HFS 37

“Ah…I was holding up pretty well. I’ll be right back.”

Sensing his imminent death, Lee Cheong-hyeon said his final words to Seo Hee-won. For someone who had taken attacks from 8 people in an open field, he really had held up well, but he couldn’t help the dejected tone in his voice after that.

In the end, I’m just a useless melee DPS who dies to someone like Lucky…

At that moment, Seo Hee-won canceled his healing motion, teleported forward, and rushed to stand between Lee Cheong-hyeon and Lucky. Lucky, who had transformed his arms and was swinging at Lee Cheong-hyeon, hit Seo Hee-won instead. It was the first time Lee Cheong-hyeon had seen Seo Hee-won throw himself in harm’s way for someone else, rather than using others as meat shields.

“Crazy, Seohee1! Honey!”

“Hyung, quickly…”

Witnessing Seo Hee-won’s tearful sacrifice, Lee Cheong-hyeon cried out in deep emotion. Seo Hee-won, who had barely survived, immediately moved back and frantically applied all kinds of buff skills. Lucky, who thought he had delivered the final blow, was taken aback when Lee Cheong-hyeon counterattacked with a dark sword skill instead of dying and was hit by the attack.

[Guild] PuPuding: Wow, damn they survived that.

[Guild] Myungjini: Why watch Netflix when there’s so much entertainment in the guild.

[Guild] 7777: ★★★★★ Great place for action scenes.

New guild members watching from a distance buzzed with excitement, but none of that mattered to Lee Cheong-hyeon right now.

“Ah, so cute. So adorably cute!”

Lee Cheong-hyeon couldn’t get over his joy, even making kissing sounds into his phone. After a moment of silence, Seo Hee-won moved his character closer to Lee Cheong-hyeon and used the kissing motion.

It was still a dangerous situation to be so carefree with Lucky and the Seven Guild members remaining. Lee Cheong-hyeon quickly used the [Invisible Grip] skill to bind Lucky nearby. Seo Hee-won then used the kissing motion once more, creating a scene where they were kissing while their enemy was bound—a new concept of bad sportsmanship.

[General] Lucky: This is f**king ridiculous

[Guild] 7777: ★☆☆☆☆ The male protagonists suddenly kiss.

Lee Cheong-hyeon only killed Lucky after thoroughly toying with him. The other remaining Seven members also started dying one by one at the hands of the Normal People Guild members. Lee Cheong-hyeon felt refreshed by the clean victory, but Lucky, now a corpse, seemed quite displeased.

[General] Lucky: Winning with support and thinking you’re good is so disgusting.

[General] Seohee1: Your skills are more disgusting, not being able to take down even two people after 8 of you attacked first^^

[General] Lucky: 1v1 character-delete bet, let’s go.

[General] Ittorang: Why would I…I have Seohee1.

There was no point in engaging with Lucky any further—it would just be a waste of time. Being casually ignored, Lucky forgot about pretending to be nice and started spewing colorful insults. While Lee Cheong-hyeon was grimacing and reporting him, Seo Hee-won approached Lucky’s corpse. Watching to see what he would do, Seo Hee-won unexpectedly sprinkled gold on the corpse.

[General] Seohee1: Mister.

[General] Seohee1: Take this travel money.

[General] Seohee1: Instead of wasting time on character-delete bets, just quit the game.

[General] Seohee1: Since you’re terrible at it ㅋㅋ

As Seo Hee-won sent his chat message, Lucky’s respawn timer ended and he was forcibly summoned back to town without being able to retort. It was a rather satisfying sight to see.

A few days later, a post on the Biz of God community caught users’ attention. It was a post by an anonymous author who had uploaded screenshots of messages exchanged with Lucky, but all the messages sent by the author were either cropped or hidden.

In the photos, Lucky showed a completely opposite image from his usual careful self-presentation. He gossiped indiscriminately with vulgar language about guild members, both those he wasn’t close with and those he was friendly with—content so shocking that even users accustomed to all kinds of profanity in online gaming culture were appalled.

As the community was in an uproar over the shock and began wondering about the identity of the poster, Lucky appeared and wrote a new post. Beginning with complaints that he was being unfairly criticized while the poster, Akhaeng, was the real culprit, he revealed all of their conversations. They showed Akhaeng using similarly low-class behavior and language.

Afterward, Lucky and Akhaeng took turns posting and exposing each other in a mutually damaging way until the commotion ended with Lucky disbanding his guild and disappearing. Jimni, who had watched the whole process with great interest, shared the news with the rest of the guild.

[Guild] Jimni: It looks like Lucky and Akhaeng knew each other.

[Guild] Jimni: When Akhaeng was kicked from the guild

[Guild] Jimni: Lucky promised to let him rejoin when things quieted down

[Guild] Jimni: But Lucky didn’t keep his promise so Akhaeng was upset.

[Guild] Jimni: I think they fought because Lucky was already sensitive after getting crushed in the tournament, and Akhaeng was whining to the guild?

[Guild] Tiramisush: Thumbs up, amazing Jimni, thanks for the summary >ㅅ

[Guild] Heekkom: Good that they fought among themselves and their guild disbanded ㅎㅎ

[Guild] Ittorang: Yeah, their friendship was so pathetic.

Lee Cheong-hyeon appeared in the town where the guild members were gathered, along with his chat message. He came with the entrance effect [War of Stars] earned from ranking 4th and 5th in the battle tournament with Seo Hee-won. A crown floated above Lee Cheong-hyeon’s character’s head, then burst and transformed into sparkling dust that settled around.

[Guild] Heekkom: Hi, Ittorang~

[Guild] Tiramisush: I want War of Stars too ㅠㅅㅠ

[Guild] Tiramisush: Give me a carry next season.

[Guild] Seohee1: Leave before I burn you.

[Guild] Seohee1: Why do you keep trying to come between a couple?

Seo Hee-won, who had followed behind Lee Cheong-hyeon, immediately stopped Tiramisush. After the battle with Seven, Seo Hee-won had strangely become serious about playing a couple. Lee Cheong-hyeon didn’t try to stop it since it would look like appeasing a jealous lover, but the symptoms were getting worse.

[Guild] Tiramisush: So annoying ㅇㅅㅇ

[Guild] Tiramisush: Is this how it feels to be squid-guarded?

[Guild] Seohee1: ㅋㅋ Squid?

[Guild] Tiramisush: ㅋㅅㅋ

[Guild] Tiramisush: Thanks to Ittorang, it’s considered just regular guarding.

Seo Hee-won and Tiramisush started bickering again. Thanks to them, Lucky and Akhaeng were completely forgotten. Still, this seemed better than worrying about people they would never encounter again.

* * *

Fluffy, cozy-looking brown fur, perky ears on both sides, round black eyes, and a pink tongue that looked soft to the touch. This large brown dog that users could ride was a mount called [Flying Puppy].

A few months ago, a collaboration event was held with convenience stores where you could purchase bread with code numbers and enter them in the in-game coupon window to receive random items. Usually, people would win experience boost buff items, which were practically worthless, while [Flying Puppy] could be won with an extremely low probability.

Lee Cheong-hyeon, who wanted the [Flying Puppy] that looked exactly like his dog Ittorang at his family home, often visited convenience stores, but the bread was always sold out. Eventually, Lee Cheong-hyeon gave up on winning the mount directly and decided to purchase it from the auction house instead.

[Flying Puppy], which was traded at a high price for a mount, increased in price over time. Contrary to expectations that the price would drop as more became available, the supply decreased until eventually it couldn’t be found in the auction house at all. Lee Cheong-hyeon, who had belatedly tried to purchase it even at a high price, ultimately had to give up after failing to find any for sale.

Since then, whenever Lee Cheong-hyeon saw someone riding [Flying Puppy], he would regret, “I should have bought it earlier…” His profound regret was well-known even within the guild.

[Couple] Seohee1: [Flying Puppy Mount Exchange Voucher]

And now, that very [Flying Puppy] was shimmering right before Lee Cheong-hyeon’s eyes.

[Couple] Ittorang: What?!

[Couple] Ittorang: What are you?!

[Couple] Ittorang: Where did you get that?

[Couple] Seohee1: I got it by accident

[Couple] Seohee1: Why? Do you need this?

As soon as Seo Hee-won realized that Lee Cheong-hyun wanted this item, he scoured all sorts of external trading sites. After weeks of searching, he finally found a seller and bought it at a bargain price, but he didn’t tell him about it and waved the bait nonchalantly.

[Couple] Ittorang: Yeah

[Couple] Ittorang: Nnnn

[Couple] Ittorang: I totally need it

[Couple] SeoHee1: Hmm…

[Couple] SeoHee1: I don’t really need it, but…

[Couple] Ittorang: NaNaNa.

[Couple] Ittorang: Sell it to me, I’ll buy it.

Lee Cheong-hyeon’s eyes sparkled like never before. For a moment, he wondered how much it would cost, but it didn’t matter how much money he had in his bank account right now. What mattered was that if he didn’t buy it now, there would never be another chance. It was like he was destined to buy the item he thought I would never have in my life.

[Couple] Ittorang: Yeah

[Couple] SeoHee1: I’m not selling it unless it’s direct.

It took a direct dealer to sell this precious item, and he could go anywhere Seo Hee-won called. In a rush, Lee Cheong-hyeon used the Couple’s exclusive skill to teleport to Seo Hee-won as soon as they chatted and then rushed to Seo Hee-won’s doorstep.