Episode 113
113: Just Trap Them
[The broadcast has begun.]
[Current Viewers: 154,812]
The viewer count exploded the moment the broadcast went live.
Though only about half compared to the Airtoss defense battle, it was more than enough.
Moreover, as golden hand smoothly delivered the opening remarks, the chat window began to scroll frantically.
└ [ Golden Hand Baragi]: Isn’t that the north? When did you get all the way there? Aren’t you cold?
└ [Happiness Circuit Overdrive]: Is that person next to him ‘Choi Kang Jincheol’? His nickname sense, lol… Sir… do you like baseball? lol
└ [User]: He just looks like a neighborhood uncle? What hero.
└ [Fact Bomber]: Seeing golden hand promoting him, he must have something going on, right? Let’s watch first.
…
Geumson glanced at the chat reactions and then turned his gaze to Ma Jincheol standing beside him.
Ma Jincheol looked lost, not knowing what to do.
His face turned beet red from the exaggerated introduction.
“No, wh-what… what hero! Hey, stop it! It’s really embarrassing!”
Ma Jincheol tried to stop the broadcast by grabbing Geumson’s arm.
But golden hand didn’t budge.
Instead, he put on an even more serious expression and continued.
“Everyone, Mr. Jincheol is just very humble. But you all need to know. What is happening here in Prellia, and what this person has been blocking all alone by creating this maze!”
Geumson quickly explained the situation.
The playful atmosphere in the chat gradually began to turn serious.
“No, that’s… it just happened to turn out that way…”
“Look at this! This humility! This coolness to call his own achievements ‘just happened’! Isn’t this the true dignity of a master?”
golden hand drove the point home.
Ma Jincheol let out a deep sigh as if giving up.
It was already too late to do anything.
He seemed properly reeled in.
└ [Choi Kang Jincheol Fan Club]: Bro! I respect you! I’ll be your fan from today! Changed my nickname!
└ [Shield of the North]: Wow, to think such a person existed… As a northern user, I can only bow in gratitude! ㅠㅠ
└ [Victim1]: Excuse me, but I was trapped in that maze and suffered like a dog for 3 days before dying, you know? Are you giving compensation?
└ [Victim2]: 2222 I also got trapped and froze to death. Hero or whatever, give me back my EXP!
└ [Golden Hand Guard]: Hey, you guys upstairs. Don’t you know about the small sacrifice for the greater good?
└ [Victim1]: You die and see if you still say that!
…
Of course, there were voices of complaint.
The grievances of players who suffered from being trapped in the maze filled a corner of the chat.
But perhaps because many players had personally experienced the chaos in Airtoss, it was quickly suppressed.
The mood had completely shifted to defending Ma Jincheol.
golden hand smiled with satisfaction.
In truth, Geumsong had another reason for introducing Ma Jincheol to ‘Lepione’ players like this.
‘Mr. Jincheol… has a bit of a dilettante temperament, you see?‘
Ma Jincheol.
Final level 351 in the age of destruction.
In an era where decent players were basically over level 400, Ma Jincheol’s level in ‘Lepion’ fell far short.
The reason actually lay in his personality.
– Mr. Jincheol, what were you doing without even leveling up? With that cheat-like ability?
In the age of destruction, he remembered the answer Ma Jincheol grumbled in response.
– Did I know ‘Lepyon’ would turn out like this? As you can see, I can’t fight! I just enjoyed traveling in ‘Lepyon’!
He wasn’t a player who enjoyed combat.
He was just a player who enjoyed ‘Lepyon’ according to his mood.
That was Ma Jincheol’s way of enjoying ‘Lepione’.
But the fact that his level reached 351 even with such a dilettante playstyle.
That was proof of how incredibly powerful his abilities were.
‘So I need to put him to work this time.‘
If left alone, he’d likely just hole up in some corner pretending to be an old man carving mazes again.
He couldn’t just stand by and watch that.
That’s why golden hand set the stage.
Packaging him on the broadcast as the ‘Hidden Hero’, the ‘Guardian of the North’.
Once people started to recognize and revere him as ‘Hero Choi Kang Jincheol’, he’d be too embarrassed not to try living up to those expectations.
This was the second move for the future Ma Jincheol.
“But viewers, aren’t you curious? What level this person might be?”
Geumson gestured towards Ma Jincheol as if handing him a microphone.
Jincheol hesitated and opened his mouth.
“No, well… is level important? I just happened to…”
“Ah, uncle. Please be honest. The viewers are curious. What’s your level?”
Mr. Geumsong’s persistent interrogation, Ma Jincheol finally spat it out as if resigned.
“Me? A hun-mumble-eight? No, ahem! 128!”
He seemed to have stumbled over his words due to nerves and stated his level again.
For a moment, the chat felt frozen.
Ma Jincheol’s unbelievable level was startling even to Geumson.
“By now, Kang Moojin should be around 140… so that’s near top ranker level, right? But didn’t you tell me you have no talent for fighting?”
“That’s right. I hate fighting. I’m too scared to even hold a sword.”
“No, if you can’t fight, how did you level up then?”
Golden Hand natural question.
In response, Ma Jincheol rubbed his nose as if embarrassed and answered.
“Ah, that? Simple. Just trap them.”
“Trap them?”
“Yeah. If you trap monsters in a maze, they either fight each other to death or starve to death, right? Then all that EXP comes to me.”
Ma Jincheol’s answer was far too nonchalant.
But Golden Hand and the viewers who heard the content were left speechless.
“…What?”
Geumsong feigned surprise.
He already knew the facts.
He knew Ma Jincheol was a top ranker in this era, his hunting method, and how he later played ‘Lepyon’ like a dilettante.
Still, the reason he asked pretending not to know.
It was for those currently playing ‘Lepyon’.
‘I need to show them that in ‘Lepione’, combat isn’t the only standard for leveling up.‘
There are various ways to level up.
He wanted to spread that knowledge.
For the players who had drawn a line, saying combat wasn’t for them.
To break their preconceptions and help them level up even a little.
Because in the age of destruction, every single person, even those in non-combat special roles, is a precious resource.
However, Geumson just pretended not to know, speaking almost provocatively to Ma Jincheol.
“That’s totally cheating.”
“Cheating? What cheating! I saw you cranking out ridiculous crafted items one after another! Isn’t that more of a cheat!”
“That’s the result of my effort?”
“Then I’m not putting in effort? Do you think making mazes is easy! Do you know how much calculation and grunt work it takes to create a maze and predict monster movements!”
Ma Jincheol passionately argued as if wronged.
His appearance, getting worked up.
Geumson enjoyed it.
Because it reminded him of Ma Jincheol from those days.
‘Just like his old self.‘
A person who, within his own field, is more serious and pursues perfection than anyone.
That’s why he blamed himself so much in the age of destruction.
But Geumson soon noticed Ma Jincheol’s expression darkening.
The one who had been passionately speaking suddenly stopped and let out a deep sigh.
“But… it didn’t work this time.”
“Because of the undead?”
“Yeah. They don’t eat or sleep. They can’t starve to death. And they don’t fight each other either. The witch inside controls them perfectly.”
Ma Jincheol hung his head.
The worst opponent against whom his surefire strategy didn’t work.
He was feeling a sense of powerlessness.
The chat also grew solemn.
But golden hand was different.
He tapped Ma Jincheol’s shoulder and spoke in a confident voice.
“You just need to make the path, uncle. I’ll handle the rest.”
At golden hand single, confident remark, the chat exploded.
Players remembering golden hand’s exploits in Airtoss.
Moreover, Frellia was still an unknown region to most players.
Thanks to that, the broadcast viewer count began to rise sharply.
Piiiiii—
While Geumson was in the midst of his broadcast.
On a floating island in Airtoss.
A single griffin landed there.
“Sister! Where is this?”
Even before Jeong Harin could answer Jeong Hajun’s question, a voice was heard.
The very voice she had heard on Golden Hand’s broadcast.
“Dear child, this is not a place to come to recklessly.”
The Great Archmage Astrid.
It was her voice.
At that warm voice, Jeong Harin was at a loss.
‘I-It’s really Astrid? Wh-what do I do?‘
Jeong Harin flustered before Astrid.
Although he had asserted she would meet Astrid, now face-to-face with her, she was tongue-tied.
But she mustered her courage and shouted a single phrase.
“M-Magic! I want to learn magic!”
The reason for seeking out Astrid.
golden hand encouragement played a part, but she had wanted to learn magic for a long time.
That’s why she shouted, but Astrid’s reaction seemed skeptical.
Astrid quietly observed Jeong Harin and Jeong Hajun.
She frowned slightly and spoke.
Somehow, a hint of inexplicable nostalgia was felt in her gaze.
“No wonder… I sense a familiar scent. But I’m sorry. I already have a disciple, you see.”
Astrid seemed to have no intention of taking on a new disciple.
Because she already had a disciple named Geumson.
Even if she didn’t remember and only knew the name.
“I was told… to give you this.”
“Th-this is…”
“Yes! My golden-handed brother gave it to me!”
The brooch Jeong Harin held out.
Taking the brooch, Astrid soon prepared herself mentally.
golden hand, who had said it wasn’t time yet.
Because the final image of that child came to mind.
“Is now that time? How interesting.”
With a small smile, Astrid began to read the brooch’s memories.
Afraid of missing even a single small memory, she carefully began reading through them all.
And when she had read all the memories engraved in the brooch.
Astrid pinned the brooch to Jeong Harin’s chest and asked.
“Your miracle, the miracle you wish to draw… what is it?”
That very question she had asked someone, someday.
That question, she was now posing to Jeong Harin once again.
