Debuff Master

Han Tae-Sung was now incredibly wealthy. There were no official statistics or figures made public to prove how much money he had, but nobody doubted that he was one of the top earners in the gaming world.

In fact, it only took him eighteen months ever since becoming the Debuff Master to amass over one hundred billion won in assets.

After purchasing a few buildings in Gangnam and a collection of supercars, he no longer had any other use for his money, so the majority of his cash sat piled up in his bank account. The interest he was earning from his bank account was billions of won.

“I guess I can just live off the interest…”

Tae-Sung was not interested in spending money anymore, but all that changed when he stumbled upon a very intriguing investment opportunity. That opportunity was none other than buying dividend shares of Hive Games Entertainment, the developer and distributor of BNW, the top-grossing virtual reality game in the world.

Shares of Hive Games Entertainment were by no means cheap, but they offered lucrative returns. Thus, Tae-Sung began purchasing them whenever he had spare cash as an investment.

This investment wasn't just about the returns he'd enjoy whenever the company paid dividends; it was also a vague preparation for the future. Tae-Sung was afraid of BNW shutting down its servers one day, as both the game and the NPCs in it had already become a major part of his life.

This was where he formed a grand yet somewhat far-fetched idea, which would serve as a sort of insurance for BNW's inevitable end. Han Tae-Sung planned to take possession of the game and keep it running should the day the servers shut down.

It sounded ridiculous, but what if he could actually pull it off? What if it would allow him to play BNW until the day he died? What if he could die surrounded by the NPCs he had grown attached to?

There was no telling what the future had in store, but this was his only way to prepare for the uncertain future for now.

“One day, the Adventurers may not be able to descend into this world. No, it’s definitely going to happen. Probably within the next twenty years?” Siegfried said while patting Hamchi’s head.

“Kyuuu? Twenty years is too soon… Does that mean Hamchi will never see owner punk again?” Hamchi asked, his large cute eyes beginning to well up with tears.

Siegfried smiled warmly and replied, “That’s why I need money. I might be able to keep coming here even if I grow old by making a ridiculous amount of money now.”

“Kyuuu? Really, owner punk?”

“I don’t know if it will work, but it’s the only plan I’ve got so far,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

“Kyuuu! Hamchi will help! Hamchi will help owner punk make a lot of money! We’ll save up from now on!” Hamchi exclaimed.

“You little punk,” Siegfried said with a smirk while patting the giant hamster’s fur affectionately. Then, he added, “Anyway, that’s why I need money. And to make a lot of money, I need to do business in the other world, too.”

“Kyuu?”

“So I’m going to broadcast the fight against those three losers. That will make me a lot of money.”

“Kyuuu! Got it! Hamchi will not make fun of owner punk for chasing after money anymore!”

Hamchi was just a collection of data made from ones and zeroes. In other words, he was just an NPC, but he had grown so intelligent that he was now acting as if he were a real individual. ṙἈΝổΒĘS̈

His desire to live happily with Siegfried for a long time was something that most NPCs in BNW possessed, and this was also the reason why so many people had gotten so immersed in the game.

***

After posting the notice about recruiting new guild members for the Head Crusher Guild with the Adventurer’s Guild, Tae-Sung logged out from the game. He went to his computer and uploaded the recruitment video he had prepared to his G-Tube channel, and he even posted about the recruitment on his social media accounts.

As expected, his actions made headlines once again.

[Breaking News] Han Tae-Sung Begins Recruiting Guild Members!

[Breaking News] Another Big Move by Han Tae-Sung!

[V-Sports/General News] Is Han Tae-Sung About to Launch Another Top 10 Guild?

Tae-Sung’s phone rang constantly as soon as the news broke out.

“Damn it… I should really change my phone number or something,” Tae-Sung grumbled, shaking his head at the flood of notifications showing on his phone. His phone was filled with over three hundred missed calls and messages from different reporters, making it impossible for him to use it for anything else.

“How did my number even get leaked…?” he wondered when his other phone, the one used only by his family and close friends, rang.

— Yo, Tae-Sung! You’re really going all out, huh?

The all-too-familiar voice of Cheon Woo-Jin greeted him on the other end of the line.

“What do you want?” Tae-Sung asked grumpily.

— I just wanted to see how you were doing these days. That other phone’s been busy for four straight hours.

“I can’t use it at all ‘cause of those reporters.”

“Dayumn!”

“I’m hanging up if you’ve got nothing to say.”

— Wait, wait. You’re going to take on those guys, right? Do you want me to hook you up with some global sponsors? I mean, wouldn’t it be better to have bigger brands on board so that the ad and broadcast rights money would be bigger?

“Yeah, you’re right.”

— But there’s a catch.

“What?”

“You’ve got to make it big. And I mean real big.”

“How?”

— This is going to be a guild war, right?

There were two main types of battles between guilds in BNW. The first was an all-out war, and the second was a guild war. An all-out war took place across the entire continent, making them difficult to broadcast due to their sprawling chaotic nature.

On the other hand, a guild war was fought in a designated area with specific rules in place, so it was far easier to broadcast them to an audience. The stage was called the Infinite Battleground, and it was a special zone similar to the arenas of the Martial God.

— It’d be a huge hit if you could negotiate the terms with those three losers and fight hardcore.

“Hardcore?”

— Yeah, like making the leaders of the losing side delete their accounts or something.

“...!”

— Of course, neither you nor they would agree to delete accounts.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’d agree to that either. But what else could we bet instead?”

— Then how about shaving?

“Shaving?”

– Yeah, the leaders of the losing side could shave their heads and upload footage of it to their G-Tube channels. What do you think of that?

“Do you think that would work?”

— Why not? They broadcast people betting on character deletion, right? Why not broadcast shaving your heads? I mean, it’s not even on live TV. It’s just on G-Tube.

“It’s interesting, but will people really–”

— Remember this. People love extreme stuff.

“Hmm…”

— The more intense the battle, the more interest it will generate, and the more interest it generates means higher ratings.

“That’s true.”

— And higher ratings mean more money for the broadcast rights.

“Hmm… That makes sense.”

— Don't you think the sponsors will offer more money?

“Probably?”

— There’s also the viewers sending in more donations.

“Yeah, if there are a lot of them, it will definitely add up.”

— So what do you think?

“Alright, I’m in.”

Tae-Sung agreed without even realizing that he was falling right into Cheon Woo-Jin’s plan.

‘I’m going to win anyway, so what’s the problem putting my hair on the line?’ Tae-Sung thought. He was confident in his chances of victory, so he was willing to take the risk of ending up bald.

“Hey, I’m hanging up now.”

— Hmm? Already?

“Yeah, I need to make another call.”

Tae-Sung quickly hung up the call and dialed another number.

“Hey~ Hyung-Seok~ It’s me.”

***

On the same evening, Tae-Sung went to meet with the trio of losers at a hotel suite. The meeting was not held at a cafe or restaurant, as they were not on friendly terms to share food or drinks together.

Plus, the attention they would receive from fans and the persistent reporters played a part in their meeting in private rather than in public. As a result, the gathering took place in a hotel suite room with only a few reporters from major media outlets present.

Of course, Tae-Sung was wary of any potential danger, so he brought along his bodyguards and Seung-Gu as a deterrent to any physical confrontations.

Creak…

The door opened…

“Oh, I guess I’m a bit late,” Tae-Sung said while awkwardly scratching the back of his head and greeting the trio who were already waiting in the suite.

There was nothing wrong with being late to a meeting, as things could happen on the way, but the problem was that he was late by quite a bit.

“You’re an hour late, you bastard!” Chae Hyung-Seok snarled in response.

“There was a lot of traffic,” Tae-Sung replied with a shrug.

“Traffic? At this time? It’s one in the morning!” Chae Hyung-Seok lashed out.

“Hehe…” Tae-Sung chuckled.

“Hey, do you wanna die?” Chae Hyung-Seok growled, stomping his way toward Tae-Sung. It looked like he was about to throw a punch at any given moment now, but unfortunately for him, that was not possible.

Tae-Sung’s bodyguards stepped in, blocking his path.

“Back off,” the head bodyguard said in a low intimidating voice.

“Bleeeeh!” Tae-Sung stuck his tongue out and flashed the most annoying grin a person could ever make while hiding behind his bodyguards.

“Y-You…! You little…!” Chae Hyung-Seok gnashed his teeth before grabbing the back of his neck after feeling his blood pressure shoot up. Then, he calmed himself down and repeated in his mind, ‘Calm down. Calm down… I’m the one who’s gonna end up dead if I don’t calm down…’

He had already suffered two strokes, which had made his left arm feeble, so he knew that he was just one stroke away from something far worse that could become irreversible.

Meanwhile, Tae-Sung continued provoking Chae Hyung-Seok as if knowing that there was nothing the latter could do.

Diesel finally stood up from the sofa and approached with his hand extended. “You must be Han Tae-Sung. It’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

“Step back,” the head bodyguard said, blocking Diesel as well.

“It’s alright,” Tae-Sung said, waving his hand for them to step aside. Then, he shook Diesel’s hand with a smug grin.

‘This damn monkey…’ Diesel growled inwardly with a slew of racial slurs while tightening his grip. He was a tall muscular man, so he planned to crush Tae-Sung’s hand after seeing that the smug boy was just a slender Asian.

However…

‘H-Huh?!’ Diesel gasped as pain shot up his arm.

To his shock, it was not Tae-Sung’s hand that was hurting, but rather, his own.

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