Chapter 38 : Hidden Piece (6)

A cold energy quietly seeped in from behind.

Tap-tap-tap.

The sound of beastly footsteps.

Something was moving, scratching the ground with long claws.

It was expected to be a quadruped creature.

Just by hearing, I could vaguely predict the approaching enemy.

‘…What now?’

I had come all the way here to gather wood, and now this… I couldn’t help but mutter to myself.

‘For now, hide.’

I quickly lowered my waist and hid my body in the nearby bushes.

Holding my breath, I cautiously shifted my gaze through the leaves.

Then, they appeared.

‘…They look disgusting.’

What appeared in front of me were creatures whose identities I couldn’t figure out.

A gaunt form stretching from the head to the neck.

Eyes glowing red, without pupils, and bizarre hands with long, sharp claws.

Beneath their pale, thin skin, like old paper, their ribs seemed ready to burst out.

It looked like a rabid dog monster.

‘The claws are scary, but it looks weak in terms of stamina.’

Judging by its claws and teeth, its attack power seemed considerable, but its defense looked terrible.

Its chest looked as fragile as paper.

However, these weren’t just one or two of them.

Three, no, five.

The number kept increasing until it stopped at nine.

A total of nine enemies.

Quite a large number.

‘…..?’

But then, their movements were strange.

They didn’t approach beyond a certain distance and moved in a specific pattern, one after the other.

Once the first one passed, the next one slowly moved, and then the next one followed.

It was as if they were patrolling in a set pattern.

‘Are they meant to be taken down one by one?’

Maybe that’s it.

To prevent players from dying all at once, the game developers might have intentionally set up this pattern.

‘Following the developer’s intent is the player’s duty, right?’

One of the monsters got closer to the bush where I was hiding.

Its thin waist came into view.

Though I could hear its threatening breath, I felt a little tense.

But its defense seemed weak.

I could take them down one by one, slowly.

Clink.

I tightly gripped the heavy, clumsy pickaxe.

Although it wasn’t a weapon,for a monster with such weak defense, I could probably kill it with one blow.

‘Haap!’

I mentally gathered my strength,gripped the pickaxe tightly, and accurately struck its torso.

Crack-!

The monster’s body bent and collapsed to the ground.

Immediately, the corpse vanished into smoke.

Grrrk-!

Perhaps it had aggroed, as the second one immediately charged toward me.

The pickaxe was stuck deep in the ground after killing the first monster.

It was dangerous.

But I had predicted this.

I took out a hand axe from my pouch and threw it with all my might.

The axe, flying without rotation, accurately lodged between its eyes.

Ching!

It hit the area between its eyebrows.

The monster staggered and fell.

After retrieving the axe, I hid my body in the surrounding bushes.

Seven left.

Two of my companions had left for America, but the aggro wasn’t drawn.

They were just patrolling mechanically.

I just needed to avoid entering their detection range.

‘Then it’s easy.’

I cautiously approached the remaining monsters.

Puff-!

Puff-!

The pickaxe never missed, and the hand axe always dug into the vital spots.

The monsters’ movements and attacks were sharp, but I could react well enough.

Suppressing even my breath, I precisely slipped through the gaps in their regular patterns.

One, and then another.

Ching!

The pickaxe lodged into the head of the last one to charge at me.

Phew.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

Even though it was just a game, for the developer to implement sweat like this… they must be a pervert, for sure.

Anyway.

All 9 monsters were taken down.

‘It wasn’t as easy as I thought.’

The monster’s claws were more threatening than I expected.

Thanks to avoiding them well, I didn’t get hit, but if I had made one mistake, it wouldn’t have been the monster, but me, who would have died.

A more difficult battle than expected.

“Shall we head back?”

By the way,

I defeated such strong monsters, yet there wasn’t even any experience reward?

It felt a little strange,but complaining wouldn’t bring anything back.

And more importantly, it was the hidden piece reward.

***

“Ah, no…!”

The village chief’s eyes widened when he saw the Baegnyeongmok I handed over.

“You really brought it! You avoided all those monsters? You’re more amazing than you look!”

“Why are you so surprised? You asked me to bring it.”

At my words, the village chief seemed at a loss for words and cleared his throat.

“I’m just saying you did well… Ahem. Do you have any silver ore?”

I pulled out the silver ore that Rydel had given me.

Baegnyeongmok and silver ore.

With these, the quest was practically complete.

“By the way, the silver ore was all over the place as soon as I went outside… Why did you specifically ask me to bring it?”

While Baegnyeongmok could be hard to find, silver ore was something you could easily gather just by stepping outside.

The village chief, looking a bit embarrassed, coughed awkwardly and said,

“Well… I was just too lazy.”

“…What?”

“When you get older, your back hurts, your joints ache, and even going out for a walk becomes hard.”

I was momentarily speechless.

What kind of NPC is this, all lazy and complaining?

No, it almost feels like they nailed the realism perfectly.

“I’ll give you something good, so don’t look at me like that.”

Maybe he sensed the pitiful look in my eyes, the village chief shuffled over to a corner.

He then pulled out an old box from somewhere and started rummaging through it.

It had a somewhat shabby vibe to it.

“This is the reward. It’s an artifact you don’t see often in a small village like this!”

The village chief pulled out a strange mask.

It had a bizarre, smiling face.

The eyes were hollow, and it was a mix of black and silver.

“This is an artifact called the ‘Mask of Deception.’ The moment you wear it, you become someone other than yourself.”

“Are you saying I won’t be me anymore?”

It sounded like some kind of wordplay.

As for its functionality, I’d see it for myself.

[Mask of Deception]

Wearing it will make you appear as an NPC for a limited time.

Allows skipping certain quests.

Can infiltrate enemy lines.

Changes reactions during NPC interactions.

Under certain conditions, ‘Deception’ triggers: can fool hostile NPCs.

‘… This seems interesting.’

Maybe it was because of its strange appearance, but the skill effect was also very unique.

I especially liked the part where it could deceive NPCs.

‘Wait.’

Could I possibly deceive the village chief in front of me right now?

“Just so you know, it doesn’t work on me, so don’t bother trying anything useless.”

It was as if the village chief had read my thoughts, and he shook his head.

It seemed like it couldn’t be used on him.

Then again, since I wasn’t in an adversarial relationship with the village chief, it made sense that it wouldn’t work on him.

‘What if I hit him?’

I thought this while looking at the village chief’s mustache, or more precisely, his philtrum.

For a moment, I wondered if hitting him would make us hostile.

‘No, that’s not right.’

The ‘Deception’ ability, which can deceive NPCs, only activates under certain conditions.

I can’t just use it whenever I want because of a hostile relationship.

I’m not even sure if I can attack the village chief.

Besides, I would have to stay in the beginner’s village for a while.

Wouldn’t I be at a greater disadvantage if I attacked the chief and made enemies?

While I was thinking these pointless thoughts.

[System Notice – Hidden Piece Found]

[『Silverhair』, congratulations on finding the Hidden Piece!]

[By uncovering a secret that no one else could, you have opened a new chapter in the Pixel Wars streamer server!]

[Your achievement will be forever recorded in the history of the Pixel Wars streamer server.]

A short vibration echoed throughout the village, and large text appeared at the top of my field of vision.

So, it really was a hidden piece.

The system announcement made it loud and clear, so I could tell for sure.

But, this wouldn’t just be visible to me, right?

If it’s visible to everyone else too.

“Gasp.”

Before the notification window disappeared, I felt an unfamiliar presence outside the window.

I slowly turned my head.

The sound of footsteps rushing from a distance.

The news that the Hidden Piece had been found was causing other streamers to rush over here.

“There they are!”

“Silverhair is over there!”

They were well-known, big-name streamers.

In other words, people who were obsessed with getting content for their broadcasts.

The first discovery of a Hidden Piece was perfect material for an YouTube video.

As soon as the notification appeared, the streamers were rushing towards me at an incredible speed.

Coincidentally, I was in the village chief’s house—right in the center of the beginner’s village.

The streamers nearby could easily find me in no time.

The streamers were rushing towards me like hungry barbarians.

‘…This is so overwhelming.’

For the sake of broadcast material, or YouTube content, the streamers were rushing at me with madness in their eyes.

Without thinking, my hand went to the game’s exit button.

It was scarier than a horror game.

[Do you want to quit the game?]

[Yes]

Everything around me became quiet.

Almost reflexively, I disconnected.

I felt calmer.

‘I should talk to Hayun later.’

Maybe it was because my personality had become more introverted, but once I got close to someone, talking to them was easy.

But when a huge crowd rushes like that, it’s really overwhelming.

Now that I think about it, if normal people were in a situation like that with such crazy people rushing at them, they’d probably get scared and run away too.

‘Well, I could also get some broadcast content for Hayun’s stream.’

When I appear on a broadcast, Rydel is generously sharing big donations with me.

In fact, the share she gives me is even larger than her own.

She’s giving away so much, so I wanted to give her a broadcast-worthy moment to grab people’s attention.

Whether for practicality or loyalty, it was better to help Rydel, who I owed a lot to.

‘I can’t call her right now.’

However, Rydel seemed very tired.

I heard she’d been doing Hidden Runs all week.

She said she was going to bed and logged off, so if I tried to contact her now, she would definitely be in dreamland.

‘I’ll contact her later when she’s online again.’

***

“…That’s how it went.”

Yoo Seoyeon’s story came to an end.

In the end, she had been waiting for Rydel to log in.

“Wow, I’m amazed by this in real time, haha.”

“Seriously, what was that monster? lol”

“Village chief is so lazy lol.”

“Still, Silverhair’s loyal, huh…”

“Loyalty goes to Silverhair noona.”

The viewers were impressed after hearing the grand epic.

However, Rydel slightly furrowed her brows.

‘Something’s off.’