray! Pray!

Until the totem's duration ran out and it vanished, Tae-hyun kept offering prayers and testing the skill.

With this, it was confirmed. This skill literally snatched any random item in the vicinity and placed it in Tae-hyun's hands!

Usually, shouldn't a god bestow something of their own? Stealing from the surroundings to give to me...

He felt like the Authorities of Archisus were slowly revealing their true, shameless colors. While ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the fact that the acquired items were completely random made it slightly awkward to use, the ability to steal someone else's item without a single penalty meant this was hardly a weakness.

If I just drop a totem and pray nearby when other people are fighting...

It was the ultimate evolution of watching a house burn from a safe distance!

Ah, right. I should check out the Holy War too.

The newly acquired church feature, Holy War! Was it a church quest?

If so, that's kind of lame.

Anyone else would have been thrilled to unlock a new church feature, but Tae-hyun wasn't. Why?

Because his church was broke!

Even though the Archisus Church had expanded its influence across the continent, there was barely any profit left over. They were barely scraping by just to maintain their current state.

Just the name alone sounds like it's going to cost a fortune...

As expected, do I have to pay for all of this?

To attract people, the church had to offer rewards...

However, Tae-hyun's assumption was premature.

"!!!"

Wait, Archisus is actually doing this?! For any other order, it would be a case of 'Well, obviously the god should handle this!' But since it was the Archisus Church, this kind of generosity was deeply unsettling. This wasn't the kind of church that did things like this!

This is so touching. It's so touching that it's actually suspicious.

Though he said that, Tae-hyun felt the corners of his mouth twitching upward. What an opportunity! He would gladly take it!

But it's a bit awkward to use right now. It would have been great if I got this when we were actively fighting the Guild Alliance...

Now that the Guild Alliance was practically ruined, it felt like a waste to use it on them.

It was a logical piece of advice, but somehow it felt incredibly ominous!

Well, that's true.

"W-we lost...?"

"This is impossible...!"

The rankers of the Guild Alliance spoke with shocked faces. They had lost! Of course, they lost to Tae-hyun on a regular basis, but he was an exception. Excluding Kim Tae-hyun, they almost never lost! Yet, they were currently abandoning their fortress and retreating.

The territory war between the Guild Alliance and the Midas Guild! A clash between the Midas Guild, which occupied the western part of the Auston Kingdom, and the Guild Alliance, which held the rest, was practically inevitable. And the Midas Guild had displayed an unexpected level of power.

"Losing to Kim Tae-hyun is one thing, but to lose to those leftovers...!"

"This is seriously ridiculous...!"

The rankers of the Guild Alliance gnashed their teeth as they retreated. They hadn't expected the Midas Guild to mobilize that many people. They had severely underestimated them.

"We also lost some of the spoils we brought back from the Atali Kingdom."

"Urgh...!"

"Raise your heads! It's not over yet."

Su Ning had rushed over personally upon hearing the news. The guild members raised their heads and turned their gazes toward him.

"We lost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠today! Yes, I admit it! But those guys are not Kim Tae-hyun! They are opponents we can easily defeat! I am currently mobilizing all of our rankers and guild members. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Once everyone is gathered, we will attack that fortress again! Let's show those dropouts who the real guild is!"

"...Whoaaaaaa!"

In a situation where the atmosphere could have easily turned sour after their recent defeat, Su Ning's personal cry for revenge reignited the guild members' enthusiasm. A war of revenge mobilizing every single ranker and guild member! At first glance, it seemed like an inefficient move, but it was exactly what the Guild Alliance needed. Running a guild wasn't just about numbers; morale and momentum played a huge part.

The Midas Guild was on the rise, while the Guild Alliance was on the decline! To reverse this trend, they had to prove that the Guild Alliance was still very much alive.

"What an incredible blacksmith workshop! I've played Pan-On a lot, but I've never seen such an amazing forge!"

"??"

"????"

The Mechanical Engineering Blacksmiths stared at the customer with looks that clearly said, Who is this weirdo? It was an incredibly unusual reaction for a customer visiting their workshop. Normally, the reactions were more like...

"Aaaah! What is this?!"

"Can I just leave?"

"Is this really a blacksmith workshop?"

"Wait, why are you guys making bombs instead of weapons in a forge?!"

Those were the standard reactions.

"It's absolutely magnificent! A forge like this... I wish we had one in our territory as well!"

"Your territory? Who are you?"

"I am from the Midas Guild."