Now just past its second year since release, the game was riding a steady upward climb in popularity. The game that sent Serity Games’ stock soaring sky-high had a very clear set of strengths.
Graphics so beautiful they looked like they should make your computer scream. Yet despite that, it was so well-optimized that even a relatively crappy machine could run it smoothly. A stable server. High freedom of play that let you enjoy the game however you wanted. And enough content to satisfy players of every kind.
Aurora wasn’t doing anything revolutionarily different. But it was undeniably a well-crafted game that smoothed out most of the things gamers hated.
And 『rainfall』 had been playing Aurora since the very first day of its beta.
Even the username 『rainfall』 said it all. A simple, clean, single word that you’d never get unless you were there from day one. Proof that he was, by every possible definition, a stagnant-water player.
Once upon a time, he was obsessed with Aurora. Obsessed to the point he nearly wrecked his life over it. He’d played from morning to night until he collapsed sick. Aurora had been his daily routine—his life.
But no matter how pretty a flower is, stare at it long enough and you’ll get tired of it.
These days, 『rainfall』 no longer had that same burning passion. Of course, that didn’t mean he’d lost interest enough to quit the game he’d been grinding more faithfully than eating three meals a day. So he kept logging in out of habit, just killing time.
Recently, 『rainfall』 had stopped actually playing the game. Instead, he’d been passing time doing something else—not official content, but his own self-made content.
What he chose was helping newbies—those players who had just started the game.
『rainfall』 had always liked helping people. He believed that good deeds come back to you. For someone like him, helping newbies was the perfect self-made minigame.
Giving job advice to clueless new players. Guiding their skill trees. Helping them clear beginner dungeons. Handing out small items—nothing excessive.
After a while, 『rainfall』’s friend list had become filled with newbies.
Looking over that long list of new players made him proud. Watching them grow felt like… filling a compendium with new skills. It was surprisingly satisfying. He even wondered if this was how middle-aged people felt when they moved to farms to grow crops.
Sometimes, he did miss the days when he’d thrown himself into the game with wild enthusiasm. But overall, he was content.
And then—just when 『rainfall』 was enjoying this peaceful Aurora life—the disaster struck out of nowhere.
The village players usually arrived at right when they were about to lose their newbie status was Erens.
Erens was packed with beginner-related quests. It was basically a newbie sanctuary. And into that sanctuary, he appeared.
kk1234.
A username that looked like someone got annoyed after seeing “This name is already taken” eighteen times, slammed the keyboard, and hit enter in defeat.
But the character attached to that sloppy name was anything but sloppy.
Flowing golden hair. A coat of pure white cloth embroidered with delicate gold patterns. And in his hand, a dazzling golden sword.
Even someone who had just started the game that day could tell—the man’s character reeked of money.
To 『rainfall』, it was even more obvious just how deeply this bastard had thrown his life into Aurora.
Goddess Set ×5, Mythic Set ×3… Holy Reinforcement at least +16.
The most eye-catching among them was the Tricia Mythic Relic. Those so-called mythic pieces only dropped in the Tricia Temple—the dungeon infamous for its brutal difficulty. And mythic gear was bind-on-pickup. Meaning you couldn’t trade it. You couldn’t buy it no matter how much money you had.
The drop rate was abysmal. And the gear wasn’t even class-fixed—it was random. Which made completing a full set nearly impossible.
In summary: flashy avatar, high-enhanced weapon, gear requiring over a hundred hours of farming—kk1234 was a hardcore player who had no business being in a newbie area.
At first, 『rainfall』 assumed kk1234 had come to help someone. Like he did.
But what kk1234 actually did completely shattered 『rainfall』’s expectations.
He swung that radiant golden sword down on an innocent newbie standing right beside him.
It wasn’t even a skill—just a normal attack. But the difference between a hardcore no-lifer and a freshly made character was bigger than the gap between an adult and a child.
So of course the newbie died instantly and collapsed to the ground.
[General] lashhhh: ??
[General] CatInk: Why are you attacking people?
Newbies who suddenly dropped dead filled the chat with question marks. A few got angry, but the lunatic who had sold his soul to the game didn’t stop the massacre.
In Aurora, when you get PK’d, you lose a bit of EXP and become a ghost for a while—unable to play. But players under level 20 had no penalties.
Sure, those who died could restart without losing anything, but…
[General] Bekapoo: what is this ♡♡
Even if you don’t lose anything, nobody likes getting randomly beaten to death.
『rainfall』 had no intention of sitting back and watching kk1234 wreak havoc on innocent people.
[General] 『rainfall』: Excuse me
[General] kk1234: ?
Even as he answered half-heartedly, kk1234 kept beating people.
[General] 『rainfall』: Stop it
[General] kk1234: ??
[General] 『rainfall』: I said stop hitting them
[General] kk1234: Why should I care?
[General] 『rainfall』: Why are you attacking newbies who aren’t doing anything?
[General] kk1234: cuz I want to
[General] 『rainfall』: There’s no point in attacking beginner players
[General] 『rainfall』: You don’t gain anything
[General] kk1234: ?
[General] kk1234: obviously not
[General] kk1234: this is community service
[General] 『rainfall』: …What?
[General] kk1234: a ranker is spending time more valuable than ur whole gamelife to lift my finger and cut you ppl down ♡♡
[General] kk1234: you should feel honored
This was a complete lunatic.
There’s a saying that the only cure for a rabid dog is a beating.
『rainfall』 didn’t believe violence solved anything. Violence was just violence.
But the thing in front of him wasn’t a normal person—it was a rabid animal that needed a club to the head. If he filed a report and waited, more innocent newbies would die in the meantime.
The moment he made the decision, he acted instantly.
『rainfall』 [Well of Rapport]
『rainfall』 [Mana Shield]
『rainfall』 [Sunburst]
The moment the buffs landed, 『rainfall』 used Sunburst, his fastest, closest-range damage skill.
Truthfully, he didn’t have much PvP experience. He was fine fighting programmed monsters, but fighting characters with people behind them didn’t suit him.
Still, he’d played Aurora dutifully for two years. At the very least, he should’ve been able to hit the guy hard enough to make him run.
But—
kk1234 slipped away from the strike effortlessly with a simple Backstep, as if he saw it coming.
[General] kk1234: lol
kk1234 [Chains of Judgment]
Chains of Judgment—a Holy Knight skill that immobilizes a target for several seconds. 『rainfall』 dodged the strike, but a beam of light slammed down exactly where he landed, as though predicted. He staggered—just a tiny opening.
kk1234 [Charge]
kk1234 [Holy Light]
kk1234 [Barrier of Sanctity]
kk1234 [Holy Spear]
kk1234 [Sacred Blade Aylas]
A perfect, fluid chain of skills.
『rainfall』 tried to counter whenever he could, but it was useless. kk1234 toyed with him completely. Every time 『rainfall』 thought he saw an opening, the man would strike him again—as if mocking him.
It took less than two minutes for 『rainfall』 to be beaten into the ground.
<‘kk1234’ has defeated ‘『rainfall』’!>
<‘kk1234’ laughs at ‘『rainfall』’.>
Like a finishing blow, the motion message stabbed in. Followed by a flood of ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ.
[General] kk1234: ah lol
[General] kk1234: why’d a scrub pick a fight?
[General] kk1234: thought u were fuckin strong lol
[General] kk1234: if ur weak
[General] kk1234: dont
[General] kk1234: act tough ㅋㅋ
After spamming chat one-sidedly, kk1234 turned and left. Whether from satisfaction or boredom, it was a clean retreat.
The lunatic was gone.
What remained in the field—peaceful just ten minutes ago—were confused newbies and 『rainfall』, who had just suffered a humiliating defeat.
[Whisper] BlackOptical: You don’t know kk1234?
[Whisper] BlackOptical: dude’s famous for being trash
[Whisper] BlackOptical: just think of it as getting bitten by a rabid dog lol
A mix of laughter and sympathy from a stranger.
And as 『rainfall』—Han Yesung—looked down at his character lying in the field, he slowly lifted his hands off the keyboard.
“…kk1234.”
Muttering the username of the guy who’d just flattened him, a cold smile crept across Yesung’s lips.