The God of Control's One-Coin Clear
The players stirred restlessly as they stared at Taeyang.
Tobi was a powerful player.
Even setting aside the charisma he had shown at the beginning, that fact remained true.
During the climb to the fifth floor, several players had disliked Tobi taking charge and openly rebelled.
And the players had learned that the rumors about Tobi were true.
Out of the three players who had challenged him, two were beaten into a pulp with a single punch.
He hadn't killed them, but if not for a player with healing skills, they would have died from those critical injuries.
The gazes of the players watching Taeyang were largely the same.
Foolish bravado. Reckless courage. A hasty suicide.
At that moment, a female player spoke up.
“Hey.”
The three players who had been whispering turned to look at her.
The woman gestured with her hand.
“D-does she want us to come closer?”
“Looks like it.”
The players approached her hesitantly.
The female player asked bluntly.
“Is that the guy?”
“Yes. He’s probably the player who ran into the dungeon at the very beginning.”
The player answered awkwardly while scratching his head.
The woman was a Wind Daoist—an NPC from the martial world of Changchen. She was a captivating beauty who wielded a massive fan twice the size of her body.
She had a unique aura that made it difficult for people to speak to her casually.
When the player glanced at Ran, she waved her arm dismissively.
It was a clear sign that their business was finished and they should scram.
“Ahem.”
Even though she treated them like servants without a second thought, none of the players dared complain.
If anything, they were the ones watching Ran’s mood.
Ran was one of the rare beautiful women in the Dimensional Labyrinth.
At the same time, she was a rose with thorns as sharp as her beauty.
The three players who had tried to approach her on the second floor had been torn to shreds by razor-sharp winds.
She had even shown that her strength was on par with Tobi when he tried to intervene.
She was the only player who had never been pushed back in a confrontation with Tobi.
After sending the players away, Ran crossed her arms.
‘So he showed up at this exact moment.’
Ran was a Wind Daoist.
A Wind Daoist was a spellcaster who commanded the winds.
They wielded wind as a weapon, read information from the traces left in the air, and could even glimpse the future through the whispers of the breeze.
Because of that, Wind Daoists like Ran always emphasized sharpening their senses to the utmost.
The flow of energy, its shape, its density—everything.
That was how she knew.
The man currently facing Tobi—Yoon Taeyang—was surrounded by a thick, swirling storm of blood.
Wherever a blood storm gathered, dozens of people would soon be bleeding out.
She had thought it was fortunate he had disappeared on his own.
Yet the Taeyang who had reappeared was still wrapped in that same bloody wind.
Chrrrrk.
Ran flicked open her fan and muttered irritably.
“Haa. I already didn’t like that man because he’s so self-righteous.”
“Thanks for doing the work for me, but if you try this hard, it actually puts me in a tough spot.”
The moment Taeyang finished speaking, Tobi gripped his greatsword tightly.
To Taeyang, this player wasn’t going to help him survive anyway. It was easier to shut his flapping mouth permanently before things got annoying.
Thud.
Tobi charged at Taeyang.
The massive greatsword—large enough to cover the upper body of an average adult—tore through the air as it bore down on him.
Taeyang watched the blade.
It was heavy. Mana pulsed violently within it.
And it was slow.
Dodging would be the efficient choice.
Thinking that, Taeyang lifted his foot.
Starburst High Kick.
Srrrr.
Stardust began gathering around Taeyang’s right foot.
Tobi smirked faintly.
‘He’s going to meet it head-on? Not even trying to dodge?’
It was pure recklessness.
The veins on the back of Tobi’s hand bulged.
“Uraaaaaaaaah!”
A roar like that of a wild beast.
Taeyang grinned.
He had deliberately chosen the inefficient option.
Why?
Because he needed to show off his power.
“That way, it’ll look like there’s actually something worthwhile in the dungeon.”
The player who had fled from Tobi with his tail between his legs had gone into the dungeon and come back to win in a head-on fight.
It was an extremely dramatic scene—one that would make the other players want to leave immediately.
The mana, which he had grown somewhat accustomed to by now, wrapped around Taeyang’s body.
From his left foot supporting his weight to his straightened spine.
The greatsword was already right in front of him.
Taeyang kicked upward.
And every ounce of that momentum exploded from the tip of his foot.
Krrrrrrrrk!
The greatsword shattered into metallic fragments that scattered in every direction.
“What the…?”
Every player except Taeyang was stunned.
The regular players were shocked that Tobi had been pushed back, while Wind Daoist Ran was shocked by the fact that Taeyang’s strength far exceeded her expectations.
But the most shocked of all was Tobi himself.
Having felt the full force of the power Taeyang had unleashed with his entire body, he couldn’t help but be astonished.
“Just how many achievements do you have…?”
Raw physical strength that was impossible to imagine from his appearance.
His energy control showed some sense, but it was still that of a beginner.
Yet the scale of the mana he was wielding was on a completely different level.
Tobi realized that the difference came from the number of achievements.
Crack.
Tobi instinctively raised his arm to block the kick flying toward his abdomen and ground his teeth.
“You bastard. You were hiding your strength.”
“When did I ever hide it? I got shoved straight into the dungeon the moment I entered the stage.”
Taeyang was inwardly surprised.
Tobi’s body was far tougher than he had expected.
A brief lull fell over the fight.
Tobi asked in a low voice.
“What is your goal?”
Hah.
The sheer audacity of interrogating him.
Taeyang snorted inwardly but still answered.
“You’re curious?”
“If we clear this easily, it won’t be bad for anyone. So why are you going this far…?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
For the first time, doubt appeared in Tobi’s eyes.
Taeyang smiled.
“My goal is to catch the ‘Mad Swordsman’ that’s coming down from above.”
The players stirred again.
Tobi asked.
“Is it for the achievements?”
Well, he was half right.
“What else would it be? You know it too, don’t you? In this place, achievements are just as important as survival.”
“You’re willing to risk your life for a single achievement?”
“If you don’t grow enough here, you’ll just die on the floors above. Don’t you get it?”
Tobi thought Taeyang’s words were sophistry.
But at the same time, they were difficult to refute.
It was correct to face and overcome every trial you could endure.
But it was also correct to avoid trials that were clearly impossible at a glance.
In Tobi’s opinion, this trial fell into the latter category.
“It seems… I can’t convince you with words.”
“Why, you wanna keep going? Your sword’s already broken. Think you can convince me with your fists?”
“Do you have a way to deal with that Mad Swordsman when he comes down?”
“Of course.”
“You haven’t even seen him yet. How do you know how strong he is?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Taeyang roughly understood what Tobi was worried about.
The Demon Kings didn’t prepare opponents that players could reasonably defeat.
They preferred watching players flail desperately for survival rather than calmly clearing the stage.
Still, what could he do?
He needed to kill him and get the items.
Taeyang raised his fist.
“I don’t have any personal grudge against you. The situation just sucks.”
When opinions differed, the stronger one was right.
At least, that was how it worked in the Dimensional Labyrinth.
“I can tell you’re strong, but I have no intention of dying easily.”
Tobi drew a dagger from behind his waist.
The guy was well-prepared.
His stance was quite solid too—clearly he had some skill with dagger techniques.
“Not a bad stance.”
Too bad for him.
Knife fighting just happened to be one of Taeyang’s specialties.
At that moment—
Wind Fang.
A spear-like gust of wind shot down toward Taeyang.
Sensing the unusual movement of mana, Taeyang immediately threw himself aside.
Kwaaaaaang!
A hole the size of an adult’s torso was punched into the spot where Taeyang had been standing.
“Ran?”
“Haa. There’s a limit to how much bullshit you can spout.”
Whoosh.
Ran landed beside Tobi.
'TobiYouBastard!' has donated 1,000 won!
Calling your girlfriend just because you got hit a little? Unforgivable! Take this, One-Thousand-Won Punch!
Ran muttered coolly.
“I’m not helping you because I like you. I’d appreciate it if you kept that in mind.”
Instead of answering, Tobi charged at Taeyang.
“What, you think it’ll change anything if two of you come at me?”
Taeyang charged forward to meet him.
Then—
Wind Fang.
He threw himself backward again.
Hyeonhye’s voice carried a hint of laughter.
Ahem.
It didn’t seem like he would lose, but the fight was clearly going to drag on.
Shiiik!
Tobi’s dagger shot forward like lightning.
Taeyang stepped in the opposite direction of the blade.
“Tsk.”
Tobi immediately pulled back after Taeyang’s nimble response.
Normally, he would have pressed the attack and stuck to him, but—
Whoosh.
He had no choice but to abandon that idea in front of the savage wind blades.
“That’s annoying as hell.”
Taeyang chewed his lip in dissatisfaction.
Even with Aksharon’s Molting, Ran’s wind techniques were incredibly troublesome.
The parts that made direct contact with the molting were neutralized, but the repulsive force of the wind itself remained, pushing Taeyang back.
What was even more fatal was that he had layered the molting inside his equipment rather than outside, so the gear itself wasn’t receiving the molting’s protection.
“At this rate, all my equipment is gonna break before I even meet the boss.”
Still, the situation wasn’t bad.
About five minutes had passed since the battle between Ran, Tobi, and Taeyang began.
Once the fight started to look evenly matched, more than half of the players gathered on the fifth floor began quietly slipping downward.
A few players who shared Tobi’s way of thinking tried to stop them, but there were simply too many people leaving.
“This is getting bad.”
Ran frowned.
Tobi seemed to have noticed the situation as well—his movements were growing increasingly desperate.
Hup!
Tobi suddenly lunged forward with a tackle.
Holding a dagger while tackling didn’t seem like a smart choice, but his massive physique made it threatening nonetheless.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Taeyang agilely retreated and instead struck Tobi’s jaw.
The impact he felt through his foot was definitely not light, yet Tobi didn’t even flinch.
Just how many achievements had he stacked? His body was ridiculously sturdy.
In a normal situation, Taeyang would have immediately stepped in to follow up with another strike, but once again the incoming wind was the problem.
“Huu.”
It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected a player like Ran to appear.
It was true that Taeyang had incredible specs, but they weren’t at an absolute level yet.
In fact, the fact that only one player like Ran had shown up was far better than he and Hyeonhye had originally predicted.
The problem was that the one player who had appeared was Ran.
Perfectly timed, colorless and odorless winds that struck Taeyang from any angle without restraint.
On top of that, she herself flitted from one end of the room to the other with a single wave of her fan and never came down from the air.
And whenever he got close, she pushed him away, and every time he got hit, his equipment took damage.
“I really want to tear her apart.”
Tobi was as hard as a rock turtle; no matter how much Taeyang hit him, he showed no signs of tiring. Ran was as nimble as a cat, slipping in and out and annoying Taeyang at every turn.
Taeyang seriously considered using the Greatest Machinery, but thanks to Hyeonhye’s strong dissuasion, he barely held himself back.
The longer the battle continued, the more players slipped away.
Only about a quarter of the original number remained.
Ran, Tobi, and the few players who had originally stepped up for Tobi.
Oh, and one guy who had jumped in midway got his jaw shattered by a whirlwind fist.
“Shall we wrap this up soon?”
The way to end the battle was simple.
He just had to enter the locked room.
Tobi might not be able to follow, but Ran definitely couldn’t come after him.
She was flying around freely in this wide space right now, but once he entered a narrow room, the situation would change completely.
Kwaaaang!
Taeyang entered the locked room, and Tobi slowly wiped his face.
“Goddammit.”
It was the moment the fleet Tobi had led for clearing the stage was utterly destroyed by a single saboteur.