I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 264: Episode 52_Point Maker (5)

5.

Public opinion on the Gold Maker class was simple.

—It’s definitely a busted class, but... I don’t know, it doesn’t really have anything memorable, does it?

—Honestly, if it weren’t for someone with Kim Buja’s level of skill, would this class have even gotten this much attention?

—It doesn’t seem to have any real combat merits.

—If he had picked Elemental Wizard, he probably would have grown even faster than Fly.

—Gold Maker is just riding on Kim Buja’s coattails.

A Legendary class.

Every now and then, it showed something special, something new that they had never seen before, and people couldn’t help but be impressed. However, when it came to combat—the thing people cared about most—it didn’t seem all that impactful.

Without Kim Buja’s jaw-dropping movement and combat sense, could he really have climbed this high?

Gold Maker didn’t have any standout combat skills unique to the class. At best, it only let him leverage the options attached to his items.

Even the owner of the class himself admitted as much.

“To be honest, Gold Maker is a trash class. I’ll upload the early-game footage later, but it’s extremely hard to grow. You get gold every night at midnight, but realistically, the only way to grow with it is to go into dungeons yourself and hunt monsters. And is that easy? Not at all. For a Legendary class, its base stats are actually worse than those of a Normal class. You’re literally just an ordinary person. Huh? How did I grow from there? If you fight well enough, even an ordinary person can hunt monsters.”

The wall was too high.

In the early stages, even Kim Buja had wondered if this class could grow at all.

He hadn’t been joking when he thought that you would probably have to be old and gray before you could save up enough gold just to enjoy the content.

That was why he didn’t acknowledge the other side of the argument.

“But once you get past that part, it’s absolutely not a trash class. There’s a huge difference between a wall that’s just very high to climb and a wall that’s completely sealed off. In my case, my class can generate extra stats and attack power that no other player can obtain, purely through the Gold Maker class itself. It’s basically there to make up for the stats I don’t get from leveling up. Of course, if you fail to grow, it becomes a trap that leaves you weaker than a normal player, but if you actually develop the class properly, its potential is exactly what you’re seeing right now.”

In truth, the biggest factor that had made the current Kim Buja was not the class itself, but Points.

The Demon God set that had opened an overwhelming gap between him and the other players.

That, too, would have been impossible without Gold Maker, the only class that could extract Points from other players.

So when Kim Buja walked out after clearing the 9-star Unique dungeon, he declared it proudly.

He no longer hid it.

“The biggest reason I was able to clear the 9-star Unique dungeon? Luck. When you awaken, pray. Pray that you get a Legendary class. Preferably something like Gold Maker.”

He declared that the best class currently in existence was Gold Maker.

He said it with such brazen confidence that no one could argue.

—If it’s the rank 1’s class, that’s all the proof you need.

Undisputed rank 1.

And he had taken that spot as a latecomer, snatching away a position that had been held firmly for six years.

“About a month from now, I’m going to hunt the Demon King. Once I kill him and come back, I’ll be able to tackle a 9-star Legendary dungeon as well, so I hope you’ll all tune in.”

With that, he announced the release date for the final video of the Gold Mission, the last Chapter of the continent storyline.

* * *

“Whew.”

On the terrace, Kim Buja drew in a breath as he stared up at the night sky.

You couldn’t see a single star above Seoul, but the night view from a penthouse offered a modern beauty that surpassed any constellation.

“I really haven’t stopped once, have I?”

He wasn’t the type to waste time wallowing in sentimentality, but at least in this moment, he allowed himself a bit of breathing room to relax.

He had to.

This was the only time he had.

“Is the Demon King stronger than you thought?”

“I’m worried he might be stronger than I expected.”

He might die.

It was a phrase he had practically lived with ever since awakening and going through countless dungeons, but this time, it was different.

In all his previous brushes with death, there had always been a chance he might die. This time, it felt like a certainty if he made a single wrong move.

The words might sound similar, but there was a stark difference between a battle where your odds of success were high and one where your odds of failure were high.

It was night and day.

And he couldn’t avoid it.

When the time came, the Gold Mission would begin on its own, and if he needed more time, he would have to buy it on the continent.

But that, too, would not last long.

Once the main quest truly began, the Demon King would start acting in earnest, and there would be no point in defeating him only after the continent had been completely ruined.

If the princess happened to die, the Gold Mission would lose almost all of its value.

For the people of that continent, there would be relief in the fact that at least some had survived and fulfilled their duty to live on, but for Kim Buja, the princess had become practically the only reason to keep going to that continent.

All those worries came crashing in now that his preparations were almost complete.

He had done everything he could.

From weapons to armor to accessories, he had geared up with a setup built solely for fighting the Demon King, and he had gone back and picked up content he had been ignoring one by one to push his specs even higher.

He planned to spend the remaining time grinding dungeons, farming gold, and investing in enhancements and refinements. Once he finished paying off the last of his almost-cleared debt, he would buy anything else he needed for the final battle.

Even so, he couldn’t get a read on it.

That was how overwhelming it had been.

His first encounter with the Demon King.

His hands and feet had trembled even though they had only faced each other across a magic circle.

’I can’t win.’

The sense of helplessness had been crushing.

He hadn’t felt that way even when entering the 9-star Unique dungeon.

Maybe this was what it would feel like to stand before the boss monster of a 9-star Legendary dungeon.

“Hang in there.”

Warmth wrapped around him from behind.

Her voice was calm, but the frustration of not being able to help was painfully clear.

She was probably praying.

Praying that Kim Buja would come back alive.

“I love you.”

Feeling the desperation in the hands that clasped his, he made a promise.

“Me too. I’ll definitely come back alive. If that’s what it takes to survive, I’ll even abandon the princess and come back.”

A faint chuckle slipped out of her.

At those reassuring words, a smile touched Jeong Seora’s lips.

“That does make me feel good.”

No matter how much she told herself that traveling with the princess was something from another world and that she understood, she couldn’t help but be bothered by it.

She trusted him, so she didn’t say anything, but there was no way words like this wouldn’t make her happy.

As the mood lightened a little, he slipped in a joke.

“So, with that in mind, how about we make tonight a hot one...”

As he stroked the back of her hand, he felt Jeong Seora flinch.

Considering how little time they had to see each other lately—seeing each other maybe once a month—it was a rather provocative line.

It might even feel a bit unfamiliar.

However, the response he got was surprisingly forward.

“Right now?”

He was dumbstruck.

Her slender fingers traced down his chest, turning his light tease into something much heavier.

6.

He didn’t say anything dramatic like, This might be the last time, so let’s get married.

It was just a slightly tougher quest. There was no need to treat it like some life-or-death melodrama.

If anything, spending time with Jeong Seora had put his mind more at ease.

’Even if I fail the quest, there will be someone waiting for me. Don’t let it weigh me down.’

He spent the remaining time diligently farming Gold and making up for the time he had put off with Jeong Seora.

Three months passed in a flash.

[24 hours remain until the start of Chapter 4-2.]

It was a moment that had felt like it would never come.

The battle with the Demon King.

He was worried, but now that it was right in front of him, excitement welled up as well.

This was a boss on a completely different level from any Demon King he had fought in countless games.

If he won, that would truly be the end.

He had no idea what would happen afterward.

But at the very least, there would be no more content this forcibly imposed on him.

“I’m heading out.”

“Kyuu!”

Jeong Seora was the only one to see him off.

He left with Hwangdo at his side.

There was no hesitation.

FLASH!

The moment his vision flickered, a battlefield spread out before his eyes.

* * *

After Kim Buja left to tackle the final Chapter—

—So what do we do now?

—We wait.

—Fly’s leveling speed picked up after he cleared that 9-star, too.

—It’s just that Buja is so dominant. Everyone’s leveling speed went up after the Sandcastle event.

—Yeah. The EXP buffs and the Points people saved up really pushed everyone up a tier.

Those who remained felt the emptiness of his absence.

As they said, there were plenty of other Users whose performances were impressive enough to draw admiration, even if they weren’t Kim Buja.

Several Legendary classes had appeared, pushing the total into the double digits, and there were many players with special classes who were rapidly climbing the ranks and making their presence known.

There were tons of videos of people with insane talent clearing dungeons that outclassed their specs, and the once-conservative player culture had gradually opened up, moving toward a more information-sharing environment.

Even so, everyone felt oddly flat.

They had been spoiled by the high they got from Kim Buja.

—At this point, if it’s not at least a video from Fly, I feel like I’m just going to skip it.

So they all decided to treat this as a break period.

—I’m just going to chill and watch random videos for a while.

—Idiot. This isn’t the time to relax. You should be grinding for money if you want to afford the last episode of the continent story.

—True. Who knows how much he’s going to charge this time?

—Shut up. It’s a video with a kiss scene with the princess. We should be grateful it’s that cheap.

—Yeah. Spoken like a loser.

That was what they had thought.

[Event]

▶ Type: Final Dungeon

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Rewards: Dungeon Clear EXP × 2 / Monster Kill EXP × 2 / High-Grade Item Drop Rate × 4

▷ A gate to the Final Dungeon has opened. Destroy the Final Dungeon.

▷ The difficulty of all dungeons has increased.

▷ All monsters’ stats have increased.

▷ Boss monsters have gained special patterns.

▷ Penalties will be added at fixed intervals.

Until the event that had been quiet for so long suddenly popped up in front of them.

—Oh! An event!

At first, everyone was thrilled.

The rewards looked like nothing more than a hunting event to spice up a boring break.

Bonus EXP for those who grinded hard!

On top of that, the drop rate for high-grade items was quadrupled, giving players who challenged higher dungeons a solid reason to push themselves.

Rapid spec growth.

Players who wanted to focus up and grind flocked to the dungeons.

And before long, they realized the truth.

—F*ck. This is bullshit. What’s with this dungeon difficulty?

—Holy crap. I almost died.

—LOL. It feels like every dungeon just got at least 1.5 times harder.

The gate to the Final Dungeon.

The “benefits” that came with it.

As always, dungeons were not treasure vaults for Users.

They were calamities.