Black Magician

As soon as I got out of the dungeon, I immediately realized that this dungeon wasn’t over yet.

The reason is simple. There aren’t any users around.

Even though LORE might have become a different reality, LORE is still a game.

If there are any inconveniences or problems in playing, there will be some adjustments.

That’s why if there’s an important story, you’ll be in the same world but on a different server as other users.

And when that situation ends, the ended situation is applied to the LORE server.

In a situation where there were no users, Kang Han-gil gripped the handle of his greatsword tightly and stomped heavily towards the village chief.

Kwaang!

,Eueueueo? Mo, adventurers-nim? What brings you here so suddenly-“

Peok!

Kang Han-gil grabbed the village chief’s neck with the hand that wasn’t holding the greatsword and lifted him up.

,Keoheok!”

None of the party members stopped Kang Han-gil’s actions.

,Dae, daeche mu, what keok!”

,Tell me everything that’s happening in this village right now, without missing a single detail. The moment you lie even a little bit, I’ll kill you right then and there.”

,Ne? Ne!? Mu, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Kwaang!

Kang Han-gil’s greatsword was embedded next to the village chief’s head. Only then did the village chief realize that this wasn’t just a show, but was filled with sincerity.

==

‘Uncle’s coming on strong today?’

It was the first time I’d seen Kang Han-gil Ahjussi get so angry.

As Korea’s top streamer, his mental fortitude is truly like Buddha. The only time I’ve seen Kang Han-gil Ahjussi get angry was when he thought I was dead last time, and he got mad at me.

For Ahjussi to get that angry.

But he has every right to be that angry.

That village chief had been selling his own villagers all along.

He sold the futures of people who went to big cities dreaming of a future. Not just any future, but a future to live.

,Sa, save me! Jeo, I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Only when he felt like he was really going to die did the village chief start crying, snotting, and drooling, begging to be saved.

,I told you earlier. Tell me everything that’s happening here, without missing a single detail.”

,I, I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything without missing a single thing! I’ll tell you everything without missing a single thing. I’ll tell you everything without missing a single-“

Something’s wrong with the village chief.

He started repeating words abnormally, like a broken robot, and his body began to swell.

,Ahjussi!!!”

,Shit-“

,Divine Blessing!!!”

The moment Ahjussi saw it, he instinctively knew he would explode and die, so he immediately activated his survival skill, completely blocking the space between us and the village chief, and Pinku Berry cast a shield skill.

Kwaaaaaaaang!!!

==

,Is everyone okay!?”

,I’m okay.”

,No problem.”

‘What was that just now?’

The moment the village chief exploded and died, I saw something.

But it was only for a split second, and it was hard to figure out exactly what it was, but before the village chief’s body turned into particles, something definitely came out of the chief’s body and became particles with it.

LORE is rated for 15-year-olds, so there’s absolutely no blood, of course, and when an attack hits the body, instead of blood, a red effect appears where the attack landed.

So, even if the body is cut, there aren’t things like blood, bones, or muscles inside, but only a clean cross-section.

But when the village chief exploded and turned into particles, something round exploded with him.

,Damn it. What the hell is really going on in the LORE world.”

,I know, right? I didn’t even know that the newbie village NPCs were changing, and to think that the reason they were changing was because the village chief was selling them.”

[I haven’t really been interested in the newbie village since LORE updated, but I didn’t know things like this were happening behind the scenes. It’s so scary.]

,Hoo… Damn it.”

,Ahjussi. Let’s rewatch Ahjussi’s broadcast.”

It seems like we need to watch Ahjussi’s broadcast, who was closer to the village chief, rather than Yesol’s broadcast.

,Alright.”

I set it to the slowest speed possible and watched the scene where the village chief died, and found something round.

,Wait a minute, this color.”

[It’s a yellow sphere. That means this incident is related to the 2nd World.]

,No way. This incident is related to the 2nd World?”

,This situation is getting interesting.”

Until now, I thought that the overall story of LORE was that the managers of the 1st to 4th Worlds would join forces to prevent our Disnieo Nuna from invading this merged world.

But the situation is turning out strangely.

The current situation of kidnapping NPCs from the newbie village and absorbing their life force, taking their lives, is the work of Miko, the manager of the 2nd World.

The reason I can know this is because of the color.

The way to distinguish forces in LORE is by color.

Each manager has a different color when using their power.

Just like Disnieo Nuna uses black mana, other managers also have their own unique colors.

And yellow is the color of Miko, the manager of the 2nd World, who is a beastkin with a cute appearance.

‘Well, absolute good, absolute evil. That’s not fun.’

==

The incident in a newbie village caused by the 2nd World manager, which came out on the broadcasts of Kang Han-gil, the most famous LORE streamer in Korea besides Arang, and Yesol, who has now become world-famous as a Munchkin cat-exclusive broadcaster, spread quickly.

Miko, the manager of the 2nd World who was in charge of the entire Asian server.

She is a manager loved by many users for her cute appearance as a cat beastkin.

The fact that Miko did such a thing in the newbie village, which all users loved, shocked not only the users belonging to the 2nd World but also the users of other worlds.

In particular, the impact of Luna’s death, who was called the flower girl, was considerable.

If you play LORE, you can’t help but meet Luna at least once.

Luna’s smile, who always handed out flowers on the streets of the village, made any user like Luna.

She was even called the trademark of the newbie village.

The scene of Luna crying and begging for help, begging to be saved, crawling out of the sea urchin boss was shocking in itself.

A user who is a shrine maiden of the 2nd World asked Miko directly what happened.

,My lovely shrine maiden. There’s no way I would do such a thingnyang. This is all Disnieo’s scheme-nyang.”

She only said things in this nuance.

In fact, it was impossible to prove that Miko did it with just one mana color. In the first place, she’s a manager, so what difference does it make to prove it?

But all users realized that the current situation in the LORE world is not just about preventing Disnieo’s invasion.

==

[LORE Gallery]

[Newbie Village Situation]

But I was thinking while watching this on the broadcast, isn’t this the work of black magicians?

Thanks to Arang, the black magician job was created, but black magic is originally forbidden magic in the LORE worldview.

Black magic that consumes one’s own or another’s life force.

Altars that hang NPCs like butchered meat and absorb their life force.

Isn’t that what black magicians did?

Does that mean that Miko, the manager of the 2nd World, is controlling the black magicians?

Was Miko the mastermind from the beginning, not Disnieo?

[Comments]

-Shibal, really?

-Wow, now that I think about it, why didn’t I think of that? It’s exactly the kind of thing black magicians would do.

ㄴThe problem is that Miko is behind it

ㄴDidn’t Miko say that Disnieo did it?

ㄴDo you believe that?

ㄴNo, then is there any evidence that Disnieo didn’t do it?

ㄴIn the first place, neither of them can prove it

-In the first place, the black magician skills and effects all looked ominous.

-This is a scene that shows why black magic is forbidden magic in the LORE world

ㄴReal, it was a fucking terrifying scene just to look at

-I’m fucking curious about how the LORE world will unfold

==

The next day.

Yesol and I went to see Wina, who had learned black magic.

,Arang-nim, welcome.”

The reason we came to Wina was to find out if black magicians were involved in this newbie village incident.

Since LORE’s major patch, the stories and quests have been different for each user, so there are a lot of really interesting things posted on the gallery.

So, I started looking at the LORE gallery on my phone whenever I had time at school.

I used to watch it a lot, but these days I just watch the gallery without watching RyuTube.

Today, while looking at the gallery, I saw a post saying that this newbie village incident might be related to black magicians? and I thought it was a reasonable thing to say.

,Wina. Do you know any other black magicians besides you?”

,Other black magicians? I don’t know the details, but I know that there is a force made up of black magicians.”

,A black magician force?”

,Yes, when I couldn’t settle down, a black magician who seemed to be from a black magician force came and asked if I would join their force. At that time, I didn’t trust anyone, so I refused.”

,Then can you tell me the place where you met?”

,I understand.”

==

,It’s completely empty.”

As Yesol said, looking around, it’s just an empty field.

,I know, right? It’s just an empty, completely empty field.”

At least there’s a road next to it where carriages or people occasionally pass by, but there’s nothing around, so it’s hard to think that there’s anything here.

While I was wondering how to lure the black magicians here, I came up with a great idea.

,We need bait.”

,Bait?”

,Yeah. Black magicians want to put black magicians in their forces, but they want to consume other people’s life force rather than consuming their own, right?”

,That’s right?”

,If there’s a defenseless person passing by, what would black magicians do?”

,Wouldn’t they kidnap them?”

,That’s right! That’s it!”

I immediately took out a box from my inventory. It’s a small box for a person to enter, but if I don’t have arms and legs, it’s big enough for me to fit in.

,A, Arang-a?”

I carefully put the box down next to the road and slipped inside.

Defenseless person = person without arms and legs.

Perfect bait.

A cute girl is in a box without arms and legs?

There’s no way they wouldn’t kidnap her.

,Yesol Unnie. Yesol Unnie, hide. Okay?”