Once July passed and August rolled in, the weather got even hotter.
That wasn’t exactly a welcome change for someone working part-time at a café.
“One iced Americano.”
“Iced café latte and sweet potato cake, please.”
“Two cold brews, tiramisu, and chocolate cake.”
Ding, ding.
Every time the bell on the door jingled, the number of orders I had to deal with just kept piling up.
“Haa…”
Once the lunch rush passed, the packed café finally became a little quieter.
After finishing the dishes, I let out an exhausted breath.
I still had five more hours to go, but my heart was already screaming for the end of my shift.
Arc hasn’t really been fun lately either.
I used to turn on Arc Road the second I got home from work, no exceptions.
But these days, there wasn’t really anything to do or enjoy, so it just didn’t feel as fun as it used to.
Come to think of it, I’d worked ridiculously hard over the past year to make sure I never lost to Another.
Every time Heunjeok showed up and needled my pride with his bullshit, I’d grit my teeth, optimize my gear, and grind raids.
Now that Heunjeok had deleted his account and Another had gone quiet, complete peace had finally arrived.
And peace was boring as fuck.
Shit.
Don’t tell me I’m going crazy because Heunjeok rubbed off on me too.
I was sighing at the horrifying thought when—
Ding.
The clear sound of the bell announced a new customer.
Right. Get it together and just work.
I dried my wet hands and headed for the counter.
“Hello.”
The customer standing there met my eyes and greeted me with a faint smile.
The first thing that caught my attention was the small, pale face framed beneath jet-black hair.
His long eyes curved slightly with the smile, and the brows visible between the dark strands were neat and refined.
Compared to a face prettier than most celebrities, his height was absurdly tall.
I was pretty tall myself, but I still had to tilt my head up slightly to look at him.
“Yes, welcome.”
“One iced Americano and one fresh cream cake.”
I took the card the man held out and rang it up out of habit.
This ridiculously handsome regular—good-looking enough that men turned to look just as much as women—was apparently one of the café’s frequent customers even before I started working here.
Usually, he’d sit by the window with his laptop for an hour or two before leaving.
Since he showed up like clockwork at least two or three times a week, there was no way I wouldn’t remember him.
I quickly made the coffee, plated the cake, and rang the pager.
The man, who had been typing on his laptop keyboard, came over and took the tray.
He always finished the coffee, but after only a few bites, he’d leave almost all of the cake behind.
Guess he doesn’t really like sweets and just orders it as a kind of seat fee.
As he set the coffee and cake down on the table, he seemed to feel my gaze and looked back at me.
Ah, shit.
I’d unconsciously been staring.
Realizing my unintentional mistake, I hurriedly turned away.
***
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: ah I’m bored
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: it hurts my heart that my guild members abandoned their guild master and went off to have fun by themselves
[Guild] GoodWeather: ?;;
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: LMAO
[Guild] Maha: excuse me do you have any conscience?
[Guild] rxrx78: fuck, we’ve been asking if you wanna do this or that for a while now
[Guild] rxrx78: and you rejected every single one LOOL;
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: lol
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: bring me something I actually like~
[Guild] Maha: if you’ve got nothing to do
[Guild] Maha: go collect guild upgrade mats
[Guild] Maha: 20 Ensher Forest Essences go
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: ?
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: are you serious?
Ensher Forest Essence was a low-tier collection item, the kind of quest material usually assigned to lower-level guild members.
And he wanted me—the guild master and the server’s resident ancient fossil—to personally go farm trash mats you could get by smacking weak monsters in the newbie zone?
I let out a disbelieving laugh as I moved the mouse.
Guess I’m going…
There really was too little to do to refuse.
It was still annoying, but at this rate I was in real danger of quitting the game entirely, so I needed something—anything—to keep it fun.
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: k..
As I sighed and gave that lonely reply, the guild members who had mastered the art of teasing me pounced like hyenas.
[Guild] MovieIsSoSo: T_T
[Guild] MovieIsSoSo: Sunday-nim must think Arc is boring as hell these days
[Guild] sky004: somebody bring Heunjeok back T_T
[Guild] IHave6000Won: at this point Heunjeok is basically your secret lover lol
[Guild] LookAtOurTeamPersonality: fr
[Guild] LookAtOurTeamPersonality: you two used to bicker nonstop every day
[Guild] LookAtOurTeamPersonality: now that Heunjeok’s gone you’re wasting away in lovesickness T_T
[Guild] TurnTheLightsOn: huh? this is totally...
[Guild] Yeoyeorang: love..?
[Guild] TodayIsSunday: fuck off
I seriously didn’t know if these bastards were actually my guild members.
Did they join just so they could insult me comfortably in guild chat?
I warped to Arden City, then headed for Ensher Forest.
The Ensher Forest near Arden was a level 40–50 area, basically what everyone called a newbie zone.
Compared to other hunting grounds, it was where the most players who had just hit level 50 gathered.
The monster that dropped Ensher Forest Essence was one beginners hunted for quests, so to avoid bothering anyone, I searched for the most deserted spot possible and moved deeper into the forest.
This should be about good enough.
I stopped in an area where the monsters were sparsely scattered.
I’d gone in pretty deep, so I figured nobody but me would be here.
Then I heard the sound of skills colliding from up ahead.
At first I thought someone was just hunting, but the overlapping hit sounds were unmistakably field PvP.
Who the hell crawled all the way out here just to pick a fight?
Curious, I gave up on farming and headed toward the noise.
“What the hell?”
Since this was just a newbie zone, I’d assumed it was a couple of beginners who got into an argument while hunting.
But what appeared on my screen was something else entirely.
A newbie who had obviously just hit level 50 was getting the shit beaten out of them by someone who clearly had experience.
The gap in gear alone—from clothing to weapon enhancement—was painfully obvious.
That fucking asshole has no manners.
I instantly understood the situation and frowned.
In Arc Road, field PvP became available at level 50.
It only worked if PvP mode was enabled in settings, so if you didn’t want it, you could simply leave it disabled forever.
But clueless newbies sometimes accidentally left that setting turned on.
Even then, most players wouldn’t bother touching them.
That was basic etiquette.
There was no fun in bullying a newbie way weaker than you, and all it got you was a reputation as a toxic asshole.
Of course, that only depended on individual conscience and manners.
Plenty of players didn’t care.
Like the guy right in front of me.
What the hell is he doing in the newbie zone beating on a newbie?
Clicking my tongue in disgust, I rapidly closed the distance.
The newbie was a Tracker—the assassin-type class.
The other guy was an Infighter.
A Tracker, who normally needed to keep distance, was never going to beat an Infighter who kept sticking to them with dash skills.
Not that a newbie had much chance anyway.
Still, judging by their movement and skill chaining, the newbie wasn’t completely clueless.
Their odds were still terrible, though.
If they could land one of Tracker’s signature counter skills, there might be hope…
…but there was no way a fresh level 50 would know the timing for that.
I sprinted hard and cut between them just before the newbie died.
Then I used a skill without hesitation.
Crunch.
The tip of my staff ripped across the ground and slammed into the Infighter.
Caught completely off guard by my sudden intervention, he failed to block it, and nearly half his HP disappeared in one shot.
[All] JinhaeArmyEagleLeader: ?
The hell do you mean question mark.
Not worth answering in chat, so I ignored him and kept chaining skills.
Nobody who enjoyed bullying weaker players was ever any good.
Sure enough, unlike when he was beating on the newbie, this Infighter couldn’t land a single counter on me and just kept getting pummeled.
[All] JinhaeArmyEagleLeader: fuck you
In the end, he didn’t even last three minutes before dying.
Even as a corpse, he started hurling curses at me.
Seeing how pissed he looked, I replied in a different way.
[All] TodayIsSunday: (emote)
[All] TodayIsSunday: ^^
It was the same emote Heunjeok used all the time.
The little waving icon popped above my head, and the Infighter absolutely lost his mind.
[All] JinhaeArmyEagleLeader: fuck are you
[All] JinhaeArmyEagleLeader: wanna fucking die you crazy bastard
[All] JinhaeArmyEagleLeader: where do you live you piece of shit
He was damn near about to start speed-rapping insults.
I ignored him and put into practice exactly what I’d learned from Heunjeok.
[All] TodayIsSunday: (emote)
This time it was a crying emote.
The moment he saw it, the Infighter quietly disappeared without another word.
He’d probably chosen city respawn.
Yeah.
Acting like an unhinged lunatic really was the best way to handle people like this.
Following Heunjeok’s example is kind of embarrassing, though…
But whatever.
It’s not like Heunjeok is here right now anyway.
The Infighter was dealt with, so now I should reassure the newbie.
I was about to tell them to disable PvP mode in settings and go back to farming the monsters I’d originally come for when chat suddenly popped up.
[All] Ilhwiilbi: Why’d you help me?
[All] TodayIsSunday: ?
[All] Ilhwiilbi: I said why help me
[All] Ilhwiilbi: You always go around helping people like this?
I stared at the monitor for a second, then pressed my sore eyes hard with my hand.
Ah, I really must be tired today.
I’m hallucinating.
“……”
I’m not hallucinating, what the fuck.
Was that directed at me just now?
Talking down to the person who saved you?
Could this actually not be a newbie, but somebody’s alt I know or something…
No way.
[All] TodayIsSunday: Are you asking me?
[All] Ilhwiilbi: Who else is here besides you
“Hah…”
I let out a disbelieving laugh.
The sheer shamelessness of someone so far outside the bounds of normalcy made heat suddenly rush through my body.
[All] TodayIsSunday: Didn’t help you, I just cleaned up some trash
[All] TodayIsSunday: Want me to kill you too? The way you’re talking is pissing me off
Barely suppressing the irritation surging up in waves, I pounded the keyboard as I typed.
The moment I resolved to kill him immediately if he spoke informally one more time—
[All] Ilhwiilbi: ah sorry
[All] Ilhwiilbi: Do you usually go around helping people like this?
“……?”
The instant apology, followed by the same question asked politely this time, left me speechless.
…What the hell is this guy’s deal?