Chapter 9
If Shin Wooseok had to define the ‘Girmu’ user of the Dragon Slayer class in one word, it would be ‘a newbie who’s barely shedding their newbie status.’ In any case, still a newbie.
Shin Wooseok had played <SOG> for a full 6 years. Even though he’d taken a short break, a veteran player is still a veteran player, and his form couldn’t possibly have deteriorated. Of course, that ‘form’ included his sharp ability to impeccably identify newbies.
‘Even the costume coordination is…’
Judging by how he’d coordinated relatively recent items with overlapping point colors in a safe way, he didn’t seem to be a user who enjoyed customization as his main content.
His level was too low to be someone who enjoyed character development content, and seeing how worried he was just about entering one dungeon, the probability of him being an alt character was extremely low.
And most of all, his gameplay inside the dungeon gave him away.
‘A complete beginner.’
Trial Gateway III was a mundane dungeon that wasn’t particularly difficult for Shin Wooseok, just rehashing patterns from existing dungeons. If someone had run multiple other dungeons, even if it was their first time here, it wouldn’t be hard to quickly learn the patterns. Of course, they’d be able to handle small and large mistakes with fairly reasonable responses.
But the user called Girmu entered the boss room and kept hesitating, acting flustered. Well, since he’d said it was his first time, Wooseok hadn’t expected much from the start.
—Ugh…
“…”
—Ha… I’m sorry.
But regardless of expectations, when he heard that voice apologizing while swallowing a death rattle, Wooseok found himself automatically saying it was okay. This was unlike him, as he was typically stingy with even a word of praise to his guild members.
‘It’s not like I didn’t know he was a newbie.’
Shin Wooseok thought calmly, completely erasing from his mind the fact that this was also his first time in Trial Gateway III with the ‘Holy Wizard’ class.
“You’re doing well, just focus.”
—Yes, yes.
“I’ll time my burst cooldown with the next pattern.”
When running dungeons with fully revealed mechanics, he’d never talked in such detail with other users. More precisely, there had been no need to. With users who enjoyed hard content, they would coordinate without having to spell everything out, and he would personally brief on parts that needed coordination.
So the current situation, which felt like a teacher and student, should have felt somewhat frustrating… but Shin Wooseok tilted his head as he skillfully covered for Girmu’s mistakes.
Maybe it was because he wasn’t deliberately trolling and seemed focused on not making mistakes while trying his best, but it didn’t feel frustrating at all.
‘His mentality seems quite solid.’
Considering how hesitant he was before entering the dungeon, wasn’t his current behavior somewhat unexpected?
Even when he made mistakes and blamed himself, he didn’t dwell on them too much, but rather quickly apologized and tried to fix them… Wooseok naturally thought that this person must have quite a solid mentality. Perhaps it was because he could sense a faint stubbornness behind that apologetic, intimidated voice.
After clearing the dungeon without major issues, Shin Wooseok thought that he might have found a fairly good companion since returning as ‘Sinu.’
Although that companion left the voice chat immediately after exiting the dungeon, as if he had no lingering attachment whatsoever, and went off to call someone else.
“That voice really sounds similar.”
While Girmu was away, Shin Wooseok tried to recall the faint voice from yesterday. He tried to compare it with the voice he’d just heard, but the two voices had somehow already overlapped in his mind, making him wonder if he’d just heard what he wanted to hear.
‘Was that kind of voice my preference?’
No, before that, are such voices unexpectedly common? He hadn’t often heard them around him until now.
After pondering deeply, Shin Wooseok soon reached a light conclusion. Whatever, if he listened to it a few more times, he’d find the answer.
*
Beodeul felt a particularly obvious stare at the café he frequently visited. When he turned around after receiving his prepared coffee, he found the source of the gaze—that “owner’s son” whom he’d encountered once or twice before.
Even as he casually made eye contact in greeting and left the café, he still felt puzzled.
‘Why is he looking at me like that?’
The man, tall like a model, exuded considerable presence just by leaning slightly against the counter. He seemed roughly the same age as Beodeul, but how could he look so charismatic?
That must be why. Among the many gazes pouring in, his gaze in particular was clearly felt.
‘The power behind his eyes is quite different from mine.’
After looking down at his own pale, bony wrist, Beodeul shook his head from side to side. I guess I need to exercise more diligently, he thought.
Shaking off his musings, Beodeul began walking home. He buried his nose in his white polo sweater, then lifted his head and exhaled. As he stared blankly at the dispersing breath, suddenly, a short vibration reached his fingertips in his pocket. It seemed a notification had arrived on his phone, which was set to vibrate.
‘Such a brief vibration must be…’
When he took out his phone and checked the screen, sure enough, there was a message notification from the VoiceCode app he’d recently installed.
[SN: When are you coming today?]
With a takeout coffee cup in one hand, Beodeul sent a message using only his other hand.
[Girmu: I’ll prbbly login in the evningg]
[SN: Are you outside now?]
[Girmu: Yyes]
Sinu understood his typo-ridden message perfectly. Beodeul exhaled and quickened his pace. If he wanted to log in by early evening, he had a mountain of things to finish quickly.
‘I wonder where he wants to go today.’
Beodeul had been trying out dungeons one by one with Sinu these past few days. Of course, they were trials from his perspective, but probably not from the other party’s view.
Anyway, having discovered a new world of fun, Beodeul was nothing but grateful to Sinu for wanting to go to dungeons with him, even if he was just an alt character. Perhaps because it was a kind of fun he couldn’t often share with his casual gamer guild members, it felt like he’d found a comrade who would tackle difficult tasks with him.
He had installed the VoiceCode app because Sinu said he wanted to match their login times. He never expected to be exchanging messages with an <SOG> acquaintance outside the game.
‘It’s not like I’ve shared my personal messenger.’
It wasn’t uncomfortable if he thought of it as a separate game messenger. After all, there was only one person contacting him.
[SN: Take your time]
[SN: No, just let me know when you log in and I’ll log in too]
Thinking of his empty home, Beodeul blinked and unconsciously smiled as he replied.
[Girmu: Okay ã…Žã…Ž]
Even if it was just in a game, it didn’t feel bad to have someone who consistently looked for him and waited for him.
But Beodeul’s tender sentiments were utterly shattered as soon as he saw the dungeon Sinu had chosen and its difficulty level.
[General] Sinu: This is an essential dungeon you’ll need to run later for equipment
[General] Sinu: It’ll be hard to clear just with you, Girmu-nim, and my alt
[General] Girmu: Yes, yes…
The dungeon Beodeul had previewed through MiTube couldn’t be adequately described as just “hard to clear.” For starters, even the recommended level was barely manageable.
[General] Sinu: So I think we need to find some party members
[General] Sinu: I’ve got a few guys
[General] Sinu: I mean, I’ve got a few people in mind
[General] Sinu: If you’re okay with it, we can go together, or we can try after I remove some gear from my main character
Beodeul wasn’t comfortable with either of Sinu’s suggestions. Having to go with strangers to an extremely difficult dungeon of all places. But asking him to come with his main character seemed too shameless.
But since it was an essential dungeon that he definitely needed to experience…
[General] Girmu: That would be a loss for you, Sinu-nim… I think it’s better to go with other people ã…Žã…Ž
As soon as Beodeul spoke after much deliberation, unfamiliar characters began appearing one by one on the screen that had previously shown only Sinu and his character, as if they’d been waiting.
[General] Youngglory: Hello~ Finally meeting you ^_^
[General] SaltySalt: hihi
[General] Tangerine: Looking forward to working with you ^0^~
Though the avatars were new, the usernames were somehow familiar. They were the very people who had sniped Sinu in world chat and even put a bounty on him… the people who had been abandoned in the dungeon!
# Chapter 4: What’s Playing Hard to Get All About
[General] Girmu: Are these the people who are coming with us…
[General] SaltySalt: That’s how it turned out~~~~! ㅇㅅㅇ
[General] SaltySalt: Oh, are you perhaps not happy with the party members???
[General] Girmu: Oh no; how could that be ã…Žã…Ž Looking forward to working with you…
[General] SaltySalt: Right? I’ll give you a veeeeery precious experience today ã…‹ã……ã…‹
Am I… going to be targeted too? For the first time in his life, Beodeul experienced a twitching at the corners of his smiling mouth.
While Beodeul was breaking out in a cold sweat watching these people laugh haha, hoho, the silent Sinu suddenly swung his fully enhanced weapon at SaltySalt. As brilliant effects enveloped SaltySalt, even though this wasn’t a PK zone, SaltySalt pretended to be startled and hid behind Beodeul’s character.
[General] Sinu: Come out here
[General] SaltySalt: How could you hit me so suddenly ㅇㅅã…
SaltySalt pretended to be weak and used the ‘sobbing’ motion. In response, Sinu stopped in place and said nothing. Beodeul couldn’t understand why Sinu was assaulting(?) a fellow guild member and just blankly observed the situation.
After a while, the group that had been collectively quiet suddenly displayed messages as if they had coordinated somewhere.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
