The God of Liar

A small opening in the Southern Island was filled with dozens of players. Seojin was sitting on a podium as the others surrounded him like an audience. The others, whom Seojin promised to talk with privately, were waiting elsewhere.

”Yes, I’m a Hidden Class. Next?”

”What’s the name of your class?”

”That’s hard to answer. Next.”

The players went in order and asked their questions, to which Seojin answered quickly. Surprisingly, nobody asked the same question twice.

’They probably arranged it beforehand.’

Although he only allowed them one question per person, it would be a different story if everyone asked the right questions. The people here would get the answers to every other person’s question.

”Find hidden quests. Don’t just look at what’s being shown to you, think about what’d be hidden below it. The lower your level, the more opportunities you have.”

Seojin answered the questions sincerely. The questions and answers that were being given would definitely be posted on the community, so Seojin was practically making a speech to every player on the online community.

”I know it’s tempting to level up quickly at the start, but it’ll only hinder you later on down the line. You should only move to the next settlement once you’re confident that you’ve exhausted all the content in your current one.”

”Just look at Robert from Ironblood. He’s not that high level-wise, but his power is top-tier. The difference comes from that.”

”Achievements are a prime example of that. As you may have received one this time, those small achievements build up and make a big difference in later gameplay.”

Seojin answered honestly.

’Having a just cause matters the most.’

Robert was able to establish himself because he pretended that he was doing things for the sake of other players. Therefore, Seojin needed a stronger cause to eliminate him.

’I can’t just tell them everything I know though.’

Things like the journal and the Dharma system had to be kept a secret. In all honesty, Seojin only told them about achievements because he had found another means to become stronger. Nevertheless, normal players were more than satisfied with the info Seojin released.

-Ah, our lord and savior Anti-Mainstream!

-I love AM! I love AM!

-AM’s teachings for today.

-His voice is sooo nice…

His Q&A session burned the communities up like jet fuel.

’I just need to spice things up a little more.’

The main ingredients were set, and all he needed was a bit of seasoning, which was…

”Nice to meet you, I’m Seojin.”

”Oh, my God. Seojin! Wow, you’re really meeting us in person!”

…the private meetings with the top eight players of the contribution leaderboard.

* * *

Each of the top eleven players (excluding Seojin himself, Kiri, and Bigfoot), had around twenty minutes to chat with Seojin, and they all left greatly satisfied. Some of them even begged him to call them when he created a guild one day. On top of that, many of them posted their conversations with him on online communities.

-I ranked 8th in the recovery job today.

-I’m the 7th rank. I’m sharing what I talked about with AM.

’There are only two kinds of people who would break a sweat to come and help. Attention seekers or those who are mad about leveling up. The former won’t be able to help but upload a post.’

Twenty minutes of”private” conversation with Seojin was bound to be the juiciest clickbait. The posts gained explosive attention from the very moment they were posted.

-He’s not just giving us a fish; he’s teaching us how to catch fish! OMG!

-Thank you for sharing! Did you get permission from him though?

-Re: He said that I could post it without any conditions.

-Re: Re: Our lord and savior… If there’s ever another chance, I’ll go and help too.

Ninety-nine percent of people were in favor of Seojin, and he was the hottest topic on the community page.

’Yeah, because I wanted it to turn out like this.’

The information Seojin gave out was basic, yet something that players were missing. He’d never share anything too practical, such as the most efficient method to complete a certain quest or the exact location of some treasure.

”I checked what you asked before and sorted out what you’d be curious in advance.”

First of all, by saying that, Seojin limited the uniqueness of the information he would release.

”I can’t tell you what to do since I’ve already eaten up what I found. I’ll just tell you how I found things like that.”

It was no different from a general inspirational speech—basic and theoretical. However, players still went wild over it because of a very simple reason.

-That’s different from what Robert said.

-I think it’s the difference in style.

Players had followed Robert’s guides to the tee until now, and had basically forgotten about something so obvious.

The result of Seojin’s actions was instant.

-I did as he said and my quest changed completely. I got five times more than the basic reward!

-I changed my attitude and NPC reacted completely differently. I had no idea that that geezer Korna could be so kind.

There was a virtuous circle of players reporting great outcomes thanks to Seojin’s guide, which inspired even more people to follow his advice. Players were in shock as their trust in Robert was betrayed, and finally, the inevitable happened.

-What was with Robert’s guide then? Was he jeopardizing our future?

-No way. He must have just thought that the late-game was the real game.

-Is that so…? It doesn’t feel right, though.

-It isn’t just about feeling. It’s not right. They also tried to keep rookies in check. Wait, wasn’t that Anti-Mainstream too?

Even those who sided with Ironblood started to ask questions when they realized that it was Seojin, who was targeted by Ironblood, that had released such information.

Maybe they tried to snipe him because they were afraid that he’d post these guidelines!

The bomb finally exploded.

* * *

”Wow, how many bots are they using?”

Seojin, who had dropped a bomb in the community, was munching on some popcorn.

Churai Islands’ Resort Platinum Membership.

* I’ll show you how Platinum shines! Platinum Membership is only issued to a small number of people by the founder of the Churai Resort.

* Free access to all of the resort’s services.

* Services exclusive for Platinum members.

The system message hadn’t been lying to him. He was in the penthouse of the resort, which no amount of money could buy, and all of the activities in the resort were free. There were five NPCs and a concierge dedicated to waiting for Seojin’s requests.

Seojin poured a mouthful size of popcorns into his mouth and put the bag down.

’Yeah, there’s no way Ironblood would go down so fast.’

Right now, the community was in a war fronted by two sides: players who were enlightened by Seojin’s new guide and those who still believed in Robert’s guides. Also bots of belonging to Ironblood and the alliance of Résistance and Red Tower.

’I didn’t know that comment botting thing was real.’

He had always thought of it as a method to corner the other party, but Midgard was truly realistic.

Name one guild which has done more for more ordinary players than Ironblood! /1. MAKE SURE TO ERAISE ALL OF THIS BEFORE POSTING. 2. Make sure to check your IP…

The community burned even more furiously as one comment accidentally screwed up.

’I don’t think I need to intervene.’

Seojin still wasn’t sure how the war would end, but the most important thing was that it was lacking a killing blow. Sitting down and tapping on a keyboard could only do so much.

’The Strategic Planning Department is probably nervous as hell right now.’

They knew that Seojin had caused something big, but they would have no idea what had happened since Seojin hadn’t handed them any relevant information.

’BunnyRabbit’s not calling me, though… maybe she’s built a sense of trust in me?’

Seojin’s whole companion thing must have truly inspired that clumsy employee. So, it was possible that she was just waiting patiently, thinking that he’d eventually let her know what was going on.

’If that’s really the case, I’ll reward her.’

Seojin clicked his friend list.

”BunnyRabbit.”

-Seojin! I’ve been waiting to hear from you!

”You checked the communities, right?”

-Yes, I was just thinking about that.

”Thinking about what?”

-It didn’t feel right to just wait for your orders… I thought I should practice using my brain so I can do my part in the future!

”So, did you come up with a conclusion?”

-Yes! It’s just a speculation, but…

BunnyRabbit gave her long analysis of the situation along with her conclusion. The reason she did such a thing was…

-…Because my supervisor has been grilling me. He kept asking me about my thoughts on the matter, so…

”What did he say after hearing that?”

-He said that he thought the same thing, but that he’d make a move after hearing from you.

”To make things clearer before proceeding?”

-I think he said that to avoid getting scolded by you again. He got in trouble last time.

Bunny laughed satisfaction. Seojin gained confidence too.

”You’re mostly correct, but Résistance and the Red Tower are actually rather friendly with each other, and…”

Bunny was leaning further towards Seojin, probably because of his persona and output, along with her change in status in the corporate world.

’It’s a bit too early to call her someone under my wing, but…’

At the very least, Seojin weighed heavier on the scale when pitted against her company.

-Right, I thought that was weird too. It’s not natural for two groups with a common goal to hate each other that much.

”Right?”

”…But I also don’t think that Ironblood would be oblivious to that either.”

That was a good point, and quite an obvious one as well.

”They probably know about it—that the two have a friendly relationship behind the scenes.”

”Then…”

Seojin spoke as if he was stating that the sun rises in the east.

”It’s a battle of excuses.”