“You crazy b*tch—!!! Goddamn it, I told you not to mess around with stupid stuff!”
Crash—!
At the American headquarters of The Haven, the production company behind Spiral.
From an office there, a volley of coarse Korean expletives erupted.
Had it been anyone else, the entire office would have stared, but the team members merely glanced at the two women exchanging curses, then simply shook their heads.
“What have I even done?”
“I told you not to go on streamer broadcasts and act like an attention-seeker!!! Don’t you remember the articles that came out last time? As a planning director, you don’t do any work, you just—”
“But I finished all my work. You know I play after finishing everything.”
Watching her brazen reply, Jeong Yuna, the current general director of Spiral, clutched the back of her neck in exasperation.
She and Rae, whom she was currently berating so enthusiastically, were practically co-founders, but professionally, they were nothing short of mortal enemies.
Even in the previous game, Rae had gone around poking into various streamer channels, forcing Yuna to apologize on her behalf.
Today’s matter, however, was far more serious.
“That person is already causing an uproar in Rabbit and the Korean community. What do you think will happen if you show your face there too?”
“It’ll just draw more aggro, which is great, right? All the streamers love me, Yuna. Maybe you’re too old to understand.”
“……Are you really trying to die today?”
Jeong Yuna’s eyes were half-crazed.
She snorted, steam practically billowing from her nostrils.
Finally, she rolled her eyes back and charged like an enraged bull.
“Let’s see you die today, you b*tch!!!!!!”
“Aaaagh, no, don’t do thisss~”
Crash! Bang!
After the two women wrestled fiercely and tangled for about ten minutes.
“If you’re just going to do this every time, why do you even charge at me?”
“……”
It was Jeong Yuna who lay sprawled on the floor like a rag doll.
The 20-centimeter height difference was simply too much to overcome.
****
A sense of defeat, powerlessness, humiliation…
All these emotions coiled around my being.
I truly felt like smashing the very machine in front of me.
“Wow, this is truly absurd.”
‘Did she just use cheap tricks, beat me up, and run?’
If this were real life, gender be damned, I would’ve immediately thrown a chair at her.
No, perhaps precisely because she was a woman here, I’d be even more inclined to throw a chair.
“Ha, hah. Hahahaha! Ah~ How funny. It’s just so preposterous.”
–His mental state is shattered.
–His mental state is shattered LOL.
–Wow, I’ve never seen him like this before LOLOLOL.
–He’s truly pissed off, seriously LOLOLOL.
–But I’d be absolutely livid too;; If I were next to her, I would’ve punched her in the face immediately.
–A gut punch would’ve been totally possible;;
Hahahahaha—
After laughing like that, I finally managed to calm down a few minutes later.
“……Wow, I’m seriously pissed off.”
Still, my anger refused to subside.
This was a grudge that wouldn’t be appeased until I won at least once.
“She’ll really come if I call her, right? If she doesn’t, I swear, I’ll fly all the way to America, guys. Seriously.”
–LOLOLOL Field trip to The Haven HQ, let’s go~.
–BREAKING NEWS) GM Rae found dead in her office.
–That person is really notorious LOLOLOL. She’s such a total slacker, she’d probably actually come if you called her.
–But I saw her explaining something, wasn’t the large-scale patch all her idea? That’s why everyone acknowledged it and moved on, right? LOL.
–Yeah, and after that, she challenged a user to a real-life PvP (TL Note: A Korean slang term for an offline fight or meeting to settle an online dispute, literally ‘real-life PvP’) in a 1v1 arena, beating every Grandmaster 1 user and going on a 17-win streak.
Apparently, she was quite famous among the Spiral developers in this world, but there was no one like her in my original world.
That made it even more absurd.
If there had been someone doing similar things, I could at least empathize emotionally.
This was the first time I had witnessed something like this, and directly at that.
“……Let’s just go pick up Mado.”
–LOLOLOL he talks about her like she’s luggage.
–Teacher Hyun’s totally lost his mind LOLOLOL. It seems like he won’t recover from this easily.
–But the other side wasn’t easy either LOLOL.
–What’s she doing over there? I last saw her hovering around the baccarat table.
Thus, I went to find Mado, who seemed to still be lingering at the baccarat table.
It was a popular gambling game, and one corner of the table was bustling with people.
I was about to pass by after seeing a few people murmuring there, but then I was overcome by a strange sense of déjà vu and headed towards them.
“Posture straight.”
What I saw next was a truly bizarre spectacle.
“I offer a grand bowww!”
“……”
Mado was struggling to perform a grand bow (TL Note: A Korean internet meme where one performs a full, deep bow while upside down, balancing on their hands, often as a form of extreme apology or supplication.) to someone presumed to be an NPC.
Thankfully, due to her posture, our eyes didn’t meet.
Otherwise, Mado would have seen the most disgusted expression I’d worn in recent memory.
****
“Gambling, never again. Never again…… I won’t do it.”
“You probably shouldn’t.”
Mado, sniffling and clutching the single silver coin she’d barely managed to get as a tip (TL Note: A small amount of money or goods given as a tip or gratuity, often to a less fortunate person.).
Even with my chiding reply, that single coin seemed to bring her comfort.
Apparently, she hadn’t played baccarat for long.
After betting on the banker and winning three times in a row, she’d lost continuously and quickly squandered all her assets.
So, with no money left, she’d rushed over when someone who’d won a lot offered a tip, even performing a grand bow.
“Guys, you should never do it either……”
I doubted anyone would ever gamble again if they had watched today’s broadcast.
Even I had truly grasped what it meant for gambling to drive a person mad.
Watching her, I drew a rather petty comfort.
The comfort that at least I hadn’t lost money.
“It’s okay, Mado.”
As I patted her back, trying to console her, a thought from last time suddenly crossed my mind, and I subtly turned my head.
‘She seems fine today.’
Her body seemed to twitch subtly, but I assumed it was just because she’d been so tense earlier.
“Anyway, since you lost money, you’ll quickly recover it by catching guys like them.”
“……Ah, you’re right. For now, 1 gold is precious, isn’t it?”
Even as she said that, she carefully tucked the 1 silver coin in her hand into her pocket.
‘Truly pathetic.’
She was the very embodiment of patheticness, making me laugh just by looking at her.
“As expected, he’s veering off the main road and heading towards the slums.”
Mado and I were trailing Philemore.
Unlike at the gambling den, we had somewhat disguised ourselves and changed our appearance, but what was the point?
The physique of the bodyguard walking beside him was extraordinarily imposing.
A cow beastman easily over 190 cm tall.
A body with such developed glutes and chest couldn’t possibly be disguised.
Therefore, our tailing was going smoothly.
“Yes, should we just ambush him in the alley?”
“That might work.”
–Ooh la la, what are they ambushing???
–Today’s broadcast is getting spicy…
–I’m starting to get jealous of Mado, seriously. Is there any controversy?
–Ah, I’m bored. Should I start things up?
Ignoring the nonsense in the chat window, we continued to follow Philemore.
Splash—splash—
The slums, specifically an alleyway that was unusually deserted.
Unlike Philemore, who splashed through the water, we carefully trailed them, avoiding puddles as much as possible.
Slowly, and trying our best not to be detected, Mado and I followed.
The moment they stopped, we muffled our sounds and hid on both sides of the alley.
However, it seemed our efforts weren’t very effective.
“Why don’t you just come out? Did you really think such clumsy tailing would work?”
“……Hey, why do you have to add that last bit and embarrass us?”
‘This guy, a supposed criminal in the game’s lore.’
I awkwardly emerged from the alley.
“There’s one more b*tch.”
“Damn it.”
Mado, who had been watching for a cue, also stealthily crept out.
And at that very moment, Philemore snapped his fingers.
Click—
A sound echoed once.
“Oh my.”
With Mado’s strange exclamation, NPCs sprang out from everywhere.
Each one of them wasn’t ordinary.
Not that they were strong, though.
“What, are you a gang of thieves? Or a gang of beggars?”
“……Speak all you want while you still can. I don’t know who hired you, but you’ll regret ever coming here.”
Philemore, in his own way, looked down at us and murmured in a cold voice.
Every bit of his demeanor struck me as utterly ridiculous.
“What an idiot, just relying on numbers and acting cocky.”
As I spoke, I donned my equipment.
Equipment I had purchased with the currency obtained from field hunting, after selling my old beginner set to a shop or another user.
[ Corpse’s Agony Necromancer Robe (Rare) ]
[ Corpse’s Agony Necromancer Pants (Rare) ]
[ Corpse’s Agony Necromancer Gloves (Rare) ]
[ Corpse’s Agony Necromancer Boots (Rare) ]
[ Black Steel Greatsword (Normal) ]
Four pieces of armor and one weapon.
Even more, it was a greatsword, not a staff, which had made viewers quite skeptical when I first acquired this gear.
But this was enough.
No, if the difficulty of the World’s first quest was similar to the previous game, this was more than enough.
The beggars glaring at us, clutching their weapons, seemed to be around Level 10.
“Cover, please.”
“Of course.”
Mado was muttering incantations, diligently calculating coordinates.
Though I kept teasing her for being a ditz, her calculation speed was almost on par with mine.
She was a user skilled enough to be trusted.
“Yaaaaah!”
At that moment, a guy who had been lurking nearby, waiting for an opportunity, charged at me with a dagger.
But I had been keeping an eye on him the whole time.
I twisted my body horizontally to dodge, then cleanly severed his neck with the greatsword.
Thwack—!
He died so easily.
Seeing this, Philemore’s previously relaxed expression twisted slightly.
“You guys picked the wrong day. I’m in a truly foul mood right now.”
–LOLOLOL Why is he taking out his anger on the Han River after getting slapped in Jongno? (TL Note: A Korean idiom meaning to take out anger on an unrelated party.)
–It’s revenge for the cheap tricks earlier!!!!!! (Not really)
–He’s even starting to resemble Mado in his patheticness LOLOLOL.
With one hand, I rested the greatsword on my shoulder, and with the other, I channeled magic into the corpse.
Creak—creak—
[ Skeleton LV9 ]
The corpse’s flesh dissolved into light and vanished, and only the remaining bones rose, creaking.
At that sight, the NPCs were agitated once more.
As it was for users, a necromancer desecrating the dead was enough to lower the morale of humanoid NPCs.
“Let’s all just die, shall we?”
–Declaring annihilation immediately after defeat—!!!
–I told you he’s f*cking pathetic LOLOLOL.
–What did these guys ever do!!!!!!
–Just die LOLOLOLOL.
