Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The Pub's Toll
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I turned my head and saw a burly player with a Mohican haircut and slit eyes reaching out his hand to block my path.
“Hey. Take a look at me for a sec?”
He looked Chinese based on his appearance.
Why was he on the Korean server? The question popped into my head just as Michael's face came to mind.
‘A foreigner staying in Korea.’
I scanned him from head to toe, checking his stats.
His gear marked him as nothing special.
A wooden club studded with nails for a weapon, a gold necklace. White sneakers that barely qualified as armor, and black shorts.
Just your average neighborhood thug.
“What?”
“Entrance fee. Gotta pay up to get in.”
Entrance fee?
I tilted my head.
“Entrance fee?”
“If you’re coming into someone else’s place, you pay the fee, right?”
“…… This is your place?”
“Yeah. For you, specially, just a hundred Jenny. Trade request!”
A hundred Jenny?
Unless it was a main event, it was tough to earn more than twenty Jenny at a time. Charging a hundred just to enter a pub?
What kind of nonsense was this?
[System Message]
[Player ‘Li Kourana’ has requested a trade with ‘Kim Cheonjae.’]
[‘Kim Cheonjae’s’ trade acceptance is OFF, so the request is canceled.]
Idiot.
Did he really think someone who’d reached the third round would leave their trade window open like a fool?
“What? You got your trade window closed?”
“…… Move your hand. I don’t want to waste time.”
“What?”
“I said move your hand.”
“Waste time? Do you…. even know who I am?”
“That’s why I’m telling you to move quick.”
Li Kourana and his crew burst out laughing at me like I was a joke.
They didn’t look Korean from their outfits, and there were way too many of them.
I glanced around casually—over twenty guys who looked like they were with him, just from different groups.
Too many to handle alone.
Dangerous.
Li Kourana swung his club past my head.
Whoosh—whoosh—
“Guess you don’t get the situation. Wanna die?”
“……”
“You look all pretty and shit. Why make it hard? I’m offering to spare your life for just a hundred Jenny. You must’ve gotten reward Jenny from finishing the second round anyway, right?”
Rage boiled up inside me.
One-on-one, I could flatten him in seconds.
But that’d just get me lynched by the group.
If only there was more space, I could’ve fought and run.
“Why aren’t you answering? You gonna pay the hundred Jenny or not?”
As I sighed and looked around, my eyes caught a blue window floating in the air.
Right next to my status window.
I read the entire description of the blue window, and a smile crept onto my lips.
[This is a tough situation you can’t handle alone.]
Meaning, it wasn’t tough if I wasn’t alone.
“…… Can’t give it. Won’t give it. Why the hell would I hand over my Jenny to a punk like you?”
“Looks like you really wanna die, huh?”
“The one who wants to die is you.”
The pig-like Li Kourana leaned back in his chair, letting out a hollow laugh.
“What? Ha? Hahaha…. You got groupmates nearby or something?”
“Nope.”
“Then where’s all that confidence coming from?”
“Who knows.”
The pub owner rushed out from behind the bar. He adjusted his cowboy hat and threw an arm around my shoulder.
“Looks like you’re new to town. Even the soldiers can’t touch these guys, so just pay the hundred Jenny and move on.”
Wasn’t the pub owner an NPC?
I didn’t get why he was saying this crap, but it grated on my nerves even more.
Helping a lowly thug player like that.
“Sorry, owner.”
“What?”
“Looks like your place is gonna get messy.”
“…… Kid. You’ll get yourself killed.”
“The ones dying won’t be me. It’ll be them.”
I flashed a faint smile and pushed the cowboy’s hand away.
Then I whispered so only I could hear.
“Park… Gyu… hwan…. Come… here….”
Li Kourana leaned in toward me.
“What’d you say?”
“Park… Gyuhwan…. Come… here… quick….”
“What’re you mumbling? Park what? Your buddy’s name? Say it louder.”
“…… Park Gyuhwan. Come here quick.”
“Park Gyuhwan?”
[Summon List]
-Park Gyuhwan (Soldier) 1/1: In Combat
Crash!!
The pub window shattered as a man in a black suit and steel goblin mask burst in.
“You called?”
Everyone in the pub froze the moment Park Gyuhwan appeared.
In the five years we hadn’t met due to the system, he’d grown too—radiating an ominous aura.
Li Kourana’s buddies jumped up, grabbing whatever weapons they had.
Steel pipes, sashimi knives, spears made from sharpened shovels.
They looked just like the third-rate gang extras in a cheap Chinese flick.
-What, what the hell? That guy? Isn’t he a soldier?
-Why’s a soldier here at this hour….
-Kill him! He’s alone, so just kill him!
-Yeah!
Park Gyuhwan slowly drew the sword from his back.
Shiiiing—
A silver longsword made for fighting Z Virus infected.
Its edge was so well-forged it could slice through an ogre’s thick bones with ease.
With two pistols at his waist, he must’ve been running with a search party while I was gone.
“Park Gyuhwan, show them what happens.”
Snap!
The moment I snapped my fingers, Park Gyuhwan sprang into action.
Slash—
He swung horizontally, severing the wrist of the guy gripping a sashimi knife.
“Gahk!”
Under the flickering lights, Park Gyuhwan’s bloodied blade gleamed.
Swipe—!
Three enemies standing in the arc of his left-to-right swing collapsed.
Clang!
One of them dropped a steel pipe as he fell.
“Take down the leader.”
Park Gyuhwan dashed straight to Li Kourana.
Slash-slash!
Two quick sword strikes.
The blade tips carved a cross across Li Kourana’s face.
Not deep.
Just enough speed to instill terror. Just deep enough to draw blood.
“That’s enough.”
Park Gyuhwan nodded and sheathed his sword.
I snatched a pistol from his waistband.
Bang!
I fired a shot over their heads.
“This is your only warning. Anyone who doesn’t kneel gets killed.”
* * * * *
My palm kept slamming down on Li Kourana’s head.
Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!
“You’re saying you didn’t fight Snufen?”
“Yes….”
“And the soldiers told you it’s been five years for you guys too?”
“That’s right.”
One mystery solved.
The storyline for players summoned here was the same.
Meaning everyone started on equal footing.
“How’d you get the pub owner on your side?”
“He’s not on my side. I just taught him fear.”“Fear? How do you instill fear in an NPC?”
Li Kourana grinned sheepishly, rubbing his head.
“Heh heh…. After coming here, I worked hard to build my infamy. To the point where if you say ‘the town’s villain,’ everyone thinks of us.”
“What’s the point of building infamy?”
“Shop prices go down.”
High infamy changes how terrified NPCs act.
But nine times out of ten, you end up chased by soldiers or thrown in a camp.
Was tanking shop prices worth raising infamy?
“Won’t high infamy just bring endless trouble later?”
Li Kourana nodded.
“Yeah, but we’re not dying right now, right? To push to the next round, you need at least three thousand Jenny.”
“……”
Three thousand Jenny.
The off-road vehicle cost to advance to the next round.
“You. What length course did you pick?”
“One month.”
“Then you could just do daily quests and save up Jenny?”
“…… Daily quests mean fighting Z Virus infected, right? Don’t wanna risk it.”
I smacked the top of his head with my palm.
Slap!
“Wanna die? What you pulled on me earlier wasn’t risky?”
“Ugh…. That’s ’cause you were alone….”
“You wouldn’t have if there were more?”
Li Kourana’s eyes lit up.
“Of course not.”
Thug to the bone.
“You, how much for the room you got here?”
“Room?”
“You gotta sleep somewhere, right? Not an inn ’cause recovery’s slow.”
“Oh, you mean lodging. Single room fifteen Jenny per night. Double twenty-five. That’s what we got.”
I couldn’t help but clap.
“You, go tell the owner right now you want to rent rooms. Ten days. Two singles, one double. Pay the rates you just quoted.”
Li Kourana scratched his head, looking troubled.
“I’m broke right now.”
“If the deal goes through, I’ll cover the payment.”
“Ah.”
“And haggle as low as you can. I’ll tip you.”
“Tip?”
“You wanted a hundred Jenny earlier, right? For every hundred you knock off, I’ll give you a hundred. More if you do good.”
Li Kourana’s expression hardened.
“…… Got it.”
He heaved his massive body to his feet.
Bigger frame and height than even Michael, the U.S. soldier built like a tank.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Hey, owner.”
The owner, wiping his gun barrel with a rag, lowered his eyes.
“Y-Yes? Yes, yes.”
“Need some rooms. Two singles, one double. Ten days.”
“Three rooms total?”
“Yeah. Figure the price.”
“…… Two singles for ten days, three hundred Jenny. One double for ten days, two hundred fifty. Total five hundred fifty Jenny.”
Three rooms for ten days at five hundred fifty Jenny.
Sweet deal.
Li Kourana slammed his fist on the bar table.
Boom!
“Hey!”
“Eeeeek…. Wh-why are you doing this?”
“You messing with me? Three rooms and you can’t knock off a bit?”
I grinned inwardly.
‘Nice!’
“W-Wait, calm down first.”
“I’ll calm down once I hear a new price.”
“Sir…. The price I quoted is already way cheaper than anywhere else….”
“So what’s it gonna be?”
“…….”
The owner glanced at the players in the pub, then pulled out a calculator.
Tap. Tap tap.
“How about this amount?”
“You little…. Guess good talk won’t cut it.”
Li Kourana grabbed the owner by the collar and dragged him out from behind the bar. A waitress-looking woman trembled and pressed against the wall.
The other players, excluding his group, averted their eyes like they hadn’t seen.
“P-Please spare me!”
“If I kill you, staying in this pub’s free anyway, right?”
Of course not.
When an NPC dies, another comes to take their place.
But NPCs don’t understand the system.
Li Kourana was exploiting that.
“Uuugh…. H-How much do you want….”
“You offer.”
“…… Pardon?”
“Offer. As low as possible! How cheap can you go? Last chance, so think hard.”
The owner gulped.
He closed his eyes like he’d given up everything.
“Three rooms total for ten days, one hundred Jenny. How’s that?”
A grin spread across Li Kourana’s face.
“You punk. Finally coming to your senses.”
[Player ‘Li Kourana’s’ infamy +10.]
Li Kourana strutted back to me, dragging the owner.
“Three rooms for ten days, hundred Jenny total. Good?”
Good? Hell yeah.
“…… Great price. Owner, let’s make the deal. Open your trade window.”
I could feel resentment in the owner’s eyes staring at me.
For an NPC, he had some expressive peepers.
“Open the trade window.”
“G-Got it.”
[System Message]
[The Western Pub Owner’s trade list opens.]
[Single Room x2 (10 days) + Double Room (10 days)]
[Price: 100 Jenny]
[Accept the trade?]
“…… Yes. Hundred Jenny for ten days. Done.”
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