Chapter 3
TL: Uncle Choi
Editor: Ren
When it was discovered that only players could destroy the dungeon, each government began amassing players. At first, the governmental and military forces were deployed. However, it didn’t take long before they realized that it was not the government, but rather the players who held the knife.
Just like that, guilds consisting of players were born.
In other words, it was a way for the players to protect their profits. To them, guilds were like a mint that printed money. There was only one exception to such a rational practice and guidelines.
The Messiah Guild. They did not seek after profits but instead pursued noble values. The existence of the Messiah Guild made the other guilds look like a heap of rubbish, a rabble of luckily awoken players who were blinded by their own interests. Among those guilds the Phoenix Guild had the worst reputation. However, their standing was second only to the Messiah Guild in Korea.
‘The atmosphere here is always the same.’
First of all, the office of the Phoenix Guild’s had a very unusual atmosphere. In front of the twenty-five story building in Samseong-dong, an office of the Phoenix Guild, five people stood with their signs and shouted.
“Phoenix Guild, Get a Hold of Yourself!”
“Wake up, Wake up!”
“Phoenix Guild, Compensate for the Monster Rampage!”
‘Looking at the situation, the monsters escaped from the dungeon after it was destroyed by the Phoenix Guild and caused some serious damage. Right now was when tensions the guilds and the public were at its height.’
Year 2023. It was a time when the number of monster dungeon victim cases were at an extreme. In Seoul, excluding the areas surrounding to the Han River and the Gangnam district, where politicians, wealthy people, big business executives, and players resided, there was virtually no safe place for people to reside in.
‘After two years, there will be no such protections.’
These protests would be hard to see in two years.
‘…Since it’ll be a time when you would be lucky to even survive.’
Two years later, people would have to thank the guilds for letting them off with their limbs attached if they so much as mentioned compensations.
‘It’s not a situation that can be solved by a mere Phoenix Guild.’
In fact, in a sense, the damage caused by the Phoenix Guild was hardly their fault. On the contrary, the Phoenix Guild had the best dungeon clear record amongst the guilds active in Korea, that is, excluding the Messiah Guild. Calling the blunders they caused a mistake was debatable when you compare it to the mistakes caused by guilds that were mediocre and uncoordinated. However, the target of such protests had always been the Phoenix Guild. It was rare to see protests like these in front of any other guild headquarters.
The reason was simple.
‘It was always tough being the number two.’
It was due to the fact that they are the number two guild in Korea. If people were going to denounce and condemn someone, it was going to be one of the top ten guilds; protesting a guild only in the top 50 ranks wasn’t going to lead to anything significant.
‘Well, the Phoenix Guild members are sons of bitches in this aspect.’
Of course, this did not mean that the Phoenix Guild was an innocent scapegoat. Considering the mistakes upon mistakes that the Phoenix Guild already committed and the mistakes they would commit in the future, it wouldn’t be weird to see protesters throwing explosives into the Phoenix Guild Headquarters.
‘If it weren’t for the selfish practices of the guilds like the Phoenix Guild, there wouldn’t have been a reason for groups like the Messiah Guild to be born.’
From the beginning, it wasn’t due to skills and capability that the Phoenix Guild became the second ranked guild in Korea. In Korea, there was a saying, “You’re not a man of power and means if you are not qualified enough to be bribed by the Phoenix Guild.” Just from this saying alone, one could imagine how interwoven the connections between the Phoenix Guild and the real estate industry was. Also, most Korean players were on the side of the Phoenix Guild. On the contrary, the Messiah Guild had very few supporters amongst the players.
‘Without the support from the Hangsung Group, the Messiah Guild would have disappeared a long time ago.’
If it had not been for the protection of the Hansung Group, the Messiah Guild would have already been trampled upon by the Phoenix guild.
‘No, it may have been the other way around.’
At this revelation, Kim Woo-jin realized something.
‘Rather, it was the Hansung Group who took advantage of the Phoenix Guild.’
Even they had been mere tools, chess pieces in a plan arranged by the Hansung Group and the Messiah Guild.
‘By using the Phoenix Guild, they further increased the prestige of the Messiah Guild.’
Using the evil mirror known as the Phoenix Guild, they made the image of the Messiah Guild shine even brighter. In any case, the Korean government and large corporations’ support for the Phoenix Guild was far greater compared to the other guilds, and such support continued to nurture the players who were members of the Phoenix Guild. That was the why Kim Woo-jin wanted to leech off the Phoenix Guild.
‘The Phoenix Guild is awful but so is the Messiah Guild. Even if I kill off either of them, there wouldn’t be any issues.’
On the other hand, this realization left him laughing. It was a laughter brimming with mockery. There wasn’t anyone to feel guilty over no matter who he killed.
‘Fuck…’
What a fucked up world this was.
Overflowing with wacky emotions, Kim Woo-jin entered the Phoenix Guild Headquarters.
Year 2020. The number of dungeons constantly increased ever since the game started in the beginning of that year. At the same time, the number of floors in the dungeons also increased. In the year 2020, the highest floor of dungeons that appeared was the fourth floor, but the highest floor of dungeons that appeared in the year 2023 was the sixth floor.
Let alone reducing the damage caused by the dungeons and monsters, it was getting worse and worse, day by day. The game had truly begun when the value of everything in the world could be calculated for the players.
“Here are the conditions of the Phoenix Guild.”
Evidence of that was in the hands of Kim Woo-jin at this very moment. A contract. The offer that was proposed below his name was out of the ordinary. It was something that far surpassed the expectations of a normal human being.
First of all, the salary was on another level.
‘For signing a two year contract, the signing bonus is six hundred million won.’
The standard two year contract came with a signing bonus of six hundred million won, the standard for a three year was a billion won. Moreover, this was only the signing bonus.
‘Clearing a one floor dungeon will have additions rewards of thirty million won each time.’
When the first floor of a dungeon was cleared, the player would be rewarded depending on the results of one’s clear, and in a situation where the second floor of a dungeon was cleared, a clear reward would be given once again, this time in hundreds of millions of won.
‘All the items acquired in the dungeon will be given to the individual that found the item. However, to sell the item, one must sell the item through the guild.’
The ownership of items acquired in the dungeon was obvious, it was all given to the players themselves. Although players could only sell the items through the guild, guilds like the Phoenix Guild would always give the players more when they could. They would never cut down the price of their items. In many ways, it was an extraordinary condition.
‘They are pretty much meaningless.’
However, Kim Woo-jin was not even slightly interested in such conditions.
It was not like money was useless. No. Rather, Kim Woo-jin needed more money now than ever before.
‘With these paltry amounts, I wouldn’t be able to buy a single item that I want.’
The problem was that Kim Woo-jin needed an astronomical amount of money. It would not have been enough even if he went back in time as the eldest son of a chaebol family.
“It is shocking.”
Things within Kim Woo-jin’s expectations definitely did not exist within this contract.
“As expected of the Phoenix Guild. These conditions are incomparable to the conditions offered by the Messiah Guild.”
“Certainly. These conditions cannot even be compared to that of the Messiah Guild. So, would you like to sign a contract with the Phoenix Guild?”
“I have no reason to reject such an offer. By the way, how would I prove to you that I am a player? Even if I were to activate my status window here, others wouldn’t be able to see it.”
When asked by Kim Woo-jin, the team leader of the Phoenix Guild’s recruiting team, who stood right in front of him, pulled out a luxurious leather envelope and handed it to Kim Woo-jin.
“It contains the exclusive skill pages for the Emissary of the Underworld.”
Skill page. It was literally a piece of paper that could be used to learn a skill. Players could obtain skills by ripping a skill page. However, nothing would happen for normal people if they were to rip a skill page.
Meaning, one could identify whether someone was a player or not, just by letting them rip a skill page.
There were, of course, many other ways to prove if someone was a player. It would have been enough just by using the inventory right away, since players could take items out of the dungeon and were able to keep stuff like monster ingredients in their inventory.
‘The showmanship is incredible.’
The only reason why the Phoenix Guild used this kind of method to determine if someone was a player was to demonstrate the guild’s prowess. ‘We are this much different from the other guilds,’ that kind of display.
‘I appreciate it nonetheless.’
To Kim Woo-jin, he was grateful for this situation.
“Pick one and rip it please.”
A grateful Kim Woo-jin did not refuse. Smiling, Kim Woo-jin checked the 5th skill page.
‘What is this?’
The smile on Kim Woo-jin’s mouth disappeared as he became very serious.
[Blood Poisoning]
- Acquisition Requirement: Emissary of the Underworld
- Acquisition Level: Above Lv 1
- Skill Effect: Turn one’s blood into poison. The potency of poison will grow dependent on the user’s level and the grade of the skill.
Blood Poisoning. Thoughts of that bastard was what made Kim Woo-jin turn serious. It was a skill that did not look that strong in terms of its overall effectiveness. It was because people were not animals with a lot of blood.
An adult that weighed about 70 kg would have around 5L of blood, and when blood output exceeded about 2L the person would die. Also, blood having a poison effect could cause a variety of problems to the people around him. What if blood spattered during a battle?
Or when when someone had to treat his wound? The more potent the poison was, the greater the risk became. Therefore, not many people were interested in Blood Poisoning. There were only a few players with a halo from the Emissary of the Underworld to begin with, and there were countless better skills one could learn as an Emissary of the Underworld.
Everybody thought so, that is, until he appeared.
‘To think I would learn the signature skill of the King of Deadly Poisons like this.’
The King of Deadly Poisons. Although he awakened very late, he was an influential player who instantly became a ranker with the might of his poison alone! This skill, Blood Poisoning, was the key to what made him who he was.
‘With the use of Bloodsucking skill, he removed the limitation of his blood volume, he then created blood golems with all the blood he acquired through the Bloodsucking skill… It was truly a nightmare.’
Blood Poisoning, Bloodsucking, and Blood Golem. The strength of this triple combination threatened even Lee Se-joon. Even he had to step backwards. Lee Se-joon couldn’t do anything but retreat when confronted by the King of Deadly Poisons, guarded by his blood golems.
That skill now fell into Kim Woo-jin’s hands.
“I will use this skill page.”
And in that instant, Kim Woo-jin ripped up the page.
Jjiig!
Like that, the skill page of Blood Poisoning that was ripped by Kim Woo-jin’s hands turned into darkness and was absorbed by Kim Woo-jin’s body.
[You have Learned Blood Poisoning.]
This was the evidence that Kim Woo-jin was indeed a player belonging to the Emissary of the Underworld. After confirming the evidence, the team leader of the Phoenix Guild’s recruiting team held out his hand and spoke.
“Thank you for joining the Phoenix Guild,” he said.
Kim Woo-jin shook his hand. Then, the team leader of the Phoenix Guild’s recruiting team asked a question.
“By any chance, is there anything you need?”
At such a question, Kim Woo-jin answered immediately, as if he had been waiting for it.
“To what extent can I borrow from the company?”
$1 ≈ 1,135.92 South Korean won