Debuff Master

Chapter 578

After tasting his first defeat since becoming the Debuff Master, Siegfried wanted nothing more than to dedicate himself to training and hunting monsters. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the condition to either train or go hunting right now.

Due to his injuries, he was stuck in his office dealing with mountains of paperwork, and he'd stay stuck there until he had recovered completely.

‘Should I pay the Weapon Maestros a visit?’ Siegfried thought after finishing his workload for the afternoon.

“Hello, Elder Brother.”

“Welcome, Elder Brother.”

“Hi! Elder Brother!”

The Weapon Maestros were all admitted to the same infirmary ward, which was the most spacious ward in the castle's infirmary.

“How are you feeling?” Siegfried asked.

“We are doing well, Elder Brother,” Hakken replied. Then, he asked, “But how are you doing, Elder Brother? You do not... look that good.”

“I am doing fine. I should be up and running in about three or four days,” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

“That is indeed great news,” Hakken said with a smile. Then, he added, “We thought you were going to pass away, Elder Brother.”

“So what if I do? I will just come back to life after a few days.”

“Haha...”

“Anyway, I came to tell you not to think too badly of what happened,” Siegfried said.

“Huh? What do you mean by that...?”

“Master is alive.”

“...!”

“The most important thing is that our master has come back to life and that not a single one of his disciples died this time,” Siegfried said with a smile. Then, he added, “I have no idea how, but the fact that our master has come back to life is good enough for me.”

“Y-You are right, Elder Brother!”

“We just have to find those responsible for bringing him back to life and crush them. I have no idea if it will be possible, but I feel that there’s hope we could restore his memories.”

“Yes! Elder Brother!” Haken replied, smiling brightly.

A massacre had taken place at the Weapon Academy, but none of the Weapon Maestros died in the attack.

None of them had imagined, even in their wildest dreams, that their master, Shakiro, would come back to life. The fact that blood was shed in their academy saddened them greatly, but knowing that their master had been resurrected gave them joy.

“I’ll take care of things, so focus on recovering for now. All of you must train harder from now on, as I’ll be needing your help to subdue Master Shakiro later,” Siegfried said.

“Yes! Elder Brother!” the Weapon Maestros replied in unison.

“Please come help me when I call for you. I will need your help to subdue Master Shakiro and destroy those who dared to resurrect and use him for their own gains.”

“Yes!” Hakken exclaimed in response.

“Yes! Elder Brother!”

“You can count on us, Elder Brother!”

“I will put my life on the line to free our master from them!”

The Weapon Maestros agreed to everything Siegfried said and even swore to help him to the best of their abilities.

Why would they do that? It was all because Siegfried was the Elder Brother of Shakiro's disciples.

‘Come to think of it... How the hell did Master Shakiro get resurrected?’ Siegfried grimaced upon recalling something strange.

It was truly a strange and shocking turn of events.

He was certain that the Weapon Seeker was not a zombie, Death Knight, vengeful spirit, or any kind of undead. He had seen the Weapon Seeker bleed with his own eyes, which meant that he was human.

So, how did he get resurrected? Who could bring the dead back to life if a god?

‘Let’s go ask,’ Siegfried thought. He decided to go to the next ward and seek answers from Daode Tianzun and Betelgeuse.

***

The two old men were busy playing chess and squabbling like little kids. However, they dropped everything they were doing after getting shocked by the news Siegfried brought.

“W-What? Shakiro came back to life?” Daode Tianzun asked with his eyes wide open.

“Huh? Did you just say Shakiro hyung-nim is alive again, Young Master?” Betelgeuse asked in disbelief.

The two of them seemed to have a hard time believing what Siegfried said.

“Hey, Siegfried.”

“Yes, Elder-nim?”

“Did Shakiro really come back to life? And he doesn’t have his memories with him?”

“Yes, it is just as I told you just now.”

“Hmm...”

“Do you have any idea how that is possible?”

“How should I know that? I’m just as surprised as you.”

“Eh?”

Siegfried was flustered when Daode Tianzun openly admitted he had no clue how Shakiro came back to life.

“It’s not like I’m some evil black magician. How would I know how to bring the dead back to life?”

“I-I see...”

“It's probably possible in theory with the ultimate magic, but even I, an Arch Mage, can’t bring the dead back to life. I haven’t reached that realm yet.”

“Oh...”

“Also, you said he’s not an undead, right?”

“Yes, I am sure of that.”

“Then I think even a black magician on par with me wouldn’t have a clue how that was possible. I've never heard of any black magic that can bring the dead back to life without turning them into an undead.”

“Ah...”

“Maybe it would be possible for a top-tier demon... The demon king, for example?”

“Top-tier demon?”

“Ah, why don’t you go ask those two instead? You know, those demons doing errands around the castle.”

“Ah! I should probably do that! Thank you very much!” Siegfried exclaimed.

“Hohoho! I would’ve gone with Betelgeuse to catch that punk, Shakiro, but it’s a shame that our bodies aren’t in the condition to do that.”

Siegfried shook his head and replied, “No, both of you have already saved this world. It is now my turn to fill your shoes, even though I am nowhere as good as you.”

“Hoho! Look at you! You’re quite the talker now!” Daode Tianzun exclaimed, delighted by the response.

“Then, please have a good rest,” Siegfried said with a bow.

He left the infirmary and went to find the demons in the castle.

“It is impossible without a special conduit.”

“Hmm... I am not aware of such magic.”

Unfortunately, neither Metatron nor Chaos was unfamiliar with any magic that could resurrect the dead without turning them into members of the undead.

“Tsk...”

In the end, Siegfried had to go back empty-handed to his office.

‘Oh well... How he came back to life isn’t important. What’s important is who did it and... it’s most likely the Church of Osric, right?’

One organization came to mind the moment he brainstormed the identity of the organization behind Shakiro’s resurrection. Why would he suspect them?

It was all because the only one capable of doing such a thing was none other than the Church of Osric.

***

Tae-Sung spent most of his time with his family while waiting for his character to recover fully. Of course, the family he was spending time with was the family he had in the game.

The only other thing he did aside from that was the paperwork piled up in his office; Han Tae-Sung finally had some time for himself when his in-game character, Siegfried van Proa, ran out of things to do.

He went to the realtor’s office early in the morning and purchased two buildings worth twenty-five billion won each.

‘I have to save up while I’m earning,’ Han Tae-Sung thought.

Han Tae-Sung did not forget how he went bankrupt after relying only on the game as his source of income. There would come a time in the future when even BNW would lose its popularity, which meant that Han Tae-Sung would end up jobless.

Most of the gold he earned was reinvested into the game, but he did not forget to invest in assets in the real world, such as real estate or gold.

Thus, Han Tae-Sung’s personal net worth exceeded one hundred billion won, and he could live without worrying about money for the rest of his life as long as he did not recklessly jump into businesses and lose it all.

Actually, one hundred billion won was enough not only for Han Tae-Sung but even for his third generation to live comfortably without ever having to worry about money.

“Since I’m done with that...” Han Tae-Sung muttered after leaving the realtor’s office.

He headed to the mall next and went to the floor where imported luxury branded goods for men were at. He went on a shopping spree almost emptying the entire place, racking up quite the bill.

However, he was not shopping because he was into luxury goods or anything like that.

“You will have to spend more from now on.”

“Spend more money...?”

“Yes, you have to spend a lot more than you are spending now.”

“What do you mean by that...?”

“You made too much money, so you will be slapped with a hefty tax bill next year.”

The accountant whom Cheon Woo-Jin had introduced to him had told him that he had to start spending money to avoid getting slapped with a massive tax bill.

“Please give me from here till there—no, just give me everything you have for men that fits my size.”

Han Tae-Sung spent money like nobody’s business at the mall, and the ones who suffered were his bodyguards.

“...”

They made countless trips up and down the escalators and elevators to load up everything Han Tae-Sung had bought from his shopping spree into the cars.

However, their labor did not go unnoticed.

“Thank you very much for your hard work today. Please go ahead and choose one.”

Han Tae-Sung brought his bodyguards to the Rolex shop and asked them to choose one model per person.

“A-Are you really buying this for us?”

“This is too much...”

“Huh? You are buying us a Rolex as a gift...?”

The bodyguards were flustered at the expensive gift Tae-Sung.

“Thank you for always watching out for me. Please don’t refuse this and choose whichever you want.”

Han Tae-Sung purchased a Rolex watch for each of his bodyguards, and he ended up spending hundreds of millions, but he was not bothered at all.

He was earning two to three billion won a month, so he could afford to spend a few hundred million on his bodyguards.

“I will go and eat lunch,” Han Tae-Sung told his bodyguards and went to a cafe near his house.

When he arrived at the cafe—

“Hey, what’s Han Tae-Sung doing these days?”

“I think he's preparing for the tournament, but then something came up, so he’s taking a break for a few days.”

“Really? Hmm...”

—He spotted Cheon Woo-Jin and Seung-Gu already in the cafe.

“Hey, what are you guys doing h—” Tae-Sung was about to call out to them, but he ended up shutting his mouth after hearing their conversation.

“But does he really have to train? I mean, I registered him for a reason, you know? I’m confident he will easily win the tournament.”

“Well, I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry, right? But it is as you said, Tae-Sung hyung-nim will easily win the tournament.”

Cheon Woo-Jin and Seung-Gu were having a very interesting discussion.

“Right? I mean, who the hell can stop him?”

“I don’t think there’s anyone among the participants.”

“Haha! He will thank me later. He’s going to become world famous thanks to what I did. He'd be able to write books, host fan meetings overseas, and he'd even become a legend! Do you know how much he can earn just from filming commercials by then?

"He'd be able to afford not to work for the rest of his life!”

It was then.

“H-Hyung-nim...” Seung-Gu stuttered.

Unfortunately, Cheon Woo-Jin did not hear him and continued with his monologue.

“Whoa~ Han Tae-Sung really got it good. He got rich overnight, and he's finally going to become world famous. Hmm... I think he will be sincerely grateful if I told him what I had done for him ten years later.”

“Hyung-nim...”

“Keke! That bastard really has a good friend! Which friend would go out of his way and register him for the tournament—”

“Hyung-nim!”

“Hmm?” Cheon Woo-Jin tilted his head in confusion after Seung-Gu repeatedly called him.

“T-That is...”

“What’s up?”

“I think...”

“N-No way...?”

It was then.

A chill traveled down Cheon Woo-Jin’s spine, causing him to freeze. It felt as if someone was shooting lasers at his back right now.

“Hey, Seung-Gu...”

“Yes, hyung-nim?”

“By any chance...” Cheon Woo-Jin muttered. Then, he asked, “Is Han Tae-Sung behind me right now?”

“I-I think so...”

“Ah... T-That is...” Cheon Woo-Jin tried to come up with an excuse.

However, Han Tae-Sung did not give him any time.

“Hey! You son of a—”

Han Tae-Sung lunged at Cheon Woo-Jin.