GAVS17

[Episode 17] Lost Land (6)

The viewers were left completely speechless as everything ended in the blink of an eye.

I… I’m done for…
Phantom is a god!! Phantom is a god!!
He’s basically a professional. Felt like I was watching a real assassin.
Wow, I’ve never seen anyone play like this before.
That Rahel seemed like a mid-boss, but he only got two lines before dying, LOL.

Even though chat was limited to members only, it was exploding. And it wasn’t just the chat that went wild.

★★‘100kADay’ has donated 100,000 won.★★
[Take my money. I can’t not give it to you.]

★★‘DaggerBreath’ has donated 100,000 won.★★
[It’s been ages since I’ve seen such a spine-chilling play.]

★★‘Shang’ has donated 100,000 won.★★
[Take my money too, not just my voice.]

Overwhelmed by the sudden barrage of donations, Dojun bowed awkwardly in gratitude.

“Thank you for your support, 100kADay, DaggerBreath, Shang.”

Seriously, Phantom bro, isn’t it a bit cold to not react after getting 100,000 won?
For real, LOL. Rookie’s so absorbed he’s ignoring big donors.
Honestly, even big streamers give some kind of reaction for 100k.

“Ah… I’m sorry. I wasn’t prepared to do a reaction yet.”

The chat started teasing him for “just taking the money,” and Dojun, realizing he couldn’t leave it at that, racked his brain for a reaction. Then he flashed a sly grin.

“Well, then, let me show you a dagger trick as my reaction.”

He suddenly balanced the dagger on the back of his hand and began spinning it around his wrist with surprising finesse—something different even from what he’d shown before on [Physical Class]. The flashy, swirling movements of the dagger made the viewers cheer.

That’s insane!!
Holy crap, that’s amazing.
Watching Phantom spin that dagger, I’m convinced he’s always been a dagger guy. Those tricks aren’t something you just pick up.
This kind of skill definitely deserves a 100k reaction.

As the mood in chat turned positive, Dojun let out a small sigh of relief. But the excitement wasn’t over yet.

That’s not the important part!! He got new items again!!
Never seen either of these before.
Phantom, show us the item options!!
No way he’ll reveal them this time, right?

Raphael’s Breath and Ancient Jewel (Rel).

The moment these two unreleased items appeared, the chat exploded with speculation.

★★‘DaggerBreath’ has donated 100,000 won.★★
[You are going to show the options, right?]

“I’d like to, but there are too many eyes watching me right now… I think I’d better not…”

★★‘DaggerBreath’ has donated 100,000 won.★★
[Show them, and I’ll up it to 500,000. Still not interested?]

A mission donation of 500,000 won has been pre-paid.

“What man would cower before a bunch of pests? Of course I’ll show you.”

LOL Phantom’s confirmed money-hungry
But honestly, I can’t blame him for 500k
DaggerBreath must be some rich whale in disguise. Don’t lose him, Phantom!

Dojun quickly shared the inventory information.

◉ Ancient Jewel – Rel

When equipped on a weapon, grants 5% life steal from enemies.

◉ Raphael’s Breath

So damaged its original form is unrecognizable, but faint traces of holy energy can still be felt.
It’s a lifesteal effect!!
Combine that with other ancient jewels, and his sustain in combat would skyrocket.
Forget the jewel; Raphael’s Breath looks way more important. That’s definitely a quest item.
But without knowing how to use it, it might be useless for now.

As the new information sparked a flood of theories, Dojun knew he couldn’t linger. The place was burning down, and he had to get out fast.

[Quest updated.]
[Find another lieutenant of the cultists.]

“Looks like I need to relocate.”

Where are you going?
That quest text is pretty vague.
Why are you hesitating? There’s only one way left to go.

“Exactly. I’m heading back to the secret passage, but this time I’ll go the other way. First, let me hide this body.”

Dojun dragged Rahel’s corpse back into the storage room, treating it differently than the others.

Why hide that one?
Who knows, but judging by everything, the left path must lead to another boss.
Yeah, that’s almost certainly another lieutenant.
I’m getting impatient—let’s go, Phantom-kun!!

He carefully concealed Rahel’s body before retracing his steps to the fork in the secret tunnel, this time taking the left path. It felt longer than the way he’d come before.

‘Based on the direction, this might be heading toward the center of the castle.’

Even in the complex underground maze, Dojun’s sense of direction was unerring. Eventually, he reached the end of the passage.

‘A staircase?’

The stairs led straight up.

“I’ll head up now.”

He climbed the stairs silently, keeping his footsteps light. But they stretched on far longer than he expected.

‘Judging by how high I’ve come, I must have passed ground level already.’

Though he didn’t voice it, he was nearly certain: he’d climbed the height of at least a three-story building. At last, he reached the top, where a single door awaited him. As before, he pressed his ear against it.

No signs of life.

“Seems empty. Let’s go in.”

Certain that no one was inside, he opened the door a bit more boldly than usual. The space beyond was much larger than expected—about the size of a classroom—filled with books, glittering treasures, and coins piled high.

But among all the riches, something immediately caught Dojun’s eye.

‘A pouch?’

Sitting alone atop a large desk, the pouch tugged at Dojun’s instincts. He slowly reached out and grabbed it, and a notification popped up.

[You have obtained ‘Unknown Pouch’.]

‘What is this?’

In a world with personal inventories, there was no practical need for a pouch to store items. That meant it almost certainly had a unique purpose beyond storage.

No need to broadcast that he’d only taken a pouch. To throw off any competitors watching, Dojun started picking up random items.

“Wow… there’s a ton of money here. And this dagger looks really nice.”

Phantom’s lost his mind, LOL.
Of course he goes straight for the daggers. The true ‘Dagger God.’
But honestly, most of that stuff is worthless to players.

One viewer hit the nail on the head: to Dojun, it was clear the only real prize here was the [Unknown Pouch].

‘Everything else is just a MacGuffin.’

A MacGuffin—a flashy gimmick to grab attention without any real substance.

Just as he started faking interest in the other loot to mislead potential rivals, a noise came from above.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

A knock on a door overhead.

“Enter.”

A man’s voice. Moments later, footsteps—likely a messenger—could be heard entering.

Click.
Clack. Clack.
Clack. Clack.

Hearing shoes click across the floor above, Dojun froze, sharpening every sense.

“What is it?”
“I have a report. A fire has broken out at one of our main bases inside the castle.”
“A main base…?”
“The one connected to the secret passage.”

From the conversation, it was clear the two were superior and subordinate. The superior clicked his tongue, clearly irritated, and asked:

“The followers?”
“All dead, except for Rahel.”
“Did the kingdom catch wind of us?”
“It’s highly likely.”

The superior fell silent for a moment, thinking. Then he spoke again.

“Looks like we’ll need to move the plan forward.”

A new, dangerous development.

Move the plan forward?!
He’s obviously another cultist.
But why does his voice sound so familiar…?

“But it’s suspicious,” the man continued. “Marquis Delpiero hasn’t reported anyone from the royal palace coming this way.”

“It’s possible the palace sent someone secretly. It might have something to do with the royal knight we captured earlier.”

“So, could it be someone other than the kingdom’s agent?”

“If that were the case, the traces wouldn’t be so clean. This intruder is far beyond ordinary.”

Meanwhile, the chat exploded.

Holy crap, I know that voice—that’s Count Bderren, the lord of Behera Castle!!
It’s him, no doubt.
That means Phantom is under the lord’s office right now?!
And he’s the traitor? He was the one giving us quests this whole time?!
My head hurts… of course the game was impossible if the quest giver was working against us.
And it looks like the next target, Marquis Delpiero, is also involved. LOL.
We’ve been on the wrong path the whole time…

Listening to his viewers, Dojun quickly pieced everything together.

“So the conclusion is simple: I just need to kill this count.”

Phantom, go for the neck!!
Do it for justice!!
Knowing we’ve been gaslit all along makes me so angry…

“I’ll report this to our master,” the count said upstairs. “Be ready for anything until I return.”

“Yes, sir.”

The messenger’s footsteps echoed as he left. Meanwhile, Dojun tilted his head, pondering what he’d just heard.

“From their conversation, it sounds like Count Bderren is just a pawn working for someone else.”

Whoa, that’s true?!
Wait, is there another mastermind?
Isn’t Bderren the boss of this castle?
Where’s the real puppet master hiding?
Maybe there’s another secret base, like before…
Even if we found the true ending, it won’t be easy—this is getting intense.

Piecing together Rahel and Bderren’s words, Dojun realized their plan required some kind of signal from “the master” to begin. But who was this “master”?

‘Did I act too hastily?’

He considered it, but then shook his head. Given the circumstances, he’d made the best possible moves. Still, knowing the traitor was the lord himself meant the difficulty had skyrocketed.

‘If the count is involved, a lot of insiders probably are too.’

Without a list of names, rooting out every cultist was basically impossible. But he couldn’t get bogged down in that.

Seeing the core of the situation was what mattered.

‘I don’t need to waste time on the small fry. If I take out the key figures, I’ll find the path forward.’

His immediate goal was clear: kill the count. Then move on to Marquis Delpiero.

“At least I can figure out where their master is.”

Huh?
How?
I’m lost here…

“The count said he was going to report to the master, right?”

Dojun quietly drew a dagger from his robe.

“If he leaves through the office door, it means the master’s inside the castle. But if he tries to use a secret passage, it means the master’s outside.”

Oh, that makes sense!!
Phantom’s so sharp… was that perfect SAT score rumor true?
Watching him piece this together, I realize how hopeless this game is for average players.
┗ LOL
┗┗ Yeah, this is a wall you just can’t break through by brute force.

“If they’re smart, they’ll wait for nightfall to move. They wouldn’t risk being spotted during the day.”

But it’s evening now…
So what do we do?
Can’t we just charge in?

“To my viewers—I want to apologize in advance.”

What?
Why are you scaring us…
Don’t tell me you’re logging off?!

“I’m not ending the stream… but it might feel like it.”

Moving into a shadowy corner, Dojun seemed to melt into the darkness, blending perfectly with the surroundings.

“From now on, I won’t move until the count either comes this way or leaves his office.”

What?!
Phantom, are you kidding me?!
Are you seriously going to stand still like a statue?!
This is like something out of an actual spy thriller…
┗ He’s completely insane LOL.
┗┗ Who does actual assassin stuff on a livestream?!

When Dojun stayed perfectly motionless for ten full minutes, the viewers couldn’t believe it.