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chapter 18
“Monopolizing?”
It was completely unexpected.
Was that even a possible structure to begin with?
“What did they do?”
“I don’t know exactly. Apparently they suddenly cleared it en masse earlier…… Anyway, let me check.”
Yeonwoo quickly entered the RPG community.
His expression stiffened immediately.
“What, is it full of insults?”
“It’d be faster to find a post without them.”
Slide—
Yeonwoo placed the smartphone back on the table.
After tapping into a post, Hanbit let out a hollow laugh.
“It’s burning.”
It really was a first-come reward.
There were only 100 Hero rewards.
Now if you get the quest from Artsvel, the reward shows as Rare.
If you’re even later, it might drop to Advanced or Normal.
Trash bastards.
-Fuck this. Black Dragon, Roper, you assholes!
-No wonder not a single Bomb Slime showed up. Shit.
-Wasted all that time for nothing.
-So Rashten’s lackeys pulled this off in the end?
-Still no Bomb Slimes at all.
└Just bow your heads to Rashten.
└It’s not even a hunting ground—you have to buy monsters now. LOL
-Conglomerate trash, seriously.
-21 hours of digging and this is the result.
-I imagined being the second clear and skyrocketing;
-So when are Roper and Black Dragon turning on their streams? Say it already.
The packed comments fell neatly into two camps.
Half were curses and lamentations toward the conglomerate.
The other half were accusations toward Black Dragon and Roper.
The atmosphere had already decided they were corporate lackeys.
“So Hero grade was limited to exactly 100.”
“Yeah… This is really not okay.”
Hero-grade skill rewards had been a huge motivator for players.
If one company swept them all—especially through manipulation rather than skill—the sense of deprivation would be enormous.
“We should turn the stream on right away. I might be fine, but you can’t get cursed at, hyung.”
“What, are you managing me?”
“Baseless accusations like that are ridiculous. They were cheering when they got info, too.”
Yeonwoo frowned, clearly annoyed.
Seeing him, Hanbit chuckled and said,
“Why get so worked up? We just say it’s not true.”
“They obviously won’t listen to words alone. There’ll be tons of trolls mixed in with people who really want to argue.”
“Really?”
Yeonwoo shook his head as if he could already see the future.
Were there really that many people who’d stir things up just for fun?
He was oddly curious.
“More importantly, that conglomerate that monopolized it—anything from them?”
“It’s a German company called Rashten. They just posted a statement on their homepage, saying they took all of the Artsvel quest.”
There really was a brief notice on Rashten’s homepage.
“What kind of middle-school syndrome is that? What a joke.”
Hanbit scoffed at the automatically translated announcement.
The word ‘true’ attached to ‘conquerors’ was clearly a jab at him.
“If they have a vanguard, how big of a company is it?”
“They have a ranger in the high 9,000s. Among competitors they’re on the weaker side. They might have done this to raise their profile.”
“Hm.”
Corporate rivalries were outside Hanbit’s interest.
But Rashten had openly provoked him first.
Even if he released information, they’d probably try to monopolize it to death.
Hanbit wasn’t the type to be used openly—or to just take it lying down.
Paying them back properly was only right.
“So, your broadcast—are you continuing for now?”
“Until the company plans are finalized, I’ll act as your manager and cameraman. Especially today—trolls are going to go insane.”
“That’s fine. It’s not like there’s no way to deal with it.”
“…This is a normal way, right?”
Hanbit’s face looked like he was about to pull something again.
Considering he’d already shaken the RP world on his very first day, Yeonwoo felt both anticipation and worry.
“Come to think of it, I should also teach you about broadcasting.”
“Broadcasting?”
“First, it’s important to increase regular viewers. When you stream yourself, there are things you need to pay attention to—reactions and stuff……”
Yeonwoo started listing the necessary advice.
At first, Hanbit had thought he’d just do whatever he wanted, but he listened quite seriously.
“You get the general idea, right?”
“Mm.”
After listening quietly, Hanbit nodded.
Then he said in a confident voice,
“I’ll just do what I want, after all.”
***
After returning home, Hanbit immediately went through the guidebook he’d bought.
By the time he checked the information he needed and what would be required later, quite a bit of time had passed.
Ding—
[Hyung, you’re late?]
As soon as he logged into RP, Yeonwoo’s message arrived.
Several hours had passed since they’d parted.
Looking around, Hanbit started walking into the forest as he replied.
[I was looking through the guidebook. That adventurer A who wrote it—is he a vanguard? Any corporate affiliation?]
[He’s a vanguard, but his exact standing isn’t public. As for affiliation… maybe solo? Not sure either. Why?]
[Just curious. I need to check something, so I’ll contact you later. Let’s turn on the stream then.]
[Okay. I’ll be doing some work, so call me when you’re ready.]
With that reply, Yeonwoo’s online indicator disappeared.
Closing the window, Hanbit headed deeper into the forest.
‘It’s deserted.’
Going a bit farther, he reached the cliff where he’d hunted Bomb Slimes.
Since news of the monopoly had spread, there were few players searching.
He went down and examined the cracks in the cliff.
‘No slimes either.’
At least a few should have spawned by morning.
Even not seeing a single normal Bomb Slime was strange.
Tap—!
Hanbit started running along the cliff.
After about ten minutes, something caught his eye.
‘Found it.’
A tree buried deep in dense undergrowth, hard to reach.
Beneath a gap covered in roots, there was a hole.
Click—
Hanbit hid all UI and information and pressed the record button.
Lowering his posture, he squeezed inside.
A narrow passage, barely wide enough for one person.
Following the dim path, a large cavern appeared.
‘As expected.’
What came into view was dark brown slime.
Beside it, and behind it, identical ones were gathering in one place.
Even in the darkness, it was clearly Bomb Slimes.
Gurgle—
From where the writhing slimes were heading, something was moving.
It looked like the wall was wriggling, but a massive body was heaving.
[Elite: Bomb Slime King (Lv.7)]
‘Impressive.’
The monster called the Bomb Slime King.
The king of those that grow by luring and absorbing normal Bomb Slimes.
Given its preference for large trees, it should never have been here.
Zap—!
At that moment, a small spark burst from it.
Hanbit zoomed the camera toward the ceiling above the Slime King.
There was a black disk embedded there, engraved with a certain mark.
‘…That’s a monster attractor?’
A single-use item obtainable in a northern dungeon.
True to its name, it attracted nearby monsters.
‘I get it now.’
They lured the Bomb Slime King here and used the attractor.
Then the monster’s inherent trait and the attractor’s effect overlapped explosively in this space.
It was only natural that every Bomb Slime in the area would gather here.
If someone monopolized that, the culprit was obvious.
‘It even has the Rashten logo.’
Hanbit zoomed in further to examine the mark on the attractor.
The same logo he’d seen on Rashten’s homepage.
Whether it was mandatory on items, or they were confident it wouldn’t be discovered—
Either way, leaving it behind was stupid.
Click—
Stopping the recording, Hanbit raised his hand.
“Fireball.”
Whoosh—!
A red fireball flew toward the giant slime.
Hanbit quickly hid behind a low mound of dirt.
Boom—!
True to their name, the Bomb Slimes made for excellent detonators.
When he peeked out, they were completely gone.
As always, when it came to killing them, they were ridiculously easy.
Ding—
[Experience has increased by 7,720.]
[You have gained 4 levels.]
[4 stat points have been awarded.]
‘How many were there?’
Unlike normal Bomb Slimes that dropped nothing, the Bomb Slime King yielded massive experience.
He’d thought it was big, but there were far more than it looked like.
Probably because they’d kept gathering even after Rashten left.
Ding—
As he was about to leave, messages kept appearing.
Turning his gaze, Hanbit noticed something new.
[Title: Nemesis of Bomb Slimes has been added to the list.]
[Achievement: Elite Monster Subjugation has been completed.]
[1 stat point has been awarded.]
“Even here.”
[Nemesis of Bomb Slimes]
Damage dealt to slime monsters increases by 5%.
Unlike Record Keeper of 55 Times, this was his first title obtained through normal play.
Since simply possessing it applied the effect, it was best to collect as many as possible.
Rustle—
Pushing through the debris, Hanbit headed out of the cave.
What mattered now was Rashten’s monopoly incident.
“No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t make sense.”
Sitting beneath a tree trunk, he organized his thoughts.
The guidebook hadn’t mentioned a hidden space like this.
Yet Adventurer A definitely knew about this place.
[Gentrumber]
The NPC Gentrumber, listed in the guidebook, was the miner who’d personally dug this place long ago.
If you hadn’t met him—living alone atop a mountain in another region—you shouldn’t even know the name.
Which meant Adventurer A hadn’t revealed all his information.
‘Yeonwoo said that user was solo…… Is there info he sells separately from the guidebook?’
A guidebook didn’t need to reveal everything.
The key issue was the level of knowledge Adventurer A possessed.
The strangely abundant information, vague accuracy, and even completely wrong parts all bothered him.
It would be stranger if it weren’t intentional.
Click—
Opening his friends list, Hanbit sent Yeonwoo a message along with the recording.
[Come to Artsvel’s general store in one hour. Upload the video I’m sending anonymously to the community site.]
***
“Hyung, I was really surprised. I never imagined something like that existed.”
In front of Artsvel’s general store.
Hanbit and Yeonwoo had their characters standing there while talking on the phone in real life.
They’d just put the gear into power-saving mode.
“The reaction was great.”
“Anyone who sees that has no choice but to curse Rashten. Their site probably crashed too.”
A post with the recorded video had gone up on the RPG community.
Who’s responsible—judge for yourselves.
-? Why are they all there?
-Info) Bomb Slime Kings only spawn under the shade of the central great tree.
-Info2) Slime Kings lure and absorb other Bomb Slimes.
-Isn’t that a Rashten logo on the monster attractor?
-They deliberately dragged it all the way there and set it up?
-That’s some insane dedication.
-How did they even get it in there?
-???: We are the true conquerors of the Artsvel quest.
└So that was aimed at Black Dragon. LOL
└Creepy bastards.
-I told you Roper and Black Dragon aren’t related.
-They were blaming random people and now look at the stance change. LOL
Exploding view counts and endlessly increasing comments.
The heated atmosphere showed no sign of cooling down.
From Hanbit’s distant perspective, it was an entertaining farce.
“So the misunderstanding’s cleared. Next, I just need to learn the next fire spell.”
“…What?”
At Hanbit’s offhand remark, Yeonwoo’s voice changed.
“What are you talking about? What about proficiency?”
Reacting as if he’d heard something absurd, Yeonwoo sounded genuinely shocked.
Hanbit replied casually,
“I already filled it all up.”
