The God of Liar

Seojin arrived at the northern gate of the town, which was full of players looking to form a party.

”Anyone wanna try a tiger or bear hunt? Spec check!”

”Rabbit hunt! Above level 3 only!”

”Call me if you want a quick squirrel hunt, stealth classes only!”

Everyone looked different. While their clothes were almost identical, the weapons in their hands were varied.

’Didn’t know this was such a difficult quest…’

Seojin tilted his head as he looked around.

At a glance, the players felt like they were getting ready for a world boss raid or something. However, their targets were mere rabbits or squirrels.

’They even match their classes…’ he thought to himself, sparing a glance at the group departing. All five members had different classes.

It looked like the Warrior and the Rogue were there for melee, and the Archer and the Wizard for ranged attacks. They even had a Cleric as a party healer.

Seojin couldn’t believe they had a tanker and a healer just to hunt squirrels…

’They need such an extravagant party to hunt rabbits and squirrels? Are the squirrels huge, buff and muscular or something?’

For a moment, Seojin imagined a colossal, purple squirrel with a rugged body before banishing the thought from his mind.

’It can’t be.’

This was Movelon. As a starter town, there wasn’t a single monster around, and instead, their absence was filled with ordinary animals, those that could be seen in real life.

There were tigers and lions in the game as well, but Seojin heard the group leader yelling ”Anyone wants to hunt squirrels?!”

’Let’s keep watching for now, shall I?’

He couldn’t be hasty. There’s no way that all of the users gathered here were stupid. However, Seojin had no intention of joining a party either.

In Midgard, information was money, so the fact that Seojin was a hidden class must be quite valuable information. What if he were to tell others about his class just to solve some beginner-level quests?

’Now that would be truly stupid.’

He was going to clear it by himself by any means. Seojin strode toward the hunting grounds, determined.

Nonetheless, exactly ten minutes later…

Dash, dash, dash-

”Dammit!”

Dash, dash, dash…

”Gosh, these things are hella fast!”

Staring down at the squirrel, Seojin realized exactly why a party was needed. When he thought about it, it was quite obvious to him.

A stat of 10 was known to be equivalent to an ordinary adult in real life, but how many ’ordinary adults’ could catch a squirrel in real life?

”Plus, my practical stats are only five…”

Even as he muttered to himself, the squirrel was still running around like crazy.

The little rascal was so fast, Seojin felt like he was about to go insane.

”I’ll drive it to that side over there! Slow!”

”Roger, Net of Light! Mammon! Here’s one for you!”

”Hammer Stun! Nice! I got one!”

The players who already formed groups were progressing little by little. There were thuds and flashes just to catch a meager squirrel, but it displayed that they needed to go such lengths to catch squirrels.

’It isn’t easy. It’s not easy at all… which is what makes it all the more fun.’

Grinning happily, Seojin finally started to put his mind to it.

’Okay, what now then?’

He couldn’t join another party. Running around and catching those speedy fast furballs all by himself was a no-go too.

’How about setting up a classic trap?’

Seojin shook his head.

”That won’t work.”

These were cunning little creatures. Besides, Seojin didn’t believe these squirrels would go for fruit in a trap whilst there were tons of acorns scattered across the field.

’Let’s think about it some more.’

Another twenty minutes passed.

Now the squirrels were mocking Seojin.

Tick, tick, t-tick-

Seojin frowned as he felt an acorn fly over and hit him in the head.

The tiny creature came closer and threw more acorns one by one as though it had realized that Seojin couldn’t catch it.

”Oh, come on! Go away, you little scoundrel!”

Seojin suddenly felt frustrated. But no matter how much he punched out, he could not reach the squirrel.

Tick-

Yet another acorn hit his forehead.

”Ahhhh, damn it!”

He was hit in the face with an acorn dozens of times already, and there were acorns littered around him from all the squirrels throwing at him.

He briefly considered going back to town, but that would mean he accepted defeat.

’Oh, wait. Maybe…’

Something flashed across his mind.

However…

Tick, t-tick, t-t-t-tick-

Dash, dash, dash…

He couldn’t help but gnash his teeth at the acorn bombardment. He glared at the squirrel; a vein popped on his forehead.

Stanceshift: Immature Threat

Effective: 10 minutes

Cooldown: 60 minutes

”Go away, you scoundrel. Even if you do that, I’ll come back to catch you lat…”

Seojin trailed off; he had seen the squirrel responding strongly.

Dash, dash, dash…

The squirrel had run away and climbed to the top of a tall tree. His numerous physical threats were only countered by acorns being thrown at him, and yet just uttering a few simple words made it run away.

The reason was obvious.

’It means that my skills work even against monster.’

His prediction was right. Although it was something he spontaneously tried, it worked perfectly.

’Let’s get going then.’

He found a way out now, so he left without regrets and returned to town, where he went to the miscellaneous shop.

”One basket and a bundle of threads, please.”

”Thank you, come again!”

His next destination was the fruit shop.

”Are there any foods that squirrels would particularly like?”

”What an odd customer… but of course, there is.”

With the necessary items purchased, Seojin returned to the hunting ground.

’Just you wait.’

There were many players still chasing the squirrels around noisily. Amidst them, Seojin began his work calmly. He plunged a threaded twig into the ground and put a basket over it. He set down an expensive qurie fruit below the basket. His preparations were soon finished.

Just as he was about to begin, Seojin heard low murmurs around him.

”What is he doing?”

”Is he going to catch them with that?”

”Leave the clown be. Let’s go hunting.”

Seojin ignored the blatant sneering from the players around him. He went through many similar situations when playing Asgard. Many players looked down on him, ignored him, and even outright ridiculed him.

But they always changed their tune as soon as he cleared a quest.

’Results matters the most.’

Seojin ignored the babbling and directed his focus back to the squirrel. Just as he planned, his sneak effect wore off and a couple of squirrels snuck their way closer to him.

They started throwing acorns again.

’Yeah, keep throwing.’

Seojin didn’t care, or get annoyed like before. Unlike earlier, he could smile along with his expectations to catch one of them soon.

The squirrels got real close.

They were already within arm’s reach.

Stanceshift: Clumsy Swindler

Effective: 10 minutes.

Cooldown: 60 minutes

The duration was ten minutes, which meant he had to see achieve something during this time.

Seojin began speaking as soon as he activated his skill.

”Oh, my God, what is this? Isn’t this a qurie fruit? I can’t believe that someone left such a precious fruit lying around!”

Seojin’s eyes were locked on the fruit, and his expression was like that of a man who had found an oasis in the desert. He didn’t forget to add an exaggerated gulp for dramatic effect.

”He’s… talking with squirrels. Am I seeing right?”

”Yeah, kinda unique way to draw attention, I guess.”

”Looking at him, I wouldn’t be so sure. Maybe he’s serious.”

The other groups began to comment on his methods.

Seojin continued to ignore them. Actually, it was more like he couldn’t even hear them; he was that immersed.

”There may be squirrels who never ate quire, but there ain’t no squirrels who stopped after one!”

His actions were crude and cringy, but he didn’t expect the squirrels to understand him anyway. The important thing was the atmosphere.

The squirrels around him suddenly dropped their acorns, as though they were dazed after seeing something previous, and Seojin intuitively realized that he would be able to get those squirrels right now.

”Ooooh, I can’t miss this chance, I’m gonna eat it…”

He hummed, stretching his arms out, not too fast, not too slow, towards the qurie fruit.

And as soon as Seojin’s moved closer, he heard fast and light footsteps barreling toward him.

He tensed the hand holding the thread.

And…

Snap-

The twig jerked away and the basket fell down, trapping the squirrel under it.

The spectating players looked on with their eyes wide, and Seojin gave a triumphant smile.

”Gotcha, you little scoundrel.”

* * *

Squirrel defeated

EXP UP

Acquired ”Surprisingly Intact Leather”

The tenth squirrel turned to ash and disappeared into thin air.

Seojin retrieved the item from the ash and collapsed on the ground.

”…It’s finally over.”

He let out a sigh of liberation.

There were now ten sheets of leather in his inventory. It had been a real pain in the ass to collect them.

’I feel like I dried up all my creativity…’

The first hunt was a little embarrassing, but in the end it was easy. All he had to do was spit out a few words and the squirrels walked right into his trap.

However, the squirrels turned out to be surprisingly smarter than he had originally imagined.

’They’re getting smarter.’

Whenever Seojin managed to catch a squirrel using one method, the next one didn’t fall for the same trap, even if they happened to be somewhere far away from where it happened. Ultimately, Seojin had to come up with a new method for each squirrel he hunted, and it had been quite a pleasant spectacle for the crowd of onlookers.

-Excuse me, what’s your class?

-Didn’t know there was a class capable of taming in Midgard.

-Can you tell me how to do it?

-Are you an actor in real life?

It was such an interesting sight that some people persisted and followed Seojin around with their questions, and in the end, he had to run away.

’That was a close call. If there were any high-level users in the crowd, they could’ve noticed that I’m a hidden class…’

He managed to gloss over it this time, but there was no guarantee he could do it again.

’Should I have just invested in my stats?’

Seojin was currently Level 3. While he had only caught ten squirrels, doing it all by himself rewarded him with considerable EXP. Players were given three stat points for each level up, which meant he had six points to invest in his stats.

Clumsy Swindler scales up with INT. Hunting would have been much easier if he spent some points on INT, but he didn’t do it for one particular reason.

’I don’t know my future yet…’

If he was an ordinary class, there would be no reason to worry. The optimal builds for each class were already well known by most players.

Warriors, for example, would mainly focus on STR and balance it out with AGI, while Archers were the opposite.

But for Silver Tongue?

’I couldn’t even begin to guess.’

Unlike everyone else, he had only one skill, and according to the skill information, Silver Tongue used all three stats.

”I still don’t know whether LUK is useful or not.”

Judging by his current status, he wouldn’t be surprised if LUK also had its uses.

But if Seojin thoughtlessly invested points in the least useful attribute, he might regret it for the rest of his life.

’I gotta finish the quest first…’

He trekked for a while to visit Neraid.

Neraid welcomed him as he arrived.

”You’re back. Did you get the items I asked for?”

”Of course.”

Ten surprisingly intact squirrel skins.

Neraid’s eyes widened as he took the items.

”It’s… amazing. They’re in terrifically good shape. I’ll enjoy working with them.”

Quest Complete!

* Level Up! Current Level: 5

* (Reward) +20 Copper

Bonus!

*Neraid is satisfied with the outstanding result. He gladly pays you a bonus reward.

(Bonus Reward) +20 Silver

’Twenty silver!’

Seojin’s eyes widened.

One silver was equal to one hundred copper, which meant that twenty silver was one hundred times more than the Default Reward.

However, the message didn’t end there.

Achievement Unlocked: Perfectionist!

* You continuously strive to be more than just ’good’. Your commitment to perfection allows no room for error.

* INT +6

Seojin’s eyes widened.

”Achievement?”