Heunjeok apparently had every intention of taking me all the way to the bell tower, because he never stopped moving or talking.
Since our destination was the same anyway, I had nothing to complain about. I stayed on the horse and rotated the camera, checking the surroundings.
‘This village has a lot of players.’
It was probably because of the third line of the hint: to the time when a dog looks like a wolf.
Even if people couldn’t figure out the first and second hints, it was easy enough to realize the third one had something to do with sunset. There were only two villages where the sky glowed with dusk, so of course players would swarm here. For the same reason, the area around the bell tower was packed too.
[Party] TodayIsSunday: hey
[Party] TodayIsSunday: are you sure this is really the place?
[Party] heunjeok: maybe?
[Party] heunjeok: this is actually my first time coming this far too
[Party] heunjeok: but “hey”...
[Party] heunjeok: isn’t that way too cold of a way to address me?
[Party] TodayIsSunday: be grateful I didn’t start with an insult
Seriously. He’d been acting all smug, and it turned out he didn’t know for sure either.
By then we’d reached the bell tower and dismounted. Just as expected, the entrance was overflowing with players gathered for the treasure.
‘This feels bad.’
With this many people here, the treasure should’ve been cleaned out ages ago… huh?
“What the hell is this?”
I clicked on the door to enter the tower, only to spot a message box popping up in the center of the screen. My brows furrowed.
To enter, input the password...?
Damn it. I knew it.
[Party] heunjeok: problem?
[Party] TodayIsSunday: it wants a password
[Party] TodayIsSunday: do you know what it is?
Heunjeok walked up right behind me, close enough to the tower door that he must’ve seen the same message. He sounded troubled.
[Party] heunjeok: a password huh
[Party] heunjeok: well?
[Party] heunjeok: no idea
[Party] TodayIsSunday: -_-
[Party] heunjeok: can’t help it, it’s my first time here too
So that was why none of the players had gotten inside. The tall buildings in the other villages were probably blocked in the same way.
This just got complicated.
First I tried typing in random things. Numbers and Korean letters wouldn’t go in.
The only thing the box accepted was English.
‘Then the answer has to be an English letter too.’
There hadn’t been a single hint directly mentioning a password.
Which meant the earlier clues were supposed to lead to this too.
I reopened the hint window and read it again.
「12, 3, 6, 9
L-shape
to the time when a dog looks like a wolf
at the highest place」
The first line meant a clock.
The L-shape clue meant rotating the island map to match the clock...
‘Wait. Rotate the clock?’
I was touching my lips, thinking hard, when suddenly a flash of insight struck.
A word—no, a letter—came to mind as the answer.
‘...That’s why it only accepts English.’
Because if I was right, English alone was enough.
[Party] heunjeok: figured it out?
Heunjeok, who had been standing quietly beside me, asked the second he sensed it.
Seriously, the guy was sharp.
[Party] TodayIsSunday: yeah
[Party] heunjeok: what is it?
[Party] TodayIsSunday: it’s easy if you think about the clock
[Party] TodayIsSunday: but this time it’s not Roman numerals
[Party] TodayIsSunday: Arabic numerals
I typed the answer I’d come up with into the password box.
Then I hit Enter.
Clack.
The sound of the lock releasing rang out, and the screen went black.
The game switched into a loading screen as we entered the bell tower.
Once the loading finished, the darkness slowly faded.
White marble walls.
A staircase winding upward.
A bell hanging at the top, connected to a mechanical device.
The moment I confirmed we’d entered safely, a sky-blue character stepped inside after me.
[Party] heunjeok: oh
[Party] TodayIsSunday: ?
[Party] TodayIsSunday: how’d you get in
[Party] heunjeok: it was easy though?
I’d deliberately avoided telling him the answer, but apparently it hadn’t mattered.
The password was the English letter b.
If you rotated the number 9 to the right, it became the lowercase English b, and that position matched the village where the bell tower stood. If you couldn’t solve the clock clue, you’d never solve this one either.
‘Still, I didn’t expect Heunjeok to get in that fast.’
Even with me saying it was related to the clock, figuring it out instantly was no joke.
Then again, he’d cracked those garbage-tier clues fast too.
The guy really wasn’t easy.
I let out a sigh and headed for the stairs first.
The treasure was supposed to be at the highest point, so we had to climb all the way to the top.
[Party] heunjeok: but Sunday
[Party] heunjeok: you’re keeping the pet, right?
[Party] TodayIsSunday: ?
The guy trailing after me suddenly threw out the question.
Wasn’t that obvious?
Don’t tell me this bastard was changing his mind now.
[Party] TodayIsSunday: you told me to take it
[Party] heunjeok: true, but
[Party] heunjeok: I helped this much
[Party] heunjeok: so I was wondering if there’s nothing in it for me hehe
[Party] TodayIsSunday: n-nope
[Party] heunjeok: don’t be like that
[Party] heunjeok: how about naming the pet something related to me?
[Party] TodayIsSunday: after an unlucky bastard like you?
[Party] TodayIsSunday: don’t you feel bad for the cute pet?
[Party] heunjeok: too cruel 😭😭
Trading useless chat with Heunjeok while climbing, we reached the top in no time.
And just as expected, beneath the giant golden bell sat an old paper box.
Just as I stepped closer and reached to open it, a system message chimed.
Party member heunjeok has left the party.
The moment he’d spotted the box, Heunjeok had already been keeping his distance.
Now he’d left the party entirely.
At this range, there was no way he could steal the box first, which meant I instantly understood his intention.
[All] TodayIsSunday: you’re leaving without even checking what pet it is?
[All] heunjeok: seeing where the treasure was is enough for me
[All] heunjeok: I’ll see the pet with my name in it during the next war
[All] TodayIsSunday: I said I’m not doing that;
[All] heunjeok: lmaoooo
Heunjeok moved near the bell tower railing.
His long sky-blue hair fluttered softly in the wind.
[All] heunjeok: then I’ll get going first
[All] heunjeok: enjoy your pet
‘Do I... thank him for this?’
I wouldn’t have made it this far without his help.
While I was still hesitating, Heunjeok left without a trace of regret.
[All] heunjeok: don’t get too mad later okay? ^^
[All] TodayIsSunday: what?
Leaving behind that cryptic line, he vanished cleanly—probably back to the city save point.
I looked around the now-empty bell tower and sighed again.
Showing up whenever he wanted, disappearing whenever he wanted.
Totally his style.
I shoved the uneasy feeling aside and opened the box.
A burst of yellow light spilled out, and something small popped free.
Meow!
The one-of-a-kind pet—limited to a single player per server—was a tiny cat.
Not the brown cat sold in the shop, but a black-and-white tuxedo cat with a neat little bow tie around its neck.
‘Oh, come on. What is this, some detective?’
A laugh slipped out as I pressed the petting animation.
The moment I did, a triumphant fanfare blared from somewhere, and a giant server-wide announcement appeared across the top of the screen.
[Congratulations! The treasure has been discovered on the Secreta server!]
[Guild] Ryupe: ??????
[Guild] Maha: wait what our server?
[Guild] IOnlyHave6000Won: huhhh already found??
[Guild] TurnTheLightsOn: this is actually insane
[Guild] sky004: I didn’t understand a single hint how’d they even find it
[Guild] Astaroth: this location is cross-server right?
[Guild] Astaroth: if the first finder leaks the spot the other servers are gonna explode lol
[Guild] Maha: war incoming lmaooo
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: but seriously where is it?
[Guild] GoodWeather: sounds like it’s somewhere related to sunset tho
What an absurdly loud congratulations.
I stared at the huge crimson server text and the exploding guild chat.
‘This is gonna be a pain if people figure out it was me.’
Better to stay quiet.
Sooner or later someone on another server would find it too.
Mrrrow!
The new cat flopped onto its back in front of my character and started acting cute.
Well... okay, it was adorable.
Still, getting a free pet felt great.
A one-of-a-kind pet no one could buy anywhere, limited to one player per server.
Definitely worth running around with Heunjeok.
I was grinning to myself, satisfied, when—
[Server] heunjeok: guys the one who found the treasure is Yoil guild’s guild master! ^▽^
[Server] heunjeok: Sunday you’ll show off the pet you got today in the next war right? dying to know what it is ^^
[Server] heunjeok: have a great day ♡
“What the—what?!”
Before I could even react, the screen exploded.
Friend requests.
Party invites.
Guild chat.
Whispers.
Everything flooded in at once.
[Guild] Maha: ??????
[Guild] GoodWeather: what???
[Guild] IOnlyHave6000Won: Sunday is it fr??
[Guild] TurnTheLightsOn: you really got it???
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: omg omg insane 😭😭
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: what pet is it????
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: I wanna see too!!!!
[Guild] LookAtOurTeamPersonality: holy shit Sunday total betrayal
[Guild] Astaroth: what pet??
[Guild] Maha: wait but...
[Guild] Maha: why does Heunjeok know that..?
“That fucking psycho!”
Fuck!
Only then did I finally realize what he’d meant by don’t get too mad later.
Grinding my teeth, I immediately grabbed the server megaphone.
[Server] TodayIsSunday: *** do you seriously wanna ***ing die?
[Server] heunjeok: lmaooooooo ^.^
I’d gotten played beautifully.
My fists were shaking on their own.
I should’ve known from the way he ran.
Myaaang!
Amid the flood of messages filling the entire screen, the tuxedo cat let out a bright, cheerful cry.
***
Jingle.
The bell above the café door rang brightly as I stepped inside.
“Good morning.”
“Morning.”
The boss, already at the counter, greeted me.
The second I entered, the yawn I’d been holding back finally escaped.
Seeing that, the boss looked worried.
“Didn’t sleep? You look exhausted.”
“Mm, a little.”
I pressed a hand over my sore eyes as I answered.
I’d stayed up raiding until late last night, and on top of that I’d had a weird dream.
‘Now I’m even playing Arc Road in my dreams?’
What made it more ridiculous was that the dream had been about the time Heunjeok and I searched for treasure together.
Why the hell was I suddenly dreaming about Heunjeok?
Was it because of that newbie?
“Oh, right, Haejun. If our regular comes by later, can you give him these cookies on the house?”
“The regular?”
“You know, the really pretty guy with the tiny face.”
Ah.
With that description, I immediately knew who she meant.
The pale face beneath black hair.
Come to think of it... he hadn’t shown up for two days, so there was a good chance he’d come today.
It wasn’t difficult, so I nodded easily.
“Got it.”