Episode 57
057. Cleaning Time
After that, Jeong Ha-rin always stood on the battlefield alongside ‘Ha-jun’.
She fought to protect the illusion of her brother, and that fanatical obsession made her humanity’s strongest mage.
But at the same time, it also became a poison that slowly gnawed away at her soul.
‘Should I… save my brother?’
The dilemma was that her ability was triggered by her brother Jeong Ha-jun’s death.
If she saved him, her power might never awaken.
Though selfish, for humanity’s sake, it might be better not to prevent Ha-jun’s death.
But Gold Hands—
He only scoffed softly.
Slap!
Gold Hands struck his own cheek.
So hard that his lip split and blood seeped out.
Ptui—
He spat out the blood and laughed again.
‘I was unknowingly thinking such bullshit? Trying to live atop someone else’s sorrow? I just need to become stronger myself!’
This time, there might be no ‘Fantasy Archmage Jeong Ha-rin’.
No—there shouldn’t be.
I just need to become that much stronger.
I will.
Gold Hands clenched his fist firmly, making his resolve.
As if sensing his determined expression, Tia on his shoulder rubbed her small head against his cheek.
– Chee-yak….
A warm comfort, as if offering solace.
But Tia’s consolation didn’t last long.
– Chee-yit—! Taek! Taek!
Snapped from his reverie by Tia’s urgent cries, Geumson focused.
Tia fluttered on his shoulder, emitting wary sounds toward the forest ahead.
“What’s wrong, Tia?”
“Worker? Wooorker?”
Geumson stroked Tia’s head while scanning the surroundings.
Iron Worker also tilted its head, puzzled.
Outwardly, it was just an ordinary forest.
But Tia’s reaction was unusual.
As a Phantasmal Elementia, Tia was sensitive to subtle energy changes that other beings couldn’t detect.
Meaning—
‘There’s something here. And not just one or two. Monsters?’
Gold Hands’s eyes turned cold and focused.
He gestured to Iron Worker, putting them on alert, ready to engage in combat at any moment.
But the stealthy movements didn’t feel like monsters.
‘If not monsters… is it Seo Ju-won? Could he have followed from the auction house?’
The first face that came to mind was Gwang-Gwon Seo Ju-won.
Given his tenacious personality, it was entirely possible.
But the energy felt from the forest differed subtly from what Gold Hands remembered of Seo Ju-won’s.
It felt stealthy yet somehow hesitant.
Then, dozens of figures emerged from between the trees, surrounding them.
They all wore crudely made armor emblazoned with the Yeokcheon Guild emblem.
But Gold Hands saw through their clumsy disguise instantly.
‘Hah? These bastards… back again?’
The red serpent tattoos glimpsed through gaps in their armor.
And above all, the face of the one leading them was familiar.
“Did you think I’d give up just like that? Geumson!”
A man walked forward with a sneering smile—
PKGodt, who had his skull thoroughly cracked near Neman Village.
His eyes burned with vengeance.
“This time, there’s nowhere to run. The great ‘Yeokcheon’ hyungs have agreed to help me!”
But contrary to PKGodt’s words, beside him stood Nachal, Asura Guild’s operations leader who had ambushed Gold Hands before.
Yet his expression seemed somewhat reluctant.
When his eyes met Gold Hands’s, he unconsciously looked away.
Gold Hands’s overwhelming power shown before the Corrupted Earthworm was still vivid in his mind.
Geumson chuckled dryly at their appearance.
Choi Jin-woong’s methods were still the same.
The obvious scheme was to impersonate Yeokcheon, attack him, and shift the blame onto Yeokcheon.
Moreover, hiring PKGodt, who had a personal grudge, showed thorough preparation.
However—
“Seems a bit lacking… By the way, your gear looks nice.”
At Gold Hands’s taunt, PKGodt’s face turned red and purple.
“Shut up! You son of a bitch! You made 5 million gold with my item? Give it all back. It was mine to begin with.”
PKGodt seemed to have lost his mind upon learning the Moonlight Venom Sword sold for 5 million gold—after all, the base material was his ‘Venomous Dagger’.
He seemed to have come to claim his share.
And PKGodt appeared to have prepared thoroughly.
“No matter how strong you are, you’re only level 30-something! We are elites with an average level over 50! We’ll just overwhelm you with numbers! Everyone, attack!”
At PKGodt’s shout, the Asura guild members impersonating Yeokcheon drew their weapons and charged simultaneously.
But Gold Hands didn’t panic in the slightest.
Instead, he adjusted his grip on his hammer as if he’d been waiting.
“Worker, cleaning time.”
“Woooorker!”
– Chee-yaaat— Chee-yat!
Iron Worker roared and stepped forward; even Tia fluttered excitedly.
Thud-thud-thud-thud— Thud—
“Workeroo!”
Iron Worker’s massive steel body became a perfect shield, blocking the barrage of attacks entirely.
Clang!
Clank!
Ting-ting— Ti-ting—
[-1]
[MISS]
[-1]
“W-what! No damage is going through!”
“I knew it! The Earthworm wasn’t a fluke!”
“Nachal hyung was right? I died to the Earthworm last time, so I didn’t know… Damn it!”
While the Asura guild members panicked, the flamethrower mounted on Iron Worker’s left arm spewed fire.
Whoosh—!
“Argh!”
“Fire! Evade!”
“Kyaaak!”
The front line collapsed instantly.
Gold Hands didn’t miss the opening.
He pushed off Iron Worker’s shoulder, leaping up and storming over the heads of the disarrayed guild members.
“Indestructible !”
A dark red energy erupted from Gold Hands’s body, entering an invincible state for 15 seconds.
Ignoring all attacks directed at him, he swung the Forgotten Void Hammer, smashing the guild members’ skulls.
[Effect of ‘Head Hunter’ activates. Headshot triggered.]
[Additional 10% damage added.]
As the Indestructible skill was about to end, Gold Hands slammed the Forgotten Void Hammer toward the ground.
Thwoom—
[Effect of Forgotten Void Hammer, ‘Silent Earth’, activates.]
[Anti-Magic Field generated within a 50m radius for 60 seconds.]
“S-skills aren’t firing!”
“Drink magic potions! What nonsense!”
“Huh? My skills too… Argh!”
Thwump—
The Asura ambushers panicked as their skills suddenly failed.
Moreover, Gold Hands was striking only the weak points shown by Resolution’s Intuition and Pulse Insight.
So it was natural their skills misfired or weakened—especially with the hammer’s magic Distortion effect activated.
But Gold Hands swung his hammer relentlessly.
Crunch!
Thump!
Crack!
Wherever the hammer swept, Asura’s elites were torn apart like paper, turning into gray ash.
Their attacks didn’t even reach Gold Hands, and even if they did, his armor defended perfectly.
“H-how…! Wasn’t he around level 30?”
Gold Hands’s displayed level was indeed 31.
But the skills and stats he had accumulated—
Especially his stats were not inferior to those of level 50 players.
Because he had opened his stats and accumulated them at a different pace than others.
Unaware of this, PKGodt doubted his own eyes.
“H-hyung! Noona! Look at this! Clear evidence Gold Hands is a bug user! A level 30 can’t be this strong!”
PKGodt kept calling out to hyungs, noonas, dongsaengs as if broadcasting.
But Gold Hands paid no mind.
He simply felled enemies one by one, like a lumberjack bringing down giant trees.
PKGodt, gripped by instinctive fear, stepped back.
“Uh… wait, hold on!”
Then, his vision filled with the shadow of a massive hammer.
Gold Hands had closed in right before him.
“Two chances were enough.”
PKGodt let out a despairing scream.
But Gold Hands ignored his shriek and swung the hammer toward his head this time.
“N-no…!”
Crunch!
[You have died.]
[Due to PK penalty, you drop the item ‘Pale-Blue Assassin Dagger (Unique)’.]
[Due to PK penalty, you drop ‘Shadow Tracker’s Boots (Rare)’.]
[Cumulative penalty applied due to repeated PK failure against the same target.]
PKGodt’s vision went dark.
Only one thought circled in his mind:
‘Should I quit? Maybe this game doesn’t suit me? Why did I have to run into someone like that…?’
PKGodt blamed Gold Hands, even though he’d sought this out himself.
Gold Hands collected the items dropped on the ground, then turned his gaze toward the last remaining—Nachal.
Nachal had already completely lost his will to fight, staring at him with a deathly pale face.
“I-I didn’t do anything! Really!”
Geumson looked at him briefly, then turned away without a word.
Nachal was worth sparing—
He needed a living witness to report everything to Choi Jin-woong.
Watching Geumson retreating back, Nachal’s legs gave way, and he slumped down.
Gold Hands, with Iron Worker and Tia, resolutely resumed his steps toward the Forgotten City of Giants.
Pshhhhh—
The capsule door opened, and Gold Hands returned to reality.
Stretching his stiff body, he headed to the refrigerator.
Fssst—
Pshht—
He cracked open a cold beer and downed it in one go.
Slumping onto the sofa, Geumson grumbled.
“Why do they keep bothering someone just trying to play the game honestly? If this keeps up, it’ll get annoying…”
He recalled the protection request from Mirae Group.
It seemed they hadn’t fully prepared yet, failing to prevent this incident.
Still, it wasn’t a complete loss.
