Chapter 25
The next day, Kwon-ju created a Holy Knight character and met Jae-heon’s character. Looking at the complete beginner appearance with the username below, Jae-heon checked the nickname first and sent a chat message.
[Holy Light: Your nickname is so laㅁ/ㅇlol Did you put any thought into it?]
[Holy Light: It’s f/king ridiculous]
[Holy Light: Your nickname itself? In this game, two-character nicknames without double consonants are pretty rare, I’ll give you 50,000 won for it]
[Holy Light: Using my nickname will lead to a lot of interesting situations]
[HolyKnightKnight: Just give me what you’re going to give and go]
[Holy Light: Yeahkkkkk omw]
Jae-heon went quiet for a while, seemingly looking for items. During that time, Kwon-ju built trust by observing the sparkling character before him. From the special-looking title with five stars to the effects surrounding the character, it definitely looked different from other characters he’d seen on his way here earlier.
A moment later, all the items appeared in the trade window. Though he wasn’t sure which options were good, seeing all the item names displayed in gold color suggested they were indeed premium items as promised.
[Holy Light: The blue outline ones are for PvE, the red outline ones for PvP]
[Holy Light: But these items are level 170 tier, the final tier]
[Holy Light: Meaning you have to be level 170 to equip them…]
[HolyKnightKnight: Sigh..]
[Holy Light: It’s ok leveling is fast this game basically starts at max level anyway]
He’s only level 1 now, what the hell. At the very least, he should be able to equip the items to hunt bosses together or whatever.
[HolyKnightKnight: Will it be possible by February?]
[Holy Light: Definitely possible]
[Holy Light: Wait, I’ll give you all the leveling buffs I have]
Money can solve anything. Jae-heon put all kinds of items and buffs that increased experience gain into the trade window and explained.
[Holy Light: If you use everything I gave you while hunting, you’ll level up quickly]
[Holy Light: Almost all of them are cash shop premium items, and the buff at the end is VIP exclusive]
[Holy Light: Just set up an auto-charge of 500,000 won monthly and you’ll be fine]
Ji-won would never have told a newbie to get a 500,000 won VIP subscription just for an experience buff, but Jae-heon gave advice strictly based on his own standards. And following those words, Kwon-ju, without much thought, set up a 500,000 won auto-charge for his still level 1 character and relaxed his stiff hands.
[Holy Light: Search for anything you don’t know]
[Holy Light: Have funhhh]
[Trade completed!]
And so, at the tail end of his twenty-first year, the third act of Jang Kwon-ju’s life began. As a full-fledged gaming addict, no less.
* * *
[Kwon-ju]
Understanding how shocking this must be, Ji-won waited quite a while. But after more than 10 minutes without a reply, thinking he should clear up the situation now, he carefully sent another KakaoTalk message.
[Are you very surprised?]
[You can log off and go to sleep if you want]
Honestly, it was a situation that could make one laugh in disbelief, so Ji-won deliberately joked around and even sent a picture, but he wondered if it had backfired. Maybe it felt too much like teasing?
[No, I am surprised]
[I never thought you would be the hyung]
I didn’t know you were Sasa either. If either of us had known, we might have felt fooled, but not this scared. Even when we ran into each other at the Opening Ceremony earlier, I thought it was a really strange coincidence, but the truly mind-blowing coincidence was here. And both of us encountering the same person.
[Sorry for the late reply]
[No, it’s fine]
Ji-won wondered how Kwon-ju felt when he himself was this surprised. Meanwhile, Kwon-ju was apologizing so politely. The memory of Kwon-ju bowing his head in greeting whenever they crossed paths came to mind. He really was a good kid.
As his mind settled, another thought occurred to him. Did he dislike our guild that much? Enough to immediately switch guilds for a senior he hadn’t met since graduation? They were pretty close in high school, but they hadn’t been in contact since graduation…
I thought I treated him well. We had a good relationship. And the guild wasn’t small either, plus he’d never specifically told Kwon-ju about guild information. Why would he blindly join a guild that might be poorly managed?
What if he really wanted to leave and my proposal came at just the right time? He recalled himself from a few minutes ago when he’d suggested rejoining the guild. Come to think of it, Kwon-ju was so shocked that Ji-won never got an answer.
[Do you not like our guild?]
As much as he wanted to tell him to come back right away, Kwon-ju might feel differently, so he held back and asked first.
[No]
[Not at all]
The excessive denial made him more anxious. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but maybe his casual joking had made Kwon-ju uncomfortable. The Kwon-ju he knew was quite sensitive and had walls up. Now that he knew who was behind the character, it was surprising how Kwon-ju had been accepting guild members’ jokes and chatting so amicably.
[You were going to switch, weren’t you]
[That’s really not true I was just switching to my sunbae’s guild the current guild is really good]
[Please let me back in]
Seeing the desperate KakaoTalk message, Ji-won almost spit out the water he was drinking. “Please”? Anyone who knew Kwon-ju’s usual KakaoTalk style would be shocked by this content. Actually, even without knowing his KakaoTalk style, HolyKnightKnight’s tone in the past three months had always been mild and well-behaved.
As soon as the “please let me in” message arrived, a NEW notification for a guild application appeared simultaneously. So fast. Wondering if he had said something intimidating, Ji-won re-read their conversation, but there was no such impression. Well, whatever… no harm done.
[lolololol I accepted]
The familiar guild name appeared above Kwon-ju’s character again. Finally back. Perhaps because he’d brought him into the guild as soon as they met, it felt like HolyKnightKnight wasn’t complete without our guild name (which Jung-hoon had named) above his head. If Kwon-ju knew what he was thinking, he’d probably find it ridiculous.
[‘HolyKnightKnight’ has joined the guild.]
The system notification message was familiar. With guild chat about to explode in 5 seconds, Ji-won typed first to announce the new guild member.
[Guild][Hando: This is a new guild member]
[Guild][Chelling: ?????]
[Guild][Ppojjo: ???]
[Guild][Ddaji: Huh?]
As expected, the online guild members expressed their confusion and surprise with question marks. While Ji-won was wondering how to explain, the surprised chat atmosphere began to gradually change.
[Guild][Chelling: lolololololol what is this lololololol]
[Guild][Watermelon Doctor: So it was a surprise party~~~!!]
As if there could be a surprise party. It was so serious. But explaining the whole situation and giving a detailed account seemed too embarrassing, so Ji-won opened a private chat window and invited Kwon-ju.
[Hando: Kwon-ju, should we just go with it being a surprise party..? lolololol]
[HolyKnightKnight: Yes, if that’s easier for you, hyung]
[Guild][HolyKnightKnight: Haha yes..]
[Guild][HolyKnightKnight: Sorry for surprising everyone ㅠㅠ]
As soon as they reached an agreement, Kwon-ju drove the point home in the guild chat. With that joke as a conclusion, the atmosphere returned to normal as if they had never been upset. It could have been an unpleasant prank since it was so out of nowhere, but fortunately, everyone seemed to accept it without much thought.
[Guild][Ppojjo: Sasa, now that the joke is over, please take back the gold you put in the guild storage!!ㅠ]
[Guild][Ddaji: A joke.. to bring.. tension.. to the relaxed.. Plum?]
[Guild][Ddaji: We’ve been too careless lately]
[Guild][Hando: Now that you understand, let’s go to daily dungeon]
[Guild][Ddaji: I’m going ㅠㅠ]
After chasing the guild members to the daily dungeon, only Kwon-ju and Ji-won remained in the quiet map. Should I chat? He had always called him “Sasa-nim” in a friendly way, but now he wasn’t sure how to address him. Knowing the face behind the character, he couldn’t bring himself to use honorifics. After pondering briefly, Ji-won spoke.
[Hando: Kwon-ju]
[Hando: AFK?]
[HolyKnightKnight: dksldy]
[HolyKnightKnight: No, I’m here]
[Hando: lolololol what should we do]
[Hando: Should we use honorifics when guild members are around? lolololol]
[HolyKnightKnight: Yes.. it would be troublesome to explain]
[Hando: Let’s do that then]
Actually, it wasn’t so much about the trouble of explaining as it was awkward to talk about knowing each other in real life. They couldn’t openly use their real names, and Ji-won wanted to avoid using game nicknames casually while speaking informally.
[Hando: Take back the gold you put in the guild storage too]
[Hando: You put in too much..]
[HolyKnightKnight: I can just leave it there]
[Hando: lolololol take it back quickly]
[HolyKnightKnight: Ah, yes]
The conversation abruptly stopped, probably because Kwon-ju hurriedly opened the guild storage. Ah, this is really funny. Now Ji-won could somewhat understand the bizarre farewell gift behavior from earlier that had been incomprehensible. He had always been like this. If you gave him something, he would multiply it and give it back.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
