Chapter 42: Bait and Bargain

"Okay, that's it for the claim."

Sungwoo finished writing the claim directly in the customer service center on the Warlord official website, then stood up and stretched.

He felt proud.

Even by his own standards, it was a well-written piece.

Sungwoo thought, if he hadn't taken a leave of absence and had attended university diligently, wouldn't he have gotten all A+'s on his writing assignments?

"Alright, the head office claim is done... Now it's time to start the real game."

Sungwoo picked up his phone.

Then, he dialed the number he had received from Dunkin the other day.

Ring, ring—

The call connection tone rang out.

He'd already received the 2,000 channel fee as a deposit. During the process, he also learned Dunkin's real name was Choi Sungwoo.

"Sungwoo, pick up already, you have a big job to do. Hm hm hm~"

Sungwoo hummed a tune as he waited for Choi Sungwoo to answer.

Now, everything was ready.

Sungwoo would use Choi Sungwoo as bait and somehow reclaim all of the Parasitic Shell from the Black Guild that had unjustly profited using his information.

The call connected.

"Hello?"

"Yes, hello. It's me, Han Sungwoo."

"Ah, yes! Hello!"

He couldn't see him, but Choi Sungwoo's voice practically crawled on the ground. It felt like he was bowing his head.

Sungwoo spoke dryly.

"I'm ready. I'm going to lure those bastards out, and I already wrote up a script for you to use as bait, so log in now."

"I'm logging in as we speak..."

"Where are you?"

"Herum."

"Take a taxi and come to Paesna. I'll be at the central fountain, so come find me there."

"Uh, about the taxi fare..."

Click—

Sungwoo, having given the meeting place, coldly hung up.

"Taxi fare, my ass."

Of course, the fare would be a lot for a newbie like Choi Sungwoo, but did he care?

Should've lived a good life.

Sungwoo took a drink of water, then logged back into the game with a light heart.

---

-Levan: Guild Master, where are you?

-Guild Master: Ah, looks like you’re online. I’m at the same place as before.

-Levan: Got it, I’ll be there soon.

The three of them quickly gathered in front of the fountain at Paesna Square.

The Guild Master pointed at Dunkin and asked,

"Is this the guy?"

"Yeah, that's him. The one who eavesdropped."

"Ahaha, hello?"

Dunkin greeted awkwardly in standard speech. The Guild Master replied warmly,

"You must have been through a lot."

"Ah, well..."

Awkward.

But Levan paid it no mind and immediately gave Dunkin instructions.

"Send a friend request to that guy—Seongho or whatever—right now. And if he accepts, tell him you got a new quest and try to sell the info for cash, like you want him to buy it."

"Eh? You want me to cut a deal with those guys?"

"They're a Black Guild, after all. If you just spill the beans, they'll never believe it. So name a reasonable price and pretend to be as cautious as you can when you offer the deal. Something like fifty million gold would be good."

"F-Fifty million?"

"It's not even won, it's gold. What does it matter? Those bastards have been leeching off Parasitic Shell anyway."

There’s a saying: Use barbarians to fight barbarians.

Levan was a gamer for a living.

When it came to money, nobody knew the ropes better.

He had a decent sense of how Black Guilds motivated by profit would act, so he crafted the script to suit their habits.

Dunkin, receiving the instructions, asked,

"But what if... what if the guy doesn't accept my friend request?"

"Then you send a message to their WarTube channel. You said Seongho’s message is still in your inbox, right? Don’t worry. Those guys have gotten a real taste for money—no way they won’t bite the bait."

If they didn't bite, that would be a disaster, but Levan was sure they would.

That's just how the lure of money works.

"...Understood."

"Alright then. Contact me when they reply."

"Okay, got it. Um..."

"What is it?"

"Sorry, but... can you help with the cab fare? Honestly, I spent everything I had just getting here..."

"Why should I do that?"

"Huh?"

"You don't know what 'cause and effect' is? Deal with it yourself."

Why was he asking him for money?

Levan flatly refused Dunkin’s cab fare request.

Then, the Guild Master, watching from the side, smiled kindly and handed Dunkin the money in Levan’s place.

"Ha ha, he’ll be riding in the same boat with us for a while, so don’t be so harsh. You need funds to work. Dunkin, right? I’ll cover your fare. Take a little extra so you have something for next time, too."

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Ah, Guild Master. You didn’t have to. Why give that guy cab fare..."

Truly, the Guild Master was an angel.

Dunkin, receiving the fare, bowed repeatedly and started heading for the taxi stand.

[Seongho has accepted your friend request.]

"Ohhh!"

Seongho, vice leader of the Plague Guild, accepted Dunkin's friend request.

---

[Dunkin has requested to add you as a friend.]

[Do you accept?]

The vice guild master of the Plague Guild, known as the vice leader, let out a snort at the sudden alert that popped up in front of him.

"Wow, this bastard's insane?"

After getting completely destroyed and nearly killed by them, this guy brazenly sends a friend request again?

This could only mean two things.

"Either he's nuts, or he's crazy."

Either way, he wasn't normal.

So he accepted the request.

Frankly, even if Dunkin tried to press charges for what happened last time, the vice leader knew there wasn’t enough for a real case.

No sooner had he accepted the friend request than a whisper came from Dunkin.

-Dunkin: It’s me.

Since it was chat and not voice, he was probably using the virtual keyboard.

No problem.

The vice leader responded with the virtual keyboard as well.

-Seongho: lol, I know. Why'd you add me?

-Dunkin: I have something to say.

-Seongho: About what? Here to cuss me out now?

-Dunkin: No. I have something to sell.

-Seongho: We don’t buy organs or anything.

-Dunkin: It’s not like that. Remember when I told you how I learned the Amthosrin summoning method?

-Seongho: And?

-Dunkin: By chance, I ran into that person again. I’ve been tailing them ever since.

"Hmm?"

An unexpected answer.

The vice leader was intrigued.

"This guy's a total freak, huh?"

Otherwise, there’d be no reason to follow that person or contact them again.

The appearance of this never-before-seen madman stirred his curiosity.

-Seongho: lol, and?

-Dunkin: After following them for a few days, I learned that, just like with Amthosrin, they received a new quest.

-Seongho: A new quest?

-Dunkin: Yeah. Seems like another hidden quest. So I want to sell you the info.

-Seongho: Oh, that's kind of interesting. But why us, huh? lol, this smells fishy.

A reasonable suspicion.

But Dunkin answered calmly.

-Dunkin: You’re the only Black Guild I know. And your methods may be wrong, but at least you kept your promise, right?

The promise referred to here was releasing him from jail if he gave them the Amthosrin summoning method.

Maybe that’s why, the vice leader was a bit taken aback by Dunkin’s logical reasoning.

"Look at this guy?"

Instead of being scared after being kidnapped, he was trying to use what happened last time to establish some trust.

He was honestly surprised.

After all, every victim the vice leader had seen was either a complete coward or obsessed with revenge.

"This is kind of refreshing..."

He thought he was just a freak, but after that comment, the guy looked different.

Shows how much a single word can matter.

The vice leader held his tongue for a moment.

After thinking it over for a while, he answered.

-Seongho: Fine. I’ll respect your guts. So how much for the info?

-Dunkin: Fifty million gold.

-Seongho: What?

-Dunkin: I heard Parasitic Shell was sold for a billion recently. So fifty million isn’t that expensive for you guys.

"Hah, this crazy bastard... fifty million for one piece of info?"

Fifty million gold.

That was about five million won in real money.

Honestly, that was a reasonable price. The money they’d split from selling Parasitic Shell came out to about that.

Actually, it wasn’t just reasonable.

Depending on your perspective, it could even be pocket change.

Because there were still plenty of unsold Parasitic Shells in the guild warehouse.

"Fine, why not."

So he decided to go for it.

Fifty million gold would be a fortune to Dunkin, but it was nothing to him.

Seongho replied.

-Seongho: Fine. I’ll give you fifty million. But if the info is useless, what then?

-Dunkin: I can't guarantee it. I just overheard that it was some kind of quest. That's why I'm offering it cheap. And even if I learned a new monster summoning method, I’d never use it again.

-Seongho: Why not?

-Dunkin: I don't want to go through that again.

Dunkin made his fear clear to the vice leader.

It made sense.

You can only sell information you can handle yourself.

So the vice leader could relate to Dunkin’s words.

"You came prepared, huh?"

Even if he didn’t drop all suspicion, he could at least understand a bit.

Dunkin continued.

-Dunkin: I want payment first. Then I’ll give you info about that person and the quest I overheard. Kidnap them, talk them into it, do what you want to get more info.

-Seongho: And if that’s too much work?

-Dunkin: Then let’s just forget it.

-Seongho: llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.

Dunkin backing down so fast was, for some reason, kind of cute.

So, feeling a strange sense of trust, he agreed to the deal.

-Seongho: Sending the money by parcel. But if your info is bullshit... you know, right?

-Dunkin: If it is, I’ll just quit the game.

-Seongho: lol, good answer.

And so the deal was struck.

The vice leader immediately sent Dunkin fifty million gold for this unexpected windfall.

An alert popped up in front of Dunkin: the parcel had arrived.

Dunkin said after checking the message,

"Got the money."

"Let me see."

While the transaction took place, Levan and the Guild Master sat beside Dunkin, waiting for it to end.

Dunkin opened the parcel and showed Levan the money.

Fifty million gold.

Not a single coin missing.

Levan checked the amount and pocketed the payment.

[You have received 50,000,000 gold.]

Fifty million gold.

A sum he hadn’t seen in a while.

With the money secured, Levan handed Dunkin a piece of paper.

"Give it to them word for word. Use a message, not a whisper."

"Okay."

Dunkin agreed to give the vice leader some brief info about Levan and the quest he received.

Of course, the info was written by Levan himself—half true, half false.

After Dunkin finished sending the last piece of information,

"It's done."

"Good job."

"You too, Levan."

"Pleasure meeting you. Let's never meet again."

"...Yeah."

Levan didn’t stop mocking him till the end.

And Dunkin, without losing his temper, silently took the insults.

Right now, all Dunkin could think about was escaping this situation.

"I really need to live honestly from now on."

Dunkin was utterly fed up.

With all of it.

So he decided not to even dream of getting revenge for the humiliation Levan dealt him.

"I’ll just be satisfied if those two take down those bastards. That’s enough for me."

He disliked Levan, but hated the Black Guild who’d wronged him even more.

So, if evil is to be fought with evil, deep down he hoped they’d get their comeuppance.

"Well, I’ll be off now."

Dunkin deleted Seongho from his friends list and immediately logged out of the game.