Well, it’s not like I don’t care. I just know. Most of those who give in to kidnappers’ demands end up like this. These bastards never know satisfaction.

If you give one thing, they expect two. If you give two, they want three. That’s why...

“Behel—raaaaaaaaa!!”

There is only one way to beat these bastards. Crack—!!!! Really slam your forehead with all your might, and without pulling away, stare them down.

“Those who have a lot to lose can’t win?”

No way. Seems like this guy is seriously mistaken...

“I’ve never once won.”

“......”

“Without losing anything.”

I am Lee Hansu, also Bjorn Yandel. One player, and at the same time, a warrior fighting for survival.

In the labyrinth, my role is to raise my shield and protect my comrades, so I never ran away no matter the situation.

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

“......”

I irritably pushed away Ibaekho, who was looking at me with a somewhat tired gaze, and continued speaking.

“Ibaekho, if I lose something, you’ll lose something too.”

By the way, let me say this in advance.

“Don’t say you have nothing to lose.”

“......”

“I am your most desperate wish. I’ll take that away. By any means.”

While I was speaking, Ibaekho said nothing. He just looked up at me as if gauging whether my resolve was genuine or not.

And I felt the same. No words like ‘Why do you think you can’t?’ escaped me. I silently stared him down.

This was also a chicken game. In a situation where each can ruin the other, who has the stronger nerve? It didn’t take long to see the result.

Ibaekho is actually more rational than me.

“...So what exactly do you want to do?”

Ibaekho asked in a deflated voice, as things weren’t going his way.

“You want compensation? Or blood? If you insist, I can give you a healer or a tank, but that old man is off-limits. If you want him, I’ll have no choice but to fight to the end.”

Yeah, so Parmel Harbae is absolutely non-negotiable...

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

Damn, that mouth of his is alive to the end. Watching Ibaekho step back, I hesitated briefly, but it didn’t take long to find an answer.

“I’m not the one making the offer.”

“...?”

“The one begging does.”

On his knees.

At my words, Ibaekho clenched his teeth as if his pride was hurt somewhere. But maybe rationally, he judged it better to follow my words?

“I’m sorry for... threatening the Baron... Sir...”

Ibaekho ground his teeth and forced out words that didn’t want to come.

“If you forgive the mistake I made today... just this once... I will repay you generously...”

His voice was awkward, like a kid who had never apologized before. Somehow I tried to hold back a laugh at the absurdity and slapped the back of my head with my palm. Thwack!

“No! I just accepted your apology, why are you hitting me? Are you saying you won’t accept the apology?”

What nerve.

“That’s not it, just...”

“...?”

“I just felt like it.”

Ah, that felt good.

The feeling was special, almost new. Seeing his sulky face made the bitterness of past days flash through my mind like a slideshow.

[Hmm, that’s strange. Even though you made a name for yourself, I don’t think the GM would take interest.]

[If you don’t answer, I’ll kill that cat tribe?][Suddenly being very kind?] This all started before he even knew I was ‘Lee Hansu.’

[Sorry, but no returning the cat person.][Living as a barbarian made you deaf too?][Don’t pretend to be the only sane one. It’s disgusting.]

Even the times I criticized that idiot without hesitation despite knowing the truth.

All those incidents unfolded like a panorama in my head, and an indescribable thrilling exhilaration spread through my body.

‘Getting an apology from this bastard...’

Of course, it wasn’t a sincere apology... but where do you often get sincere apologies anyway? This is enough for me.

‘Sincerity doesn’t pay the bills.’

“So... shall we end it here...?”

Soon, Ibaekho asked, looking at me like a dog who had done something wrong. Honestly, my answer was already decided.

Rather than keep getting toyed by Ibaekho, I thought it better to go firm even if it means ‘losing something.’

It’s not like I wanted to go all the way with Ibaekho.

“Honestly, what exactly did I do wrong? I just asked a few questions...”

There’s no winner in the end. Only losers who survived hell. ‘But today, this bastard backed down first...’

Pressing further here would be an irrational choice. From now on, I only have one thing to do.

“And the cause of this incident was the Baron, right? If that old man hadn’t done something suspicious inside and come out late—”

“Enough nonsense.”

I cut off Ibaekho’s habitual blaming others and spoke firmly.

“I’ll decide whether to end this after I confirm what kind of ‘repayment’ you promised to pay properly.”

Simply put, don’t think you can just brush this off roughly. Pay me compensation that satisfies me.

“How much do you want? Oh, can it be paid in kind? I don’t carry much cash.”

Ibaekho sighed heavily, but I didn’t answer. The first offer always comes from the weaker side, right?

“......”

I kept my mouth shut and stared, and Ibaekho cautiously made a proposal.

“...How about 200 million stones per person?”

That bastard still wants to save money in this situation.

“300 million stones per person.”

I said firmly as if no way, and Ibaekho sighed again like the earth opened beneath him, nodding.

“Fine. 300 million stones.”

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

Pointing at Parmel Harbae, Ibaekho protested as if it made no sense.

“...What? Why on earth?”

Not knowing the real reason?

“We’re making huge concessions by not killing the author here.”

“......”

“If you lack money, just give up on those two. I won’t compromise on that.”

I told him like a final warning with no room for negotiation. Ibaekho had nothing else to say.

He just glanced at Erwen behind him once and nodded weakly as if understanding.

“Alright, that works. 2 billion stones.”

“Then that’s settled.”

“Old man! I’ll pay half, you pay half! That’s doable, right?”

“What right does a member with a loser leader have? Do as you wish.”

Ibaekho showed zero intention to take responsibility as leader. The conversation with Parmel Harbae was ugly too, but the ‘real’ was still to come.

“Right, and you two pay for your own lives.”

“...W-What do you mean, Baekho?”

Aures, who risked his arm to obey Ibaekho, asked in a voice full of betrayal, but Ibaekho’s shamelessness was world-class.

“So what? I pay? You’re all adults, right? You’re responsible for your own lives.”

“......”

“Hm? And if you have a brain, think for a moment. I’m currently in a position to abandon you all and run if I want.”

“......”

Even I was left speechless watching Ibaekho’s miraculous logic. I can’t even imagine how Jaina and Aures, who accepted him as leader, must feel.

But maybe that situation was familiar to those two.

“...Fine. We’ll hope for what we can hope. I’ll pay my own. I don’t want to owe that guy.”

“...Then I’ll pay my own too.”

Both resignedly accepted without protest. After the group’s agreement, the compensation payment began in earnest, with considerable help from Bersil and GM.

“No way, how can ogre leather armor be 20 million stones! Even if I put it on the exchange as a bargain, it’d sell for 40 million!”

“We priced it including exchange fees and the effort costs to wait for buyers.”

“What? Are you kidding? How much effort cost is that!”

Bersil and GM hammered down the value of the items given as compensation, and if Ibaekho protested, he was immediately summoned by me.

“Um... Captain?”

“Baron, you’re here. You think it’s unreasonable too, right? How can ogre leather armor—”

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

“......”

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

“Oh, no wonder when I asked for 200 million stones, only 100 million came up...”

Only then did Ibaekho realize why I hadn’t pushed the price higher, grumbling. But once he noticed the hammering was included in the price, he stopped complaining. ‘...That’s brutal.’ When the compensation was finalized and tallied:

‘7 hundred million stones in cash.’ Surprisingly a huge amount of cash.

They gathered every penny because they realized goods would be appraised at low prices...

‘4 hundred million stones in monster byproducts.’

Even though it says 400 million, if slowly sold at market price, it could earn up to twice that.

Of course, real profit is separate.

‘900 million stones in equipment.’ Of course, equipment wasn’t hammered down as much as byproducts. But such things exist.

Precious equipment that can’t simply be bought with money.

‘No. 696 Raindress’s Imperial Palace.’ Looks like Erwen, who gave up the Fairy Palace, can use any random bow for now.

‘No. 989 Orb of Circulation.’ This greatly speeds resource recovery if not injured, suitable for Bersil the mage.

Actually, it’s most efficient when worn by a priest, but our clan has none.

So it can be handed over later after recruiting a priest.

‘No. 1001 Alonso’s Travel Bag.’ Honestly, this surprised me the most. Although its number is lower than the other equipment, it might be rarer.

“A bag? It’s about the size to hang on a belt. Like a pocket dimension bag?”

“No, it’s a charm-type item.”

It’s confusing because it looks like a bag, but Alonso’s Travel Bag is a charm. In-game, it was labeled ‘Charm.’

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

“Yes.”

By the way, only Ainar among our clan has a charm-type item.

It increases the chance of essence drops on first monster hunt, bound item, so it can never be removed or replaced.

Unlike No. 1001 Alonso’s Travel Bag.

“So what’s its effect? Honestly, I have no clue...”

Bersil asked, and Amelia answered.

“It increases the chance of not being attacked by monsters and grants additional magic stones when monsters die within its radius.”

Surprisingly, she’s the expert on items. You know how kids can memorize hard dinosaur names easily? Like that.

But as a [Dungeon & Stone] expert, to add: rather than reducing attack chance, it lowers threat value itself.

So as a tank, I can never wear it. The lowered amount is not fixed but percentage-based.

‘Threat was reduced by about 40%, I think?’ Anyway, a good item to have in the team.

And now, every time we kill monsters in the labyrinth, extra magic stones drop.

‘Permanent 1.5 times increase in magic stone income.’

I’ll think later who to give it to, but for now, the weakest ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) Auyan might be best.

“So, that’s settled? This mistake is over? No hard feelings?”

“Of course.”

“Hah... how did it end up like this... Then shall we be going?”

“Wait, where are you going?”

As soon as the settlement finished and they tried to leave, Ibaekho asked with a ‘what’s the problem?’ look.

“Why? Isn’t our business done?”

“But can’t I ask?”

“I don’t know either. The original plan was to fix that magic circle and return to the city... But what can we do? Even if we go back now, there’s nothing we can do.”

Strictly speaking, if we tried the ‘original plan,’ that old man would surely try to ‘dispose’ of this guy. But that’s not important now.

“So where are you going?”

“Anywhere. I can’t just laugh and joke around with the Baron here.”

Well, I had that in mind too. Right?

[The evil spirit from another world ‘———’ lost three comrades and finally realized the path they must take.]

If I make these guys comrades and carry them around, I might be able to sacrifice them. But...

“So don’t catch me. Whatever they say, I won’t be hanging around the Baron.”

His pride was so broken, I don’t think he’d want to stick with me...

‘Okay, let that go cleanly.’ I never thought this would go well anyway. I wouldn’t really think of these guys as true comrades...

If I thought of them as true comrades, it would lose all meaning.

“Caw! Pfft! Then I’m off.”

After that, Ibaekho spat phlegm like a cursed person and disappeared leading his ‘comrades.’ And...