“PC bang…?”
Seo Jeongyeon tilted his head in confusion, then seemed to realize something and continued,
“You were going to a PC bang?”
“So what?”
“PC bangs are a bit much. They’re loud, they smell, and they’re not exactly clean. I don’t want to go.”
“Then how are you planning to prove you’re Heunjeok? Weren’t you going to log into Arc Road and show me?”
I was the one caught off guard. Of course I thought he’d take me to a PC bang and show me the Heunjeok character that supposedly still existed.
“I was obviously planning to show you on my own computer.”
“What?”
“Let’s go to my place. It’s only about a ten-minute walk from here.”
Was he messing with me again?
I looked at him suspiciously, but Seo Jeongyeon wasn’t wearing that infuriating smirk this time. Sensing that he was serious, I frowned in disbelief.
“Does that even make sense…? Why would I go to your place?”
“Is that a problem?”
“There are a ton of problems. First of all, how well do you even know me to invite me over?”
How simple-minded do you have to be to invite someone you barely met into your home? I spoke seriously, but Seo Jeongyeon just shrugged lightly.
“What’s the big deal? Are you scared? Worried I might take you home and beat you up or something?”
“Shouldn’t you be the scared one? How do you know what I might do at your place?”
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”
He stepped past me like he was about to lead the way, and I grabbed his arm in alarm.
“I’m not going. We just need to check the Heunjeok account at a PC bang. Why go all the way to your place?”
“At this hour, PC bangs are packed. And I don’t want to touch a keyboard that a bunch of random people have used.”
“Then don’t touch it. Just sit next to me and tell me everything. I’ll log in for you.”
“If it’s going to be that much trouble, wouldn’t it be easier to just go to my place? It’s not even farther than a PC bang.”
“I’m saying, what do you even know about me to invite me over? You only know my name. Do you even know my age?”
Now we were talking about personal information. Seo Jeongyeon blinked, then asked with clear interest,
“Come to think of it, I didn’t ask. How old are you?”
“…Twenty-five.”
“You’re four years younger than me.”
Four years? With that face, he’s twenty-nine? I thought he’d be maybe one or two years older than me at most.
“Now that I know your age, that means I can invite you, right?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“You’re picky, Do Haejun.”
The way he sighed like he had no choice made my neck tense up. Who’s the picky one here?
“Then how about this? Go to that 24-hour café we went to last night and wait there. I’ll go home and grab my laptop.”
“The one you were carrying earlier?”
“No, that one’s for work. I have a separate one for gaming.”
Judging by the fact that he’d rather go all the way home for a laptop than step into a PC bang, he really must hate those places.
I didn’t want to go to his place either, so this was a compromise where we both took a step back. Since I couldn’t come up with a better idea than his, I finally agreed.
“…Fine.”
***
After going to the café first and waiting about forty minutes, Seo Jeongyeon returned with a bag slung over his shoulder.
I’d filled my stomach with a quick sandwich in the meantime, and while he was setting up his laptop, I went to order another drink.
“You’re buying for me?”
“Yeah. Drink it nicely.”
It was his choice, sure, but since he’d gone all the way home to get the laptop, I felt better at least buying him a drink. I handed him an iced Americano and took a sip of my ade.
“I already updated everything, so it should start quickly.”
“Yeah.”
“I meant come sit next to me, not over there.”
Did we really need to go that far? You could see it well enough from the middle of the table. But arguing further was too much of a hassle, so I moved.
As I shifted from across the table to the seat beside him, Seo Jeongyeon nudged the laptop a bit closer to me and launched Arc Road.
He logged in through the launcher, started the game—
And a character I knew all too well appeared on the screen.
“Heunjeok…”
Standing in the center of the lobby screen was a character with long pale sky-blue hair and Eastern-style clothing. The sword at his waist, the faint glimmer of light around it—there was no doubt. It was the Heunjeok I knew.
“Want to log in and check properly?”
“Is that okay?”
“Yeah. I deliberately left him in a place with no players. Even if someone does see him, they’ll just assume it’s a fake Heunjeok.”
Seo Jeongyeon pressed the start button, and the loading screen appeared.
Soon after, Heunjeok stood motionless in the middle of a field thick with brush.
“Is this the forest on Klet Island?”
“Yeah.”
Arc Road had a large number of islands, and each one required either setting a save point or traveling there by ship. Because of that, unless you had a collection quest, there were plenty of islands players never visited.
Klet Island was one of them. With its huge map and the “forest of fairies” concept, the terrain was so confusing that no one bothered coming here.
“The weapons and gear are definitely all the same.”
“The friend list and ranking points got wiped.”
Seo Jeongyeon opened the info window, showing the ranking score and friend list.
The friend list was completely empty. Not a single name.
The ranking score was set to zero.
And of course, there was no guild.
Looking at it, a question naturally surfaced.
How the hell did it end up like this?
“You didn’t delete it yourself and restore it, did you? Did you get hacked or something?”
“No. It’s… a personal matter.”
Instead of explaining properly, Seo Jeongyeon just started typing on the keyboard.
I turned my attention back to the screen—
And saw the nickname written in the friend request field.
「TodayIsSunday」
This bastard was sending a friend request to my character while I was sitting right next to him.
“I’m not accepting it, so don’t send it.”
“Why not? Wouldn’t it look cool if your name was the only one in my empty friend list?”
“What part of that is cool?”
Ignoring me completely, he sent the request anyway, then closed the game. He even logged out of the account and pushed the laptop toward me.
“That’s enough for verification. Want to just make your alt here while we’re at it? It’ll be easier if we add each other right away. You go first, Do Haejun.”
“…I guess.”
We’d already confirmed the Heunjeok account, so making an alt here didn’t sound like a bad idea.
This time, I logged into the launcher with my own account and started Arc Road. Instead of entering with TodayIsSunday, I clicked “Create New Character.”
The default appearance screen popped up, along with a class selection list on the right. Arc Road had over ten classes, and your choice heavily affected gameplay.
“What should I pick…”
I didn’t want to make another polearm martial artist like my main. If I was making an alt, I wanted something fresh.
“No plans to go support or tank, right?”
“Absolutely not. Melee DPS only.”
Arc Road classes were divided into four main roles.
Tank—stands at the front, pulling aggro in raids and PvP.
Melee DPS—fills in damage behind the tank or dives into enemy lines to kill key targets.
Ranged DPS—deals sustained damage from a distance.
Support—heals and buffs teammates.
Among them, melee DPS required the most control and had the widest range of activity, though positioning varied by subclass.
Seo Jeongyeon and I both fell into deep thought while staring at the class selection screen.
“What about Tracker? I tried it with Ilhwiilbi, and it’s pretty fun.”
“Then I won’t be able to participate properly in guild activities. Trackers are bottom-tier in raid parties.”
“Then how about raising a Blade like me?”
“Sorry, but just hearing the word ‘Blade’ pisses me off.”
“That’s harsh.”
After clicking through one class after another, I finally made my decision.
Seo Jeongyeon, who’d been watching with his arms crossed, spoke in a slightly disappointed tone.
“Isn’t that a bit too broken of a class?”
“If I want to play a busted class, what’s it to you?”
I chose Saber—a class just as overpowered as the polearm martial artist.
It used both a longsword and a longbow, and when activating skills, white light would flare from the character along with translucent wings. A flashy class.
The problem was that it required two weapons, had complicated mechanics, and was difficult to play—so very few players chose it. There were easier classes with similar strength, so most people didn’t bother.
If I were raising it as a main, it would take a lot of money and time to master…
But this was just an alt, and I had other intentions. It was perfect for casual play—and a good chance to practice controlling Saber.
Once I picked the class, everything moved quickly. I wasn’t the type to obsess over customization, so I selected something decent and skipped ahead.
“Now I just need a nickname.”
The second obstacle. Arc Road had been out for a while, so most decent names were already taken.
As I hesitated, Seo Jeongyeon made a suggestion.
“If you’re doing it anyway, want to match with me?”