Chapter 10

Game users write guides. And they read those guides.

Not long after a game is released, small tips begin to appear one by one in the community, and as these tips accumulate, they become a guide. Why do users write such guides or tips?

Some might be proud of discovering new uncharted territories. Some might want to gain attention from others. Some might genuinely want others to enjoy the game more easily. Some might feel gratified by a single comment of "thank you" under the tips they worked hard on.

- But occasionally, there are those who write guide posts after thorough calculation, thinking it will be beneficial to them.

"Is that the Mammonism guild leader?"

- Yes, that money ghost. Phew... Sometimes human psychology can be so simple.

On a large community site for game users, a guide with an overwhelming number of recommendations rises to the top. If the comments section of that guide is filled with praises like "What a great guide" or "I was cured of my illness after reading this guide," what happens?

- People start to think of it as a 100% reliable guide, accepting it as perfect truth without any filter. At that point, it's not just a guide but a Bible.

Not only in MMORPGs, but most online games include competitive content. People want to win when they compete, and this desire is even stronger for hardcore gamers.

- 'I can't fall behind just because I'm the only one not doing what everyone else is doing.' That's the end of it. Those who read the guide will, without exception, sell their coins.

"But there are still people who play the game without looking at the guide, right?"

- To prepare for such users, they wait like a squatter and gently lure them with quests.

"Wow... That's twisted."

Carpe burst out laughing, finding it absurd.

Who could have imagined that the best beginner guide, the beginner support guild, and the One-Pi-Dan were all the work of one person?

"But how did you know about this, Hyunma?"

- About a year later, someone who had briefly been part of Mammonism made a confession. After becoming a high-ranking player, they blew the whistle. The shocking fact was that the coin, which everyone thought was junk, was actually...

"Actually?"

- It was the essential material for the guerrilla quest 'Junk Dealer' that only appears in the beginner city.

"Guerrilla?"

Among the many hidden pieces of Lase, the guerrilla quest was particularly unique.

The appearance time and location of the quest NPC changed every time.

- In other words, the NPC appears and disappears suddenly, like a guerrilla. Finding the NPC is as difficult as picking stars from the sky, but the reward is correspondingly good.

How good? Good enough that even the Mammonism guild, which could be considered the frontrunners of Lase, went through the trouble of doing this in the beginner village.

- Somewhere in the village, a shabby NPC called 'Junk Dealer' appears, demanding coins to collect junk.

"How many?"

- A minimum of one and a maximum of nine, randomly.

"What? That's pretty easy, right?"

- That's why Mammonism tried hard to get other users to get rid of their coins. If a user with coins accidentally met the junk dealer, they wouldn't be able to complete the quest. It's a first-come, first-served quest.

The quest NPC appears at random times and locations, and only one person can take the quest each time. Moreover, if you've taken the quest once, you can't do it again. The conditions are so strict, but the reward is so sweet, making it the 'guerrilla quest.'

"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier... Oh, right. I didn't have any coins."

- Right. Now that you've accidentally found some coins, I'm telling you.

"But even if I have coins, isn't it meaningless? The NPC's appearance time and location are random, right?"

Even if you have coins, it's a matter of luck if the NPC appears randomly. Moreover, the other side has many more people, so you'd be at a disadvantage.

But Hyunma looked at Carpe as if he was saying something ridiculous.

- Random? What are you talking about?

"But you just said..."

- I said the appearance location changes every time, but I never said it was random.

"What do you mean?"

- It's completely different. If the appearance location changes according to a certain rule, even if it changes every time?

"..."

- At this point, it doesn't make much difference from random. It's unlikely that such a strange rule would be discovered within half a year of the game's release.

Who knows?

- If there's a veteran who has played the game for over 10 years through 7 regressions, they might know.

Hyunma laughed as he said this. Carpe also laughed, his lips twitching as if he was about to ascend to heaven.

- So, what should we do now?

"That's obvious."

Carpe, equipping the dropped wrist guard, continued.

"We need to go collect more coins."

- Go, Sonic! We're going to collect all the coins in this forest.

Carpe started running at full speed, like a blue hedgehog.

* * *

The Long-Distance PK Team, abbreviated as One-Pi-Dan.

This group, which started about a month ago, began to gain notoriety just three days after its appearance.

- Hey, there are some strange guys in the beginner village.

- Damn. I just got PKed while doing a quest. They were ganging up, and I died instantly.

- What's the deal with these guys? They just appeared out of nowhere.

- I also got PKed. What are the admins doing? Don't they need to regulate this? Newbies are going to quit the game!

- Kid, Lase is a game where the admins don't interfere. And I'm not sure if there even are any admins.

- Other beginner villages are clean, but Korea is a mess.

- They're really scum.

As someone said, the word 'scum' fit them perfectly.

Most PKs start with verbal arguments and happen spontaneously, or they target the other player's items or try to suppress the other faction.

But the One-Pi-Dan was different. They had no reason.

What items or factions could beginners have? There was no real benefit in killing beginners.

That's why they were scum.

They just slaughtered innocent beginners for 'fun.' At least, that's what most people thought.

But the reality was different.

"Sir! We have a big problem!"

"What? What happened?"

"Our guys are getting wiped out!"

"Ah. I see, I thought it was unusually quiet lately."

The leader of the One-Pi-Dan, Jung Woo-hyuk, took a deep drag on his cigarette and spat it out. He scratched his head and asked the man who called him, with a look of annoyance.

"How many have been killed?"

"Ten so far."

"Ten? How many of them came to attack us to kill ten people?"

"It's just one guy."

"..."

"You heard me right. Just one guy, one guy."

"Shit. I had a bad feeling about this yesterday."

"The reprimand letter is already sharp and ready."

"Should I try to shut him up before he stabs me with it?"

Jung Woo-hyuk sighed deeply. If the news of ten people being killed by just one person reached the higher-ups, not only would he get a reprimand, but his planned bonus might also be cut.

"Ah. I have to throw a party for Hee-jin next month. This is really a mess."

"What can we do? We're all just salarymen, rolling and rolling. I'm no different."

"We should just quit. The guy who came in must be a sub-character."

"From the way he wiped out ten people, it's almost certain."

In Last Savior, there is no concept of a sub-character. The principle is one person, one account, one character, verified by iris recognition.

Therefore, in Lase, a 'sub-character' means deleting and starting over a character you've been raising.

"Anyway, I can't understand the minds of the bourgeois. Would you pay to create a sub-character?"

"Am I crazy? I could buy a mid-size sedan with that money."

Lase is a game with a 'gacha' system in the tutorial phase. To prevent gacha reset grinding, Lase imposed two strong restrictions on sub-characters.

First, cash.

The first character creation is free, but the second one costs $40,000 in cash, about 50 million won in Korean currency. The third character costs 100 million won, the fourth 200 million won, and so on, doubling the cost with each new character.

But the world is vast, and there are many rich people.

If it were just the cost, the extremely wealthy could invest billions to get good attributes. So, Lase added another restriction.

Character attribute reduction.

The second character has a 1% reduction in all attributes, the third has 2%, the fourth has 4%, and so on, with the reduction doubling each time.

This restriction was very effective. Rankers, who would risk their lives for a 1% or even 0.5% increase in attributes, found it very effective.

"1% might be significant at high levels, but it's barely noticeable at level 10."

"Exactly. That's why our guys got completely wiped out."

"Phew. In the end, there's only one solution."

If ten people couldn't even put up a fight, the opponent must have raised a character to a high level before deleting and starting over. The experience gap was that significant.

There was only one way to deal with a sub-character.

"We need to use our own sub-character."

It was a logical statement, but given their nature, they had many enemies. Sometimes, beginners would unite and attack in large numbers, and sometimes, like this time, a sub-character would come.

But the One-Pi-Dan always overcame such crises. They had a secret weapon.

A sub-character of a top-ranked player directly hired by the Mammonism guild leader.

The last relief pitcher of the One-Pi-Dan.

"Ugh. That guy is a bit creepy."

"But at least he doesn't cause trouble like that Lim guy. His skills are solid."

"That's true, but..."

"Would I be happy? I don't know what that guy is thinking..."

Shh!

At that moment, a shadow landed behind them.

"I've heard the story from others. Is it time for me to step in?"

"..."

"..."

The shadow's appearance was different from that of ordinary users.

A tall, well-built figure in a tight black tuxedo, with a mask covering everything but the eyes. One word came to mind.

'Shit. This time, it's a ninja?'

'Can't he just play the game normally?'

The two sighed inwardly. Just thinking about the conversation ahead made their heads ache.

"Phew. Seeing the crescent moon, it must be a formidable opponent."

The ninja said this while slightly drawing his small katana.

...A regular level 10 dagger.

"Why are you silent? Don't you need my help?"

"A, ah, yes! You're right!"

"Just a bit surprised by your sudden appearance. Ha ha."

The two straightened their posture. Although his appearance was ridiculous, he was a direct subordinate of the guild leader, far above them.

The leader of the One-Pi-Dan, Jung Woo-hyuk, spoke carefully.

"Sir, Sword Master..."

"Hanzo."

"Excuse me?"

"You seem to have a misunderstanding. I am not a sword master but a ninja named Hanzo."

"Ah, yes. Hanzo sir."

'Oh, please.'

An extreme concept enthusiast.

His skills were solid, and he didn't bother his subordinates, but that was the very reason the two found him annoying.

He was a good person except for his obsession with concepts, but that obsession was the problem. If you didn't fit his concept, he wouldn't move an inch, driving you mad.

'At least it's better than last time.'

'When he claimed to be a sword master and asked me to bring a demon to the master, it was worse.'

Compared to that, this was better. Jung Woo-hyuk thought this while still remaining tense, as he never knew what Hanzo would do next.

"It seems the time has come to call upon Hanzo's strength."

"Understood. Leave it to me. Finally, the chance to repay an old debt has come. I will handle it swiftly... Cough!"

Hanzo said this, then clutched his chest and fell to his knees.

"H, Hanzo sir?! What's wrong?"

"Ugh. It's nothing. Just an old wound from a past life acting up."

"Ah... Yes."

Shit. Past life, my ass.

His teeth clenched involuntarily.

It was hard to even talk to him in his right mind, but he couldn't quit. If he didn't accept, Hanzo would clutch his chest and stay down all day.

"By 'past life,' do you mean the character you raised before this one?"

"Hmm, no. That was just a false life. My past life was a warrior in this world... No, forget it. You wouldn't understand."

'Should I just quit this job?'

'Hee-jin, your dad is working so hard to earn money.'

Hanzo stood up effortlessly and gazed wistfully at the sky.

"What a good night to die."

The sky was as clear and blue as ever.

A 10-star player strengthened by gacha.