Debuff Master

Chapter 337

“How much?”

“Five bweewon.”

“Five billion?”

“Yesh.”

Chae Hyung-Seok was planning to use the money he would borrow from Ma Dong-Po to buy the best items gold could buy for his character, Desire.

What would happen afterward?

Revenge!

Chae Hyung-Seok had a concrete plan.

1. Borrow money from Ma Dong-Po.

2. Use the money he borrowed to purchase the best gear gold could buy.

3. Invade the Proatine Kingdom and raze it to the ground.

5. Sell the items and everything he looted to pay back Ma Dong-Po.

6. Quit the game.

7. Enjoy the remainder of his life with the money he had earned from looting the Proatine Kingdom.

It sounded extreme, but this was the best course of action Chae Hyung-Seok could take right now.

Why?

It was all because his gaming career was already over.

He had lost all of his items after Siegfried scammed him, and his character had become a debt-ridden ghoul.

This meant that he would not be able to avoid the kill order issued by the emperor once he logged back into the game. There was no way he could continue playing the game when the strongest NPC on the Nürburg Continent had issued a kill order against him.

The only option Chae Hyung-Seok had left was to strike it big while dealing massive damage to his archnemesis, Han Tae-Sung.

‘That fucking bastard… How dare you treat me like a fool? Just wait and see! I’m going to destroy you and grind everything you have into dust! Kekeke!’

Chae Hyung-Seok was thrilled just imagining the Proatine Kingdom burning up in flames and getting razed to the ground.

‘I’m going to live a good life thanks to you! Kekeke! Allow me to show you how it feels to have everything you value stolen from you! I hope you’ve fattened up your kingdom for me!’

Chae Hyung-Seok also sincerely believed that he could hit the jackpot if he looted the Proatine Kingdom before razing it to the ground.

However, his confidence wasn’t exactly baseless, as his calculation came from experience. Chae Hyung-Seok had a lot of experience raiding NPC villages aside from ripping off Adventurers.

When the Genesis Guild was just starting out, he had to raid small villages for gold. His targets were villages without communication infrastructure as well as villages that were quite far from any major cities, making it challenging for reinforcements to arrive even if reports of his raid were received.

He led his guild members and conducted night raids on those villages, and he made sure to kill every single living creature in those villages. Afterward, he would loot anything that could be converted to gold before running away.

‘It’s the size of a booger, but a kingdom is still a kingdom. I’m sure it’s going to be quite juicy!’

He could earn tens of millions of won from raiding a small village on the outskirts of the continent, so there was no need to mention how much riches he could obtain from raiding a kingdom.

He wouldn’t be able to continue playing the game if he did something like that, but he knew that he would be able to repay his debt and even have quite a lot of money left if he ended up being successful.

“Five billion…” Ma Dong-Po muttered before asking, “Where are you planning to use that much money? I heard you were going through a rough patch right now, do you have a problem these days?”

“Argh! Jas shut up an gib me monee! Why ah you ashkin why I nee ze monee?!” Chae Hyung-Seok replied, sounding irritated. He was quite brazen and rude, even though he was the one asking for money.

Why?

It was all because he knew that he was Ma Dong-Po’s benefactor. He was aware that he was the reason behind Ma Dong-Po’s meteoric rise as a big-shot money lender in Gangnam. Ma Dong-Po had already paid him back, but he knew that the money lender had to be still grateful to him.

“Hey, Hyung-Seok. Why are you getting worked up and mad all of a sudden? I’m just worried about you, that’s all. Did you really think that I won’t lend you five billion won? That’s nothing between us!”

“Nesh week.”

“Sure, don’t worry. I mean, I can easily prepare five billion won since you will be giving me quite a handsome interest, right?”

“I-Interesh?!” Chae Hyung-Seok was flustered at the word.

Interest? Was Ma Dong-Po seriously thinking of collecting interest from him? That illegal murderous interest for his clients?

“Ahem… Wat ah you toking bout? Wat interesh?”

“Hey, Hyung-Seok… You have to put yourself in my shoes, too.”

“…?”

“You’re not asking for chump change, you know? You’re asking for a whopping five billion right now—five billion!”

The five billion he had referred to as nothing a while ago became whopping in a matter of a few seconds.

“I mean, I want to lend you the money you need interest-free, but it will be much more beneficial to me to lend that to someone else and collect interest on it, right? I’m going to take a significant loss if I lend you that money without interest.”

“Fook you!” Chae Hyung-Seok growled and glared at him.

“Come on, no need to get angry and all, Hyung-Seok,” Ma Dong-Po nonchalantly replied while waving his hand before saying, “I know we’re close, but I’ll have to take a huge loss if I lend you this money without any interest. Don’t you think that’s a bit harsh of you, no matter how close we are?”

“…”

“Okay, think of it this way. Do you think I’ll lend such a big amount to others? Not at all! I’m lending this because it’s you, my buddy, Chae Hyung-Seok! Besides, who will lend you such a huge amount other than me?”

Ma Dong-Po was technically not wrong. There was no way he would lend five billion won to a random Tom, Dick, and Harry.

“I’m just being considerate of you. Think about my feelings now that you’re getting mad just because I’m charging you a bit of interest.”

“…”

“You’re going to pay me back after a few days anyway, right?” Ma Dong-Po whispered into Chae Hyung-Seok’s ears like the devil.

“I’m pretty sure you’re cooking something big since you want to borrow such a big amount, right? I mean, what’s a few days’ worth of interest going to do to you? Just think of it as a small investment to achieve your goal! A cost, that’s it!”

“Y-Yesh… You wite…”

“I’m going to prepare and lend you five billion in a week’s time, and you will pay me back after a few days. Isn’t that a win-win for both of us?”

“Y-Yesh…”

Chae Hyung-Seok fell victim to Ma Dong-Po’s instigation without even realizing it.

However, he couldn’t be blamed, as Ma Dong-Po’s words made perfect sense.

He was going to repay Ma Dong-Po right after he looted and razed the Proatine Kingdom, so the interest didn’t really matter to him, as he would pay the latter back almost immediately.

Of course, Chae Hyung-Seok had other plans aside from razing the Proatine Kingdom to the ground.

‘I could make a deal with the emperor if I make enough from the Proatine Kingdom. I’ll definitely become the emperor’s lapdog by then, but that’s far better than quitting the game, right?’

He was prepared to become a civil servant serving the emperor for a stipend if it meant being able to continue playing the game. In other words, he had also prepared a scenario where he didn’t have to quit the game.

“Hyung-Seok, I’m sorry for making you upset, but I really have no other choice. I’m having a rough time too these days, so why don’t you cut me some slack since you’re the bigger man, please?”

“Okay.”

“Excellent! Then, I will prepare five billion won for you by next week, so just prepare your seal and collateral documents!”

“Don bee rate.”

“Of course! Hey, who do you think you are? You’re Chae Hyung-Seok! Do you really think I can’t prepare the money for you?”

Ma Dong-Po’s glib tongue, which he had been using to prey on innocent gamers, easily convinced Chae Hyung-Seok.

***

“Hmm… That was quite interesting,” Ma Dong-Po said with his eyes closed.

His right-hand man, Halibut, asked, “Hyung-nim, what happened just now? Why is Hyung-Seok hyung-nim borrowing money from you?”

“Who knows? But I heard he was having a hard time these days.”

“Should we help him?”

“Help? Why? Can’t you see that he’s about to go bankrupt real soon?”

“Huh? Hyung-Seok hyung-nim will go bankrupt?”

“Didn’t you see him with your own eyes? He looked no different from the gamers who came to borrow money from us! He looked exactly like them.”

“Y-Yes, I guess he did look like that.”

“He seems to have stepped on a snare and is trying to get himself out, but I’ve never seen anyone get out of it through borrowing money.”

“T-Then…?”

“Hey, watch over the office while I’m gone.”

“Where are you going, hyung-nim?”

“I’m going to play the game,” Ma Dong-Po said as he went to the room beside his office and hopped into his VR capsule.

[Somewhere on the Nürburg Continent: Thieves Guild Headquarters]

Surprisingly, the place Ma Dong-Po descended unto was none other than the headquarters of the Thieves Guild.

[Ma Dong-Po]

[Type: Adventurer]

[Level: 11]

[Class: Information Merchant]

[Affiliation: Thieves Guild]

[Position: Honorary Member]

[Titles: Private Investigator]

“Ah… I need to level up, but it’s quite the hassle to do so, and I don’t really have the time either… Tsk…” Ma Dong-Po grumbled after seeing how low his level was.

Knock! Knock!

He walked to the department where information about the Adventurers was being managed and knocked on the door.

“Hello, Ma Dong-Po.”

An NPC with the name Hollio greeted him.

Hollio was the person in charge of the department.

“Long time no see. I believe it has been a while since you last visited,” he said.

“I have something to discuss with you,” Ma Dong-Po replied before sitting on the chair in front of Hollio’s desk.

“Something to discuss? Is it related to the Genesis Guild?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry to say, but our guild no longer provides information to the Genesis Guild.”

“What?! What do you mean by that?!”

Ma Dong-Po was shocked. He was peddling information from the Thieves Guild to the Genesis Guild all this while, but what Hollio said just now was as good as refusing to do any more business with the Genesis Guild.

“Why are you cutting ties all of a sudden?”

“Because our new client is much more attractive than yours?”

“What?”

“Our guild started dealing with Siegfried van Proa recently.”

“Heok!”

“Our new client does not wish for any information to be sold to the Genesis Guild, so we decided to cut ties with the Genesis Guild. Why, you ask? Because our new client is much bigger than the Genesis Guild, and our potential business with him is at least ten times than what we would stand to make by working with the Genesis Guild.”

“Oh…” Ma Dong-Po exclaimed while thinking, ‘I think you’re fucked, Hyung-Seok.’

He came to that conclusion based on Hollio’s words. Apparently, Siegfried was far more valuable than Chae Hyung-Seok at the moment.

“But what did you come here for? Anyway, as I have already told you, we’re no longer selling information to the Genesis Guild, so please go back if you came here for that and make sure you look for a new customer before coming back.”

“No,” Ma Dong-Po shook his head and said, “I didn’t come on behalf of the Genesis Guild.”

“Then?”

“Can you get me in touch with Siegfried van Proa? I have something to tell him,” Ma Dong-Po said. He flashed a sleazy smile that could only be otherwise described as despicable.

***

The storm of mana in the Proatine Kingdom’s royal infirmary raged on for three whole days before showing signs of subsiding.

‘The treatment is finished!’

Siegfried stayed outside the infirmary for three days and waited until the mana storm subsided, and it was only after the storm completely had stopped that he rushed into the infirmary.

“Master!” Siegfried exclaimed as soon as he entered the infirmary. He found Deus and bowed deeply toward the latter before saying, “Thank you for your hard work!”

“Sure,” Deus replied with a smile.

“H-How was the treatment? Was it successful…?”

“Are you seriously asking that? Don’t worry; both your wife and child are safe.”

“Oh!”

“She’s completely healed now, so don’t worry about them from now on.”

“Master! Thank you very much! Please accept my kowtow, Master!” Siegfried exclaimed.

He dropped to the floor and kowtowed.

‘I need to serve Master better from now on! My life would have been a series of misfortune if I hadn’t met him!’

Siegfried was once again reminded of why they said that masters should be revered as the heavens in one’s life.

“You punk! You’re already showing signs of spoiling your child before she’s born!”

“N-No, Master!”

“But they’re not completely okay...”

“Huh? W-What do you mean by that, Master?”

“There were some complications with your child.”

“C-complications? Is she sick?”

“No, she’s not,” Deus shook his head and explained, “She became a bit special… and I think you will have to pay more attention to her from now on.”

“Please impart your wisdom unto me, Master!”

“Your daughter, rather, my granddaughter is… Haha…” Deus paused for a moment before laughing in disbelief before saying, “She has a physique that will allow her to become a Grandmaster.”

“What?!” Siegfried was beyond stupefied.