HFS 12
by Emerlyn[General] Ittorang: ㅎㅎ
[General] Ittorang: Try calling me hyung.
[General] Seohee1: I don’t want to.
[General] Seohee1: Why are you acting like we’re close?
[General] Ittorang: We are close at this point in time.
[General] Ittorang: We spend all day together.
[General] Ittorang: It’s fine, just call me hyung^^
[General] Seohee1: I said I don’t want to;
[General] Ittorang: Don’t be shy^^
[General] Seohee1: Is this how you seduced Akhaeng?
[General] Seohee1: It won’t work on me^^
This jerk always knew just what to say to irritate people. Cheong-hyeon was determined to somehow get this ill-mannered punk to call him “hyung.”
[General] Marachip: But what are you guys actually doing? There’s a lot of talk on the community forum right now.
Marachip, who had been discussing profound high school concerns with Capybara on the other side, suddenly approached with a question. Capybara followed closely behind. It seemed that the only two minors, Capybara and Marachip, had quickly become friends due to being in the same age group.
[General] Jimni: Don’t talk about it anywhere!
[General] Jimni: We’re trying to summon Grack 3 times in Mystic Mine.
[General] Ittorang: MasterSpirit asked me about it yesterday too.
[General] Ittorang: Asked if I was farming for a legendary special ring.
Just as Seo Hee-won and Jimni had said, rumors about his attempt to obtain a legendary special ring seemed to be spreading. Yesterday, MasterSpirit had casually inquired about it, and he’d received whispers from strangers. Most asked him to share any good information he might have. Cheong-hyeon couldn’t understand why people would show such interest and even send whispers to someone who wasn’t a celebrity or game streamer.
[General] Ittorang: Is this really something that would cause rumors?
[General] Jimni: It’s because of Seohee1
[General] Ittorang: Are you that famous?
[General] Seohee1: Yes ㅋ
[General] Jimni: lol He’s famous as BioGod’s first love.
[General] Seohee1: ㅡㅡ
[General] Jimni: lol lol lol lol lol
[General] Jimni: If you search on BOG, it should still come up.
BOG was short for “The Biz of God Class,” a community for BioGod players. It was also the site where Heekkom had posted the preserved thread about Akhaeng. Curious, Cheong-hyeon asked what they meant by that, but Seo Hee-won predictably didn’t answer, and Jimni just kept laughing.
Tiramisush and Heekkom also seemed to know something but remained silent, so Cheong-hyeon ultimately decided to look it up himself later. While they had all forgotten the original reason for logging in today and were engaged in conversation, a very important question came from Capybara.
[General] Capybara: So when are we changing guilds?
[General] Seohee1: As soon as we find a sub-tank.
With the current members, they couldn’t form a boss party within the guild for raids. Capybara tended to enjoy hunting and quests rather than boss raids, and Marachip mainly played for cosmetics and socializing. Currently, the raid party would consist of Cheong-hyeon, Seo Hee-won, Jimni, Tiramisush, and Heekkom. With Cheong-hyeon and Heekkom as DPS, Seo Hee-won and Tiramisush as healers, and Jimni as a tank, they needed one more sub-tank to form a fixed raid party.
[General] Jimni: Everyone, we have an even more important issue…
[General] Jimni: We still haven’t decided on a guild name…
[General] Jimni: Any good ideas?
Jimni had been contemplating the guild name for days and still hadn’t decided. The original name of the purchased guild was “MaleBondage” or something like that. Whatever caused the brotherhood to fall apart and sell their high-level guild was unknown, but Jimni was adamant about not keeping such a terrible guild name.
[General] Marachip: Me me!
[General] Marachip: To show we’re ahead of Seven, I recommend Six!
The suggestion was full of high school student boldness.
[General] Jimni: Six is probably already used by another guild?
[General] Tiramisush: Well, they’re Lucky Seven.
[General] Tiramisush: So let’s be Seohee One-Two ㅎㅅㅎ
[General] Seohee1: That’s seriously awful.
[General] Heekkom: I think naming ourselves too closely related to Seven might not be a good ideaㅠ…
Cheong-hyeon agreed with Heekkom’s cautiously expressed opinion. He wanted to minimize conflict as much as possible when leaving the guild.
[General] Ittorang: Right, it would just draw more attention. Better to avoid that sort of thing.
[General] Jimni: I guess so…
[General] Seohee1: We don’t need to tiptoe around Seven.
[General] Seohee1: Leaving a guild isn’t a crime.
It was human instinct to treat defectors from a group as if they’d committed a mortal sin. In such a situation, choosing a guild name that seemed to target Seven would be practically declaring war.
[General] Ittorang: Still, let’s avoid it if we can.
[General] Ittorang: Leaving as a group will already draw criticism. Do we need to add fuel to the fire with our guild name?
[General] Seohee1: Hmm…
[General] Seohee1: Scared? lol
It was amazing how a single word could be so infuriating. Cheong-hyeon clenched his fist as he glared at the chat window.
[General] Seohee1: If you move to my guild, don’t go around cowering.
[General] Seohee1: It hurts my pride^^
[General] Seohee1: Don’t avoid even minor things like guild names.
[General] Seohee1: Seven should be the ones watching their step.
[General] Seohee1: Once we leave, we’ll be the #1 guild.
While his confidence was inexplicable, he acted as if being at the top of the food chain was his natural position. With such a huge difference in the number of guild members, how did he expect to surpass Seven and become Luci server’s top guild? They’d be lucky not to get hunted down in the field.
Even though Cheong-hyeon thought Seo Hee-won’s words were absurd, his brazen, confident attitude made his petty concerns vanish.
Cheong-hyeon decided to concede, partly thinking “whatever happens, happens” and partly thinking “he’ll be the one taking the heat.” However, not wanting to simply agree, he acted childishly.
[General] Ittorang: Then Seohee One-Two it is.
[General] Seohee1: ㅡㅡ; Are you in elementary school?
His immediate disgust was quite satisfying. As the situation seemed to settle, Marachip began actively offering opinions again.
[General] Marachip: Then!
[General] Marachip: How about Lucifer, meaning we’ll be Luci’s first guild!
[General] Tiramisush: Sounds like a concept-obsessed guild…
[General] Jimni: It might attract otaku applications.
[General] Heekkom: I’d prefer if our new guild only had normal people…
[General] Marachip: Then then
[General] Marachip: Normal People Guild, meaning only normal people should join!
Sucks for Marachip, but Cheong-hyeon thought “Normal People” would be rejected by everyone. A guild named “Normal People” sounded like it would actually be full of abnormal people.
[General] Jimni: Oh that’s good.
[General] Ittorang: Are you serious?
[General] Tiramisush: I like it too.
[General] Ittorang: It sounds like a toxic guild.
[General] Tiramisush: That’s what makes it good.
[General] Capybara: I’m fine with anything!
[General] Ittorang: No, it sounds like only abnormal people would be there.
[General] Heekkom: It’s actually the best suggestion so far…
[General] Seohee1: I like it, let’s go with Normal People.
Even Heekkom, whom Cheong-hyeon had trusted, sided with Marachip, and Cheong-hyeon’s opposition was drowned out by the majority. Marachip cheered at having his suggestion accepted, while Cheong-hyeon was the only one in despair. Thus, the name of the guild they would move to was decided: Normal People.
He briefly felt like backing out, but it was too late for that. If he said he wouldn’t follow them to the guild now, Seo Hee-won wouldn’t let it slide. Cheong-hyeon sighed deeply and accepted reality. There was no time to keep arguing about the guild name. He had work to do.
[Whisper] DonkatsSet: Are you still buying dark special mobs?
[To DonkatsSet]: Yes, where are you?
[Whisper] DonkatsSet: Magic Tower basement.
People were now sending whispers without him having to use the server megaphone. After paying DonkatsSet and checking his remaining gold, he noticed it had decreased significantly. After steadily spending 15 million gold for several days, he had already lost nearly 2 billion gold.
Ittorang: Shall we get to work now?
Seohee1: Let’s go.
Jimni: Yes…we’ve played enough…
When he called Seo Hee-won and Jimni on Discord, they quickly gathered in the voice channel. As they chatted casually while hunting, Seo Hee-won’s voice sounded unusually languid today.
“Why is she like this today? Something feels off,” Cheong-hyeon thought, then suddenly had a realization.
Based on his experience over the past few days, Seo Hee-won would speak in a deeper, slower voice than usual in the morning, gradually becoming clearer and more focused as more time passed.
The current strangely drawling tone was the voice he would hear when they started hunting in the morning before afternoon—the voice of someone who had woken up only a few hours ago. It was clear that when Cheong-hyeon contacted him around lunchtime, he had just woken up but lied out of pride. Secretly grinning, Cheong-hyeon put on a kind voice and gently cast his bait.