He had been here for 10 days but it was the first time he heard voices. This was an undeveloped land so there weren’t many users. He couldn’t relax because it might be a monster who talked like a person. No, he still had to be careful regardless of whether it was a monster or user.
‘If I meet a chaotic user here then it will be chaos.’
Buksil winced and his expression became tense. He hadn’t seen it until now but there was a gap in the bush where he could hear the voices. The bush seemed like it was hiding a cave. Buksil confirmed it and became worried. It was best to avoid monsters and users. But he had to collect ingredients around here for a while so there was no guarantee he wouldn’t run into them.
‘Don’t they have a partner as well? If I hide here then they can’t find me.’
Buksil pushed his eyeball carefully through the bush. He controlled the eyeball and steered it into a wide open space.
‘Aren’t they users?’
Around 15 users were gathered in the empty space. Buksil moved his eye and sneaked along the wall, managing to listen to their conversation. Then one man surveyed the area and muttered.
“It’s good that you managed to find a place like this.”
“It is better to be careful.”It is better than working in the light.”
“That is correct.”
Then a smile spread on the face of a man with a X shaped cross on his cheek called Sunfish. Then a handsome user who had been watching from the side clicked his tongue and muttered.
“Why would you choose that face when you started the game?”
“Is that how it is? It makes me look tough. Who would want a pretty face like yours? Is the Namdaemun Gate handsome? Ha, even a dog passing by would laugh at you.”
“What did you say?”
Namdaemun glared angrily at the scarred Sunfish. Then a knight crossed his arms and said.
“Shut up, please calm yourselves down.”
“I’m sorry, Jepeteu hyung-nim.”
With one single sentence from the knight, the two men withdrew with their tails between their legs. The man called Jepeteu looked down at the hobbit sitting behind the scarred man. The group in the cave was divided into two sides, and Jepeteu and the hobbit seemed to be the respective leaders.
“That is like the price of a luxury vehicle.
What happened to all the money you earned? If your merchant ships continues hitting Seutandal than that amount can be easily recovered.In addition, the law hasn’t really conflicted with the pirates yet. I just want to move my organization here.”
“The guys under me also talked like that. If a bandit group comes here than the living expenses for my subordinates will decrease.”
“Just enforce some discipline on them.”
‘Dangerous!’
Buksil became tense as he watched through the eyeball. He couldn’t completely understand everything the men said. But he understood clearly that they were chaotic users. Although he couldn’t confirm it with the 『Penetration』scroll, it was obvious from their conversation that they were chaotic. And chaotic users were the most dangerous thing to an isolated merchant!
‘This is serious. Chaotic users are wandering around this place…..
It was clear that those guys weren’t low level. He should return to the campsite where he left the ingredients. It was lucky that he discovered them first. Luckily they hadn’t seen Buksil so he could still escape. Buksil observed their movements with the eyeball and withdrew slowly. It was when he was carefully retreating. His heel seemed to catch on something and there was a loud sound.
“Master, it’s dangerous! Ugh!”
Baekgu grabbed Buksil then moaned and collapsed. He looked back with surprise and saw that a shining blue arrow was embedded in Baekgu’s thigh.
“Tr-trap? Baekgu!”
“What was that sound?”
“Outside. Someone tripped one of the traps outside!”
The voices of the group in the cave were clearly heard.
‘This is serious!’
Cold sweat dripped down Buksil’s back. A merchant had been discovered by 15 users. If even one chaotic user was mixed among the users then Buksil’s fate was decided. If they were pirates then the [Robbery] and [Plunder] scrolls were a basic part of their equipment. And there were 15 people. He would instantaneously become a beggar the moment he was caught.
“Baekgu, run!”
Buksil got on Baekgu’s back and shouted. However, Baekgu had an arrow in his thigh and couldn’t run properly. The group inside the cave exited with their swords drawn.
‘No, this can’t happen!’
In this desperate situation, Buksil suddenly came up with an idea.
‘That’s right, there is a way to bind their feet!’
“Stupid bastards, we’re the Seutandal’s autonomous group. You’re all surrounded!”
A loud voice was suddenly heard behind the group. The group who had ran up to Buksil flinched and started to protect their bodies. But there was nothing behind the group. Yes, the voice that was shouting just before was his eyeball! Buksil had hidden it behind the group and then used the communication feature while Baekgu quickly ran through the forest.
“What, what the?”
“There’s nothing here?”
“That bastard! He used some strange technique!”
The group belatedly realized that they had been tricked and ran after Buksil. One of the archers used ‘Eagle Eye’ on Buksil and shouted.
“T-that is….. A magic projector! A magic projector is attached to his head!”
A look of confusion spread on Jepeteu and Garrett’s face.
“What? Then he was recording everything about our meeting?”
“When did he start recording? Surely not from the beginning?”
“Damn, I don’t know. Anyway, just take away the magic projector!”
“Horse, grab the horses!”
Garrett ran into the cave and pulled out their horses. Garett got on the horse and glared at Jepeteu.
“I thought this place was safe? What are you going to do about this problem?”
“…….Don’t worry about it.” I’ll do whatever it takes to retrieve it. Hey, tell the situation to the other kids and intercept him. The rest of you chase after him with me. Archers will take the lead.”
“I understand. Track!”
The archers used tracking and chased after Buksil. The fifteen people raised a cloud of dust as they chased him.
———————————————————————————————–
‘Damn……’
A frustrated sigh flowed from Isyuram’s mouth. He had a few trivial problems coming here…..he died because of Ark…..but Isyuram had managed to infiltrate the organization of wanted criminals. Up until then, Isyuram thought his task had succeeded. However, it had been a month and Isyuram still hadn’t found anything. It was natural when thinking about it. They were wanted criminals in reality and in New World. If they were caught then they would spend between 1-10 years in jail. They also doubted their parents and siblings so it was natural not to trust Isyuram.
‘I’m just lucky to be allowed in this group…..’
If he hadn’t met Garam in prison then it wasn’t possible for him to be here. When he initially joined, the boss Jepeteu hadn’t liked it. Luckily Garam had an unexpectedly high position in the organization. Although he wasn’t the second in command, he was among the top 5 out of 70 people in the organization. Thanks to Garam’s active defense, he was able to join the group. However, Garam was also very careful.
“My phone number? That’s a bit…..”
“Why? Sometimes I might come in late so I’ll have to get in contact with you.”
“That is a bit difficult. Actually, I was in a small situation.”
“Situation?”
“I’ll gradually tell you.”
Garam always used that excuse whenever he tried to pry for information. Talks between Garam and the other organization members was also the same. If they ever talked about something important, than Isyuram was always locked out and they never called each other by their real names.
‘But I can’t question them too closely…..’
Thanks to their many years as criminals, they were used to distrusting people. If Isyuram acted even a little bit strange then he would be sniffed out and crushed. Well, it still turned out okay. If any information about Isyuram being a part of the police leaked then his method of finding information in New World would be gone forever.
‘I still haven’t found anything.’
When Isyuram first entered the virtual reality world, the Special Crimes Countermeasures chief said that the criminals were tired of an isolated life. But after Isyuram examined it, he realized it wasn’t the whole story. It might’ve begun like that but now it wasn’t.
‘There’s no doubt about it. These guys are taking advantage of the virtual space called New World to do business.’
His awareness of games had changed by 180 degrees after playing New World. And the most startling thing about New World was the cyber money…..it was gold recognition. When Isyuram first started the game, he didn’t think too much about using the 2,000 gold he had. There were people who just enjoyed the game. It was also worthless for those who didn’t understand the game. It wasn’t the wrong idea of course. For people who didn’t play New World, gold had no value. The thing that Isyuram didn’t know was the real market price of gold!
‘The game money has equal value to cash.’
1 gold was worth 10,000 won. When it was this degree than it already wasn’t a simple game. In addition, New World was a game that millions of people enjoyed. Gold was a necessity. In other words, gold in New World could be changed into cash at any time or vice versa. There were many stock investment professionals who would buy or sell gold with future profit in mind. The game money moved within 1 year totalled several thousand billion won! So money in New World could also affect the economy in reality.
‘This is the blind spot of the National Police Agency investigation!’
Several hundred billion won was moved in one year thanks to the online game. The scary point was that the enormous funds moved were all anonymous. Thanks to the user personal information pr