He Is That Guy

Yesterday, I cleared the final difficulty of Keyrunt Dungeon—Hell mode—without any problems and managed to hit level 220. That’s five levels in four days. Pretty good, honestly.

Well, makes sense. We cleared each difficulty at least twice, sometimes three times. Five levels from that sounds about right. Still, compared to last week when I was stuck at 215 for a whole damn week, this pace wasn’t bad at all.
‘The next raid dungeon’s Seltern, huh.’
Since we cleared all of Keyrunt, including Hell, there was no point running it again. I already picked up all the Seltern-exclusive quests too.

Same as Keyrunt, Seltern’s got Normal, Hard, then Hell difficulty. If I clear all that, I’ll hit level 230 easy.
I thought quietly, weighing the raid party’s skills and our clear speed.
‘…They’re good, I’ll give them that.’

Yeah, gotta admit it when it’s true. If it weren’t for CottonCandyFox and the others, I wouldn’t have hit 220 this fast.
And those items I got from CottonCandyFox? Already over five pieces by now. It’s like they figured out I won’t accept expensive gear, so they hand-pick decent items that are just hard enough to refuse. Sneaky.
Not like I just took the stuff from the start either. By the third item, I was like, “Yeah, nah, I’ll buy my own, thanks.”

Then CottonCandyFox went all serious mode and said, “Do you think raids are a joke, Sleepy-oppa?” Spouting bullshit like that. After that, I just shut up and took the gear.
“Hmph…”
I switched zones over to the raid area where Seltern Dungeon was and casually browsed the raid recruitment board. No harm in checking the vibe ahead of time.

[Seltern/4-run/2Tank-3DPS-2Support/MaxLevelOnly] 6/7
[ㅅㄷ/10-run/NoMidQuit/2-3-2] 7/7
[PitaNormal/3-run/NoTank-3DPS-3Support/MaxLevelOnly] 6/6
[Seltern/Quick2Go/2Tank-3DPS-2Support] 7/7
[Pita/Hell3run/3-3-3/MaxLevelRequired] 9/9
Since only Seltern and Pita Dungeons were available in this area, there weren’t that many recruit posts up.
We’ll probably need another tank for Seltern. Rubbing my chin, I opened up the messages I got from CottonCandyFox earlier.

[CottonCandyFox: Sleepy-oppa]
[CottonCandyFox: Today’s raid might be roughㅠㅅㅠ!]
[CottonCandyFox: Something came up suddenly]
[CottonCandyFox: Looks like it’ll take three hours ;ㅡ;]
[CottonCandyFox: Let’s do Seltern together tomorrow!]
[ImSoSleepy: ok ok]
[CottonCandyFox: Don’t join another party..]
[CottonCandyFox: Sowwyㅜㅡㅜ]
[ImSoSleepy: it’s fine it’s fine]
[CottonCandyFox: sniffㅜㅡㅜ]
[CottonCandyFox: See you tomorrow..ㅜ.ㅜ]
Seeing them log off right after that, guess they really did get busy.
Or maybe Yoo Chae had something to handle on his main account. He is the master of the server’s top guild, after all. Wouldn’t be weird if he’s busy.

‘But seriously… how long’s he planning to keep up this netkama act?’
New raid dungeon means voice chat’s basically mandatory.
Thinking back, I definitely messed up. When I added Yoo Chae’s main as a friend last time, I should’ve pinned him down and grilled him properly. If I had, I wouldn’t be doubting CottonCandyFox’s behavior right now.
“No clue…”

Crossing my arms, I leaned back into my chair. Sure, Yoo Chae was mostly at fault for all the crap that happened between us, but I got plenty of free stuff out of it too, so it wasn’t a total loss.
To be honest… the way CottonCandyFox has been grinding raids harder than anyone these past few days? It’s chipped away at the wall I built up. Just a little.
Not that I’ve forgiven him for plastering my username all over the server, but I did get a proper apology…

And raiding together, I could tell—the guy wasn’t pulling those stunts purely out of malice.
Thinking back, the whole thing was weird from the start. Him coming after me over my username? Sure, with his psycho personality, I can see that. But the sudden attitude change after? Kinda sketchy.
Back then, I was too pissed, lost the 1v1, wasn’t thinking straight… But looking at it now? Yeah, there’s a lot that doesn’t add up.

“…Whatever.”
I groaned for a while, then sighed and pushed my bangs back. Racking my brain alone won’t mean jack unless I corner Yoo Chae and get real answers.
Even if I confront CottonCandyFox, telling him to quit the netkama bullshit won’t work. Worse, sticking my nose in might cost me an easy EXP raid party.

‘Screw it. Just focus on max leveling.’
After all the crap Yoo Chae dragged me through, I deserve to hitch a ride on the level-up bus, don’t I?
Shaking off my hesitation, I straightened up. Why’d I even start Zenoris? To test out the new Dark Mage class, obviously.

I gotta hit max level to unlock Dark Mage. Technically, I haven’t even played the damn class yet.
Closing CottonCandyFox’s chat, I moved to another area. Raid’s canceled, but that doesn’t mean there’s zero quests worth doing.
Still had about five left—the daily quests that pile up bonuses and EXP the more you grind them, plus the extra quests that only pop for non-max-level players.

I quickly knocked out the dailies, then hopped over to the East Continent for the bonus quests. Gotta hunt down Campa monsters that only spawn on those islands.
Guess the player count’s low there, ‘cause even though it wasn’t that late, only two other players showed up on the map besides me.
Looks like they’re here for the bonus quests too. Ignoring them, I was about to go hunt Campa when a global chat popped up.

[Global] Ganbok: Hold up a sec
[Global] Ganbok: Told you it’s him
[Global] Ganbok: Hey
[Global] Ganbok: ImSoSleepyㅋㅋ
I was about to pull out my staff and start hunting, but the chat made me frown. What now.
[Global] ImSoSleepy: ?
[Global] Ganbok: You’re that guy, right?
[Global] Ganbok: Fought those EarlyEvening bastardsㅋㅋ

EarlyEvening bastards? I closed my inventory window and looked at the screen properly. Above the username Ganbok floated a bright guild tag: .
‘Ah, Fever.’
I remembered what Kim Daeseok told me. That guild that brawls with EarlyEvening two, three times a year like clockwork. Ranked third on the server, I think.

[Global] aoko1: ㅋㅋㅋ it’s really him
[Global] aoko1: Hey bro
The guy next to Ganbok was also rocking a Fever guild tag. Narrowing my eyes, I stared at the chat.
‘These assholes… bad vibe.’

Years of gaming experience screamed at me—don’t trust the guys in front of me.
[Global] ImSoSleepy: ?
I casually replied and quietly booted up my video recording software. Hitting record, my Zenoris screen started capturing everything in real-time.

[Global] aoko1: That Global chat meltdown
[Global] aoko1: That wasn’t staged? It was real?ㅋ
[Global] aoko1: Dead serious??
[Global] aoko1: ??? for real?
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Yeah
[Global] Ganbok: That shit was hilariousㅋㅋ
[Global] Ganbok: Always wanted to meet youㅋㅋ
[Global] ImSoSleepy: ?ㅋㅋ

Watching the recording timer tick, I thought blankly—so what, then.
[Global] Ganbok: You probably know
[Global] Ganbok: That Yoo Chae son of a bitch has been a loud asshole forever
[Global] Ganbok: Lots of people hate himㅋㅋ
[Global] aoko1: Trueㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Global] aoko1: Our guild’s full of victims like you
[Global] Ganbok: Dude’s a total menace

[Global] ImSoSleepy: ㅋㅋㅋ
Mouth running again, huh. Sighing, I tilted my head. Honestly, this was annoying. If they didn’t have anything worthwhile to say, I’d rather just go hunt.
[Global] Ganbok: Hey
[Global] Ganbok: Still getting kicked from guilds?
[Global] Ganbok: Guess that’s why you solo?
[Global] aoko1: EarlyEvening screwed you over, makes senseㅋ
[Global] Ganbok: Wanna join our guild?ㅋㅋ
[Global] Ganbok: Newbies just show up, that’s it~

Unexpected offer. I blinked, caught off guard.
‘Join their guild?’
And not just any guild—the server’s third-ranked, infamous-for-hating-EarlyEvening Fever guild?

I hesitated for a moment, then answered.
[Global] ImSoSleepy: ㅋㅋㅋ
[Global] ImSoSleepy: nah I’m good
Joining a guild? Tempting. Especially Fever—they’d keep EarlyEvening off my back. But I refused for three reasons.

First, I don’t trust these two clowns one bit. You meet some random player, chat a few lines, and suddenly they’re inviting you to a top-three guild? That easy? Bullshit.
Second, no way I’m joining a guild just to spite EarlyEvening or Yoo Chae. I barely know these guys. It’s a recipe for more drama.
Third, I don’t deal with trash personalities like that.

The more I thought about it, the shadier the offer felt. My blunt rejection clearly threw them off.
[Global] aoko1: ??
[Global] Ganbok: You’re not coming?
[Global] aoko1: ?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Yeah, not going
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Done with the trash talk?
[Global] ImSoSleepy: I’m gonna go hunt now
[Global] Ganbok: ㅋㅋㅋ

No point wasting more time. I turned away, heading for Campa, but suddenly a blue flash zipped toward my character at high speed.
“What the hell.”
My body reacted faster than my brain. I dodged lightly, sidestepping the attack, then swung the camera to look behind me.

[Global] aoko1: Whoa, fuck
[Global] aoko1: Lucky ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) dodge, huh?ㅋㅋ
The two of them had drawn their weapons—staff and spear.
‘…They just attacked?’

Because I rejected their guild invite?
Ridiculous. I let out a stunned laugh.