In ASA there were many ways to make money.
Mining, crafting, fishing, farming, trading, commissions, and so on—aside from those, there were still hundreds of other routes.
These were mainly the methods favored by ordinary users.
Of course, since most of these were easy jobs that anyone could access, it was difficult to make big money with them.
If you really wanted to make a fortune, if you wanted to become successful, then just like any other game, there was no choice but to hunt.
To be precise, it meant hunting what were called raids or boss monsters.
However, raids were not content that all users could enjoy.
You could say that 99% of users couldn’t even lay a hand on them.
Even so, there was still one method left to make a lot of money through hunting.
That method was—
“Golden Monster.”
It was a term that referred to an ordinary monster respawning with a golden hue, different from its usual appearance.
Golden Monsters dropped massive amounts of gold, with their hunting difficulty slightly increased.
“There were even statistics showing that catching a single Golden Monster earned you more money than hunting a thousand regular monsters.”
Since they dropped such huge amounts of gold, Golden Monsters were called ‘Gold Bars’ among users.
Naturally, the chance of discovering a ‘Gold Bar’ was extremely rare.
But in the face of the effect of ‘Transcendence of the Five Senses – Luck,’ probability was meaningless.
As proof, right now, a masterless Gold Bar—a golden Amorphophallus—was flying leisurely right in front of my eyes.
“If you kept sucking up these sweet rewards, even Siren could have grown so big as a latecomer.”
If another user, or even my future self, found out about this, they’d definitely curse, saying, ‘ASA Luck-based × Ruined Game.’
But when you’re the one sucking up the honey, the story is completely different.
“This is just a feast in itself.”
When the table is set so nicely for you, how can you not praise it?
And it would be impolite to refuse such a feast.
“I’ll eat well.”
As I spread out my palm, Ghouls emerged from the magic circle on the ground.
It had gotten a bit harder, but not to the point where the strategy needed to change.
Although the Golden Monster’s basic stats had increased, it wasn’t as if it had transcended its species’ limits.
The first move was the Giant Toad’s ‘Swarm Hell.’
A Ghoul, its body bent and its tongue stretching out like a butcher’s knife, lashed its tongue at the Golden Amorphophallus.
Hooong—
Thanks to all the hunting experience, the clumsy movements of the beginning were gone, and now I could achieve extreme efficiency with minimal moves.
With just two strikes, I managed to suppress more than a third of the Amorphophallus.
The Amorphophallus, now considering the Ghouls their enemies, transformed into a maw and launched a counterattack.
They whipped up a gust of wind to break the Ghouls’ stance, then charged at them fiercely.
But it wasn’t just one Ghoul that had grown.
Immediately, another Ghoul from behind swung its lower jaw.
The charging Amorphophallus couldn’t dodge and were swallowed up by a crimson wave.
Churrok—
In an instant, the number of Amorphophallus swept away by the wave was halved.
No longer able to cluster as before, the scattered Amorphophallus looked shabby, but still didn’t lose their fighting spirit and regrouped for a counterattack.
However, even that wasn’t easy.
“We’re not just standing around doing nothing, you know.”
A rain of arrows and the massive, crusher-like fists of the Troll Goul relentlessly pursued and shattered their formation.
Thanks to that, the Ghouls with the Giant Toad Head easily swept up the scattered remnants.
It was a one-sided massacre, an easy battle, but the rewards were by no means trivial.
[You have killed Shinaga’s Golden Amorphophallus.]
[You have gained 5,000 experience points.]
[Congratulations! Your level has increased to 17.]
[You have obtained 10 Gold as a Golden Monster hunting bonus!]
Seeing the message window, Dahav cheered in delight.
“ASA Hooray! God Hooray!”
10 Gold—that was worth a million won in real money.
“Should I run to the broker and shop for items on sale? Or maybe go out and order some chicken?”
It was a happy dilemma.
“With a million won, forget chicken—Korean beef! Yeah, I should ask the chef and have it for dinner…”
As thoughts of dinner crossed his mind, the faces of two people naturally surfaced and his excitement cooled.
“This is the first money I, Cheon Yeo-hyeon, have ever earned…”
Living as Cheon Yeo-hyeon, there was always an overflow of money, but this was the first time he’d earned it himself.
In that moment, memories from the days when he lived as Baek Jun-su flashed by like a panorama.
‘Donghyuk, that guy, he always bragged about how much his parents loved him, all day long.’
Among the coworkers who joined the company on the same day, they’d only known each other for a month, so they didn’t know much about each other’s situations, and it was a mistake made without malice.
So at the time, he pretended to laugh it off calmly.
‘Honestly, I was really jealous.’
He envied having someone to look after, having someone to care for him.
It was a feeling he could never have experienced, never did experience, when he lived as Baek Jun-su.
But now, it was different.
“I should log out early today.”
Having decided exactly how to spend the money, Dahav immediately ran to the currency exchange.
***
‘Watching a fire across the river’ is said to be the most fun.
At school, on the streets, even on the internet.
Wherever there’s a fight, people gather, and everyone has probably been a spectator at least once.
ASA The community site ‘Arts’ was no different.
-Looking for the channel ID ‘Fact Bomb Train,’ the one who said he’d call you his bro if you filmed a video.
-<Video Attached>: For my younger brother, this older brother personally went to slay and worked hard to shoot the video. Please watch and leave a review.
-Fact Bomb Train-nim~ Bro is looking for you, where are you?
-Author: If anyone sees my precious bro Fact Bomb Train, please let me know.
ㄴ Can’t believe you actually filmed this, you’re hardcore.
ㄴ Author: No one believed me. I was so frustrated I had to go film it myself.
ㄴ Can’t believe you can catch Amorphophallus that easily. Honestly, even watching the video, I can’t believe it.
-Wow… Crazy… Seeing the level up, they must be in their 10s, but at that level, they can hunt Amorphophallus?
ㄴ Didn’t a Golem fill up all the experience and only used Amorphophallus for the level up?
ㄴ You must be a noob. If there’s more than a 10-level difference, you don’t get any experience.
ㄴ Sorry, I’m an newbie, thanks for the tip ㅎㅎ!
-Is this CGI? Isn’t this a fake video?
ㄴ Absolutely not. I’m a monster analysis expert, and the death motions aren’t all the same. If it was fake, they’d have used just one motion. No way it’s fake.
As the topic slowly gained attention, so-called meme screenshots were created and posted to more communities, and naturally, a massive influx of traffic followed.
-Came here on a pilgrimage.
ㄴ 2222
ㄴ 3333 {TS note: for some reason its written “2222”, “3333” in the raw too}
-Wow, this is insane. If you look closely, it’s not just a regular Amorphophallus. Zoom in and you can see—it’s a Golden Monster.
ㄴ Yeah, that’s wild. I couldn’t tell from a distance, but after zooming in, it really is a Golden Amorphophallus. Crazy, just crazy.
– And it’s not even hard to catch. They hunt it as easily as a slime. This is seriously nuts.
As questions grew and the issue blew up, naturally, a big question popped up.
– But the most important thing is, you can’t see the nickname clearly from a distance. Who is this person anyway?
ㄴ Asked the right question. Must be a rookie being raised by a top Guild.
ㄴ But then, there’s not a single piece of equipment with a Guild emblem?
ㄴ Here’s some top-secret info, just for you. Among top Guilds, they purposely hide the identity of super rookies until a certain level to avoid interference from rivals.
ㄴ Judging by the outfit, the one in the video is a newbie living in Shinaga, and since they entered Shinaga’s interior after 9 PM two days ago, like the previous commenter said, they must be a Guild user who pays tribute.
ㄴ Wow, then are they at least Aurelius-level?
ㄴ No way a 20th place can compare. As a former Consultant, I’d say they’re at least top 10, or maybe a super rookie being raised by one of the recent Heavenly Guilds.
ㄴ I agree with the commenter above.
ㄴ For sure, only someone at this level could be called a Heavenly Guild super rookie.
Misunderstandings continued to snowball, reaching the point where it was completely out of control.
***
Late at night, a Guild House of a size so ordinary that any mid-sized Guild could have one.
Even the guards at the house were yawning, standing around with no tension.
But inside the house, it was pure carnage.
The thick scent of blood stung the nose, and the floor was a sea of fresh blood.
The Blood Sea stretched all the way to the room where the Guild Master stayed, making it clear that something was very wrong.
“I-I was wrong. No, I was mistaken! I’ll cooperate. Please, I beg you, show mercy, please show mercy!”
In the room, a man pleaded desperately for mercy, surrounded by a party of five wearing Masks.
Their weapons were stained red, reeking of blood, showing just how many people they had killed.
Even at his desperate pleas, the Guild House’s owner, Guild Master Davy John, began to tremble and beg.
“ASA is my workplace… If I keep being unable to log in, the kids, my children, will suffer… Please, for the sake of the kids, forgive me, please!”
One of the Masked assailants sneered and spoke up.
“Do you even know who we are?”
Before the words were even finished, Davy John dropped his head to the floor and answered.
“Siren! You’re from the Siren Guild, aren’t you!”
By now, the rumors were everywhere in this world.
Not long ago, like a comet appearing, there are rumors of a guild that invests huge sums of money to scout all the promising new stars, called Kiraseong.
If that was all, it could be dismissed as just strategy, but if you refused their scout offer, they would brutally retaliate, just as the man was experiencing now.
A Guild, or an individual, that would indiscriminately massacre anyone to the point where further gameplay was impossible.
Siren by name, but read as ‘Evil Ghost of the Eighth Tide,’ it was a place of notorious infamy.
“You really do have a sharp sense. No wonder you’re the Master of Thousand Hands of the Thousand Hands Arhat Guild. Ahaha!”
The woman in the Mask burst out laughing, then threw off her Mask to reveal the nickname Betty above her head.
“Y-yes, that’s right. Among my close acquaintances, I’m so well-connected that there are even guild members among them! If you grant me just one more chance, I swear I will devote myself wholeheartedly to the task!”
Betty looked at the begging Davy John and smiled as if pitying him, then turned to the man in the center.
“What do you think? He’s begging this much—shouldn’t we let him live?”
At the hopeful words, Davy John began to weep with relief.
But then, the man standing at the center of the Masked assailants approached Davy John, bent down, and grabbed his chin.
Then he lifted his Mask.
It felt just like facing a ghost.
Just meeting his eyes was enough to make Davy John’s body tremble uncontrollably with fear.
The man was Platy, the master of Siren, also known as the Evil Ghost of the Eighth Tide.