Chapter 24: Scammer vs. Strategist

While everyone was still in shock, one person was crying.

“What the… He actually caught it…”

Dogry was in a complete panic.

‘How on earth did he manage to catch the Giant Black Mountain Goat?’

In the middle of it all, Exitra had casually mentioned something about the Giant Black Mountain Goat’s weak spot.

“What? The underside of its belly is the weak point? What the heck…?”

This was the first time anyone had heard that the Giant Black Mountain Goat even had a weak spot.

Countless skilled players had tirelessly searched for a way to beat it, but no one had ever discovered a weakness.

And now this Exitra guy, who was playing it for the first time, figured it out?

“No way! How the hell did he know that?! Ugh, I’m gonna lose my mind!”

Dogry let out a scream of despair.

He wanted to scratch his head in frustration, but if he did, his scalp would turn red.

If he had hair, it wouldn’t be so obvious—but his head was completely bald.

He had to be careful.

Ka-tok, ka-tok!!

His KakaoTalk notifications kept going off.

A bad feeling crept over him.

What was it this time?

Dogry checked his messages.

— [Dogry, let’s go get a full-body wax~]

— [Hey puppy~ Let’s go~ Have you bathed yet?]

— [Kekekekeke]

— [Dog-nim~ Come over here~ Our shop’s really good at waxing.]

— [How far do you want us to wax? Aaaahhh kekekekekeke this is too funny~]

His KakaoTalk was in total chaos.

The open group chat he had made to connect with fans had completely exploded, and his private messages were also flooded.

— [Dogry, I told you not to go overboard.]

— [Dogry-oppa~ For gambling addiction, dial 1366~ >ㅁ<!]

— [I’ve had a full-body wax too, want me to recommend a place? It’s in Gangnam…]

“Sigh…”

A deep sigh escaped him.

“Why the hell did I make that bet…?”

He’d gotten greedy over a million won and foolishly made a wager.

Honestly, he had been confident.

Think about it.

Who would’ve expected anyone to actually beat the Giant Black Mountain Goat?

Probably no one.

There wasn’t a single post on the forums claiming they had defeated it yet.

‘If someone had, they’d be bragging about it nonstop by now…’

The fact that no such post existed meant no one had done it yet.

Which meant Exitra was the first.

“Damn it all…”

‘This was the fate of a streamer, wasn’t it?’

There was no escape.

He couldn’t run away from it.

“Damn…”

The only thing left was to accept it.

Dogry quickly replied on KakaoTalk.

—[Full-body waxing… Which place is the best?]

If he was going to do it anyway, Dogry wanted it done right.

***

“Nice work.”

Alfredo stared blankly at Exitra.

He looked completely dazed, like his soul had left his body.

— [LOLLLLL]

— [Look at the younger brother’s face. He’s about to drool kekekeke]

— [I get how he feels kekekeke He has no idea what just happened, right? kekekeke]

— [His face is like, ‘What the heck just happened?’ kekeke]

— [Totally spaced out~]

Alfredo still didn’t seem to grasp what had happened.

With a vacant expression, he just kept staring at Exitra.

“Alfredo.”

Exitra called his name, but Alfredo still hadn’t come to his senses.

Seeing him like that, Exitra let out a soft laugh.

“Did you fall for me or something?”

“W-What are you talking about?!”

“You were staring at my face, so I thought maybe you had a crush. But just so you know, I’m not into guys…”

“That’s not what this is!!”

— [Kekekekekekekekekekeke]

— [He’s so flustered kekeke]

— [Look at his blushing face, he’s adorable~!!]

The chat was full of laughter at Alfredo’s panicked reaction.

Exitra smiled and patted Alfredo’s head.

“Anyway, nice job. Thanks to you, I figured out its weak point.”

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Alfredo slapped Exitra’s hand away.

No one had ever patted him on the head like that before.

“Don’t touch my head like that without permission!”

“Whoa. I was just complimenting you. Why so grumpy?”

“Hmph!”

Alfredo turned sharply and walked away toward the lord’s castle.

He looked quite exhausted, stumbling a little as he walked, but it was clear he was gritting his teeth and holding on.

There was a fierce determination in him—not to collapse in front of Exitra.

“So embarrassed.”

— [That’s what embarrassment looks like to you?]

— [Sorry but… my eyesight must be bad…]

— [Didn’t he totally click his tongue while turning around just now?]

— [Yeah I saw it.]

— [If you think that was shy behavior… your eyesight’s beyond saving…]

— [He was totally cursing with his eyes…]

“Well, that happens.”

Exitra casually shrugged.

Then he turned to the fallen Giant Black Mountain Goat.

“Alright, let’s get this thing moved.”

Exitra returned to the territory.

Thanks to the help of the knights, it was possible to transport the body of the Giant Black Mountain Goat.

The only issue was that it was so huge, it couldn’t be moved all at once.

So they ended up cutting it into pieces and transporting them back and forth using wagons several times.

The hide was a little tough, but since it was just lying there, dead and unmoving, they managed to cut through it with enough time and effort.

“First, we should probably sell this thing.”

— [Will it even sell?]

— [No idea.]

— [How would anyone know? No one’s ever caught one before.]

Until now, no one had ever managed to hunt a Giant Black Mountain Goat.

So there were very few people who even knew its value.

“I already called a merchant. He said he’ll be here tomorrow morning.”

With Brain’s help, Exitra had contacted the merchant using a one-time-use communication crystal.

The viewers were instantly on edge.

— [Merchant alert!]

— [Ugh, merchants in this game are the worst. I’ve seen them—they’ll do anything to squeeze out extra profit.]

— [Yup yup.]

— [We don’t even know how much that goat’s worth. How the heck are you supposed to haggle…]

“Yeah, exactly.”

Merchants moved for profit.

There was no doubt they’d try to take advantage of Exitra to make as much as possible.

Caution was necessary.

“A young heir of a fallen noble house, with the corpse of an unknown creature that might be worth a fortune… To a merchant, that’s a juicy target.”

— [Those guys go crazy for money!]

— [Worse than Chairman Pig, the legendary money-grubber!]

— [Thinking about how they scammed me still pisses me off. I lost my dentures for three months, minimum!]

— [Ugh, just remembering it makes me angry again!]

“Ahaha, thank you for the concern. In that case, shall we fast-forward time a bit?”

Exitra activated the time skip.

Time sped forward quickly until it reached noon the next day.

Exitra headed to the parlor.

The parlor wasn’t anything impressive.

There was only a table and a sofa.

It was hard to believe this was the reception room of a noble house.

But then again, the house had fallen from grace.

This, too, was something Exitra would have to fix someday.

“I’ve got a long way to go.”

— [Surprise, everyone! This is still just the beginning!]

— [Only a few days have passed in-game.]

— [The real start hasn’t even begun yet.]

— [Meanwhile, misfortunes just keep piling up…]

“Haha, the territory’s at rock bottom… Trouble after trouble keeps hitting me.”

“—That’s because it’s not rock bottom—it’s the actual worst possible start, lol.”

“You’re not wrong.”

Exitra couldn’t deny it.

Things really had been piling up.

He shook his head slightly.

***

Knock knock knock.

At that moment—

Someone knocked on the parlor door.

“Exitra, it’s Ray. The merchant has arrived.”

“Let him in.”

“Yes, understood.”

Creeeak—

The door opened, and a merchant entered the room.

The merchant bowed toward Exitra.

“Hehehe, greetings. I am the merchant Mosquito. I look forward to doing business with you.”

“I am Raiders Exitra, official heir to the House of Raiders. I’ll be counting on you.”

Merchant Mosquito had a rather sly appearance.

He had the classic look of a weasel—like a villain straight out of a comic book.

Definitely not a face that inspired much trust.

— [Whoa, it’s a weasel face.]

— [Wait! I know this merchant! He totally ripped me off the first time we traded!]

— [This guy’s actual trash!]

— [With a name like Mosquito, of course he sucks the life out of people!]

— [That merchant has the most punchable face. Seriously, who designed him… smh.]

Maybe because this was a single-player game, quite a few viewers recognized him.

After all, while the events might change, the NPCs generally stayed the same.

So many viewers had already encountered him before.

“Looks like a lot of you know him?”

— [Trash.]

— [Scammer.]

— [Just thinking about how he scammed me… Ugh.]

— [Drag him to the Room of Truth and beat him for three days straight.]

Clearly, many viewers had been burned by Mosquito before.

Even in the previous timeline, many people had fallen for Hans’s tricks.

There were even forum posts titled things like “Mosquito You Bastard!” and “I’m Gonna Kill That Merchant!”

[User ‘Puppydog’ has donated ₩1,000.]

<Please destroy him, Exitra 😭 He scammed me yesterday!>

“Hmm…”

Exitra stared at Mosquito.

His face was pure weasel.

The word sleazy was basically etched into his features.

It was the kind of face you’d only see in a cartoon.

Almost fascinating.

“It’s quite something, really. The corpse of a Giant Black Mountain Goat, and even some Orc bodies outside…”

“Right? So, how much can you offer for all of it?”

It wasn’t wise to drag out a negotiation with a merchant.

Say too much, and you’d end up getting pulled into a rhythm of sweet talk and manipulation.

Especially with a guy like Mosquito—you had to be extra careful.

“Hahaha. Straight to the point, huh? I like that. Alright then…”

Mosquito paused, pretending to think.

He was clearly calculating the numbers in his head.

“Let’s say… around 1 million gold should be fair.”

“1 million gold?”

“Yes.”

“Hah.”

Exitra looked surprised.

And so did the viewers.

— [1 million gold?]

— [That sounds pretty fair, no?]

— [Wait, if Orc corpses are worth around 20,000… then that means the goat is being valued at 960,000??]

— [Damn, that’s insane!]

The viewers were stunned by the price tag.

For this early in the game, 1 million gold was a huge sum.

With that much money, Exitra wouldn’t have to worry about finances for quite a while.

But Exitra was shocked for a different reason.

‘Is this guy insane? He wants me to sell the Giant Black Mountain Goat for that little?!’

Exitra remembered that in the previous timeline, the goat’s corpse had sold for no less than 5 million gold.

960,000?

Even Satan would call that lowball a masterpiece.

It was a shameless offer.

“That’s not going to work.”

“Really? But I think it’s quite reasonable.”

Mosquito smiled.

A slimy, underhanded smile.

“Your territory isn’t in great shape, is it? The residents’ clothing looks poor. I also noticed you’ve been logging a lot of trees. I heard from the locals that you’re planning to request work from the Architect Guild… Do you even have the funds for that?”

He knew.

He knew Exitra was in desperate need of money.

And he was exploiting it perfectly.

Stabbing right where it hurt.

For a profit-seeking merchant, this was almost expected behavior.

“Still, that’s far too low.”

“Hmm. Then how about this? If you agree to sell for 1 million gold, I’ll introduce you to a trustworthy Architect Guild I know. I’ll even ask them to give you a special discount.”

“Oh…?”

‘Bullshit.’