7.

Even before dungeons appeared in the world, back when virtual reality was the hottest trend, VR had already caused plenty of problems. Complaints and grievances were inevitable, especially in games, where the endless freedom VR offered created situations that shattered old gaming conventions.

Balance was the single most important thing in an RPG.

In virtual reality, true, perfect balance was essentially impossible. Endless freedom also meant the beginning of infinite disparity, just like in the real world.

So, were they supposed to clamp down on it?

In the early days, game companies tried to restrain and suppress their own content. Even as time went on, there were plenty of games that loudly advertised "freedom" but in practice offered none at all. They restricted content, hindered player growth, and focused solely on pumping out cash items to boost revenue.

But the games Kim Buja gravitated toward—the profitable ones, the ones people called masterpieces—were different.

You could do anything, grow in any way you wanted, with no limits. There was no justification for stopping the frontrunners from running away with the lead. In those games, it wasn't strange at all for someone poor and bad at school in real life to become a superstar in-game.

Of course, once real dungeons appeared, all of that stopped mattering.

In any case, one of the most frustrating aspects of that kind of freedom Kim Buja had experienced was the raid strategy of beating bosses to death with pure money.

Virtual reality was naturally harder than a 3D game. In computer games, you just moved your character with a mouse. In VR, the player had to think and move their own body to attack the boss. What you used to dodge from a third-person view was now first-person, with blind spots.

If your brain processed an incoming attack even a little too slowly, you got hit and died.

It was a structure where players with good control, like Kim Buja, should have been destined to succeed.

Reality didn't work that way. VR was still a game. In fact, because it was VR, it was nearly impossible to overcome everything with control alone.

To pierce a powerful monster's hide, you had to stab with your sword at just the right angle, then pour follow-up attacks into the wound. More and more precise elements kept getting added. Even so, the massive health pools, debuffs, and insane patterns of bosses in this hybrid of reality and game demanded a baseline of decent gear and consumables.

That was what made it possible.

The aristocratic raids of wallet warriors.

Most of them were still players who could dodge what needed dodging and had at least some skill, and their heavy spending backed that up. But in those games, the gap between them and someone like Kim Buja, whose control was on a different level, could be overcome with money alone.

They would clamp a potion between their teeth and chug it nonstop while pouring out damage, then use battle items to distract the boss and elemental items to deal extra damage—raid methods so extravagant that someone like Kim Buja couldn't even imagine them.

It had been the same in the game where he met Jeong Cheol. It was a game where players like Kim Buja could reach the top, but countless rankers, including Jeong Cheol, had never hesitated to spam potions and doping elixirs.

Back then, he hadn't understood it. He could clear the content just fine without using any of that, and if he saved that money, he could pay an extra month's rent.

Only now did he finally get it.

Standing in that position himself, burning through potions and items in a boss raid, he understood.

"This is what a game is supposed to be."

Especially in an event like this, where everyone started with nothing and fought bosses tuned to that level, consumables were a game-changer. You didn't even need that many.

Fifty gold each, a hundred if they were pricey. Under normal circumstances, he would never have used such expensive consumables; it would have felt like a total waste. But once he started using them freely, he could see just how effective they really were.

SCREEEEEEE!

It didn't matter whether it was a single boss monster or a horde of enemies. From the very start, Jeong Cheol's guild gained the upper hand and never showed a single crack in their performance.

Even from Kim Buja's perspective, their teamwork and focus were good enough to deserve applause. He honestly wondered how they hadn't yet managed to take Korea's number-one spot; there was nothing to criticize.

Of course, these consumables were only supplements to make the raid smoother. In the end, it was still up to the players to finish the job. Plenty of people had spent jaw-dropping amounts of money on final raids and still failed, because even in VR, player skill mattered more than cash.

In that sense, Jeong Cheol's guild passed with flying colors. Their coordination and skill were excellent. It was a shame they didn't have a Legendary class, but Kim Buja was filling that gap, creating the perfect synergy.

The guild members saw the results of their spending immediately, and with Kim Buja creating openings and weak points in an instant—despite his stats being adjusted to the bare minimum for each floor—they were an unstoppable force.

They were all getting fired up. More than anything, what pushed them to go even harder was that the results were right there in front of their eyes.

[Current Rankings]

1st: Republic of Korea → Floor 3

2nd: United States → Floor 2

"How long can we keep this up?" Jeong Cheol asked, his voice tight with focus.

Of course, they couldn't cross the line. The boundary between caution and arrogance always had to be maintained.

Just as everyone was fired up, performing at 150% of their usual capacity, Jeong Cheol turned to Kim Buja with a question.

He knew they couldn't keep this up forever.

While the other guild members didn't have to think that far ahead, Jeong Cheol, as their leader, needed to prepare for what was to come.

Initially, he had ambitiously declared they would aim for first place even without relying on Kim Buja. But at the end of the day, the reality was that Kim Buja was now a member of the Jeong Cheol Guild's team event roster.

Praise and gratitude for his performance—so overwhelming that calling it a one-man carry was no exaggeration—could wait. Right now, it was time to make decisions that fit the current situation.

"Hmm."

Seeing Jeong Cheol already planning an exit strategy for the opportune moment made Kim Buja pause.

'How long can I keep helping them like this?'

"We spent roughly three hundred gold just getting to the third floor," Kim Buja said. "So I think we can make it to the tenth, don't you?"

It was a question about both their gold reserves and how much he was willing to spend.

On that front, Kim Buja hadn't set any hard limits.

"We absolutely have to take first place in the team event, too. Since I already hit Legendary, I might as well put on a show that'll go down in history."

Countless people were already watching. They had pinned their hopes on him and were waiting for results. He wasn't motivated by their attention, but he was willing to work for their awe and respect.

He didn't find the gold he needed to spend a waste at all.

"It would be nice if we could keep it as cheap as possible, though."

Well, maybe not entirely painless, but he decided to swallow any regret.

He was thinking of being ranked number one.

In that moment, he finally understood why people would blow their entire fortunes just to chase that title with a game character.

"Let's go!"

"Yeah!"

"Let's do this!"

With a powerful shout, the run continued.

The next chapter of Kim Buja's happiness from the raid bought with gold had begun.

* * *

In a way, it was a bug—an exploit—a player using a cheat key in a way that went completely against the developers' intentions.

If you asked why, anyone could give you a clear and precise answer.

This was an event map where every player started with the same basic weapon, with equal stats and attack power.

They had been stripped bare and thrown in so that no one could use any loopholes.

The system was designed to prevent anyone from enjoying even a single advantage.

Everyone started from the same baseline. Each team would tackle monsters in their own way, farm, and level up. Only then could they showcase their individual skill, their class, and their established teamwork. That was how it was supposed to work.

And then, an overpowered, balance-breaking item appeared to shatter that equilibrium. It wasn't a high-attack weapon or high-defense armor.

It was just small things, like potions and consumable elixirs.

But the variables these seemingly insignificant items created were enormous.

"I'll chug a potion and take the hit!"

The Jeong Cheol Guild's tank raised his shield, blocking the pterodactyl's attack head-on as its massive wings and bulk came crashing down.

The tremendous impact passed through the shield, pierced his solid plate armor, and sent a shockwave directly into his body. The man coughed up blood.

The attack was so powerful, it made one instinctively think, 'Now this is what I'd expect from a sixth-floor event monster.'

But on the other hand, it also meant he had managed to block an attack from a sixth-floor boss monster head-on.

He spat blood, but the potion he had been holding in his mouth slid down his throat, quickly healing his internal injuries.

That was the variable, a very small one.

This single advantage couldn't solve everything, but the possibilities it opened up were endless.

If Kim Buja had bought weapons or armor with absurd stats, they might have been able to clear the floors more impressively, powerfully, and quickly.

Every player gathered here knew how to wield a fine blade, and in the long run, reusable weapons and armor were more efficient than consumables.

They might even have been able to save some of the gold that would be spent on consumables as the floors went up.

The problem was that the Gold Shop didn't yet sell weapons and armor that offered that level of efficiency, and the burden of buying them would fall entirely on Kim Buja's gold reserves, which were already under heavy strain.

Even so, just this one action—blocking and taking hits they were supposed to avoid—was enough to turn battles on their head.

"Wing boarding complete!"

"Preparing for ground combat!"

They stuck to their original raid style, using Kim Buja's abilities purely as support.

The team's strategy, already well established, proceeded smoothly and without incident as they climbed higher.

"At this rate, we might really make it to the tenth floor," Buja mused, watching them finish harvesting monster parts and move on to the final cleanup.

Of course, he also knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"Assuming things keep going like this. Which they won't, right?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a hologram greeted them the moment they stepped onto the seventh floor.

[You have entered the Seventh Floor: Aura of Curse.]

[All stats are reduced by 10.]

[Attack power is reduced by 10.]

[Defense is reduced by 15.]

Considering they had only just passed level 30, the penalty's impact was enormous.

It was no exaggeration to say it was equivalent to losing at least ten levels. They could clearly feel their steps growing sluggish as they moved through the fog.

If they had to face the seventh floor's strengthened monsters on top of that, a crisis might be looming.

So he pulled it out. The secret weapon he had been saving.

"Let's take a short break here."

From the fifth floor onward, a separate space was provided where players could rest before attempting the next challenge.

It was a cozy area that served as a stark reminder that wasting time would only hurt them in a competitive system.

"Let's sleep for six hours, eat, and then head out."

The Jeong Cheol Guild members, who hadn't rested for more than three hours at a time in the last three days, let out a cheer at Kim Buja's words.

They happily threw off their gear, flopped down wherever they could, and started snoring almost immediately. Watching them, Kim Buja turned to Jeong Cheol.

"Starting from this floor, I'm going to get directly involved in the fighting."

"Got it."

"And on that note… would it be okay if I tried calling the shots this time?"

It was a very proactive request. Jeong Cheol's eyes lit up as Buja met his gaze.

* * *

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