A Waste of Good Silver Tongue

'Using my Speech skill like this is a bit anticlimactic.' Tae-hyun, however, was feeling incredibly bored. It felt like using a butcher's cleaver to carve a tiny chicken.

"Come to think of it, a friend of mine once met that wicked mage living down below."

"...!" Tae-hyun's eyes widened. Finally, some useful information. "And? How was it?"

"My friend said he took one look and ran for his life. He said a terrifying aura of death was practically overflowing from the guy."

Undead monsters like Liches sat at the absolute pinnacle of the undead hierarchy. By nature, undead creatures possessed and radiated the energy of death. A Lich was so potent that merely walking around would contaminate its surroundings with deathly energy. It wasn't called a land of death for nothing; even if a Lich did absolutely nothing, low-grade undead would naturally spawn around it.

"But... I think his height was a bit on the shorter side..."

'A short race?' If it was a short race, Dwarves or Goblins immediately came to mind. Then again, he could just be a short human.

'Hmm... Is there any way to befriend a Lich?' You didn't necessarily have to fight every NPC. It was just a matter of probability; it was entirely possible to build rapport even with boss monsters. Pandemonium Online was a game where anything was possible! Tae-hyun began to systematically review his options.

'First of all, I have advanced dark magic skills, and my Infamy is quite high.' Monsters like Liches were notoriously finicky, but they fundamentally preferred the Infamy stat over Reputation. And when it came to skills, they would definitely appreciate dark magic!

"..." Tae-hyun grimaced. 'What's wrong with Nevuchadnezzar's dark magic...?'

Just because Nevuchadnezzar was a fellow dark mage didn't mean every dark mage in the world would happily support his insane plot to turn every living being on earth into undead thralls. They weren't all going to say, "Oh, Lord Nevuchadnezzar! Since we're both dark mages, of course I must help you, hehe!"

Naturally, there were bound to be dark mages who reacted with, "Are you out of your mind, you absolute psycho?"

And it wasn't just one god, but multiple! Tae-hyun was practically a walking, talking gift set of various divine Holy powers.

'Yeah. I guess we're fighting.'

No matter how he looked at it, friendship was out of the question! He had thought that since he possessed dark magic and Lich-related elements, there might be a chance to get close... but there were far too many things the Lich would absolutely despise!

'Ah. But I also have the title of Successor of the Magic Tower's Dark Magic Faction.'

Swing the pickaxe. Strike the rock. When ore appears, inspect it and hand it over to the nearby Chimera. The Chimeras then swiftly carry it out of the dungeon and deposit it in the Sky Castle's blacksmith workshop. Repeat this process infinitely...

There was nothing inherently wrong with this. Pandemonium Online was a game where those who grinded did so with absolute, unhinged devotion. While the advertisements showcased lush green fields, unexplored worlds, and never-before-seen monsters and NPCs... behind the scenes, there were always players who spent twenty-four hours a day doing nothing but swinging a pickaxe. It was a rite of passage that every crafting class had to endure.

Furthermore, Tae-hyun was a player who had been renowned as a master blacksmith since the days of Pandemonium Online 1. He knew exactly how to exploit labor with maximum efficiency. The real problem lay with the viewers watching his stream!

The viewers were screaming in outrage at being scammed. He had been swinging that pickaxe for hours now. It was a level of boredom that could drive any sane viewer mad! Of course, there were always some eccentric outliers.

These were the diehard fans who had followed Tae-hyun since Pandemonium Online 1! To them, the sight of this grand, sweatshop-like operation brought back a wave of nostalgia. This was what a real blacksmith looked like!

Of course, unlike the blacksmith enthusiasts, the average players were dying of sheer boredom.

Indeed. With the viewer count reaching hundreds of thousands, all kinds of trolls and instigators were coming out of the woodwork. Some of them went straight to the Guild Alliance's community pages and posted things like, "Guild Alliance! Kim Tae-hyun is raiding your dungeon! Are you just going to sit there and take it?" Of course, this only made the Guild Alliance infinitely more furious. They knew damn well these trolls didn't actually care about them!

It was a wave of global encouragement they had never received before! Fight! Fight! Fight! Deeply moved by this passionate support, the Guild Alliance decided to show them what they were made of.

The Guild Alliance members ultimately gave up trying to argue. With hundreds of thousands of people flocking in from all over the world, dealing with them individually was an impossible task. Instead, they simply posted a brief official guild announcement.

Upon seeing the announcement, a clueless guild member asked in the guild chat:

"Hmm..." Tae-hyun thoroughly inspected the bedrock and walls with the discerning eye of a master craftsman. The rankers shuddered at the sight. That nitpicking bastard! How many times had he already declared their work "unsatisfactory"?

"Strike here."

"..."

"See? A new vein of ore. Mine all of this too."

"Aaaaargh! Uwaaaah! Sob... Why did we ever act so cocky about clearing an unexplored dungeon...!"

The rankers clung to each other, weeping. They wanted to log out! Swinging a pickaxe non-stop was driving them to the brink of insanity.

It was getting hard to tell if the message windows popping up in front of them were real or hallucinations!

'That... that nagging mother-in-law of a bastard...!'

'He's a literal demon...!'

'What kind of fault is he going to find this time?!'

Every minor movement Tae-hyun made put the rankers on high alert.

"...Hmm. It seems we've finally gathered everything. Pass!"

"...Waaaaaaaah!"

"Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun! Kim Tae-hyun!"

The rankers cheered, tears of blood practically streaming down their faces.

"!"

They even received unexpected stat bonuses! If they could farm stats like this, maybe the rankers could use this method to raise their stats in the future...

'Are you insane?'

'Have you lost your mind?'

'Why the hell would anyone do this when they could just level up in that time??'

...Or not. Though they were half-mad, they hadn't completely lost their minds yet. If they had to suffer this much just to raise their stats, they would much rather hunt monsters and level up normally!

"Oh." Tae-hyun paused. A sudden deluge of urgent reports had started flooding in from Power Warrior. Lee Da-bi froze as well. Yu Ji-soo, Choi Sang-yun, and Jeong Su-hyeok all stiffened. Then, Tae-hyun's group slowly turned their heads to look at the rankers.

"W-what? Why are you looking at us like that?"

"...Have you guys checked the forums?"

"No, why... Oh my god."

"...!!!!!"

The rankers hurriedly checked their screens, their faces instantly turning pale.

Every single one of the World Tree rankers' names was listed. Except for Kim Tae-hyun! It was clear they were dead serious.

'Hmm. I wonder if Johansson and Suana know about this?' Tae-hyun wondered as he looked at the list. Johansson and Suana hadn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠really done anything wrong, but because they were perceived as part of the same group, their names had been dragged into the bounty list.

"We're... we're doomed!"

"This is a disaster...!"

The rankers trembled with sheer terror. Because of their high levels, they understood the weight of a kill-on-sight order far better than anyone else. It meant they would have to expect ambushes from guilds or bounty hunters wherever they went! To avoid it, they would either have to stop logging in entirely or hide in completely desolate areas.

Normally, high-level players avoided outright conflict to save face for one another... Only now did the rankers realize how naive they had been. Their assumption of, 'Since they hate Kim Tae-hyun so much, they'll target him instead of us, right?' had been incredibly foolish! If the Guild Alliance couldn't touch Kim Tae-hyun, it was obvious who they would target instead.

"Aaaargh! Those Guild Alliance bastards! How could they do this!" The viewers watching the stream began to echo the rankers' outrage.

"...Stream ending! Ending the stream!" The furious rankers shut down their broadcasts entirely. These viewers were clearly just pouring gasoline on the fire! It was painfully obvious they were pretending to be worried while actually being thrilled at the prospect of chaos.

Watching the rankers shut down ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their streams as if they had planned it together, Tae-hyun spoke quietly.

"Just my opinion, but I don't think that's how you should run a stream."

"..."

"..."

The rankers stared at him, their mouths agape, completely speechless.

"This... this has to be a mistake!"

First, denial.

"Those Guild Alliance bastards...! Placing a bounty on us just because we raided a mine?! They're just too chicken to touch Kim Tae-hyun, aren't they?!"

Next, anger.

"Can't we just cancel it now? If we apologize and back out now, maybe..."

Then, bargaining.

"It's all over... sob... I should've known when we were at the World Tree..."

Fourth, depression.

"Sigh. Honestly, I was thinking of quitting the game back during the World Tree incident anyway."

And finally, acceptance.

Tae-hyun watched them in sheer admiration.

'They're going through the five stages of grief in perfect order.'

It was truly a shame he was the only one witnessing this!