Chapter 29
"Alright then, let's start the game."
[Launching Dawn of the Assassins.]
A notification window appeared.
And the world was pulled into darkness.
Seo Jun awoke at the starting point.
"Alright, let's get going."
Where to?
To the Assassins' hideout.
"Hey, try one of these fresh fruits!"
"Move aside and stop blocking the road! I'm in a hurry!"
"Mister, please buy me a bowlβ¦"
As Seo Jun passed through the marketplace, he headed toward the Sun Tavern.
It was a place he had never visited even once from clearing the tutorial up until defeating the Tower Master, but over the past few days, Seo Jun had stopped by at least once every day.
β Oh, they're useless again today
β Those guys are seriously terribleγ γ
β Their work speed is garbage
"I agree. These guys are really bad at their jobs."
After entering the Sun Tavern, Seo Jun naturally walked toward the basement.
Then he opened the hidden passage in the floor and entered.
It was the secret hideout of the Assassins, accessible only after reaching a certain reputation level through assassinations.
"Nameless, what brings you here? Do you need a mission?"
β If you accept missions, you can't get the Fragment of Order, right? Then you shouldn't accept missions
β Why is that even a thing? People barely managed to defeat the rulers
β Finally beat them and nothing drops, I'd lose my mind
Several dialogue options appeared before Seo Jun.
He selected one of them.
"I want to deal with the rulers now."
"Sorry. It's still too early. Our preparations are not yet complete."
β Delayed again
β Feels like they'll never finish preparing
Honestly, if this were reality, the player would be the unreasonable one. How could they finish everything in just a few days?
β But this is a game
β Don't tell me this means we're not killing Kwon today?
For several days now, Bristina had been repeating the same answer.
"Well, can't be helped."
Seo Jun nodded.
β NOOOOO!
β You weren't this obedient before
β Since when did you become so well-behaved?
"There's no choice but to kill them anyway. Do I look like the type to wait?"
Grinning, he pulled out a sword from his inventory.
It was a weapon he had bought at a ridiculously expensive price from the Assassins-exclusive shop.
β This is our streamer
β Wait, if you were gonna do this anyway, why didn't you just kill them before?
"Why didn't I do it before? Well, because you guys kept asking me to do it, I didn't want to."
The real reason was the contract, but he didn't say that.
There wasn't any confidentiality clause or anything, but they had still asked him to keep it quiet.
Seo Jun tended to keep promises when someone sincerely requested it.
β This guy is such a contrarianγ γ
"Please don't curse."
β This streamer only moves in reverse
β A streamer who refuses to be controlled by chat!
β Pure rebellion itself
"Seriously. Where else are you going to find a streamer as communicative as me?"
Ignoring the flood of complaints, Seo Jun exited the Sun Tavern and opened the map while heading toward the central district where the palace stood.
He might have been bad with machines, but thankfully, he wasn't bad with directions.
"Alright everyone, tell me a bit about the palace now."
As he walked, Seo Jun asked the viewers about information regarding the game world.
As naturally and casually as if it were obvious.
β You're asking us?
β Please study beforehand
β Don't you realize this is Professor Seo Jun's deep intention to make viewers review the lore?
"I'm being serious though. I actually only know the basics."
β Oh? What's gotten into him?
β Noooo, it's more fun when the streamer knows nothing
β And then casually destroys everything anyway
Seo Jun moved across the rooftops.
This was the easiest way.
In the distance, a magnificent palace at the center of the city came into view.
The Alberc Palace had a front width of 160 meters and a height of 32 meters. Across its four floors were 1,015 rooms, 2,038 doors, and 825 windows.
The art gallery surrounding Alberc, the enormous lake, and the largest garden in Alteon all entered Seo Jun's vision.
"β¦And apparently over 1,000 employees work there, while the guards called the Royal Guard number over 300. Honestly, the user who personally counted all the windows and details sounds even more impressive than the palace itself."
β In a different sense, yeah
β Rich in time
β Time billionaire
Seo Jun jumped down from the rooftop.
Then he walked toward Alberc.
As expected, the closer he got to the palace, the more guards he saw around the area.
While chatting casually and moving around, a donation notification suddenly appeared.
['ScamDice' donated 10,000 won!]
[Seo Jun-nim, do you take mission requests by any chance?]
Seo Jun stopped walking.
Then he answered.
"Thank you for the donation, ScamDice-nim. What kind of mission is it?"
β Negotiation soundtrack) "Customer, how much are you willing to offer?"
β He can't resist missionsγ γ
β Weak male trait: vulnerable to capital
After a brief wait, another donation came in.
['ScamDice' donated 300,000 won!]
[Please infiltrate the palace and kill him with assassination just once! I want to see Seo Jun-nim doing stealth gameplay!]
β Damn, 300k in one shot
β Why does he type like that
β First you slam down the money. Then the streamer accepts the mission.
β But Seo Jun doing assassination gameplay? I kinda want to see it
β What are you talking about? If he assassinates them, what happens to the Fragment of Order? He shouldn't take the mission.
Afterward, all kinds of opinions about the mission flooded the chat.
Stealth and assassination.
A playstyle Seo Jun had never used even once before.
'It would probably be fun to try.'
The donor seemed to be the same viewer from before who had been debating whether or not to start Dawn of the Assassins.
They probably wanted to see his stealth gameplay.
['ScamDice' donated 100,000 won!]
[Ah, now that I think about it, there's the Fragment of Order. I'm canceling the mission! And no refunds necessary.]
β Huge spender γ·γ·
β He canceled the mission by throwing another 100kγ γ
β If it were me, I'd have bought games with that moneyγ γ γ
After thinking for a moment, Seo Jun spoke.
"I don't know whether it'll work or not, but let's try it once. Well, I can just wake him up right before the assassination, right?"
Then wouldn't it naturally switch over into martial arts combat instead?
Whether an alarm woke him up or the intruder personally woke him face-to-face, the core idea wasn't really different.
"We should work for the money we receive. If I get caught, I'll just die and do martial arts instead."
β A truly honest streamer
β What kind of person even plays games like thisγ γ
β Oh! Thank you!
After reading Battle of Summoners chat logs about scam dice, Seo Jun-on started thinking about assassination methods.
Since it was a game with endless possibilities for assassination and infiltration, there were many different ways to approach the duke inside the Golden Palace.
You could avoid the eyes of the Royal Guards and sneak in, forge an invitation to the ballroom, or get close to nobles and receive an invitation through money.
But infiltration was impossible for him right now.
"Guess I'll just have to force my way in. Since I decided to assassinate him, I should at least get the palace blueprints first."
Seo Jun-on contacted Bristerna using the signal stone, then headed back to a nearby assassin organization hideout.
Just like before, the hideout was disguised as a tavern.
After entering the secret chamber behind the bar, Seo Jun-on walked up to the man wearing a hood and spoke.
"Be careful not to be consumed by chaos. True chaos does not destroy order, after all."
It was the password of this district's assassin guild.
"Hehehe. What brings you here?"
[ --> Trade items.]
[ --> Have a conversation.]
Choices appeared.
If he selected the first option, he could purchase assassin equipment.
If he selected the second, he'd just have to listen to useless chatter.
Seo Jun-on chose the first option.
"I want to trade for something."
"Good. You brought enough money, right?"
An interface appeared, and Seo Jun-on pressed the blueprint category.
The assassin guild had gathered blueprints for most famous structures in Malteon.
Seo Jun-on quickly found the palace blueprint.
"Wow, this one's expensive."
To buy it, he needed either reputation or money.
[Alverb Palace Blueprint]
[700 Assassin Guild Reputation] [Exchange]
[3,000 Gold] [Exchange]
The palace blueprint wasn't just expensive for a blueprint β it was one of the most expensive items in the entire shop.
But Seo Jun-on had more than enough of both.
[Assassin Guild Reputation - 3,427]
[Owned Gold - 10,000]
His reputation was naturally high since he'd already killed three rulers.
Besides, Seo Jun-on had been grinding missions nonstop, even if the rewards were lower than before.
As for the moneyβ
-You're rich lol.
-Should I start pickpocketing too?
-"In just 30 minutes, I can help you buy a house." β by Seo Jun.
Considering that 1,000 gold was enough to buy top-tier weapons from shops, the 10,000 gold Seo Jun possessed was an enormous amount.
And this wasn't money earned through pickpocketing.
Most of it came from minigame-type content instead.
"Alright, stop fabricating stories. I'll buy it with reputation."
Seo Jun-on pressed the exchange button next to the reputation cost.
"Thank you, Nameless One. Please come again."
The NPC looked thrilled after selling such an expensive item.
Was this guy really an assassin or a merchant?
Seo Jun-on stared at the NPC with tired eyes before heading outside.
"Alright then, let's give this a shot."
Seo Jun-on approached Alverb.
Darkness spread before him.
Since he had acquired the blueprint, the palace layout was now displayed like a radar.
"Oh, there's a feature like this?"
-This guy played for a week before realizing there was a minimap lol
-How does the taste of civilization feel?
-You can even see the positions of nearby enemies with the telescope item.
Seo Jun-on clicked his tongue inside the palace.
"A telescope? Don't need it. What's so hard about infiltration?"
-LMAOOOO that statement is raising death flags.
-Karma buildup ON.
-He can't possibly be good at assassination too, right?
-He's definitely gonna get caught a few times and end up massacring everyone.
-It's only starting now lololol.
-Already getting emotional.
Alverb Palace was structured like a maze, with countless buildings packed together.
That was because the place had gone through numerous expansions and reconstructions throughout history.
And since the duke's residence was located at the very center of that maze-like palace, it was extremely difficult for players to approach without being discovered.
"Alright, here we go."
The moment the guard stationed nearby looked away for an instant, Seo Jun-on lightly vaulted over the iron bars.
The duke's outdoor gallery appeared immediately after he crossed the fence.
Since the other side was an open park area and a natural moat lake, this was the best route into the palace interior.
Seo Jun-on focused on the sounds around him.
The royal guards were patrolling all throughout Alverb Palace.
Step. Step.
Seo Jun-on moved away from the direction of the footsteps and entered deeper inside.
Since he knew the structure, he didn't get lost.
Another thing he had to be wary of was the snipers stationed on the palace rooftops.
Keeping his body as low as possible, Seo Jun-on escaped the gallery, climbed the outer wall to the second floor, and hid on a balcony.
"Hm. Easier than I thought."
But approaching further wasn't easy.
Seo Jun-on pressed his ear against a window.
He heard someone snoring.
"Not here."
He climbed the wall again.
He was searching for an empty guest room.
"This place is empty."
Seo Jun-on carefully opened the balcony door and stepped inside.
-Ah.
-This is why palace assassination is difficult.
-Even though he was careful, the sound was too loud.
The viewers were laughing.
Why?
Seo Jun-on immediately realized the reason.
"What was that? What's that sound?"
A man's voice came from outside the guest room door.
A royal guard had noticed him.
From the opposite side, the sound of a doorknob turning could be heard.
-Hide under the bed.
-Get inside the wall gap lol.
-Even if he does that he's done for. Did you think palace assassination was easy?
-They're already in alert mode. The NPCs here react to even the smallest sound.
The chat exploded.
Alert Mode was a common system in stealth games.
When the player made a noise, NPCs would enter a searching state.
And if the palace NPCs failed to find the intruder after enough time passed, they would sound the alarm.
At that point, it was game over.
Seo Jun-on glanced at the chat and instantly judged the situation.
If he stayed, he'd be caught.
There was no escape route either.
"As expected, the difficulty's high."
In that caseβ
Creak.
-He's busted.
-First failure incoming lol.
-He thought assassination was easy?
At the exact moment the door opened, Seo Jun-on pulled a dagger from his inventory.
Before the door fully opened, he identified the royal guard's position.
His movement speed was almost beyond what the eye could follow.
Then, the instant the door opened halfway, he threw the dagger.
Thunk!
With a short dying gasp, the royal guard collapsed.
"See? Assassination's easy."
Seo Jun-on smirked as if he had never been tense at all.
-The fact he thought to throw the dagger in that split second is insane lol.
-There he goes massacring again.
-Stop killing people and infiltrate quietly lol.
-THIS is assassination?!
In the Assassin Guild's reputation system, there was a mechanic called Surprise Attack Judgment.
If you struck a vital point before the NPC fully recognized the enemy's presence, it became an instant kill.
A very common system in stealth games.
The important point was that the royal guard died in a single hit.
And what that meant wasβ
"But he didn't see me, right?"
-LMAOOO.
-"But I was fast" lololol.
-If the surprise attack proc'd, then technically it counts as assassination.
-= If the enemy doesn't realize it, how is it massacre? It's assassination.
-Yeah lol. When NPCs enter alert mode, as long as they don't fully spot you, hitting a weak point still works.
-Fun fact: killing enemies during stealth is actually normal gameplay.
-But that is NOT what normal assassination looks like lol.