I burned myself white-hot.
Which is why I’m dead tired now. Until what time did I even play? I somehow crawled out of the VRS and made it to bed…
When I get up, it’s almost time for work.
I barely wash, down a carton of milk for breakfast, and get to the PC bang.
I’m so exhausted it feels like my head is sinking into the floor.
“You’re here?”
Yeonji greets me lightly.
“Nothing happen?”
“It looks like something happened to you, oppa. Did you drink last night? Here, cold water.”
“Do I look that bad?”
I drink the cold water she hands over.
“Yeah. Your eyes are hollow. Were you up late watching porn alone?”
I spray the water I was drinking.
“Kh—koff, koff.”
“Good luck with that. I’m clocking out.”
Yeonji glides away, unmoved by my choking.
There’s nothing that kid won’t say.
First thing I check after taking over the counter are VRS stations 1 and 2. The boss and Jaejung-hyung almost always use 1 and 2. Closest to the counter.
Empty. Where’d they go?
I open the side door and, of course, there’s Jaejung-hyung sleeping. Looks like the boss went home early too.
Did the sun rise in the west?
There’s no reason both of them would turn in early…
I finish a quick clean and sit at the counter, pull up the website on the PC, and there’s the reason.
Maintenance—so they went to sleep.
Just then the door opens, and someone I haven’t seen in a while walks in.
“Where is that man!”
“Hey, noona.”
Jaejung-hyung’s girlfriend.
Name’s Jung Sujeong.
She’s pretty. To be honest, Jaejung-hyung is the kind of guy who won’t even start looking unless the beauty is top-tier. Passing his cutoff alone means she’s more than decent.
Long blonde waves fall to her waist, and a small face with intense eyes—striking.
Her eyes meet mine, and the look Sujeong-noona gives me is lethal.
He’s crashed in the box room right now.
My gaze naturally flicks toward the box room; she nods.
My job here is done.
Whether hyung lives or dies is out of my hands. Noona’s holding the knife; I just wait for the result.
“Hey!”
The sound of consecutive back-smacks rings out.
I quietly slip away to tidy up.
***
Maybe the back-smack combo vented a lot, because Sujeong-noona looks far calmer now.
Reading the mood, I bring her a non-carbonated orange drink. Whenever she drops by, she goes for this. We haven’t chatted much, but that’s one more memorable quirk.
She sighs when she sees the drink I set down.
“Ugh, if you were my boyfriend, at least my mind would be at ease. I’m not even sure he knows my taste.”
That’s a dangerous thing to say.
“If that happened, hyung would kill me. I want a long life.”
“Cute.”
“Hyung says I’m not cute at all.”
“You must’ve tormented him plenty.”
“Besides mooching some snacks, I don’t remember much.”
“He’s not the type to get pushed around, but… you’re something.”
“Environment I grew up in made me like this.”
“Kiddo, you still live alone? No girlfriend yet?”
So he told her.
“Yeah, something like that.”
“You’ve got all your limbs; you’re good-looking; you’re diligent. Why don’t you have one?”
“Good question. Why don’t I?”
She stares for a moment, thinking.
“Hmmm? Is that so?”
What does that mean? The way she looks at me… I feel like a mouse backed into a corner by a cat. And she is looking at me exactly like that.
“Trying to set our kid up with someone? Who? Someone I know?”
Hyung comes down after a smoke on the roof.
“Hey, mind your own business?”
“My credibility is on the floor, huh.”
“Yep, so could you please start rebuilding it by actually answering your phone?”
“I told you—I’ve been living in the VRS for days. I feel like the boy who cried wolf. It’s not like I ghosted you; I answered your text.”
“After letting a bunch pile up and then answering once and stopping? Wanna die? Would you trust that?”
“If you were a decent boyfriend day to day, I wouldn’t be like this.”
“Seungho, save hyung just this once.”
“I hear XX Chicken is amazing. Boneless, sesame crunch glaze, fried extra crisp.”
“…Deal.”
“And yes, hyung really did live at the VRS for three days. Slept in the box room here every night.”
“…So that’s the snack you mooched?”
“As you can see, my upbringing made me like this.”
“You’re funnier than I thought.”
From the way she looks at me, I think she’s forgotten why she came here in the first place?
“Wasn’t he totally different before? You’ve changed a lot, haven’t you? I remember you burying your nose in those English books. Kinda gloomy and dark. Honestly, you scared me a little. You feel a lot brighter now.”
Sharp assessment. Was I like that? And it looks like her anger really has cooled. Maybe because I’m in the middle. Hyung has that ‘I lived’ face. Complicated.
“Oh! He plays Lost Sky these days too. Is that why?”
“Hm? You too? I thought you didn’t play games.”
“He didn’t not play—he couldn’t. That Congenital Over-Immersion Syndrome.”
“Ah! I remember the news from a while back. You’re okay now? Well, you must be, if you can play.”
“Yeah, he says it’s okay now. He’s tried a few hours these last few days. No issues.”
“Good—that’s a relief. When your body says no, it’s frustrating and makes you angry. You held out well. I quit swimming once because of a leg injury. When I realized my body wouldn’t obey, you have no idea how much rage I felt. You’ve had it rough.”
We’re not far apart in age, but unlike me, she feels a bit like an adult. The way she thinks is different. Maybe because she’s had something similar—it really lands.
“Thanks for caring. You must’ve had a hard time too, noona.”
“Well, I’ve found another dream now and I’m working hard at it, so it’s fine. Call it a childhood memory, I guess?”
She says it with a dazzling smile. That smile is blinding. I just… like her. As a person.
On her way out, she even puts her number into my phone. It’s wild how a tiny difference in what I do shifts so much. All I did was remember her drink and bring it over in advance. We sit, we chat about our lives, she shares an old story, and she leaves me her contact.
Hyung, of course, has other thoughts regardless.
“Hey! That’s a shackle. A shackle. Throw it away.”
He says that when he sees the number she punched in. Meaning: if he doesn’t answer, she’ll monitor him through me. Hyung shudders in horror.
***
More than the way small actions changed my real-life relationships, there was a massive typhoon blowing inside Lost Sky.
—Wow. Sick. If nothing else, Koreans really play games right.
—No spots. Stop coming.
—I want to be alone. Everyone get out.
—Who came up with that? Genius.
—Boars going extinct right now.
—If you have a shield, you’re set.
—They’re not sanctioning that? Back in my day it was hard.
—You’re just dumb. Blame your own brain.
The boars we farmed all night are all the rage. If you funnel potions, you can rake in money and items fast with almost no damage, so the method spread server-wide in no time.
In the end, a notice popped.
***
[Notice]
The ar (gold coin unit) and item drops granted by boars will be adjusted downward.
The boar’s post-charge stiffness time is reduced by 2 seconds.
***
Either it triggered that national trait of not being able to stand others doing well, or someone reported it; thanks to that, a patch hit instantly.
A tale as old as time.
Conclusion: suck the honey while there’s honey. No sanctions at all—proof we used a legitimate system.
“Anyway, nobody spins ideas like Koreans. Whoever started that—if that kind of cunning is real, I want them under me so I can raise them.”
I started it, you know—swirls in my mouth and disappears.
***
< Welcome to the world of Lost Sky. >
Brainwaves confirmed.
Joo Seungho. Male.
Character name Jooho. Level 6.
Loading…….
I went hard in the small hours, so my level jumped from 2 straight to 6. I put the two stat points into Agility and Vitality.
***
Name: Jooho
Level: 6 ▲4
【Strength 2】 【Agility 2 ▲1】 【Vitality 2 ▲1】
【Intelligence 0】 【Mana 1】
0 Novice’s Helmet / DEF 1 ◀ NEW
0 Forest Leather Top / DEF 3 ◀ NEW
0 Forest Leather Bottoms / DEF 2 ◀ NEW
0 Novice’s Leather Shoes / DEF 1
0 Novice’s Wooden Shield / DEF 2
0 Novice’s Arm Guards / DEF 1
0 Novice’s Leg Guards / DEF 1
0 Novice’s Longsword / ATK 1–4
***
I checked the homepage before logging in—someone’s guide says each stat gives a +0.1× effect per point.
Roughly, if you pool 10 points, around level 20, you get close to double effect or so. Practically speaking, dumping like that won’t be easy—but still.
The moment I connect, whispers from Charming, PrettyGirl, and Shield Warrior hit at once.
Hello.
Welcome! Where are you?
Hi. Where r u now?
How do I put it—being welcomed puts me in a pointlessly good mood.
—Same place as yesterday, but I’m headed to the Return Point.
I’ll show you the way. I need to sort my items there too. Let’s meet at the Return Point market gate.
So I’ll see Charming.
Heading to Return Point now.
PrettyGirl’s coming too.
I’m in a party right now, but I’ll return to town. See you there. You’re hunting, right?
Shield Warrior, too.
Mm, that’s everyone wanting to meet, right? I answer each in turn and close the chat window.
I head to what looks like the gate after the whisper, and Charming is standing still, looking around.
“I’m here.”
“Got you.”
I ask if it’s okay to meet up with PrettyGirl and Shield Warrior too; she hesitates a beat, then nods.
After a short wait, Shield Warrior arrives, then PrettyGirl. Is it just me, or is there something odd in the way Charming looks at PrettyGirl?
“You’re all the ones from yesterday. Nice to see you again. Since I got in touch with Jooho-nim, I came—and seeing familiar faces puts me at ease.”
Shield Warrior takes the lead. He must be used to forming parties; in no time he wraps us into one.
Maybe because we shared last night’s boar mania, there’s no awkwardness. We all ended up power-leveling without meaning to.
“But is it okay to match the hunting ground to me like this? You all have higher levels than me. Doesn’t the spot not fit?”
They all pinged me the moment I logged in, and now we’re in one party. Given the level gaps, it shouldn’t happen.
Granted, Charming doesn’t care about that, but I didn’t expect even PrettyGirl and Shield Warrior to feel the same. I’d planned to say hi and split—not even close.
“Just because…”
“Just because?”
I blink and echo her. PrettyGirl thinks for a moment, then opens her mouth.
“Mm… I just think it’ll be nice to play together.”
She answers guilelessly, making my question feel silly.
Women really do think differently from me.
Shield Warrior just laughs at that.
“I’m similar. I just like playing with Jooho-nim, so we all came. Does the reason matter?”
This guy’s different too.
A wise answer to a foolish question.
***
“Before we move on past the orc zone, there’s a place we have to stop by.”
“Pardon?”
“When you hunt in the forest, you get those Red Shards. You know the Red Crystal Market, right? There’s an Apprentice Mage NPC there—bring them, and he fuses them into a Red Crystal. Take that and go all the way down to the southernmost edge of the forest. Then you can meet a boss.”
“Where do you even get stuff like that?”
There’s only a one-day gap between us, but he knows every tip under the sun. Sure, the playtime gap is pretty serious…
“There’s a way to know. Ah, and when you kill the boss, do it with as few people as possible. Better drop rates.”
“Even that? Okay, I’ll try it that way.”
Thinking back to what I talked about with Jaejung-hyung before we logged off yesterday: we got so many items in the boar area that there’s no reason to keep killing different mobs; the quests clear fast with just a few kills anyway.
We’ll be moving on to the orc zone soon.
Which means we should kill this one first.
“Shall we go to the boss now?”
“Do you know what it is?”
Shield Warrior looks blank, like it’s his first time hearing this. I must’ve made that face too.
“Yeah, I got the info ahead of time. Some folks killed it before us. Not that rushing matters for a one-off quest boss.”
As hyung advised, we’ll go in with a minimal group.
I pull out one of the two Forest Longswords I bought in town earlier.
Will this work?
I take a longsword in my left hand, then draw the other with my right—and it holds.
Good. I don’t see any obvious penalties.
It could be different in an actual fight, but just moving two blades doesn’t seem to strain me.
I worried I might be locked out of the off-hand, but no.
As a kid I was left-handed, but getting smacked at the dinner table to use my right hand taught me to use both; at some point I got ambidextrous, so I figured maybe I could wield two swords at once.
I grip a blade in each hand and swing through several stances I’d already imagined. I can feel the senses coming online.
My senses and reactions breathe quick and shallow to keep both swords under control.
I keep swinging, amping my senses way up, until all my muscles are tight and the pain pulls taut like wire. After a long spell of swinging, I get somewhat used to it.
This might work. I actually feel freer than when I carry a shield.
The rest, I’ll have to see by cutting real monsters.
We’ve got plenty of Red Shards; we exchange them for a Red Crystal with the Apprentice Mage NPC, then we all head straight to the southernmost edge of the forest.
Without hesitation, we follow the barrier in—dark swallows us, then it lightens to a dim glow.
All around are twisted, withered trunks in brown and black—and in the center sits a girl, a perfect blend of black and green, blankly staring at the sky.
That girl is the boss?