Chapter 27
In that moment, Beodeul heard it clearly. The sound of Sinu disguising his laughter as a fake cough. Does this mean he now has to plead with Sinu not to tease him anymore?
“Even if you laugh, please listen seriously. This is serious right now.”
“Your voice doesn’t sound serious at all.”
“Even if my voice sounds normal, can’t you tell my expression is totally crumpled?”
“Who could possibly sense something like that…”
It was a mumble with a faint trace of laughter. Though the voice was sufficiently quiet, either Sinu’s microphone was good or it was clearly audible to Beodeul’s ears. Ah, maybe his headset was the good one?
“Anyway, how does it look to you, Sinu-nim? Will I lose?”
“Would you mind opening your equipment info for me to see?”
“I just did.”
Sinu was silent for a moment as he examined Girmu’s equipment.
“With your current equipment, you shouldn’t have any problems until just before max level. Field hunting will be easy, and for dungeons, when considering only DPS, you might struggle a bit at the higher levels.”
“Yes. And?”
“Your equipment is so luxurious that it would be difficult to find a comparison in the same level range. But it seems you haven’t paid attention to special enchantment options.”
“What?”
“Since you said you’ll keep enhancing your equipment this way… From now on, do it when I’m watching. I’ll guide you.”
“Is it a big problem?”
“If you enhance your end-game equipment this way, it would be problematic. Right now, there’s no issue at all.”
“So in conclusion—”
“You’ll win. I checked the levels too, and they’re pretty similar. Unless they’ve enhanced their gear in a different way… The class compatibility is also reasonable, so you should be fine.”
That’s a relief. Having the perspective of an expert(?) made him feel much more at ease than his vague guesses. Beodeul looked at the time they had entered the dungeon and gasped.
“But we’ve been in here for quite a while. I think we should get going soon.”
“We can do the dungeon later and take care of that other matter first.”
“Oh, is that okay?”
“Yes. It keeps bothering me and might get annoying. But one last time, would you reconsider? I could properly eliminate… I mean, resolve it for you.”
“Then people will just keep needlessly targeting me, right? And you’ll blame yourself again… I don’t want that.”
“I won’t blame myself. I promise.”
“Just think of this as setting an example.”
“You’re not listening to me at all, are you?”
“You said yourself that I would win, Sinu-nim. There’s no need to back out of a fight I’m going to win.”
“It’s what comes after that concerns me. You might end up getting harassed unnecessarily. …I want to take responsibility too.”
“If you’re that insistent, take responsibility in a different way.”
“What?”
“I’m going to leave the dungeon then. I’ll also end the voice chat and call. Since you’ll probably tell me everything anyway.”
“Wait…”
“You have to really just watch when you come. See you later.”
Before Sinu could respond, Beodeul quickly exited the dungeon and sent a whisper to WatchingChicken.
[Whisper/WatchingChicken] Girmu: Want to meet now?
[Whisper/Girmu] WatchingChicken: LOLOLOLOLOL♡♡
[Whisper/WatchingChicken] Girmu: You’ll come with your main character, right? I’ll go ahead and wait
He won’t need to talk with the alt character anymore, right? Beodeul quickly added WatchingChicken to his block list and moved on.
*
WatchingChicken didn’t dislike Girmu from the beginning. Initially, he had little interest in the newbie who was brought in by a few Dalkeum guild members. In fact, it would be more accurate to say he didn’t develop any interest because the Girmu he first saw was truly a terrible newbie.
‘Just because it’s a small social guild doesn’t mean I need to pretend to be friendly, right?’
Although Dalkeum guild members were said to be casual players, each had at least one area they were passionate about. Since most were interested in character customization or money-making, it was actually difficult for a true newbie who knew nothing about the game to fit in.
But then, from some point on, the clueless newbie Girmu gradually built up his presence within the guild.
[General] WatchingChicken: Yuca-nim, did you already open this special box? lol
[General] YucaPrinciple: Omg lololololol No, Mu-nim opened it for me and gave it to me!!ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[General] WatchingChicken: Mu-nim?????
[General] YucaPrinciple: The new member who joined recently, Girmu-nim!
[General] WatchingChicken: Ah, I see lol
That item from the special box had an especially abysmal drop rate this time, making it worth a fortune, and he gave it away? WatchingChicken licked his lips and subtly probed YucaPrinciple.
[General] WatchingChicken: How much did he charge? lol
[General] YucaPrinciple: He didn’t take a single coin…
[General] WatchingChicken: Whoa??
[General] YucaPrinciple: He’s such an angel omgㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ He just gave it to me because I was pining for itㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Wow, what is this? A sucker? Or a big shot? Either way, he was definitely loaded. How much is that thing worth? From that point on, WatchingChicken started keeping an eye on Girmu.
Girmu seemed to have received care from guild members, as his formerly trash-like appearance had transformed into something quite presentable. Moreover, while he initially only hung out with a select few guild members, he now mingled naturally with many people and had fully integrated into Dalkeum.
Considering his terrible first impression that wasn’t even worth a glance, this was quite a remarkable development.
[Guild] MakeAWishBuang: Dalkeum friends…
[Guild] Gajinamu: ??
[Guild] Bae-salm: ?
[Guild] MakeAWishBuang: Mu-nim has bestowed another blessing upon us…
[Guild] ororo: Oh? Don’t tell me
[Guild] MakeAWishBuang: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Check out the packages under the central castle tree…
[Guild] YucaPrinciple: Oh my god… I just saw itㅠㅠㅠㅠ Mu-nim is just…ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Guild] MakeAWishBuang: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠHe said he’s been busy lately, but he logged in earlier, checked the wish tree, and left gifts before leavingㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Guild] Bae-salm: Wow
[Guild] Gajinamu: Whoa, I wrote something completely outrageous though?
[Guild] MakeAWishBuang: How much…? Well, I got what I wroteㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ;; Weren’t these supposed to be messages to the guild officers?ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Why is Mu-nim granting them… Plus, the number of boxes is exactly our guild member count
[Guild] Bae-salm: Whoa, isn’t that too much?
[Guild] YucaPrinciple: That’s what I’m sayingㅜㅜㅜ
[Guild] MakeAWishBuang: He apologized for being absent latelyㅠㅠㅠ… He already logged off so I can’t even thank him properly. I’m going to send him mail at leastㅠㅠ And I’ve claimed Mu-nim’s wish for myself;
[Guild] Gajinamu: ? Then what should the rest of us do?
[Guild] MakeAWishBuang: First come, first served, rightㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠthink about it yourselves
[Guild] Bae-salm: Lolololololol MakeAWish-nim, I didn’t know you were this selfish…
Guild members who had been scattered all around gathered at the central castle for the first time in a while. WatchingChicken, who had been hovering around the Christmas event tree, also found and opened his share of the gift boxes.
“Holy shit.”
In that moment, a curse burst out in his real voice. Inside the box was the actual “Horn of Chaos” item—something he had written off as “Give me another Horn of Chaos, damn it” thinking it would never come true.
“Fuck, what’s this? Is this real?”
The “Horn of Chaos” was a cosmetic item that wasn’t particularly popular upon release but was later reevaluated, causing its price to skyrocket.
While it wasn’t a special-grade item and therefore could potentially be re-released, the game company, known for milking content, had never brought it back after its initial release, causing its market price to rise daily.
“This is insane…”
Wondering if it was real, he moved it around in his inventory multiple times, even placing it in storage and taking it out again, but the “Horn of Chaos” remained in WatchingChicken’s hands. While other guild members were shocked, laughing, crying, and using or equipping their gifts, he mentally calculated the item’s worth.
“How much is this worth now?”
WatchingChicken moved to a corner of the central castle, entered the auction house, searched for “Horn of Chaos,” and had to cover his mouth.
“Fuck, there’s only one item for sale?”
Only a single item was listed on the server’s auction house. Checking the market price, he saw a string of previous sale prices. The prices were absolutely insane.
“Rather than using this myself…”
Wouldn’t it be more profitable to sell it? Despite being a cosmetic item he had longed for, WatchingChicken only saw it as gold that could soon be in his possession.
“That’s a shit ton of free money.”
Grinning, he checked his remaining transaction count and stored the “Horn of Chaos” in his warehouse. Then he silently criticized the guild members who were simply equipping their received items. Idiots, they should think about selling them.
Anyway, he felt like he had found an incredible sucker. Judging by his spending habits with guild members so far, Girmu was definitely a major sucker.
From some point, WatchingChicken began to subtly hover around Girmu, casually hinting at things he needed, and Girmu would readily hand over what he said he needed about three times out of five without any hesitation.
[Party] Horupa: WatchingChicken, you’ve been on a lucky streak lately? lol Did you find a good money-making method?
[Party] WatchingChicken: Nope lolololol I caught one helluva sucker lol
[Party] Worthlesspotato: Oh? lolololol Introduce me too lol
[Party] WatchingChicken: lolololololol You think I would?
That sucker is already busy being fleeced by our guild members. Thanks to this, WatchingChicken was now enjoying Story of Guardians without excessive spending. The unexpected financial windfall made him ambitious about upgrading his character. With few players of the same class, he figured he could quickly enter the server rankings with just a bit more investment.
[Party] WatchingChicken: Hey guys, I want to properly gear up now, can you help run me through dungeons?
[Party] Worthlesspotato: lolololololol Too much trouble
[Party] Horupa: How much you paying? I’ll consider it if it’s over 100 million gold per run lol
[Party] WatchingChicken: Are you crazy? lololololololol That’s more expensive than Grace parties, you scammer
[Party] Horupa: lololololololol Then go to Grace, damn it
These acquaintances from other guilds were all just money-hungry. WatchingChicken, clicking his tongue in annoyance, actually started showing interest in “Grace” dungeon parties, and successfully found a party that would run dungeons at his level.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
