Provocation (1)

Mostly, talented players did speed runs in the Dorido Mine.

They were from influential guilds or game companies and also leveled up fast. Others had experiences, items, and skills.

In other words, they were semi-professional.

Their fighting abilities didn’t have a big difference, but their records did.

There were various reasons.

‘Speed running. The most important aspect to reduce the time of conquering an instant dungeon at the Dorido Mine was to reduce variables.’

If he was only hunting a monster, he could research the monster’s fighting pattern.

However, the conquest of a dungeon was different.

Let’s say there were 3 kobold miners in front of someone.

If he is in an open-field, it won’t be hard to figure out if there are more kobold miners around him or not.

Nevertheless, there could be 3 or 5 monsters right in front of him in an instant dungeon.

If there is none, it doesn’t matter, but what if there are 5 monsters?

And what if the 5 monsters suddenly run towards him?

He will fail his speed run.

‘Well, it’s not about being a strong player.’

The best way to prepare for the variables was to have a strong fighting power that could wipe off monsters without any problem.

The swordsman was like that when he made the shortest time record.

He didn’t care about how many kobold miners there were and killed them all while speeding.

‘Lucky isn’t on that level.’

Of course, it didn’t make sense to expect that much fighting power from Lucky, but Midas was confident.

‘So, I have to reduce the risk as much as possible.’

His confidence was based on his eyes that could see the number of monsters and the situation around Lucky regardless of the status of the dungeon.

If Midas performed his role well, Lucky wouldn’t face variables.

“Run, Lucky!”

That was why Midas could order Lucky without hesitation.

Woof!

Lucky also didn’t hesitate when his owner made an order.

“The rightmost!”

Lucky threw his body towards the rightmost one of the three kobold miners in front.

He instantly bit off the kobold miner’s neck with buffs.

Crush!

It sounded like the monster lost a piece of its skin forcibly.

However, there was no scream.

Zap!

Instead, it sounded like a spark.

[ Lightning Shield is invoked. ]

[ The object is temporarily paralyzed by electric shock. ]

The sound was an electric shock effect from the translucent shield, Lightning Shield, that covered Lucky’s golden body.

The effect made the kobold miner suddenly stop like a paused screen.

While it was stopped for a moment, Lucky ran towards another one.

Kang!

The kobold miners couldn’t even react to Lucky’s attack.

“Hm.”

Midas walked forward like he was taking a walk to the battlefield that Lucky was playing in.

Then a kobold miner naturally recognized Midas.

Kang!

And soon, it showed its enmity towards him.

Midas folded his arms.

“As I guessed, I don’t need to attack this dungeon today.”

He showed his relaxation.

‘Shit, acting isn’t easy.’

He was obviously acting.

‘I should aggro for him.’

It was to help Lucky hunt the kobold miners more comfortably and easily.

Woof!

Lucky speed hunting the two kobold miners while Midas was attracting the other one.

[ A kobold miner was hunted. ]

[ A kobold miner was hunted. ]

Lucky instantly hunted the two kobold miners and then threw his body towards the last one that was ready to attack Midas.

After that, the battle was over in a flash.

Ro-ar!

The kobold miner couldn’t run away from Life And Death skill and Lucky finished it perfectly.

‘So incredible as I expected.’

Lucky’s fighting power was still amazing even though Midas had seen it before.

Even Midas’s heart was pounding.

“Hm, I’m not quite satisfied in Lucky’s fighting power.”

However, he stared at Lucky and said something he didn’t mean.

“I wish he could be as strong as the holy beast from the master of some guild…… I could make him that strong, but It’s so tough since holy beasts can’t equip an item.”

He was only bluffing.

“Well, what can I do? I need to keep enduring even if I don’t get lucky in this fucking gacha game. Right?”

At the same time, he was being sarcastic.

‘Nothing comes to me if I’m always humble.’

The image of BJ Archmage was already decided.

What if he suddenly showed humility and kindness at that moment?

Then, it wouldn’t be more popular than this.

‘I’ll act more confidently so that they can’t help gossiping about me.’

“Oh, I’m going to ignore the items since we’re doing a speed run. Well, only trash comes out from the monsters and I don’t want them even if someone tells me to collect them. Items are always available on auction, right?”

Midas happily acted that way.

“Now, we’re going to continue hunting. Let’s get it, Lucky!”

Hooowl!

Midas shouted and Lucky answered him.

At that moment.

[ You have conquered the dungeon. ]

“Huh?”

He heard an alert that notified the conquest of the dungeon.

Midas checked Lucky’s status first.

Lucky’s body was still shining with the effect of Lightning Speed.

Midas stood still right away.

2.

Players hunted in an instant dungeon in the Dorido Mine.

For that reason, the Dorido Mine was sort of safe.

It was literally sort of safe, but not too safe.

It could be in a sense the most dangerous place somehow.

For example, some players stood by with bad intentions in front of a dungeon. Nothing was more dangerous than players making a surprise attack on an exhausted player who just finished conquering a dungeon.

Of course, those issues didn’t happen often.

The Explorer’s guild was also in the Dorido Mine and there was a tacit agreement between players.

Players’ primary goal was to hunt more than to PK and they generally agreed.

“Are you sure?”

“Yea, I’m sure.”

However, the tacit agreement didn’t unconditionally work for everyone. Humans still committed a crime even when there was a law.

They were a good example.

“Really?”

“I said I’m telling you guys the truth. I saw him saying stuff before he went inside.”

A party of five had the same purpose.

“I’m sure he’s BJ Archmage!”

Low-level players aimed at BJ Archmage.

“So, are you going to hunt him for real?”

“Of course, I am. He could have a legendary item!”

“We’re not sure if he has it or not.”

“It’s an item that even Azmo doesn’t know. So what if it’s not legendary?”

It was worth it.

That Azmo didn’t know about BJ Archmage’s item made BJ Archmage popular.

The chance to get the item didn’t always come.

“When I checked around, there was no one guarding. Also, it’s outside of the Explorer’s guild’s line.”

The fact that he was outside of the Explorer’s guild’s line conclusively made them move.

Their faces looked fully steeled.

“We need to finish him completely.”

“Don’t forget to hide your faces. He has plenty of money to take revenge after being attacked.”

BJ Archmage wouldn’t stay still by the looks of what he had done so far.

That was why they strengthened their resolve that they would kill BJ Archmage no matter what price followed them.

While stepping forward one by one, their faces didn’t look good.

Not only their faces looked bad but also their conversation disappeared.

“What?”

Soon, the player stopped leading them.

“It’s weird.”

His words were unexpected.

“He was right here.”

No one answered him.

Everyone was only making blank faces.

“This, this can’t be. He was here for real!”

Then another one answered only after he said the words, “Fuck, I knew it.”

Everyone finally understood the situation and threw words.

“Fuck, are you kidding? Do you want to die?”

“Wow, I thought it was real.”

The player hurriedly shook his hands in front of his comrades who were complaining.

“N, no! I’m not lying!”

He pointed to a wall without any entrances, and the others made cold faces.

The player repeatedly defended himself.

“F, for real! I really saw him!”

Of course, no one trusted him.

“Forget it. Don’t you dare talk to us again.”

“Asshole. How dare you play with us like this?”

The player stared at the wall with his innocent face.

“H, he did go inside here 5 minutes ago. W, where did he go?”

3.

“Hey, where did you go?”

Hyunwoo answered Hyukjoo shortly, “A convenient store.”

“Did you take medicine?”

Hyukjoo asked about the smell that came out from Hyunwoo’s mouth.

“It smells like Chungshimhwan.”

“I don’t feel good these days.”

“Take care of yourself. You gotta be healthy to play the game.”

Hyunwoo answered vaguely and Hyukjoo went on to another subject.

“Do you want me to set up the capsule?”

Hyunwoo shook his head and sat on a couch near the counter.

‘I guess he’s going to rest.’

Hyukjoo wasn’t suspicious of Hyunwoo.

“Oh, good afternoon! Is it your first visit?”

Hyukjoo’s attention naturally moved towards his new customer.

In the meantime, Hyunwoo wrapped his face with his hands.

Then he felt the heat from his face.

Pit-a-pat!

The heat was from his heart bumping constantly.

‘Oh my god, I didn’t expect to break the swordsman’s record.’

The heat was from the fact that he broke a solo play speed run record that was never broken before.

‘Wow.’

He didn’t expect it.

He expected the time to be over 5 minutes when he took Lucky with him.

His expectation was reasonable.

The problem was variables.

‘Lucky was stronger than I expected, but…….’

One was that Lucky’s ability with the buffs was more than Midas’s assumption.

‘The dungeon was way too short.’

The other one was that the dungeon was shorter than he expected.

Of course, the variables weren’t that important.

‘Anyways, it’s a jackpot.’

The important thing was that Midas broke the record that no one could break.

‘I can’t believe that I recorded the video…….’

Besides, he had a video of it.

That was the most important point.

“Ha.”

He moved his hands away from his face with a sigh.

His face didn’t show any worries.

It only showed his determination that he was ready for something really big.

‘Yea, it’s more effective for a pitcher to hit a batter’s body than to provoke him awkwardly.’

4.

“How many views did you say?”

“Now, it’s about to be 4 million.”

“How many people subscribe to the Rising Star Channel through the video?”

“It’s 900,000 more.”

“Definitely cool. The number of subscribers is good compared to the number of views.”

The subordinate slowly turned his head towards Yeongjoon Park.

Even though he was saying so, his facial expression wasn’t that good.

He seemed like he had a complaint.

“But his appraisal isn’t good. People are saying this wealthy man is burning his money, he’s creating strange feelings, and everything is just a show….. You have a complaint about this, don’t you?”

The subordinate asked Yeongjoon’s reason.

“What?”

However, Yeongjoon tilted his head and then shrunk his shoulders.

“So what? It’s a lot better than an appraisal saying that this wealthy man is playing a game so humbly. Also, people aren’t judging us, right? It’s only about BJ Archmage. Why do you have a problem with that?”

“Then why do you look like that?”

“My look?”

Yeongjoon checked his face through his tablet’s screen that was off instead of a mirror.

His face was stiff.

Only then Yeongjoon relaxed his face.

“Oh, this. It’s because of what I offered.”

“Offered?”

“You know the condition I suggested for the next video of solo killing the ragged magician.”

“You mean $10,000 and the 6:4 revenue share. BJ Archmage gets 6, right?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s what you offered?”

“Just to be clear, it’s bait.”

The subordinate tilted his head and Yeongjoon tapped his head.

“Do you know what the wealthy care about the most when doing business?”

“Well, I don’t know since I’m not one of them.”

“The share.”

The share.

The subordinate tilted his head when Yeongjoon said the two words.

“We call people with plenty of money to live, wealthy, right?”

“Right.”

“Then, it doesn’t mean anything if someone gives them another several billion won. On the contrary, obsession with money decreases when they have more than a certain amount. They start buying stuff with the money. Properties, arts, or stocks. You know? Have you seen a rich person who has more than 5 billion won in cash?”

“Not many.”

“Same as BJ Archmage. I just touched him and he bought Double Casting at 200 thousand won right away. Do you think he’s going to be moved if we give him $10,000?”

“Probably not.”

“That’s why I gave him 6 for the revenue share. In that way, I gave him a bigger right for the video.”

“Then isn’t it going well as you planned?”

According to what Yeongjoon Park said, everything was going well as he planned.

Then why is he making that face?

“I told you that I was fishing.”

“So what about it?”

“Of course, it means I’m fishing BJ Archmage.”

Yeongjoon made his face stiff again.

“It can make him feel bad.”

Only then the subordinate understood the danger and asked back, “Then isn’t it dangerous?”

“It is, but it’s better than having an ambiguous relationship for a long time.”

Yeongjoon tapped his head and continued, “BJ Archmage can even make Azmo move. I think our channel is an existence that he can use and throw away anytime. We’re the weak. It’s obvious that we bet a winning move before him.”

At that moment.

Bzz!

Yeongjoon’s tablet turned on the screen and showed an email alert.

“A float is bobbing!”

Yeongjoon shouted when he saw the email address and then checked it.

“Okay, he sent a video. Huh?”

At that moment, Yeongjoon’s face became puzzled.

“It’s not one?”

There were two video files.

He spoke out loud the files’ title.

“One is ‘Record-breaker’ and the other one is…..’Provocation’?”

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