TWKH Ch 4

There were also Caplets. However, due to their 2-minute cooldown and minimal recovery amount, they were typically consumed only in extremely urgent situations, like “I’ll just take this.”

“Take the potion.”

Jehyun said this with a face like he had bitten into something unpleasant, clicking the mouse. Since he was the only one with the microphone on, no one responded. However, he could soon see the party members’ health bars, which had been flickering near empty, slowly rising.

[Party] Contempt: ㅇㅅㅇ.. Feels like murderous intent in the voice

“Focus.”

[Party] Contempt: ㅇㅅㅇ..

[Party] Sangjae: Haha Don’t be like that. I think we can do this.

What’s gonna work? Jehyun, about to reflexively argue with Sangjae’s words, closed his mouth while moving his character irritably.

Bright-eyed skeletons were swinging their swords, chasing the Healer. Jehyun’s health bar was also half depleted, and he didn’t have the capacity to stand still and self-heal. The distance was short, and stopping would mean certain death.

This was already the third attempt after changing the wand’s options. In the first try, he died while healing with 10 minions, and in the second try, he died as soon as 20 minions appeared.

Thanks to the movement speed option, Jehyun could now just drag the minions around without doing anything, like a spell. But healing—that was the problem. As Habaek insisted, to deal consistent damage, the Healer needed to continuously approach the boss and fill the party members’ health, but the skill motion made it impossible to avoid damage.

The Spirit Summoner could heal with spirits, filling party members’ health drop by drop without stopping. But for a priest, that was impossible.

All priest skills, including self-healing, had a praying motion. So if he used the Grace Area (a semicircular healing skill in front of the priest, also called the Grace Domain) while dragging minions, he would die in a pathetic kneeling state.

If the healer dies, the minions immediately rush to the boss, and the tank Sangjae would be instantly decimated by dozens of attacks.

The only moment Jehyun could heal without issues was when using Divine Steps, but that also had its own problems.

Using Divine Steps.

Using Grace Area.

When using the speed boost, the Healer would briefly appear and disappear three steps forward, like moving through folded space in a martial arts novel. Appearing in that spot, he would kneel and pray, filling the party members’ health.

“Hurry up….”

Even though it was just a 0.5-second motion, the crazy skeleton attackers were getting closer by the second, making him anxious.

Jehyun nervously tapped his leg and repeatedly pressed the keyboard. Finally, when the motion ended and the skeleton was about to swing its sword, Jehyun could use the evasion skill to escape.

Using Backstep.

Took 42,137 damage from Ansius’s subordinate.

Took 42,137 damage from Ansius’s subordinate.

Took 42,137 damage from Ansius’s subordinate.

The damage log appeared even though the invincibility of the evasion skill had offset it. Had he not used the evasion skill immediately, he would have died instantly. Jehyun scanned the log with an irritated glance and again started hammering the keyboard.

The Healer would apply a defense reduction debuff to Ansius every 3 seconds, circling around the party members and occasionally healing when an opportunity arose.

Suddenly, a few of Ansius’s subordinates turned and started rushing towards Sangjae.

“3 are coming.”

At Jehyun’s urgent voice, Sangjae immediately applied a self-buff, preparing to meet the subordinates. Immediately after, an annoying chat appeared in the Party chat window.

[Party] Habaek: ㅠㅠ Looks like you’re having trouble controlling aggro?

Ha. Jehyun gritted his teeth and ignored Habaek’s question.

While Divine Steps could be used to heal, that was the problem.

Aggro was cumulative. Basically, aggro decreases over time, but tanks continuously raise their aggro through skills and attacks to maintain their main target status.

Although tank skills have the highest aggro, other class skills also have aggro. Healers were no exception. For priests, the skill with the highest aggro was self-healing when at full health.

To keep Ansius’s subordinates following him, Jehyun needed to continuously use full-health self-healing to maintain their aggro.

But after using Divine Steps, instead of self-healing at full health, he was busy healing party members, causing the Healer’s aggro to gradually decrease. Consequently, subordinates would occasionally be caught by the Warrior’s AoE aggro skill and start running that way.

While a few straying minions would normally be irrelevant to clearing the dungeon, their goal wasn’t just clearing.

In ranking matches, every second spent moving after defeating the boss is counted as points. Rankings can differ by 10 or 20 points in bad luck, so guilds practicing for rankings study the shortest movement routes in dungeons and practice them day and night.

In such a situation, if damage meant to target the boss starts spreading to minions, those 1-2 seconds can result in a 100-200 point difference.

“Sigh….”

Jehyun briefly exhaled and frowned.

If Habaek were in front of him, he would have grabbed his collar and shaken him, asking what he knows. But Habaek wasn’t there, and all before Jehyun was a large monitor.

Jehyun stared at the 17 subordinates still following him, waiting for the speed boost’s cooldown to end. This time, he planned to use self-healing to firmly establish the minions’ aggro.

However, while waiting, the continuous damage to party members caused the health bar to start flickering red, and when the Divine Steps cooldown returned, Jehyun had no choice but to approach the party members and use the Grace Domain again.

“What should I do?” Jehyun was pondering when Habaek suddenly gave an unsolicited briefing, as if on cue.

[Party] Habaek: We have 1 minute and 10 seconds left to reach 75%^^ I think we should be able to finish it in 1 minute. Ready?

[Party] Boss12MoreHours: Let’s go as far as we can first.

[Party] Sangjae: Yeah, let’s see how far we can go.

[Party] Contempt: Yep ㅇㅅㅇ We need to get used to it.

1 minute cut?

While the party members were replying, Jehyun couldn’t take his eyes off the chat window.

Did he just say 1 minute and 10 seconds? The longest time he had seen Ansius reach 75% while leveling up in Neungdong was 1 minute and 20 seconds. That was a fluke, and he couldn’t believe it had been reduced by 10 seconds.

The reason for this significant decrease in time was obvious. It was thanks to Habaek’s ridiculously high damage output compared to the other DPS players who used to rotate with Jehyun and Mayo. It was really frustrating and annoying, but that wasn’t the important part.

He couldn’t understand why Habaek was demanding a 1-minute cut when even 1 minute and 10 seconds was fast.

Since the shaman party dragged Ansius’ minions around, Ansius’ defense would decrease over time, so it was inevitable that the time it took to reach the second, third, and final phases would become shorter and shorter.

But even so, is a 1-minute cut in the first phase possible? Is there really such a huge difference between a shaman and a priest? Jehyun felt his pride hurt as he understood Habaek’s 1-minute standard in terms of a shaman party.

Jehyun bit his lip, stood up, and said, “Let’s go again.”

[Party] Contempt: Yep..

[Party] Habaek: Okay then, since we’ve already messed upㅠㅠ

Habaek had a talent for pissing people off, even with the same words. Feeling the urge to slap Habaek for saying they had already messed up, Jehyun pressed Alt+Tab. Then, he went into voice chat and turned on Sangjae’s muted mic. He wanted to ask Jangji something, but he didn’t want to hear Habaek’s voice.

“Sangjae, I turned on your mic. Can you talk now?”

Sangjae→ Oh! Yeah, yeah. Can you hear me?

“Yes, I can hear you. I have a question.”

Unlike what he expected, Sangjae’s voice was calmer than he thought.

He said he was Habaek’s brother. What was that guy like? Jehyun tried to recall the annoying voice he had heard when he had secretly joined Habaek’s party with his sub-character, but he gave up.

That wasn’t important. Shaking off those random thoughts, Jehyun asked Sangjae, “When you were in a shaman party in Jangji, how long did it take to clear the first phase?”

Sangjae→ First phase cut… Ansius? Oh, how long was it? I didn’t check in my party.

“Then who did? Did Tangsuyuk do it?”

[Party] Habaek: I did.

[Party] Habaek: Shaman cut, first phase 1 minute 13 seconds, second phase 1 minute 4 seconds, third phase 52 seconds, last 40 seconds^^

Ah, Jehyun glared at Habaek’s chat. So, it took about 3 minutes and 49 seconds to defeat Ansius in a shaman party.

Since the priest party continuously attacked the minions, there was no significant change in Ansius’ defense, so it took almost a consistent 1 minute and 20 seconds for each phase. So it would take about 4 minutes for the first three phases, and since Ansius would enter a groggy state after the shield in the last phase, the time would be significantly reduced to about 1 minute.

3 minutes and 49 seconds versus 5 minutes.

It was a difference of more than a minute. Of course, since the second and final bosses had more debuffs and higher attack power, the priest party had an advantage, so the total clear time with the shaman was not that different, but the fact that there was a difference of more than a minute in the first boss…

It was a moment when he instantly understood why leveling up in Mayorca was so difficult. Since there was already a big difference in the first boss, even one mistake would make it impossible to recover the already widened score gap.

[Party] Sangjae: Shall we take a short break?

[Party] Contempt: Yep.

[Party] Boss12MoreHours: Then I’ll go to the warehouse.

Jehyun revived his character, who had been killed by the minions, and entered the dungeon again. He wandered in front of Ansius, deep in thought, and eventually sat down on the floor alone and asked Habaek through general chat, out of sheer disbelief.

Healer: Why are you asking me for a 1-minute cut when the shaman party took 1 minute and 13 seconds?

Healer: 1. Because you don’t know that 1 minute is shorter than 1 minute and 13 seconds.

Healer: 2. I don’t know, I just want to see you get pissed off.

Healer: Which one is it?

Jehyun hadn’t been timing himself, thinking it was just practice and therefore meaningless. But Habaek had just said they’d achieved a 1-minute 10-second clear time. It wasn’t even 1 minute 20 seconds, and it was 3 seconds faster than the shaman party, so he couldn’t understand why they had to aim for 1 minute. The only thing he could think of was that Habaek was trying to annoy him.

That’s when Habaek burst out laughing.

Habaek: LOL

Habaek: The answer is: I thought you could do a 1-minute clear^^?

“This guy’s got to be kidding me…”

Jehyun muttered, forgetting that he had left his mic on, and some of the party members reacted.

[Party] Contempt: 8ㅅ8.. Me?

[Party] Boss12MoreHours: Why so intense? I’ll do my bestㅠㅠㅠ

Habaek: It’s no joke..ㅠ

Healer: If you’re going to say that again, just shut up.

Habaek: You did a really good job gathering the mobs just now, but do you know why we only got 1 minute 10 seconds?

Habaek said something, but Jehyun just scoffed.

Healer: I don’t know, and I know you’re obsessed with this game.

A 1 minute 10 second clear was the top-level, no matter how you looked at it. Jehyun was confident that there were few parties in the entire server that could achieve such a clear time. Yet, Habaek, who called it “only,” was a crazy guy who could never be satisfied.

However, as always, Jehyun and Habaek were used to ignoring each other. Habaek ignored Jehyun’s sarcasm and started writing a dissertation on his own.

Habaek: Honestly, the gathering was good and the healing was good too.

Habaek: But when your HP gets low, both Boss12MoreHours and Contempt get nervous and feel a bit distracted?

Healer: You’re blaming others like this.

Habaek: But it’s not Guild Master’s fault, and since both of you are used to taking damage as a priest, your movement is lacking.

Habaek: Since the healing is a bit lacking, you need to predict patterns and move out of the area of effect attacks while dealing damage appropriately, but when you were in a party in Neungdong, you just stood still and dealt damage, right?

Habaek: That’s why both of you lose too much HP, and when the HP bar blinks, you avoid attacks until the healing comes, causing a loss of damage.

Healer: Habaek (specializing in: Caplet armchair expert)

Habaek: If we just fix that, I think we can easily get a 1-minute clear^^

Healer: Habaek (specializing in: dreaming of getting first place in the game by clearing the first boss of the dungeon in 1 minute (no one cares))

Habaek: Hearing the word ‘bad game’ from a hardcore gamer like youㅠㅠ Do you like self-deprecation? Is that your preference?;

Healer: Bad game? Don’t cross the line.

He didn’t like hearing someone else call the game bad, even if he did it himself. Jehyun scoffed at Habaek’s remark and moved his character far away from him.

Shin Jehyun crossed his arms, chewed on a candy, and scanned the chat log. He mocked Habaek for being an armchair expert on Ansius, but annoyingly, there was some truth to it.

Jehyun quietly moved the mouse and opened the damage meter (a program that measures the damage of Party/Raid members in real time). When he clicked on the detailed view to see the graph, it became even clearer that what Habaek said was correct.

As the boss battle began, the damage dealing bar rose to its peak and then gradually decreased. Then, after the recovery amount increased sharply, the damage dealing bar went up and down again, and it repeated.

Boss12MoreHours and Contempt had only raided Mayorca’s dungeon with Jehyun. So they were used to the priest’s ample healing and didn’t bother to consider the boss’ area of effect attacks like Habaek did. Since Habaek was in a shaman party, he was used to finding the safest place with the least amount of dodging, as dealing damage while taking hits was impossible.

That’s why Habaek lost less HP.

Jehyun recalled how Habaek had maintained half of his HP even when all the party members’ HP bars were flickering, and he curled his lips in displeasure.

Guild member SpellChecker logged in.

[Guild] SpellChecker: Hello.

[Guild] Contempt: Welcome.. 으-<-<

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: Welcome~

[Guild] Healer: Hello

[Guild] Healer: Contempt is arrogantly lying on his back;

[Guild] Contempt: ㅇㅅㅠ.. ㅇ-<-스

[Guild] Contempt: Can you step on me under your feet?ㅠㅅㅠ I’m tired now.

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: That sucks.

[Guild] Sangjae: ㅋㅋㅋ Is it that hard?

[Guild] Sangjae: Healer, how about switching the tank to a swordsman since Matgom is here?

I was greeting the Jangji Guild member SpellChecker when Sangjae suddenly suggested a party member change. Jehyun hesitated and then spoke to Sangjae, who was listening to the voice chat.

“I’ve never done the dungeon with a swordsman.”

Sangjae→ Oh really? Since swordsmen’s aggro isn’t as wide, it’ll be easier for you to manage the mob aggro compared to me.

“But isn’t the second and last boss difficult for swordsmen?”

Sangjae→ That’s true, but Matgom is really good. He has good synergy with priests and I think we can increase our overall damage. How about we try running a normal mode instead of a raid while we have a break?

“Hmm…”

Jehyun hesitated. He had just gotten used to Sangjae’s playstyle, so changing the tank suddenly wasn’t very appealing.

Unlike plate-wearing paladin tanks, swordsmen were dodge-based tanks in light armor. Paladins blocked attacks with shields, while swordsmen relied on the invincibility frames from their dodge skills to negate boss attacks.

Due to the server’s terrible lag, time-stealers were considered the most difficult class to play, and swordsmen were the second hardest. To avoid all boss attacks with dodges, players had to have perfect timing, and their light armor made them quite squishy for a tank.

Incidentally, in all the time Shin Jehyun had played Caplet, he had never met a “good” swordsman. He had only seen pseudo-masochists who used dodges inconsistently and got hit by everything, so he couldn’t gauge how good Sangjae was referring to. And even though SpellChecker was undoubtedly the number one swordsman in the rankings, Jehyun didn’t have high expectations.

As if reading his mind, Habaek, who was standing next to Jehyun, spoke in the guild chat.

[Guild] Habaek: Matgom is good. Better than Sangjae^^

[Guild] Sangjae: Lol.. It’s annoying having a younger brother like that, but it’s true that Matgom is better than me.

Habaek: Let’s run a normal mode with Matgom? Since the range indicators will be there, you and Contempt can learn the boss’s range.

Then, in a private chat that only Jehyun could hear, he said something like a fox. He was deliberately speaking so that Jehyun and Contempt would interpret his words as “you both suck at positioning.”

It was really annoying, but Jehyun felt a sudden urge to do as Habaek said. After seeing the damage meter, Jehyun’s mind was racing, and he thought that if Contempt and Boss12MoreHours learned the exact range of Ansius’ attacks as Habaek had suggested, it wouldn’t be that difficult to achieve a 1-minute clear.

After some deliberation, Jehyun finally opened his mouth.

“Okay, let’s do that. Let’s drop the raid and do a normal run.”

The normal mode of Mayorca’s dungeon had minions that dealt 1/4 of the damage of those in the raid mode. That should be enough practice for healing while gathering mobs.

Since they hadn’t cleared the first boss yet, the dungeon cooldown hadn’t reset. – In Caplet, the dungeon re-entry time starts after the first named mob is defeated. – As the party leader, Jehyun immediately pressed the button to reset the dungeon and went outside.

[Guild] SpellChecker: No one asked my opinion.

[Guild] Habaek: So, are you not coming?

[Guild] SpellChecker: I’m coming.

Sangjae has left the party. Invited SpellChecker to the Party. SpellChecker has joined the Party.

[Party] SpellChecker: Hello. Is it a normal mode of the dungeon?

[Party] Healer: Yes, come in.

Jehyun pressed the entrance button and entered the normal mode of Mayorca’s dungeon. Habaek arrived shortly after, followed by Contempt, Boss12MoreHours, and SpellChecker.

“Matgom, do you want to lead? Or shall I?”

Jehyun was comfortable leading in raids, but for normal dungeons, it didn’t really matter. Since tanks usually lead, he asked SpellChecker, and he immediately typed in the chat.

[Party] SpellChecker: No, I don’t. The priest should lead the group.

[Party] Contempt: Is he always like this? ㅇㅅㅇ.. This is rare.

Jehyun tilted his head in confusion as well. When he had met SpellChecker on the battlefield, he had definitely been chatty. But now, Matgom seemed to be putting on an act.

[Party] SpellChecker: We are indiscriminately using foreign languages in our daily lives. I am someone who aims for proper language usage.

[Party] Contempt: Oh.. what would you call Caplet then? There’s no alternative term ;ㅅ;

[Party] SpellChecker: Let’s depart.

[Party] Contempt: ㅠㅅㅠ Excuse me.. can you hear me?

However, it was a concept that perfectly matched his ID. Jehyun, who had smiled at SpellChecker’s silence, soon cleared his throat and asked:

“Yes, I’m about to go, but Matgom, are you busy? If it’s okay, can I practice mob pulling? I just want to try one run. Since this is my first time as a swordsman, the first attempt might be a bit chaotic.”

[Party] SpellChecker: Yes, that’s fine. Please do what’s comfortable for the party leader.

Party leader… Jehyun nodded, savoring that unfamiliar word.

“Yes, thank you. I’ll go right away.”

As soon as those words ended, a swordsman character wearing a red robe over light armor charged towards Ansius. Unlike the warrior who enters by jumping with both feet, it was an extremely quick assault.

Being a normal dungeon, Ansius’s health was steadily decreasing, and minions were almost continuously summoned. Jehyun dragged dozens of minions while monitoring the Party.

Certainly, as Habaek had said, it was visibly clear that the boss and Contempt were taking more damage compared to Habaek. This would normally be a non-issue when doing priest and pole damage, but with him pulling mobs, damage loss was inevitable.

However, Jehyun silently completed his first attempt. Unlike the burning dungeon, the normal dungeon’s low damage allowed him to survive even while dragging 100 minions, and aside from massive lag, pulling 100 minions wasn’t particularly difficult as long as healing opportunities decreased.

“Let’s wipe and go again.”

When Ansius’s health reached 5%, Jehyun signaled, and party members were struck down by the minions one by one.

When the five party members had regrouped in front of Ansius, Jehyun spoke to the boss and Contempt.

* * *

“Hey, you nerd. Live in reality, live in reality.”

Ignoring Seo Eunjae’s words, Jehyun clicked the mouse with an indifferent expression. After closing the blue victory window, Jehyun immediately queued up for another priest ranking match. Although the score would be reset soon due to server integration, he couldn’t afford to lose the top spot until then.

Jehyun confirmed the 34-minute matchmaking wait time, turned up the speaker volume, and stood up. There was no one in the current battlefield with a ranking similar to Jehyun’s, so he had to wait for someone to log in.

“Is the keyboard working well? I bought these keycaps for you, right?”

“Yeah.”

As soon as Jehyun stood up, Seo Eunjae approached his desk like a hyena. He touched the keycaps he had bought, felt the office chair that cost 2 million won, and then sat down on it.

“Wow, this is comfortable.”

“Don’t put anything dirty on it.”

Jehyun glared at Seo Eunjae in annoyance as he spoke like an old man. Ignoring him, Seo Eunjae placed his hands on the WASD keys, moved Jehyun’s character, and opened the inventory to check how much money was in it.

Jehyun drank some water, put the cup down, and returned to his seat. He kicked Seo Eunjae out and sat back down in his chair. Confirming that the matchmaking time hadn’t decreased, he looked up at Seo Eunjae and asked,

“Why did you come?”

“…Hey. Aren’t you picking up Jehwan’s calls?”

“Shin Jehwan?”

Jehyun frowned at the sudden mention of the name. With a reluctant smile, Jehyun raised an eyebrow and asked Seo Eunjae again,

“What did Shin Jehwan say to you?”

“Yeah. Since you’re not picking up, he tells me. Answer the phone, you bastard. People might think you’re a celebrity.”

“What did he say?”

“He only says what he wants to say.”

“Shin Jehwan said that to you?”

“You! You’re the one who’s like that!”

Seo Eunjae shouted in frustration at Jehyun’s indifferent response and approached him.

Shin Jehyun’s computer was on a desk two meters wide, but there wasn’t a single textbook on it. Seo Eunjae, sitting on it, scolded him, saying, “Is this a college student’s desk?”

“Aren’t you curious about what he said?”

“Tell me quickly. Tell me and go home. I have to play ranking matches.”

“It’s about Jehee.”

“…….”

Jehyun frowned at Seo Eunjae’s sly smile. What about Jehee? He looked up with a questioning gaze, but Seo Eunjae only smiled and offered a deal.

“Let’s go eat. I’ll tell you there.”

“Cut the crap.”

“Come to the front door. I’ll give you one minute.”

However, just like Jehyun, Seo Eunjae was not one to compromise. He grabbed his padded jacket from the sofa armrest, gave a firm response, and headed straight for the front door. Watching his friend put on his shoes, Jehyun cursed and canceled the matchmaking.

* * *

“Sunbae, do you play games by any chance?”

What? Jehyun, heavily drunk, lifted his head. Across from Shin Jehyun, who was resting his chin on the table and touching his flushed cheeks, sat the ever-reliable junior, Ha Baekyung.

I liked the hairstyle that seemed carefully styled yet naturally swept back. It was a hairstyle that Jehyun could never dare to pull off, completely mismatched with his impression.

Would I look good if I had a face like hers to sweep my hair back like that? Jehyun scanned Baekyung’s face with a slight frown.

Overall, it was the kind of face older people would want as a potential son-in-law. A neat forehead, straight eyebrows, a nose bridge stretching out in a clean straight line. A mouth always on the verge of smiling and a fairly thick jawline. In other words, a physique seemingly steeped in male hormones.

But surprisingly, Ha Baekyung’s skin was fair, and his hair was a warm brown. Thanks to this, despite his large build and sharp features, Baekyung had a soft impression. This too could be described as the kind of physiognomy that would be popular with women.

…Anyway, he’s fucking handsome.

Jehyun, who had been staring at Ha Baekyung, thought this. He only realized he had spoken these words out loud after Baekyung burst out laughing.

“Sunbae is handsome too.”

“…….”

At this unexpected remark, Jehyun blankly stared at Baekyung before quickly realizing the situation and covering his face with both hands. I’m drunk, fuck. Anticipating that his memory would soon black out, he let out a short sigh and leaned back against the chair’s backrest.

Five hours earlier, Shin Jehyun had been led out of his home by Seo Eunjae and had an early meal at a tteokbokki restaurant. Seo Eunjae, having some conscience, had eaten food that Jehyun liked.

The story about his younger brother that he heard during the meal was nothing special. He had expected as much, but the news was so plain that he wanted to kick Seo Eunjae’s shin. It was simply that Jehyun’s young sister, Shin Jehee, wanted to see him.

After hearing that, Jehyun made a phone call to her after a long time and promised to watch a movie together next weekend.

Afterward, instead of going home, he was dragged to a bar by Seo Eunjae. Having a drink or two of beer, his mood lifted and he started drinking soju, when suddenly the door opened and Ha Baekyung and his colleagues entered.

‘Fucking bastard.’

Thinking Seo Eunjae had made the seating arrangements without a word, he immediately cursed, but Seo Eunjae looked surprised too. And rightly so – new students had no reason to be at school before the semester had even started.

So when he asked, it turned out they had stopped by for a freshmen event at the humanities building and gathered with acquaintances. Explaining the situation while looking with sparkling eyes, they couldn’t just leave these young ones and go home.

The two eventually sat with the freshmen, and the drinking session that started then had now become the third round at 3 AM.

“Here’s some ice water.”

“Yeah… thanks.”

Jehyun took the glass of water Baekyung handed him. Drinking the water in one shot with the clattering ice, and trying to cool the heat on his cheeks with the cold glass, he saw Baekyung sitting in front of him, staring directly at him.

Ha Baekyung had the same face as when they first met. His slightly smiling expression was kind, and he was still polite and handsome. Jehyun, contrary to himself, gazed at the neat, well-defined face before speaking.

“Anyway… what did you just say?”

He seemed to have been asked something just now, but couldn’t remember clearly. At that question, Baekyung went “Oh” and, folding his eyes in a smile, asked Jehyun:

“Do you play any games? Earlier, Seo Eunjae Sunbae seemed to be talking about some kind of spending? Something like that.”

“Games…?”

Seo Eunjae, you bastard. Seems like he’s unleashed his mouth again while drunk.

Jehyun, however, shrugged as if he didn’t know. Staring intently at Baekyung’s eyes that looked pure and innocent, he answered:

“I don’t remember what Seo Eunjae said. Well, just take it lightly.”

“What game are you playing?”

His questioning face was quite serious. Though he knew it was his misunderstanding, the voice strangely felt familiar. Do handsome guys’ voices all sound similar? Maybe I heard it on TV.

Jehyun, maintaining eye contact with Baekyung while propping his chin, picked up the drink in front of him and took a sip of lemon soju before speaking:

“Raterre.”

Raterre was a game famous enough that even people not interested in gaming would have heard about it through news at least once. If you answer Caplet, people would ask “What’s that?” But if you say Raterre, 95 out of 100 people would go “Ah” and nod.

Jehyun always answered Raterre when someone asked if he played any games. It wasn’t because he was embarrassed of Caplet, but to prevent potential arguments with people who might ask if that game still existed.

“Oh, Raterre?”

Ha Baekyung’s reaction wasn’t much different. Tilting his head slightly and asking that way, he raised one corner of his mouth and swept his hair back with his hand. Lowering his eyes in that state, he soon picked up his glass and asked Jehyun again:

“Asian server? I play Raterre too.”

The tricky part about mentioning Raterre as a cover was that because the game was so famous, many people played it. Jehyun let out a forced laugh and deliberately frowned, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, what was it? Kentaros, right?”

There was a set response in these situations. Mentioning the name of a notoriously unpopulated non-PVP server in Raterre, which operated servers across different continents. Usually, people’s interest in Jehyun would then die down. Most people thought Jehyun, who inhabited this boring server, was a passive player.

Ha Baekyung also seemed disappointed, lowering his eyebrows at Jehyun’s answer.

“Kentaros? Sunbae, do you dislike PVP?”

“Yeah, I absolutely hate PVP… Fighting with people you don’t even know, trash-talking, isn’t that so childish? I’m not even good at that sort of thing.”

“I see.”

Baekyung nodded, raising his eyebrows at the seemingly prepared response. Then, with a slight smile, he added:

“You look like you’d be good at games, surprisingly.”

?

If this were a game, he would have probably just typed a single question mark in the chat window. It was that absurd of a statement.

Though he was reluctant to admit it as a true gamer, the social perception of gamers wasn’t particularly good. Among men, saying someone looks like they’d be good at games was almost like a declaration of war.

“I look like I’d be good at games?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

When he asked again, wondering if he’d misheard, Baekyung nodded with a clear laugh.

Though he had a bit of a ruffian-like impression, Jehyun was aware that he was handsome. So he couldn’t help but think, “Is this guy trying to pick a fight with me?”

Shin Jehyun stared intently at Baekyung, who was still smiling with his eyes folded, and returned the compliment:

“Is that so. You look like you’d be really good at games too. Ha ha ha. Looking at you, you seem like a total gaming nerd, though that’s probably not true.”

“Oh, really? Thank you for the compliment.”

Baekyung smiled pleasantly at Jehyun’s comment. The slight suspicion that had risen began to subside.

The fact that Baekyung laughed at the term “gaming nerd” suggested he didn’t know what it meant. Well, it was strange for such a handsome, social guy to be knowledgeable about games. He probably just tried Raterre because it was famous. Maybe he was interpreting “gaming nerd” as being technically skilled?

Jehyun, relaxing his guard at Baekyung’s innocent appearance, smiled and asked:

“So how long have you been playing Raterre? Have you played for a while?”

“Actually, I just started. So I don’t know much yet. What about you, Sunbae?”

“…Me too.”

Just as he had suspected. Jehyun’s guess was correct.

Still, it was unexpected. He hadn’t thought such a clean-cut guy would play Raterre. It was probably because the game was so famous, but Jehyun felt a bit jealous that Raterre could draw in social butterflies, unlike Caplet, which was full of antisocial misfits.

…No, Caplet, you’re an amazing game. Let’s not compare. Jehyun glanced at Baekyung, who was sipping water in front of him.

Though this was only their second meeting, Ha Baekyung was a junior who had completely won Jehyun’s heart. From the glimpses of his personality and way of speaking to his politeness, there was nothing not to like. The fact that such a Baekyung played games suddenly made him curious.

This guy… what would he be like on a keyboard? Jehyun, with his inhibitions lowered by alcohol, thought about how nice it would be to have such an obedient newbie in a Guild and cautiously spoke:

“…Don’t you play any games other than Raterre? Like AOS games such as ‘Legendary Battle’ or ‘Surveillance Network’, or… what was it? Caplet? I heard there’s something like that.”

This should be vague enough, right? At his somewhat mixed question, Ha Baekyung slightly raised the corner of his mouth and looked at Jehyun.

“Caplet?”

“Yeah, wasn’t there something like that…? It was really popular when I was a freshman. I’m not playing now, but I played it briefly back then… Do kids these days not know about it?”

Jehyun’s expression was incredibly natural. It was like parents asking their children about a trendy item from 10 years ago that suddenly popped into their head.

It might seem a bit old-fashioned, but that’s precisely what would make it seem natural. Jehyun thought smugly and observed Baekyung’s reaction. And Baekyung’s response was…

“Sunbae, who plays such a dead game these days.”

He had hit Jehyun’s sore spot. The derogatory term “dead game” about Caplet made Jehyun stop moving.

No matter how much Jehyun hated Ahn Yiyoung and cursed the game dozens of times a day, he loved Caplet. Although the management was trash, it had serious lag, and updates were terrible, to Jehyun, there was no game more fun than Caplet.

But to call it a completely dead game? Jehyun bit his lip momentarily, then responded to Baekyung a beat late.

“Baekyung, isn’t it harsh to call it a dead game? Dozens, hundreds of people probably worked hard to create this game. To call it a dead game… You should use more considerate language…”

“You’re right, that was a bit harsh. But isn’t it actually dead?”

Though he had tried to speak softly, Ha Baekyung lowered his eyebrows as if acknowledging his mistake, then once again provoked Jehyun.

“It’s not dead. It’s probably still in service, right?”

Jehyun, who couldn’t tolerate spreading false rumors, countered:

“It’s just a figurative expression. We say a game is dead if it can’t even make the top 50 in PC room rankings.”

“Do you have to play games only in PC rooms? Many people play at home. Determining a game’s success or failure by PC room occupancy is an incredibly narrow-minded perspective.”

“There’s a saying about seeing the trees for the forest. Other games show similar patterns in PC room occupancy and player numbers. It’s unlikely Caplet would be the only exception. With such user numbers, isn’t ‘dead’ the only word that could describe Caplet?”

“Why not describe it differently? The users are rare. Players are as scarce as beans in a drought. Caplet users have a certain rarity. In other words, they’re numerous. Didn’t you see it that way? You use such negative language expressions.”

“…….”

At Jehyun’s irritated retort, Ha Baekyung suddenly closed his mouth and then burst into laughter. Ha ha, his clear laughter rang in Jehyun’s ears.

He’s laughing? Is this funny?

Jehyun narrowed his eyes and glared at Ha Baekyung. Just as he was about to say “Take back calling it a dead game” and forgetting that he was drunk and making a scene, Seo Eunjae returned with some juniors.

“What’s so funny? You two have been in a great mood since earlier. Is someone hitting on someone?”

Shin Jehyun’s alcohol-saturated mind was quite unstable. His attention quickly shifted to Seo Eunjae. They say gays only see gays, and Seo Eunjae’s constant nonsense seemed suspicious. Jehyun narrowed his eyes and suspiciously looked at Seo Eunjae before responding:

“Obviously me. Your turn is next.”

“You don’t know your place, Shin Jehyun. If you want to hit on me, take a number.”

Jehyun’s positivity was met with mockery by Seo Eunjae. Somewhat drunk, the trivial conversation seemed amusing. What ticket number does Seo Eunjae have? While Jehyun was giggling, Baekyung, who was also laughing at their conversation, chimed in.

“Sunbae, there won’t be a next time. If you date me, we have to get married. I’m a premarital chastity advocate.”

Jehyun, who was half out of his mind with his chin propped up, looked back at Baekyung with a smile in his eyes. As they say, old habits die hard – his social butterfly tendencies from his freshman year that nearly got him addicted to alcohol were starting to emerge.

Jehyun looked at Baekyung, who naturally accepted his joke, and stretched his lips into a smile.

“Oh, really? That won’t do. That’s a bit burdensome.”

“Hey, damn it. If it’s Baekyung, you should be saying thank you. What nonsense are you talking about burden?”

“Is that so? Oh, right. That’s too generous.”

Jehyun was laughing softly, with Ha Baekyung’s previous comments about Caplet being completely forgotten. He seemed immersed in the continuous funny conversation, giggling.

Then he said to Baekyung in a light voice:

“Call me if you want to take me as a hyung. Got it?”

“Jehyun, can I throw up?”

Seo Eunjae’s counter-question made everyone laugh again. Shin Jehyun, with the boundaries between reason and unreason completely blurred, was letting out a bizarre laugh.

“Ah, damn, is this guy drunk? Hey guys, Jehyun’s lost his memory tonight. Since Jehyun’s paying for drinks tonight, eat a lot, okay?”

“Wooow! I’m still hungry!”

Realizing that Jehyun was completely drunk, Seo Eunjae took out Jehyun’s card at the opportune moment. The drinking session continued for a long time, and at some point, Jehyun completely blacked out and forgot the memories of that night.

* * *

The semester was about to start. Shin Jehyun, who had successfully completed course registration with Seo Eunjae, was doing a work quest while preparing for the server integration that would happen with the start of the semester.

Damn server lag. Jehyun, who was cursing Caplet out of habit, suddenly looked at the corner of the chat screen where a message had appeared.

[Guild] Contempt: I went to the other server using a blood relative ID, and it seems like Hell and Four Heavenly Kings are just passing 50,000 guild points. Aren’t our people better?

[Guild] Habaek: Both have server field raids and are monopolizing, their activity is maxed out so the points are high. When they come to our server, we’ll max out, so the points won’t differ much.

[Guild] Habaek: Think of it as stealing 30,000 points from them.

[Guild] Habaek: The problem is raising alt characters, but everyone raises at least one per week anyway.

[Guild] Healer: Yeah, no need to worry much. Our points were low because we couldn’t even capture fields so far.

[Guild] Healer: We’ll win if someone who’s really good at stealing gets field points.

[Guild] Habaek: Thanks for the compliment? Vice Guild Master^^

[Guild] Healer: Why are you scared when there’s a genuine game character thief?

[Guild] Habaek: Haha, feeling embarrassed being told that by a legend of the game character world?

Could I laugh like that in front of someone about to hit me? Jehyun was staring at Habaek’s chat irritably when suddenly a strange sense of déjà vu made him furrow his brow.

It seemed like something similar had happened before. Someone who had accepted an unbelievable compliment as if it were genuine… who was it?

But no matter how much he thought, no face came to mind. Was he mistaking Habaek for someone? Jehyun stared at the black-robed character standing next to him before shaking his head to clear his thoughts and checked the time.

8:25 PM. The field raid monster would respawn soon.

[Guild] Healer: Come to the fortress at 8:30

[Guild] Healer: Fire resistance potion is mandatory

[Guild] SpellChecker: Understood.

[Guild] Contempt: Yesㅇ-<-<..

[Guild] Healer: But how are there only 4 people online after merging the Guild?

[Guild] Contempt: We need to gather more.. 8ㅅ8..

[Guild] Habaek: We’ll see after the server merger^^

[Guild] Healer: Then aren’t we going to lose the first page of the rankings?

[Guild] Healer: Just thinking about it makes me angry

Maintaining Guild ranking #1 for 4 weeks would allow them to plant their Guild flag in the Guild House Hall of Fame. In front of the Hall of Fame, there was a history book where the names of Guilds that had been ranked #1 for more than 4 weeks were recorded.

In the history book of the Countess server, there was humorously only one Guild name registered. It was Guild DK, which existed in the server’s early days.

After DK, no Guild had ever ascended to the Hall of Fame. For over 4 years, Jangji and Neungdong had been constantly competing, resulting in no Guild maintaining rankings for more than 4 weeks. This instantly explained how much these two Guilds had been checking each other.

To get on the first page of the Hall of Fame, we’ll need to recruit new members, right? Jehyun thought, and clicked the alt tab to enter the Caplet Vendor with the screen minimized.

38 new posts. The game’s community board was bustling lately. With the news of Flex’s cast acquisition confirmed, new users were now flowing into Caplet.

Hi, I’m a newbie. Which server should I go to? Is Countess okay?

No response.

Comments(4)

Anonymous1: Countess Party takes 1 hour to form; go to Collin or Malberick.

└ Oh, is that the city server? Thanks.

Anonymous2: Yeah, Collin/Malberick usually takes 20-30 mins.

└ ..? Difference between town and county? Are there people? How do I form a Party?

Of course, the Countess server was not even a minimal consideration for newbies.

Asking on the community board would only get responses calling it a “shit server”, and even if a newbie created a level 1 character, seeing the empty starting point would make them silently delete the character. In this gloomy Countess server, no newbies could be found.

While new users were flowing into other servers, the low-level zones of Countess still contained only veteran players raising alt characters to increase Guild points. The Guild master had posted a recruitment notice, but there was no response.

[Detailed Guild Recruitment Post from Countess Guild, highlighting top-ranking players like Healer, Habaek, Contempt, SpellChecker, Sangjae, and BeoseotTangsuYuk, and listing recruitment conditions]

Naturally, the response was not particularly good.

Comments(15)

Anonymous1: Oh! I hear there are crazy gamers who are merging with random Guilds during server integration!

Anonymous2: I’m seriously curious what they’re thinking… How can they suddenly think about merging Guilds after spending 4 years constantly fighting each other? What the hell, when I sometimes see their battle chat, they weren’t even friends, so how can they think about merging Guilds???

└ Gamers’ minds can’t be understood by normal people.

└ No, I’m a game player, and they seem to be on a different level.

└ It’s fucking hilarious. But they’ve always been fighting in battlefields and rankings while secretly raising alt characters and running dungeons together.

└ That’s what you have to do to play in a shit server.

Anonymous3: Casts really messed up this time.

└ Yeah, Yiyoung needs to fix this.

└ These are the monsters Ahn Yiyoung created.

Anonymous4: Will we even want to run dungeons together? Amazing.

Anonymous5: It’s not even incomprehensible lol. Imagine if China, Japan, and Korea suddenly decided to merge, or if North and South Korea picked sides.

└ Damn, this doesn’t make any sense either lol.

└ I really didn’t want to understand gamer logic, but now I kind of get it…

Anonymous6: The enemy Guild’s name is total crap;;

└ For real, what kind of name is that? Is this the Countess Alumni Association? lol