TRGBM 17

Episode 17

017. No Search Results

I nodded at Ravi’s words, which suddenly seemed kind.
There was a reason the reward was listed as ‘???’.
Ravi hadn’t shown it from the start to have him clear this dungeon.
Success or failure of the quest wasn’t the important thing.
What one saw and learned within it seemed to be what mattered.
But.

‘There’s no rule that says I can’t succeed, right?’

Contrary to Ravi’s thoughts, Golden hands footsteps showed no hesitation.

“I’ll be back.”

With a short greeting, golden hands began descending the stairs.
The eerie, creaking sound of the old stairs accompanied him as his vision was swallowed by darkness.
Amidst that darkness, messages began to calmly appear.

[You are the first to discover a new Ancient Dungeon.]
[First Discoverer: golden hands]
[The name ‘Golden hands’ will be recorded in the Hall of Fame.]
[Fame increases by 100.]
[All stats permanently increase by 1.]
[Level restriction is temporarily lifted.]
[You gain an additional 100% experience.]
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[The 24-hour access restriction has been lifted.]
[TIP: Failing twice may result in a greater penalty.]

With the system message, PK_Godt’s eyes shot open.
As the memory of attempting a PK and being humiliatingly countered flashed through his mind, he shuddered.

“Golden hands… that son of a bitch…!”

Crunch!

His own head exploding from a single hammer blow.
The items scattering to the ground along with the red message, [You have died.].
And the terrible hours he had to spend swallowing his rage in reality, unable to even log into Lepione for 24 hours.
All of it flashed by like a panorama.

“I will definitely shatter your rice bowl.”

The first place PK_Godt headed after logging back into Lepione was the exact spot where he had died yesterday.
It was due to the futile hope that golden hands might still be there.

But, of course, the forest was silent.
The only thing that had changed was that this place was now a site of humiliation for PK_Godt.

“Where did you disappear to, you rat bastard!”

He scoured the forest thoroughly for a long time, but not a single trace of Geumsom could be found.
He returned to Neman Village, searched every corner of the plaza, the blacksmith, and the training grounds, but golden hand was nowhere to be seen.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

PK_Godt, who had been punching the air, stopped for a moment, breathing heavily.
His mind, which had lost reason in anger, began to cool down slightly.
He decided to first check the external reaction.
Public opinion was as vital as life for a streamer.

“Repinet… check.”

A semi-transparent community window appeared before his eyes.
And the moment he saw the trending topics list, his face flushed bright red.
The Repinet boards were flooded with stories about Geumsom and PK_Godt.

[Title: LOLOLOL PK_Godt’s Rice Bowl Shattered in 1-Minute Deletion.mp4]
[Title: (Pilgrimage) Hammer Master Geumsonjwa, Who Are You…]
[Title: Inquiry about the market price of Viper’s Dagger dropped by PK_Godt.]
[Title: Curious about the next move of Rice Bowl Breaker Geumsonjwa.]
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With a trembling hand, he clicked on the video with the highest view count.
From the scene of him approaching Golden Hand, to his decisive dagger thrust being parried, and the moment his head was smashed to ashen dust by the hammer.
Everything was preserved in high definition.
Even more terrible were the real-time comments.

└ [HammerWarriorRise]: LOLOLOLOLOL feels so refreshing. Where do you get that hammer? I wanna buy it too.
└ [GotdduAntiNo1]: Kya~ Cider! Serves you right for always bullying noobs. Loyalty to Golden Hand hyung ^^7
└ [Analyst]: But isn’t that Golden Hand guy’s gear weird? Can a sub-lvl 10 player have that kind of defense? You saw [Immunity] pop up, right? That’s likely a full Unique-grade set effect at minimum.
└ [FactBomber]: Nope, Analyst-nim, that’s Legendary grade. A hyung I know heard directly from Tuban; some crazy guy came and made a Legendary set in a few days and left.
└ [ㅇㅇ]: Legendary? At lvl 10? Bullsh*t ㄴ.
└ [NemanAnchor]: OMG, so the person using hacks at the training ground and mine was Golden hands? Really the same person? Chills!
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PK_Gotddu scrolled down with a trembling hand.
Posts mocking him, praising Geumsom, even lamenting the loss of his items.
The entire community was holding a festival over his death.

“These… these bug bastards!”

With a trembling heart, PK_Godt entered his personal streaming channel page.
The chat was utter chaos.

[JusticePrevails] donated 100 Won: Godt-ya, use this for your rice bowl repair LOL
[RiceBowlCollector] donated 10,000 Won: Please ask golden hands to start streaming!
[Golden Hand Baragi]: That’s what happens if you touch our Golden Hand hyung. Godt-ya, be careful from now on.
[DonationReady]: LOLOLOLOL I died watching yesterday’s stream. Who knew the result of a 1-million-Won donation spree would be your own rice bowl shattering.
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The chat was plastered with all sorts of mockery and memes.
His moment of disgrace had become an indelible digital scarlet letter.
Swallowing his rage, he connected to the auction house.
There was something he needed to check first.

‘My Viper’s Dagger… my Assassin’s Light Armor…!’

[Search term: Viper’s Dagger]
[No search results found.]
[Search term: Assassin’s Light Armor]
[No search results found.]

“What? Why aren’t they there?”

PK_Godt was bewildered.
Usually, when items were obtained through PK, items not needed were immediately listed on the auction house for cash conversion.
Especially ‘Viper’s Dagger’ was a Unique grade item; by early-game market standards alone, it was worth around 10 million Won in cash.
But it wasn’t on the auction house?

‘Don’t tell me… he’s keeping it for himself?’

A guy who uses a hammer, keeping a dagger?
It was nonsensical.
That meant he still had it and hadn’t sold it.
That fact reignited the flames of PK_Godt’s anger.

“He didn’t even sell it? This bastard… is he humiliating me? Trying to have a go, is that it?”

He made a decision.
He couldn’t back down.
If things continued like this, his streaming career would be in trouble.
He absolutely had to find Geumsom and trample him ten, no, a hundred times more miserably than what he had suffered.

Only then would his stream thrive.
PK_Godt was also a pro streamer.
He decided to turn the viewers’ mockery to his advantage.
This might even be an opportunity.

[Streamer ‘PK_Godt’ is LIVE]

PK_Godt started his personal stream.
And the title of the broadcast was:

[War of Annihilation Preview_Open Bounty]

As soon as he started the stream with the provocative title, countless viewers flooded in as if they had been waiting.

Even before PK_Godt said a word after starting the stream, the reaction in the chat was already explosive.
In a bad way.

└ Rice!
└ Bowl!
└ One-hit KO!
└ LOLOLOLOL Here comes the dagger thrust! What exploded was the rice bowl, right? LOL
└ Hey, you’ll make a kid cry. Stop it, that’s a 10-million-Won rice bowl LOLOLOLOL
└ I would have quit Repyon by now ㅉㅉ
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In a situation where mocking chats were pouring in like crazy, public opinion was already beyond control.
But PK_Godt had already anticipated such mockery.
He tried to calmly start his broadcast spiel.

“Ahem, now, now, our brothers, sisters! There was a bit of an unfortunate incident yesterday, right? Haha, it was a broadcast accident, a broadcast accident.”

He forced a casual laugh as he spoke.
But the chat’s reaction remained cold.

└ LOL Broadcast accident (Physical)
└ Hyung, are you okay with that crack in your head?
└ Yeah~ The rice bowl is coming soon~ What’s today’s rice bowl content?
└ Hyung, which hammer are you getting hit by today? LOLOLOL
└ Hyung, drop the coordinates for where Geumsom is. I’m going to donate.
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The unruly chat.
Seemingly flustered by the harsher-than-expected reaction, PK_Godt began making unconvincing excuses.

“Ah, yesterday! Yesterday the server lag was just too severe… What? A bug? Anyway, it wasn’t a normal situation! You all know how strong I usually am, right!”

His excuses only poured oil on the fire of the viewers’ mockery.
Even donation messages teased him.

[ServerLag] donated 10,000 Won: Don’t blame me.
[Bug] donated 10,000 Won: I never did that.

“Ah, these bastards for real…! Sigh. Tha. Nk. You. But your nickname is a bit annoying, huh? Ban, ‘Bug’? You’re banned too!”

[User ‘Bug’ has been banned from the channel.]

Whether properly provoked or not, with PK_Godt’s mass-bans, the chat began to burn even hotter.

└ LOL Look at him banning people. Scared?
└ Gott hyung is sulking~ He’s sulking~ Don’t you know? Getting serious is lame?
└ I know where golden hand is. LOL But I won’t tell you. LOL

[Golden Hand Guardian] donated 500 Won: Don’t look for our Golden hand hyung. If you don’t want your rice bowl shattered again LOL
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The viewers remained undaunted even by the mass-bans.
It seemed like they were using multiple IDs to bite, tear, taste, and chew on PK_Godt.
Public sentiment was on the verge of exploding.

He considered pausing the stream for a moment but soon steeled his resolve.
The tougher the situation, the stronger he had to appear.
Showing weakness at a time like this would only lead to his complete burial.
PK_Godt’s expression became completely different—deadly serious.