“We’re not beggars. Ugh, shut up.”
Despite saying that, 0 opened the gift window and casually tossed about 30,000 won worth of chicken coupons to Dojisa and Tongjang. Of course, it wasn’t a favor. It was the price to shut them up.
“Here. Eat and be quiet.”
“Loyalty, loyalty!! As expected of our chairman!!”
Watching the suddenly quiet chat window, 0 nodded in satisfaction.
“All right, I’ve bribed—no, hired all the courier companies in town. Let’s keep going until the delivery arrives.”
“Courier companies? All of them?”
“The chicken restaurants. I can’t stand waiting.”
0 tapped Rabbit’s butt with the hilt of his baton.
“Let’s go, Rabbit. Time to earn your keep.”
Unaware that the address he had entered had been bookmarked in 0’s navigation, Doyeong happily waved his levitation stone around, excited at the thought of eating chicken.
Left with only the two of them, the dungeon was 0’s stage alone, or rather his ‘place for venting.’
0’s class was ‘Phantom Breaker.’
His defense was paper-thin, but with momentary invincibility dodge skills and afterimages, he toyed with enemies at ultra-close range as a magic martial artist.
[Passive: Arrogance]
0 narrowly dodged a monster’s attack. Each time the blade whistled past his nose, layers of red aura accumulated around him. As if releasing his pent-up rage from reality into the game, he was enjoying a precarious tightrope walk.
“Hyung, like before, please. Let’s finish quickly.”
Laughing like a madman, 0 dashed into the middle of the enemy lines.
“You crazy… Hey! Dodge!”
Doyeong pulled out his worn tarot cards.
His class was ‘Arcana Tactician.’
A battlefield commander who turned enemies into fools and allies into gods.
A black orc raised a massive axe aiming at 0’s back. Whether deliberately or through ignorance, 0 was tearing apart the monsters in front of him, leaving his back defenseless.
[Die!]
“Whoever dies first is right in front of me.”
Doyeong wasn’t flustered.
[Arcana: Devil]
The black card Doyeong threw pierced the orc’s forehead. In an instant, the orc’s eyes glowed red. Losing reason, it swung its axe wildly toward 0 alone.
But that was all part of Doyeong’s calculation. The hidden effect of the [Devil] card was ‘50% reduction.’ On paper, it seemed like every two hits one would land, but that wasn’t the case. Enemies like orcs and goblins were dumb. Their chance to hit was already only 50%.
What if you added a 50% reduction on top?
Whoosh! Vroom!
The orc’s axe missed 0 completely, slicing only the air. Without looking back, 0 smirked.
“Reliable as always.”
Successful evasion.
[Arrogance] 10 stacks achieved.
Red mana surged over 0’s fist like an overload.
[Overload Smash]
KA-BOOM!!!
0 slammed the ground, and damage numbers in the hundreds of millions popped up as the orc horde exploded like popcorn. The strike satisfaction obliterated all stress.
But a problem arose.
“…Tch.”
0’s skill abruptly stopped. The dazzling explosion effect faded. This time, the mana was empty. He had poured out his skills more violently than usual.
“Ah, crap… killing the momentum.”
Irritated, 0 swept his hair back and stepped back. For a magic martial artist like him, running out of mana was like a soldier out of bullets. Above all, feeling powerless because he couldn’t tear apart the enemies in front of him, even just temporarily, annoyed him.
A wave of black monsters was still surging ahead like a tidal wave.
‘One minute. Potion cooldown 30 seconds. Ah, this is driving me nuts. Hands aren’t warmed up yet.’
0’s fingers trembled anxiously. The pressure of reality tightened its grip around his throat again. Normally, the team would have taken down the remaining enemies by now, so potion cooldowns didn’t matter. But since he was beating them alone, he used more skills than usual.
Then, Doyeong’s eyes darted rapidly.
‘That impatient idiot looks like he’s about to charge in naked without mana.’
There was no time to hesitate. Resolute, Doyeong threw cards behind 0’s back.
“Hey. Catch this.”
“Huh?”
Curious, 0 turned around just as dozens of blue cards fanned out from Doyeong’s hand.
[Quick Draw: Mana Burn]
- Effect: Burns away enemy mana, and converts the amount burned into ally mana.
“Sippy straw inserted. Don’t spill it.”
Doyeong scattered the cards in midair.
Pat-pat-pat!
The cards struck right into the chests of the charging monsters. Streams of blue mana slowly seeped out from their bodies like threads. Those dozens of mana strands merged together midair, flooding back behind 0 like a giant river.
[Skill Cast: Mana Burn – ‘Forced Injection’]
KA-BOOM!
0’s completely empty mana pool rapidly filled to the brim. No, it overflowed, sparking blue around his character.
0’s character froze, not just a simple system mana recovery.
Survival was everyone’s responsibility in this game. Getting stronger by help from someone else was an unfamiliar sensation to 0.
“…Haa.”
0’s avatar moaned softly and tilted its head back.
The pounding headache that had lasted for days cleared instantly.
[Party] Won: Don’t go hungry.
Doyeong’s dry chat message popped up. 0 stared at the screen with clearer eyes and snorted a laugh.
“Ha. This hyung is something else…”
The timing was perfect. Like forcibly pouring water as soon as one feels thirsty, this flawless support.
“Tastes good.”
0’s voice cracked low. He gripped the mouse so hard veins popped.
“If hyung feeds me this full…”
An uncontrollable power, or rather, destructive impulse, took over his whole body.
“That means I can go crazier, right?”
[Party] Won: Use it sparingly. Don’t waste.
“Why save? It’s mine anyway. If it runs out, I’ll squeeze hyung for more.”
0 stared fiercely at the monsters ahead. Now those weren’t just enemies; they looked like punching bags for stress relief.
“Watch closely. With hyung’s refueling, watch me tear ‘em up.”
KA-BOOM!!!
0 charged back into battle. Faster and more brutally than before. Doyeong sighed watching his back.
‘That crazy bastard… It’s not good mileage, he’s just a gas-guzzling hippo.’
But Doyeong’s fingers were already prepping the next card. To earn his keep, he had to lay the rails to keep this runaway train on track.
After the final boss, the Giant Drill Golem, crashed with a roar, a dazzling golden chest appeared alone on the floor. This time, one for each of them.
With familiar hand movements, Doyeong opened his chest. 0 had already opened his and was inspecting the contents.
Flash!
[Item: Eye of the Storm (Legendary)]
Before Doyeong could even check the stats, 0’s voice rang in his ear.
“Wow. It dropped.”
0’s character instantly moved to the chest. No hesitation.
“Hyung, hand it over.”
“Huh? Is this good? It has no defense.”
“Exactly why I want it. You can’t use it.”
“Wait, but I opened it, and if I post it to the auction house…”
While Doyeong hesitated, 0 chuckled. It wasn’t a request, but clear ‘demand.’
“Hyung, did you forget?”
“What?”
“Your position. [Private Property].”
0 stepped right up close to Doyeong.
“A private property owner doesn’t have ownership? Every hair on your head, every junk item in your inventory, it’s all mine.”
“Hey, that’s nonsense! The system clearly gave it to me!”
“Nonsense? You just deposited 500,000 won earlier. Maintenance fee.”
0 shamelessly wagged a finger.
“That was the contract money. For any items hyung uses.”
Caught off-guard by such a strong counterattack, Doyeong was speechless.
500,000 won. Yeah, he did get it. But legendary gear for only 500,000 won? Before he could argue, a system message appeared.
[System: Changing item acquisition method to [Master Acquisition] by Guild Master authority.]
[System: ‘0’ forcibly obtained [Eye of the Storm].]
“…Hey!!!”
Doyeong shouted, but the necklace was already shining on 0’s neck. Without a hint of apology, 0 nodded as if it were natural.
“I’ll use it well. That’s my hyung for you. Even asks if I want to use stuff like this. Pretty.”
0 grinned maliciously and whispered.
[Whisper] 0: By the way, that’s worth 100 million won on the market.
[Whisper] 0: Thanks for settling for 500,000 won, sucker hyung. ^^
“A… 100 million?”
Everything went dark before Doyeong’s eyes.
Two tractors disappeared right before him. No, they didn’t just disappear; that thief had them hanging on his neck.
Anger surged, but Doyeong quickly regained his composure.
What’s taken is never returned. Then?
‘Right. He did take 100 million.’
Doyeong’s gaze cooled sharply.
[Party] Won: Fine. You keep it.
[Party] Won: But earn your keep. If you can’t put out 100 million worth of damage, I’ll strangle you with that necklace.
lol get him