SRPG | Chapter 2.6

For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this. Hwanyoung desperately ignored his intuition and absentmindedly clicked his mouse, just waiting for the raid to be over.

It didn’t take long for Marbas’s HP to reach zero.

[Party] Gudok: !!
[Party] Gudok: Gudok landed the final hit!!! (✧∇✧)
[Party] Gudok: Slave-nim, watching from the heavens!
[Party] Gudok: I dedicate this last hit to you!! (✧∇✧)

Gudok immediately received a response.

[Party] lIlllIIl: Master…
[Party] lIlllIIl: I am still in the cave.
[Party] lIlllIIl: Stop acting like I ascended to the afterlife ㅡㅡ

<System: You have successfully defeated ‘Marbas.’>

Marbas, who had been rampaging as if he were about to bring the entire cave down, suddenly froze.

His deafening cries weakened, fading into a mere whisper.

His ice wings began to crumble. The once-dark cave brightened, and shimmering white-blue snowflakes drifted gently from the sky.

Wingless, Marbas transformed into pure white ice.

Hwanyoung gave the final command.

[Party] lIlllIIl: Anyone just hit Marbas with a basic attack, and the raid will end.

As if he had been waiting for this, Gudok threw a white rose at Marbas.

CRACK.

The frozen Marbas split in half upon impact. Then, his body melted into water and seeped into the ground.

<System: The raid has ended.>
<System: Beginning raid rewards calculation.>

***

The raid against Marbas was over.

The four-legged beast that had taken over the lowest floor of Snow Ice Cave had melted into water and disappeared, leaving only the victorious players behind.

“I should revive too….”

Hwanyoung lazily clicked the revive button. His vampire character, which had crumbled into ashes earlier, reappeared in the middle of the cave.

The moment he revived, a flood of raid participation experience points poured in. Not quite as much as a full clear reward, but still a massive amount.

“I leveled up six times in one go.”

If he had survived until the end, he could’ve leveled up even more. A bit of a shame.

“Still, this is a crazy amount.”

If he had grinded those six levels the normal way, it would’ve taken at least two hours.

[Party] lIlllIIl: Good work, everyone.
[Party] lIlllIIl: Thanks to you guys, I got a ton of EXP.

Hwanyoung used the Greet emote. His vampire character placed one hand behind his back and elegantly lowered the other, performing a noble’s bow.

[Party] Gudok: SLAVE-NIM IS BACK!! (✧∇✧)

A fluffy raccoon beastkin excitedly wagged his thick tail as he ran toward the vampire.

Hwanyoung gave another refined bow in Gudok’s direction.

[Party] lIlllIIl: It’s good to see you again, Master.
[Party] lIlllIIl: Have you been well in my absence?

[Party] Gudok: OOOOHHHH!!!!
[Party] Gudok: Gudok did AMAZING in the raid!!
[Party] Gudok: Praise me!! (/ω＼)

Hwanyoung reached out and used the Head Pat emote on Gudok.

Since their character height difference was quite significant, the vampire naturally patted the raccoon beastkin’s head without any awkward positioning.

[Party] Gudok: Gudok had so much fun thanks to Slave-nim! (✧∇✧)
[Party] lIlllIIl: I’m glad it suited your tastes.
[Party] Gudok: Yes! Gudok is happy! (๑>ω<๑)
[Party] lIlllIIl: Master is adorable.
[Party] Gudok: YES!!! (˶˙ᵕ˙˶)
[Party] Gudok: Gudok is cute!! (/ω＼)

At that moment, a spotted goat beastkin holding a staff popped up with a speech bubble over his head.

[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: …Cute? Who?
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: …Wait, you don’t mean Gudok, right?
[Party] lIlllIIl: Isn’t my Master cute?

This time, Hwanyoung answered without hesitation.

A raccoon beastkin was cute, wasn’t it? The round ears were cute, the fluffy tail was cute—it was just objectively adorable.

[Party] Gudok: !(˶˙ᵕ˙˶)!
[Party] Gudok: Gudok is cute!!

[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: Mniagaasdgdfj Ughhh UUUUEEEEGH

Eco Cup Discount 300 started gagging like someone who had just eaten 80 pieces of sushi in one sitting.

…Why was he reacting like that? Raccoons are cute.

[Party] lIlllIIl: Aren’t raccoons cute?
[Party] lIlllIIl: Their tails are fluffy, and their ears are round.

[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: Raccoons are cute.
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: But putting Gudok in the same category as a raccoon? Lol, have some shame.
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: LMAO, well, I mean, even cockroaches find mates, so… LOL. But still, calling Gudok cute is just too much.

Ah, so that’s what he meant.

He wasn’t denying that raccoons were cute—he was just saying Gudok wasn’t one of them.

‘But… isn’t Gudok kind of cute too?’

Hwanyoung suddenly recalled something Kim Hyunwoo had told him before—that his brain short-circuited whenever he saw bizarre people.

“…Gudok is definitely on the cute end of the attention-seekers I’ve met.”

Hwanyoung responded to Eco Cup Discount 300 with a bit more certainty.

[Party] lIlllIIl: I think Master is a pretty cute attention-seeker.

[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: ??? /??///?
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: WhAT DID YOU JUST SAY??

Eco Cup Discount 300 seemed genuinely shaken by Hwanyoung’s statement. He even started gagging again, just like before.

[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: UEEEGGHGGHGHGHGHH
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: HE JUST CALLED GUDOK A CUTE ATTENTION-SEEKER. WHAT THE HELL.
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: NO, SERIOUSLY, WHAT KIND OF WEIRDOS HAVE YOU BEEN DEALING WITH THAT YOU THINK GUDOK IS CUTE?!?? GUWEEEGH

[Party] lIlllIIl: Hmm… I’m not sure…
[Party] lIlllIIl: I don’t think they were that strange, though…

[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: Ha, wow, Gudok is seriously fascinating.
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: Where the hell did you even find someone this weird? LOL. It’s like you picked up someone exactly like yourself.

[Party] Gudok: Don’t insult Slave-nim!! (>д<)
[Party] Gudok: Slave-nim isn’t a weird person!!

Hwanyoung found his Master’s loyalty quite touching, so he played along.

[Party] lIlllIIl: Master is absolutely right.
[Party] lIlllIIl: I am a normal, well-adjusted player.
[Party] lIlllIIl: Please refrain from insulting me, and just insult Master instead.

[Party] Gudok: ?
[Party] Gudok: ???…? ??

[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: AHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAH OKAY, GOT IT
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: Vampire-nim, I completely understand what kind of person you are now.

Eco Cup Discount 300 laughed it off and backed off.

Gudok, however, wasn’t so amused—he started throwing daggers and cards at him in retaliation.

Thunk.

Thunk.

Daggers embedded themselves in Eco Cup Discount 300’s body. Normally, party members’ attacks wouldn’t deal damage to each other, but…

[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: YOU CRAZY BASTARD, DID YOU ADD ME TO YOUR NEMESIS LIST AGAIN?!?

“Oh, Enemy Talisman (宿敵符). That thing’s still on the server, huh?”

Enemy Talisman was a consumable item released about four years ago, during the era when Aeer Online was going through a phase of bizarre, inexplicable experiments.

If I remember correctly, it was a super rare drop from the Thousand-Year Nemesis random box.

The effect of Enemy Talisman was simple but ridiculously strong.

If Player A wrote Player B’s name on the Enemy Talisman, from that moment on, Player A could deal damage to Player B no matter what state B was in.

In other words, even if A and B were in the same party, A could still attack B. Even if B was in a combat-restricted field, as long as the Enemy Talisman was active, A could attack B.

“Seriously, what were they thinking when they put something like that in a random box…?”

And that wasn’t all. If Player A attacked Player B after registering their name on the Enemy Talisman, the damage was doubled.

Because of that, even though it was a one-time-use item, Enemy Talisman was insanely expensive.

“And they just went and used that crazy expensive thing for something like this.”

Even before Hwanyoung quit the game, Enemy Talisman had almost completely disappeared from the market. Naturally, each piece cost a fortune.

Well, if you’re gonna be a clout chaser, you might as well go all out. Hwanyoung just let it slide. Not like it was his money anyway.

[Party] Gudok: (๑ᵔ⩊ᵔ๑)
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: Ah, what the hell.
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: Ah.
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: AAAAAAAAAKDNV;IENR;MIAD!!!!!!!!!!32DM@#$123
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: IT HURTS SO F***ING BAD LOL Enemy Talisman is insane.
[Party] Gudok: (๑ᵔ⩊ᵔ๑) (๑ᵔ⩊ᵔ๑) (๑ᵔ⩊ᵔ๑) (๑ᵔ⩊ᵔ๑) (๑ᵔ⩊ᵔ๑) (๑ᵔ⩊ᵔ๑) (๑ᵔ⩊ᵔ๑)

Eco Cup Discount 300 quickly left the party.

[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: You crazy bastard, hold on a sec.
[Party] Eco Cup Discount 300: FFS, I need to turn on the ‘allow guild member attacks’ option LOL.

A moment later, Eco Cup Discount 300 started attacking Gudok with all his might. The underground floor of Snow Ice Cave instantly turned into a battlefield.

[Party] Gudok: Slave-nim, hide behind Gudok! ( >д<)
[Party] Gudok: The vile and wicked Eco Cup shall not lay a hand on Slave-nim! Gudok shall protect you!!!
[Party] lIlllIIl: Uh… well… thanks…

Hwanyoung made sure not to get caught up in the chaos and took a step back, moving next to Hyoppang.

As soon as he approached, the massive rabbit beastman lowered his head slightly to look at him.

[Party] lIlllIIl: Hyoppang-nim.
[Party] Hyoppang: Yes?
[Party] lIlllIIl: I have something to ask. Do you have a moment?
[Party] Hyoppang: Yeah, go ahead.

Hwanyoung hesitated briefly before typing.

How much should he sugarcoat it? No, wait.

This kind of thing was actually better asked directly.

[Party] lIlllIIl: So, um.
[Party] lIlllIIl: Why did you two follow Gudok to Snow Ice Cave?
[Party] lIlllIIl: Do you have something to say to me…?

It made sense that Gudok had come looking for Hwanyoung.

Gudok was a clout chaser and a walking meme. Plus, he had even sent a letter saying he’d get revenge.

‘Eco Cup Discount 300 is clearly just here because Hyoppang dragged him along, so whatever.’

But Hyoppang?

There wasn’t any particular history between them.

‘Did I miss something?’

No matter how much he thought about it, nothing came to mind.

There had to be a reason, though. Hyoppang didn’t seem like the type to be a clout chaser or a thrill-seeker. He didn’t seem like the kind of person who would show up just to witness Gudok’s so-called revenge firsthand, either.

Hwanyoung waited for Hyoppang’s answer.

[Party] Hyoppang: First of all.
[Party] Hyoppang: If you felt uncomfortable about me sneaking in with Invisibility, I apologize.

Hyoppang used the ‘apology’ emote. The huge rabbit beastman bowed his head slightly toward the vampire.

Hwanyoung waved a hand, meaning it was fine.

It wasn’t a big deal—anyone who played as a dark magician used Invisibility all the time anyway.

[Party] Hyoppang: I swear I didn’t follow you for any bad reason.
[Party] Hyoppang: I just… wondered what kind of person you were.
[Party] Hyoppang: To be hanging out with someone like Gudok.
[Party] Hyoppang: I’m the guild master, so I figured I should at least check.
[Party] lIlllIIl: Ah…

“Ah”—the word office workers used when they had nothing else to say.

And really, Hwanyoung didn’t have much of a response.

“So that guild actually follows their members around to check who they’re hanging out with?”

That thought lasted about a second before he dismissed it.

If Hyoppang was that much of a control freak, he wouldn’t have let Gudok mess around with that whole Slave Bread nonsense in the first place.

[Party] Hyoppang: I know, I know. That sounded kinda weird.
[Party] Hyoppang: But our guild is preparing for something right now, so we have to be extra careful.

[General] Eco Cup Discount 300: LOL Gudok actually fucking killed me in the end. Enemy Talisman is seriously brutal.
[General] Eco Cup Discount 300: Ugh… I’m off to respawn in town… fml…

Eco Cup Discount mumbled in general chat. It looked like the winner of the duel was Gudok. The goat beastman who had collapsed on the ground disappeared to respawn in the village.

Right after, Gudok, victorious from the duel, returned with an air of triumph and wedged himself between Hyoppang and Hwanyoung.

[Party] Gudok: (ꐦ ¯−¯) This is all because of that Gerras First Clear!!!

The word ‘Gerras’ itself was unfamiliar. But judging by the ‘First Clear’ tagged at the end, it seemed to be the name of a dungeon or a boss monster.

[Party] Gudok: Hyoppang told me to shut my mouth until he gets Gerras First Clear!!
[Party] Gudok: So all this time, Gudok hasn’t been able to do anything and has been stuck playing that boring-ass Aeer every single day!! ( >д<)