SANN | Chapter 1.2

Gureum sighed. This would mean the third phase onward was uncharted territory. Despite being skilled at control, it took him time to adapt to new bosses, so the uncertainty weighed heavily on him.

While mechanically grinding in the hunting field, his eyes remained glued to the strategy videos. Even in phase one, the patterns were intricate and deadly. Instant-death attacks began appearing early, and surviving with the 10-death limit seemed like a monumental task.

“Still, I need to study hard…”

Without Chaesyongsyong’s insistence, Gureum wouldn’t have had the chance to experience such an end-tier boss in his lifetime. Even without sharing the loot, the individual rewards alone were lucrative enough to make the challenge worthwhile.

With gratitude in his heart, Gureum stayed up all night, watching and rewatching the strategy videos to prepare.

The day Gureum had dreaded—the challenge in Practice Mode—had arrived. From the moment he woke up, his stomach had been twisted in knots, an unrelenting tension gripping him all day. Normally, his routine was straightforward: prepare breakfast for his father, quickly eat before he woke up, and then retreat to his room to hide like he didn’t exist. But today, his anxiety was so intense that he even skipped his usual one meal of the day.

Gureum nervously bit his lips over and over. He had been logged into That’s Code for quite a while but couldn’t bring himself to join the voice channel. His eyes darted anxiously across the screen. 8:45 PM. The meeting time was 9 PM.

“Ah, what do I do….”

All the party members, except for Gureum and Chaesyongsyong, were already in the voice channel chatting away. Gureum felt like he was on the verge of tears. If he said he couldn’t turn on his microphone, they’d surely ask why, and they wouldn’t be pleased with his response. Part of him wanted to feign illness and back out entirely.

His highly introverted nature brought forth a flood of avoidance thoughts. Shaking his head furiously, he forced himself to muster some courage and joined the voice channel. A soft doroong sound indicated someone had entered, but an x remained over the microphone icon next to his name.

“Huh? Who just joined?”

“Who is it?”

“Oh, it’s Heize. Hi, Heize!”

“But their mic’s off?”

As expected, questions immediately popped up about why she hadn’t turned on her mic. Gureum’s trembling hands began typing quickly.

[hazeee: My parents are home, so I can’t use my micㅠㅠ Sorryㅠㅠ… I’ll do my best to brief you via chat!]

“Ohhh, parents. Wow, still a baby, huh?”

“What? Then we won’t have proper support briefings?”

“Hm, I see….”

King-ga’s voice carried a note of dissatisfaction. Even though he had anticipated this reaction, being directly called out still brought tears to his eyes. Why was he so scared of people? It wasn’t even a big deal, yet his heart pounded painfully, and he hated himself for it.

To be honest, if the party kicked him out now, he couldn’t argue. In endgame boss fights like this, it was essential for support classes to use their mic.

The support player had to verbally guide the team through cooldowns for invincibility skills, timings for major damage bursts, and buff cooldowns. A support without a mic was a glaring flaw in any party. Because of this, Gureum had developed incredible typing speed, allowing him to brief even during most hard-level bosses. But this was his first challenge against Maze Queen, and it would be far more demanding.

“Can’t you talk, even just a little? Hmm, what should we do….”

King-ga sounded troubled when another doroong rang out, signaling a new arrival in the voice channel. It was Chaesyongsyong.

“Syoongha~”

“Hey, everyone.”

A low, smooth voice echoed through the channel, a tone so pleasant that it was no wonder people always complimented it.

“Whoa, this is my first time hearing Chaesyong’s voice. The rumors are true—it’s godly.”

“Oh, that voice! It could turn an angel into a simp.”

Hong Jalla teased 1st Base 2nd Frame mercilessly.

“Hey, Chaesyong, Heize can’t use his mic. What should we do?”

“Hm? Heize can’t use his mic ?”

Gureum felt a tear roll down his cheek. The attention focused on him was suffocating.

[hazeee: Yesㅠㅠ My parents are homeㅠㅠ I’m so sorry… I’m really, really sorry…]

“Ah, it happens. Heize, your typing’s fast, so just type everything out.”

“Yeah, we’ll manage. Everyone, keep an eye on party chat.”

“Right, right. Let’s be understanding—it’s our job as adults.”

“Isn’t that going to be a bit inconvenient, though….”

At 1st Base 2nd Frame’s grumble, Chaesyongsyong’s character, who had been jumping around in the Boss Waiting Room, suddenly froze.

[Party] Chaesyongsyong: ㅎㅎ?

“Haruittil.”

“Yes?”

“Your username’s misspelling bothers me more.”

“Ah… It’s part of my aesthetic…”

[Party] Miss Cutie Hee: Puhahahahaㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] Hong Jalla: LOLㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’ve never seen Chaesyong roast someone beforeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] King-ga: Ahahaha no seriouslyㅋㅋㅋㅋ It is kinda annoyingㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

The That’s Code voice chat erupted with laughter.

“It’s just an aesthetic choice… I graduated with a degree in Korean Literature!”

“Who asked?”

“Oh, come on, sis…”

“Who’s your sis, huh?”

Hong Jalla’s character dramatically vomited in front of 1st Base 2nd Frame, whose lips clamped shut like a clam.

[Party] King-ga: Okay, okay, let’s settle downㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] King-ga: Let’s prep buffs and get ready to enter.

For some reason, Gureum felt like even the voice chatters were communicating like they were typing in chat. Their maturity and understanding made his ears turn red with embarrassment. Thankfully, it seemed he wouldn’t be kicked out of the party after all.

[Party] hazeee: Everyone, gather near me!

[Party] hazeee: I’ll cast Angel Howling before we go in!

[Party] Chaesyongsyong: Sure thing~ ^^

Angel Howling was a buff skill that granted each party member an extra life. If a character died while the buff was active, the death wouldn’t count towards the Death Count; instead, the buff would simply disappear. It had a 60-minute cooldown, so it was best to use it beforehand.

“If everyone’s taken their doping potions and applied personal buffs, gather on the portal.”

As King-ga spoke, the characters began to assemble on the portal. Gureum quickly drank his remaining potions and joined them.

“Looks like everyone’s ready. Let’s go.”

[Party] Miss Cutie Hee: Okay~

[Party] 1st Base 2nd Frame: Let’s go!

[Party] Hong Jalla: Let’s do this.

“Once the Chain Boss Mob spawns, apply Chain immediately, Heize.”

Chaesyongsyong directed. Chain was a skill exclusive to the Red Medic class, temporarily immobilizing the boss for 15 seconds. This brief window was crucial for the party’s damage dealers to unleash their full force.

[Party] hazeee: Got it!! I’ll follow up with a 2-second Stun right after!

[Party] Chaesyongsyong: Good, good. Nice job ^^b

[Party] King-ga: Great ㅇㅅㅇb

The screen briefly dimmed before transitioning to the grand interior of a cathedral, where the Maze Queen made her dramatic entrance.

“So you dare disturb my slumber.”

“This time, I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget.”

With her short monologue complete, the first phase began.

As soon as the boss landed, Gureum cast Chain, locking the boss in place. The party’s top-tier rankers unleashed their attacks, and the first phase’s HP bar rapidly depleted.

“Wow…”

Suddenly, Gureum realized the sheer power of the damage output that Rankers possessed. He had seen Rankers during his runs against hard bosses a few times, but this was his first time being part of a party composed solely of Rankers.

“Half the health is already gone….”

As the 15-second duration of the Chain skill ended, and he immediately followed it up with a Stun, Gureum felt that the damage he inflicted on the boss mob was embarrassingly small. While he was doing just about 50 billion damage, the other dealers in the party were marking hundreds of billions in damage in succession.

“Damn, the stun’s over.”

“Crazy, more than half of the HP in Phase 1 is gone?”

As soon as he spoke, the Maze Queen was preparing to unleash a one-hit kill skill. It was one of the patterns that appeared when Phase 1’s HP was reduced below 50 percent. There were three ways to survive this situation: If your job has an Invincible Skill, use it, survive once with the ‘Angel Howling’ buff from Red Medic, or lastly, use Red Medic’s instant Guard skill to only take 80% of the damage and immediately consume a potion to survive.

“This time…”

[Party] hazeee: I’ll cast Howling next and use Guard in the following turn.

“Okay.”

“Alright.”

No sooner had they spoken than the Maze Queen swung her fan. Among the five dealers, Chaesyongsyong and Hong Jalla, who had Invincible Skills, immediately activated them and dodged the one-hit kill skill.

“Utility garbage jobs couldn’t even scratch it after Howling was used, right?”

Hong Jalla mocked the three dealers whose buffs had been stripped.

“Hong unni, I saw you almost died because you missed the timing for your invincible skill.”

“Heize still has sharp eyes…”

“Ah, it’s not Heize, it’s Miss Cutie Hee!”

“Same difference…”

Hong Jalla teased Miss Cutie Hee as they bickered, and all the while, the Maze Queen was reducing the party members’ damage by throwing gems. The Maze Queen was a boss that didn’t allow infinite use of HP/MP potions, having a 10-second cooldown for each potion. The amount of HP reduced varied with the size of the gems, with damage increments of 30%, 50%, and 70% based on the size, so they needed to be dodged carefully.

Though the damage wasn’t as high as when they had chained the boss, the party members continued their assault, reducing Phase 1’s HP to about 70% when the Maze Queen raised her fan again to unleash another one-hit kill pattern. Gureum quickly typed in the chat.

[Party] hazeee: I’ll pull off Guard.

“Alright.”

“Ah, please, I’m at half HP!”

Since Guard reduced the damage taken by 80%, it was beneficial to use a potion in advance to ensure HP was full when the one-hit skill was activated. 1st Base 2nd Frame screamed as he was caught in a 10-second potion cooldown.

Not everyone could be saved. Eventually, a tombstone fell over the character icon of 1st Base 2nd Frame. King-ga also had a tombstone fall over him; he had survived using Guard but was hit by a falling gem. A 30-second timer was given before revival, so the two dead players were quite vocal.

[Party] King-ga: Lol, hit by a gem o_Oa;;

[Party] 1st Base 2nd Frame: Damn, just 1 second left on my potion cooldown s1b…!!

Gureum immediately felt disheartened. He had wanted to time his Guard perfectly, but being his first attempt, he hadn’t got the hang of it and felt he had made a mistake. He was about to apologize when he started typing.

“1st Base 2nd Frame. Did you major in Korean Language and Literature?”

“What?”

“You should’ve been clear from the start. ‘The potion cooldown has a few seconds left, can you time it right?’ Then Heize would have understood and tried to time it.”

“Ah, I wasn’t blaming Heize. I was just frustrated…”

Gureum was taken aback by Chaesyongsyong’s unexpected reaction.

“Maybe you’re acting thoughtlessly because you’re annoyed, but from a support class’s perspective, it sounds like you’re blaming yourself, doesn’t it?”

“…Sorry, I didn’t think that far.”

The atmosphere among the party members quickly soured. Gureum naturally thought it was his fault and was about to apologize habitually, but Chaesyongsyong blamed 1st Base 2nd Frame instead of Gureum for speaking without thinking.

The feeling was strange. Gureum had never tried to find fault with others in his life. As he pondered what to type in chat while the gem damage dropped a tombstone over hazeee’s head as well.

“Ah…. dead…”

He sighed briefly and quickly apologized while the revival cooldown was ticking.

[Party] hazeee: Sorry…. I was spacing outㅠㅠ

[Party] Miss Cutie Hee: Heize didn’t do anything wrong, it’s okay >. <

[Party] Hong Jalla: It’s understandable to panic kekekekekekekekekekekekeke

[Party] King-ga: Seriously kekekeke right though, let’s all be careful with what we say ㅠ

“Heize, if you felt bad, I’m sorry.”

1st Base 2nd Frame apologized. It had been a long time since Gureum had heard an apology directed at him, and he didn’t know how to respond.

[Party] hazeee: Noㅠㅠㅠㅠ Next time, I’ll try to fill up the timing and use Guard!!

“Hey, no. Like Chae Syong hyung said, I was reckless. Please play comfortably.”

“You always call Chae Syong hyung, hyung, following him strangely.”

“He’s usually strong against the weak.”

“Wow, the party atmosphere is so warm, so warm!”