by Park Saenal
“We can’t do anything now. Winston won’t be able to escape from the grasp of the Mero Company…”
The residents were agitated. Usually, Khan would be soothing them, but he wasn’t in the position to take care of others right now.
‘Grid…’
Huroi was arrested for trying to reach Earl Steim. Unless the Mero Company and Winston’s lord were idiots, they wouldn’t let him out of prison for the rest of his life. Considering how close Grid was to the Winston residents, including Khan, it was likely that Grid would suffer a similar fate to Huroi.
‘I can’t let Grid rot in jail for the rest of his life. I must save him!’
Khan made a decision and shouted.
“We can’t close our eyes to this injustice! We have to protect our future with our own hands! Grab our weapons! We will drive the lord and the Mero Company out of Winston!”
Chapter 42
Chapter 42
The residents freaked out.
“A-Are you suggesting a rebellion?”
“A rebellion? It is the lord who is causing the rebellion! We are the people of Earl Steim. We’ll go against the demons who joined hands to go against Earl Steim’s will!”
The residents were reminded that they had justification to go against the lord. Their morale started rising.
“Okay! I will follow Khan!”
“It is impossible to drive out the lord with our strength, but with our indignation, we will let the world know that something is wrong in Winston. Then Earl Steim will eventually hear the news about Winston.”
“We have to fight for Grid, who is locked up because of us.”
“I am going to fight!”
The residents decided to change Winston’s fate with their own strength!
Khan opened the door of the warehouse and checked it. The warehouse was full of battle gear, the very same items that Grid produced while practicing for the game. The performance wasn’t excellent due to the limitations of the materials, but they were better than farming equipment.
“Ohh!”
The residents were excited as they armed themselves under Khan’s command.
“Head towards the Mero Company right now!”
“Yes! Grab Valmont!”
Khan restrained them. “If we attack the Mero Company, the news of our uprising will be delivered quickly to the lord and then the castle will be heavily defended.”
“Then, we should go to the castle first?”
“Correct. We must enter the castle before news of our rebellion is passed onto the lord. If the lord is taken as a hostage, the soldiers won’t be able to move and we can easily dismiss the Mero Company!”
A man came forward and said, “The architect who designed the castle is my great-grandfather. So I have a blueprint of the castle in my home. We can grasp the secret passages through the blueprint, allowing us to easily infiltrate the castle.”
“Ohh!”
They saw hope. The residents weren’t helpless. They were confident they could drive out the lord and Mero Company. But it only lasted for a moment.
Jaengurang!
The windows of the blacksmith’s second floor were shattered and soldiers armed with bows entered.
“Drop your weapons if you don’t want to die!”
The smithy’s second floor was occupied by dozens of archers in an instant, all aiming their bows at the residents on the first floor. The residents were terrified as Valmont entered the smithy.
He laughed loudly, “Hey, I just came to take over the smithy, only to earn the chance for a big merit! Hahaha!”
The fat on his chin wobbled as he laughed.
Khan cried out to the laughing Valmont. “You framed Grid and had him arrested so that the result of the game wouldn’t be revealed!”
Valmont shrugged.
“The result of the game is undetermined? That’s ridiculous. It was the Mero Company’s complete victory. Didn’t you see the work of the blacksmith we hired? Even if the details of the dagger that you and Grid made were disclosed, you wouldn’t be able to beat her work. Ask the crowd, everybody would agree. The Mero Company won the game, so the proper owner of this smithy is the Mero Company.”
“You! You definitely noticed that Grid’s work was much better than your blacksmith’s, so you hastily arrested Grid in fear of being defeated in the game!”
Valmont ridiculed him, “If you want to blame someone, shouldn’t you blame the eyes of the public? Anyway, throw away your weapon if you don’t want to be immediately executed for causing a rebellion.”
“Who would listen to the commands of a merchant?”
“Hoh, is it a problem that I’m a merchant? Then follow the command of Sir Philipson, not me. Sir Philipson, those people are armed so doesn’t that constitute as a rebellion? You should pacify them.”
Philipson standing next to Valmont nodded. He waved his hand and the soldiers occupying the second floor pulled back their bows.
“Surrender all your weapons. And Khan, I will arrest you as the ringleader of the rebellion.”
The residents were furious.
“Dirty bastard! Are you a knight? Valmont’s dog! I don’t have to listen to your commands!”
Philipson glanced at the soldiers on the second floor. Arrows poured down.
Puuok!
“Kuaack!”
“Hiik!”
One of the residents fell down after hit by an arrow.
Khan shook at the sight.
“Vicious bastards!”
“The next attack will aim at your heads. Drop your weapons if you don’t want to die.”
Even though they were all holding weapons, ordinary people didn’t have a chance against trained soldiers. If they fought, they would just die a meaningless death.
“Ohhh…”
Jaengurang!
Their weapons fell weakly to the ground. Their determination fell and the helpless people lay down on the ground in fear.
Valmont watched the crying people and laughed. “Hahahaha! You fools! In the end, dogs like you will resist uselessly! Clearly understand this! You are meant to be ruled! All you need to do is unconditionally obey! Don’t think about rebelling again!”
Valmont gave an order to Philipson.
“Confiscate everything in this smithy. And arrested the ringleader of the rebellion, Khan.”
“Yes!”
The soldiers moved in an orderly fashion. Valmont approached Philipson and whispered. “Sir Philipson, the lord will clearly give a great reward to us, who stopped the rebellion before any damage was done. Why don’t we have a drink tonight to celebrate? I will prepare beauties and delicacies.”
“It is appreciated. We can play tonight. But you don’t need to prepare separate beauties.”
Philipson’s greedy gaze was fixed on one side.
Valmont followed his gaze and saw some elderly people and women standing on one side. Among the females, there was one around 15 years old. When she was an adult, she would be a great beauty.
Valmont frowned and spoke to himself. “Wanting a young girl… you are worse than me.”
“Huh? What did you say just now? I’m sorry but I didn’t hear it.”
“No, nothing. You didn’t hear anything. I was just talking to myself.”
While Valmont and Philipson were filled with anticipation at the lord’s reward, the residents were desperate as they saw Khan being dragged.
“What do we do now?”
“What should we do? This is the end… There is no one else to rely on in Winston.”
“I should’ve left when I could… Now I can’t leave this place…”
Khan was the last remaining source of hope for the Winston residents. Now he was being dragged to the dungeon, so the residents lost hope. A saviour was needed.
***
Winston Castle’s dungeon.
“……”
How many days had passed? Light never entered and Huroi felt despair as he remained trapped in the d
arkness. Now he couldn’t tell is this was reality or virtual reality.
‘Where is this? Why am I doing this? How can I get out of this hell?’
He would rather die. Meanwhile, in reality, Huroi’s EEG was showing severe instability.
The atmosphere of the S.A Mongolian branch was very heavy.
“The EEG is too unstable. We can’t guarantee Allunbatar’s health. If we don’t forcefully log him out right now, he might need to be locked up in a mental hospital.”
The experts advised to give up on this quest.
However, the Mongolian branch director Park Eunhyuk’s thoughts were different.
“Allunbatar has endured 48 hours and 10 minutes. It has reached up to here, so it isn’t about PR anymore. We can’t waste the effort of Allunbatar. There is only 1 hour and 50 minutes remaining. Until then, we will watch Allunbatar until the end.”
It meant he wouldn’t allow the forced logout. The faces of the executives turned white.
“Satisfy deserves criticism for the existence of a quest that puts the user at risk. If we don’t take responsibility for the safety of the user, the company will take a bit hit.”
“The whole world will think Satisfy is dangerous and service will be disrupted!”
Park Eunhyuk didn’t back down from the executives. “My decision has been made. If anything goes wrong, I will take all responsibility. I will do my best to avoid damaging the company.”
“No, why would you go so far? The current situation isn’t that encouraging. The probability of Grid rescuing Huroi is only 9%! Furthermore, Grid was arrested as Huroi’s accomplice. Rather than rescuing Huroi, Grid will be stuck in the same dungeon. Isn’t it a wise decision to force him to logout, since the quest will fail anyway?”
Park Eunhyuk’s thoughts were different.
“Isn’t it a positive thing that Grid was arrested? They are now close to each other in the dungeon.”
The executives were shocked.
“Grid is a legendary class, but he is low levelled. Furthermore, his items and weapons have been seized. How will he get out of the dungeon and rescue Huroi with just his body?”
“It has already been decided, so don’t say anything more.”
Park Eunhyuk dismissed them and focused on the monitor again. The first monitor had 48 hours stated on it. That was 192 hours stuck in the game, so Huroi was starting to panic. On the second monitor, the soldiers had just brought Grid into Winston Castle.
‘Obviously, the situation is desperate. Huroi can’t be rescued with Grid’s strength. But something seems like it will happen.’
After the ‘Wait’ quest had been triggered, Park Eunhyuk watched Grid all the time. Grid was greedy, his tone was rude and his behaviour wasn’t prudent. He was a figure far from the Apostle of Justice in the movies.
But nevertheless, Park Eunhyuk gained more confidence as he watched.
Grid always tried hard. He stood in front of a furnace for several hours and repeated hammering. He designed and made different items using the same materials. He moved his body and mind without any rest. He grumbled all day, but his actions were totally different.
Then he produced an amazing work in the item production game.
‘A user created the first…’
Even if Grid had the fraudulent Legendary Blacksmith’s Craftsmanship Skill, it was still too much to produce such an item so quickly.
‘He might not have talent, but his spirit is exceptional. It would be nice to believe in him.’
Heroes in movies never gave up, no matter what hardships they suffered. And the hero should win in the end. Perhaps Grid deserved to be a hero too, Park Eunhyuk thought.
Chapter 43
Chapter 43
‘These damn f**kers.’
I was arrested before the quest succeeded and dragged to Winston Castle. It had already been an hour since I was trapped in an interrogation room.
“Several people witnessed you talking to Huroi in front of Khan’s smithy. Did you already know that Huroi was planning to contact Earl Steim?”
“So what if I knew?”
“…It was a resident of Winston who entrusted Huroi to contact Earl Steim. Since you are close to the residents, don’t you know who that person is?”
“So what if I know?”
“Then aren’t you one of them?”
“No? Are you stupid?”
“…”
I made a much better dagger than that girl called Erina. In other words, the quest to make an item was going to end with my victory and I would’ve earned 600 gold. However, due to this unreasonable arrest, the quest had failed. Thanks to these bastards, my 720,000 won had flown away!
“I don’t think you know what position you’re in… If you continue to be so carefree, you will regret it.”
I talked back to the knight who was trying to intimidate me. “Shut up, you rotten bastard. Are you a comedian now? I want you to lose your heads immediately. I have no connection with Huroi. So let me out right now!”
I knew that I could be tortured and locked up in prison, or killed. But I was the incarnation of anger after losing my 720,000 won.
‘How many bowls of mackerel is 720,000 won?’
I was so angry that I spat curses at the knights. “You ridiculous jerk! I will remember all of this, Ugly! One day I will return to squeeze 600 gold out of you, so release me now.”
“Look at this guy. He keeps talking nonsense!”
The youngest knight pulled out his sword. I flinched, but soon changed my attitude.
“Kill me, you motherfu*ker.”
“This rascal isn’t scared until the end!”
The knight couldn’t stand it anymore and rushed forward. I closed my eyes and accepted death. Why? In this situation, it was better to die.
‘If I die, I will be resurrected in the square. I can’t stay stuck here. It is better to die and resurrect, even if it means losing experience.’
I was concerned about Khan. In the worst case scenario, I wasn’t the presumed winner so the Mero Company would obtain the smithy. If so, Khan would die. The class quest I received would naturally be destroyed!
“Kill me quickly, you son of a b*tch!”
I couldn’t log out here. I had to die, resurrect and meet Khan. Then a quick-witted middle aged knight came forward and stopped the hasty young knight.
“Hey Leo, calm down. Aren’t you aware of it? He has an immortal body. Killing him will just release him into the field.”
Dammit, this plan failed. I kept provoking the young knight, hoping he would lose his temper.
“Hey, you aren’t going to kill me? You can’t kill me? Are you scared? What type of knight are you? You pathetic bastard, can’t you eat chili? You will die a bachelor! If you die, you will become a ghost. A ghost who peeps at girls taking a bath!”
“Ugh…y-you…”
The young knight called Leo’s hands shook as he held his sword. It wouldn’t be strange if he stabbed me right away. But Leo refrained from attacking me. He bit his lip so hard that blood emerged. It would work if I insulted him a bit more.
“This… oof? Oof!”
I tried to provoke Leo further, but somebody shut me up.
‘These rotten, lousy bastards!’
I glared at the middle-aged knight who gagged me.
“You have no intention of admitting to the crime you are accused of. You also have no intention of telling us who commissioned Huroi?”
“Oof oof!!”
If you want me to answer, then take off the gag. The middle-aged knight nodded as he interpreted my answer.
“You really won’t answer? If so, I have no choice but to imprison you. But if you tell me who commissioned Huroi, you might be treated differently.”
I didn’t want to get stuck in prison. The imprisonment wouldn’t just last a few days. Until I was released, I would continue to be imprisoned, no matter how much I disconnected and reconnected.
‘I can tell them. If Khan gets
arrested, I can find a way to rescue him.’
Khan was invaluable to me in Satisfy and reality, since he was a precious friend. He might be an NPC, but he was a friend. But a friend was just a friend! No matter how important a friend was, my life was more important.
I decided to give Khan up.
“Ooof! Oof!”
I will tell you who commissioned Huroi! So release me. The middle-aged knight nodded as he interpreted my answer.
“What a great guy. You have no intention of selling out your friend, even when you will be locked up in prison? You might be weak, but your sense of justice is admirable.”
“Oof oof! Oooooup!”
What was he saying? I will tell you who commissioned Huroi if you release this gag. The middle-aged knight nodded as he arbitrarily interpreted my reply and ordered the soldiers.
“Imprison him. Put him in solitary confinement.”
S-Solitary?! I couldn’t do anything if I was stuck in prison, but solitary confinement as well? I would be trapped alone without any other prisoners.
“Oof! Ooooof!”
I panicked and struggled to get rid of the gag. However, the knights ignored my calls. In the end, I was dragged underneath the castle.
‘Damn, what the hell is going on? I have to be imprisoned forever? And what happened with Khan’s smithy? Khan absolutely can’t die… No, that stupid Huroi, why did you fail your quest and damage me…?’
It happened while I was being dragged by the soldiers.
[The quest ‘Apostle of Justice’ has been created.]
[Apostle of Justice]
Difficulty: S
Huroi, who was trying to inform Earl Steim about the happenings in Winston, failed his mission and was caught.
He has been locked in solitary confinement for a long time.
You are the only one who knows Huroi’s circumstances, so you are the only one who can help!
Rescue Huroi for the sake of justice.
Quest Clear Conditions: After being trapped in the deepest dungeon, rescue Huroi within seven hours.
Quest Reward: The title ‘Apostle of Justice.’ Affinity with the Winston residents will rise to the peak. Reputation in Winston will rise to the peak. Create a linked quest with Huroi.