That day, the Taker had a dream.
What kind of dream, you ask? A nightmare of being chased by an evil witch who commanded a Dragon as her minion.
– “Huff, huff… don’t follow me!”
– “Heeheehee!”
The wicked witch, with her silver hair flowing like a banner of evil, pursued the Taker.
Riding atop a Dragon that breathed flames hotter than lava, she cackled menacingly.
– “Hahaha! Where are you going, Taker?”
Of course, that witch was Kayak, the number one pain in the neck for the Taker these days, haunting him even in his dreams.
“Wait, a dream?”
Suddenly realizing that he had been running in circles to escape the witch, he noticed he wasn’t as out of breath as he should be. His knees, legs, and thigh muscles weren’t screaming in agony.
Something was clearly off. The Taker wasn’t this fit normally.
With remarkable insight, the Taker figured out that the current situation was a dream.
– “What the heck is this ridiculous dream….”
He tried to snap out of it, squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again, even shaking his head vigorously. But—
– “Taker, dream? What do you mean by that?”
– “Aaaagh!”
Strangely enough, he couldn’t wake up from this dream.
– “You’re going to be here with me forever. Forget all the headaches of reality….”
– “Ack, stop it!”
How much the Taker flailed and struggled in Kayak’s grasp, one could only imagine.
Eventually, he noticed the surroundings had gone quiet.
“Uh….”
“Are you awake?”
Coming to his senses and sitting up, he saw a familiar scene.
The monitoring room with the manager and the staff gathered around. A kind of workspace where computers were clustered together.
They were monitoring other streamers connected to the Taker server. Keeping an eye out for any unusual happenings, ready to rush over if someone needed the operations team.
“Ugh….”
The Taker clutched his throbbing head and tried to piece together his memories. Right, he had dozed off while monitoring like the staff.
He checked the clock, realizing he had only been asleep for about 30 minutes.
‘It felt like I was chased for hours in that dream….’
Whether to laugh or cry at the fact that time hadn’t passed as much in reality.
“Phew, what a sweat… did you have a nightmare?”
“It was such a terrible nightmare…”
“Oh dear, would you like to rest a bit more?”
Wiping the sweat off, Taker cleared his mind and opened his eyes wide.
“No, no, everyone’s busy working, I can’t just rest. Dohyun, you should get back to work too.”
“Uh, Boss, that’s…”
However, Taker’s manager seemed to have something to say and didn’t leave his spot.
“What’s up, do you have something to say?”
“There’s something you need to see.”
The manager led Taker to the screen with a serious face.
In the monitoring room filled with numerous computers, on the monitor the manager brought up…
“Looks like it finally went to the Dragon after all. But since there’s no password, they can’t just barge in—”
Taker couldn’t finish his sentence. On the screen, Kayak and her group were safely entering the Dragon’s lair by inputting a code in ancient language.
Taker gasped and began to mumble while trembling.
“W-what…?”
“Well… Kayak brought An-sae to—”
The manager’s brief explanation continued, but it didn’t register in Taker’s ears.
It was bound to be something crazy that Kayak pulled off again. Surely, she had done something outrageous to decode the password.
Surprisingly, that was correct. The idea to use An-sae came from Kayak’s mind.
“What should we do, Boss? I didn’t expect old Hemet to fall so easily…”
“Leave it be. There’s nothing we can do. All we can do is watch like we are now…”
-Hehe, Dragon, wait for me! I’m coming!
On the screen, Kayak smiled happily. Her unique beauty made it an irresistible scene for anyone watching.
“Ugh.”
Taker shuddered involuntarily as he saw that face and heard that laughter.
It seemed the nightmare wasn’t over just yet.
*
“Good job, An-sae!”
“Hehe, did I do well…?”
“Of course, it’s Kayak! To think of using An-sae to distract Old Hemet!”
[Poor Old Hemetㅠㅠ]
[He just liked An-sae, who is so nice and good at her job….]
[Looks like a scammer preying on a warm-hearted old man lol]
[The Broadcast Host is such a bad person.]
[But it’s just an NPC lol don’t get too involved.]
[Old Hemet is not just an NPC! He was a real adventure who fought dragons back in the day!]
“Old Man Met isn’t some NPC! He’s a real adventurer who fought dragons back in the day!”
“Yeah, I kinda like the old guy.”
“No matter how realistically modeled he is, at the core he’s still AI.”
“There’s bound to be some gaps. I took advantage of those gaps using An-sae.”
“[The King of Casinos Level 37 Rogue Kayak has contributed 10,000 won!]”
“Even if he was human, I think there’d still be some gaps, Teacher.”
“Anyway, An-sae, Kapu, and I successfully entered the dragon’s lair.”
“An-sae, who played a significant role in getting us here, had to leave us behind and head back to the casino.”
“‘I’m counting on you for the casino…!’”
“‘If you come too late, there might not be a spot for you.’”
“What the…”
“[He comes running immediately when we mention the casino]”
“[An-sae’s a loyal hero]”
“[Let’s just have An-sae join us to catch the dragon; forget about the casino]”
“[Aww, An-sae has to go back to work, lol]”
“[An-sae’s practically the boss, haha…]”
And so, An-sae left, leaving just Kapu and me behind.
“Um, Kayak, are we just the two of us going to catch the dragon?”
“Hmm… for now, that’s the plan. Are you scared, Kapu?”
“Yes, I originally wanted to just look for the dragon’s nest with you, not to actually catch one, you know?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, my battle level is super low. It’s only 44, you know?”
“[At least that’s higher than the Broadcast Host, lol]”
“[Are we really going to catch a dragon with a battle level of 37?]”
“[Only 44?]”
“[Looks like Kapu didn’t train much for battle…]”
“[Why don’t we just hang out instead of trying to catch a dragon? It’s more fun.]”
“[We need to catch it now; if we waste time leveling up in dungeons, someone else will snatch the dragon away.]”
“[It’s one thing if we haven’t found the nest yet, but right now the location is already spreading to other players, so we definitely can’t wait.]”
The Taker said the appropriate level is over 90. It definitely made sense.
Listening to the dragon’s roars while waiting in front of the lair made it clear something was off.
The pressure was incredibly intense; it really deserved to be called the final boss of the server.
With Kapu not having proper equipment in front of such a dragon, they’d be torn to shreds like paper. I nodded slightly.
“Well, it can’t be helped. Kapu, you should head back.”
“No! I’ll stay here and support you, Kayak! So, does that mean you’re going solo?”
“I guess so? I’m not sure if I can do it… um?”
I don’t know, but… um?”
Rustle—
At that moment.
Strange figures started to appear from the shaking grass in front of the nest.
“Ah, hello!”
“We heard there’s a dragon here, so we came.”
“I’m actually Hemet’s honorary grandson. Please give us back my grandfather’s treasure map.”
‘A guild, huh.’
There were easily over ten people, all decked out in flashy armor and weapons just like me.
“Ah! You are…! The Hana Guild! How did you find this place!”
“Uh, Hemet grandfather told us.”
“That’s right, ahem.”
[Yeah, the location was already leaked as soon as it was broadcasted.]
[Mentioning the old man Hemet is just annoying, lol.]
[There’s no way this doesn’t leak.]
[But you can’t just crash the broadcast.]
[The cuckoos have been spreading the rumors everywhere, yeah.]
Finding the dragon’s nest took some effort as well. But to think they’d come here to leech off me right after I find it…
To be honest, it was almost rude, but I didn’t really feel like getting upset. I would have done the same if someone else had found the nest first.
“I heard, Lady Kayak, that you don’t have a party.”
“That’s right.”
“Why not raid with us? We’ll let you join specially!”
Well, I wasn’t sure if they could keep up with our tempo at their level.
The man in the front holding a spear, looking like the leader, said that.
But this remark was a little too much for me to handle.
“To let me join…”
[This guy’s a bit annoying.]
[Nope, Camilla can solo dragons.]
[Acting tough after stealing the nest, lol.]
[Even if you let me in, it’s still the broadcast host letting you in, you know.]
I equipped the sword I had in my inventory and stood up.
“I’ll propose the opposite; I’ll let you join my raid.”
“Huh? Aha, well, that’s basically the same. Good, then let’s take down the dragon—”
“However.”
I pushed the approaching man away with my sword.
“I’ll only let those who can withstand a fight with me join the party.”
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