Chapter 24
A Person’s Duty (1) —
1.
I sprinted from the starting point toward the destination.
They say that once you’re famous, even taking a dump earns you applause, right?
That was exactly the kind of situation I was in.
– Look at that speed, lol
– Did he use magic?
– Is he riding the KTX?
– No joke, probably the fastest player on the 2nd floor right now
– But when are you going to open that unique item capsule you got last time?
See?
Even though I’m just running “Marathon Online, Lee Bong-ju meta,” the cheers are endless.
Well, I am pretty fast.
And just to be clear—no, this isn’t magic.
The spell <Haste>, which boosts movement speed, is a 3rd-circle spell. Sadly, I don’t have it yet.
“Capsule opening will be released later, only in a membership video.”
– Are you money-crazed?
– ;;; That’s kinda over the line
– Why do you even need money? You could sell the loot you swept up from the Abyss and be rich
– Megod, I’m signing up for membership right away
– Memen
– Membership’s a bit much though…
I figured this would be the reaction.
It’s not like I can openly say, “I need membership subscribers because of my trait.”
That’d risk leaving evidence that my abilities are tied to subscribers.
So I decided to keep my <Attention-Seeker> trait a secret.
After all, it could be a weakness.
Instead, I prepared something flawless.
“When I streamed seven years ago, I didn’t even get twenty viewers.
Gathering membership subscribers has been my old dream.”
Let’s try some emotional appeal.
– Hm.
– Really?
– That much, huh.
– Still feels like you’re too money-grubbing though?
– Hm.
Look at public opinion.
Not good enough. Time for trump card number two.
“All income from membership subscribers will be transparently donated.
Like you guys said, I can make money in the Abyss anyway.
Every month I’ll post donation settlement videos on MeTube.
And! I’ll personally donate the same amount as the membership income.”
<Attention-Seeker> forbids cheating, sure.
But this isn’t cheating, right?
It’s called positive influence.
Still, I was nervous, so I swallowed hard and checked the system message…
“Phew.”
Thankfully, no penalties.
That meant the direction was “correct.”
If I earn a million won through memberships, and add a personal donation of another million, that’s not cheating.
I get more members, I do good deeds, and I make content out of it.
Plus, one of my wishlist goals—“become successful and donate”—gets ticked off.
And sure enough, public opinion shot up like crazy.
– Respect for donations
– Less than a week since his debut stream and already donation plans… truly Megod
– Memem
– Is this real?
– Not believing until I see the donation video, lol
– Memem
Of course, there were still doubters. But that much suspicion was tolerable.
Hope my membership subs grow quickly.
Once I hit 20%, I can unlock the 3rd <Skill Archive> slot.
There are some fun skills there, too.
That foul-mouthed elf Lebon, the Godslayer—he could summon spirits, find paths, all sorts of stuff.
“I’ll keep updating you guys about membership content, but for now… We’re here.”
The terrain shifted into a barren region.
Dry air stung my nose.
It had been cool just moments ago, but here it was parched.
Rocky hills spread endlessly across the land.
[You have entered <2nd Floor – Hill of Savagery>!]
[Subjugation Quest: Defeat Orc Warchief Karakchwi 0/1]
[Entry Notice: Other players are currently performing this quest. Beware of conflict.]
Looks like I arrived right on target.
Thanks to the 2nd floor map from In-seop, I wasted no time.
But something was odd.
Apparently, players had arrived before me.
“Can I even enter when someone’s already inside?”
Just then, a familiar viewer donated—
[<Abyss Encyclopedia> has donated 10,000 won!]
– If you got in while others are doing the quest, it means the boss hasn’t been killed yet.
Usually you rush ahead and hitch a ride with the first party.
“Thanks, Abyss Encyclopedia!”
So that’s how it works.
Like stumbling into free loot while strolling.
No wonder the field feels deserted.
And is that… the smell of blood?
“Hmm.”
I stroked my chin and looked around.
But if there’s bloodstains everywhere, why are there no corpses?
Suspicious. Very suspicious.
I fiddled with the <Lucky Matryoshka> in my inventory.
You do bring luck, right?
This feels like a detective cliché straight out of Japanese manga.
“Should I try hitchhiking for free?”
– Where’s your conscience?
– Lmao
– Keeping the freeloading theme alive
– Megod can’t resist a free ride
– If Megod freeloads, the bus pays him
– Didn’t you say today’s a chill stream?
Maybe today I can coast through.
2.
Five minutes into the field.
Something was definitely wrong.
“Why aren’t there any corpses?”
I found an orc camp.
A forward base with bloody flags.
The stench of blood was heavy.
There were broken weapons and armor everywhere—clear traces of battle.
But still, no corpses.
At this point, something was seriously off.
– Yeah, weird.
– Looks like a party already cleared through.
– But why no bodies?
– Anyone ever seen this gimmick?
– Another world first? Again??
– History is the path Megod walks.
Even the viewers were baffled.
That’s the Abyss for you—
a world of unknowns.
I had no idea what was happening here, but honestly, I was glad.
Could be a hidden quest.
“Damn, I was looking forward to arm-wrestling an orc.”
– Stop with the arm wrestling already
– For real, just kill the monsters…
– Watching your vids makes me pity monsters lol
– Record a Chuseok special of you wrestling orcs, lmao
What are orcs?
Stupid but strong, savage and aggressive.
Dangerous monsters, both in Avalon and here in the Abyss.
And yet… was my content going to get stolen like this?
“Guess I should find the advance party first.”
Better to meet up with them—so they don’t hog all the orcs.
But before that… I’ll burn some orc buildings for fun.
It’s a subjugation quest after all. Leaving their structures intact would be wrong.
“Fireworks.”
[Unique Trait <Skill Archive – Belua> activates.]
[You use <Fireworks>.]
Fwoooosh!
The buildings went up in flames.
Then came a system message—
[You destroyed the orcs’ structures! Chance of extra rewards upon quest completion has increased!]
[Achievement <Arsonist> progress +3%]
As a model streamer, there’s only one thing to say here—
“Arson is a crime, kids.
Never light cigarettes in the mountains or burn trash near forests.
Only set fire to monsters, got it? Always, always prevent wildfires.”
– Is this a PSA?
– Sponsored by the Forestry Service?
– Megod even cares about public service…
– This is the true meaning of positive influence
– What’s ‘influence’?
– You just wanted to burn stuff, admit it
Trash should be incinerated.
That’s my philosophy.
Same way I torched that demon-orc camp who sold their souls.
What did they call me back then?
The Mad Burner?
– But why didn’t the first party burn the buildings? That’s a known strat for bonus rewards.
– Yeah, weird.
– Were they rushing a time attack?
– No clue.
“Hey, I don’t mind free points.”
Sure, I missed out on some EXP, but delicious leftovers are meant to be cleaned up.
So I kept climbing the mountain, torching every orc building along the way.
The “hill” was basically a mountain.
Pretty tall, too.
After about ten minutes of climbing, the scorched buildings were no longer visible below.
[You have passed through the forward base zone.]
Right as the message popped up—
“Hm?”
A smell different from blood hit my nose.
Similar, but fouler.
The stench of rotting flesh—something I’d smelled countless times on brutal battlefields.
“Smells like corpses rotting.”
– ?
– But there’s nothing around
– What smell?
– Did you skip brushing your teeth?
– Haven’t seen a single body so far, so how’s there corpse smell?
– Kinda sus you even know that smell
Not exactly rotting corpses, though.
There was something even fouler mixed in.
…Dark mana?
No doubt.
This was the stench of the undead.
“Guess there’s an undead around.”
The moment I said it, chat blew up—
– Undead??
– Oh, right. Sometimes an orc warlock spawns here.
– If no one in your party has holy powers, they’re brutal.
– Difficulty basically doubles.
– Honestly, doesn’t make sense for a warlock to spawn this early on 2F.
– And spawn rate’s super low.
– Average level here’s 40, but warlocks are level 70.
– Unless you clean up corpses properly on the way…
– If you do clean, warlocks are manageable though.
– Still, a lot of players YOLO it and die. Knew something like this would happen…
So a warlock can appear here.
If undead are involved, that changes things.
No more freeloading.
Unfinished buildings.
Bloodstains and long strides leading uphill.
And the presence of a warlock commanding undead.
All evidence pointed to one conclusion—
“They ran uphill?”
The advance party was likely being chased.
That clicked, and I suddenly remembered what little Ian had said this morning.
“Samjjun! Chake! Jjoah!”
He’d said that after watching my video of taking down the drake and saving In-seop’s newbie party.
Clumsy pronunciation, but he was happy watching me save people.
Who raised that kid to be so admirable?
He already knows the difference between good and bad.
My Ian must be a genius.
So—
“Guess I’ll pick up the pace.”
Time to hurry.
First, rescue the people.
Good deeds always come back around.
Stacking up good karma will help my stream, too.
The optics are perfect, after all.
– Megod’s character ㄷㄷ
– But isn’t that dangerous? Especially undead.
– Isn’t this supposed to be the Ability Management Bureau’s job?
– Did they outsource it to you?
Already getting responses, huh.
Megod, the Maker of Miracles, heads out.
