< ‘Limousine’-nim has been promoted to Prism Badge. >
< ‘Jaheun’-nim has been promoted to Prism Badge. >
< You have fulfilled the conditions for the ‘Gaining Trust’ quest! Find the NPC and complete the quest. >
At long last, this damn Battlefield was over. Limousine swore he wouldn’t even look in the direction of another battlefield for a while and used Blink to warp to Gravekeeper Village the moment he saw the promotion message. He saw Jaheun warping alongside him out of the corner of his eye.
“I’m done with Battlefield for a while.”
“Me too.”
“……But we still have to do the Clan War.”
“Yeah.”
Battlefield and Clan War were different. When Limousine added that just in case, Jaheun nodded like he’d expected it.
Just like before, they knocked on the door of the village chief’s house up north and were able to meet the chief. The chief greeted the returning Limousine and Jaheun, who had come to complete the quest, with a dull tone.
[So you really pulled it off. Took longer than I thought, though.]
Seriously? I went through hell climbing from Bronze Badge to Prism Badge, and you can’t even say a word of praise…… Limousine, momentarily caught up in his feelings, clenched his staff. Noticing it instantly, Jaheun stepped in front of him and replied in his stead.
“Does this mean you trust us now?”
[Well…… competent workers are always useful.]
If this woman weren’t an NPC, I’d have taken her out by now. All Limousine could do was glare at the cocky village chief, which was frustrating in its own right.
[Perfect timing. The merchant guild asked for help with a big clean-up job. You know how to clean, right?]
“If it’s just following orders……”
[That’s good enough. Head this way.]
< Major Cleanup at the Merchant Guild >
You’ve succeeded in earning the trust of the Gravekeeper Village Chief. With her recommendation, you’ve been granted entry into the merchant guild suspected of being part of the Rén Hé Sect. Will you be able to uncover any solid clues?
(This quest shares progress when in a party with others who have accepted the same quest.)
– Acquire ‘Rén Hé Sect’ Insignias [0/3]
The quest had updated.
Above all else, the line stating that quest progress would be shared with party members who had accepted the same quest stood out the most. Limousine had progressed through countless main quests, but this was the first time a non-grind quest—excluding simple monster kill tasks—shared progress at a party level.
Just like Jaheun had said, it looked like the devs had expected the Bonded to travel together when designing the quest. Otherwise, there’d be no reason for that extra note.
[Just say you’re from the Gravekeeper Village and they’ll let you in. The guild handles a lot of valuable goods, so they’re known to be strict about security. Don’t do anything unnecessary and draw suspicion.]
With that advice, the chief sent them on their way. When they left the village and checked the quest location, they saw it was in a locked area. Even though it was on the same map as Gravekeeper Village, it wasn’t clearly marked, so it seemed to be a hidden area with a concealed entrance rather than a regular place you could travel to freely.
“If it’s that direction…… is it where the cliff is?”
After roughly gauging the location of the merchant guild, they could vaguely see a jagged cliff and a waterfall in the distance. Jaheun muttered anxiously.
“They’re not seriously going to make us climb that cliff, right?”
“I hate platforming. Don’t wanna jump up maps and crap.”
“That’s exactly why I’m worried.”
“……”
Limousine scowled. He didn’t have anything to say, but somehow it felt like he’d just lost.
“Are you good at it or something?”
“I like solo content.”
“But you don’t like gathering.”
“You’re maxed in gathering, but you hate the Forest of Patience.”
“……”
Why is he so quick with comebacks?
“If you like solo content so much, why do you play online games?”
Frustrated from getting shut down again, Limousine started picking fights over nothing. Thankfully, Jaheun didn’t seem offended and answered plainly.
“Because I like playing with people too.”
“……Really?”
“Hard to believe?”
“You don’t really look like someone with friends.”
Jaheun fell silent for a moment.
“Friends aren’t something you can have just because you want them.”
……You really don’t have any friends?
Why is he so delicate? Limousine, who’d basically treated anyone he had fun with as a friend, was taken aback. Was this some kind of teenage phase? Is not having friends a complex for him? Wait—did I just step on a landmine or something? A cold sweat trickled down Limousine’s back as a flurry of questions flooded his mind. He was usually tactless and foul-mouthed, but he wasn’t malicious enough to intentionally trigger someone’s trauma.
“Since you joined the clan, use this chance to make a bunch of friends.”
But then again, he wasn’t the nurturing type either, so that was the best he could do. An awkward silence followed for a moment.
Goddammit. Limousine grumbled inwardly and pulled up the system window.
< You have sent a friend request to ‘Jaheun’-nim. >
Caught off guard by the sudden request, Jaheun looked at Limousine in surprise. Limousine grumbled again.
“You’ve got one now, so work your ass off until you become a damn social butterfly.”
At those gruff words, Jaheun let out a small laugh. His face was mostly covered by his mask, leaving only his golden eyes visible, but Limousine could just barely make out the curve of his eyes narrowing in a smile.
“Okay.”
< You are now friends with ‘Jaheun’-nim. >
They kept walking for a while, making small talk, and eventually, the cliff came into view.
Up close, the cliff had no visible footholds, meaning it wasn’t the kind of obstacle they’d need to climb. However, the sharp rocks and rushing waterfall created thick mist where the water landed below. Coincidentally, Limousine and Jaheun were on the misty downstream side. And now they had to find the merchant guild’s entrance somewhere in this area. Of course, it wouldn’t be easy—this was content restricted to those who had top-tier Raid and Battlefield rankings, after all.
Maybe Gravekeeper Village was actually a secret high-tier martial artist village? All the villagers were just hidden masters…… As that ridiculous thought crossed his mind, Limousine glanced around.
Should they split up? Even if the mist obscured vision, they’d be able to see each other’s locations on the map through the party system. Limousine began walking without thinking too hard about it, until his arm was grabbed.
“What the hell?”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“To look for the guild entrance.”
Why not just say it instead of grabbing me like that? Since Jaheun’s character was about the size of Americano, and Limousine’s character was closer to a kid, his arm was awkwardly lifted upward when Jaheun grabbed it.
Let go, jackass. Sensing Limousine’s glare, Jaheun released his grip.
“I’ll go this way. You go that way.”
He pointed in the opposite direction, and Jaheun nodded. The cliff’s geometry wasn’t too large, so if they split up, they’d probably find it quickly. Hopefully, going inside the cliff didn’t lead to a maze or something. No, Mousine. Stop laying ominous foreshadowing with weird thoughts like that.
Suppressing the foreboding voice in his head, Limousine stepped into the mist. Jaheun’s gaze lingered on the back of Limousine’s head for a moment, then drifted away.
The mist was thick, but not so dense that he couldn’t see even a step ahead. It was just the right kind of dreamlike—like the kind of place where, in a novel, you’d expect to find an immortal cultivating his power or a doppelgänger lurking. How on earth did the Rén Hé Sect even find this place? Did they go on a nationwide pilgrimage looking for the perfect hideout……? Given that several peak-level masters had already shown up when they first appeared, there was no doubt they were a group well-versed in the art of concealment.
Limousine had only walked a little while, steadying himself against the cliffside rocks, when he suddenly realized he was somehow inside a cave. The damp cave walls were the only hint that he was still near the waterfall.
He had definitely been outside—so when had he entered? He tried retracing his steps a little, but couldn’t figure out where the cave had started. At one point, there was even a fork in the path he didn’t remember seeing before. Uneasy, Limousine stopped walking. If he wandered around too much, he was bound to get lost.
What the hell……? Am I bad with directions? Limousine had a moment of self-reflection, learning something new about himself for the first time in 25 years.
[Party] Limousine: Hey
[Party] Limousine: I think I walked into some kinda cave
[Party] Limousine: You still outside?
[Party] Jaheun: On my way
Thankfully, Jaheun replied quickly when Limousine reached out before he could get truly lost. Limousine started walking further into the cave again. As he progressed, the mist gradually thinned, and the space grew wider and taller. Eventually, it became unclear whether this was an indoor or outdoor area.
With the mist cleared, the view opened up to reveal trees, a dirt path, and even something like sunlight. Did I just come through a tunnel and not a cave? But this was a cliff behind a waterfall—geologically, that didn’t make sense. It was like a miracle of terrain design.
He paused on the path and soon spotted Jaheun approaching in the distance. Jaheun, just like Limousine had earlier, seemed fascinated by the way the map ignored the laws of physics and looked around curiously.
“This way.”
“Impressive, you found it.”
“I just kept walking straight ‘cause I didn’t wanna get lost.”
After regrouping, they started walking down the path together. At first, Limousine walked without thinking, but he soon found himself glancing around, feeling a strange sense of wrongness. The scenery looked ordinary, but it also felt…… staged. Of course, it was artificial, being a game map—but this was the kind of artificial that looked like it was trying to look artificial. Artificially artificial……
“What’s wrong?”
“I dunno, just…… doesn’t it feel weird? We came in through a cliffside cave, and now suddenly it’s this.”
“It’s a game.”
He’s not wrong. Cooled by Jaheun’s nonchalant attitude, Limousine decided to stop overthinking it and just go with the flow.