I spun the polearm once and quickly assessed the situation.
The two who had tried to block me were already on the brink of death, pinned down by the infighter and the gunslinger. At this rate, Astaroth and MovieIsSoSo would finish them off without any trouble.
I rotated the camera to check my surroundings when I spotted a skill effect flying in from the left. I dashed sideways immediately. Boom—blue flames slammed into the exact spot I had been standing just a second ago.
‘There’s an Arc Mage?’
That complicated things.
While weaving through the nonstop barrage of incoming skills, I tracked down the Arc Mage’s position. In chaotic fights like this, you always take out the ranged dealers first.
My dash skill was still on cooldown, so I had no choice but to endure. As a polearm martial artist, I wasn’t exactly favored against short-cooldown ranged classes. There was a limit to how much I could dodge purely through movement. Eventually, a few hits landed, and my character staggered—
Then a bright white light flashed.
【I’ll protect you.】
The healer, MeowMeowRawr, cast a party-wide heal. Perfect timing.
True to form, she had dumped everything into raw healing output, ignoring other utility skills entirely. My HP shot up massively in a single cast—on a completely different level compared to other healers.
Thanks to that, I managed to hold out until my dash came off cooldown. The moment it did, I dove straight into the enemy formation.
Whoosh!
I swung my polearm in a wide arc among them. The players guarding the Arc Mage failed to react in time and were sent flying.
[All] TodayIsSunday: hi
Hiding in the back and spamming spells? You’re dead.
I greeted him politely first, then unloaded my skills mercilessly onto the flustered Arc Mage, who was still fumbling in panic.
A ranged DPS with paper-thin defenses stood no chance. His HP dropped at a ridiculous speed.
Even a warlord—who at least had some bulk for a damage dealer—had died in three hits earlier. There was no way the Arc Mage could survive this. He managed to dodge one of my skills with his only escape, but avoiding one hit wasn’t enough to save him.
【Aaaah!】
With a short scream, the Arc Mage collapsed.
At the same time, Astaroth and MovieIsSoSo finished off their opponents. Four enemies went down in an instant. Five remained.
Now we had the numbers advantage too.
[Party] TodayIsSunday: before the ones in the back respawn on the spot
[Party] TodayIsSunday: clean up the rest fast
[Party] TodayIsSunday: we’ve got MeowMeowRawr so holy knight just move
[Party] sky004: yep
After that, it was smooth sailing.
We had already been ahead, but once we gained a numbers advantage, Another had no chance.
More importantly, we had fought together through countless raids and guild wars. Battles like this were second nature. Even without me calling it out, everyone instinctively picked the most favorable matchups.
Sky, the Holy Knight, locked down the enemy berserker. Astaroth, the infighter, took on the tracker. MovieIsSoSo handled the pathfinder. Maha and GoodWeather did the same on their ends.
The situation collapsed quickly.
The ones barely holding on started dropping one by one with strained cries, and the rest just turned tail and ran. No loyalty whatsoever.
We hunted down even those who got back up after waiting out their on-the-spot resurrection cooldown. Before long, every Another guild member who had picked a fight with us was wiped out completely.
[Guild] sky004: good work everyone
[Guild] MeowMeowRawr: sunday-nim showed up at the perfect timing 😭😭
[Guild] MovieIsSoSo: gg
[Guild] rxrx78: did we win?
[Guild] Maha: yeah
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: wow;;
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: so why the hell were those lunatics acting like that?
[Guild] MeowMeowRawr: no clue they just went crazy outta nowhere lol
“Haah…”
We wrapped it up as fast as possible, but I was still exhausted. I rubbed my sore eyes and let out a sigh before typing.
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: save the video I uploaded in the group chat earlier
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: we don’t have any other evidence besides that, right?
[Guild] Maha: yeah
[Guild] Maha: that’s basically it
[Guild] GoodWeather: they started shit first and got destroyed lol
[Guild] rxrx78: we posting on the forum?
[Guild] TurnTheLightsOn: just say the word
[Guild] TurnTheLightsOn: I already have the post screen open ^^>
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: nah
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: if they start talking bullshit again
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: or spread rumors, then post it
We were the number one guild. There were always people ready to nitpick over the smallest things. It was ridiculous how invested some people got over a game guild—but those types actually existed. And not just a few.
Even this incident—Another had clearly started it with bad manners—but there was still a high chance our guild would get flamed on the forums. It wasn’t the first time. At this point, we just ignored it.
[Guild] sky004: but Another really looks like it’s fallen apart
[Guild] sky004: recruiting trash like that
[Guild] GoodWeather: not just trash
[Guild] GoodWeather: looks like they picked trash that specifically hate our guild lol
[Guild] IOnlyHave6000Won: hmm...
[Guild] IOnlyHave6000Won: like sunday-nim said, that “Heunjeok” who came back
[Guild] IOnlyHave6000Won: doesn’t feel real
[Guild] IOnlyHave6000Won: if it were the real Heunjeok, wouldn’t he hate this kind of shit even more?
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: yeah
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: he would’ve caused a bigger scene himself
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: we never took damage like this before
[Guild] Maha: then is that newbie actually him?
[Guild] Maha: did you ask again?
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: nah
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: sent a friend request but he didn’t accept, hasn’t even logged in
[Guild] Maha: then guess it’s not him
No… Ilhwiilbi is Heunjeok. I even met the real person behind him.
But I couldn’t exactly go around telling the guild that. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure they’d believe me. It sounded way too unrealistic.
‘…This sucks.’
Another—who had fought alongside us for so long—ending up like this left a bitter taste in my mouth. Sure, it was just a game. Nothing lasted forever. Still… I never imagined it would end like this.
—Let’s go together.
Seo Jeongyeon’s voice from three days ago echoed in my head.
—Let’s go take a look. See what’s really going on with Another.
“……”
Why was I thinking about that now of all times?
Without realizing it, I picked up my phone and fidgeted with it for a while before putting it back down.
***
A week had passed since the clash with Another.
During that week, Another members attacked our guildmates on sight, no matter the location.
Once or twice, I could step in and clean things up. But when it kept happening multiple times a day, all over the place, even I couldn’t keep up.
And it wasn’t like I could just tell my guildmates to stop playing the game.
[Guild] MeowMeowRawr: this is fucking annoying lol
[Guild] MeowMeowRawr: what the hell is wrong with those psychos??
[Guild] rxrx78: stress is insane
[Guild] rxrx78: you know I got rejected from a raid party earlier?
[Guild] rxrx78: because an Another member was already in it lol fucking hell
[Guild] MovieIsSoSo: can’t go anywhere
[Guild] MovieIsSoSo: they’re literally everywhere
[Guild] GoodWeather: there are so many Another members
[Guild] GoodWeather: that’s why we keep running into them
[Guild] Maha: there’s nowhere they aren’t
The complaints in guild chat only got worse by the day.
Reporting their behavior didn’t solve anything either. Even when we filed reports, the game took forever to respond. Sending inquiries through the homepage just got us generic automated replies.
‘This trash game… fuck.’
After putting up with Another’s harassment for a full week, I finally grabbed my head and picked up my phone.
It was only after dialing that I realized it was already past 9 PM.
Whatever. He said I could call anytime.
[Yes, Do Haejun.]
Click.
The moment the call connected, he called my name.
That soft voice, laced with a faint smile, made my brows knit together.
Had Seo Jeongyeon really predicted all of this?
The thought left a sour feeling in my stomach, but at this point, I didn’t have a choice.
If I wanted to fix this, Another had to change. And for that to happen, I had to get involved myself.
I pushed aside my hesitation and spoke.
“About the proposal you made last week… explain it properly.”