Chapter 96:

The Tale of a Hardworking Pay-to-Win Knight Episode 96

The resort’s atmosphere was excellent. They had rented out the entire island, so no one bothered them. The food was delicious, and the beds were comfortable. There was also a great bar and beer hall where they could drink to their heart’s content if they wished.

But that wasn’t all! As expected from a vacation spot, this island boasted various facilities. One could explore the ocean via submarine or ride a kirank, a leisurely flying machine. With prior booking, guests could stay at the underwater Yuli Hotel or dance the night away with renowned DJs spinning tunes. There was even a relatively fair casino, and fireworks lit up the sky every evening.

It truly was paradise on earth.

In this paradise, hundreds of staff and actors were having fun. Some people became lovers while existing couples enjoyed passionate moments together. They created unforgettable memories and formed close relationships.

“Sigh… It is crazy.”

However, I wasn’t like that. There was no room for it. I needed to make money.

“Then see you next week.”

“Yes, thank you.” I ended the call by pressing Cheeda’s nose. The person I spoke with was from Five Dragons, which operated as a content provider (CP) platform for web novels. He was a representative of Greendragon.

So far, I had been making profits through a sort of free serialization, but now I was reaching its limits.

The number of works serialized on Five Dragons was unimaginable. My stories, which lacked popularity and readership, were completely buried amidst them. Now I couldn’t produce new works like before, so I needed a new way forward.

“That’s fine… Let’s see.” I turned on my stock app.

Nemesis – 2,109,500 won (-57,000 won) ↓

“It is falling again…”

I had planned to sell if the stocks skyrocketed and buy later but it was blocked now.

“No, why is it falling? There isn’t any worse situation.”

I didn’t understand and searched the internet. It wasn’t surprising when I found out:

[A dogshit game. Why should I stress myself with games while spending money?]

[Paying is completely insane… I heard a lot but it really exceeds imagination.]

[A perfect virtual reality—that’s true. The depth of emotion from the 1st grade was truly touching ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ But why do you kill me whenever I try to do something? These perverts…]

[I just wanted to hunt monsters… Why are they always yelling…]

There were many complaints from players who had started their revenge. However, they weren’t the only ones dissatisfied.

[No, why are you disobeying the castle lord’s instructions? Do you not understand rules and regulations?]

[Why are you coming to the hunting grounds controlled by our guild…]

[I told you not to kill event monsters yet you still died and flooded the fan site with abuse ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Really ㅋㅋㅋ]

I looked around the forum and got up from my seat.

“Excuse me, Han Jae-yeon-ssi!”

Turning at the sudden call, I saw a woman wearing a bikini.

“What is it?”

“If you aren’t busy, would you like to have a drink with me?”

For a moment, I stared at her. I didn’t know who she was but there was something familiar about her face. She seemed to be one of the mages who summoned monsters. She was a beauty with slender figure and fair skin, yet I couldn’t help but give an awkward smile.

“I’m sorry. I have a commitment right now.”

“Oh, oh… Yes. Then I can’t help it!”

She bowed with a red face as I returned to the hotel. Then I moved to the Internet café on the third floor.

Yes, I had a promise to keep. Nemesis and I agreed to log onto Revenge right now.

[Connecting to Revenge…]

[Connection completed.]

The access device at the hotel was far superior compared to the one in my studio apartment, allowing me to connect comfortably. Moreover, the process itself had changed from before.

[No avatar character has been set yet.]

[Moving to the Avatar Setup Room.]

Since the Second Life Project began applying virtual reality technology to Revenge, Nemesis separated characters into two types: avatars for players to directly experience virtual reality, and servant characters that automatically hunted like before.

The Player could connect with their avatar and move around with their servant or send it to hunt automatically while they adventured in the virtual world.

‘Indeed, automatic combat couldn’t continue if it was a virtual world indistinguishable from reality… In that case, concepts like hits and critical hits wouldn’t make sense.’

If I didn’t want to see infinite critical hits and infinite hits like in Ardenia, then naturally, new rules had to be applied.

“Avatar settings completed.”

[If you don’t change the avatar settings, they will be set identical to your real-life appearance. To change them later, Appearance Modification Rights are required. Do you wish to proceed?]

“Yes.”

I skimmed through it and entered Revenge.

“Kyaaaaa!”

At the sudden scream, I looked up to see a huge dragon flying across the sky. It wasn’t a Western dragon but rather an Eastern dragon resembling a snake. Dozens of people were riding on its back.

Bwoooom!

A racing car sped along the road. Fortunately, this was happening on a dedicated racing track about five meters above the ground, so it didn’t interfere with traffic.

“Wah, it feels different when seen like this.”

The place where I logged in was a mythical-grade castle, Ilseong Land. In fact, I had already seen this scene several times on display screens, but connecting via the access device gave me another feeling. Sight, touch, hearing, smell… even taste—it was another world reproduced with all these senses.

I had experienced many virtual worlds but reaching a level where it was difficult to distinguish from reality gave a completely different feeling.

[It is your first login with an avatar character! A cheap flip phone (general) will be provided!]

Standing blankly on one side of the road, something appeared in my hand. It seemed to have an unfamiliar design.

“This…what is this? Is this a phone?”

For a moment, I fumbled with the strange object, feeling confused. The description clearly stated it was a phone, yet there was no screen.

“Uh, display! Open the screen! Isn’t this it? Cheap flip phone! Screen!”

I tried talking to it, but there was no response. One of the passing women saw me and chuckled.

“Haha! That’s an old phone! You need to unfold it since it is folded in half.”

At her words, I saw there was a gap in the middle of this plastic item. When I gently pulled it apart, it opened wide.

“Ah! Thank you.”

“No problem! Enjoy!”

She ran away while speaking, and a handsome man followed after her. Above his head were the words [Number One Handsome Man (Servant)] written.

“Oh, so that’s how it is.” I looked at the open flip phone. Shockingly, the screen consisted only of numbers and letters:

[You have selected Servant Call!]

[Battle will be summoned after completion! The battle has ended!]

[Summoning…]

Pop!

A man descended with a slight light before me.

[Killian.]

“Ah, something feels new.”

A sturdy-looking man was facing me. He wore decent equipment and carried a long sword on his back. The passing Players expressed their doubts:

“Huh? Why is that servant’s ID shining with five colors?”

“Yeah. I’ve never seen this before.”

“The color of the ID keeps changing, it’s amazing.”

“Ah! Ah! Isn’t that…?! A Myth class!”

As someone shouted, everyone’s attention gathered. Surprised, I pressed the next button.

[Killian has been stored in the character selection window.]

“It disappeared!”

“Did he log out?”

Listening to the people talking around me, it seemed that the owner of the servant character wasn’t displayed.

“Wow. If it is a Myth character, wouldn’t it be incredibly strong?”

“Just one swing of its sword could kill hundreds like us.”

“No, even if they are different players, can there be such a big difference?”

I left the spot.

‘Oh wow. What is this awkward feeling?’

When running the game on mobile, I didn’t care what people said but now hearing their conversations made me feel uneasy.

“Still, isn’t the atmosphere not bad? Why are the stocks falling when everything seems fine?”

Unlike the chaotic homepage, the mood here was very good. People were excitedly playing and there were almost no disputes among them. I crossed the castle and accessed my inventory. It was extremely wide so walking became annoying.

Fwip!

Tearing a random teleportation scroll sent me flying to a nearby hunting ground.

“Excuse me, sir!” someone called out upon my arrival.

“Me?”

“Yes, please don’t approach as our Dollar Coin Guild is currently raiding this area.”

“Oh, sure.” I nodded understandingly, having encountered such situations before. It seemed like another guild was targeting a field boss for their raid.

KABOOM!

BANG!

Boom, boom, boom!

From a distance, I could see around fifty players engaged in battling monsters. The creatures looked quite familiar.

“Haaaaap!”

Splashhh!

A wave crashed onto dry land.

[HOT SUMMER ICE QUEEN (Hero)]

“But it’s not ice anymore…”

It was reminiscent of the summer break event from Revenge. How many people actually had time to enjoy their summer vacation while playing this game remained questionable, but that was beside the point. The absurdity lay in the fact that the bikini-clad Ice Queen fought players by spraying jets of water instead of ice.

“It feels strange… It hasn’t been long since I last battled her.”

The scene served as a reminder that unlike the queen from Ardenia, this Ice Queen here was merely another monster.

Suddenly…

“Yah!” An archer user materialized out of nowhere and started firing arrows at the Ice Queen. Judging by their ID, it wasn’t a servant but rather an avatar character.

“Excuse me! Excuse me! Wait just a moment!”

“What? Huh? What is it?”

“This raid is currently being conducted by our guild, Dollar Coin, so please stop attacking.”

“Huh? Let me just hit it once. I have a quest to participate in raids.”

“That is possible even in a quest dungeon, so do it there,” the guild member replied forcefully, causing irritation on the Player’s face.

“Why are you forcing me? If I want to hit it, then let me hit it once.”

The guild member also became annoyed at his words. “Don’t you understand? This raid is controlled by our Dollar Coin Guild?”

“Controlled? What control? Did you guys pay the boss with Nemesis money or something?”

“No, what I mean is… Sigh. Fine, go ahead.”

“Yes! Is that okay? Why bother saying…”

“Just finish it and die.”

Slash!

Abandoning persuasion, the guild member’s sword drained a significant portion of the Player’s health bar.

“What?! Why are you attacking?”

Crack!

The Player screamed in surprise but died from the continuing attack. The guild member had given up on persuasion.

“Ah, this is it.” Finally, I understood why there was such chaos on the website.

“What a mess.”

In Revenge, war wasn’t like a sport where you could just set up and fight. It wasn’t just about strong raid monsters; the problem with Revenge was that other players coveted those monsters. Most of the battles in Revenge occurred when Players sought valuable items within the game, leading to conflicts as they fought each other for possession. Naturally, winners and losers emerged, governed by rules established among the Players themselves, independent of the game company’s influence.

Existing Players didn’t mind this setup. After all, those who remained were the ones who enjoyed such gameplay, right?

However, it was different for new Players.

“No! Why did you kill me?! Seriously, wtf!”

“Seriously, buff your character properly!”

“Don’t attack event mobs!”

“What gives you the right to say that??”

As I looked around, conflicts were arising everywhere.

In essence…it’s like a clash of civilizations.

It became apparent that clashes between new and existing Players were inevitable. The problem lay in the predictable outcome. In Revenge, conflicts were resolved through battles or wars, but how could new users defeat established players? It would invariably result in one-sided defeats for the newcomers.

‘In the end, there are only two answers.’

Quit the game or spend money to overcome their enemies. Nemesis obviously wanted the latter but would most players want to play a stressful game right from the start?

‘I guess this is why the stock price fell.’

It was understandable for it to fall. Players who had such a bad experience wouldn’t say anything good about Revenge after quitting. Once public opinion became worst, even those intending to play might not bother. Moreover, if they waited a bit longer, other alternatives to perfect virtual reality were likely to emerge.

”…”

Suddenly, I had a thought.

‘Does Nemesis Soft really not know this?’

Pshook!

I disconnected and exited from the access device. In any case, I wasn’t playing Revenge for fun so there was no need to use virtual reality.

Meow!

As soon as I waited, Cheeda cried out. When our eyes met, she opened her mouth.

“A message has arrived from Director Alan. Good job. The rest has been deposited.”

Immediately, I opened my account:

Free Savings Deposit (G-Bank 1173-5511)

250,043,908 won.

The balance that used to be almost at rock bottom with 43,000 won had risen to 250 million and 43,000 won.

”…”

Originally, I planned to invest this money by converting it into diamonds for the defense system of Myth Castle. I had already decided on the detailed list of what needed to be spent.

However, he had another thought.

‘Did Nemesis Soft not anticipate this crisis? Really?’

Revenge wasn’t like those past shady game companies trying to milk players before disappearing. They were the top-grossing game developer in District 34, where both the God of Justice and the God of Truth kept a watchful eye.

Of course, their truthful approach didn’t mean I appreciated their exploitative monetization model… But it was clear they weren’t fools.

“…Alright.”

While stroking Cheeda’s belly, Jae-yeon opened his stock trading app. Then, using all his available balance, he purchased as many shares of Nemesis Soft as possible.