Can't Control Be Bought With Money? 12 - Hyacinth in Bloom

Chapter 12

[Party] Tangerine2: Ah; we’re doomed T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T

The sand pile had disappeared, but the hourglass above Tangerine2’s head remained unchanged.

Beodeul immediately checked the boss’s next motion. It closed the book it had been holding open and took out a pocket watch. It wasn’t difficult to anticipate the pattern that would follow.

[Party] Tangerine2: Clock pattern coming!

A large circle appeared on the floor, and what looked like clock hands began to spin rapidly in different directions. The barely perceptible pauses in the chaotically spinning hands indicated the safe zones that would allow them to survive this pattern.

[Party] SaltySalt: O.O;; Why is this pattern coming so early?

The timing was so bad that even SaltySalt, who had been cursing the party members, was caught off guard. Smile had just used a Berserker skill, and Tangerine2, who had been trying to fill up with sand, was forcibly cancelled mid-action.

[Party] CherryHorse: Hmm…;

Even CherryHorse, who had been calm throughout, showed signs of distress. For good reason—Smile in Berserker mode couldn’t steal health from the now-invulnerable boss and was rapidly losing HP.

[Party] Smile: it’s ok

Despite the situation, Smile didn’t hesitate for a moment, leaping away from the boss toward the center of the circle while typing.

[Party] Smile: 2848

[Party] SaltySalt: That means do or die, right?

[Party] SaltySalt: …omg everyone’s super focused

2 o’clock, 8 o’clock, 4 o’clock, then 8 o’clock again. Girmu ran along with the perfectly synchronized party members. He’d seen many videos where a single misstep at this moment could be fatal.

[Party] SaltySalt: Wow, Berserkerlol movement speed is crazy fast!

As SaltySalt noted, Smile was moving at a truly exceptional speed compared to the others. Apparently, there was a movement speed buff when using the Berserker skill.

[Party] Smile: Cherry hyung go for attack buff after pattern ends

He could have reasonably asked for his own HP to be filled first, but Smile sacrificed his own health for the party’s damage output. It was a decision that contradicted his earlier advice to focus more on survival.

[Party] CherryHorse: ok

When the boss entered a groggy state, CherryHorse renewed the attack power buff for the party members as ordered. Meanwhile, Smile, whose Berserker skill duration had ended, was dealing damage with barely any health left, and quickly backed away when the boss began to raise its head.

Beodeul, who had been glancing at Smile’s condition, was admiring his remarkable reflexes when he suddenly became aware of his own predicament.

[Party] Smile: Girmu-nim please hold on a bit

[Party] Girmu: yys

[Party] Smile: I’ll take over again after filling up with sand wait

Girmu filled the position that Smile had vacated. CherryHorse’s heal came in slightly late as he was busy restoring Smile’s health, and in that short interval, Beodeul felt like his character had been to hell and back.

Girmu staggered after being hit by the corner of the thick book. Beodeul watched sadly as one-third of his health disappeared. The health lost from a single boss attack was being slowly restored by CherryHorse’s dot heal.

While Beodeul was frantically engaged in the battle with the boss, he received a whisper with puzzling content.

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: Girmu-nim Girmu-nim

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: Are you good at tag?O.O

Tag? At this timing? Beodeul was confused for a moment before quickly realizing what it meant.

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: When I count to three, you run to the sand at 9 o’clock O.O~!

The upper part of the hourglass above Girmu’s head was already nearly empty…!

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: One~ Two~

[Party] Tangerine2: Oh no Girmu-nim sand!T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: Three~!

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: lololololol

As soon as SaltySalt finished counting, the boss’s new pattern appeared—the one everyone unanimously called “brutal.”

[Party] CherryHorse: ;; I think Girmu-nim is being targeted?

[Time Librarian ???]: My goodness, to defile this sacred space so…!

The despairing boss transformed into something ghost-like and wailed.

[Girmu has incurred the wrath of Time Librarian ???!]

[Time Librarian ??? is pursuing Girmu.]

Users targeted and chased by the boss receive additional damage from all sources. Girmu hurriedly began running toward the direction SaltySalt had indicated.

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: lolololololololololololololololololololololololol

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: Can you see my chat now?O.O?

Of course he could. But even though he’d reached the sand pile, Girmu couldn’t fill his hourglass since the motion would be cancelled if he got hit while being chased by the boss.

[Party] Girmu: savvvv

[Party] Girmu: save meT.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T

The newbie wailed in the hellish dungeon, with an empty hourglass and flashy debuffs hanging above his head.

[Party] Tangerine2: Oh damn;;

[Party] CherryHorse: I don’t think the healing will be enough;

[Party] Smile: wait

As the word “Retry” flashed before his eyes, Beodeul clearly saw it—the effect that appeared when Smile’s equipment changed. It was too dazzling to doubt his eyes; the golden effect indicating +15 enhancement or higher was brilliantly displayed.

Beodeul recalled Smile’s level that he had briefly checked before entering the dungeon.

‘He was definitely level 108.’

That meant he could only equip up to level 100 gear at most. And the current end-game equipment required level 140 to wear. In other words, there was no point in investing heavily in gear below level 130.

Of course, despite this, Beodeul had spent quite a bit on lower-level equipment due to his lack of confidence in his control skills. Even so, he didn’t have a single piece with +10 enhancement or higher. Yet here was what appeared to be level 100 gear with +15 enhancement or higher?

‘But still…’

Beodeul found himself thinking skeptically. He wondered if changing equipment could really be an effective solution to their current predicament.

He knew that equipment options became incredible at +10 and above, but no matter how good, could it really be enough to take down the boss immediately? Without something like that, there wouldn’t be a way to… Wait, what?

[Party] Smile: Boss is silenced go for sand

With just a few hits from Smile, the boss’s attack was cancelled.

Beodeul frantically clicked on the sand pile. Fortunately, he completed the motion successfully, fully charging the hourglass, and the debuffs that had been decorating the top of his screen disappeared.

[Party] Tangerine2: ??????

[Party] CherryHorse: Oh, is that weapon from that time?

[Party] Smile: yy

What was “that time”? But Beodeul wasn’t given time to ask. The boss, freed from the silence, unleashed another fierce attack against Girmu.

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: Wow using that cursed item like thatlolololololololol

Beodeul couldn’t understand SaltySalt’s words. How could anyone attach such a terrifying word as “cursed” to a weapon that was +15 or higher and had just saved his character from the boss?

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: He’s definitely a quick thinker O.O How old is that item and he remembers it to use it again~~

Beodeul was too busy avoiding patterns to respond to SaltySalt’s whispers. SaltySalt seemed to have decided to use the whisper tab as a new notepad, chattering away enthusiastically on his own.

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: Ah book attack coming

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: No, it wasn’t O.O…

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: I got confusedl.l sorry sorry

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: Oh this time it’s really coming!

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: Right? Thank you? Don’t mention it~O.Or

The patterns he warned about were sometimes right and sometimes wrong. Beodeul couldn’t tell if SaltySalt was doing this deliberately or not. Nor could he understand why SaltySalt was whispering to him privately instead of using party chat.

[Party] CherryHorse: But Salt’s been quiet for a while?

[Party] Tangerine2: scary I wasn’t the only one who noticed

[Party] Tangerine2: Why so quiet it’s ominous

[Party] SaltySalt: ^v^ Did you miss me?

[Party] Smile: n

[Party] SaltySalt: lololololololololhiing

[Party] Tangerine2: Being treated like that and still smiling makes it even more ominous;;

With SaltySalt, who usually occupied nearly 80 percent of the party chat, suddenly going quiet, the other party members couldn’t help but notice. Having just overcome a difficult moment and with the party now stable, they questioned the suspicious SaltySalt.

[Party] Tangerine2: Are you doing something else?

[Party] SaltySalt: O.O?

[Party] Smile: Doing something else after dying alone in the dungeon?lol

[Party] SaltySalt: …????? Who died?

[Party] Smile: ? Who died?

Beodeul couldn’t jump into the conversation to reveal the truth. The newfound stability was only for the other party members, not for him…

[Whisper/Girmu] SaltySalt: T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T

SaltySalt, cornered by the party members, was inexplicably crying in the whisper tab with Girmu. But in the party chat, he pretended to be composed.

[Party] SaltySalt: O0O… I’m speechless at how shameless you are

[Party] CherryHorse: Salt, are you whispering with Girmu-nim?

[Party] Smile: ?

[Party] Tangerine2: ?

[Party] SaltySalt: ?

CherryHorse’s keen observation surprised even Beodeul, who coughed in surprise.

‘Why do I feel guilty when I haven’t done anything wrong?’

Was it because of the reactions from Tangerine2 and Smile? The two sent a single question mark, as if what was being said made no sense at all, and then said nothing more.