Chapter 236

The sudden event announcement caught users completely off guard.

└ Those Möbius assholes are always pulling random shit like this.

└ So what, you hate it?

└ Like hell I do, lol. This kind of chaos is why I’m here.

└ Damn, this time it’s something everyone can jump into. This is what a real World Event looks like.

└ Yeah, for once it doesn’t feel like Möbius is only feeding the top one percent and tossing the rest of us scraps. This actually feels fair for a change.

Of course, the surprise wasn’t a bad one. It had been a while since an event felt like something everyone could enjoy, and user reactions were overwhelmingly positive. Even a party of low-level players in their forties, who still looked every bit like beginners, felt the same.

“If we play this right, we could grow like crazy from this event.”

“Yeah. But they didn’t say when it starts or when it ends, did they? What kind of half-assed notice is this?”

“They’ll probably drop that later. Möbius always does this shit.”

A group of five beginners, who had met through party recruitment and were hunting together, chatted while staring at the sudden notice.

“Our teamwork’s actually pretty good. How about we run as a fixed party during the event? Time’s gonna be fucking priceless. Re-forming parties every time would be a huge waste.”

“Oh, I’m in. Let’s grind this shit to the bone with no food or sleep.”

“Man, just reading the event notice already gets me hyped as hell. At least tell us when it starts—”

In the middle of their upbeat conversation, something appeared right in front of them.

[Warning: Rift Dungeon generation has begun in this area.]

It was a message announcing that the surrounding area was being swallowed by the Rift.

“Huh? What the fuck?”

At the same time, a loud alert went off and a world message appeared.

[The World Event Dimensional Link has begun.]

[Starting now, the Dimensional Link will run for exactly 28 days, 13 hours, and 28 minutes.]

The beginner party froze. Sure, the event starting suddenly was one thing, but the Rift triggered right where they were standing.

“T-then what the hell happens to us now?”

The answer came by tearing straight out of empty space. A shrieking goblin appeared with its skin blood-red like it had been smeared with fresh gore. Its sunken, pitch-black eyes locked onto the party’s healer.

“Huh?”

Everything happened in seconds, and everyone reacted too late.

“GRAHH!”

“Oh shit!”

By the time someone shouted, the healer had already been jumped.

“Get it... get it the fuck off!”

One member tried to retaliate, but another goblin appeared. Unlike the first, this one had jet-black skin. It lunged from behind and slammed a dark, spike-like weapon straight into the back of his neck.

The weirdly colored goblins had appeared far too quickly and were far too strong for beginners casually grinding in a low-difficulty field dungeon.

“What the fuck is this? There was no warning or anyth—agh!”

The party got wiped in seconds, and they were not the only ones. Other beginners hunting nearby were also swallowed by the Rift and wiped on the spot. People who were suddenly forced out to the real world after dying flooded into cyberspace, absolutely losing their minds.

└ Möbius you absolute dogshit devs! I was stacking a massive mob pull and you just drop monsters on my head like that. What the fuck am I supposed to do?

└ Whoever approved this needs to be fired into the sun. No cap.

The victims poured out their rage, while the ones who survived thanked their lucky stars.

└ LMAOO good thing I wasn’t even grinding. Dodged that shit.

└ Bro the Rift line literally stopped at my feet. I almost got clipped. Actually survived by a hair.

└ Why are people so mad? They started the event early and that’s free value. I’m clocking out and farming immediately.

└ Dead players stay out. We’re gonna enjoy these Rifts without you.

The users who had avoided the damage were laughing it up, but a few hours later, they were faced with the same tragedy.

└ Möbius you insane bitches. Are your devs actually allergic to basic math? What the fuck is this level design?

└ The hell is this difficulty? Did you even make this to be beaten by real humans?

└ LMAOO my brain just blue-screened. Streamers are losing their shit too. Some dude literally checked a Rift in his usual grind spot and got folded so hard he ragequit and turned on an IRL mukbang instead.

└ If you died and can’t log back in, go search for this Japanese streamer named Hoshi. Dude got trapped in a Rift and is literally hiding and crying on stream. Comedy gold.

└ The Rift has to stabilize before he can escape, so he is covering his mouth and sobbing while crouched in a corner. I’m watching it live LOL. This is straight-up horror.

The ones who had mocked others were now victims themselves. Rift Dungeons were already tougher than the recommended levels for their spawn areas, and now the difficulty had been pushed even further, to a point that felt nearly impossible.

Players had expected a reasonable event, but LOST had never been that kind of game. Less than a day after the event began, however, guides slowly came out of the woodwork.

[Survive brutal difficulty. Aim for zones at least 20 levels lower.]

[World Event the Rift meta builds. Versatile classes are the key.]

[12 ways to survive if you get trapped in a Rift.]

The only problem was that they were mostly rushed garbage, filled with obvious advice such as “go to lower-level zones,” “hide,” and “get stronger gear and better teammates.” The people who wanted actual guides began hunting down skilled players and begging for help.

Naturally, the place everyone flocked to was Do-Jin’s channel.

└ Bro, bro, we’re getting wiped!

└ Please share some tips for this event!

└ Upload a guide video while the event’s still running!

└ Don’t hog everything for yourself. Let’s all get a piece!

But the fans who actually knew him went elsewhere. At times like this, Do-Jin’s entire focus would be on the game. He probably wouldn’t even check his channel, no matter how much people spammed it. What they needed was someone soft-hearted enough to listen and someone who could actually reach him. That person was Theresa.

└ Sis, can you please tell Do-Jin to check his channel just once?

└ Are you with Do-Jin this event too? If so, could you at least turn on a live stream? Even just you would help.

Theresa was shocked by how fast her viewer count spiked. After realizing what was going on, she looked visibly troubled.

“Ah... I’ve been busy with other stuff lately, so I haven’t really been in touch. Um... still, I’ll try talking to him for now.”

Theresa couldn’t bring herself to ignore the endless pleas from viewers, so she sent Do-Jin a message and explained everything. Do-Jin, who had just finished closing a Rift on his own, checked the message late and frowned.

“Why are they asking you to deal with this? You are already busy as hell.”

Theresa couldn’t even play the game right now because of her pre-scheduled commitments.

Do-Jin: Sorry, sis. You must’ve been swamped.

Theresa: Nah. Your fans were super polite and dropped a ton of donations, lol.

Do-Jin: How much?

Theresa: Ah! Looks like they’re starting another shoot. When my schedule’s done, we’re grinding together, okay? I’m coming!

How much did they give her for her to dodge the question like that? Do-Jin let out a dry laugh and checked his own channel, only to see absolute chaos. The comments on his most recent community post, the one where he thanked people for worrying about him, were now completely flooded with requests.

“Ah...”

If he hadn’t seen it, that would have been one thing. But now that he had, ignoring it felt kind of shitty. After thinking for a moment, Do-Jin decided to give in to his fans in some way.

There’s no way I can finish everything and then make a full guide video.

By the time that happened, the event would probably be over. The fastest option, and the one that took the least effort from him, was obvious.

I guess going live is the easiest.

With his mind made up, Do-Jin turned on his stream with zero prep. Compared to Möbius’s sudden announcement, him going live was even more spontaneous, and the fans completely lost it.

└ ?

└ ?!

└ ?

People who never expected him to go live this fast flooded in the moment they got the notification and immediately posted question marks.

└ Did Do-Jin’s MeTube get hacked or something?

Given his nature, a few fans had unironically suspected that was the case. The moment Do-Jin’s voice came through, the chat exploded.

“I checked my channel and figured I should do some streaming today.”

└ This isn’t even a pre-recorded video. You’re actually streaming?

└ No way. What’d you do to the real Do-Jin?

└ I’m actually touched. You really meant it when you said thanks. We didn’t even expect a live stream.

Do-Jin had always come across as distant. He avoided livestreams and rarely shared much about himself, so the fact that he went live, something even his hardcore fans had never expected, genuinely moved his viewers. It was like seeing someone who always kept people at arm’s length suddenly open up for once.

“Whoa... ok. All of you are reacting to this a little intensely. I’ll just get down to business.”

Do-Jin synced the streaming to his current in-game position and stood up.

Third-person camera adjustments would be handled on the outside anyway.

With that thought, Do-Jin headed toward the next Rift Dungeon.

└ What level zone is this?

“It’s 180.”

└ Holy shit. Isn’t that way too high?

“If I’m doing it anyway, I might as well go to a higher area. The EXP’s better.”

He checked the experience he got from clearing just one pack. This was basically an EXP boost event. When things were like this, it was better to grow as much as possible now so things would be easier later. Do-Jin had zero intention of compromising on difficulty.

Based on how slowly the charge was filling on the Empty Key, it was obvious that even grinding like hell for the entire event might not be enough to fully charge it. To hit his goal, both compromise and rest were off the table.

“The first thing to check when entering a Rift, whether it has stabilized or not, is the monster type.” Do-Jin said as he entered a new Rift.

The viewers watching nearly lost it again.

└ Where’s your party? Why are you going in solo?!

Even for someone like Do-Jin, soloing the Rift Dungeons that had been cranked up by a World Event was insane.

“My party members are all busy. The event opened way too suddenly, so they’ve all got pre-scheduled stuff they have to deal with first.”

He answered like it was the most normal thing in the world. Then, he clicked his tongue after spotting an enemy. It was something he had never seen before in his life. That wasn’t unusual in Rifts. The key here was to read the enemy based on what was visible on the surface.

It had four arms, and small spikes covered the ends. Looking closely, he could see small gaps around where the spikes were attached, which suggested it could probably fire them as projectiles.

“Once you identify the enemy, check your surroundings first.”

Do-Jin spotted a large rock that could work as cover and sprinted toward it. The Rift monsters, which had been staring blankly into space, all reacted at once to the player’s movement.

They didn’t even scream. It looked like they didn’t have proper vocal organs. Instead, the heavy whoosh of swinging arms and the sharp clicking of moving spikes filled the air in a way that felt downright murderous.

Dozens of spikes flew along Do-Jin’s path and slammed into the rock he was using as cover. The impact was so powerful that cracks spread across the massive stone, making it look like it could shatter at any moment.

With attack power like this, their defense has to be low.

They probably couldn’t maintain continuous fire either. After running the numbers in his head, Do-Jin accepted a brief moment of exposure and launched his counterattack, firing Flame Cannon into the clustered group. He stepped forward and hit the two advancing enemies with Flash Lance, then slipped back into cover and sent multiple Wind Blade to suppress them.

“You see? That’s how you do it.”

The moment he finished speaking, the boulder he’d been hiding behind exploded. The surviving enemies had detonated their spikes in rage.

So these bastards could detonate their spikes too...

Without missing a beat, Do-Jin instantly created new cover for himself and responded to the follow-up attacks.

Watching this, the viewers finally realized something. They hadn’t just asked the wrong person for a guide. They had asked someone who was playing a completely different game.