Soon after, the chat window chimed.
[Party] 0: Hello ^^
It was polite language.
Doyeong’s shoulders, stiff with tension, relaxed just a little. Thank goodness. Seems like he’s not a crazy person.
But it was a misunderstanding.
[Party] 0: Hey, Rabbit.
[Party] 0: I’m not sure what’s going on. Are you a bug?
[Party] 0: Or hacked?
0’s character crossed his arms and clicked his tongue sharply. It felt as if the sound of a click was coming through the text.
[Party] 0: I set a [Legendary Title Holder] filter for this party room, you know?
[Party] 0: Trying to filter and accept only the top 0.0001%.
[Party] 0: Normally, my alt would enter and leave immediately, letting me have everything comfortable and alone.
[Party] 0: But in that 0.1-second window, you came in instead of my alt?
[Party] 0: How dare you break through my perfect filtering?
0’s chat messages flooded in without pause.
Only then did Doyeong realize the situation. That guy had never intended to party at all.
He could even understand a little of 0’s frustration—after all, the only thing that slipped through his filtering was a low-level Rabbit looking avatar.
[Party] 0: Just what legend are you?
[Party] 0: Looking at that outfit, are you ‘Legendary Trash’ or something like that?
0’s tone was like a sharp scalpel. Doyeong activated the title above his character’s head with trembling fingers. It was the title he earned after digging furiously seven years ago.
[Title: Legendary Grand Farmer]
Effect: 1% chance to obtain a Golden Pumpkin when harvesting crops.
[Party] Won: …Farmer.
Right after the brief reply,
the flapping stopped. The feather effect froze as well.
Whether a legendary combat power or a legendary pumpkin farmer, the system code was the same [Legendary] rank—one of the system’s blind spots.
A moment later, the chat started flooding at a furious speed. The hint of a smile was completely wiped away.
[Party] 0: Farmer?
[Party] 0: Legendary… Grand Farmer? Pumpkin?
[Party] 0: Ha, this is driving me crazy.
[Party] 0: You know this dungeon entry ticket is only released once a year at the Royal City Auction House, right?
[Party] 0: This time the Rankers had a competition, and I won it for thirty million Won.
[Party] 0: And it’s just… a pumpkin?
[Party] 0: Your little village farmer ruining my perfect plan?
0’s character made a motion as if holding his head.
Thirty million Won.
Doyeong’s eyes widened. The price of a rural house was just equal to a dungeon entry ticket. The rumor was true: ‘To raise a Ranker, you have to burn through the Seoul studio deposit.’
Crazy game, crazy world.
[Party] 0: You know this dungeon doesn’t let you leave until you beat the boss or die, right?
[Party] 0: The entry ticket binds to every party member, not the leader. And it becomes non-refundable three minutes after entry, yet it’s been five minutes already?
[Party] 0: You deliberately came in late by three minutes, huh? So you can’t get a refund. Nice trolling.
[Party] 0: Very intelligent trolling.
“Ugh…”
Doyeong’s breath grew heavy. The letters on the screen looked exactly the same as seven years ago. A ringing in his ears buzzed intensely. His fingertips trembled, and he couldn’t hold the mouse firmly.
I just came to sell pumpkin seeds. It was a mistake…
Then, a system message appeared above 0’s character. Probably he tried to kick Doyeong out of the party.
[System: Party kicks are disabled while progressing dungeon clears.]
[System: Mentor-mentee relationships are released upon dungeon clear or exit.]
It was over. Doyeong despaired.
The system recognized the returning user with a legendary title as a superior mentee and forcibly matched the Ranker 0 as his mentor to lead him.
After reading the messages, 0 strode right up in front of Doyeong. The Archangel clad in spotless white uniform looked down at the shabby Rabbit. His beautiful blonde hair fluttered, but his face was filled with unmistakable murderous intent.
[Party] 0: Okay.
[Party] 0: If words don’t work, I’ll have to deal with you physically.
[Party] 0: You’re not a party member, you’re a ‘bug’ stuck in my dungeon.
[Party] 0: Stand right there. Don’t even breathe. Oxygen’s precious.
0 spun around abruptly. Six wings spread wide, emitting a dazzling light.
He didn’t touch the ground. Like flying, he glided elegantly in a curve toward the dungeon’s interior. Every movement was flawless and without waste. Doyeong stared blankly at the back of him. He understood the anger but had no idea what 0 intended to do.
Yet the result of that beautiful flight was soon disaster.
Ku-gu-gu-gung!
The ground trembled. In the distant darkness, dozens of red eyes flashed. Monsters sleeping wherever 0 passed were waking up.
[Party] 0: Hey, gifts coming your way. Catch them^^
Behind 0, who turned around at incredible speed, an oncoming tidal wave of black monsters surged.
Doyeong’s face turned pale.
No way… is he bringing them to me?
It was deliberate mob aggro. The intent was clear: force Doyeong out by killing him.
Huff, gasp.
Doyeong panted heavily. He had to run, but his hands wouldn’t obey. Among the 14 frames-per-second screen, the red monsters approached jerkingly. 0 flew right up to Doyeong and deliberately circled him. It was an evil trolling technique to draw aggro and pass it entirely onto Doyeong.
[Gr-r-r-r!]
Three wolf-like monsters at the front turned their heads simultaneously toward Doyeong. Their hungry hostility seemed to pierce through the screen.
[Party] 0: Go back to farming hard. I heard pumpkin prices have gone up lately^^
[Party] 0: Don’t worry. By dying, you’re healing my mental state.
He would die. The rabbit with 2 defense would be torn to pieces the moment those wolf teeth connected.
As the screen reddened, Doyeong was about to take his hand off the mouse. Since he had already stepped on crap, the best course was to die quickly and respawn in the village.
Then, a bright red system warning flashed in the center of the screen.
[Warning: You are in the ‘Abyss Zone’!]
[Death Penalty: Permanently destroy one highest value Non-bound Item (including bundles) in inventory upon death]
“…What?”
Doyeong’s pupils shook as if there had been an earthquake.
He hurriedly opened the inventory window. There, the legendary-grade Golden Pumpkin seeds he had been cultivating for almost a year appeared.
[Ancient Pumpkin Seed Pouch (Quantity: 5,102)]
Not individual seeds. One ‘seed pouch’ item contained all 5,000+ seeds bundled together. The system would definitely recognize this as ‘one item.’
Current market price: 10,000 Won each.
Total amount: 50 million Won.
By far the most valuable item in Doyeong’s inventory right now.
This… means it’s going to be destroyed.
He needed to sell this to repair the tractor.
He had to make fertilizer money.
If this all breaks, they would really starve to death this winter.
Overcome with horror, Doyeong’s eyes gleamed with a ferocity beyond survival instinct. It was the gaze of a genius who had once been Server Rank #1, and also the desperation of a head of household drowning in debt.
Damn, my money!!!
[In combat. Logout unavailable.]
[Dungeon bound: Cannot leave until boss defeated.]
Doyeong placed his hand on the glossy keyboard.
His fingers stopped trembling.
This won’t do…
Farmers may die before their crops, but Baek Doyeong was ready to cut even a god down to save his seeds.
There was nowhere to run. If he died, he went bankrupt. To leave, he’d have to break through the monsters before him.
Before the brain could catch up, his fingers moved first.
Tap.
[Camouflage]
This wasn’t an advanced skill like combat stealth. It was a simple disguise used for crop theft raids.
Doyeong’s character changed color to match the surrounding withered bushes. It was crude camouflage, but it would buy a moment.
[Grrr!!!]
The monsters hesitated and scrambled about nervously. In that gap, a sensitive monster set down a wide-area attack zone. A bright red danger zone appeared on the ground. There seemed no place to escape.
Doyeong’s hands still trembled. But his mouse cursor was chillingly calm.
The screen skipped jerkily. Every time a monster swiped its claws, frames dropped and movements were lost.
It’s lagging. The effects are too flashy.
If he tried to dodge visually, it would be too late. So Doyeong focused on listening. His body remembered that a whoosh sound through the headset meant an attack 0.5 seconds later.
He did not run. Actually, he had no strength to run. In the jerky screen, he moved just the bare minimum. One step to the left, half a step to the right. The Rabbit twitched by pixels, slipping between claws by the width of a sheet of paper. He moved just enough to be troublesome but no more.
Like a prearranged choreography, or like someone too lazy to move more than necessary, it was mechanical and efficient evasion.
I’m impressed but damn
These are some high ass stakes