Chapter 172 …

He had never been this nervous before.

Even when he first encountered the server’s first Legendary Named Dragon, he hadn’t felt this level of tension. His throat burned dry as he barely managed to swallow.

Just then—

“Oppa, by any chance…”

Hyun-ah, who had been staring at him, finally spoke.

“Are you a fan of Kaiser?”

“No. Absolutely not— …huh?”

Do-hyun, who had instantly denied it out of reflex, suddenly stopped.

That wasn’t the question he had expected.

Meanwhile, Hyun-ah seemed surprised by his strong denial and continued speaking.

“Really? You were even defending him when you normally wouldn’t, and the way you talked felt like Min watching him, so I thought you were a fan… Well, if not, then forget it. But why deny it so strongly?”

“Uh… well, I wouldn’t say I’m a fan. I just think he’s pretty good. I used to see him often in Demrock.”

“Oh right, you used to play Demrock, Oppa. Didn’t you say you knew Kaiser?”

“Not really. Kaiser probably doesn’t even know who I am.”

Do-hyun awkwardly changed the subject and took the chance to stand up.

“I should go sleep first. I’m really tired.”

“Already? You really keep a proper day-night schedule. Most gamers have their sleep cycles completely messed up, but you only play games and still live so diligently. If you studied like that, you’d probably have gotten into Harvard.”

Well, I did reach rank 1 in a game, though.

Do-hyun didn’t dare say that out loud. He gave a vague response and went into his room.

Then he leaned against the door for a moment, listening to make sure nothing else was said, before finally letting out the breath he’d been holding.

“Phew…”

So this is what they mean by losing ten years of your life from shock.

That really startled me.

‘I can’t believe she heard that.’

He thought he had gotten away with it because she hadn’t reacted, but apparently she had heard it and simply doubted her own ears.

Determined to be more careful from now on, Do-hyun opened the group chat.

Kim Hyun-soo: What could there be lol. He’s just salty.
Kwak Jae-yeol: True. He played Demrock like crazy. Maybe he’s a Kaiser fan.
Yoo Jong-hyun: Nah, I bet Kaiser PK’d him back in Demrock. That’s why he grinds his teeth whenever Kaiser comes up.
Kwak Jae-yeol: Oh right lol that must be it.
Kim Doo-hyung: Seriously though, how can anyone play that trash game for so long? Kaiser’s crazy but so is he.
Yoo Jong-hyun: Anyway, when are we meeting? Do-hyun’s discharged now—we should gather once.
Kwak Jae-yeol: Yeah. Let’s set a date.

Fortunately, his friends seemed to have moved on without suspicion.

Well, they’d never met Kaiser in person anyway, so there was nothing to suspect.

‘Still… I should meet them sometime.’

Before the military, they used to meet fairly often.

Considering it had already been almost a month since his discharge, it was about time.

Thinking they should schedule something soon, Do-hyun swiped his phone screen.

Kaiser TV
Subscribers: 6.987 million

The subscriber count kept rising rapidly and was already nearing 7 million.

Every video had surpassed 10 million views, heading toward 20 million.

The comments were filled almost entirely with praise.

Of course, the more fans you gained, the more haters appeared too. Jealous netizens left malicious comments—

—but those people were immediately dealt with by the loyal members of the Kashin Church.

“Followers of Kashin, gather here! This man has insulted the god!”

“Blinded by jealousy, he has committed an unforgivable act! What a foolish being!”

“The fanatic lord shall not forgive you.”

“Beware the night fields. –Kashin Church–”

“These lunatics… Do people go crazy after joining Kashin Church, or do crazy people join Kashin Church?”

“Who knows? It’s like asking which came first—the chicken or the egg.”

‘One of Hyun-ah’s friends is among them too, right?’

Thinking about that sent a slight chill down his spine.

Still, since they were technically on his side, he couldn’t complain.

Besides, it had already become something of a meme, and many people were joking around half-seriously.

Anyway, the growth rate was incredible.

Considering he hadn’t really accomplished much yet since arriving in Pratel, it seemed that taking first place in Sargis had had a huge impact.

‘How much money does this even make?’

He’d heard that videos of this length usually earned around 6–12 won per view, though it varied.

Even a rough calculation made his tongue click in disbelief.

It easily exceeded hundreds of millions of won.

‘Is making money supposed to be this easy?’

Even now, after selling some items, he had about 30 million won sitting in his bank account.

He had achieved many things, but compared to the Demrock days, it was nothing—yet the income was dozens of times greater.

‘What should I do with the money? A gift for Mom… And Dad said he’ll be back soon, so I should get him something too.’

Even after that, he’d still have money left.

Buying a house was still impossible… maybe a car?

Just imagining it made him smile.

Do-hyun turned off his phone screen.

‘Time to edit the video.’

Where else could you find such a generous job?

Reflecting on how he used to hate editing, he energetically began editing the Field Boss Hunt video.

Now that he was used to it, it didn’t take as long as before.

The relatively small amount of editing helped too.

In less than two hours, he finished everything, uploaded the video, and collapsed onto his bed.

“Wow! The video’s already up! Am I in it too? Ah… I guess I’m blurred anyway.”

Hyun-ah’s voice came from outside the door.

‘Is this what they call an awkward cohabitation?’

His identity must not be revealed.

One person hiding their identity.

One person who knows nothing.

And thus begins the uncomfortable cohabitation of two people!

After briefly imagining it like a movie poster tagline, Do-hyun glanced sideways at his vibrating phone.

Kwak Jae-yeol: The video’s up!! Everyone check it out!
Kim Doo-hyung: Wow… even watching it in the video gives me chills. We actually saw that in person?
Yoo Jong-hyun: Kaiser Punch! Kaiser Punch! Kaiser Punch!

After watching the endless notifications from his friends in the preview window, Do-hyun tossed the phone behind him.

They were planning to meet soon, but he didn’t feel confident about facing them.

‘I don’t know anymore.’

Thinking about it gave him a headache, so he simply buried himself under the blanket and decided to let things happen as they would.

And just like that—

A week passed.

* * *

On the God Ose community boards, all kinds of discussions took place.

Among them, topics about Kaiser appeared frequently.

From members of the Kashin Church to Kaiser antis and people who didn’t care at all—

Because Kaiser constantly brought new talking points, people of all kinds ended up discussing him.

“Is Kaiser doing the Main Quest or something?”

Recently, the hottest topic was none other than the Main Quest.

Since Kaiser seemed to be playing an entirely different game alone, the question was inevitable.

“What? Main quest? Varion said there wasn’t anything like that.”

“Why are you bringing up main quests lol. If something like that existed it would’ve been discovered already. Do you think the top 10 guilds and the Adventure King title holders are idiots?”

The game had been out for 1 year and 6 months.

In a game played by 1 billion people, not a single clue about a main quest had ever been discovered.

So how could Kaiser, who had just started, possibly be completing it?

That’s why most people thought:

“Yeah right.”

But recently, the atmosphere had started to change.

“The official theory is that the main quest hasn’t been discovered yet… but honestly, it’s suspicious.”

“Yeah, the Contractor video too. Isn’t he basically playing a different game alone?”

“That whole sequence in the Brion area can’t be explained by anything except a main quest.”

“So Kaiser is progressing the main quest first?”

“I’m not saying for sure, but it’s definitely suspicious.”

The strange monster forms shown at the end of the Contractor video.

The battle against a bizarre humanoid boss no one had ever seen before.

The fact that he seemed to be playing a completely different game alone.

His abnormal specs.

All of it made people believe it might be the result of the Main Quest.

“I heard the top 100 guilds are investigating from Raven to Brion assuming Kaiser is on the main quest.”

“Phoenix Guild and Baekdusan Guild are moving too.”

“I heard some explorers from the top 10 guilds are hanging around there.”

“Damn… even the top 10 guilds?”

“Well yeah. They’re focusing on the New Continent now, but whoever gets the main quest location will rise to a completely different level.”

“Right now they can’t really do anything to Kaiser and it’d hurt their reputation, so they’re just watching. But once he enters the Empire, they’ll approach him immediately lol.”

“Honestly, it’s lucky Kaiser said he won’t join a guild. Otherwise this could’ve turned into an actual war.”

And guilds were thinking the same thing.

In fact, they were even more sensitive to such matters.

That’s why they began investigating the places Kaiser had passed through.

“I wonder how this will turn out.”

“Couldn’t we discover the main quest first?”

“Then you’d either get killed or recruited lol. Realistically how would we beat them to it? Just grab popcorn and watch.”

For ordinary players, who had nothing to do with the main quest anyway, this was incredibly entertaining.

Naturally, all eyes were on Kaiser.

“So what is Kaiser doing right now?”

“Getting scolded by Luriel.”

“Wow, that nagging woman even lectures a god now.”

“Luriel? Who’s that?”

“A wandering NPC in Pratel.”

“But apparently there’s a rumor Kaiser got a quest from her. He’s been hunting all week and meeting her repeatedly.”

“Luriel giving a quest? She only insults people—she’s never given a quest before.”

“…Wait. Could that also be the main quest?”

“Wait??”

And just when the curiosity reached its peak—

“Holy crap!! Now is NOT the time to talk about that!”

“Crazy! The Hero Guild just did something huge!”

A nuclear bomb dropped from an entirely unexpected direction.

“Hero Guild? What now? Another meme?”

“Lol I knew they’d get reported someday.”

“No, not that! Go check the Hero Guild announcement right now. I’m going ahead first!”

“What the hell is it— …huh? Wait??”

“Whoa… is this real?”

An official announcement from the Hero Guild.

Hero Guild Announcement

After more than six months of effort…
we have discovered the world’s first hidden piece known as the Luiedra Raid…

In order to repay for our past mistakes, we will recruit raid participants from any applicants…

The announcement was extremely long, but every line was like a nuclear missile.

“A hidden raid boss…?”

“A 100-person strategy team? That’s insane. Isn’t that the biggest scale in Pratel?”

“So that’s why they were risking their lives over field bosses this whole time.”

The world’s first hidden raid boss in Pratel.

A raid with 15 participants fighting the boss, supported by a 100-person strategy team.

That alone was shocking.

But the most surprising part was the final sentence.

“Wait—anyone can participate?”

“They say it’s compensation for the trouble they caused before.”

“Wow… Berge suddenly looks handsome today.”

“This is the power of a dating-sim master?”

“So the real gay here was me…”

“Insane… The reward just for participating in the strategy team is already amazing. I have to join!”

They had declared that the raid team would not consist only of guild members.

They would recruit ordinary players as well.

And the requirements were broad—anyone above the level limit could participate.

“Praise God Berge!”

“I’m a Berge fan starting today!”

“So what if he’s a dating-sim guy? I approve!”

It was enough to drive players wild.

And it was more than enough to restore public opinion in their favor.

“So when does recruitment start?”

“In two hours.”

“I’m lining up right now.”

“No lines allowed. They’ll open it in the central city exactly at the announced time to keep it fair.”

“Wow… I might actually get to participate in a raid.”

“Ah… why is time moving so slowly?”

Just like that, everyone completely forgot about Kaiser.

All attention shifted to the first raid boss in Pratel: Luiedra.

Right now, that was the only thing on anyone’s mind.

And while the entire world’s attention was focused elsewhere—

“What? You’re already back? You even brought everything I asked for. Good job.”

“…That’s everything, right? You’re not going to send me on another errand?”

Do-hyun was handing over materials to the wandering NPC Luriel, waiting for his quest to be checked.

He waited a few seconds with tense eyes.

Then Luriel nodded with satisfaction.

“Good. This is more than enough. I thought even half a month would be fast, but you finished it all in just a week… You must have been in quite a hurry.”

[Quest ‘Luriel’s Condition (7)’ has been cleared.]

[You have satisfied Luriel by completing all her conditions.]

[Linked Quest ‘Angela’s Secret’ has been generated.]

‘Finally!’

Do-hyun clenched his fist at the message that appeared.

Luriel grinned and turned around.

“Follow me. I have something to show you.”

After enduring for an entire week—

At last, it was time to hear the story about Angela.