In-Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 101
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In-Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 101
26. Anomaly (3)
"Wh-what? That's ridiculous. This has to be a joke."
Seeing the enormous bounty placed on him, Beltor first thought it was a joke.
[BlackDragon_Penny]
But because the account that posted it belonged to the Guild Master of the Black Dragon Guild, there was no way he could take it as a prank.
Unlike some post from an unknown low-level, a post from the head of a massive guild and a renowned top-ranked player carried undeniable credibility.
The person he killed had a business relationship with the Black Dragon Guild, so it seemed the Guild Master had stepped in as a proxy.
As a result, the post drew explosive attention.
1. PastelBlue: Whoa wtf! Is that for real?
-BlackDragon_Penny: It's real. This bastard PKed someone who was trading with our guild, stole items worth hundreds of millions, and ran.
2. King_RapisLazuli: Still, that amount is hard to trust, isn't it?
-BlackDragon_Penny: I'm posting this under our guild's name. It's real. Can't you see the balance verification?
-King_RapisLazuli: No, I get that it's a verification, but the amount you posted is just absurd.
-BlackDragon_Penny: That person is a noble. And not just any noble—one who holds a Title. If you're going to muddy the waters with nonsense, get lost. You don't want stray sparks landing on you.
3. Tarnis_WormInEar: Still, it's a post from a big guild, so I can't just dismiss it. I'll take it as true. I did hear rumors that Black Dragon recently took on a big-money backer.
-Tarnis_WormInNose: Oh, right. I've heard of that.
-Tarnis_WormInMouth: The one renting an exclusive hunting ground?
-BlackDragon_Penny: Where did you hear that? Give me the source.
-Tarnis_WormInNose: What source is there? It's a rumor everyone in the know has heard by now. Seems the PKer heard it too and came running.
Even famous top-ranked players showed interest, and the post quickly became a holy site.
Less than an hour after it was posted, it had already hit 300,000 views.
At that point, Beltor began to genuinely feel afraid.
'A noble with a Title? Come on, at least lie convincingly.
He wanted to dismiss it all as bluster in his heart, but...
Considering the value of the items he'd taken through two PKs, he couldn't just ignore it.
If the verification was real and that person truly possessed wealth in the tens of trillions, then they could only be a Lord, no way around it.
For someone like that, finding a single person through an information guild would take no effort at all.
'How many people in the game know my information, anyway?
He calmed his wildly pounding heart and organized his thoughts.
Luckily, he didn't have many friends, and of the few he did have, none of them played Chronicle Online.
But there was exactly one person who did stick out.
Someone he'd grown close to in-game, who happened to reveal his real name after they found out they lived in the same area.
Though they'd bonded in-game, he was a trustworthy person, one who'd strike Beltor as sensible enough not to sell him out to some anonymous post.
But.
In the end, that was just wishful thinking.
How many people could truly resist a fortune right in front of them?
1122. Kars: Me, me! I know information about a user named Roku!
-BlackDragon_FishIsSteamed: Got it, send me a DM.
And as he scrolled through the comments, seeing people pop up one after another offering to sell his information, he had to stifle a groan.
'Should I just pay the money back and apologize now? If I beg for forgiveness, maybe they'll spare me?"
'No, no. Nobles are what they are. In every movie, they're all villains and scum. They'd never listen to reason.
Beltor, unaware that to some people, he was the villain.
Still, at this point, he couldn't deny that he'd poked something he shouldn't have.
With his head in his hands, drowning in a flood of chaotic thoughts, a good idea suddenly struck him.
"Right. It's obvious they're going to use that info to harm me, so letting them sell it is just aiding a crime. No matter how much the game company neglects its players, they won't turn a blind eye to outright criminal acts."
He quickly called the game company's customer service center.
Luckily, getting through wasn't difficult.
[Thank you. This is the World Games customer service center. How can I help you?]
"Oh, hello. I'm contacting you regarding a request related to Chronicle Online."
[For verification, could you tell me your username?]
"It's Beltor."
[...Yes, Beltor. How can we help you?]
"There's someone openly asking for my information on the community right now. It's obvious they're trying to harm me, and I don't think this kind of criminal act should just be left alone."
[So you'd like us to remove that post?]
"Yes!"
[Understood. We'll take action and contact you again afterwards. Should we reach you at this device number?]
"Yes! Yes!"
Fortunately, the consultation ended satisfactorily.
The agent accepted his request without any sign of refusal.
7235. Sephyros: G-Guys, I just found out Beltor's contact info!
But Beltor had forgotten something.
The game company, which he naturally assumed to be neutral, was ultimately run by people, and the customer service workers—the weakest links in that structure—were outsourced employees with fairly low job satisfaction.
He had handed his information to someone who, given the chance to pocket a fortune, wouldn't care whether they got fired from the company or not.
-Blackdragon_Penny: Send me a DM. Once the info checks out, I'll deposit the money right away.
It wasn't just his acquaintances Beltor needed to worry about.
"Th-This bitch?"
Even after the call with customer service ended, the post hadn't disappeared, and when he saw that reply attached to it, his face went pale.
"Damn it, what could even happen? Getting this worked up over being PK'd twice is absurd by any standard. And how would they find my address from just a phone number?"
He said that, trying to act tough, but before he knew it, he'd liquidated his items, cashed out the money, and was packing his bags in his rented room.
-Ding-dong.
About ten minutes had passed since the reply selling his information went up on the community.
Suddenly, the doorbell to his studio apartment rang out.
"What the—?"
It was far too fast for anyone to have taken action by any reasonable measure.
So rather than fear that the player had actually "come to find him," Beltor was more puzzled.
He checked the face of the person who'd come to see him through the intercom.
"Huh?"
Beltor let out a stupid gasp without meaning to.
Because the intercom was showing the face of a celebrity, as if it were a TV.
-CRASH!
And then, like something out of a lie, like a scene from a movie, the front door of his home exploded inward with a deafening noise.
It was so surreal that even as the thick steel door flew off its hinges from the impact and slammed into the opposite wall, all he could do was blink.
"Found you. Beltor."
The person who stepped into view next was a young man with silver hair and blue eyes—so handsome that even a man would say so without hesitation.
"Why is Adrian Lawrence in my room..."
In response to his bewilderment, the silver-haired, blue-eyed intruder, Adrian Lawrence, answered by flipping him off.
"I'm Minki. You son of a bitch."
"..."
For a moment, Beltor tilted his head, unable to comprehend what he'd just heard.
* * *
Back on Earth, I'd heard stories plenty of times about people getting so heated over games that they'd meet up in real life to fight.
Each time, I'd just shake my head and think they had nothing better to do, but after experiencing something this absurd firsthand, I could understand their feelings a hundred times over.
The difference was that I had the Opportunity to make my in-game actions carry over into reality, but they'd been just as serious about their games.
So, based on the information I'd gathered, I had Blue Moon capture the relevant individuals, and as for Beltor—the one who'd made me experience death twice—I personally caught him and dragged him here myself.
And so, ten men were brought before me.
Looking down at them, I scratched my forehead.
"P-Please spare us, Lord Marquis."
"We were just tricked by Beltor."
"If we'd known we were attacking the Lord Marquis, we would never have done something so insane."
"Y-Yes, that's right. It's all Beltor's fault."
"We'll pay back every coin we were given. No—we'll pay with interest."
They rubbed their hands together desperately, begging again and again.
Some even pressed their heads deep to the floor and burst into tears, and their ages ranged from early twenties to forties.
Their reaction was only natural.
No matter how advanced the world had become, Rondel was fundamentally a class-based society, and among commoners, the nobles' infamy reached the heavens.
To a commoner, a noble was practically a being from above.
They were beings who could kill you with a single word.
"First, delete your accounts. I don't want to see you wandering around Chronicle Online again."
I handed each of them a Virtual Reality headset and gave the order.
"B-But if I sell the items in my account, I can pay you back—"
"Just delete it."
Those who had devoted everything to the game showed reluctance, but the moment I asked, "You don't want to?" they all obediently deleted their accounts as told.
And so, in a single moment of poor judgment, they lost the characters they had cherished so dearly.
"Hey, real name."
This wasn't the end of it.
Since my senses in-game and in reality were shared, the pain I'd felt while being attacked by them had been considerable.
It might have been a joke to them, but I had experienced the pain of death twice.
I asked Beltor.
He, who had been staring blankly, answered while trembling.
"Ian Cliff."
"Age."
"Thirty."
"Occupation."
"I-I'm preparing for the administrator exam."
In other words, he was a civil service exam candidate—meaning unemployed.
"Don't tell me you're still getting an allowance from your parents at that age."
"I'm sorry."
"You should be apologizing to your parents."
I had dragged them here in anger, but what exactly was I supposed to do with these guys?
Killing them outright was too much, and torture didn't fit my image.
Should I just keep them locked up in the underground dungeon like this?
After much deliberation, I snapped my fingers.
Most of them were unemployed and amounted to nothing.
Then again, anyone with a decent head on their shoulders wouldn't think of making money through PK.
So I decided to show them some generosity.
"I'll personally arrange jobs for you."
Those who had been worried about losing their heads were now baffled by the sudden offer of employment.
"I know a friendly assassin guild. Seems like they enjoy thievery and killing people. Go join them and get some work done."
"Gasp!"
"P-Please spare us!"
"We have committed a death-worthy crime!"
Their reaction was nothing short of frantic.
Those who had been crying burst into full-blown sobs like children, and those who had been pleading on their hands and knees slammed their heads against the floor, begging for mercy.
"It's still a place where people live, in the end. They pay wages too, so do your best."
Even Beltor, who had been in a daze, eventually came crying and begging for forgiveness.
I nodded with a satisfied expression.
It seemed the fear invoked by the name "assassin guild" was truly immense.
'I won't let them actually die. But I'll work them to the brink.'
For the sake of their families, who must be worrying about these incompetent fools, I needed to make them grow up a little.
"I'm leaving."
With that, I left the underground dungeon where I had gathered and locked them up, without a hint of hesitation.
On Earth, this would be kidnapping and unlawful confinement, but being a noble was convenient in many ways.
* * *
[I quit my job! It really got deposited!]
[Ohh! Thank you! Thank you! I'll live happily!]
[Black Dragon Guild public commission review!]
1. Peshulian: Whoa, jackpot. It was real?
-HoneyYoureLate: Crazy... The Black Dragon Guild's moneybags actually existed.
2. Tyrant_Irion: But is this okay? Honestly, isn't this a crime?
-KidneyStone: Right, what's everyone so happy about.
3. Charisma_Molar: I noticed something creepy.
-KidneyStone: What?
-Charisma_Molar: If you send a message to the bountied users' nicknames, they all come up as nonexistent accounts.
-KidneyStone: ...
-HoneyYoureLate: ...
-NeorioGuri: Don't tell me they really all got taken away?
-KidneyStone: Maybe it's a setup? They were never around to begin with.
-HoneyYoureLate: No, they were real. There was someone who investigated those users through a personal broadcast.
4. TimeTimer: This doesn't seem like something to just brush off. Isn't this something the game company needs to take action on?
-Kingdom_KnockKnock: Right. Who'd want to play a game in fear.
-AntiWeldGames: There's no way they'd take action. Last time when a murder happened over a real-life duel, they just said it was a personal grudge between users and they held no responsibility.
-Kingdom_PushOpen: Seems like they're just not responding at all. Not even a single notice.
Since my post, which I had made through the Black Dragon Guild's Guild Master, drew so much attention, the community was buzzing with reviews.
Because of this incident, I think there will be no one left who will recklessly charge at me without fear.
I have become completely untouchable — someone you must not get entangled with.
But what was unexpected was that the management team, which I thought would interfere in some way, is sticking to no response at all.
If the issue grew bigger, I planned to buy up World Games stocks as I pleased and become a major shareholder, or use my authority as a Hollywood system administrator, but it seems I won't need to.
"Surely, the company called World Games isn't also owned by Grand Duke Lucas, is it?"
I let out a hollow laugh and reflected on myself.
I had gotten so excited that I lost my head.