Chapter 2 : The Hero Slaughterer (2) (1/2)
Chapter 2 : The Hero Slaughterer (2)
“Give me a 10,000 won worth.”
An Jaehyun took out 2 five thousand won bills from his wallet. The convenience store’s part-time worker tilted his head in a daze.
An Jaehyun adjusted his thick glasses and spoke again.
“Can I get my lottery ticket?”
“Ah, sorry.”
The part-time worker snapped out of his daze and took the money. He then smoothly picked out a lottery ticket for An Jaehyun. While handing out the ticket, the part-time worker kept examining An Jaehyun’s face.
“Um, have I met you before?”
Putting the lottery ticket in his wallet, An Jaehyun left the convenience store without giving him an answer. At this, the part-time worker titled his head again.
“I feel like I’ve seen him before… gah, whatever.”
The part-time worker shook his head and grabbed his tablet paper from the counter. He unpaused the video and watched it with great interest.
-Mr. Kim Dongsoo, how’s the situation right now?
-The Albino Dragon received heavy damage to his right wing. Our first objective has been accomplished.
-What about the losses?
-We lost five so far.
-Do you think you’ll succeed in killing the Albino Dragon?
-The Stormhunter Guild is Warlord’s greatest guild, and our Hahoe Mask team is its strongest attack team. We don’t worry about success or failure. We only worry about how we’ll succeed.
-How romantic.
-Haha. Without a bit of romance, who would suffer through such hardships?
The part-time worker smiled lightly as he watched the video.
“As expected of the Stormhunter Guild. It’s really the best. None of the other guilds is its match after joining up with the Hahoe Mask Guild.
Following his smile was a slight sense of disappointment.
“What a shame. If only they still had the Hero Slaughterer… what is he doing these days? Did he quit the game completely?”
The part-time worker once again tilted his head at this question. But that was it.
Soon, he silently went back to watching more videos.
An Jaehyun had long disappeared from his mind.
★★★
‘Fuck. I can’t believe you can’t buy a lottery ticket from your home in this day and age. Why do you have to be there in person? What, are people worried a five-year old will buy one online?”
An Jaehyun gritted his teeth remembering the part-time worker from just now.
But his anger soon died down. He remembered the video the part-time worker was watching.
‘Albino Dragon. Level 439.’
An Jaehyun had already watched the broadcast. In fact, he even bought the 30,000 won live ticket to watch the raid. The Stormhunter Guild failed four times, barely succeeding on the fifth.
‘If I was there with my old team, I would’ve killed it in first try.’
How sad.
He was sad that the Stormhunter Guild didn’t fail, and he was sad that he wasn’t there participating.
What he was most sad about though was…
‘Damn it. If I killed that thing, I wouldn’t need a lottery ticket.’
The value of the Albino Dragon.
It was a huge pile of money. It was the highest leveled monster in Warlord so far. Each raid sold over five hundred thousand live tickets. If the raid was successful, then the edited paid video could get at least ten million views.
‘I heard they sold over 350,000 live tickets. They’re each 30,000 won to boot.’
A live ticket allowed someone to watch a raid in real-time.
The successful raid video cost money to view, but it easily passed three million views within its first week of release. Although you’re only left with about forty percent after taxes and fees, it was still an incredible amount.
There was more.
‘A boss monster in the 430s. The item cost…’
Large monsters, especially boss monsters, are pretty much made of money.
Dragons were especially expensive. From the bottom of their tongue to the wrinkles in their anus, every part of them was money.
Their hides were used for defensive items and their bones for weapons. A dragon’s heart was the greatest material for a magic weapon, its meat and organs could be used as potion materials, and its eyes sold for a hefty price to a rich collector…
‘If a level 400+ unique item pops from those materials, its price would simply be whatever the seller calls.’
At the very least, those materials can make a level 350 gear. The price of those go by the millions. If it’s over level 400 or if it’s a rare rank, it’d be in the ten millions. If the crafter gets lucky and pops a unique rank, it’d be worth an expensive sports car. Warlord is filled with rich people who would buy something like that without blinking an eye.
Taking all this into account, the Stormhunter Guild probably made about a hundred billion won with the Albino Dragon raid.
That was this era.
Just by killing a single monster in a game, you could earn more than a major corporation affiliate could in a whole year.
“Damn it.”
An Jaehyun could have been the hero of this era. Back then, if he just crawled and begged like a dog, if he sold his worthless pride and wagged his tail at that woman…
Or, if he didn’t go crazy because of his worthless pride, if he didn’t war with them over his anger at their betrayal, if he gave up and started over from elsewhere… he wouldn’t be buying lottery tickets and surviving on ramen noodles like now.
Bitter regrets.
“Damn it.”
‘So I turned out to be the one regretting that day for the rest of my life.’
On that day he was betrayed, the words he yelled haunted him in his nightmares. Because of it, An Jaehyun kicked his bed sheets every night.
An Jaehyun slumped his head down.
“God damn it…”
Just a bit more.