Chapter 55
Beodeul’s questions were soon answered.
—I wasn’t getting the kind of attention I wanted, just weird people latching onto me, so I lost interest and took a break for a while. But after quitting, real life was so boring. I eventually came back, but I abandoned that account to have a more peaceful gaming life.
“Not just the character, but the entire account?”
—Yes. You need to change your ID completely for a perfect identity cleanse. There are ways to track IDs.
The world today is truly scary. Beodeul reaffirmed his commitment to not only avoid posting on communities but also to thoroughly protect his personal information.
However, Sinu pointed out something SaltySalt had tried to subtly skip over.
—That only happens if you’re active on community boards. Usually it’s not traceable.
“What do you mean by ‘active’…?”
—It means you’ve been immortalized in screenshots. Even if you delete your posts, if complete screenshots remain, your profile with your display name and the first three characters of your ID are exposed.
“Can people really identify you just from that?”
—They often track you based on your writing style, usual behavior, or information you’ve revealed. Even if it’s just a guess, most people believe it at that point.
“So SaltySalt…”
—Since I was an attention-seeker, there was plenty of such material. That’s why I abandoned the account and moved to the Akendal server.
I see. Just as Beodeul was nodding in understanding, SaltySalt made an unidentifiable sound.
—Myeok.
After a moment’s confusion, Beodeul realized that the sound was far from SaltySalt’s voice. It had come through SaltySalt’s microphone, but it wasn’t his voice.
—Ack, sorry! Huchu just invaded…!
After that, SaltySalt seemed to struggle with Huchu before muttering in a resigned voice.
—Alright, is that comfortable for you? Fine. I’ll move the keyboard…
“Are you okay?”
—Yes. My keyboard has lost its place, but I’m fine.
—He’s like that sometimes even during dungeons. Don’t worry about it.
—That’s right. I can now complete the Island of Falls with my keyboard on my thighs. Anyway… where was I?
“You were saying you abandoned your previous account.”
—Ah, right. Yes. After that, I started leveling SaltySalt on a new ID on the Akendal server. Maybe because I gave up on being ambitious, there was less stress until I reached max level… I think I was around the 120th player to reach max level on Akendal at that time.
“You must have leveled up really quickly.”
—I knew some tricks. But I reached max level very quietly. By then, there were already plenty of max-level players, so it wasn’t something that attracted much attention.
Still, being the 120th max-level player on the server seemed quite impressive to Beodeul. He was surprised that SaltySalt’s voice didn’t betray any pride.
—Since I was just a player who focused on hunting, once I reached max level, I had nothing to do and was thinking about quitting again… But then a new dungeon exclusively for max-level players was released. So I decided to try some dungeons, and that’s when I met Youngglory hyung.
“You first met in a dungeon?”
—Yes. That was the first time we properly interacted. But we already knew each other’s usernames. While I was rushing to max level, he was doing the same, so we often saw each other at hunting grounds.
It was hard to imagine them being awkward with each other as strangers. Beodeul found it unfamiliar yet felt a rising interest, like hearing behind-the-scenes details of a familiar novel.
“And then?”
—So that’s how I first met Youngglory hyung in a public party, and we cleared that dungeon after a few tries with the party members. To be honest, dungeon patterns weren’t as difficult and complex back then as they are now. The multiple attempts were because one person kept making the same mistakes. After that, I started joining fixed parties with those members, but…
SaltySalt paused briefly, then let out a barely audible sigh.
—That party member I just mentioned, the one who kept making mistakes, started playing politics. At first it was subtle, but later they began openly criticizing only me. Even though I covered for their mistakes and did all the leading during attempts.
“Ugh…”
Beodeul unconsciously expressed genuine disgust. With Sinu’s quiet laughter and the soft documentary music in the background, SaltySalt’s gloomy voice continued.
—To make matters worse, that person was the party leader, and they were just desperate to find fault with me every day. Not even considering that they never kept time commitments every week.
“That’s terrible!”
Even as he blurted out his heartfelt words, Beodeul was puzzled. The SaltySalt he knew wouldn’t have quietly endured such treatment.
Maybe back then, he had a different personality?
—Eventually, they said they needed to raise the party standards and told me to improve my specs by the following week.
“Out of nowhere?”
—Yes. But I did have minimum specs at the time. Since I’d already spent money on my abandoned account and had to re-level everything… I didn’t want to invest more, so I’d reached max level with extremely cost-efficient gear.
—But to reach the level that person demanded would have required… what, tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? I would’ve had to completely replace all my equipment.
“Don’t tell me you did that?”
—Huh? Of course not. If that was their standard, they should have established it when forming the party. They said anyone with max level could join, and we were clearing the dungeon just fine, so suddenly imposing gear restrictions was strange. They were just looking for an excuse to kick me out.
“So what did you do?”
—Well, on the day the party leader said that, another party member was absent and a substitute came in.
A substitute? Beodeul opened his eyes wide, unable to predict where the story was heading.
—The party leader belonged to a guild called ‘Wind,’ which was the #1 guild on Akendal server. They brought in a substitute from their guild, and that was Sinu.
“What…?”
—Yes. At that time, the Wind guild master was ranked #1 and Sinu hyung was #2. He was once just a second-in-command…
—You’re getting sidetracked again.
After being called out by Sinu, SaltySalt hastily redirected the conversation.
—Anyway, there was a reason everyone took the party leader’s side despite them being constantly late and playing politics against innocent party members. Even as just a regular member, they were from the Wind guild!
“Ah…”
—Plus, max-level players all knew each other, at most one degree of separation. That didn’t apply to me as a solo player, but the other side had broad connections.
SaltySalt continued speaking, regardless of Beodeul’s reaction.
—The funny thing is, even within Wind guild, there was a hierarchy. If Sinu hyung was treated like nobility in the guild, that person wasn’t even considered a commoner—they were like air. That’s why they couldn’t join guild parties and had to find public ones.
—Maybe that’s why they were extremely subservient to Sinu hyung despite bringing him as a substitute. Conversely, they treated me even worse than usual… You can imagine how, right?
“Um, yes…”
—Honestly, when they kept picking fights over trivial reasons, I’d thought I should just stick with the party longer out of spite. But seeing the blatant difference in treatment and comparison made me furious. So I just asked.
“If they had a problem with you?”
—No. I asked if they would acknowledge me if I beat Sinu in PvP.
“*Cough*…!”
—Back then, I was kind of obsessed with being acknowledged. And it was unfair, right? The party leader would die ten times while I might die once, if at all, yet I was the one who had to leave the party? If anyone should leave, it should have been them.
“Th-that’s right. Haha…”
Beodeul awkwardly laughed after recovering from his surprised coughing fit.
—But if they left, it would have been troublesome for the party… so I just did that. Honestly, I was also annoyed seeing Sinu getting all the good treatment in front of me. I was like Cinderella, and Sinu hyung was the stepsister, if that makes sense.
At this point, Sinu, who had been quietly listening, shared his perspective.
—I usually ran with parties formed within the guild, but that week I had something to do and joined another party as a substitute. Then suddenly some stranger challenged me to PvP.
“Couldn’t you have just refused?”
—I was also going through a rebellious phase then… I didn’t shy away from challenges.
In short, it was a complete mess. Beodeul, grabbing at the last straw, asked about Youngglory, who hadn’t been mentioned yet.
“What about Youngglory? Didn’t he try to stop you?”
—I’ll get to Youngglory hyung in a bit, but there’s something you should know first.
“What’s that?”
—Youngglory hyung then was quite different from Youngglory hyung now. Now he’s a complete busybody, but back then he was like a jaded working adult. He originally disliked getting involved and disliked anything troublesome. At the time, rather than taking sides, he was more of an observer. But, well, I heard later that he was holding back too.
—SaltySalt is right. Even becoming the Grace guild master was something I half-reluctantly took on. Because the previous guild master changed.
That was the most bewildering thing Beodeul had heard so far. Knowing only the current Youngglory, Beodeul found it difficult to even imagine such a side of him.
—More importantly, who won our PvP?
“Huh? Well…”
Beodeul reflexively started to answer but caught himself and swallowed his words.
—Well?
—What are you asking? Obviously it was me.
—Sure, hyung can think that way. It doesn’t matter. Since I was the one who won anyway!
“Really? Seriously?”
—Huh? Why are you surprised? Why? Why are you surprised?
“No, it’s not that…”
Beodeul hesitantly evaded the question in the face of SaltySalt’s frenzied questioning. His reaction had already betrayed that he had expected Sinu to win.
—I let him win.
—What are you talking about~
—Honestly, the party leader had ruined the atmosphere throughout the dungeon run, why would I want to take his side? I deliberately lost to make him eat crow, but you kept pretending not to know?
—Yes, I’ve heard your excuse loud and clear.
Beodeul couldn’t help but laugh hearing Sinu’s deep sigh.
—But I did regret letting him win afterward. I never expected him to become so brazen after that…
Sinu’s voice was filled with profound regret. Regardless, SaltySalt spoke in his most cheerful voice of the day.
—From then on, I earned the title of Sinu’s natural enemy. The so-called ‘Sicheon’! And my suppressed attention-seeking tendencies began to resurface, so I just told the party leader.
“What did you say…?”
—I asked if they were being too harsh, and how much they got paid each week for selling their conscience at the shop. After I left the party with that parting shot, the entire party disbanded that same day. Everyone just scattered.
“Wow…”
—But then that party leader took snippets of what I said and posted it on the casual game board, making themselves look like the victim. As if I had attacked them unprovoked. After that, I got a message from Youngglory hyung. He asked if I needed screenshots of everything the party leader had said before.
“Wow…”
—He had saved them all in a folder. When he said he was holding back, he was actually taking screenshots the whole time.
Just as Beodeul was about to be moved, SaltySalt threw cold water on the moment.
—But guess what? I already had them saved myself…
SaltySalt, who had said he was in middle school at the time, was even more thorough than Beodeul had imagined…
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
