HFS 17

The online community was abuzz with talk about the first Mystic Mine clear. As a result, Lucky’s post was completely buried. Although posts occasionally appeared arguing that Seo Hee-won’s bad manners shouldn’t be overlooked, they were few, received almost no response, and were quickly deleted.

As attention focused on the Normal People guild, membership inquiries began to pour in. Not wanting to miss out on such an opportunity, interviews for new guild members commenced the very next day.

[Party] Jimni: You’ve insulted other users and displayed bad manners before.

[Party] Seokho123: That’s right, but that bastard started it.

[Party] Jimni: Sorry, but as you can tell from our guild name

[Party] Jimni: We don’t accept people with a history of bad manners

[Party] Seokho123: What are you talking about? Isn’t Seohee1 your guild master??

[Party] Jimni: Well yes;; anyway sorry.

[Party] Jimni: Goodbye.

[Seokho123 has been kicked from the party.]

[General] Seokho123: **This is ridiculous f**k

Curses came from the user who was rejected after coming for a guild interview. When Seo Hee-won immediately sent him a duel request, Seokho123 quickly declined and fled to another map. This was why guild interviews were conducted in the field rather than in town. It was an effective way to deal with troublemakers who couldn’t accept the results.

[General] Ittorang: Next person please come this way^^

Cheong-hyeon was in charge of the overall interview process. While organizing people into lines and managing them, he immediately reported to Seo Hee-won if anyone disobeyed and tried to leave. Thanks to Seo Hee-won’s swift punishment, even if the line became disorderly, it was quickly restored—a process that provided a certain amount of satisfaction.

The reason Cheong-hyeon, a DPS, passed PK duties to Seo Hee-won, a healer, was simple: dark attribute assassins were the weakest class in PvP. With his health melting away at the slightest touch, if he were to issue PK challenges, not only would he fail to maintain order, but it might trigger an even larger-scale rebellion.

[Guild] Capybara: Have one of these too!

🍹Tangy Juice

A mysterious juice that relieves fatigue and tension when you drink it.

Capybara distributed tangy juice or candy to the applicants waiting in line, while Marachip and Heekkom were responsible for researching applicants’ usual behavior by searching their nicknames on community sites or asking acquaintances about them.

Hyutzzi was positioned next to Seo Hee-won in case tank users caused trouble. A healer could handle healers and DPS, but skilled tanks were too much for a healer to face one-on-one.

Hyutzzi rarely had to step in, as most troublemakers were DPS users.

[Party] Tiramisush: Look carefully. This is a very important question.

[Party] Tiramisush: Between this

[Party] Tiramisush: And this outfit, which suits me better?

[Party] Jimni: Ignore this.

Tiramisush insisted on being an interviewer too, wearing those black sunglasses again and changing outfits while asking useless questions.

[General] Ittorang: Next person please~

[General] Ittorang: Bomseolhyang?

[Party] Bomseolhyang: Helloooo……>< I’m Seolhyang!

[Guild] Marachip: Let’s cut this catfish.

[Guild] Heekkom: The nick, the way of talking, the look…that’s 100% one.

[Guild] Tiramisuh: The cute act is too much.

[Guild] Ittorang: Ask for self-introduction?

[Guild] Tiramisuh: Yeees ㅇㅅㅇ

The guild interviews continued for quite a while, but due to Seo Hee-won’s strict standards, not many were accepted. Still, they managed to add several new members to the guild, including some with impressive specs who had come over from Seven, bringing the interviews to a successful conclusion.

Cheong-hyeon checked the update notice while waiting for the game maintenance to end. Today was the day new events and cash items would be added to build anticipation for the upcoming first-anniversary major update.

The new costume had a polar bear concept, with a fluffy, warm-looking hat that was quite cute. But what caught Cheong-hyeon’s eye more than the potentially popular costume was something else.

It was a random box containing skill skins that changed skill effects when equipped. Released as an event item, this random box could be purchased only once per account for 1,000 won. Opening the box would give you either the newly added [Noble] skin or a random skin from previously released ones.

These skins were divided by class, so if you got a skin for a different class, you couldn’t use it. Nevertheless, users were excited about these skill skin boxes because they were tradeable, inexpensive, and included the [Genesis] skin. The extremely rare [Genesis] was a limited skin given only to players who had pre-registered for the game at launch and completed an in-game mission.

For dark attribute assassins, whose skills typically had dark and dull effects due to their class characteristics, equipping the [Genesis] skin changed the skill effects to a brilliant, shimmering dark blue atmosphere. That was why it was the skin Cheong-hyeon wore most often.

This carefully crafted [Genesis] was famous for being the rarest and most beautiful among skill skins. Unlike other skins that were occasionally sold, there was no longer any way to obtain it, making it a skin that many begged to buy at any price—so the users’ enthusiastic response was quite understandable.

While Cheong-hyeon was reading the notice carefully, the maintenance period ended. As soon as the patch was complete, Cheong-hyeon entered the cash shop and purchased the costume box and random skill skin box. He sent a bundle of costume boxes via mail to Jimni, who hadn’t logged in yet and sent a few to Capybara as well. It was a reward for those who had worked hard to get Cheong-hyeon’s special ring without pay. He moved to the town where Seo Hee-won was already logged in, intending to give him his gifts directly. Cheong-hyeon immediately requested a trade with him as he stood in front of the merchant NPC.

Requesting trade with Seohee1.

[Guild] Seohee1: ?

[Guild] Ittorang: Accept the trade request.

Though he seemed puzzled, Seo Hee-won must have clicked accept, as the trade window appeared on screen. While he showed little reaction when Cheong-hyeon placed the costume box in the trade window, he became quite talkative when he added the random skill skin box.

[Guild] Seohee1: What’s this?

[Guild] Seohee1: This is limited to one per account?

[Guild] Seohee1: Why are you doing this?

He was quick to confirm the trade at lightning speed yet still expressed suspicion. 

Cheong-hyeon smiled slightly and clicked the trade button to hand over the items.

In truth, he had decided to give the random skill skin box to Seo Hee-won as soon as he saw the announcement. There’s a saying about giving an extra rice cake to someone you dislike, and since the chances of obtaining the coveted skill skin were extremely low, he thought he might as well give the 1,000 won box to Seo Hee-won and take credit for the gesture. Cheong-hyeon wasn’t particularly tempted since he already owned the Genesis skin.

[Guild] Ittorang: You’ve worked hard all this time.

[Guild] Ittorang: I’ve received help from you and I’m grateful, so I’m giving you this.

[Guild] Ittorang: It’s nothing special, so don’t feel burdened.

Cheong-hyeon had a corner of gratitude in his heart for Seo Hee-won, who had helped him get his special ring by cutting down on sleep and had worked particularly hard developing strategies during the Mystic Mine raids. He had planned to just toss the gift to him and leave, thinking it would be awkward to express his feelings in words, but somehow a rather warm atmosphere developed.

[Guild] Seohee1: Why give me a costume box too.

[Guild] Seohee1: You don’t even look like you have money.

[Guild] Ittorang: Give it back then.

The mood was instantly shattered. As he pretended to hit the annoying person beside him, Seo Hee-won sat down facing Cheong-hyeon directly. Above his head, rectangular box-bursting effects appeared in succession. It was the effect that appeared when opening costume boxes.

As they childishly bickered, other guild members began to gather one by one. When Jimni and Tiramisush also sat down and started opening costume boxes, the atmosphere suddenly transformed into something like a gambling den.

[Guild] Tiramisush: Ah, I just need to get the hat.

[Guild] Jimni: Last one.

[Guild] Jimni: Seriously, if I don’t get it this time, I’m quitting the game.

[Guild] Heekkom: Stop gambling…ㅠ

[Guild] Heekkom: Wouldn’t it be better to just buy it with gold from the auction house even now??

[Guild] Jimni: No??? This is now a matter of pride.

[Guild] Tiramisush: If I was going to do that, I wouldn’t have started in the first place!

Heekkom, who had already bought and worn the new costume with gold, shook her head. Capybara, who logged in late, excitedly opened the costume boxes Cheong-hyeon had sent him and wore the red scarf that covered up to below his nose.

While the guild members tried on their new clothes, Cheong-hyeon also carefully changed his character’s outfit. He dressed him in a taekwondo uniform with a black belt and placed hot dogs in both hands, which matched perfectly with the “Greedy One” title floating above his head.