CH 66

However, Chae Hyung-Seok couldn’t be a hundred percent sure if the man in the video was really Han Tae-Sung.

‘BNW does not allow dual accounts or nickname changes…’ he thought.

Hive Games Entertainment, which was the developer and distributor of BNW, was known to be the strictest company when it came to user verification, and they were very famous for not allowing players to delete their account and create a new one or change their player ID. On top of that, the Han Tae-Sung he knew was Level 200, but the man in the video was only Level 50.

‘He does look like Han Tae-Sung—no, he looks more handsome than him, and he gives off a different feeling. That bastard Han Tae-Sung has a deranged look in his eyes while this guy doesn’t… but they look too similar to simply ignore…’ Chae Hyung-Seok pondered, seemingly confused.

There was no way Chae Hyung-Seok would be able to tell that it was Tae-Sung at a single glance since even Choi Cheol-Ki, who used to be one of Tae-Sung’s comrades, didn’t recognize him as Siegfried.

“Hey, this Siegfried guy… Keep an eye on him and try to find out anything you can about him. Find out where he lives and what he does for a living. Leave no stones unturned,” Chae Hyung-Seok commanded.

The command meant that the Genesis Guild would keep a close eye on Siegfried from now on.

***

“Did you really design this to be created?” Siegfried asked while staring at Herbert with eyes full of pity before saying, “How the hell do you expect someone to make this?”

— T-That is…

“I can somewhat understand the deal with the other materials, but don’t you think you went too far with the Demon Lord’s heart?”

— Ehem… Ehem…

“How can you be so shameless? No, do you even know what shame is in the first place?”

Siegfried continued to berate the Blacksmith of Death, but Herbert couldn’t retort at all.

‘I think I should just consider this opportunity as a hit-or-miss… I could end up spending the rest of my life trying to complete this if I focus only on this. I’m sorry, Master Shakiro… but I think I will have to do this only if the opportunity comes…’ 

Siegfried decided not to think about completing Herbert’s final masterpiece for now.

He was willing to try and complete it if he ever came across the materials required, but it was simply too burdensome for him to drop everything and purely occupy himself with this quest.

“I won’t be able to complete this. My time is too precious to chase after something uncertain,” Siegfried honestly said.

— I understand.

Herbert seemed to agree with Siegfried’s words.

— However, please don’t completely give up on it. I beg you. Just try and gather the materials necessary to complete it from time to time whenever you have time. That’s all I ask.

“That’s not difficult…”

— I regret that I wasn’t able to work on it sooner…

Siegfried clicked his tongue at Herbert’s state. the latter’s body had probably decomposed long ago and was a pile of bones by now. However, Siegfried could tell how obsessed he had to have been with his final masterpiece when he was still alive. It was all because the Blacksmith of Death was still obsessed with his final masterpiece even after becoming a spirit.

— Anyway, I hope that you will be able to complete my final work. And this is a present I have prepared for you.

“A present?” Siegfried repeated as his ears twitched at the word ‘present.’

— This is an Elixir of Recklessness.

Herbert retrieved a flask and gave it to Siegfried.

[Elixir of Recklessness]

[Type: Consumable]

[Effect: The user will receive 70% increased experience points for one week after consuming this elixir. However, the user will lose a few levels if they fail to gain enough levels within the time limit. (More than 10 levels in a week)]

It seemed that this elixir was created to force the user to level up as much as they could.

“Oh?” Siegfried muttered, and a huge smile appeared on his face.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

He was pretty happy with the present since he was always thirsty for more levels. It had a side-effect, but it was nevertheless the perfect item for him since he had wasted a lot of time and even lost three levels at the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament. As such, he urgently had to increase his level.

— And this is a medallion with my signature on it. Take this with you when you visit the main office of the Bavarian Workshop. They will give you a fifty percent discount when purchasing an artifact.

“Thank you,” Siegfried said after taking the elixir and medallion from Herbert.

‘It sure is a lot just to ask someone to do the bare minimum...’

Siegfried actually reaped quite the reward. After all, being able to purchase an artifact from the Bavarian Workshop, which was one of the top three workshops on the continent, at a discounted price was an amazing thing.

— Please. I ask of you.

“I already told you that I’ll do my best.”

— You have to do your best if the opportunity presents itself.

“I already told you not to worry.”

— Just in case… if you see any hope of it getting completed…

“Sigh… Can you stop insisting?” Siegfried said with a hint of annoyance.

He was slowly reaching his limits of enduring Herbert’s childish nagging.

“Go rest. I’m going now.”

— Please. You have to…

“Bye…” Siegfried said. He turned around and walked away from Herbert while waving his hand as if he was showing that he was fed up with the latter.

Shwoook…

The hell in front of him disappeared and was replaced by the dark cave he was in.

***

Tae-Sung logged out of the game and rushed to the bank.

「Your transaction has been successfully completed!」

「Your transaction has been successfully completed!」

First of all, he paid off his debt to the loan shark before paying off his bank loan.

And that was it…

Sniff…!

Tae-Sung was overcome by emotions after he was done wiring the money.

This was the end.

He could finally kiss his debt goodbye.

What forced Tae-Sung to live a pitiful and poor life was finally gone, and this was thanks to the items the participants of the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament had dropped upon their deaths.

“This is only the beginning…” Tae-Sung muttered with a smile.

His account balance decreased in size after paying off his debts, but his body felt lighter and freer than it had ever been in recent months. Besides, he didn’t really return to square one after paying them off, as he still had a lot of money left in his account.

[Remaining Balance: 1,141,173,822 won]

He still had 1.1 billion won left in his account after paying off his loans and paying for the surgery of Seung-Gu’s mother. This was only possible because he picked up every single item the players had dropped on Erengel.

‘Let’s send some money home and move house..’ 

Tae-Sung decided to move to a house that suited his hyper capsule, the Ogre.

***

“Mr. Tae-Sung…” a woman sighed in resignation.

The woman was none other than the accountant that Cheon Woo-Jin had introduced to Tae-Sung. She was the accountant who would help Tae-Sung reduce his taxes.

“Huh?”

“You will have to spend more from now on.”

“Spend more money…?”

“Yes, you have to spend a lot more than you are spending now.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“You made too much money, so you will be slapped with a hefty tax bill next year. You are on track to be charged…” the accountant trailed off as she punched some numbers on her calculator and showed Tae-Sung the figure before continuing. “You will have to pay around this much.”

“No way… haha…” Tae-Sung muttered and laughed in disbelief after seeing the figure. He then weakly asked, “Why is my tax bill so high…?”

“This is just the beginning…”

“What?”

“It’s still May, and there are still seven more months to go before the end of the year. That figure has not taken into consideration the amount you will earn for the next seven months.”

“…”

“I’m not sure how things will turn out, but your tax bill will be approximately this amount judging by your current earnings.”

The figure on the calculator was a whopping eight hundred million won. Tae-Sung would have to pay forty percent of his earnings as taxes, assuming that his total earnings for this year would be around two billion won.

“Haha… Hahaha…” Tae-Sung chuckled hollowly.

‘I just finished paying off my debts but… I have to pay eight hundred million won in taxes next May?’ he despaired.

This meant that eight hundred million won out of the 1.1 billion won in his bank account actually belonged to the government rather than to him.

“I think you will have to move houses first. It’s too late for you to set up a company, so we will have to register you as a sole proprietor for now.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Move houses and lease a car as well. The money will be deducted from your tax bill anyway, so it will be best for you to shave off as much as you can through such fixed expenses.”

“What should I do…?” Tae-Sung asked, seemingly at a loss.

His tax bill was eight hundred million won?

It was money that he had to pay as a citizen, but it was still a huge amount for Tae-Sung, who had just started earning money.

“First of all, go and register a personal business under your name, then get a house and a car. You will be able to shave off your tax bill with them, so please do not worry about the amount and get whatever house and car you want. Please do not forget to send me a copy of the lease agreement for the house and the vehicle registration of the car.”

“Okay.”

“And use your credit card as much as possible from now on. You should change all of your electronic devices to the latest models while you are at it as well, and…”

Tae-Sung’s tax consultation lasted for two more hours after that.

***

“Phew… Why do I have so many things to do…?” Tae-Sung sighed after descending upon the Nürburg Continent as Siegfried.

He had to move houses, buy a car, deal with the bank, get a credit card issued for himself, and so on. He had so many things to deal with after reaping a handsome profit that he didn’t have time to play the game for the past two days.

“I should just be quiet and play solo for now…” Siegfried made up his mind. However, it wasn’t because he was busy; it was because of something else.

The reason was none other than the fact that the video of him fighting Raptor one-on-one had already accrued more than two hundred million views on G-Tube. In fact, Siegfried’s duel with Raptor was broadcasted on the TV program ‘Hot Clips of This Week,’ and anyone playing the game would definitely recognize him if they ever bumped into him on the field.

“I have to lay low for now…” he resolved.

One was bound to lose something after gaining something, and Siegfried was aware that Chae Hyung-Seok was definitely suspicious of him.

But it was fine as long as Chae Hyung-Seok wasn’t completely sure of his identity.

Why?

That was because Chae Hyung-Seok should know that it was impossible to change one’s player ID or create a new account in BNW, and Siegfried could confidently say that he was safe for the next few months at the very least.

“First, let’s pay a visit…” Siegfried decided to visit the territory he had received as a reward before going on a power-leveling journey.

[Alert: The citizens of Proatine Province are waiting for you!]

[Alert: Go to your kingdom and take your place as the first King of the Proatine Kingdom!]

Siegfried was originally planning on looking for a dungeon, but he was left with no choice but to pay his territory a visit because of the string of messages that kept urging him to go there.

***

[Proatine Territory: At a forest in the southwest region of the Proatine Kingdom]

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes after using the gateway.

“What kind of a kingdom doesn’t even have a gateway?” Siegfried grumbled.

[Alert: Go to Casein Castle at the heart of the Proatine Province.]

[Alert: Casein Castle will be the temporary capital of the country that you will rule from now on.]

There were no gateways connected to Casein Castle, which was his destination, so Siegfried had to walk around thirty kilometers before he could reach his destination.

“Ah… It’s pretty far… Sigh…” Siegfried sighed while looking at his mini-map.

“Kyaaaaah!”

While Siegfried was engrossed in his mini-map, a scream echoed from somewhere.

***

Kyahk!

A large burly hand slapped a woman on her face.

“You fucking bitch!”

The Adventurer who slapped the woman even cursed her.

“Just obediently come with me! Why are you resisting and making life difficult for me, ha?!”

“P-Please let me go!”

The woman, who turned out to be an elf, was pinned underneath the Adventurer. She resisted to the best of her abilities, but the Adventurer was simply too huge in contrast to her that she couldn’t do anything substantial.

“Hehe! Let you go? I can’t do that since you’re my prey...”

“Please…”

“Just follow me, okay?” said the Adventurer as he cuffed the elf’s hands and ankles.

“Keke! That bitch looks expensive!”

“She looks prettier than the one we previously caught! Look at her soft smooth skin! Don’t you think so as well?”

“I think we can make a thousand gold with her.”

The other Adventurers snickered and jested among themselves.

“Ehem! I really want to lock her up and fulfill my—” the Adventurer started, but he couldn’t finish his words.

Bam!

A mace flew out of nowhere and smashed the head of the Adventurer on top of the elf. The mace really did smash his head since the Adventurer’s head suddenly let out an audible pop before it disappeared from between his shoulders.

“W-What the?!”

“Who the hell are you?!”

“Look at this fearless bastard!”

The comrades of the dead Adventurer growled at the man wielding the mace.

“Who am I?” The mace-wielding Siegfried responded, “I’m the landlord here.”