Chapter 262

Chapter 262

Chae Hyung-Seok despised Siegfried with all of his heart that he failed to control himself and threw a punch, but...

Chwak!

A loud noise echoed as Chae Hyung-Seok was slapped across the face.

Siegfried blocked the punch and slapped Chae Hyung-Seok.

“Huh...?” Chae Hyung-Seok muttered, looking confused and horrified at the same time.

‘This insect... did this insect just slap me? He slapped me?’’

He wanted to punch the insect, but the insect slapped him instead.

Drip!

He could taste his own blood, and he heard his blood hit the floor.

‘This loser... this loser slapped me?’?Chae Hyung-Seok couldn’t believe it.

“You fucking bastard...!”

He snapped and lunged at Siegfried, but...

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Siegfried threw him off balance and threw an uppercut.

“Argh!”

Chae Hyung-Seok’s head was flung backward.

“Don’t mess with me,” Siegfried warned. He sneered and jeered, “Why are you even picking a fight with me when you’re too weak to fight? Are you trying to show off that you’re a loser?”

“What? Loser? You fucking bastard!” Chae Hyung-Seok screamed and lunged at him once again.

“Cease that at once!”

“How dare you cause a scene in the imperial palace!”

“You will be executed if you don’t cease at once!”

However, the knights and soldiers guarding the warp rooms tackled Chae Hyung-Seok.

Shwing!

A knight pulled out his sword and pointed it at Chae Hyung-Seok’s neck.

“Calm yourself down, Adventurer.” The knight's voice carried weight and authority. “This is the Imperial Palace where His Imperial Majesty the Emperor resides. A country bumpkin like you can’t do as you pleases here.”

“...”

“Answer me, Adventurer.”

“I will... calm myself down...” Chae Hyung-Seok was forced to respond.

“This will be your first and final warning, Adventurer.”

“Yes, I understand...”

He was forced to submit to the knight.

Top ten guild? Ranker? Pro gamer?

None of those titles mattered in the Palace of Blood, where the most powerful person on the continent—the Emperor of the Marchioni Empire was residing. After all, every single Adventurer was equal in the eyes of the emperor.

“Pfft!”?Siegfried laughed and jeered, “Why were you even acting so tough?”

“This bastard...” Chae Hyung-Seok growled.

“Why don’t you try that again? Keke!”

Chae Hyung-Seok could feel his blood pressure skyrocket and a string of warning messages popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: Warning! Warning!]

[Alert: Danger! Your blood pressure has drastically risen too high!]

[Alert: You will be forcefully logged out by the system if your blood pressure goes up any higher!]

His anger reached its peak and even endangered his real body in the VR capsule.

Chae Hyung-Seok’s character turned transparent. It was a phenomenon that often happened whenever a player fell asleep or was suddenly struck by a health complication while playing the game.

“Huh? Are you going downstairs? Hey, it’s been a while since we last met, why don’t we grab a cup of tea or something? Keke!”

“Han... Tae-Sung!” Chae Hyung-Seok screamed.

‘Hold it in...! Suppress it...!’?He mustered near-superhuman mental strength to suppress his anger and prevent himself from being logged out.

Getting logged out from the game was not the problem here. The main issue was that he could suffer another stroke if he failed to control his temper.

“P-Please kill me, Your Majesty!” Chae Hyeong-Seok bowed to the ground and begged for mercy. Meanwhile, he was cursing inside, ‘Fuck! Fuck this NPC! This bastard!’

“It is not that I am turning a blind eye to your frustration, Adventurer Desire, so I will show mercy and not punish you this time.”

“Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty...”

“However, I myself think that the atrocities you have committed against King Siegfried in the past have put him through much misery, so...”

“...?”

“I hereby command Adventurer Desire to reimburse King Siegfried with fifty thousand gold.”

“F-Fifty thousand gold?! Your Majesty!”

Chae Hyung-Seok’s face turned pale at the mention of fifty thousand gold. The price of BNW gold was currently fixed at forty US Dollars per gold, so fifty thousand gold converted to Won was...

‘T-Two billion won?!’?Chae Hyung-Seok was mortified.

It was 2.5 billion won, to be exact. It was quite a burdensome figure for Chae Hyung-Seok, as his income had drastically reduced in recent days, and he had already sold all of his supercars.

“I shall not punish you for your attempt to deceive me, but I shall hold you responsible for the mental stress that King Siegfried had suffered due to your actions, the operational cost he had incurred in his quest for vengeance against you, and the cost of losing one year of the protection I had bestowed upon the Proatine Kingdom.”

“B-But Y-Your majesty... Fifty thousand gold is too—”

“You are dismissed,” said Emperor Stuttgart. He waved his hand in dismissal, which was basically telling him to scram. “Discuss the terms and timeline of the payment with King Siegfried. I suppose I don’t have to tell you what’s going to happen if you don’t keep your promise, right?”

“T-Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty...”

Chae Hyung-Seok was forced to respond while crying tears of blood inside. He could have slowly gotten his revenge on Siegfried, but his plan to rush things by getting the emperor involved completely backfired on him.

Chae Hyung-Seok’s body started fading away as he dragged his feet out of the throne room. It was clear that his blood pressure had shot up to greater heights after His Majesty the Emperor had told him that he had to pay a huge sum of gold as compensation.

“King Siegfried.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“I hope you will understand why I had to reduce the protection period.”

“I completely understand, Your Majesty.”

“That’s a relief. All right, you must be busy so I won’t keep you any longer. You are dismissed.”

“Your grace is immeasurable, Your Majesty.”

Siegfried stood up and walked away with his head still lowered. However, he had a massive grin on his face as he walked out of the throne room.

***

Siegfried stood in front of 11,271 Warp Room to return to the Proatine Kingdom.

‘It’s a shame that the protection period was reduced, but I still have a year and two months remaining. This is probably the best result in these circumstances.’?He was extremely satisfied with the result of the Three-Way Meeting Quest.

Of course, the best-case scenario was zero reduction of the protection period, but there was no reason for him to complain about it, as he knew that it was unavoidable for formality's sake.

“Han Tae-Sung...” Chae Hyung-Seok’s voice echoed behind him. “I have something to say...”

“Something to say? I don’t have time for your bullshit. I’m busy.” Siegfried grimaced and shooed him away.

“Do you really think that I want to speak with you?”

“Then why are you here if you don’t want to?”

“I have to discuss the compensation issue with you, moron.”

“Oh...”

Siegfried finally remembered that he had to discuss his compensation with Chae Hyung-Seok.

“Hmm... Fifty thousand gold is more than two billion won, so... How much time should I give you? Let’s see~”

“Han Tae-Sung,” Chae Hyung-Seok said.

“What?”

“By any chance...”

“What chance?”

“In... s...”

“What?”

“S... ta... tall...”

“What the hell are you saying?”

“In... s-stall...”

“Speak properly. Are you having a stroke again? Why do you keep on stuttering?” Siegfried grumbled, looking annoyed.

“Can... C-Can I pay... in installments...?”