(Dragon Knight) YeUbeomjeol: Um, thank you for paying attention to me today.
(Dragon Knight) YeUbeomjeol: I’ll come back stronger next time. I hope you’ll take care of me then, too.
And then, Ye Uwon carefully added,
Also, if it’s not too much trouble, could you check your mail just once22.gif
But before he could even finish typing, the chat window started flying up fast.
(Necromancer) Gisekki: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
(Necromancer) Gisekki: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
(Necromancer) Gisekki: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Gisekki was laughing like a lunatic, completely deranged.
What the hell is wrong with him all of a sudden. Just as Ye Uwon blinked in surprise, a whisper came in.
(Whisper) NyamNyami: So uh, YeU-nim;; by chance;;; really just maybe;;;
(Whisper) NyamNyami: was that on purpose just now.....
(Whisper) YeUbeomjeol: Huh??
(Whisper) NyamNyami: Ah..ㅎㅋ never mind...ㅎ
Ye Uwon was about to ask what the hell NyamNyami meant by that cryptic message—
(Necromancer) Gisekki: Fuck
—but Gisekki was already gone.
He dropped a curse and immediately left the raid.
(Undead) LifeIsSolo: Huh, Sekki-nim left without even taking the loot?
(Dual Cannon) BaekKimchi: Gasp; what the hell just happened?????
(Spirit Priest) LeaveTheHealingToMe: tf he did all that shit and didn’t even take the reward?? fr?
Everyone just sat there stunned, staring at the empty spot Gisekki had left behind. Then NyamNyami’s character bent over, shaking, and burst out laughing.
(Assassin) NyamNyami: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ..ah I think I get it.
(Assassin) NyamNyami: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋthis is fucking hilariousㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
(Assassin) NyamNyami: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
NyamNyami kept laughing like a lunatic, completely by herself.
(Spirit Priest) LeaveTheHealingToMe: lol what’s her deal now
(Undead) LifeIsSolo: ㄷㄷ; idk.. she’s scary
(Guild) no.10: @guildies Looking for people for the next Territory War. Who’s coming to defend the land~~~~!
Right then, the guild master tagged everyone to recruit for the upcoming war.
(Dual Cannon) BaekKimchi: Gasp; oh shit I have to go to that
(Assassin) NyamNyami: yeah same here. YeUbeomjeol-nim, let’s go together next time once your guild level’s higher!!
(Dragon Knight) YeUbeomjeol: Yes, thank you again for your hard work today.
(Dual Cannon) BaekKimchi: You too, YeU-nim~~~
Most of the party had to head off for the Territory War, so they all left the raid room.
Left all alone in the empty raid room, Ye Uwon stared blankly at the loot chest Gisekki had abandoned.
To be honest, before raiding with him, Gisekki had made him seriously uncomfortable. But now that they’d actually played together, he wasn’t as bad as expected.
The harassment had only been off-putting at first — once he got used to it, it didn’t really matter. The real problem was the other people.
‘There’s a good chance things like this will keep happening.’
Even just now, everyone had been whispering him in concern the whole time because of Gisekki’s bullying.
‘If this keeps up, the guild members who run with me are definitely going to get stressed out from trying to read the room all the time.’
He figured he should probably get close enough to Gisekki that it wouldn’t bother others anymore.
‘But how do I do that?’
No clear solution came to mind. If it were real life, he could just buy someone food, soften them up gently, and win them over — but Gisekki was a game player.
(Guild) Gisekki: who wants to go rip off the cherub wings
Just as he was stewing over it, Gisekki posted in the guild chat. The moment Ye Uwon saw that message, an idea suddenly lit up in his head.
‘What a perfect solution.’
Ye Uwon had overlooked something important.
The same Ye Uwon who people called a pushover for being so flexible he didn’t seem capable of snapping — every now and then, just once in a while—
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: @Gisekki me^^
—he produced some downright deranged results.
‘I’ll just follow Gisekki to every raid he goes to from now on.’
And once he made up his mind, Ye Uwon had a way of throwing himself at it with unrelenting focus.
(Guild) Gisekki: ?
(Guild) Gisekki: what?
Ye Uwon didn’t know.
Gisekki didn’t know either.
****
A normal Sunday afternoon, inside the game God of Water Veil.
(Guild) ^Card^: yo ur still online lol
(Guild) LifeIsSolo: lmaoo yeah still here
Members of GaeSae, the server’s #2 ranked guild, gathered closely on their territory, chatting while waiting for someone to log in.
(Guild) TrustingTheCactus: My friends asked again today. Said they got blacklisted by our guild’s Spirit Priest and hit rock bottom, and asked why I haven’t left yet
The guild’s situation hadn’t exactly been great lately.
A month ago, a fight broke out between a guild officer and the Spirit Priest, which disrupted their raids. Because of that, the guild got blacklisted, and a few members ended up leaving.
(Guild) LeaveTheHealingToMe: lol yeah I get whispers from friends too sometimes.. but honestly our guild’s been fucking hilarious latelyㅋ why would I leave? this past month’s been the best of my life
(Guild) TrustingTheCactus: frㅋ we might not have a healer but this guild’s got soulㅋ
(Guild) ^Card^: guild life’s been pure gold lately. even rock bottom’s funㅋ
Still, for the most active members, the Spirit Priest wasn’t really their biggest concern.
Sure, getting blacklisted by the Spirit Association meant they had to do raids without a healer sometimes.
(Guild) ^Card^: shake shake dopamine shake shake
(Guild) QuengKang: what is it? they still not on?
(Guild) ^Card^: nope
(Guild) QuengKang: ugh i’m dopamine-deprived ㅇㅅㅠ going thru withdrawal ughh
And yet, the guild’s mood wasn’t gloomy at all.
Even now, they were loudly chatting like the Spirit Priest didn’t matter. Because their biggest interest was…
YeUbeomjeol (Ordinary Guild Member) has logged in.
(Guild) Jinhee: He’s here
(Guild) QuengKang: aaahhh dopamine dopamine dopamine!
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: Hello.
…none other than the new Dragon Knight recruit.
(Guild) TrustingTheCactus: welcome :(><):
(Guild) no.10: ohhh you’re here. hi ㅠ i just stepped away to grab water!ㅠ
(Guild) LeaveTheHealingToMe: hi YeU-nim hihihi
(Guild) Jinhee: raiding today?
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: Yes ㅎㅎ there’s one left for me.
At a glance, YeUbeomjeol didn’t seem all that special aside from his class.
The character that showed up with a neat greeting and a plain nickname didn’t look like someone craving attention.
He wasn’t an eye-catching or quirky user, and his speech style was calm and ordinary.
(Guild) ^Card^: it’s almost time shake
(Guild) QuengKang: shakkkeshakke shakee
(Guild) Bbangdaeng-i: lmaoooooooooooooo
Of course, that was…
Gisekki (Guild Officer) has logged in.
…only true until one particular person appeared.
(Guild) ^Card^: LET’S FUCKING GOOOO MY PORN
(Guild) Bbangdaeng-i: WELCOOOOOOOOOME~~~ you made it before i ordered the fried chicken
(Guild) HouseParty: (heart flutter)
(Guild) NyamNyami: lmaooooo welcomeee I ran over here mid-song when I saw the notif^^
(Guild) QuengKang: kyaaa~ >.<
The moment Gisekki logged in, the guild chat exploded like it was about to break.
Even the guild members who’d been off doing other things came running to territory, their eyes sparkling in anticipation of what was about to happen.
(Guild) Gisekki: the fuck is wrong with y’all looking so happy?
(Guild) Gisekki: why the hell is everyone smiling like dumbasses?
Gisekki, the user who stormed into the guild territory in a rage, was one of the founding members of GaeSae, along with no.10.
According to no.10, Gisekki wasn’t this unhinged when they first started playing. But after running into one too many freaks, he changed his username to Gisekki and turned vicious.
(Guild) no.10: hey! tone down the cursing!!! ㅠㅠ
(Guild) Gisekki: i just bit a rag, shut the fuck up
(Guild) no.10: sob sob.. what does that even mean... ㅠㅠ