The Man You Must Never Touch
Agent Guild.
Becker was smashing everything around him, his temper exploding.
"Hey! You think this is a joke!? You think I'm just gonna let this slide? I'm gonna make damn sure you never work properly again."
In New Generation, there were quite a few people for whom the game was their livelihood.
Han-seom was taking Becker's rage head-on.
As an officer himself, New Generation was Han-seom's job too. Two kids. He was the breadwinner. So for now, he had to endure it.
"You think you'll get to work properly? Just you wait."
After Becker left, Han-seom pressed a hand to his forehead.
"How exactly did you plan on handling the fallout from this?"
"If you try to stop him, he just goes berserk like that," said the guild member who assisted the vice guild leader alongside Han-seom.
"Fallout? That's not for me to worry about. This is a disaster. You should have stopped him. And since you couldn't even manage that…"
Han-seom let out a long sigh.
"Our guild could go under."
"Wait, who on earth… is this person supposed to be? Honestly, I was pretty shocked you even came back at all. You're strong yourself, aren't you, Han-seom?"
They weren't completely ignorant about Jinwoo. But he was a blacksmith, wasn't he?
"I heard he has Necromancer as a subclass, but still—there's no way he could take on our entire guild, right?"
"You only say that because you don't know."
"Then who is he, that you're this scared?"
The guild members were curious. Just what kind of person could make Han-seom this terrified?
Han-seom sighed once more and answered.
"Jin."
He looked at them steadily.
"The one person you must never, ever touch."
Humiliated by Han-seom and utterly disgraced by Jinwoo, Becker was grinding his teeth.
"There's no way I'm living with this. This time, I'm going to kill him."
First, Becker headed for the Agent Guild's warehouse. From there he pulled out the most expensive, highest-grade sword they had.
"I'll take care of this properly. Last time I just didn't have the right gear! With proper equipment and without letting my guard down, I can beat him any day of the week."
Armed, Becker went to ground in Lykkeision.
Several days passed like that.
"Found him. That bastard!"
At last, Becker had tracked down his enemy. Then he simply waited for him to leave Lykkeision.
Jinwoo walked out, none the wiser—and Becker appeared before him with sword in hand.
"So you came."
Jinwoo's tone, as if he'd been expecting him all along, gave Becker a strange feeling. But it didn't matter.
Becker drew a sword that looked unmistakably high-end.
"Guess what I brought?"
He had taken the highest-grade sword in the entire guild warehouse.
"It's a UR-grade sword. A piece of trash like you wouldn't even know how rare this is—but this is gear that can split the likes of you clean in half!"
Becker bellowed.
"I'll show you just how strong the Whisper of Gluttony is! Even if you get on your knees and beg for forgiveness, it's too late. I'm going to kill you, and kill you, and kill you again until my anger is satisfied!"
He lunged.
This was a combat field. Unlike last time, free PVP was fully enabled.
Jinwoo watched Becker charge.
"Hyper Speed Enhancement."
In an instant, Becker's speed exploded upward.
"It's over!"
A strike that was practically an ambush. Becker already had Jinwoo in his sights. Just like last time, Jinwoo wasn't wearing anything special—no armor to speak of at all. One clean hit should kill him outright.
"First."
At Jinwoo's call, First was summoned. So fast that before Becker's blow could land, First already stood between them.
In his hands was an enormous war hammer.
"Wh—?"
Before the sound even finished leaving Becker's mouth, the hammer swung.
A thunderous impact.
Same as before—and yet not quite.
"GAAAAAAAH—!"
Becker screamed. His health plummeted below ten percent in a single blow. His vision swam.
"Damn it!"
Panicking, Becker turned and fled.
Jinwoo didn't chase him. He simply waited.
"Command.carried.out."
"Nice control on the power there."
Jinwoo grinned.
Gotta keep him alive.
That way the rat would scurry straight back to wherever he thought was safest.
"He'll run to the place he trusts most."
Obviously, that would be the building of the guild he belonged to.
"Damn it. Damn it all!"
Becker ground his teeth.
"It was a mistake. Just a mistake. And that bastard—he dares use a summon? Using a summon in a one-on-one fight? Doesn't even know what honor is!"
He wasn't giving up.
"I'll take him on properly this time. I'll drag the whole guild with me and kill him! Insulting me is the same as insulting the entire Agent Guild!"
Fuming, he made for the city that housed the guild building.
Of course, he had no idea someone was trailing him the whole way.
Once Becker vanished into the city, Jinwoo looked down on him from above at a leisurely pace.
"Failing to manage your guild members is everyone's fault."
Aboard his Bone Dragon, Jinwoo smiled. This actually suited him fine. He'd been wanting to test the equipment he'd newly crafted.
"There won't be a second chance."
He wouldn't let it slide twice.
A call came through to Han-seom, who had been standing by.
Han-seom sighed and answered.
"Han-seom."
"Yes, Guild Leader."
"Baek-hyeon is standing right in front of me. He says you insulted him and attacked him. Is that true?"
The guild leader's voice was remarkably calm. But beneath it, a rising anger was unmistakable.
Baek-hyeon was Vice Guild Leader Becker's real name. Becker was the guild leader's own younger brother, and that single fact had let him act with total impunity until now.
The guild leader knew full well that Becker was a pathetic excuse for a man. But family was family. If someone else dared to badmouth him, he could at least hit back on his brother's behalf. That was why he'd assigned Han-seom to Baek-hyeon in the first place—to stop him from truly crossing the line. To stop him by any means necessary.
And instead of stopping him, Han-seom had supposedly committed insubordination.
Han-seom swallowed hard. His entire future hinged on how he answered right now. He considered his options carefully—then the deliberation ended almost as soon as it began.
"Yes. That's correct."
Han-seom decided not to make excuses. He would simply tell the truth.
"…"
The guild leader asked,
"Why?"
"Becker picked a fight. And the other party was… Player Jinwoo."
Guild Leader Gold Guide's face tightened at the name.
"…Jinwoo?"
"Jin. There had only been rumors that Player Jinwoo might be Jin. But after meeting him myself, I judged it to be true. So I tried to stop it."
"…And you failed?"
"Yes. I'm sorry."
Han-seom spoke honestly. Gold Guide fell into deep thought.
"Hooo…"
The reason Han-seom had been able to become an officer of the Agent Guild was his old friendship with Gold Guide from the days of Eternal Sunshine. Gold Guide himself had been a ranker in Eternal Sunshine. That was why he understood the full weight of that name better than anyone.
Jin.
Becker had touched that Jin.
The fact that Han-seom had cursed out Becker and struck him no longer meant anything. No—if anything, he should have gone even harder.
"Ah."
Gold Guide pressed a hand to his forehead. His expression twisted of its own accord.
"Ahh…"
He let out a deep, weary sigh.
"Understood. Han-seom. Take a rest."
The guild leader had grasped the situation. He had fully intended to discipline Han-seom—justified or not. Laying a hand on the vice guild leader was a problem in itself. But under these circumstances, he couldn't issue any punishment. Everything Han-seom had done had been to protect the guild, thoroughly and completely. If anything, Han-seom deserved a reward.
"Yes, sir."
After hanging up, Gold Guide hung his head.
"What am I supposed to do about this…"
One wrong move and the guild's entire growth trajectory could take a catastrophic hit. Handling this correctly was critical.
"Hyung!"
Right then, Becker burst in.
"Did you get a call from that bastard Han-seom? Disciplinary action's locked in, right? He crossed the line. Walking around like he owns the place!"
Gold Guide looked at Becker.
"You."
His voice trembled.
"Do you even know what you've done?"
"Hyung, what the hell? Why are you like this?"
His brother had always been endlessly indulgent. No matter what Becker did, he backed him. Even when he screwed up, he let it slide gently. When mistakes piled up, he would even comfort him, saying experience was experience and it was okay to mess up. That full, unwavering support was exactly what had turned Becker into the lawless disaster he was.
"You little shit."
Gold Guide disarmed Becker on the spot, then drove a hard kick into his leg.
"On your knees."
"H-Hyung."
Becker glanced around. Officer-level guild members were watching the entire scene.
"People are looking…"
"I said kneel!"
Becker realized something was seriously wrong. Still scowling fiercely, he went down on his knees.
"Shit… everyone's watching."
Fury boiled up inside him. Why the hell was his brother acting like this? All he'd done was try to recruit a single NPC, and then he'd gotten into a spat with some player in the process. He hadn't even managed to recruit the NPC, and he'd been utterly humiliated in the duel. Wasn't that enough already?
"What the hell is the big deal, damn it! We need to get revenge right now. That miserable bastard…"
Unable to hold it in any longer, Becker shouted.
"It's Jin. The one you touched."
"He's just a crafter, isn't he!? Just a blacksmith!"
Gold Guide's face contorted.
"Back in Eternal Sunshine, there were people who dismissed him just like you—said he was 'just a blacksmith.' Do you know what Jin did to them?"
Gold Guide roared.
"He crushed them all. Every last one! The person you just touched is that kind of man!"
Jin had crafted overwhelmingly superior equipment. There had been plenty of rankers who would do anything to get their hands on what he made. Jin forged gear for them—and the guilds that had crossed him were wiped out clean. Completely. After that, no one dared to touch Jin again.
"He's that big a deal? Ha."
A sudden unease gripped Gold Guide.
"You… you didn't go after him again, did you?"
"…"
Becker clamped his mouth shut. That was exactly what he had done.
"You bastard! Spit it out! Don't tell me you—"
"I can't just take it lying down! How great can that bastard even be?!"
They were near a tower. The Tower of Thunder and Rifts—one of the three-star difficulty towers in the region, the kind that guilds of roughly the Agent Guild's rank were desperately racing to clear first. Because of the competition over the tower, the entire surrounding area was designated a combat field.
Which meant one thing.
"He's alone anyway! Like some nobody is gonna pick a fight with a whole guild—"
They could fight whenever they wanted.
Then, from somewhere, a deafening roar rolled through the air.
A dark aura began to spread in every direction.
WARNING!
WARNING!
The darkness rolled outward.
"Huh?"
"What is this…?"
A Sanctuary has been declared!
Beneath the Sanctuary, the movements of all living creatures are slowed!
You are under a powerful debuff!
"…!"
Gold Guide stared at the figure who had appeared, radiating an overwhelming aura. A player streaking through the sky at tremendous speed astride a Bone Dragon.
"Jin…"
A living legend had arrived.