HFS 35

[General] Ittorang: Wow, really?

[General] Ittorang: Doom Dealer is fun, right?

[General] Ttangbo: Shall I be honest?

As soon as Lee Cheong-hyeon confirmed the chat, he used his Sword Dance skill to attack Ttangbo. Ttangbo, who was barely alive with low health, instantly died and turned into a corpse. In truth, Lee Cheong-hyeon had no intention of sparing him regardless of his answer.

[General] Ttangbo: Ah.

[General] Ittorang: Wrong answer.

[General] Ttangbo: aaaaaaaaaaaaa

[General] Ttangbo: Actually it’s an honor in the community, thank you.

[General] Ttangbo: Can I take a screenshot?

Finding the response amusing, Lee Cheong-hyeon willingly posed next to the corpse.

Meanwhile, Seo Hee-won approached from the opposite direction after killing someone else and filling Lee Cheong-hyeon’s health.

“What are you doing?”

“This person says he’s my fan. Isn’t that interesting? I took a picture with him.”

“Why are you playing with weird things? You should be getting one more kill with the time you have on your hands.”

Suddenly feeling irritated, Seo Hee-won poured attack skills onto Ttangbo’s corpse. It was essentially a form of teabagging. Unfortunately, right after that, Ttangbo’s respawn timer finished, so he suffered inexplicable harassment on his corpse before being forcibly summoned back to town. There was no time for explanations.

“That was my first fan, and it looks like I’m about to lose him as soon as I met him…”

“If he could be lost that easily, he wasn’t a real fan to begin with.”

“I guess…Let’s go do the daily quests.”

As Lee Cheong-hyeon moved through the field with an uneasy feeling, a notification arrived.

Friend request from Ttangbo

Accept / Reject

Though it was an unexpected friend request, Lee Cheong-hyeon thought it was fortunate and immediately pressed accept. Thankfully, Ttangbo showed no signs of being upset.

Lee Cheong-hyeon was about to mention the friend request to Seo Hee-won but hesitated. Since Seo Hee-won didn’t seem to like it much, it seemed better not to mention it.

“There’s one person in the corner below. Let’s get them.”

“Okay. Oh, wait. That person is a Doom Dealer.”

“So what?”

“Let’s spare this one…It reminds me of the old days…”

Seeing the Doom Dealer dressed in dark clothes from head to toe and moving from the corner, tears welled up in Lee Cheong-hyeon’s eyes. It was because until just last season, Lee Cheong-hyeon had been in a similar situation. Feeling sympathetic, he even pretended to cry, and Seo Hee-won reluctantly agreed. Wishing happiness for the Doom Dealer he had just seen for the first time, Lee Cheong-hyeon hurriedly left before Seo Hee-won could change his mind.

His battle tournament score rose quickly, soon reaching server rank 138. Enjoying the thrill of climbing ranks, Lee Cheong-hyeon began roaming for PK even when Seo Hee-won wasn’t around. Today was the same, as SeoHee-won was away visiting his family. 

Lee Cheong-hyeon wandered the fields until dusk, waiting for Seo Hee-won who said he might be able to log in late at night.

Having taken down a 3-person party alone, Lee Cheong-hyeon was overflowing with confidence, until he, unfortunately, encountered a 5-person party and was helplessly defeated.

Do they each get 5 points if five people get one kill?

After being killed and forcibly summoned back to town, Lee Cheong-hyeon grumbled inwardly and returned to the field, but things continued to go poorly from that point on, and his ranking kept dropping.

Eventually, Lee Cheong-hyeon just returned to town and listlessly waited for Seo Hee-won.

Always sticking close by, saving him when he was about to die, buffing him to make him stronger, and even applying debuffs to help him get more kills…Without the healer who took care of him so that he could deal damage comfortably, Lee Cheong-hyeon had no motivation to play the game.

“When is Seo Hee-won coming…”

Had he ever waited for someone like this while playing games before? He had already completed all dungeons with Seo Hee-won in the early morning, and daily quests were to be done together when Seo Hee-won logged in.

The only thing he could do alone was the battle tournament, but even that wasn’t going well, leading to a situation where he truly had nothing to do without Seo Hee-won around. Finally, Lee Cheong-hyeon had no other choice but to send a message asking for Seo Hee-won to join the game.

The reply came quickly.

Lee Cheong-hyeon: When are you coming?

Seo Hee-won: I’ll be there by 11.

Seo Hee-won: Just wait a little.

Lee Cheong-hyeon: Okay.

It was not yet 10 o’clock, so he only needed to wait a little over an hour. Wondering what to do to pass the time, Lee Cheong-hyeon checked the list of online guild members. He sought out the person who seemed the most idle.

[Guild] Tiramisush: It’s Ittorang~

It was Tiramisush, changing clothes in the guild room.

[Guild] Tiramisush: Help me choose clothes ㅇㅅㅇ

[Guild] Ittorang: Why do you always seem to be changing clothes whenever I see you?

Tiramisush kept changing into outfits that looked similar to each other. Among them, Lee Cheong-hyeon carefully selected a pink raincoat that matched well with rabbit ears, along with other accessories. Tiramisush, wearing a large flower like an umbrella, seemed to be quite satisfied.

[Guild] Tiramisush: As expected, pink for men.

[Guild] Tiramisush: There’s a yellow raincoat too ㅇㅅㅇ

[Guild] Ittorang: Pink suits you better.

[Guild] Tiramisush: I’d like to see Ittorang in yellow ㅇㅅㅇ

[Guild] Ittorang: I don’t have a yellow raincoat though.

[Guild] Tiramisush: ㅠㅅㅠ

[Guild] Tiramisush: They’re selling it in the auction house.

[Guild] Tiramisush: It’s not that expensive.

[Guild] Tiramisush: We’d look so cute wearing them together.

The clothes Lee Cheong-hyeon was currently wearing were the Fall in Love set he received when becoming a couple with Seo Hee-won. He had left them on since he already had them on and he found it bothersome to change. Due to Tiramisush’s persistent urging, Lee Cheong-hyeon entered the auction house and purchased the [Yellow Heart Raincoat]. Despite being told it wasn’t expensive, he had to pay 400 million for it.

Having bought it anyway, he enthusiastically changed clothes with Tiramisush, who kept suggesting “Try this on, try that on.” Keeping the dog ears he always wore, he held a yellow sunflower bigger than his character. This completed the look: an all-yellow dog and an all-pink rabbit. Tiramisush excitedly took pictures.

[Guild] Tiramisush: By the way, Ittorang

[Guild] Tiramisush: You’re always abandoning me to play with Seohee1.

[Guild] Tiramisush: What brings you here today ㅇㅅㅇ

[Guild] Ittorang: When did I ever always play with just Seohee1?

Though Lee Cheong-hyeon had spent about 80% of his recent game time with Seo Hee-won, he brazenly lied.

[Guild] Ittorang: I’m busy but I made time especially to play with you because I wanted to.

[Guild] Tiramisush: ㅇㅅㅇ Liar.

[Guild] Ittorang: ㅎㅎ

[Guild] Ittorang: Seohee1 said he’ll be here at 11.

[Guild] Tiramisush: It’s past 11 already?

Checking the time at Tiramisush’s remark, it really was past 11:10. A message from Seo Hee-won saying he would be a little late had arrived five minutes ago. Lee Cheong-hyeon suddenly became gloomy and sent a reply saying that he was waiting.

[Guild] Ittorang: It looks like he’ll be a bit late.

[Guild] Ittorang: I need to do the daily quests before midnight…

[Guild] Tiramisush: You can do them alone.

[Guild] Tiramisush: The couple experience bonus isn’t that much anyway.

[Guild] Ittorang: Alone…

[Guild] Ittorang: But I’m a fragile DPS who can’t even heal myself?

[Guild] Ittorang: Who’s going to heal me if I get hit, with Seohee1 not here?

[Guild] Tiramisush: ㅇㅅㅇ

[Guild] Tiramisush: You’ve been tamed by Seohee1.

[Guild] Ittorang: ㅋㅋ My gaming life is in big trouble…

He used to get around just fine on his own before, but now he couldn’t even remember how he had managed alone. He had only thought it was convenient to have a skilled healer beside him, but without Seo Hee-won, the void felt enormous.

[Guild] Tiramisush: I can do the daily quests with you.

Lee Cheong-hyeon pondered Tiramisush’s offer briefly. Waiting for Seo Hee-won, who might come at an unknown time, versus accepting help from Tiramisush who was right there. The choice was obvious.

[Guild] Ittorang: Tiramisush is the best >ㅅ

[Guild] Tiramisush: I am the best >ㅅ

If Seo Hee-won didn’t arrive within 30 minutes, there was a high chance one of them wouldn’t be able to complete their daily quests. Normally, it would take about 10 minutes per person to finish daily quests, but during the battle tournament season, anything could happen in the field, so they needed to allocate at least 30 minutes per person.

It seemed perfect to finish the daily quests with Tiramisush first, and then help with Seo Hee-won’s quests when he arrived. Lee Cheong-hyeon invited Tiramisush to his party, and they headed to the field side by side.

* * *

Rushing into his home, Seo Hee-won pressed the power button on his computer tower first. While waiting for the computer to boot up, he washed his hands and sent a message to Lee Cheong-hyeon saying he had just arrived.

It was his father’s birthday, so he had to visit his family home, but on the way back, traffic was terrible, making him arrive 30 minutes later than planned. Without even changing his clothes, just taking off his padded jacket, Seo Hee-won logged into the game immediately. Since it was so late, he planned to give up on his own daily quests and just help Lee Cheong-hyeon finish his. There had been no particular response from Lee Cheong-hyeon in the meantime.

[Couple] [Seohee1 has logged in.]

[Guild] Ittorang: Seohee1’s here!

[Guild] Tiramisush: Hiii

Seeing Lee Cheong-hyeon welcome him faster than anyone, Seo Hee-won smiled broadly and immediately moved to his location. As the screen, which had turned black, brightened again to show the guild room, Seo Hee-won saw Lee Cheong-hyeon with Tiramisush. His mood plummeted to all-new lows, but having arrived late, he couldn’t get angry.

[Guild] Seohee1: Let’s go do hyung’s quests first quickly.

[Guild] Tiramisush: We already did them together ㅇㅅㅇv

[Guild] Ittorang: Since you seemed to be running late

[Guild] Ittorang: I did mine with Tiramisush.

[Guild] Ittorang: I was waiting to do yours together.