Undertown.
The deepest alley.
A shabby shack inside a twisted alleyway.
The shabby wooden door has a picture of a snake holding a gold coin in its mouth.
This is Akasa’s cash exchange.
“It’s been about a month… … .”
Labo, who had come alone from the oasis, muttered quietly.
It’s been a little over a month since I started playing the game with this account.
Labo, standing in front of the door, first took off his robe and helmet.
And then, ahem, he cleared his throat and knocked lightly.
dripping.
“Welcome… … to Akasa’s cash exchange… … .”
From inside the door, Akasa’s voice, unusually slumped, could be heard.
Squeak.
As Labo opened the door and went inside, he saw Akasa sitting there, staring blankly into space with his eyes wide open.
“Hey, Akasa.”
“… … Gasp! Brother Labo!”
Akasa, who had quickly come to his senses, adjusted his round sunglasses and hurriedly got up from his seat.
“Are you okay? Does anything hurt anywhere?”
“No, brother. I’m fine. There’s no problem with my health… … .”
Labo turned his eyes away from Akasa, who was trailing off, and looked around the store.
“… …Why is the store like this again? What’s going on?”
Akasa’s cash exchange is the top in the game for illegal item and cash transactions.
It used to be a place overflowing with items and gold, as Akasa’s position in illegal trade was high, but now it was completely desolate.
The shelves that once displayed all sorts of jewels and ornaments were completely empty. The floor, which was so covered with piles of gold coins that there was no room to step on, was clean, without a speck of dust or gold coins.
“What, what’s going on? You stubbornly resisted when I told you to do so… … .”
Labo pulled up a chair in front of Akasa and sat down with a look of suspicion on his face.
Akasa let out a deep sigh.
“That’s why I wanted to see you, brother.”
“hmm?”
“Brother, I… … am wrapping up business in a hurry.”
Akasa muttered bitterly.
“I converted all the items into gold, and cashed out half of the gold I had. The rest is waiting to be sold.”
Labo asked in a serious voice.
“What’s going on all of a sudden? Do you need emergency cash in reality?”
“No, bro. That’s not it… … .”
Phew… … Akasa let out a long sigh and opened his mouth with difficulty.
“The cash value of Wings Online Gold is showing signs of plummeting.”
As expected.
Labo pressed down on the corners of his lips that kept rising with his hand.
“The cash price is falling?”
“Yes, I’ve done seesaws often before… … but this is the first time I’ve seen a downward curve this clearly.”
Akasa sighed again.
“It has rebounded thanks to the influx of new users, but… … it is still precarious. Since there are so many different cash items, and since you can buy cash items with cash… … there are fewer customers who insist on using cash to trade gold illegally.”
If the utility of gold items can be replaced by cash items, the amount of gold traded in cash will naturally decrease.
“For us, who have invested all our assets here, it was a total disaster. Our business partners have already left. We will come back in around the middle of the season when the market stabilizes.”
“you?”
Labo stared at Akasa intently.
“What about you, Akasa?”
“… … I did manage to organize the gold and items roughly.”
After a brief silence, Akasa also turned his gaze to Labo.
“The reinforcement stone hasn’t been sold yet.”
“Hoo… … .”
“Actually, most of my gaming assets are in the form of Reinforcement Stones. I bought a lot of them because I believed what my brother said.”
Akasa opened his warehouse and showed us.
A huge quantity of reinforcement stones were stored in Akasa’s warehouse, making it difficult to tell when they were purchased.
“And just like you said, prices are going up. But… … .”
Akasa trailed off.
What good is it if the price of gold for the reinforcement stone goes up? If the cash value of gold plummets, it’s all meaningless.
Because Akasa is a cash merchant.
“That’s why I invited you today, hyung, because I wanted to ask you a question.”
“… … .”
“What will happen to Wings in the future? Will the value of gold fall further? Should I… … sell everything and leave this place right now? Or… … .”
Akasa, who had said that, kept his mouth shut and looked at Labo pitifully.
If he had really felt the crisis, Akasa would have left Wings without looking back by now.
But I was still looking at the liver.
Akasa also feels this instinctively. If he hesitates now, he could suffer a loss so great that he could permanently close down his business… …
——————
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Maybe, this could be the real deal.
“Akasa.”
Labo opened his mouth slowly in a serious voice.
“I can give you any advice you want.”
Akasa swallowed dry saliva.
“And I can make you see even greater profits than you have now. I know how this game will go in the future. Even if the director changes, it’s not like I can overturn everything I’ve done so far.”
“Tongue, brother… … .”
“But I can’t tell you for free. I have conditions too.”
Labo stretched out his index finger and pointed at Akasa’s chest.
“You should join our team too.”
“… … ?!”
A look of disappointment crossed Akasa’s face.
Although he had been offered this before, Akasa had run away. It was because he could smell danger at first glance.
But this time, his life as a VR world merchant was at stake. The top spot in Wings Online that he had worked hard to build up over the years… …!
It was an offer he couldn’t refuse. A cold sweat ran down Akasa’s spine.
“But, brother, what would I do if I joined your team? I’m just a businessman… … .”
Labo answered briefly and concisely.
“Distribution.”
“Huh? Supply?”
Akasa opened his eyes wide at the unexpected words.
“Yes, supply. I’m going to do something… big. I’m going to need various supplies during the process, so you need to get them for me.”
“… … .”
“Of course, I will pay you properly. Don’t worry about that. It’s just an order-and-delivery relationship. Long-term and exclusive.”
How many people are in the team that they need such a grandiose position as ‘supply manager’?
Labo continued speaking with a leisurely smile.
“Oh, please extend the repayment deadline for the 1 million gold I borrowed before.”
“… … .”
In fact, the conditions themselves were not difficult.
What was more uncomfortable for Akasa was the feeling that Labo was above his head.
I feel like I’ve become a puppet controlled by a puppeteer…
From the beginning, a near-certain guess crossed Akasa’s mind that he had been included in Labo’s big picture.
“… … Okay, brother.”
But anyway, there was no turning back for Akasa.
If only he could protect his money, which was as precious as his life… no, more precious than his life, he would gladly take his side even if the opponent was not Labo but the devil.
“I will join your team. I will be in charge of in-game distribution. Please leave it to me.”
“Okay, Akasa. It’s refreshing. I like it.”
Labo tapped Akasa on the shoulder and immediately sent Akasa an invitation to the guild.
Guild: The Nightbringer has sent an invitation to Akasa to join. Would you like to accept?
‘Nightbringer… …?’
What’s the name?
Akasa reluctantly accepted the invitation while thinking to himself and looked at the guild window that was open before his eyes without much thought.
“… … ?”
Immediately afterwards, his eyes grew wide as if they were going to burst,
“… … ?!”
I rubbed my eyes wildly.
It was none other than because of the faces of the guild members.
‘What the hell, this list of monsters is… …!’
A guild with only 7 members, now 8 including myself.
But four of them were so famous… … monsters from the old days.
For Akasa, who has been playing games in Undertown since Season 1, the super-named characters and the original ‘Big 4 Villains’ that he had seen and heard about so many times were all gathered in one guild.
There’s also former Director Labo, and Oasis, a healing priest who is on par with Cain.
The remaining one, Rabbit, wasn’t a named person either, but if he was included here, he must be hiding some incredible ability.
And what on earth did you do?
‘What is this, an error…? Why is the level like this?’
Everyone was at max level.
The guild members’ statuses were made public. Akasa was even more shocked when he saw the guild members’ statuses.
‘The level is… 1,100?!’
I thought I saw things wrong, but I wasn’t.
There was no doubt that the item level was a four-digit number. No, it wasn’t just a four-digit number; it was 1,100.
‘That’s all power?! What the heck, what have you done, this?!’
Akasa, honestly, became scared.
Having played this game for the past five years, I felt like the ‘common sense’ I took for granted was crumbling before my eyes.
“Okay, Akasa. Let’s start the counseling.”
Labo’s voice brought Akasa’s consciousness back to reality. Akasa was still dumbfounded and just looked at Labo.
“There’s a cliché: A crisis is an opportunity.”
It was such an obvious statement. But Labo was serious.
“Let me tell you first, Akasa. I will destroy Wings.”
“yes……?”
“I will destroy this game and lead it to a bad ending. I know the means and methods necessary to do so, I have them, and I will now put them into action.”
Destruction? Bad ending?
I wondered what the hell he was talking about, but after seeing the specs of the guild members, Akasa had no choice but to admit it.
You may not believe the ridiculous talk of a bad ending or destruction, but at least it has enough firepower to cause a major accident!
“Before that, I’ll let you get the final benefit in this game.”
Labo was as confident as a teacher giving a tutoring class.
“You just have to suck up the honey and pop the wings for the last time. Just do as I say. Okay?”
“Ah… … I understand, brother.”
Akasa also prepared to attend class politely like a model student.
“First, let me tell you how the cash value of gold will change in the future.”
Ahem!
Labo cleared his throat.
“It’s as you said before. If the game continues like this, the cash value of gold will continue to fall from the moment new users stop purchasing it… … and then stabilize at a certain level. And it will never recover to its current level again.”
Akasa’s face turned pale. Labo patted Akasa on the shoulder as if to reassure him.
“But there are variables.”
“A variable?”
“It’s me.”
Labo pointed at himself with his thumb.
“And our guild.”
“Um… …Why?”
“Because we are going to destroy the world.”
Akasa listened blankly to Labo’s words, which were hard to believe, but not entirely absurd.
“The stronghold city will burn, the portals and ports will be destroyed, the production system will collapse. The merchant NPCs will be massacred, and the users will be driven from the city to the field, from civilization to the wild.”
Like the developers explaining the next update, Labo fluently explained the structure of this world’s destruction.
“Users will eventually be expelled from the Old Continent and driven to the New Continent. Having lost their homeland, users will have to settle down in the barren New Continent, but there will be no proper facilities or production bases there. Outlaws will run wild. They will have a very painful time.”
Labo smiled slyly.
“Then what will happen?”
Akasa, who had been listening as if entranced, stammered and asked back.
“Uh… … What happens?”
Hehe.
Labo smiled wickedly.
“Then that’s when the ‘scammers’ will have their fun!”
