Chapter 29
“Alright then, let’s start the game.”
[Launching Dawn of the Assassins.]
A notification sound chimes.
The world is submerged in darkness.
* * *
Seojun awoke in the marketplace.
“Alright, let’s get going.”
Where to?
To the Assassins’ Guild’s hideout.
“Hey there, try one of these fresh fruits.”
“Hey! Don’t block the road, move! I’m in a hurry.”
“Mister, please buy me just one candy.”
Seojun made his way through the marketplace and headed toward the Sun’s Tavern.
It was a place he’d never visited until after clearing the tutorial and hunting down Matafju, but in the past few days, Seojun had stopped by at least once every day.
-Yeah, no different today
-They’re so shady, I tell ya lol
-They’re freaking terrible at their jobs
“I admit it. They do a godawful job.”
After entering the Sun’s Tavern, Seojun naturally went into the kitchen.
Then he opened a secret passage in the floor and entered.
It was a secret location of the Assassins’ Guild, accessible once you achieved a certain reputation threshold accumulated through assassinations.
“Nameless, why have you come? Do you need a mission?”
-If you take a mission, you can’t get the Fragment of Order, right? You shouldn’t just take missions lol
-For real, I dunno why but those guys who barely killed a Ruler were sobbing
-They barely killed it and it didn’t drop, so they rage-quit lololol
Several options appeared before Seojun.
He selected one of them.
“I want to take care of the Ruler now.”
“Sorry. That’s premature. Our preparations are not yet complete.”
-Here we go again lol
-Feels like they’ll never be ready.
-Honestly, if this were real life, the streamer would be heartless. How do you finish everything in just a few days?
-But this is a game
-You’re not gonna skip the Queen today because of this, are you?
Christina had been giving the same answer for days.
“Well, nothing I can do.”
Seojun nodded.
-No!
-You weren’t like this before
-You’re just gonna listen?
“I’ll just go kill it. Did you think I’d wait?”
He grinned and pulled a sword from his inventory.
It was a sword he’d bought for a fairly high price from the Assassins’ Guild’s exclusive shop.
-lololololol
-That’s our streamer
-Wait, then why didn’t you kill them before?
“Why didn’t I kill them? Just because. You guys asked me to, so I didn’t feel like it.”
In truth, it was because of a contract, but he didn’t say that.
There wasn’t a non-disclosure clause or anything, but they had asked him to keep it secret if possible, so he did.
Seojun was the type to generally honor requests he received.
-What the hell, are you a contrarian tree frog?
“Sigh. Please don’t swear.”
-This streamer does the opposite lol
-A streamer who isn’t swayed by his viewers!
-Stubborn as they come
“Geez. Where else will you find a streamer who communicates as well as I do?”
Leaving behind the countless question marks popping up, Seojun exited the Sun’s Tavern, looked at his map, and headed toward the city center where the palace was.
He was hopeless with machines, but thankfully he wasn’t directionally challenged.
“Alright everyone, now tell me a bit about the palace.”
As he walked, Seojun asked his viewers about in-game information.
As if it were the most natural and obvious thing in the world.
-You’re just leaving it up to us?
-Please do some prep work lol
-Can’t you see it’s all Professor Seojun’s deep intention to make the viewers review?
“Just kidding, I actually looked into it roughly.”
-Oh? What’s this, something’s up?
-Sigh, it’s fun when the streamer gets hit by things he doesn’t know
-And then casually overcoming it is cool
Seojun moved across the rooftops.
This was the most comfortable.
In the distance, he could see the magnificent palace at the city center.
It was the Alberk Palace: front façade 160 meters long, 32 meters high, 4 floors, with 1,015 rooms, 2,038 doors, and 825 windows.
The Queen’s outdoor gallery surrounding the Alberk, the vast lake, and the largest garden in Alteon all came into Seojun’s view.
“…And apparently there are over 1,000 employees working there, and 300 guards called Royal Guards. Also, the windows and all—the user who counted all that is more impressive than the palace itself.”
-For real lol
-They’re amazing in many ways lol
-A time billionaire
-Time Bill Gates lol
Seojun descended from the rooftop of a tall building.
And he walked toward the Alberk.
Sure enough, as he got closer to the palace, there seemed to be more guards around.
While he was chatting idly, a donation message rang out.
[‘Sagijusawi’ has donated 10,000 won!]
[Seojun, do you maybe accept missions?]
Seojun stopped walking and said.
“Sagijusawi, thank you for the donation. What’s the mission content?”
-Streamer’s inner thoughts: Sir, how much have you looked into coming here?
-Can’t resist missions
-A regular guy trait: weak to money
After a brief wait, another donation came in.
[‘Sagijusawi’ has donated 300,000 won!]
[Please sneak in and assassinate the Queen once! I want to see you infiltrating, Seojun!]
-Whoa, 30 at once, damn
-Why does he shoot first and ask later lol
-Just shoot the money first, then the streamer will do the mission.
-But the streamer assassinating? I might want to see that heh
-What are you saying? If you assassinate, what about the Fragment of Order? You shouldn’t take it.
After that, various opinions about the mission came up.
Infiltration and assassination.
It was a playstyle Seojun had never done before.
‘It would be fun to try.’
The donator seemed to be the viewer who had been debating whether to start Dawn of the Assassins just before the game began.
Probably he wanted to see the infiltration play himself.
[‘Sagijusawi’ has donated 100,000 won!]
[Ah, now that I think of it, there’s the Fragment of Order! I’ll cancel the mission. And a refund isn’t necessary.]
-Whoa, big spender.
-Even canceling a mission he shoots 100,000 won.
-Isn’t that the same guy? If it were me, I’d have just bought the game with that money lol
Seojun thought for a moment, then spoke.
“I’m not sure if it’ll work, but let’s try it. Well. I can just infiltrate, and right before the assassination, wake her up.”
Then wouldn’t it just transition into a rampage on its own?
After all, there’s no fundamental difference between waking up from an alarm sounding and an intruder waking you up yourself. “You have to work for what you’ve been given. If it fails, I die and then just go on a rampage.”
-A true streamer
-Who on earth plays like that lol
-Oh! Thank you!
After reading Sagijusawi’s chat, Seojun thought about an assassination method.
As a game with endless ways to assassinate and infiltrate, there were various methods to enter the palace and get close to the Queen.
Primitively, you could sneak past the Royal Guards’ eyes, steal an invitation to a ball, or befriend a noble to receive an invitation to the palace.
What was possible right now.
“Guess I’ll just go in. Since I’ve decided to assassinate, I’ll need to get ahold of the palace’s blueprint.”
Seojun used a signal stone to contact Christina, then went back to the nearest Assassins’ Guild hideout.
This hideout also took the form of a tavern.
Seojun entered the secret place beneath the kitchen floor, then went and sat in front of a hooded man.
“Be careful not to be devoured by chaos. True chaos does not destroy order.”
It was the Assassins’ Guild member in charge of this area.
“Brother, what brings you here? Hehehe.”
[--> Trade goods.]
[--> Have a chat.]
Options appeared.
Choosing the former would allow him to purchase Assassins’ Guild equipment, while the latter would just be useless conversation or browsing.
Seojun chose the former.
“I want to trade goods.”
“Good. Brother, you must have brought plenty of gold, right?”
An interface appeared, and Seojun pressed the blueprint in the category tab.
The Assassins’ Guild had collected blueprints of most buildings in Alteon.
Seojun scrolled down and found the palace blueprint.
“This one is the most expensive.”
To purchase it, he needed either reputation or money.
[Alberk Palace Blueprint]
[700 Assassins’ Guild Reputation] [Exchange]
[3,000 Gold] [Exchange]
The palace blueprint was one of the most expensive items, not just among blueprints but compared to other items as well.
But Seojun had plenty of both.
[Assassins’ Guild Reputation - 3,427]
[Gold Owned - 10,000]
His reputation was high because he had killed three Rulers. Even though Seojun hadn’t taken missions and had received less rewards than normal.
As for money……
-Rich...
-Should I try pickpocketing too?
-In just 30 minutes a day, I can make you able to buy a building. -by Seojun.
Given that the most expensive weapon available in a shop usually cost 1,000 gold, the 10,000 gold Seojun had was a substantial amount.
And this gold wasn’t earned through pickpocketing.
Rather, he’d earned far more through minigame-like elements.
“Alright, stop fabricating things. I’ll buy it with reputation.”
Seojun pressed the Exchange button next to reputation.
“Thank you, Nameless. Come again next time.”
He seemed happy to have sold an expensive item.
Is he an assassin or a merchant?
Seojun gave the NPC a disgruntled look, then stepped outside.
“Alright, let’s go then.”
Seojun approached the Alberk.
A different scene unfolded compared to before.
Because he had obtained the blueprint, the palace layout was displayed like a radar.
“Oh, so there’s an item like this.”
-The streamer finds out this function exists a week into playing the game lol
-How does it feel encountering new tech?
-If you buy the scope, you can also see enemy positions, how about that?
Seojun stopped in front of the palace.
He could see the Royal Guards standing watch.
“Scope? No thanks. Infiltrating, how hard can it be?”
-Lol can you handle that statement?
-Karma stacking on
-Surely you won’t be good at assassinations too
-Plan: get detected a few times, turn evil, and go on a rampage
“Alright, here I go.”
The moment the gaze of a nearby guard turned away, Seojun lightly vaulted over the iron fence.
As soon as he crossed the iron fence, the Queen’s outdoor gallery appeared right before him.
The other side had an open park or a natural moat-like lake, so this was the best choice to approach the palace interior.
Seojun focused on sounds.
Since the Royal Guard, the palace’s royal guards, patrolled all over the Alberk.
Thud, thud.
Seojun moved forward, distancing himself from the source of the sound.
Because he knew the layout, he didn’t get lost.
One more thing to be wary of: the snipers on the Alberk’s rooftop.
Seojun kept as low as possible, left the gallery, climbed the outer wall to the second floor, and caught his breath on a balcony.
“Hmm. This is a bit easy.”
-It’s just the start lol
-Don’t get cocky
The Alberk Palace was a labyrinthine complex of several connected buildings.
This was because it had a history of multiple renovations and expansions.
And since the Queen’s quarters were at the very heart of this maze-like palace, it was not an easy task for a player to approach undetected.
Seojun pressed his ear to a window.
He heard the sound of someone sleeping.
“Not this one.”
Seojun climbed the wall again.
It was to find an empty guest room.
“This one is empty.”
Seojun carefully opened the balcony door and went inside.
-lololololololol
-shh
-This is why assassination is hard
-Even being careful, the sound was too loud.
The viewers were laughing.
Why?
And Seojun immediately realized why.
“What? What’s that sound?”
A man’s voice came from behind the guest room door.
He’d been caught by a Royal Guard.
Clack.
He heard the door handle turning from the other side.
-Get under the bed
-Go into the wardrobe
-Yeah, even if you do all that, you’ll get caught. You think palace assassination is a joke?
-It’s already on alert. The NPCs here go alert at the slightest sound.
The alert state is a common system in stealth games.
It’s a system where NPCs react when a player makes a presence; the NPC will roam around until it finds the source of the sound.
And the palace NPCs will sound an alarm if they can’t find the cause after some time.
If that happens, it’s a failure.
Seojun glanced at the chat and instantly assessed the situation.
If he hid like this, he’d be caught, and he couldn’t run.
‘The difficulty is high, as expected.’
In that case.
Creeeak.
-Caught
-First failure?
-Thought assassination was a joke, huh?
At the very instant the door opened, Seojun pulled out a dagger from his inventory.
And before the door fully opened, he pinpointed the Royal Guard’s location.
It was a speed close to instinct.
And when the door was halfway open, he threw the dagger.
Uk.
With a short death rattle, the Royal Guard collapsed.
“What, this works. Assassination is easy too.”
Seojun let out a chuckle as if he hadn’t been tense at all.
-Just thinking to throw a dagger at that moment is amazing, seriously lol
-There he goes with the rampage again
-Stop killing and infiltrate quietly lololol
-Is this assassination?!
In Dawn of the Assassins, there is something called an ambush check.
It’s a system where if an NPC is hit in a vital spot before confirming the enemy’s presence, they die in one hit.
This is also a common system in assassination games.
The important thing is that the Royal Guard died in one hit.
What this means is.
“But they didn’t see me, right?”
-Argh lololol
-But it was fast lol
-If an ambush check happened, it is indeed assassination lol
-True, if the enemy doesn’t know, how is it a rampage? It’s an assassination
-Ah lol, if an NPC goes alert, you just hit their vitals before they see you
-Info) Surprisingly, assassinating enemies while infiltrating is a normal playstyle.
-But that’s not a normal assassination, lol