“The cookie thing—you were right, Mr. Do Haejun. I misunderstood. You suddenly said it was on the house, so it caught me off guard. I’m not really into sweets either. But we talked it out just now, didn’t we? So I was hoping we could clear up my misunderstanding too.”
“What misunderstanding are you talking about?”
“Hmm, well….”
The man rolled his eyes for a moment, then lifted the corners of his lips into a soft smile.
“For starters, I’m not gay. I figured that’s what you were thinking.”
“…….”
It hit a little too close to home, like he’d read straight through my thoughts. I couldn’t even bring myself to deny it, and he continued smoothly.
“And about the phone number… I wanted to thank you for cleaning up my mess, and also, personally, I’d like to get to know you.”
“I’m not interested in getting close.”
“Just because I get your number doesn’t mean I’m going to start acting like we’ve been best friends for ten years starting tomorrow.”
“I don’t care what you’re thinking. I just don’t want to give you my number. Sorry, but let’s drop the phone topic here.”
It was just a repeat of the conversation we’d already had at the café. I was already getting sick of it, so I shook my head and refused again.
At last, maybe realizing I wasn’t budging, the man took a step back.
“Are you really okay with that?”
“With what.”
“You’re going to end up taking my number eventually.”
The way he stood there with his arms crossed, smiling, left me speechless. What is this guy, some drama addict? It was so ridiculous it was almost funny.
“Yeah, don’t worry. That’s never going to happen.”
What kind of lunatic is this? Good-looking on the outside, completely insane on the inside.
I muttered a curse under my breath and turned away from him.
Figures. Life’s never all good. Yesterday I found out Ilhwiilbi was Heunjeok, so I was in a great mood—but now my mood had dropped straight through rock bottom and kept digging into the ground.
‘How the hell am I supposed to look at that guy’s face while working part-time from now on?’
It’d be nice if he had enough shame to switch cafés on his own, but yeah, no chance. Someone that unhinged probably had no idea what was wrong with him to begin with.
Letting out what felt like my hundredth sigh, I dragged myself home.
***
[Server] Ilhwiilbi: Oil 20k gold
[Server] TodayIsSunday: in front of Seitsu repair shop
[Guild] IOnlyHave6000Won: he doesn’t even spend it all anymore...
[Guild] Astaroth: seriously, doesn’t he ever get tired
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: but guild master’s replies are kinda
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: more detailed than before?
[Guild] Ryupe: means they got closer~
Like always, Ilhwiilbi asked for my location, and like always, I answered over the server broadcast while checking my inventory.
Seeing the pet inventory filled to the brim with Full Recovery Potions and Tower of Despair passes made a satisfied grin spread across my face. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
I closed the inventory and waited for a bit. Soon enough, I spotted Ilhwiilbi in the distance, riding over in a frantic rush.
He looked like a damn dog running to greet its owner bringing snacks.
‘Who would’ve ever guessed Heunjeok would end up like that?’
That same Heunjeok who used to pick fights with anyone he saw, constantly brawling, getting reported on the forum every other day. Thinking about it like that, it almost made me feel a little sorry for him.
Should’ve lived a nicer life, man. Like me. This is all karma.
[Global] Ilhwiilbi: hi hi Oil
[Global] TodayIsSunday: can you stop calling me Oil already
[Global] Ilhwiilbi: it sounds like a nickname tho ><
Nickname my ass. Did every nickname in the world die or something?
Clicking my tongue, I opened a party window. But Ilhwiilbi just stared at it floating above my head and didn’t join.
[Global] TodayIsSunday: what are you doing?
[Global] TodayIsSunday: go
Only after I urged him again did the system message pop up saying Ilhwiilbi had joined the party.
Why is he this out of it from the start?
[Party] TodayIsSunday: ㅡㅡ?
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: ah sry
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: didn’t think you’d party with me;
Judging by the tone, he genuinely seemed surprised.
Yeah? Then why the hell do you think I called you here?
Too lazy to explain, I did what I did last time—put Ilhwiilbi on my pet and moved to the save point. Our destination this time was the Tower of Despair.
The Tower of Despair required a pass to enter. Each floor spawned monsters, and the higher you climbed, the more numerous and stronger they became.
Of course, I’d long since hit max level and was decked out in endgame gear. Clearing up to the 100th floor wasn’t a problem for me. It wasn’t exactly a great farming spot, so it didn’t benefit me much—but for Ilhwiilbi, who still had plenty of levels left to gain, it was perfect.
The catch was that once you died, that was it. No revives. Party members couldn’t bring you back either. If you died, you were kicked out immediately.
So I pulled out all the Full Recovery Potions I’d prepared in my pet inventory and handed them over through trade.
[Party] TodayIsSunday: we’re going Tower
[Party] TodayIsSunday: if you die in there
[Party] TodayIsSunday: I’m coming out and killing you again
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: ddd
[Party] TodayIsSunday: okay?
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: 😭😭okay
At least he answers well.
After equipping my weapon, I immediately hit the Enter button.
The screen briefly went black, then lit up again. Instead of the entrance, we appeared directly inside the tower—and monsters flooded in on the first floor.
A swarm of insects, disgusting enough to make your skin crawl, melted instantly under a single skill.
Up to the halfway point—floor 50—it would be like this. Weak mobs relying on sheer numbers.
The cycle repeated: monsters spawned, I wiped them instantly. Each floor took less than a minute. In about twenty minutes, we reached the 30th floor—and Ilhwiilbi’s body flashed white several times. Level-ups.
【A foolish human dares come this far—I’ll kill you!】
From the 30th floor onward, boss monsters appeared alongside regular mobs.
A giant bat-like creature raised its arms as it spoke, and red patterns spread across the floor. Pattern attack.
Not particularly fast. Easy to dodge.
A few hits would kill it. I stepped into a safe gap and swung my staff—
THUD!
A heavy impact sound came from somewhere, and Ilhwiilbi, who had been behind me, was suddenly knocked into the air. His HP bar dropped below half in an instant.
“What the hell?”
Startled, I quickly mixed basic attacks and skills to clear the boss and mobs. As the boss let out a dying screech and dissolved, I rushed over to Ilhwiilbi, who was chugging a potion.
[Party] TodayIsSunday: are you serious**
[Party] TodayIsSunday: for real?
[Party] TodayIsSunday: you lost half your HP from ONE hit???
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: yeah
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: I tried getting hit to check
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: but if it’s this much on floor 30 I guess I can’t get hit at all now haha;
Looks like even he didn’t expect it to be that bad.
I stared at the screen in disbelief and typed rapidly.
[Party] TodayIsSunday: show your gear right now
Ilhwiilbi obediently revealed it.
The moment I scanned through his robe, top, shoes, weapon, gloves—
I was horrified.
‘How the hell do you manage to pick ONLY gear with zero effects?’
Was he doing it on purpose?
Even trash shop gear comes with basic buffs.
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: just drops
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: I just picked stuff up n wore it
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: was gonna change later
[Party] Ilhwiilbi: forgot 😭😭
He must’ve read exactly what I was thinking, because he rushed to explain first.
[Party] TodayIsSunday: what the hell;;;
[Party] TodayIsSunday: seriously???
I get why he did it. Early game, you level fast and keep swapping gear, so it’s not worth investing much.
But this?
This crossed a line.
At this point he had to be at least level 65. And a level 65 getting half their HP deleted in one hit on floor 30?
That meant what he was wearing might as well be scraps of cloth.
“…Haah.”
I rubbed my face with both hands, then summoned another pet and opened my inventory.
Buff potions gleamed in all colors.
I grabbed attack speed, attack power, and movement speed potions—and drank all three at once.
Thirty-minute duration. Max buff percentages.
Expensive as hell.
Gone just like that.
[Party] TodayIsSunday: don’t move
[Party] TodayIsSunday: stay in the corner and shut up....
No matter what, I was getting Ilhwiilbi to floor 100 alive.
With that decision locked in, I pressed the button to go to the next floor.