This was one of the rare matches where things felt easy, and they’d won by a landslide—but it was such an expected victory that no one was surprised.
The surprise came from something else. As soon as the match ended and the results screen popped up, Limousine clicked his tongue. Americano did well, sure, but World Map’s damage output was insane. Even though Limousine, Americano, and Jaheun had all contributed a decent amount of damage, World Map alone was responsible for 40 percent of the total. Sure, he hadn’t taken a single hit the entire match, but still…… Summoners are so broken. When’s the nerf coming?
[Party] Americano: Aww, thanks to you, Leader, I ranked up~ You’re the best~ ^^
[Party] Americano: I’m heading out first ㅎㅎ
While Limousine was simmering with envy and jealousy, Americano typed a smug little message and disappeared. That woman…… Limousine had covered for her, even talked down the nonsense she spouted when she was intimidated by World Map, and this is the thanks he gets. Americano had the nerve to think she was a big help, when all she did was say ‘you got this’ and vanish. Limousine clicked his tongue.
If he doesn’t make it to the Prism tier before the Clan War, she’s gonna bitch about it the whole time, isn’t she? He could already hear Americano’s voice nagging like crazy, like her mouth was on autoplay. She hadn’t even said anything yet, but Limousine was already pissed.
Wait—crap, the Clan War’s tomorrow?
The Clan War, a battlefield event where whole clans participated as a unit, only happened on Mondays. Unlike normal battlefields, it required a full 6-person party of clan members to queue.
Last week, because of the Bond quest, Limousine was so upset he got sick from stress and couldn’t participate, so they didn’t have enough people and couldn’t do it at all. If they kept missing it, not only would their clan’s score drop, but their lower ranking would be reflected on the leaderboard, reducing the perks their clan received. It would be best if they could participate this week.
Do we have six? Me, Americano, Moto, Pichuragi…… Mambo-nim’s been joining battlefields regularly too. Let’s bring Mambo-nim.
Without even asking their opinion, Limousine started abusing his authority by forcefully deciding who would be joining the match. He ran through the list of currently active members who might be worth dragging into the Clan War. One short. Should I add Ratan-nim? If I beg, he might come, but the guy never plays PvP…… Dragging him in long-term might be rough……
The constant struggle for manpower was a chronic issue for Limousine’s self-made clan, <Carnival>. It was a small group where most members had joined through personal connections, and both active players and chatter were always about the same. The only reason <Carnival> was even hanging onto a top ranking was because of Limousine and Americano—the two monsters created by the ranking system—tearing through everything like a storm. They really did need to recruit more, but it also didn’t feel right to just let anyone in for the sake of one more ranking spot. It was a surprisingly principled stance for a pair of rank-crazed monsters.
One more. If they just had one more…… As Limousine was absentmindedly thinking while waiting in the queue, Jaheun happened to cross his field of vision.
Huh?
“What?”
No, no…… You’re not that desperate, are you, Mousine?
“……Feels like you’re having some messed-up thoughts.”
“You got X-ray vision in that thick skull?”
“……”
He’s not a bad guy…… If we brought him in, we could get more points during the Clan War……
No way. Are you insane? If he joins the clan, we’ll be hearing those bride-and-groom jokes all day long!
Does that even matter? Those kinds of things blow over in a week anyway.
He’s got a ton of personality drama, too.
And it’s not like I’m so squeaky clean either……
Yeah, but at least I’m not showing up on the forums on a regular basis.
A fierce clash erupted inside Limousine as his two inner voices went head to head.
The thing is, it wasn’t common to find a top-ranked player with no clan. The perks might seem small, but the difference was very noticeable when you had them versus when you didn’t. So, even solo-oriented rankers usually joined some clan or other.
But Jaheun didn’t belong to any clan, meaning there was no cooldown to stop him from joining now, one that existed to prevent abuse of the system. If he joined today, they could take him into tomorrow’s Clan War right away. A perfectly prepared recruit. Except, of course, no one had asked Jaheun if he was on board……
But me? Of all people, I have to bring him in? I already got teased forever just for inviting him to a dungeon party! Doing quests together is one thing, but bringing him into the clan? That’s like introducing a boyfriend to your group of nosy friends. Uncomfortable, awkward—No, Mousine! Stop making trash metaphors! Limousine grabbed his head. It was like a Möbius strip of overthinking.
The winner of this heated inner conflict was the matchmaking alert. Priorities. Limousine pushed his thoughts aside and began reviewing the info of the newly matched team. Right now, recruiting wasn’t the issue. If he couldn’t get into the Prism tier today, he’d end up smashing his keyboard mid-Clan War tomorrow because of Americano.
I’m ranking up and going to bed. With renewed determination and a willful effort to avoid the issue he’d just been thinking about, Limousine burned with fresh motivation.
💔
[Party] Limousine: Yo
“Why are you typing again? You that pissed off?”
Goddamn it. What a shitty world……
[Party] Limousine: Wanna join the clan?
“What?”
Jaheun’s eyes widened. Limousine really wanted to cry. They’d played about ten more matches after that, but his score kept fluctuating up and down, always failing to pass the 9,900-point mark. Every time he managed to claw some points up, they’d drop again. Up, down, up, down, up, down…… It was driving him insane.
Ten matches, 15 minutes each—that’s 150 minutes. Two and a half hours. And if you added in all the time since he’d started climbing up from Gold earlier? He’d spent over 9 hours on battlegrounds. There weren’t enough players at this hour, so they’d agreed to continue tomorrow and stopped queuing for now. Was this even a game anymore? Come on, devs. Let’s talk. Is this supposed to be a game?
At this point, might as well drag that guy in. Even though personal rank—whether it was Platinum or Prism—had nothing to do with Clan War scores, Limousine was boiling with unjustified frustration and stubbornness. And so he vented it in the weirdest way possible. Jaheun, who’d just been hit with a totally out-of-the-blue scouting offer, was completely thrown off.
[Party] Limousine: It’s easier with a clan
[Party] Limousine: We don’t have many people, but we’ve got all the essentials
If I say it’s to make him our Clan War slave, he won’t come, right? Limousine had at least that much self-awareness.
“I’ve never really thought about joining one.”
[Party] Limousine: Well, think about it now
[Party] Limousine: Hurry up
He hadn’t said the reason out loud, but it was obvious. This wasn’t an invitation—it was a bulldozer. In fact, Americano was usually the one bringing people into the clan, not Limousine. Within Carnival, it was an unspoken rule that Limousine’s scouting career had pretty much ended after creating the clan and recruiting Americano.
“Why the sudden clan talk?”
[Party] Limousine: What, you don’t wanna join or something
[Party] Limousine: What’s wrong with our clan, huh?
This was already far beyond what you could call a ‘scouting pitch.’
“I mean, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with it……”
Something felt off. Why was he the one making excuses? Jaheun caught himself being weirdly passive and was confused. He’d turned down more clan offers than he could count and thought he was pretty used to it by now…… Maybe it was just that no one had ever approached him with such chaotic energy before.
[Party] Limousine: So what’s the problem
[Party] Limousine: We had fun in that dungeon
[Party] Limousine: The battleground with Americano just now was fun too
[Party] Limousine: Running public parties for Tóng Jì is seriously frustrating too
Limousine’s messages were starting to get more and more pathetic. Forget the accidental rhyming—it was giving off weird ex vibes at 4 AM. He was trying to rope Jaheun in because their clan couldn’t even scrape together 6 people for the Clan War, let alone a 10-man for Tóng Jì raid, but he was making all sorts of empty promises like Jaheun didn’t know the situation.
The shocking part? Jaheun was actually wavering.
This was Jaheun we were talking about. The guy known for speaking his mind and never doing anything he didn’t want to, a core member of <Celestial Wind>’s meme ecosystem. If he really didn’t want to join, he would’ve just shut it down with a blunt ‘Why the hell would I join?’ instead of vaguely dodging with lines like ‘I haven’t thought about it.’
Jaheun didn’t realize it, but Limousine sure did.
<‘Nameless Wanderer’-nim has been invited to the clan ‘Carnival’.>
“Hey, wait a sec……”
“Try it out. If it’s not your thing, just leave later.”
Limousine crossed his arms as he replied flatly. It was some next-level push-and-pull. Jaheun stared at the sudden invite window in silence for a moment. Limousine waited patiently.
Soon enough, a message popped up.
<‘Jaheun’-nim has joined ‘Carnival’!>
<‘Jaheun’-nim has been assigned the rank of ‘Clan Member’.>
[Clan] Pichuragi: Huh……????
[Clan] Pichuragi: ?????????????
[Clan] Limousine: Treat the newbie well
[Clan] Pichuragi: Is this real? ㄷㄷ
[Clan] Ratan: Whoa……
[Clan] Jaheun: Nice to meet you all
The previously blank space next to Jaheun’s username was now tagged with the clan name. Seeing it, Limousine grinned. It was the kind of smile you’d expect from a kid.
“Not that I planned it or anything, but hey, the Clan War’s tomorrow. You’re gonna log in, right?”
Jaheun burst out laughing at the sly remark. His laugh was unexpectedly clear and refreshing.
[Clan] Limousine: Clan War’s tomorrow
[Clan] Limousine: The six of us going are me, Americano, Pichuragi, Moto, Mambo, and Jaheun
[Clan] Limousine: We start at 6 PM
[Clan] Pichuragi: Did you just…… post a notice…… at 4 AM……?
[Clan] Pichuragi: Half the people on that list aren’t even online right now ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Clan] Limousine: Doesn’t matter, they’ll all be online around then anyway
[Clan] Ratan: ㄷㄷㄷ I’m finally free from Clan War slavery
[Clan] Ratan: Looking forward to playing with you, Jaheun-nim ㅠㅠ
[Clan] Limousine: Ratan-nim, you’re making it sound like I dragged him in against his will
[Clan] Limousine: ^^
[Clan] Ratan: Ah……
[Clan] Ratan: Is this…… image control??
[Clan] Pichuragi: ㅋ Tan-nim’s never this serious I’m cryinggggg ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
The reaction wasn’t as explosive as he’d feared. Maybe it was because it was so late at night, or maybe everyone still had a vivid memory of that dungeon run……
Gamers don’t hate people who play well. Limousine, pleased, pinned the Clan War notice as the main post in the clan chat and logged off.
He was actually looking forward to tomorrow.