Debuff Master

Chapter 600

“L-Likewise...”

Tae-Sung shook hands with Yong Seol-Hwa.

“You are really good. My father was right,” Yong Seol-Hwa said, praising him.

“He was just being nice,” Tae-Sung replied.

“No,” Yong Seol-Hwa shook her head. Then, she said, “My father would never praise people for the sake of being nice, and this is especially true when it comes to games.”

“Ah...”

“Is it alright if we keep in touch?”

“Eh?”

“Here,” Yong Seol-Hwa said, extending her phone to him.

“Huh? W-What should I do with this?”

“Ah! Please give me a second!” Tae-Sung exclaimed, hurriedly dialing his phone number.

Bzzt! Bzzt!

His phone vibrated after Yong Seol-Hwa pressed the call button.

“That’s my number. Let’s keep in touch.”

“A-Alright.”

“Ah, let’s play together whenever you’re free.”

“Sure.”

“It was nice meeting you.”

Tae-Sung and Yong Seol-Hwa exchanged greetings before she left for the waiting room where Yong Tae-Pung and the other legends were waiting.

While Yong Seol-Hwa was walking away, a certain thought popped up in her mind, ‘Hmm... He’s handsome and good at the game, too.’

Yong Seol-Hwa\'s ideal man had always been someone good at games. After all, she had grown up watching her father, who was a legend in the pro gaming scene. She had inherited his skills and talent at games, so it was only normal for her to want someone good at playing games.

‘I wonder if he has a girlfriend? Maybe I should ask him next time.’

Yong Seol-Hwa was very curious about whether Tae-Sung had a girlfriend or not, so she decided to look for an opportunity to ask him about it one day.

***

Siegfried stayed cooped up in the Proatine Kingdom without taking a single step outside of it, even though the semi-finals were over. He decided to be wary of even a leaf naturally falling off a tree until the tournament was over, so he spent most of his days in his office, working on the administrative work he had been neglecting so far.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“A group of Adventurers seeks an audience with Your Majesty.”

“Huh? They want to see me?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Who are they? Is it those reporters again?”

“No, sire.”

“Then?”

“They claim to be Your Majesty’s seniors.”

“Seniors...?” Siegfried muttered and tilted his head in confusion. He could not recall if he ever knew anyone he could consider his seniors. He racked his brain trying to think of anyone, but he could not do so, as he did not even have any seniors he could consider to be close with, even during his time in school.

‘Who are they...?’

Siegfried wondered. In the end, he decided to meet them to see who they were. “Please tell them to wait for a while. I will go to the throne room and receive them once I finish this document."

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Ten minutes later...

“His Majesty, King Siegfried van Proa!”

The chamberlain announced Siegfried’s arrival at the throne room.

Siegfried entered and sat on his throne, but his eyes shot wide open after seeing his so-called "seniors."

“Eh?”

It turned out that the so-called seniors were none other than Yong Tae-Pung’s friends, who were also the legends who had visited Tae-Sung in his waiting room during the semi-finals of the Super Rookie Tournament.

“I hope we’re not intruding on you when you’re busy.”

“Have you finished preparations for the final round?”

“Long time no see!”

“Wow~ Nice house you got here.”

The legends greeted Siegfried in quite a relaxed manner.

“S-Sunbae-nims!”

Siegfried was completely flustered at their sudden visit, but what shocked him even more were the levels of the legends.

Han Sang-Gi of Battle Home Ground was Level 1, Kim Han-Yong of Formula Rider was Level 11, Park Gi-Don of Legend of League was Level 7, and Kim Gi-Tae of Space Craft was Level 3.

In other words, the legends were all complete newbies in BNW.

“Haha... Hahaha...” Siegfried laughed awkwardly after seeing that the legends were no different from newly hatched chicks. These people were still in the upper echelon of most games despite their age, but they were newbies in BNW.

“T-Thank you for visiting. Would you like to have a look around our kingdom?” Siegfried welcomed the legends and offered to give them a tour.

“Come on~ How can we impose on you like that~”

“Why should we look at your house?”

“I’d prefer something else~”

“As expected, he’s really polite to his elders.”

However, it seemed that the legends had other motives for visiting the Proatine Kingdom.

“Huh? Then would you like to have a meal—” Siegfried asked, but he was interrupted by Park Gi-Don of Legend of League.

“Tae-Sung.”

“Yes, sunbae-nim?”

“As you know...”

“Yes?”

“We...”

“Please tell me comfortably.”

“We were late in starting this game, so...”

“...?”

“We don’t really have anywhere to go... and kids these days are quite territorial, so we’re having a hard time hunting...”

Siegfried instantly realized what was happening. It seemed that a bunch of leeches had decided to cling to him.

“Sunbae-nims...? Are you perhaps asking me to boost you?”

Boosting was when a high-level player helped a low-level player level up by hunting monsters for them.

“Boosting? We just want to learn a few things from our respected junior.”

“And we don’t really have a place to stay.”

“We don’t have a house to call home.”

“Who said anything about boosting? Hahaha!”

The legends feigned ignorance at Siegfried’s question.

‘Yeah, they’re definitely asking to get boosted. Tsk... No wonder I sensed something ominous...’

However, there was no way Siegfried would get fooled by their poor acting.

He was starting to feel tired from just thinking about looking after a bunch of old men, but he decided to look at the bright side of this.

‘They\'re old, but they’re loaded old men, aren\'t they? They could have easily hired someone to boost them or arm themselves with items using real-world money.’

The legends were all successful middle-aged men, so there was no reason for them to leech off Siegfried just to get boosted. Yes, they were old, but they were highly skilled gamers, so they would grow stronger at a scary pace the moment they got used to the game.

Siegfried was certain that the boosting was just a bunch of nonsense, and there was another reason behind their visit. Thus, he decided to take a gentler approach.

“I am hoping to help you get accustomed to this game by helping you level up and provide you with some nice gear. What do you think?” Siegfried asked.

“Ahem!”

“Hmm... There’s no reason to refuse our junior’s offer.”

“Oh? Really? You would do that?”

“Oh dear, how can we repay you for this?”

The legends hurriedly accepted the offer as if they had been waiting for it.

“Since none of you has a class yet, I will assign someone to assist you for now. He is quite dependable, so let him help you get a class. Once you have a class, then I will assist you personally.”

Siegfried immediately called for Seung-Gu.

“Did you call, hyung-nim?”

“Oh, you’re here.”

“Is there something I have to–”

“You probably know them already. Why don’t you say hello?” Siegfried said, introducing the legends to him.

“Heok?!” Seung-Gu gasped after meeting the legends he grew up watching on TV.

“He will be assisting you for now. Please do not hesitate to let him know if you need anything,” Siegfried said.

“Huh? H-Hyung-nim? What do you mean by that?” Seung-Gu asked.

“Hmm? I’ll be busy these days so you’ll have to assist them in my stead.”

“Ah... that is...”

“Work hard!”

Siegfried passed the legends to Seung-Gu and hurriedly ran out of the throne room.

***

Seung-Gu proceeded to give the legends a tour of the Proatine Kingdom’s castle.

“Hmm... The graphics were all pixelated back in our days.”

“Yeah, they were.”

“Technology sure has improved a lot.”

“Do you remember how we used to nap in the capsule whenever the server lagged?”

The legends reminisced about the early days of virtual reality games while admiring the realism BNW had to offer.

“Time sure flies...” Kim Han-Yong said with a hint of melancholy.

“Yeah, we used to rule the world back then, but we’re nothing but old men now,” Kim Gi-Tae said with a bitter smile.

“So what if we’re old men?

“Everyone has their moment, and it’s quite sad if we try to reach the top of the ranking at our age.”

“You think so?”

“Why did we come here in the first place? We’d rather be the tail of a dragon than be the head of a snake, right?”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“We’re old now. We can’t live like we did before.”

“Tsk...”

“That’s why we have to be together with him.”

This was the reason that the legends came to find Siegfried.

They were now too old and no longer had the strength to chase after riches and glory—no, they did not have to chase after those things, as they had already attained them earlier in their lives. Moreover, BNW was completely different from the games they used to play, so it would be impossible for them to reach the pinnacle here.

Their pride was damaged, thinking they would just play the game like any other gamer, but they did not have the ability to scale to the highest realm of BNW. Thus, the solution they came up with was to become the comrade of someone who\'d eventually become a legend of BNW.

BNW was an RPG game, which meant that the one standing at the pinnacle would eventually become the game’s protagonist. This meant that those around the protagonist would leave their names in the annals of history too.

The legends wanted to make their mark on history once again, but this time, they planned to do it with Siegfried’s help.

“He is lacking in certain areas, but we just have to push and pull him with our experience.”

“Yes, that’s the best thing we can offer.”

“That’s why we must level up and become strong enough to be of help to him. Or else, we might end up dead weight and hold him back.”

“I agree.”

The legends were already dreaming of a rosy future where they would become legends once again by sticking close to Siegfried.

***

One week later...

“Let’s go.”

Tae-Sung hopped into his Rolls Royce Phantom with his friends and headed to the V Sports Stadium.

Surprisingly, he received a message from Yong Seol-Hwa while he was on the way to the stadium.

「You must win today!

I’ll be rooting for you!

Fighting! ?(ˊ?ˋ*)?

- Yong Seol-Hwa」

His reply to the message was...

「Ty.」

Cheon Woo-Jin shook his head after peeking at Tae-Sung’s phone and thought, ‘Sigh... This guy is hopeless...’

They arrived at the V Sports Stadium.

As expected of the finals, the atmosphere was extremely hot. There were hordes of reporters and fans waiting outside, making the tournament no longer look like a tournament for amateurs. In fact, there were more people coming to watch the final compared to most pro gaming finals.

Tae-Sung walked down the red carpet and headed to the waiting room.

Meanwhile, the organizers prepared various events before the match started. A famous girl group performed on stage, highlight reels of Tae-Sung and Kwon Oh-Shin’s previous matches were played, and clips of various pro gamers predicting the winners were played as well.

An hour later, the events were finally finished.

“Kyu! Welcome back, owner punk!”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go! Kyuuu!”

“Sure, let’s go.”

Tae-Sung logged into the game and stepped into the Hall of Martial God as the Adventurer, Siegfried van Proa. He entered the password provided by the organizers as soon as he arrived at the Hall of Martial God and went inside the arena.

It was then...

“His Majesty, King Siegfried van Proa, is entering!”

The Proatine Kingdom’s military band shouted at the top of their lungs and...

Bam bam bam! Bam bam baaam!!

They played background music while Siegfried was making his entrance.

Kwachik!

Siegfried’s face scrunched, and he suddenly looked like a vengeful demon.

Humiliation Play!

The humiliation play he had suffered at the hands of the Bavarian Workshop was being done to him by his very own subordinates. To make matters worse, the humiliation play was being broadcast live for the entire real world to see!