HFS 13

13

“Mr. Seo Hee-won. Have you eaten?”

–…Yes.

Though there was a brief silence suggesting the question ‘Why is he asking that,’ the other man answered compliantly. The end of his “yes” dragged faintly.

“What did you eat?”

–…Why are you suddenly acting like this?

“Just curious. What did you eat today?”

–I just made do with a protein shake.

“Is that enough for a meal? You’re not eating properly…”

–…I only eat like this occasionally when I can’t be bothered.

“Ah—I guess today you came into the game without time to eat because you were sleeping.”

–Yes, well…

After hearing his affirmative response, Cheong-hyeon quickly picked up his phone.

Seohee1: [I wasn’t actually sleeping. Wait 30 minutes.]

A new message from Cheong-hyeon appeared right below the chat Seo Hee-won had sent.

[Lol.]

Cheong-hyeon suppressed the laughter trying to escape from his mouth and spoke again in a gentle voice.

“Starting tomorrow, eat properly while gaming. Though it seems you’re sleeping well at least.”

–….

“What’s more important, gaming or your health…Well, at least you seem to be sleeping well.”

Having checked the Discord message, Seo Hee-won kept his mouth firmly shut and remained silent for a while.

* * *

You have acquired a Darkness-Immersed Ring.

As time raced toward midnight, Cheong-hyeon, who unlike someone else had barely gotten any sleep, began to feel fatigue when he acquired a special ring. Just hours ago, he had happily imagined that today would finally yield a legendary grade item, but now, even after obtaining a ring, he had no expectations, thinking, ‘It’s probably just another useless grade item.’

He had acquired about 10 rings from hunting special mobs today, but all were useless rings that didn’t even reach a heroic grade. Although he had diligently reported each ring acquisition until now, the exhausted Cheong-hyeon opened his inventory without saying anything this time. He didn’t even expect it to be a legendary grade.

He moved his mouse cursor over the yellow glimmering ring, intending to discard it immediately. Yellow. The Ring Submerged in Darkness, neatly fitted inside the square slot, was glowing yellow. It was the legendary special ring he had been waiting for so desperately. Blinking a couple of times, Cheong-hyeon said in a dazed voice, “Oh, it dropped.”

–What is it this time? Common? Rare?

Jimni’s voice coming through the wireless earphones sounded dry without a hint of expectation, as if her mind and body were quite exhausted. Seo Hee-won didn’t react at all.

“Legendary! It dropped!”

–What, really? Ahhh—! Finally…

–Haah…

Beyond Jimni’s scream or wail, Seo Hee-won’s sigh was faintly audible. It was finally liberation from this tedious hunting. Cheong-hyeon quickly posted the item information link in the chat window:

Darkness-Immersed Ring

Legendary Grade

Increases Dark attribute damage by 30%

Increases ambush success chance by 20%

25% chance of additional strike during an ambush

(Special Skill) Dark Veil: Darkness descends upon a certain area. Enemies within the area become confused and have a slightly increased chance of being ambushed

Duration: 3 minutes

Skill Cooldown: 7 minutes

“It is said that an unrefined ring will swallow even its wearer into darkness.”

–Wow…So these things really do drop…

“Still, this came relatively early…Good work…”

–Let’s rest today and try the Shingang raid starting tomorrow.

“Yes. Thank you both. Everyone worked hard.”

Although it was earlier than their usual parting time, Seo Hee-won suggested they rest, perhaps tired from the repetitive hunting labor. Both quickly left the party and exited the game, but Cheong-hyeon couldn’t turn off the game right then.

I can’t believe the day has come when I’d get this ring in my lifetime.

Cheong-hyeon couldn’t hide his emerging smile as he admired the brilliantly glowing ring. He felt like kissing this little piece of data. After admiring it for a long time, unable to contain his excitement, Cheong-hyeon put on the newly acquired legendary ring with a solemn heart and exited the game. Now that he had obtained the ring, it was time to gift his tired body with some sweet sleep.

The serious practice for the third summoning of Grack began the very next day.

–Use the special skill as soon as we enter.

–Don’t let a single mob slip away, bring them all.

–Use AoE skills on mobs going for delivery to spread damage evenly.

–Do you have equipment that increases ambush chance?

–If not, we should buy some, right?

–Can’t you bring them faster?

–Let’s check Capybara’s equipment first.”

Under Seo Hee-won’s command, which continued for several days, the strategy that had seemed uncertain began to take shape. While he thoroughly served as the brains leading the party, Cheong-hyeon learned a new skill.

Invisible Grip

Description: When casting this skill, you go berserk and dominate the shadows of enemies. The dominated shadows crawl out from beneath their feet, clutch their original owners, and inflict continuous damage.

Duration: 10 seconds

Skill Cooldown: 60 seconds

Cheong-hyeon pressed the shortcut key F1 to use the tantrum action simultaneously with the skill. Normally, while using the skill, the character would float slightly in the air, surrounded by undulating shadows, unable to perform any action, but by pressing the shortcut key along with the skill activation in this way, a glitch occurred allowing him to use the action.

While the surrounding mobs had their health rapidly depleted, gripped by pitch-black shadow hands, Cheong-hyeon’s character lay sprawled on the ground, rolling around in all directions, crying loudly.

“Haah…Stop making so much noise.”

Annoyed by the unpleasant crying sound, Seo Hee-won expressed his irritation. It was a voice others might have found quite threatening, but Cheong-hyeon continued pressing the F1 key without bothering to care much. Whenever Seo Hee-won made him crawl on the ground like a dog, Cheong-hyeon had begged and even gotten angry for healing, but there was no more effective way to extract healing than this.

“Ah, damn…”

Finally unable to bear the noisy commotion, Seo Hee-won raised his staff and aimed it at Cheong-hyeon. As the rippling waves of light touched his character, his health, which had been at rock bottom as if he were about to die, shot up halfway. Only then did Cheong-hyeon release the shortcut key and speak in a refreshed voice.

“Oh, you didn’t have to heal me.”

–…You know you have a talent for annoying people, right?

“Look who’s talking…And I told you to just call me ‘hyung’.”

–Why do you keep subtly trying to drop formalities? I don’t want to.

“I thought we were friends since you won’t call me ‘hyung.’ Should I drop formalities too, Hee-won-ya?”

By now, no one paid attention when the two argued. At first, Jimni would mediate but now she just hummed songs as if she couldn’t hear anything. Capybara, who used to be cautious between them, was now busily admiring the performance of his newly replaced equipment.

Though they seemed desperate to get at each other’s throats, Cheong-hyeon didn’t genuinely dislike Seo Hee-won. After spending time together for about a week, they had developed a bond, and experiencing his healing in moments of near-death inevitably created a sense of camaraderie.

If Seo Hee-won’s skills were lacking, it might have been different…but his timing with healing and debuffs was impeccable, and he had single-handedly planned this entire Shingang strategy. So everything was fine except that it was infuriating how he treated him like a DPS slave while constantly saying annoying things.

Cheong-hyeon wasn’t usually the type to engage in childish arguments, but strangely, if he didn’t pick a fight with Seo Hee-won for just one day, he felt uncomfortable, like there was a thorn in his throat. To be honest, he found it thrilling to see how quickly he got worked up over a single comment from him, especially since he often rubbed him the wrong way.

According to Jimni, Seo Hee-won didn’t genuinely dislike Cheong-hyeon either. If he really did, he would have kicked him out of the party and never brought him into the guild.

–Go to zone 5 in advance.

Before the second summoned Grack died, Seo Hee-won instructed Jimni. With the tank drawing aggro gone, Grack changed his target to Cheong-hyeon who was right behind.

As Grack raised his large fist high, Seo Hee-won used the [Scintillation] skill. Hit by the lightning-like beam of light, Grack was temporarily blinded and missed Cheong-hyeon, slamming his fist onto the empty floor with a thud. Simultaneously, Cheong-hyeon slashed at Grack with the daggers in both hands. With Seo Hee-won there, he hadn’t even considered dodging the attack. Grack collapsed in an instant, spewing out ore. He was freshly struck by the thought that they indeed made a good team.

–Nice timing~ It respawned just as I arrived.

–Are we going to see the summon this time?

“Special skill activated.”

Less than 3 minutes remained in the dungeon time. Everyone focused on hunting without saying a word. After practicing for days, today was the first time they’d heard the hopeful comment that a third summon might be possible.

–Bring the mobs from this zone and wait together at the center while we kill them. Grack will appear.”

Time flew by quickly, with only 30 seconds remaining. There weren’t even 10 mobs in the central zone. Cheong-hyeon took position on one side and began feeling anxious as he watched Jimni helping with the hunt. With so little time left, what if they failed to summon Grack because there weren’t enough mobs? Should they gather more mobs even now?