Stopping his scroll button at around the middle of the list, Kefan looked at a user profile and muttered.
“Loken’s group has enough ability and they’re also fitting for this task.”
The name in his sight was called Loken. Always travelling together in a group, Loken and his men were people who took on dirty jobs and enjoyed causing chaos.
For the upcoming task, ability wasn’t the only thing that was important. Trust was also crucial. Maybe not if it was a normal task, but the one thing that mustn’t happen was the details leaking out.
“Since they’re in the Demon Guild, they’re trustworthy.”
The Demon Guild. It was a guild that performed all sorts of murky tasks and was full of people like Loken’s group. Because of the nature of their guild, it would be impossible for them to survive if they couldn’t maintain confidentiality. For this reason, Kefan didn’t need to worry about leaks.
“Okay.”
After deciding on Loken, Kefan sent a message to Loken.
-Kefan: Loken-nim?
“So how is it?”
Kefan asked.
“If we accept your request.”
Loken smiled in the middle of his sentence.
“We wouldn’t be able to set foot into Hedlin anymore.”
What would happen if they accepted the job? They wouldn’t be able to appear in Hedlin again. No, it would be to the point where they wouldn’t be able to stay in the Raman Kingdom easily.
“And Hedlin is a city with many quests.”
Hedlin was famous for being a beautiful tourist destination. Was it cause and effect? Because of the high number of users and NPCs visiting, there were always a high amount of jobs and quests in circulation. Accepting Kefan’s request meant giving up on those quests.
“Haha, is it because of that?”
Kefan took out out a small pouch.
“I’ll give you this much.”
Inside the pouch was gold.
“I think 20 thousand gold is enough.”
“Oh…”
Loken pondered while staring at the pouch filled with 20 thousand gold. After a few seconds, Loken spoke to Kefan.
“Can I consult the others about it? This isn’t something I can decide on my own.”
“Of course, I’ll be waiting for your answer.”
Loken stood up from his seat after Kefan’s words and went through the door to his back.
“So what happened?”
“Why was Kefan looking for you?”
Two men were waiting for Loken outside. They were Mandara and Haiden. In response to their questions, Loken sat down on the chairs next to them and answered.
“You know how Kefan made a new guild in Hedlin.”
“That’s right. It was called Solitude or something.”
“Yep, Solitude. But they’re aiming for the representative guild spot.”
“What?”
Mandara and Haiden couldn’t help but react to Loken’s remark.
“The representative spot? For Hedlin?”
“Hmm.”
“Who are they kidding, a new guild taking the representative spot? And it’s Hedlin instead of some beginner town? Don’t tell me the request was to help them get the spot?”
Loken chuckled at Mandara’s words.
“Hey, do you think that’s possible? No, it’s not that.”
They were capable but not enough to get Kefan the representative seat.
“Our task is PKing.”
“…”
“…”
Mandara and Haiden immediately became suspicious of Loken. PK? What did that have to do with the new guild?
“Tomorrow at 10 am, near the warp gate, kill indiscriminately regardless of their identity. Then the Solitude guild will hunt us down. When they do, one person will die and the rest will escape. Of course, that person will be me.”
“Wait, time out.”
Mandara and Haiden hurriedly interrupted Loken.
“PK indiscriminately? Near the warp gate? We’ll be turned into fugitives.”
“Yes, it’s bound to be our last task in Raman Kingdom. But the compensation is 20k gold.”
20 thousand gold as a reward? Mandara and Haiden were greatly surprised again. They stared at each other then turned to Loken as he continued.
“So how about it? Will you do it?”
“…”
“Mmm…”
Mandara and Haiden both fell into deep thought at Loken’s words. After a while, Mandara spoke first.
“I’ll do it. It’s about time to level up a bit more, right? And since the reward is 20 thousand gold…”
“I’m fine as well. We’re getting less quests here than before anyway. I’ll also do it for 20 thousand.”
“Then you’re both agreeing, right?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, then we’ll accept it.”
Loken then stood up and entered Kefan’s room again.
“Did you consider the request?”
Kefan asked Loken as he came in.
“Yes, we’ll accept your task.”
Loken answered Kefan’s question. Kefan smiled brightly in response and pulled out the pouch.
“Tomorrow 10 am, near the warp gate. We will arrive approximately 10 minutes after. Until then…”
“We’ll PK while trying not to die. Don’t worry so much.”
“Of course, then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Kefan stood up and exited the house. He then started heading towards the guild base.
‘It’s finally begun.’
Tomorrow, he would acquire the representative seat for Hedlin.
* * *
“When are we going?”
“Hmm, should we go in 10 minutes?”
Ji Song and Ji Su were discussing their schedule.
“Then I’ll leave for Hedlin now.”
Soo Hyuk, who was listening to their conversation, stood up. Ji Song and Ji Su’s avatars were currently in Hedlin, but Soo Hyuk’s was in Matab. This meant that he had to set off early.
“So where are we going to meet?”
Soo Hyuk asked as he opened the door to his room.
“Near the warp gate, there’s a restaurant called Wanderer’s Wind. We’ll be sitting on the seats outside.”
“Then I’ll meet you soon!”
“See you later!”
Soo Hyuk entered his room after Ji Song’s answer. He then immediately connected to Pangea. Inside Pangea, Soo Hyuk exited the library and headed towards the warp gates.
‘First stop is Urdan.’
Soo Hyuk analysed his route as he headed towards the warp gates.
‘Then switch gates and go to Arman.’
To get to Hedlin, he needed to use a warp gate in Raman. However, it wasn’t possible to go to Raman Kingdom from Matab in one jump.
‘Then I can go to Hedlin. So, 3 jumps in total.”
To get to the Raman Kingdom, he had to pass the Pade Kingdom in the middle. Then from Pade Kingdom’s city Urdan, he would move to Raman Kingdom’s Arman, from which he would warp to Hedlin.
After confirming his route, Soo Hyuk arrived at the warp gate a few minutes later. An endless stream of people was coming and going from Matab’s warp gates. Lots of people were lining up for Soo Hyuk’s warp gate as well.
‘Six to ten…’
Soo Hyuk checked the time.
‘It looks like I’ll be a bit late.’
He thought while gazing at the winding line. There was only 6 minutes until the meeting time.
‘I should’ve went yesterday.’
He had thought about going to Hedlin early, but he gave in to the temptation of books in the end. If he had known that things would end up like this, he would’ve left early anyway, Soo Hyuk sighed regretfully, and hurried got in line before it got any larger.
“Where do you want to go?”
After a few minutes, it was finally Soo Hyuk’s turn. In front of him was an NPC called Cade.
“I want to go to Urdan.”
“The Pade Kingdom?”
“Yes.”
“That’ll be 50 gold.”
Soo Hyuk took out 50 gold in the form of a pouch and gave it to Cade, who took it and then said.
“Then please stand on the magic circle.”
Soo Hyuk climbed on the magic circle at Cade’s instructions. A moment later, the circle lit up and a message appeared as the space around him started distorting.
[10 seconds until warp.]
10 seconds was the time it took to warp from Matab to Urdan. After 10 seconds, the space around him was repaired completely. Around him was the scene of Pade Kingdom’s city, Urdan.
‘Wow, the atmosphere’s so different.’
It was completely different from Matab. Of course, there was no time to be absorbed in the atmosphere, so Soo Hyuk immediately warped to Arman.
[5 seconds until warp.]
Was it because of the shorter distance? For the warp from Urdan to Arman, it only took 5 seconds. After arriving at Arman, Soo Hyuk immediately headed to the next warp gate. Thankfully, the line here was shorter than before.
‘2 minutes late.’
It was 10:02.
‘They should have just connected, right?’
His parents had said that they would meet at 10am. That meant that they would currently be waiting for him right now.
‘I have to hurry.’
Soo Hyuk sped slightly as he headed towards the warp gate.
“Hey, apparently Hedlin’s in a mess right now.”
“Huh, what’s that supposed to mean?”
At that moment.
“Demon Guild’s Loken. You know him, right?”
“Of course. His group’s infamous. I watch videos about them all the time.”
“I don’t know what’s got into them, but they’re PKing all over the place there. Near the warp gate.”
A conversation between two users entered his ears.
“Eng? Really?”
“Yep, they’re targeting the beginners. It’s really chaotic over there.”
“Wow, since they’re the Demon guild, won’t even high-level users have trouble? The local authorities won’t be able to stop them.”
“Probably. Knights will have to be sent out. It’ll take at least 30 minutes to settle the situation.”
Soo Hyuk, who had stopped to listen to their conversation, quickened his pace once again. No, he soon started running. Then when he arrived at the warp gate, he opened his inventory while shouting at the NPC.
“To Hedlin please!”
“That’ll be 70…”
“Here!”
Soo Hyuk stuffed the pouch in the NPC’s hands.
[5 seconds until warp.]
As he stared at the twisting space, he prayed.
‘Please…’
After 5 seconds, the surrounding space was repaired and Soo Hyuk bolted out of the magic circle.
“What’s happening?”
“No idea. Is it an event?”
“No, what kind of event has PKing in it?”
“Where are the guards?”
Soo Hyuk could see a sea of heads from the platform. From their reactions, it looked like the PKs hadn’t ended yet.
‘It can’t be.’
Soo Hyuk felt uneasy at the thought of Wanderer’s Wind, the meeting place for his family vacation. What if the PKs were happening near there?
With a panicked frown, Soo Hyuk followed the direction of the people’s screams.
“What? Who are you! Ack!”
“S-save me!”
“Help!”
His panic only grew larger and larger as he listened to the unending screams. He then soon arrived at the crime scene.
“…Hah.”
Soo Hyuk sighed with relief as he looked around. The PKs weren’t happening around the meeting place, Wanderer’s Wind. After confirming that his parents were nowhere to be found, Soo Hyuk looked around. He had to find Wanderer’s Wind quickly.
‘…Hmm?’
Then not long after, Soo Hyuk couldn’t help but panic again. He had finally found Wanderer’s Wind, but there were numerous corpses in front of it.
‘…Ah, i-it can’t be.’
Soo Hyuk slowly approached Wanderer’s Wind and started checking the bodies one by one.
“Hey, hey, look at that bastard. He’s looting the bodies.”
“Wah, he should have some sense. How could he in this situation?”
The users around Soo Hyuk started talking and pointing at him. It was a misunderstanding, but he had no intention of resolving the misunderstanding. He was just hurriedly checking the bodies.
Flinch.
Soo Hyuk suddenly halted his steps. His eyes slowly turned cold as his chest heaved. Then his aura completely transformed.
Shuaak!
Two bodies that were in front of him disappeared into light particles. Then Soo Hyuk, who was staring at the light particles slowly disappearing, quietly turned around as people desperately ran past him.
“Help me!”
“Ack!”
In his line of sight were three men mercilessly killing people around them.
‘Those dogs.’
Translator and Editor Notes:
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