Debuff Master

Chapter 74

“Then, you’re…”

“I guess I can say that I’m the first player to receive an epic code in this game, right?”

“I see…” Siegfried muttered, seemingly unsurprised.

‘It should be possible if it’s this guy…’?Siegfried thought as he recalled the numerous times Cheon Woo-Jin did something out of the ordinary. As such, the fact that he was a Hidden Class player wasn’t that surprising to Siegfried.

“So what does the Quest Maker do, to be exact?”

“What else aside from making Quests?”

“Making Quests…”

“It will be easier to explain if—look at this,” Cheon Woo-Jin said while pointing at his red and blue eyes.

“Your eyes?”

“The Taeguk Eyes can see through everything in the world, and it’s also the trademark, as well as the most precious asset of the Quest Maker.”

“What can you do with those?”

“A message pops up in front of my eyes whenever I look at an incident or an accident, and I get to decide if I want to create a Quest out of it or not.”

“What happens if you create one?”

“Then I will have to go and look for a player who can do it. I have to choose carefully since the penalty for failing a Quest will bite me.”

“What if they succeed?”

“Then, I get Experience Points. An unimaginable amount of Experience Points.”

“Hmm…”

“That’s why I’m always on the lookout for incidents since I have to make Quests out of them and find players who can carry them out.”

“Sounds like a troublesome class…”

“Troublesome? Of course, it’s quite troublesome since I have to be all over the continent. Every second counts for the Quest Maker, you see.”

Siegfried thought that the Quest Maker was an attractive Hidden Class, but he knew very well that it wasn’t something that he could do even if he were offered the chance to do so. Its unique growth mechanism of giving out Quests and gaining Experience Points whenever the Quests were cleared was pretty interesting, but that was the only thing he found nice about the class.

‘It’s not a class where it can grow stronger on its own,’?Siegfried thought. He was certain that the Quest Maker had to depend on others to grow.

“So, did you level up a lot?” he asked.

“Yes, I did. A lot. I think there aren’t a lot of players who are higher in level than me… maybe three or four at most?”

“That’s crazy…”

Siegfried was dumbfounded.

“I could roughly tell that you were a Ranker, but you were actually a single-digit Ranker?”

“Not quite. I’m not included in the ranking, you see.”

“Why not?”

“I’m sure you are aware that the ranking is not a credible measurement of one’s true strength, right? There are a lot of high-level players that aren’t on the list. Every single one of them has their own reasons why they chose to play the game in peace rather than be on the ranking list.”

“I see… Then you must be very strong.”

“I am—I’m very strong,” Cheon Woo-Jin said with a smirk before adding, “I think I’m the strongest player in the game once or twice a month.”

“Once or twice a month? What nonsense are you talking about?”

“The Quest Maker can level up really quickly, and it is pretty strong as well, but there is a condition that has to be met for all of those. I have to gather stacks to be able to exert my full abilities. You can think of it this way—I gain points whenever a player clears the Quest I gave them, and I use those points to unleash my powers.”

“I don’t think I can do something like that…” Siegfried said with furrowed brows.

He found the class to be too troublesome, even though it was attractive.

“I’m sure you can’t. This class only suits people like me.”

“What is ‘people like me’ to be exact?”

“People bored of real life.”

“…”

“You know, people that find life too boring no matter what they do that they start thinking of committing suicide because living is too pointless.”

“I can’t relate to something like that…”

“Everyone is different. Anyway, I’m sure you have probably noticed by now the reason I came to see you today,” Cheon Woo-Jin said.

“You want to…”

“Yes, I want to give you a Quest. A Quest suitable for you recently appeared, you see?”

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

***

The Quest details appeared after the message.

[Alert: Quest Maker ‘Cheon Woo-Jin’ has granted you the Quest: ‘Abducted Talents’!]

[Abducted Talents]

[Type: Special Quest]

[Rescue the various talented people abducted by the Church of Osric!]

[Progress: 0%]

[Rewards: B-Rank Stone of Transcendence × 1, Metamorphosis Mask × 1.]

Ironically, the objective of the Quest Cheon Woo-Jin gave Siegfried was to disrupt the plans of the Church of Osric once again.

“Church of Osric?”

“Yes, do you remember what I told you before? I work to uphold the peace and order of this world,” Cheon Woo-Jin said.

“You did say something like that…”

“The Church of Osric is one of the villains trying to disrupt the peace and order of this world. Their goal is to plunge the world into chaos by resurrecting the Goddess of Chaos, Nessarose, and I have to stop them as a member of the Guardians.”

“Sounds good,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

The Church of Osric was his sworn enemy as well, and they were second only to the Genesis Guild. The Church of Osric was the nemesis of Weapon Master Shakiro as well, and one of his Quest objectives, the descendant of Blood Master Berserk, Red Cardinal Vladimir, was affiliated with the Church of Osric.

“Just in case… am I going to run into the Red Cardinal?” Siegfried asked.

“No way,” Cheon Woo-Jin shook his head and said, “If you will run into the Red Cardinal, I wouldn’t send you there in the first place. You don’t know this, but the Red Cardinal is—”

“A Master,” Siegfried concluded Cheon Woo-Jin’s words.

“You knew?”

“Just a bit. I only know that the Red Cardinal is a Master and his name is Vladimir.”

“How do you know about that? The information regarding the Red Cardinal is classified even among the Guardians.”

“I have my ways,” Siegfried replied with a shrug and a smirk.

‘It’s your turn to be curious now, hehe…’?

Siegfried thought while enjoying the dumbstruck look on Cheon Woo-Jin’s face. It was Siegfried’s first time seeing that look on Cheon Woo-Jin’s face.

“Don’t tell me… you ran into the Red Cardinal before?”

“No comment.”

“…”

“Tell me more of what you know if you want me to tell you.”

“Hey… you aren’t taking revenge right now… are you?”

“Think what you want. Anyway, all I have to do is rescue those who got kidnapped, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Why is the Church of Osric abducting people?”

“Any organization will need more manpower once they have grown past a certain point. They will need people for administration, accounting, marketing, or whatever is related to their operations, and the Church of Osric isn’t an exemption. They are bound to run into a talent crunch, and they will need various talents if they want to continue expanding their operation, as well as the business they are operating in secret.”

“So… they decided to abduct people for that…?”

“They abduct them first before brainwashing them, and then they’ll force them to work. That is how the Church of Osric operates. After all, they don’t have any other option aside from abducting and brainwashing people.”

“Figures… There’s no way a sane person will work for a cult like their church.”

“Bingo.”

“When should I depart?”

“Tomorrow morning. You can follow this for the location.” Cheon Woo-Jin handed a map over to Siegfried.

“Is it far?” Siegfried opened and inspected the map.

“What the…? This place is…?” Siegfried grimaced.

“Yeah, it’s your house.” Cheon Woo-Jin nodded.

The place where the Church of Osric kept and brainwashed those they had abducted was none other than Siegfried’s own house, which was the Proatine Province.

***

The next morning…

“Dame Oscar.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I have to go somewhere, so can you handle things here for two to three days?” Siegfried said. He was planning on passing his responsibilities onto the knight before leaving Casein Castle.

“It is not a wise choice to leave me in charge of things, Your Majesty,” Oscar replied, seemingly dissatisfied with his request.

“Come on. There’s nothing much to do anyway. I just want you to stay in my place for a few days.”

“B-But…”

“Then, I’ll leave it to you, Dame Oscar.” Siegfried passed the mountain of documents to her, which was the exact opposite of what he had said just now.

“I’ll get going now!” Siegfried hurriedly left his office.

“Ha… Your Majesty…” Oscar let out a sigh before grumbling, “Your humble servant has no idea how to do these kinds of work…”

The knight who held a sword rather than a pen her entire life lamented at the cruelty of her liege.

***

Siegfried hopped onto a horse and followed the map Cheon Woo-Jin had provided him.

After around an hour, Siegfried looked around after arriving at a forked road in front of a willow tree.

“This seems to be it,” he muttered.

“Did I arrive too early…?”

Siegfried stopped here because this was the rendezvous point of the Quest. The Quest stated that he should head southwest of Casein Castle and wait for reinforcements in front of the willow tree.

After around five minutes, someone shouted and called out to him.

“Hyung-nim!”

“Hmm?” Siegfried looked at the person who called him and muttered, “Seung-Gu…?”

It was none other than the player Siegfried had spared in the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament. Siegfried also paid for the hospital bills of the player’s mother.

“Yes, hyung-nim! It’s me!” Seung-Gu responded enthusiastically.

“Why are you here…?”

“Cheon Woo-Jin, or whatever his name told me that I can meet you if I came here, so I ran as fast as I could!”

“What…? Then are you the reinforcement?” Siegfried muttered in disbelief.

“Aren’t you Level 1 right now…?”

“Cheon Woo-Jin told me that hyung-nim can get rid of the Aura of Self-Destruction for me!”

“Me?”

“I heard you received two vials of the elixir that can get rid of the Aura of Self-Destruction. Is it correct?”

It seemed that Cheon Woo-Jin had lied because Siegfried only received a single vial of the elixir.

“Tsk…” Siegfried clicked his tongue when he realized Cheon Woo-Jin’s intentions.

‘It’s not even his reward to give…’?he grumbled inwardly. It seemed that Cheon Woo-Jin wanted him to give the elixir to Seung-Gu.

‘Is it even worth giving this to him? I don’t really need it, but—’?Siegfried’s train of thought was suddenly interrupted by Seung-Gu.

“Ah, right! That’s not what’s important, hyung-nim!”

“Then, what’s important right now…? No, why are you even calling me hyung-nim?”

“Please receive my gratitude and bow!” Seung-Gu exclaimed. He then got down on the ground and bowed before Siegfried.

“Hey, what are you doing all of a sudden…?”

“I know that hyung-nim was the one who paid for my mother’s surgery! Hyung-nim! Thank you very much! You’re my savior, and I will serve you for the rest of my life!”

“That little rat…” Siegfried grimaced. He had a feeling that he knew the culprit since he was only able to help Seung-Gu thanks to Cheon Woo-Jin’s help.

“R-Rat…?”

“I’m talking to myself.”

“Yes, hyung-nim!” Seung-Gu exclaimed. He bowed toward Siegfried once again and said, “Hyung-nim! You are truly my savior, and I’m not joking when I said that I will serve you for the rest of my life. Please work me like a horse! I’m serious!”

“What horse are you talking about all of a sudden…”

“Please ask me to do anything! I will do everything you ask me to! I will go and get a girl’s number if you ask me to, or I will go and buy bread if you tell me to! I will go and get you Kim Il-Sung’s head if you command me to do so!” Seung-Gu exclaimed passionately.

Siegfried had no idea how this guy planned to get Kim Il-Sung’s head when the latter had already died decades ago.

Meanwhile, Seung-Gu was actually sincere about everything he said just now.

‘Mom lived thanks to him! He’s the benefactor of my entire family, so I have to serve him. I have to serve him without a doubt…’?Seung-Gu thought.

It was only natural that he worshiped Siegfried like a god. After all, Siegfried had saved his mother, whom he loved a lot.

“Hyung-nim! Please let me serve you!” Seung-Gu exclaimed with a smile.

The only thing Siegfried could think of while looking at Seung-Gu was…

‘I think I’m younger than you, though…?’?

He had no idea how old Seung-Gu was, but Seung-Gu’s face seemed like he was in his late thirties, at the very least…

1. Taeguk here refers to Taegukgi, which is the national flag of South Korea. The center of the flag has a circle with a mix of red and blue, which is the reason why the eyes are called Taeguk Eyes.

2. This is a common thing for bullies to ask their victims, especially in school. The bread part is the most common form of bullying in South Korea.