Surviving the Game As a Barbarian [EN]: Chapter 700

Well, it’s not that it doesn’t matter. It’s just that I know how things end for those who give in to kidnappers’ demands. These bastards are never satisfied.

If you give them an inch, they want a mile. That’s why…….

“BAEKHO—RAAAAAAAA!!”

There’s only one way to deal with these bastards. Thwack-!!!! I headbutt him with all my might, not backing down as I stare him down.

“You think someone with a lot to lose can’t win?”

No way. This guy is seriously misunderstanding something…….

“I’ve never won even once from the start.”

“……”

“Without losing something.”

I am Hansoo Lee, and I am Bjorn Yandel. A player, and at the same time, a warrior fighting for survival.

In the labyrinth, my role is to protect my comrades with a shield, so I never ran away from any situation.

Because the paths I’ve walked have taught me that you can’t protect anything by running away.

“……”

I shoved Baekho Lee, who was looking up at me with a somewhat jaded expression, and continued to speak.

“Baekho Lee, if I lose something, you will lose something too.”

And just so you know in advance.

“Don’t think you have nothing to lose.”

“……”

“Because I’m going to take away the one thing you desire most. No matter what it takes.”

Baekho Lee didn’t say a word while I was talking. He just looked up at me as if gauging whether my resolve was genuine.

And I was the same. I didn’t utter a single word like, ‘Why do you think I can’t?’ and just silently glared at him.

This was also a game of chicken. In a situation where each side could destroy the other, it was a test of who had more guts. It didn’t take long to see the result.

Baekho Lee is more rational than I am, after all.

“……So, what do we have to do?”

Baekho Lee asked in a defeated voice, as the situation wasn’t going his way.

“Do you want a settlement? Or blood? If you really want, I can give you a healer or a tank, but not that old man. If you want him, I have no choice but to go all the way.”

Yeah, he can’t give up the Old Man of Destruction no matter what…….

“Ah! And don’t even mention neutering!”

That little punk, his mouth is still running till the end. Looking at Baekho Lee, who had taken a step back, I pondered for a moment what to do, and it didn’t take long to come up with an answer.

“I’m not the one making the offer.”

“……?”

“The one who’s asking should be the one making the offer. On their knees.”

At my words, Baekho Lee gritted his teeth as if his pride was hurt. But perhaps he judged that it was better to follow my words when thinking rationally?

“I… am… sorry… for… threatening… the Baron… like that.”

Baekho Lee gritted his teeth and continued to speak, as if forcing out words that wouldn’t come out.

“If… you… would… overlook… my mistake… just this once… I… will… repay… your forgiveness… handsomely……”

A voice as awkward as a child who has never apologized before. I held back a snort of laughter at the absurdity and first smacked the back of his head with my palm. Thwack-!

“Hey! I apologized, so why are you hitting me! Are you saying you won’t accept my apology?”

Look at him, turning the tables.

“It’s not that, it’s just because.”

“……Huh?”

“I just felt like it.”

Ugh, that was refreshing.

It’s more than just a feeling, it’s new. Looking at that sullen face, the past grievances flashed through my mind like a slideshow.

[Hmm, that’s strange. Even if you’ve made a name for yourself, it doesn’t seem like you’d be of interest to the GM [Game Master].]

[If you don’t answer, I’ll kill that cat-person?][You’ve suddenly become very kind?]

Starting from when he didn’t know I was ‘Hansoo Lee’.

[I’m sorry, but I still can’t give you back the kitty.][Did you go deaf from living as a barbarian?][Don’t pretend to be the only normal one. It’s disgusting.]

Even the times when he shamelessly talked trash after knowing the truth.

All those events unfolded in my head like a panorama, and an indescribable thrill washed over my entire body.

‘To receive an apology from this guy…….’

Of course, it’s an apology that isn’t mixed with sincerity… but where is it common to receive a sincere apology in the first place? For me, this is enough.

‘Sincerity’ doesn’t put food on the table, after all.

“Then… we’re done here……?”

Soon, Baekho Lee looked at me with a glance, like a dog that had done something wrong. Well, the answer I had to give was already decided.

I thought it was right to take a hard line, even at the cost of ‘losing something’, rather than being swayed by Baekho Lee every time.

It’s not like I would want to go all the way with Baekho Lee either.

“Actually, what did I do so wrong? I was just going to ask a few things……”

There are no winners at the end of that. There will only be losers who survived in hell. ‘But still, this guy backed down first today…….’

It’s not a good decision to be greedy and pressure him further. There’s only one thing I need to do now.

“And the whole thing started because of the Baron, right? If you hadn’t been doing something suspicious with that old man inside and came out late in the first place—”

“Enough with the nonsense.”

I cut off Baekho Lee, who had started his habitual blame game, and spoke firmly.

“Whether we end it here or not, I’ll decide after confirming what that ‘repayment’ you said you’d give handsomely is.”

In short, don’t think about brushing it off, and give me a settlement that satisfies me.

“How much do you want? Ah, can I pay in kind too? I don’t carry much cash.”

Baekho Lee sighed and said, but I didn’t answer. After all, the one who is in a hurry should make the first offer, right?

“……”

As I stared at him with my mouth shut, Baekho Lee cautiously made an offer first.

“…How about 200 million stones per person?”

Does this punk still want to save money even in this situation?

“300 million stones per person.”

I said firmly, as if it was out of the question, and Baekho Lee sighed again as if the ground was about to collapse and nodded.

“Okay. 300 million stones.”

“Ah, you and that old man are 700 million stones.”

I said, pointing at the Old Man of Destruction, and Baekho Lee flared up as if it was absurd.

“……What? No, why?”

Is he really asking because he doesn’t know the reason?

“Not killing him here is a huge concession on our part.”

“……”

“If you don’t have enough money, give up those two instead. I have no intention of compromising on this part, no matter what.”

I spoke as if I was giving him a notice, leaving no room for negotiation, and Baekho Lee couldn’t say anything else.

He just glanced at Erwen behind him, and then nodded weakly as if he had understood.

“Okay. I’ll pay. 2 billion stones.”

“Then the talk is over.”

“Old man! I’ll pay half, so you pay the other half! You can do that much, right?”

“What rights does a member have when the leader is a loser? Do as you please.”

“Ah, did I really want to do this?”

Baekho Lee, who doesn’t seem to have any intention of taking responsibility for the current situation as a leader. His conversation with the Old Man of Destruction was also a sight to behold, but the ‘real’ thing was still to come.

“Oh, and you two pay for your own lives?”

“……W-what do you mean? Baekho?”

Aures, who had sacrificed an arm for Baekho Lee’s orders, asked back in a voice filled with betrayal, but Baekho Lee’s shamelessness was the best in the world.

“Then what? Should I pay? You’re all adults, right? You have to take care of your own lives, right?”

“……”

“Huh? And if you have a brain, think a little. I’m in a position where I can run away right now if I want to abandon you all, you know?”

“……”

Baekho Lee is using a miraculous logic that even I, who is watching, am speechless. I couldn’t even imagine how Jaina and Aures, who had put such a guy as their leader, must feel.

But perhaps it was a familiar situation for those two.

“…It’s okay. I should know what to expect. I’ll pay for mine. I don’t want to owe that human anything.”

“…T-then I will pay for mine as well.”

The two of them just accepted it without saying much, with a resigned look. After the coordination of opinions among the group was over, they began to receive the settlement money in earnest, and in this process, they received a lot of help from Bersil and the GM.

“No, how is an ogre leather armor worth 20 million stones! Even if you put it up for sale at a discount on the exchange, it would sell for 40 million!”

“We set the price including the exchange fee and the cost of waiting for it to be sold.”

“What? Are you kidding me? How much is the cost of waiting!”

Bersil and the GM lowballed the items that were paid as settlement money, and if Baekho Lee protested, they immediately called me.

“Um… Captain?”

“Baron, you came at the right time. You also think it’s ridiculous, right? How can an ogre leather armor be—”

“If you don’t like our pricing, you can sell it yourself later, and pay in cash today.”

“……”

“If you can’t pay in cash, just keep quiet.”

“Ah, no wonder you only raised it by 100 million stones when I asked for 200 million……”

Baekho Lee grumbled, finally realizing the real reason why I didn’t raise the price further. However, after realizing that the lowballing was also included in the price, he didn’t complain anymore.

‘……It’s quite a lot.’

After the settlement was completed and the final tally was made. ‘700 million stones in cash.’

Surprisingly, a lot of cash came in.

They realized that even if they put out items, they would be appraised at a low price, so they gathered all the cash they had…….

‘400 million stones worth of monster byproducts.’

Even in the case of byproducts, it’s 400 million in name only, but if they are all sold at market price slowly, they could make up to twice as much profit.

Of course, the real income is separate. ‘900 million stones worth of equipment.’

Of course, in the case of equipment, it was impossible to lowball it as much as byproducts. However, there are things that exist in the world.

Rare equipment that cannot be obtained simply by having money.

‘No. 696 Raindris’s Imperial Palace.’

This one seems like it can be given to Erwen, who was using any bow after returning the ‘Divine Tree Bow’ to the fairy clan.

‘No. 989 Orb of Circulation.’

This one, which greatly increases the resource recovery speed when not injured, seems like it would be good for Bersil, who is a mage.

Actually, it’s an item that has the highest efficiency when a priest wears it, but there isn’t a single priest in our clan.

This can be given to them later when the recruitment of a priest is over.

‘No. 1001 Alonso’s Travel Bag.’

Actually, this was the most unexpected for me. Even though the number is lower than the equipment before, it can be said that this is more rare.

“A bag? It’s small enough to hang on a belt. Is it like a subspace bag?”

“No, this is a charm-type item.”

There are times when people get confused because it’s a bag-shaped equipment, but Alonso’s Travel Bag is a charm. To be exact, it’s a part that was marked with the English name ‘Charm’ in the game.

“If it’s a charm… is it like No. 9999 Beginner’s Luck?”

“Yes.”

For reference, Ainar is the only one in our clan who owns a charm-type item.

It’s a charm that increases the probability of getting essence from the first monster you hunt, and it’s a bound item, so it’s impossible to take it off or wear something else forever.

Unlike No. 1001 Alonso’s Travel Bag.

“Then what is the effect of this? To be honest, I have no idea……”

It was Amelia who answered Bersil’s question.

“I know that it increases the probability of not being attacked by monsters, and allows you to obtain additional magic stones when a monster dies within the radius.”

Surprisingly, she’s a doctor when it comes to items. You know how some kids can rattle off dinosaur names that are hard to pronounce? It’s exactly that kind of feeling.

However, as an expert in [Dungeon & Stone], let me add a little to the explanation…….

‘Rather than reducing the probability of being attacked, it lowers the threat level itself.’

Therefore, I, as a tank, can never wear this charm. Moreover, the decreasing value is not a fixed value, but a percentage.

‘The threat level was reduced by about 40%, I think?’

Anyway, we got an item that is good to have at least one in the team.

Regardless of the threat level, additional magic stones will be dropped every time we catch a monster in the labyrinth from now on.

‘It’s like the magic stone income has permanently increased by 1.5 times.’

I’ll think about who to give this to later, but for now, it seems better to give it to Auyen, who is the weakest.

“Okay, is that it? Is today’s mistake over with this? With no hard feelings?”

“Of course.”

“Ha… I really don’t know how it ended up like this…… Then we’ll be going now?”

As soon as the settlement was over, I hurriedly grabbed them as they were about to leave, and Baekho Lee made a face as if asking what the problem was.

“Why? Wasn’t our business over?”

“Still, I can ask, can’t I?”

“I don’t know either. The original plan was to fix that magic circle and go back to the city…… What can we do? There’s nothing we can do even if we go back now anyway.”

Strictly speaking, if they try to carry out the ‘original plan’, it’s clear that the old man will try to ‘dispose’ of this guy, but that’s not important, so let’s put it aside.

“So, where are you going?”

“Anywhere. We can’t just walk around here with the Baron, laughing and having fun, right?”

Well, I was actually considering that too. Isn’t that right?

[The evil spirit from another world ‘————’ lost three companions and finally realized the path he had to take.]

If I make these guys my companions and take them with me, I might be able to offer them as sacrifices. But…….

“So don’t catch us. No matter what you say, there’s no way we’ll be walking around with the Baron.”

That guy, whose pride is hurt to the core, doesn’t seem like he’ll walk around with me…….

‘Okay, I’ll give up on this cleanly.’

I didn’t think it would go well in the first place. From the start, I don’t think I’ll ever consider these guys as true ‘companions’ in any situation…….

Because it will lose its meaning if I consider them as true ‘companions’.

“Ptoo! Then we’ll be going.”