Chapter 41
When Sinu readily accepted his event companion request, Beodeul was extremely pleased.
‘So reassuring.’
He couldn’t help but feel that way. He’d observed Sinu’s skills up close and knew them well.
‘Of course, I know PVE skills don’t completely correlate with PVP skills.’
But he thought that with Sinu, they would more than correlate. It wasn’t a completely baseless thought. Beodeul had previously experienced how the atmosphere changed just from Sinu’s appearance during a PVP match against DalkeumSoBoDeut.
‘At first it was just me and Sinu-nim, and they didn’t even dare touch us.’
He couldn’t forget the commanding presence that had crushed the once-confident opponents. Though it was just in a game, that was the first time he’d seen someone so completely dominate others by themselves.
‘That was possible because of his amazing skills.’
So how could he not feel reassured?
But that wasn’t the only reason he felt good. Having someone to enjoy this unfamiliar new content with—Beodeul was quite happy about that fact.
‘Actually, if Sinu-nim had hesitated even a little, I would have looked for someone else.’
Though he’d obtained Sinu’s acceptance by talking about responsibility and whatnot, Beodeul did have a conscience. Couldn’t Sinu have other people he’d want to enjoy new content with? For example, someone with specs similar to his own.
But Sinu chose Girmu. And he did so as if he’d been waiting for Girmu to ask him to come along.
‘It’s not just my imagination.’
Maybe it was just the thought that he needed to take responsibility for a newbie he’d somehow become friendly with. Even so, it was true that Sinu was generously bestowing goodwill born of fondness on Girmu.
‘Come to think of it, from the beginning until now… consistently.’
Beodeul wondered what about himself had earned Sinu’s favor. At first, he must have seemed like just a timid newbie, then a newbie obsessed with enhancements, then a newbie obsessed with leveling up…
After reflecting on his own history, he quickly gave up.
‘Let’s just stop wondering.’
Perhaps it was better not to know what image of Girmu was fixed in Sinu’s mind. He was thinking this when 3 o’clock arrived, and Beodeul, with his two tickets, volunteered to be in the advance party along with Sinu.
—Girmu-nim, could you share your screen before entering?
“Share my screen?”
—Yes. I’d like to check the perspective of the player consuming the ticket.
“I just did it, can you see?”
—Yes, I can see it.
“Then I’ll enter now.”
The golden ticket could be used by talking to the airship NPC. There had been a script with Farmer Sheimer making a fuss earlier, but it didn’t particularly catch his attention.
As he boarded the airship with Sinu, a timer appeared at the top of the screen.
“Does this mean there’s 1 minute and 50 seconds left before departure?”
—Yes. They said entry would be possible for 3 minutes from 3 o’clock.
“But is it normal that we can’t form a party on the airship?”
—No? …Wait, why did it disband?
Hearing Sinu’s mumbling, Beodeul forgot the situation and had to suppress laughter that nearly burst out. He’d thought Sinu’s normal speaking voice was low, but his unconscious mutterings were even lower.
‘So your tone is higher than usual when conversing.’
People must call that reaction “real tension.” As he came to this realization, Sinu was busily typing something.
—Girmu-nim.
“Yes?”
—This seems different from what we expected.
“What…?”
This time, Beodeul couldn’t hide his surprise. Different from what they expected? What was?
—Remember when we entered the farm? Back then, when we queued as a party, only the missing members were filled in, but this seems like a completely random matching based on the party being disbanded.
“So we’ve been matched with others right now?”
—The event system seems to work that way. Having a plus-one doesn’t mean we can move as a party—
Before Sinu could finish, the timer changed to 0 and the map changed. The airship had arrived at a sky island in full bloom.
Just before disembarking, the camera panned to show the scenery of the island. In the center stood a white castle, surrounded by various terrains including steep cliffs, hills, flatlands, and even a river.
‘Where does that river flow to…’
Beodeul was lost in thought when Sinu’s voice snapped him back to attention.
—Look. You’ve been partied with someone else, right? And we all landed in different locations.
“Ah, yes. Indeed…”
As he checked the name of his party member appearing on the left side of the screen, he unconsciously frowned a little.
‘This name looks familiar.’
Beodeul froze momentarily after turning his screen to check his party member’s guild. Sinu, who had just seen Girmu’s party member on the shared screen, did the same.
—Why the hell is Paguk here…
The cause of Beodeul’s sense of déjà vu was clear. After the Dalkeum guild disbanded, Paguk had been the guild master of the “Bankruptcy” guild where DalkeumSoBoDeut had briefly joined before being kicked out.
“Haha… I guess that’s what random matching means.”
Though Beodeul was also taken aback by the situation, hearing Sinu’s ominous voice made him feel like he had to say something.
“Who’s your party member, Sinu-nim?”
—Oh, someone I don’t know.
Sinu’s answer was just that one line. Someone I don’t know, period. There was no additional explanation. As if there was no reason to pay any more attention to it.
‘What’s going on…?’
Just as Beodeul was feeling strange and couldn’t say anything:
[Party] Paguk: Ah, the party can’t be disbanded haha
An even colder silence descended with Paguk’s chat message. Oblivious to this fact, Paguk checked a few things and then asked Girmu:
[Party] Paguk: Aren’t you moving?
Beodeul reluctantly placed his hands on the keyboard. At that moment, Sinu spoke as if noticing his awkward situation.
—It’s an event with random matching, so what can we do?
“That’s… right?”
—This is a no-PK zone too.
What did “nothing we can do” and “PK” have to do with each other? However, Beodeul couldn’t say anything in response to the disappointment seeping through Sinu’s voice.
—If raiders appear, things might change, but for now we’ll have to wait and see.
Just then, a warning about raiders appeared on the screen.
[Warning! Raiders who’ve heard rumors of the treasure-filled ‘Island of Early Spring’ will swarm in 15 minutes. Avoid the raiders’ ‘tags’ and protect the treasures you’ve found on the island from them!]
The timer that appeared after entering the event map was set for 30 minutes. But raiders would appear after 15 minutes. That meant having to run away for the remaining 15 minutes. A whole 15 minutes.
Beodeul swallowed a sigh that almost escaped from the overwhelming thought and began moving along with Paguk.
—Don’t worry too much. At least it’s not PVP, so that’s fortunate.
“I’m not worried.”
Though he answered that way, he couldn’t help but worry. Looking at the three event map-specific skills that appeared after the warning, his concern doubled.
Booster, Shield, Stealth. All were skills that applied to both party members and oneself when used. 20 seconds duration, with a 2-minute cooldown each. To survive for 15 minutes, coordination with party members was essential.
‘So we can’t use any other skills at all.’
All the job skills that had been in the hotkeys were gone. But looking at it differently, factors like job differences wouldn’t apply, which was actually a relief.
‘It’s like cops and robbers.’
It seemed unfair that users who entered with tickets had to be in the robbers’ position and be chased, but Beodeul tried to adapt to this reality.
[Party] Paguk: Hahahaha you’re good at finding treasure
Treasures could be found by using the ‘Investigate’ motion throughout the island. Beodeul was feeling proud seeing the treasures stacking up in his inventory, but then remembered that the inventory was shared with the party, which made his smile fade.
‘Of all guilds, it had to be Bankruptcy.’
In truth, Beodeul had no personal grudge against the Bankruptcy guild. To him, Bankruptcy was just the guild that DalkeumSoBoDeut had briefly joined before being kicked out, nothing more.
But he knew well what atmosphere those guild members had tried to create when they swarmed in, and what would have happened if Sinu and the Grace guild members hadn’t been there.
‘They didn’t seem to get along with the Grace guild members either.’
That day, when he was startled by the sudden guild war, the Grace guild members told him it was no big deal. They said that the Bankruptcy guild was notorious for being a bad-mannered guild, and even guilds other than Grace frequently declared war on them.
But still, it was hard to understand why they would declare a guild war over Girmu, who wasn’t even a Grace guild member. Unless there was some pre-existing animosity, how could they do such a thing?
‘Seeing how openly Sinu-nim dislikes them, I think I’m right.’
Because of this, Beodeul didn’t want to appear to be getting along well with the guild master of the Bankruptcy guild.
[Party] Paguk: But why aren’t you saying anything hahahaha?
[Party] Paguk: Are you a macro?
[Party] Girmu: What?
Though Beodeul hadn’t been responding to Paguk’s chat messages, he had to answer such a ridiculous suspicion.
[Party] Paguk: Hahahahahaha
[Party] Paguk: There’s a merchant over there, let’s go check it out
Seeing Paguk casually changing the subject made Beodeul feel like he’d been played, but he couldn’t show it.
‘Let’s not get involved.’
With this resolve, Beodeul moved Girmu to the secret merchant. The secret merchant was a squirrel NPC wearing a flower crown, and despite its name, it didn’t look particularly secretive.
[Secret Shop Owner Daram-sang]: Welcome!
[Secret Shop Owner Daram-sang]: I have many items that humans from the ground would find fascinating! I’m trading them for items found on this island!
[Secret Shop Owner Daram-sang]: Items purchased here are absolutely non-exchangeable, non-refundable!
[Party] Paguk: All the good stuff is sold out
[Party] Paguk: Let’s just go haha
As Paguk said, the secret shop’s products were already mostly sold out. Among them, useful items included ropes that could temporarily restrict raiders’ movement, magic bombs that caused *command confusion, and teleportation scrolls for emergency escape.
‘I should’ve bought them earlier.’
He had forgotten despite hearing Sinu’s speculation before entering. This was the result of being distracted by other things.
[Party] Paguk: It’s almost 15 minutes
[Party] Paguk: I have a spot I found earlier, let’s hide there
Survive on his own, or follow an untrustworthy party member? Beodeul stood at a crossroads.
*Command: Input method. A general term for techniques that are activated according to input values.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
