Chapter 10
In online games, users write guides. And others read them.
Soon after a game is released, small tips start appearing in communities one by one, and when these tips pile up, they become guides.
Why do users write guides and tips?
Some might take pride in discovering uncharted territories.
Others might seek attention from the community.
And some may genuinely want others to enjoy the game more comfortably. A single comment like "thank you" on a diligently written tip might bring satisfaction to the author.
-But occasionally, there are those who write guides after thorough calculation, thinking it might be profitable.
"That's the Mammonism Guild leader, right?"
-Yeah, that money-minded guy. Sigh... Human psychology can be quite simple sometimes.
A guide that overwhelmed user community sites with overwhelming recommendations, labeled the Best of the Best. Add to that a comment section filled with praises like "This guide is amazing" or "I was healed by reading this guide"?
-People start to believe that guide is 100% reliable. They accept it as the absolute truth without any doubt. At that point, it's not just a simple guide; it's a Bible.
Most online games, not just MMORPGs, include competitive content. Winning competitions is the desire of gamers, and for hardcore gamers, it's even stronger.
-Once they think, "I can't fall behind by not doing what everyone else is doing," that's the end of it. Those who read the guide will sell coins without a second thought.
"But there are still people who play games without reading guides, right?"
-To counter those users, we patiently wait, just like that dunghead, and gently lure them with quests.
"Wow... he's really something."
Carpe burst into laughter, astonished.
Who would have imagined?
The Beginner's Best Strategy, the Beginner Support Guild, and the One-P faction. All of this was the work of one person.
"No, how did you know about this, Cheonma?"
-Someone who was briefly affiliated with Mammonism about a year later confessed. They became a ranker powerful enough not to be swayed by Mammonism and then spilled the beans. And the shocking fact that followed is that those coins, which everyone thought were just junk items...
"Just junk?"
-Were the essential materials for the guerrilla quest "Scrap Merchant" that only appears in the beginner's city.
"Guerrilla?"
Among the numerous hidden pieces in Lasse, the guerrilla quest was particularly alien.
Because the quest NPC's appearance time and location changed every time.
-Well, as the name implies, the guerrilla appears briefly and then disappears. Just finding the NPC itself was like finding a needle in a haystack, but the rewards were equally good.
How good were the rewards? Well, the Mammonism Guild, already a leader in Lasse, went out of their way to make beginners do this tedious task.
-Somewhere in the village, there's this shabby NPC called "Scrap Merchant" who appears, demanding coins in exchange for collecting junk.
“How many?”
-Anywhere from 1 to 9. It's random.
“That's it? Sounds pretty easy.”
-That's why Mammonism put effort into getting rid of coins from other players. They wanted to make sure that even if a player with coins happened to encounter the junk dealer, they couldn't do the quest. It's a quest where only one person can participate each time it appears.
Not only do players not know when or where the quest NPC will appear, but it's also a first-come, first-served quest. On top of that, it's a one-time-only quest for anyone who has ever received it before.
With conditions as stringent as these, the reward was quite sweet—it was the 'Guerilla Quest'.
“Why are we only hearing about this now... Oh, right. I didn't have any coins.”
-Exactly. I'm just letting you know since you happened to acquire coins.
“But even if I had coins, wouldn't it be meaningless? The NPC's appearance time and location are random, right?”
Even if you had coins, if the NPC appears randomly, it's just a matter of luck. Well, considering that the opposing side has many more members, it would put you at a disadvantage.
But Cheonma looked at Carpe as if to say, "What are you talking about?"
- Random? What are you talking about?
“No, just earlier...”
-I never said the NPC's appearance location changes randomly every time.
“Isn't that what you meant?”
-It's totally different. Even if the appearance location changes every time, if it changes according to a certain rule?
“...What?”
-Well, at this point, there isn't much difference between random and that. There's no way such a strange rule would be discovered within six months of the game's release.
You never know, though.
-If there's a veteran who's been playing the game for over ten years while doing regression about seven times, they might know.
Cheonma said with a smile. Carpe smiled back. It seemed like victory was within reach.
“So, what should we do now?”
“That's obvious.”
Carpe said as he put on the dropped wrist guard.
“We need to go pick up the rest of the coins.”
-Go, Sonic! We're going to gobble up all the coins in this forest.
Carpe started running with all his might, like a blue hedgehog.
***
Long-range PK unit. Shortened to One-Fidan.
This organization, which was formed just about a month ago, began to gain a notorious reputation within three days of its appearance.
"Hey, weird guys popped up in the beginner's village?"
"Damn. I got PK'd by a One-Fidan while doing a quest just now. They attacked in groups, and I died instantly."
"Who are these guys? Suddenly showing up like that?"
"I got hit too. What's the admin doing? Shouldn't they be sanctioning this? All the newbies will quit the game!"
"Kid, Rase isn't a game where the admin intervenes, lol. Wait, before that, is there even an admin?"
"The other beginner's villages are clean, but Korea is going crazy."
"These guys are freaking ruthless."
The term 'villain' didn't quite fit, as someone once said.
Most PK incidents start with verbal fights and often happen accidentally. Or they occur with the purpose of targeting the opponent's items or restraining their power.
But One-Fidan was different. They had no reason.
Would beginners have items or power? Even if they hunted beginners, there was practically no real benefit.
That's why they were villains.
Just guys who slaughtered clueless beginners for 'fun'. At least that's what most people thought.
But the reality was different.
"Boss! Big trouble!"
"Why? What's going on?"
"Our guys are getting slaughtered!"
"Huh. So, things have been quiet for a while."
Jung Woo-hyuk, the leader of One-Fidan, took a deep drag of his cigarette and spat it out. Scratching his head, he asked the man who called him, annoyance evident on his face.
"How many got hit?"
"Ten so far."
"A lot died. How many assholes came in to kill ten?"
"Well, just one."
"What?"
"Got that right. One person. Just one."
"...Damn, we're screwed. No wonder I had a bad dream last night."
"It seems like someone sharpened their knives."
"Before you stab with those sharp words, shut up, will you?"
Jung Woo-hyuk sighed deeply. If the upper management heard that ten died from just one person, not only would Shimalseo be in trouble, but even the scheduled bonuses might be cut.
"Damn. Hwijin's having her first birthday party next month. This is a mess."
"What can we do? We're just grunts rolling around in the dirt. Same goes for me."
"We should just take care of it, even if it's dirty. The one who came in must be an alt, right?"
"Seeing him wipe out ten people alone, it seems almost certain."
In Last Savior, there's no concept of sub-characters. The principle is one person, one account, one character through iris recognition.
Therefore, in Rase, 'alt' meant giving up everything you had with your existing character, deleting it, and starting a new character.
"Anyway, I can't understand the bourgeois bastards. Would you spend that money to make an alt?"
"Did I get shot in the head? With that money, I'd buy a mid-sized sedan."
The game Last Savior features a system called 'gacha' during the tutorial stage. To prevent abuse of gacha resets, Last Savior imposed two strong constraints on alt characters.
Firstly, cash.
While initial character creation was free, subsequent creations required a payment of $40,000, roughly 50 million Korean won. And for the third character, it was 100 million, and for the fourth, 200 million... It was a system where the cost doubled with each new character.
However, the world was vast, and there were plenty of wealthy individuals.
Up to this point, truly wealthy individuals with good backers could invest tens of billions or even hundreds of billions to select top-tier characters. To prevent this, Last Savior added another constraint.
That is, a decrease in character stats.
Starting with the second character created, all stats decreased by 1%, the third by 2%, the fourth by 4%... The reduction increased exponentially with each new character.
This constraint was highly effective. Rankers were people who risked their lives even with a 1% decrease in stats, or even 0.5%.
"Maybe 1% would matter at high levels, but it doesn't make much difference in a level 10 fight."
"That's right. That's why our guys got slaughtered."
"Sigh. There's only one solution."
If ten people couldn't handle it and were wiped out, the opponent had likely raised their character to a fairly high level, deleted it, and started over. In that case, no matter how many people were sent, the result would be the same. The difference in experience was that significant.
There was only one way to deal with alt characters.
"We'll have to deploy alt characters on our end too."
It was an obvious statement, but due to the nature of their work, there could be a lot of enemies. Sometimes beginners would come in large groups as part of an alliance, or there would be cases like this where alts showed up.
However, One-Fidan always overcame such crises. They had their own secret weapon.
The alt of the top ranker personally hired by the leader of the Mammonism guild.
He was One-Fidan's last resort.
"He's a bit suspicious."
"But still, he doesn't act as weird as Lim Bujang. And his skills are reliable."
"That's true, but..."
"Why should I care? I have no idea what that gentleman is thinking..."
Swoosh!
That's when a shadow landed behind the two.
"I've heard the story from someone else. It's my turn to intervene, isn't it?"
"..."
"..."
The shadow looked different from other ordinary users.
Tall and agile, clad in black tight-fitting attire. With only the eyes visible through the flipped mask, only one word came to mind.
"Darn it. A ninja this time?"
"Can't we just play the game normally for once?"
The two sighed inwardly. Just thinking about the conversation ahead made their throats dry.
"Hoo. If the Moon Fang cries, it must be a formidable foe."
With that, the ninja spoke, drawing his short sword from its sheath.
...It was an ordinary dagger for level 10.
"Why so silent? I don't need your strength."
"Oh, no. That's correct!"
"We were just a little surprised by your sudden appearance. Haha."
The two straightened up. Though they looked ridiculous, they were people directly under the guild leader, unlike commoners.
One-Fidan leader Jung Woo-hyuk cautiously spoke up.
"Uh, Master Han..."
"Hanjo."
"Yes?"
"You seem to be mistaken. I am not a master, but a ninja named Hanjo."
"...Ah, yes. Hanjo, sir."
'Ugh, seriously.'
An extreme concept enthusiast.
Although skilled and a superior who didn't even touch his subordinates, the reason the two found him uncomfortable was precisely for that.
He was a great person except for his obsession with his concept, but that obsession was the problem. If it didn't fit the concept, he wouldn't budge an inch, which was infuriating.
'Still, it's better than the last concept.'
'Compared to that time when he ordered me to address him as the commander in front of the leader of the rival guild, it's definitely better.'
In comparison to back then, it was an improvement. Jung Woo-hyuk thought so while still remaining vigilant. He was someone who could turn anytime, anywhere.
"It seems like the time has come to rely on Hanjo's power."
"Understood. Leave it to me. Finally, the chance has come to repay my debt. Swiftly, I'll take care... Hrk?!"
After saying so, Hanjo grabbed his chest and kneeled down.
"Hanjo, sir?! What's wrong?"
"Hrk. It's nothing. Just a momentary flashback of the wounds from my past life."
"Ah... I see."
Damn it. Past life, my foot.
My teeth clenched involuntarily.
It was hard enough to speak straight when sober, but I couldn't just stop now. If I didn't indulge him here, he wouldn't get up and function properly all day.
"Uh, when you say 'past life,' are you referring to the character you raised before transferring to this one?"
"Hoo, no. That was just a false life, like a mere ghost. My past life was that of a warrior in this world... No, never mind. You wouldn't understand even if I told you."
'Ugh, should I just brush this off?'
"Hee-jin, Daddy works so hard to earn money."
Hanjo nonchalantly stood up and gazed at the sky with a dreamy expression.
"What a beautiful moonlit night to die."
The sky was more vibrant and azure than ever before.
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