Chapter 85: The Great Pirate Era

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-What????

-???????

-For real???

-Nani????

-What is this? Is it about to get insanely fun?

-Is he suddenly going to dance PPAP or something?

-Wow, damn, now that’s what you call flexing.

-Celestial Dragon! The Celestial Dragon has appeared!

A bombshell announcement.

It wasn’t just the viewers who were shocked by Levan’s unexpected, sensational statement.

“W-what did he say?”

Even Bae Hyunwoo, who was watching the broadcast with him, was taken aback.

The chat window soared at Mach speed.

Now it was almost impossible to follow with just your eyes.

“Of course, it’s not completely free. There’s a condition, Manager?”

Calling out to the manager toward the camera, Bae Hyunwoo, who had been spacing out, finally shook his head and gave the order.

“Hey, hey! Upload it quickly!”

“Yes, sir!”

With the command, the upload button was clicked.

The video had already been prepared and, literally, all that was left was to hit the button to upload it to the channel.

When Ihwan clicked the upload button, a new video was soon posted to the channel.

Ding!

[There is a new video uploaded to a channel you subscribe to.]

Since a new video was uploaded, naturally, subscribers received notifications.

That included Levan, the owner of the channel.

Seeing the notification, Levan spoke.

“It’s finally up. Everyone, you should see a new video on my channel right now. That video is none other than the one where I caught the complete Amthosrin that was recently on Hotpick.”

-???

-????Why?

-Why is that coming up here?

-Huh??

-Don’t tell me??

-Don’t tell me the masked guy who caught Amthosrin back then???

-Wow, what the hell...

-So it was him?

-LOL. Amazing.

-wwwwwwwwwwuhooooooooowwwwwwww.

A video of the hunt for the complete Amthosrin, which had to be done in a hurry because of the video uploaded by the Busan Couple.

And the very first Symbiotic Pendant obtained from that beast.

Within the uploaded video, even the system alert that Levan was the first to hunt the complete Amthosrin was shown.

So, no matter what anyone said, it proved that the very first player to acquire a Symbiotic Pendant was Levan.

Levan’s reason for suddenly uploading this video was simple.

It was all to catch the Iron Dragon, who had gone into hiding!

“As you can see in the video, the Symbiotic Pendant was obtained by hunting a special boss monster summoned through a hidden quest I was working on. But here’s where things went wrong. Some Black Guild master secretly listened in on my quest info, learned how to summon Amthosrin, and started farming Symbiotic Pendants behind my back.”

As he spoke, Levan put on an angry expression, but he made it seem as if he was barely suppressing his rage.

That way, he looked more genuine.

“One of the Symbiotic Pendants that was stolen in that way is the very one that was the talk of Hotpick recently.”

-Holy crap.

-I never knew there was such a story behind that item.

-But isn’t it your fault for losing it like an idiot?

-So by that logic, I can PK you and steal your items too?

-Listening in on quest info to farm secretly… well, there is an eavesdropping skill among thief skills.

-Oh, the price of the eavesdropping skill is going up now.

-LOL, look at the merchants move fast.

-Ah, is this what they call a ‘market economy’…!

“The reason I’m revealing this here is to find those who unjustly farmed Symbiotic Pendants using my information. So let me say it here. The Black Guild I’m after is called ‘Plague.’ And the master of Plague goes by the name ‘Iron Dragon.’ But right now, they’re all hiding, and honestly, what can I possibly do to catch people who have gone into hiding deliberately?”

-Iron Dragon?

-Cheolyong?

-Levan, I have feelings too!

-If you keep ignoring my sincerity.

-Then I’ll turn into a gangster, you punk!

-Isn’t it Levan who’s trying to go gangster now?

Once, Levan made a promise.

If something that should have been his couldn’t become his, he would thoroughly block anyone else from having it.

Levan could never just stand by and watch Iron Dragon live it up with his Symbiotic Pendant.

So he took this auction as a chance to declare to everyone.

“Excluding what Iron Dragon farmed, there are a total of 7 Symbiotic Pendants out in the world. One is on my neck, one is with my guild master. And just a moment ago, Mr. Kim Cheolsu Cheolsu purchased one. That leaves four Symbiotic Pendants remaining. So let me make this clear. I will never put these four remaining Symbiotic Pendants up on the online auction house. If any new Symbiotic Pendants appear in the world aside from these seven, they’re probably from Iron Dragon.”

-Wow, he still has four of those crazy expensive things?

-How much money would he make if he sold them all?

-I’m seriously jealous, damn...

-But if you kill Cheolyong, doesn’t that mean a Symbiotic Pendant might drop?

-?!

-You’re right?

-And it’s a Black Guild, right? They always drop good items.

-Golden Goblin! The Golden Goblin has appeared!

-Rich Goblin! Shylock!

People aren’t stupid.

And they aren’t all that virtuous, either.

That’s exactly what Levan was aiming for.

‘A guy who might never log in again. Honestly, I don’t even expect to catch him. In that case, it’s better to at least instill some fear.’

Iron Dragon knows Levan’s ID.

And as someone running a Black Guild, he would have already heard of Levan’s fame as a professional dark gamer.

So Levan made a public proclamation.

This was, in effect, a message disguised as an appeal to the people, but really, it was a warning shot aimed directly at Iron Dragon.

Levan stared straight at the camera and spoke.

“Cheolyong, I’m sure you’re watching my broadcast. Or you’ll hear about it sooner or later. So here’s your warning. Don’t ever show your face, and live quietly. If you want to keep making money in this game, that is.”

-Wow!

-Look at him warning people;

-Ah, is this what ‘power’ is?

-He’s such an idiot but damn, he’s cool LOL.

-He suddenly gives a warning during the auction LOL.

-But honestly, he’s really cool for real.

He said everything he wanted to say.

After giving his warning, Levan added a final remark.

“Anyway, now I have four Symbiotic Pendants left. If the day ever comes that I decide to sell these, it will probably be through a live broadcast auction like today, or by listing them under my own name in the online auction house. So from now on, I’m putting a bounty on Iron Dragon. Whoever brings me Iron Dragon will receive one Symbiotic Pendant.”

-LOL.

-That bounty is crazy LOL.

-Iron Dragon just became a big shot in an instant.

-Not a big shot, this is One Piece LOL.

-‘Cheolyong,’ thus begins the great age of pirates...!

-Skipping the Shichibukai and going straight to Yonko LOL.

-Luffy... I have feelings too...!

-But his fighting power is probably at Buggy’s level LOL.

The value of the Symbiotic Pendant: 1.78 billion gold.

That Symbiotic Pendant was now hanging around Iron Dragon’s neck.

This was an unprecedented bounty offered by an individual, not the kind of kill order a major guild would issue.

This news quickly became a hot topic, and was already showing signs of climbing the Hotpick list.

“That’s all I have to say. If you make a deal with him and buy a Symbiotic Pendant, that’s fine. I can’t really say anything about those matters. But if you’re thinking of buying a pendant from him, remember this: No matter how cheap he sells it, I can just give one away for free.”

After making it clear one last time, Levan announced he would upload Iron Dragon’s face photo to his channel, and then continued with the auction.

---

“Uh…?”

An apartment somewhere in Seoul.

Inside a room lit not by a fluorescent lamp but a temporary light, someone dropped his chopsticks in the middle of eating ramen.

The man’s name was Park Cheolyong.

His in-game ID in War Lord was ‘Iron Dragon.’

“Th-this bastard…!”

Park Cheolyong’s face flushed red.

Because Park Cheolyong was currently watching the hottest live broadcast on WarTube: “Levan’s Live Auction.”

Park Cheolyong was a successful professional dark gamer.

So he was sensitive to all news about War Lord.

Naturally, ever since Levan cleared the Tower of Infinity, he had been subscribed to his channel and watched closely.

Because Cheolyong had always intended to get his revenge on that guy someday.

But right now.

What he thought was just a simple auction of cherished items had turned into a death sentence broadcast in an instant.

Then it happened.

Ding!

Ding! Ding!

Ding!

A barrage of phone notification sounds.

Since he hardly got any messages, the phone he had tossed onto his bed started vibrating like crazy for the first time in ages.

‘No way?’

He had a bad feeling.

As his phone kept buzzing non-stop, Park Cheolyong picked it up with a worried look.

And found it filled with similar messages.

[‘Seongho’ has left the guild.]

[‘Jackoll’ has left the guild.]

[‘Mahura’ has left the guild.]

[‘Black Hawk’ has left the guild.]

……

A phone filled with messages—system notifications about guild members quitting.

Park Cheolyong had linked all in-game notifications to his phone just in case something happened.

That’s the spirit of a true pro gamer, he said.

But now, that meticulous preparation was utterly destroying Park Cheolyong’s mental state.

“Ah, ah…”

The Plague guild, run as a select elite, began to crumble as soon as Levan’s broadcast went live.

All the guild members had been watching Levan’s broadcast.

A few remained, but about 90% of the guild members had already quit.

Including the vice guild master, the sub-captain.

Thud!

Park Cheolyong collapsed onto his bed in defeat.

A maelstrom of indescribable emotions swept over his face.

“Ah, aaah…”

The fortress he had built with such effort since open beta turned to sand in an instant.

A meaningless sigh slipped from Park Cheolyong’s lips as he slumped on his bed.

---

[Logging out of the game.]

The game ended, and the capsule’s door opened.

The one emerging from the capsule was Seongwoo.

Stretching out refreshingly as he stepped out, Seongwoo beamed a bright smile.

Bzzz!

The phone vibrated.

Seongwoo checked the caller and, with a smile still on his lips, answered the call.

“Yes, Manager.”

“You did great, Seongwoo.”

“The managers had it much harder than I did. But, um... did you like the event I prepared?”

“I was genuinely surprised. I had no idea there was a story like that for you.”

The live auction broadcast ended in great success.

Starting with the first auction item, the Symbiotic Pendant, all other items sold for much higher prices than market value.

And—

‘Caught up in the mood, I ended up selling one more Symbiotic Pendant... but honestly, I don’t regret it much.’

When he was about to wrap up the auction after selling off all the random items, countless requests for an encore sale of the Symbiotic Pendant poured in—just like fans calling for an encore after a concert.

They said they’d pay any amount, so please sell it.

After some thought, he sold one more, and the price ended up being—

‘Who would’ve thought it’d sell for 2.3 billion gold...’

Nearly 800 million more than the first sale, it sold for a staggering 2.3 billion gold.

“How do you feel? You’ve got over 400 million won in your hands in an instant.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure yet. I think it’ll feel real once I exchange the gold for cash...”

“Need help exchanging the gold? The company can help with that.”

“Wait, really?”

“Of course. And it’s much easier tax-wise to exchange it through the company than as an individual.”

“Oh, taxes!”

“I figured you wouldn’t have thought about that. So, how about we meet today or tomorrow?”

“I’d be happy to. I’ll come by the office.”

“All right. Just drop by anytime tomorrow when it’s convenient for you.”

“Okay, thank you.”

That’s Manager Bae Hyunwoo for you.

Bae Hyunwoo took care of things Seongwoo hadn’t even considered, and Seongwoo didn’t turn down his kindness.

Just as the call ended—

Bzzz!

The phone vibrated again.

Instinctively, Seongwoo checked his phone.

And instantly froze.

“Wh-what…?”

The reason Seongwoo froze—

On his phone screen, the name ‘Mom’ appeared.

(Continued) The Mage Doesn’t Hide His Power