CH 262

Chae Hyung-Seok despised Siegfried with all of his heart that he failed to control himself and threw a punch, but…

Chwak!

A loud noise echoed as Chae Hyung-Seok was slapped across the face.

Siegfried blocked the punch and slapped Chae Hyung-Seok.

“Huh…?” Chae Hyung-Seok muttered, looking confused and horrified at the same time.

‘This insect… did this insect just slap me? He slapped me?’’

He wanted to punch the insect, but the insect slapped him instead.

Drip!

He could taste his own blood, and he heard his blood hit the floor.

‘This loser… this loser slapped me?’ Chae Hyung-Seok couldn’t believe it.

“You fucking bastard…!”

He snapped and lunged at Siegfried, but…

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

Pukeok!

Siegfried threw him off balance and threw an uppercut.

“Argh!”

Chae Hyung-Seok’s head was flung backward.

“Don’t mess with me,” Siegfried warned. He sneered and jeered, “Why are you even picking a fight with me when you’re too weak to fight? Are you trying to show off that you’re a loser?”

“What? Loser? You fucking bastard!” Chae Hyung-Seok screamed and lunged at him once again.

“Cease that at once!”

“How dare you cause a scene in the imperial palace!”

“You will be executed if you don’t cease at once!”

However, the knights and soldiers guarding the warp rooms tackled Chae Hyung-Seok.

Shwing!

A knight pulled out his sword and pointed it at Chae Hyung-Seok’s neck.

“Calm yourself down, Adventurer.” The knight's voice carried weight and authority. “This is the Imperial Palace where His Imperial Majesty the Emperor resides. A country bumpkin like you can’t do as you pleases here.”

“…”

“Answer me, Adventurer.”

“I will… calm myself down…” Chae Hyung-Seok was forced to respond.

“This will be your first and final warning, Adventurer.”

“Yes, I understand…”

He was forced to submit to the knight.

Top ten guild? Ranker? Pro gamer?

None of those titles mattered in the Palace of Blood, where the most powerful person on the continent—the Emperor of the Marchioni Empire was residing. After all, every single Adventurer was equal in the eyes of the emperor.

“Pfft!” Siegfried laughed and jeered, “Why were you even acting so tough?”

“This bastard…” Chae Hyung-Seok growled.

“Why don’t you try that again? Keke!”

Chae Hyung-Seok could feel his blood pressure skyrocket and a string of warning messages popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: Warning! Warning!]

[Alert: Danger! Your blood pressure has drastically risen too high!]

[Alert: You will be forcefully logged out by the system if your blood pressure goes up any higher!]

His anger reached its peak and even endangered his real body in the VR capsule.

Chae Hyung-Seok’s character turned transparent. It was a phenomenon that often happened whenever a player fell asleep or was suddenly struck by a health complication while playing the game.

“Huh? Are you going downstairs? Hey, it’s been a while since we last met, why don’t we grab a cup of tea or something? Keke!”

“Han… Tae-Sung!” Chae Hyung-Seok screamed.

‘Hold it in…! Suppress it…!’ He mustered near-superhuman mental strength to suppress his anger and prevent himself from being logged out.

Getting logged out from the game was not the problem here. The main issue was that he could suffer another stroke if he failed to control his temper.

He had to hang onto dear life and suppress the rage boiling inside of him so that he wouldn’t be hospitalized again.

“Well, I’ll see you later~ Hopefully~ Keke!” Siegfried snickered as he walked away.

Chae Hyung-Seok was left on the ground trembling in anger while trying his best not to suffer another stroke.

***

[Palace of Blood: Throne Room]

A servant guided Siegfried to the throne room of the continent’s most powerful person.

He knew that the throne room would be luxurious, vast, and grand, but it still exceeded his expectations. Of course, none of the decorations here could compare to his throne, which was the epitome of luxury.

‘Is this what they mean by being overwhelmed by architecture? I wonder how much they spent to build this?’ He couldn’t help but think about money while looking around the throne room, which was no different from a work of art.

“Just you wait… Han Tae-Sung…!” Chae Hyung-Seok growled under his breath after entering the throne room.

Siegfried ignored him and did not retort—no, it was more like he could not retort.

“His Imperial Majesty the Emperor has arrived!”

The chief eunuch announced the arrival of the most powerful person on the continent, Emperor Stuttgart von Posteriore.

“I, Siegfried van Proa, the King of the Proatine Kingdom, greet his Imperial Majesty!”

“I, the Adventurer, Desire, greet His Majesty.”

Siegfried and Chae Hyung-Seok paid their respect to the emperor.

“Thank you both for coming here today, King Siegfried and Adventurer Desire,” Emperor Stuttgart replied. He exchanged pleasantries and small talks with them for a while before going to the main agenda.

“King Siegfried van Proa.”

“Yes, your Imperial Majesty.”

“Is it true that you attacked the guild led by Adventurer Desire?”

“Yes, it is true, sire,” Siegfried easily admitted.

“And what was your reason?”

“Both of us have had deep-rooted animosity against each other for many years now…” Siegfried replied. He proceeded to explain the history between them.

‘You fucking rat, Han Tae-Sung!’ Chae Hyung-Seok fumed. He very much wanted to plug Siegfried’s mouth.

However, he was currently in the presence of the emperor, and he would definitely suffer a lot if he were to make a scene right now. It would be like booking a one-way ticket to hell.

“And that is why I sought vengeance and attacked them first. I hope that your Imperial Majesty’s wisdom will give me your grace on the matter.”

“Hmm… Is it true?” Emperor Stuttgart asked Chae Hyung-Seok.

‘What should I do…? Do I deny it or do I acknowledge it…?’ Chae Hyung-Seok was conflicted for a second, but he decided to tell the truth, as it was going to be all over for him if the emperor caught him lying.

“Yes, it is true,” he replied.

“I see… King Siegfried had a casus belli then…” Emperor Stuttgart muttered. He smirked and said, “But I don’t remember you mentioning anything like this the last time you requested an audience with me?”

Chae Hyung-Seok felt a chill down his spine. He started sweating profusely as he hurriedly made an excuse. “I… I thought that all of those things were behind us now, so…!”

“So King Siegfried sought revenge and Adventurer Desire retaliated…”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Your wisdom astounds me, Your Majesty.”

Chae Hyung-Seok and Siegfried replied at the same time with their heads bowed down.

Emperor Stuttgart swept his gaze across them before making his judgment.

“My protection for the Proatine Kingdom was under the condition that they would not commit any unprovoked hostile actions against others. Therefore, it is only right for me to revoke the protection I have bestowed upon the kingdom,” he said.

He then revealed a mischievous smile and said, “However, King Siegfried had a justification for his actions, so I cannot revoke my protection. Instead, I hereby declare that the protection period I have bestowed upon the Proatine Kingdom will be reduced by one year.”

“Your grace… is immeasurable, Your Imperial Majesty…” Siegfried said with his head on the floor.

He was fuming inside, but there was no way he could question the emperor’s judgment. Besides, the fact that only one year out of the three years was taken away was already a huge relief for him.

“And Adventurer Desire.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“I believe that you have realized your mistakes and are reflecting on them. All of this started from your actions, so do you have anything to say about them?”

“No, I do not. However, all I ask is an opportunity to fight Siegfried fair and square! May you please give our guild an exemption—”

“I refuse.”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“I hereby declare that the Genesis Guild led by Adventurer Desire is not allowed to attack the Proatine Kingdom while it is still under my protection. This is the price you have to pay for trampling on King Siegfried while he was weak,” Emperor Stuttgart said.

His expression suddenly turned cold as he added, “Do not test my patience any more than this, Adventurer Desire. I am aware of your sins against the weak and the malice within your heart.”

“P-Please kill me, Your Majesty!” Chae Hyeong-Seok bowed to the ground and begged for mercy. Meanwhile, he was cursing inside, ‘Fuck! Fuck this NPC! This bastard!’

“It is not that I am turning a blind eye to your frustration, Adventurer Desire, so I will show mercy and not punish you this time.”

“Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty…”

“However, I myself think that the atrocities you have committed against King Siegfried in the past have put him through much misery, so…”

“…?”

“I hereby command Adventurer Desire to reimburse King Siegfried with fifty thousand gold.”

“F-Fifty thousand gold?! Your Majesty!”

Chae Hyung-Seok’s face turned pale at the mention of fifty thousand gold. The price of BNW gold was currently fixed at forty US Dollars per gold, so fifty thousand gold converted to Won was…

‘T-Two billion won?!’ Chae Hyung-Seok was mortified.

It was 2.5 billion won, to be exact. It was quite a burdensome figure for Chae Hyung-Seok, as his income had drastically reduced in recent days, and he had already sold all of his supercars.

“I shall not punish you for your attempt to deceive me, but I shall hold you responsible for the mental stress that King Siegfried had suffered due to your actions, the operational cost he had incurred in his quest for vengeance against you, and the cost of losing one year of the protection I had bestowed upon the Proatine Kingdom.”

“B-But Y-Your majesty… Fifty thousand gold is too—”

“You are dismissed,” said Emperor Stuttgart. He waved his hand in dismissal, which was basically telling him to scram. “Discuss the terms and timeline of the payment with King Siegfried. I suppose I don’t have to tell you what’s going to happen if you don’t keep your promise, right?”

“T-Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty…”

Chae Hyung-Seok was forced to respond while crying tears of blood inside. He could have slowly gotten his revenge on Siegfried, but his plan to rush things by getting the emperor involved completely backfired on him.

Chae Hyung-Seok’s body started fading away as he dragged his feet out of the throne room. It was clear that his blood pressure had shot up to greater heights after His Majesty the Emperor had told him that he had to pay a huge sum of gold as compensation.

“King Siegfried.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”

“I hope you will understand why I had to reduce the protection period.”

“I completely understand, Your Majesty.”

“That’s a relief. All right, you must be busy so I won’t keep you any longer. You are dismissed.”

“Your grace is immeasurable, Your Majesty.”

Siegfried stood up and walked away with his head still lowered. However, he had a massive grin on his face as he walked out of the throne room.

***

Siegfried stood in front of 11,271 Warp Room to return to the Proatine Kingdom.

‘It’s a shame that the protection period was reduced, but I still have a year and two months remaining. This is probably the best result in these circumstances.’ He was extremely satisfied with the result of the Three-Way Meeting Quest.

Of course, the best-case scenario was zero reduction of the protection period, but there was no reason for him to complain about it, as he knew that it was unavoidable for formality's sake.

“Han Tae-Sung…” Chae Hyung-Seok’s voice echoed behind him. “I have something to say…”

“Something to say? I don’t have time for your bullshit. I’m busy.” Siegfried grimaced and shooed him away.

“Do you really think that I want to speak with you?”

“Then why are you here if you don’t want to?”

“I have to discuss the compensation issue with you, moron.”

“Oh…”

Siegfried finally remembered that he had to discuss his compensation with Chae Hyung-Seok.

“Hmm… Fifty thousand gold is more than two billion won, so… How much time should I give you? Let’s see~”

“Han Tae-Sung,” Chae Hyung-Seok said.

“What?”

“By any chance…”

“What chance?”

“In… s…”

“What?”

“S… ta… tall…”

“What the hell are you saying?”

“In… s-stall…”

“Speak properly. Are you having a stroke again? Why do you keep on stuttering?” Siegfried grumbled, looking annoyed.

“Can… C-Can I pay… in installments…?”