Betrayal (2)

Jin-soo's face flushed with fierce, unrestrained joy. Got it. I actually got it.

"We won!"

"We got it! We got it!"

"Waaaaah!"

The players erupted in cheers of victory right along with him. Then a vast flood of system messages crashed down before their eyes.

Rewards poured down like a flood. The instant they ended, level-up messages unfolded before Jin-soo's eyes.

A fat haul. Worth looking forward to.

The blessings swallowed the newly gained titles and the risen levels without the slightest hesitation.

And with that, the blessings surged with a frenzy he had not felt in a very long time.

I'll check the important parts later.

Jin-soo dismissed one of his Army Summons, then cast the skill again.

A blinding flare burst outward. From the Bone Dragon's body—already split into three pieces and crumbling away—something pure white surged up and began knitting itself together at furious speed.

Success. He had forged the Bone Dragon's Hun, its ascending soul, into an Army Summon.

"Huh? What's that?"

"Wasn't it over?"

The players who witnessed it flinched in alarm.

No need to show them a Bone Dragon turned summon. Not right away.

Before the Army Summon made from the Bone Dragon's Hun could take full form, Jin-soo dismissed it.

The Hun is an Army Summon now. Next came the Po—the lingering physical spirit.

Jin-soo switched his Holy-affinity status window over to the Dark-affinity one, then forged the Bone Dragon's Po into an Army Summon as well.

Darkness rushed in. From the place where the Bone Dragon's remains had vanished completely, a black current gathered, condensed, and began taking the shape of something pitch-black.

"What? Is the Bone Dragon coming back to life?"

"You saw the system message! It's dead! It's definitely dead!"

"Then what the hell is that!"

Weapons came out. The players braced for another fight.

For crying out loud. They're even worse than a moment ago.

Before the uproar could swell any further, Jin-soo dismissed the Army Summon made from the Bone Dragon's Po.

"It's gone."

"What was that, anyway?"

"Right?"

"Anyway, we got it! We got it!"

"Wonder what the rewards are."

"Yeah."

Every gaze converged on the spot where the Bone Dragon's remains had disappeared.

First place. Seventy-two percent.

Jin-soo paid the dropped items no mind. The contribution rate was what held him.

I didn't think it would come out this high.

Thousands of players had joined the Bone Dragon raid. He had played the decisive role, yes—but measured against that many participants, seventy-two percent was absurdly high.

The ones who bailed midway clearly weren't credited at all.

If the tally had been settled only among the survivors of the three hundred who stayed to the end, then seventy-two percent was entirely plausible.

Which means the ones who retreated early didn't receive the Impossible Feat or the titles either. If they had any shame, they'd keep quiet.

The odds of that were poor.

There's going to be no small amount of trouble over what the Bone Dragon left behind.

Those who had retreated first would demand their share. Those who had stayed would insist that, since they had killed it, the spoils were theirs. Achievements, titles, and items granted automatically were beyond anyone's reach—but the items dropped when the Bone Dragon dissipated were another matter entirely.

They might even throw a fit and demand we hand over the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠items the system already gave us.

Having received neither ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠achievements nor titles, they might insist on items in their place. And Jin-soo's prediction hit the mark exactly.

"Our Yellow Dragon Guild was the first to spill blood in that fight! And now you say you can't give us anything? What kind of nonsense is that!"

"You ran away in the middle, and now you won't shut up. The system decided you abandoned the Bone Dragon raid."

"It was a tactical retreat, nothing more! We were about to rejoin, I tell you!"

"He's right. We only fell back for a moment to regroup. Once we were ready, we fully intended to return."

The Yellow Dragon Guild and the Minamoto Guild—the first to bolt the moment the battle turned against them—were the ones raising their voices now.

"We only retreated for strategic reasons as well."

"That's right! We were going to rejoin too!"

Once Yellow Dragon and Minamoto led the outcry, most of the mega-guilds fell in behind them, the American Alliance and the Ivan Guild among them.

Only three had fought to the very end alongside Jin-soo: the Daehan Guild, the Ollihi Guild, and the Upendo Guild. Every other mega-guild had fled.

"Stop forcing it. You know perfectly well what it means that the system didn't credit your contribution."

At the Ollihi Guild Master's words, the protesting guild masters' faces stiffened. Even so, they could not walk away empty-handed after taking nothing but losses.

"The system simply failed to recognize our strategic retreat."

"Exactly! It's not as if the system can read our minds!"

"Fine—forget the achievements and the titles. But the items, at least, have to be split fairly!"

"First, bring out the loot the system already distributed by contribution. That's the only way to make a fair division."

Watching them covet even the items automatically allotted by contribution, the members of Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo went rigid as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stone.

"You ran because your lives were precious, and now you're spouting this garbage?"

"Cowards, get lost!"

"Bring out the loot the system split by contribution? You call that something a person says?"

Members of the Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo Guilds protested harshly.

"You would do well to acknowledge our merits."

"Push us like this, and we'll have no choice but to use force—to collect the blood price for the guild members who died."

"Words aren't getting through, are they? You still don't see the situation."

Starting with Yellow Dragon and Minamoto, the guilds that had retreated drew their weapons and began closing a ring around them.

So it comes to this after all.

Jin-soo frowned.

Blinded by greed.

Yellow Dragon and Minamoto were the loudest, but the other guilds felt the same in their hearts. That was why they were lending those two their weight and moving with them.

And they're confident they'll win no matter what.

Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo had fought the Bone Dragon to the last. Naturally, they had suffered the worst of it. Some lay gravely wounded and still under treatment. Others gasped beneath stacked curses. Even those who looked whole on the outside had their mana and stamina drained to nothing.

The difference in numbers was just as severe. Put together, Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo numbered a little over two hundred and fifty. The guilds that had retreated fielded more than three thousand.

"Every one of you is blind with greed. Do you truly believe you're demanding a just reward right now?"

Kim Young-cheol asked it while looking at the guild masters of the American Alliance, the Alsani Guild, and the Ivan Guild.

Before the Bone Dragon, the Daehan Guild and the Upendo Guild had sealed a secret pact with the American Alliance, Alsani, and Ivan. In ordinary times they had been on good terms as well.

"Kim Young-cheol. Are you saying what we're demanding now isn't legitimate?"

The guild master of the American Alliance laid iron across his face and answered in dead earnest. The masters of Alsani and Ivan were no different.

"We bled and fought alongside you."

"Of course we have the right to demand compensation equal to that."

When even those three—the ones with whom there had been friendship, even a secret pact—took that line, Kim Young-cheol's face hardened to stone.

If I followed my heart, I'd curse them out. Cowards who ran, and not a shred of shame between them.

Act on emotion here, and Daehan's elites could be wiped out on the spot.

Damn it...

The injustice of it set his teeth grinding on their own, but there was nothing he could do.

"A fair distribution, is it. Then how do you intend to set the standard? The way I see it, the Yellow Dragon Guild and the Minamoto Guild led from the front, fought most bravely, and shed the most blood."

Kim Young-cheol subtly took the side of Yellow Dragon and Minamoto, the guilds that had suffered heavy losses. It was not because the traitors—the American Alliance, Alsani, and Ivan—irked him, nor because he found Yellow Dragon and Minamoto particularly likable.

If they fall to fighting among themselves, we have a chance.

What the guilds that had retreated wanted was the loot from hunting the Out-of-Spec Monster, the Bone Dragon. If they turned on one another over that loot, it would become a fight worth having.

"Hey, Kim Young-cheol. Do we look like fools to you?"

The guild master of the American Alliance said it with a smile full of mockery.

"First, hand over every item you gained from the Bone Dragon raid. We'll handle the splitting ourselves."

"Haven't you already profited more than enough, just by obtaining the achievements and titles? If you've gained that much, you ought to know when to yield the rest."

The guild masters who had retreated so shrewdly were not foolish enough to fall for a ploy that obvious. Infighting over the ratio might come later. For now, they knew enough to stick together and secure the loot from the fallen Bone Dragon first.

"Hand over everything?"

Kim Young-cheol's expression hardened. So did those of the guild masters of Ollihi and Upendo.

"Yes. If you don't like it, there's nothing we can do. We'll simply have to take our share by force..."

Faced with greed laid bare, the faces of the Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo members darkened. The achievements and titles were great, true. But the items that had come of killing the Bone Dragon—class advancement tomes and skill books among them—were of staggering value as well. And now men who had not even fought to the end, who had fled midway, were demanding that precious loot be handed over in full. Rage was the only possible answer.

"Your share? Don't make me laugh!"

"You ran away in the middle, and now you're going to rob us in broad daylight!"

"Do you have any idea how much worse our losses got because you dropped out halfway!"

"How is what you're doing any different from player killers!"

"You think we're just going to stand here and take it!"

Some of the enraged members of Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo protested fiercely. The players who had retreated midway put on studied indifference, tightened the encirclement, and leveled their weapons.

Damn it. If we fight, we have no chance.

They were short on numbers. Curses still clung to them. Neither their drained stamina nor their mana had recovered.

Kim Young-cheol exchanged a look with the guild masters of Ollihi and Upendo.

Both shook their heads. They, too, admitted that a fight offered no chance of victory.

I knew the Tower was a world where the strong devour the weak.

He had believed that once the guilds settled on Floor 100, some measure of order had formed, and rules along with it. Today, that belief shattered to pieces.

"Fine. We'll hand them over."

At Kim Young-cheol's words, the faces of those holding the ring brightened.

"Guild Master!"

"How can you give in this easily!"

The Daehan members, by contrast, went dark all at once.

"The Ollihi Guild will hand them over as well."

"So will the Upendo Guild."

Following Daehan, Ollihi and Upendo signaled their surrender. They knew the others were forcing an absurd claim—but without power, there was nothing to be done.

I'll pay this debt back in full.

I will never forget this.

I will never trust you bastards again.

The three guild masters swore vengeance in their hearts.

"Then step away from there. And set everything you received as a reward down on the ground."

The guild master of the Minamoto Guild issued the order to the members of Daehan, Ollihi, and Upendo, smug confidence on his face. Then he turned an arrogant glare on Jin-soo.

"Hey. You in the mask. Don't stand there pretending you don't know what's going on. You step back too. And put down every item you got as a reward."

"Ah. Hold on."

The man serving as acting guild master of the Yellow Dragon Guild cut in.

"We can't just take that one's items and let it go. Hey, you—how exactly did you learn skills from all those different classes? Tell us, too. Good things ought to be shared, right? What's the point of hogging them?"

At those words, the faces of the other guild masters—Minamoto, the American Alliance, and the rest—stiffened slightly. Demanding the Bone Dragon's loot was a naked sham, but it had at least a scrap of justification. Asking about another player's class or skills, the contents of a status window, had none. Worse, information that amounted to a player's hidden arts was, by the Tower's unspoken rule, never pried out by force—not even among those in the same guild or party—unless the owner chose to reveal it first. Putting a question like that to a player with whom one did not even have a passing acquaintance was as good as openly picking a fight.

"What? You don't want to know?"

The acting guild master of Yellow Dragon looked around at the others, utterly shameless.

"Ahem."

"Hmm. Hmm."

The guild masters averted their eyes and pretended not to notice. It sat a little uneasy, since there was no justification for it. But they were just as curious about the secret of the man who used skills from multiple classes. If Yellow Dragon was willing to stick its neck out, they had no intention of openly opposing it. Play ignorant, let it pass, and that would be the end of it. Wouldn't it?

"Looks like everyone's in favor. Hey—cooperate nicely, and I might even set a share aside for you. So don't get any ideas about resisting. Talk."

A long sigh slipped from Jin-soo's mouth.

"That's right. Give up. It's easier once you do."

The acting guild master of Yellow Dragon spoke with a triumphant look. Then Jin-soo's mouth opened.

Jin-soo's eyes flooded with thick killing intent.