Emperor of Solo Play

 ­ Dungeon Map (1)

[You completed the quest, ‘Maoong’s Test.’]

[You obtained the title, ‘Bear Warrior Hunter.’]

[You obtained the title, ‘One Who Killed the Master of the Bulkas Mountain Ranger.’

[You obtained the title, ‘First Hunter.’]

[Golem Summon skill rank rises to D.]

[Madness Helm skill rank rises to C.]

[You have leveled up.]

Perfect!

There was no other word that could describe this moment. After successfully hunting the Bear Warrior alone, Hyrkan enjoyed the reward fully. He had completed the main scenario quest, obtained a total of four titles, increased two of his skill ranks, and leveled up.

Lastly…

“Yep, this is it.”

In the puddle left by the melted corpse of the Bear Warrior, Hyrkan could see three fist-sized jewels.

Picking up the jewels, Hyrkan trembled.

‘This is what you call a lucky drop!’

The pent up feeling from the Sword Monkeys finally exploded as a smiled formed naturally. He had begun to shoulder dance, which he had not done recently. Along with it, he converted everything from the Bear Warrior into crafting coins. Although it was a tedious task, the smile never left Hyrkan’s face as he toiled. It was one of the happiest face Hyrkan had since starting Warlord.

The amount of coins he got was enough to fill the pouch he brought to the size of an adult male’s head.

‘Today’s just getting better and better!’

He didn’t think he would get three crafting jewels.

Three crafting jewels meant much more than getting one more crafting jewel from two.

‘If I sell these as a set, I can get much more…’

Currently, there was no Bear Warrior set anywhere in Warlord. With three crafting jewels, it was enough to craft 3 rare rank items, which was enough to produce a set effect.

‘Just selling these would net about 10,000 gold at the minimum.’

If he could sell these to an item collector, he could buy an entire cow, much less some meat.

‘Looks like I’ll be oiling up my stomach… with cow oil that is.’

That wasn’t it. The video he took was phenomenal. A necromancer hunting a boss monster by himself was impressive even in Hyrkan’s eyes. He predicted 5 or even 10 million views.

The worth of 10 million views was enormous. Sponsorships would come like candy and the amount he would get from that would be completely different from before. What he was getting in won would turn into yen. In other words, he would get 10 times more than before!

“… wow.”

After a brief pause, Hyrkan kissed his biceps.

‘Well done, Hyrkan. You’re the best.’

Self-praise.

Although he looked like a crazyman, Hyrkan was satisfied with everything he had done to the point he felt no remorse in his embarrassing action. In fact, he wasn’t just satisfied. From one to ten, everything had played out like he wanted. Moreover, this was a first in Warlord history, and first in Hyrkan’s successes.

‘Yep, An Jaehyun! This! This is it! Your choice wasn’t wrong!’

Solo raid success!

Although there was room for improvement, Hyrkan could also feel the infinite potential for improvement from this raid.

He now had assurance exceeding confidence.

‘Just keep going this way.’

I wasn’t wrong!

These words that echoed in Hyrkan’s mind was the biggest reward from this raid.

★★★

“Shit.”

“Hm?”

“Fuck.”

“What did you just say?”

Bulkas Ranger Village.

Located at halfway up the Bulkas Mountain, the Bulkas Mountain Village was the only place where players could rest, buy consumable items, and receive quests. Of course, those that visited the Bulkas Mountain Range naturally stopped by at least once at this place.

Moreover, as people found out that the Bulkas Mountain Range was ideal for levels 60~80, more have been coming by the day.

“What do you mean by what? I’m saying what I’m feeling.”

At such a place, someone was spending his entire time just looking for one person. It was natural that he wouldn’t be in the greatest mood.

At the moment, he didn’t even want to hide how he was feeling.

“What if the executives hear you? Shut it.”

“Like they’d come here. They’re too busy fucking around together. Tell them to come!”

Two Apollo Guild players were currently waiting by the Bulkas Ranger Village entrance, looking for the player that killed three members of the Apollo Guild.

They must have spent at least 7 hours by now. It could be considered short, depending on how one looked at it. It was common for players to spend six or so hours to get from hunting grounds to castles. This was also why some players amassed items that raised their movement speeds.

However, it wasn’t a short time considering they had paid tens of millions of won to buy the gaming machine and were paying monthly fees to continue playing. 7 hours looking for a person could never feel longer. Not to mention, they weren’t doing this of their own volition.

It would be fortunate if foul language was the only thing coming out of them.

“I mean, come on. The one that got PKed is the retard. Why do we have to do this for those retards?”

“Hey, lower your voice!”

“Three of them couldn’t even take care of one person. How does that even make sense? They were the ones who followed him too! They want us to take revenge for them? Isn’t it better to just cut them from the guild?”

“Watch what you’re saying. Otherwise…”

“What? I can leave the guild, who cares? There are thousands of guilds in Warlord.”

The moment he said those words, the player could feel even more rage boiling up from inside him.

Leave the guild? Sure. He could do it. It’s not like a guild could prevent him from leaving, and he surely wasn’t breaking any laws by doing so.

It’s just that… he was afraid of what would happen as a result.

Playing as a runaway wasn’t something he considered fun. No one did.

‘This dirty world…’

Above all, such a thing was sure to happen in the Apollo Guild. The guild master was someone who did anything he could do punish those that ignored him. With how much he was overflowing with money, there wasn’t much he couldn’t do in Warlord. After all, he could hire a Ranker given enough money.

Of course, he could still leave if he wanted. He just had to die 6 or so times. But rather than going through such things, it was better to just swallow his pride and enjoy an easier time in his current guild.

“Really, fuck this…”

At that moment.

“Hey!”

“What? Stop trying to stop me from…”

“No, I was just thinking, what if we just catch a random guy?”

“What?”

The Apollo Guild members thought up a solution to their problem.

“Think about it. We don’t even know the face of the guy we’re looking for. Then why don’t we just find someone who looks like a pushover? We can just say it was him, and I’m sure the executives will fall for it.”

“What if they don’t?”

“We’ll just say we mistook him. It’s not like we’re in the wrong here. They didn’t even give us a picture!”

At that, the other guild member fell over in a swoop. They were both furious, although only one of them was voicing it out loud.

And in their line of sight…

“How about him?”

“Him?”

“He looks like a pushover. Even if not, it doesn’t look like he has any backers we need to worry about.”

“He does look like a pushover.”

A suitable target appeared.

★★★

Hatch turned around.

‘What now?’

There was a ruckus nearby. One player was surrounded by several others. Hatch made apathetic expression.

‘In Warlord, there are no days without wind.’

Hatch would have usually ignored a situation like this. He was already overflowing with tasks. Even now, he was coming back from a quest to obtain one of his titles. The Top 30 Guilds employed a method where their quest team did most of the work and the main members came by receive credit. Even this was a tedious task, and Hatch didn’t want to involve himself in any more bothersome things.

‘Eh?’

However, the players in question were players Hatch knew.

‘Aren’t they from that Apollo Guild?’

And.

‘Wait, weren’t they looking for Hahoe Mask?’

They were looking for the same person he was looking for. Otherwise, Hatch would not have cared.

‘Don’t tell me…’

Hatch walked towards the crowded area, and when he did, he could hear what they were talking about.

“I already told you, I don’t know who you guys are!”

“Don’t try to weasel out of it! Pay for your actions!”

“What actions?”

“Going against the Apollo Guild!”

“I told you, this is the first time I’m hearing that name! I just came here for the first time!”

Hatch turned his head. A typical traveler’s outfit. To be exact, it was the Subjugation Association’s default set. On top of this, the player in question had the word ‘pushover’ written all over him. Surrounding him were 6 members of the Apollo Guild.

‘That’s Hahoe Mask Hyrkan?’

Since he had never seen Hahoe Mask Hyrkan’s real face, there was no way of confirming whether he was looking at the real Hahoe Mask.

As such, Hatch gave it a little thought.

‘As long as Hahoe Mask Hyrkan isn’t an idiot, he wouldn’t come over announcing that he’s the Hahoe Mask after taking care of members of the Apollo Guild.’

The symbol of Hyrkan was his hahoe mask. He appeared in all his videos wearing it. In other words, he could easily hide his identity by taking it off. It was clear that Hyrkan wasn’t such an idiot that wouldn’t make use of that fact.

That is, it was impossible for Hatch to decide whether this was the real Hyrkan by looking at his face. After all, he had never seen him before. On the other hand, the Apollo Guild was much more likely to have seen his face. They were taken out by him after all. In any case, they would have more information about Hyrkan’s looks than Hatch himself did.

Hatch quickly came to a decision.

‘If he’s the real one, great. Even if he’s not, I’m helping a guy getting bullied, so I’ll be justified.’

It wouldn’t hurt to try.

“Wait.”

Hatch came forward.

At that moment, everyone’s attention turned to Hatch. The Apollo Guild’s members frowned, and it was clear that they were thinking, ‘who the hell is this?’ On the other hand, the player surrounded by them had a completely different expression than them. His stiff expression seemed to be saying, ‘this fucker is…!’

Of course, Hatch didn’t catch the meaning behind their expressions. He wasn’t the type to study people’s faces, and he surely wasn’t in a situation to be doing so.

Hatch only spoke his mind.

“Stop causing a ruckus. I have a business with him, so let him go.”

At Hatch’s words, one of the Apollo Guild members snorted as if he had just heard the most absurd thing.

“And who are you?”

Hatch sneered.

‘So this is why the Top 30 Guild members sometimes go about hiding their identity. This is fun in a way.’

This was the first time he had been treated this way since he started Warlord. Rather than finding it unpleasant, he found it amusing.

“Me?”

At that moment, Hatch began to fiddle with his watch. Not just the Top 30 Guilds, but most other famous guilds had their own guild uniforms. The Stormhunter Guild naturally had uniforms as well. Although the item options weren’t that good, they were the best defensive items against players.

However…

‘Ah!’

Hatch realized that he hadn’t put his uniform in his item slot.

His expression immediately turned to a frown.

‘What a stupid mistake!’

Quickly taking his hand off his watch, he raised it up and lowered the hood covering his head. Although he didn’t have his uniform on, his face was still well known. He was hoping the other side would notice him and back off.

Unfortunately for Hatch, none of the Apollo Guild’s players noticed him. Although they momentarily studied him, thinking he looked familiar, they weren’t able to remember who he was. In the end, the reaction he got wasn’t what he was hoping for.

“What? Are you trying to pick a fight with our guild? Do you want to quit this game too?”

At his words, Hatch didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Then…

“Hey! Hatch!”

A sharp voice rang out.

“Where are you going by yourself? Stick with the team! Do you wanna die?”

Someone shouted and everyone turned to look at them. Other players who were just watching the situation also turned to look towards the direction of the voice. Then, they all made the same expression.

“!”

“It’s the Stormhunter Guild!”

The Stormhunter Guild. One of the representative guilds in all of Warlord. Their presence was akin to stars on the sky for most Warlord players. Now looking directly at them, they could only gasp for air.

One person.

‘What’s wrong with my luck today?’

The person in the middle of all this, Hyrkan. He was the only one who made an unpleasant rather than surprised expression.