“No, no. Uh, w-wait a second.”
“Hey, take it slow.”
Did he choke on something? Sa-yoon tilted his head slightly, waiting until the coughing fit seemed to subside before continuing the conversation.
“I just wanted to let you know in advance—I won’t be able to make it to class.”
He got straight to the point. No excuses, no explanations. Even though he’d practically thrown his real life away for the game and decided to skip class on his own, he still had a shred of dignity left.
Telling a junior six years younger than him that he was ditching class to grind ranks in an online game was just too embarrassing.
There was silence on the other end of the line, as if the person on the other side hadn’t expected it. Come to think of it, did this really warrant a phone call? Maybe he should’ve just sent a text.
“Anyway, I wanted to ask if I could borrow your notes later.”
As he spoke, he suddenly recalled the lie he’d told last time—that he’d quit gaming.
“I’ll treat you to a meal.”
Feeling like Pinocchio, he pressed the bridge of his nose for no reason and ended up spewing nonsense.
“You’re really busy, huh?”
“Huh? Uh, what?”
Wouldn’t most people ask why he couldn’t come instead? Shin-jae’s unexpected question was way out of left field, and Sa-yoon stuttered like a malfunctioning machine, repeating himself. His voice even cracked from guilt.
But how did he know I was busy? He reflexively answered truthfully, then immediately found himself questioning it.
“You’re getting ready for the shoot.”
“Oh…”
With that one sentence, all his suspicions melted away. Right, there was a shoot scheduled for the upcoming weekend.
“By the way, you’re really popular.”
“Me?”
What had initially been planned as a small-scale shoot had somehow ballooned into something much bigger—all because they had decided to film at night.
Without some kind of cloning ability, there was no way he could handle adjusting the lighting and shooting footage all on his own. Extra manpower was an absolute necessity.
So, he had asked Yeon-hee for help. Back then, his life was a cycle of rushing home after class to dive into the battlefield of the game, so their conversation naturally took place in the lecture hall.
The problem? It just so happened to be during a core elective class—the kind where students clung to their seats like it was their personal turf.
He hadn’t paid much attention to his surroundings, but for some reason, as soon as their conversation ended, questions started pouring in from all directions.
“Sunbae, why didn’t you say anything?”
“Why do we help everyone else, but you film alone? That’s so unfair!”
“When are you shooting? I wanna come too!”
“Sunbae! I’m totally free this weekend!”
Words like that came flooding in all at once. They were practically tripping over themselves to return the favor, so there was no reason to refuse.
At the time, Sa-yoon just assumed it was the usual camaraderie within the department—where everyone helped each other out with filming. People kept saying that these days, students were all about survival of the fittest, but apparently, his department still had a strong sense of community.
Once the spontaneous group shoot was confirmed, the juniors started bombarding him with questions. At first, they were the kind of things you’d normally ask an upperclassman—how to do a good casting, or what to do if someone you wanted to cast refused.
Sa-yoon answered without much thought, giving the usual advice, until one of them outright said, “Sunbae, can you introduce us?”
That was when he finally realized something was off. They were all way too interested in the cast.
Ah, so that’s what this was about. No wonder they were so eager to help like it was their own project.
Since he hadn’t blabbed about it to anyone, the source of the information was obvious. When he glanced over at Yeon-hee, she stuck her tongue out slightly and gave him an awkward smile.
Every single person eyeing him with sparkling curiosity had, at some point, been brushed off by Sa Shin-jae.
It was a good thing the professor walked in just in time.
“Yeah, turns out everyone in our department already knows you.”
“…Ah……..”
Shin-jae let out a knowing sound at that. Their film department’s motto was “If it doesn’t work, make it work.” He didn’t even have to ask—he could already imagine how much they’d pestered Yeon-hee.
“But hey, hyung.”
“Hm?”
“I won’t be able to make it to class either. I have something to do.”
“Yeah? Well, can’t be helped. But what’s up with your voice? You’re not sick, are you? You said it wasn’t a cold.”
He had been coughing a lot earlier, but after talking for a bit longer, Sa-yoon could clearly tell that his energy was lower than usual. His voice even sounded hoarse.
At first, he figured Shin-jae could handle his own condition just fine, but for some reason, an odd sense of unease crept in, making him talk more than usual.
“…I think it’s just because I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Yeah? Make sure you take care of yourself. If you’re feeling off, let me know. See you on Saturday, then.”
“Yeah, you too, hyung.”
With the short call over, Sa-yoon returned to his seat.
In the meantime, Killer must have come back because the peacock, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly shot up from his chair.
Sa-yoon calmly placed his fingers on the keyboard and typed.
[Party] Chasa: I’m back. Let’s go.
As if they’d been waiting, the matchmaking popped up immediately.
***
[Cygnus] Am I the only one hyped about this ranking update?
(Ranking Status Table.jpg)
I was about to say, same old faces again, but damn, a whole bunch of new names popped up. And the scores are so close that the rankings are shifting in real-time.
Comments (51)
A lot of rankers aren’t grinding this time.
The cross-server rankers are underperforming more than expected.
Tbh, for a season opener, the rewards were kinda mid.
└ Fr, not even a limited title—just recycled stuff.
└ Btw, what’s with the user-customized outfit? Did an actual player design it?
└ Tbh, aside from that outfit, there’s nothing worth grinding for. And the worst part? If you’re not into cosmetics, it’s totally useless.
Wait, is that really a Warlock in the middle of the rankings? A Warlock?! In the top ranks?!
└ Yeah, Chasa’s well-known.
└ Never heard of him.
└ You a returning player?
└ Yeah… just came back this season.
└ (Link) Warlock Commander Successfully Defends in Siege Battle
└ (Link) Why a Character-Wipe Duel Was Declared
└ HOLY SHIT.
But seriously, how much grinding does it take for a Warlock to get that high?
Dude’s been playing nonstop. I swear, every time I log in, he’s online. He’s basically an NPC in the waiting room.
No way a human can grind 24/7. He’s gotta be using an account service.
Wtf are you talking about? Our guild master plays himself, okay?? Even the guild members are worried he’s gonna pass out at this rate.ㅇㅅㅇ
If they don’t say anything, how the hell are we supposed to know if they’re running a three-man rotation or not?
└ If you’re suspicious, report it instead of whining here.
Chasa’s always been good at PvP.
Is this the same Warlock who commanded last time?
***
[Warlock] Hey guys, did Warlocks get a balance patch or something?
Did I miss something?
Comment (1)
Yeah right, like that’d ever happen.
***
[Cygnus] Is Warlock any good?
Sharpshooter sucks ass, so I’m thinking of switching. If Warlocks are solid in PvP, I’ll swap.
Comments (83)
Bro, I thought this was a “help me pick my lunch” post and rushed in.
└ 22222
└ Same, thought it was some new bait post.
You a Pilgrim or something?
└ Huh?
└ You seem to enjoy suffering, that’s why.
Did you even look at the rankings? If Warlock was good, there’d be more than one in the top 30.
No need to check—it’s obviously Hunters carrying.
└ You new here or what? He’s always been a one-man army even before transferring servers.
└ Fact: Even if a Warlock pulls their weight, people would still rather bring a Black Mage.
└ True.
***
[Cygnus] A Job Analyst’s Thoughts on Warlocks
Hello, this is your resident job analyst. Today, let’s talk about Warlocks.
They might be weak in dungeons, but they’re definitely not bad in PvP.
There’s been a lot of debate about whether their damage is high or not, but if we look at total damage output, I’d say they’re actually not far behind Black Mages.
But let me emphasize—it’s total damage. Warlocks don’t have any big nukes. Like, at all. They have 100 skills, and not a single one is a real burst move.
So what happens? While you’re stacking up 300-500 chip damage, other classes are landing 5k nukes and deleting people instantly.
(…)
Now, let’s talk about the hot topic—rankings.
I mentioned this back when the 2v2 Arena dropped, but Warlocks actually have two types: Tank Warlocks and DPS Warlocks. Generally, they synergize better with tanks or healers rather than other DPS.
So it’s pretty interesting to see one rise in the rankings while paired with another DPS.
Based on my rough calculations, they’ve been racking up huge win streaks.
I even ran into them in the arena, and their skill combos were pretty unconventional. At first, I wondered why they chose a Hunter as their partner, but after seeing their playstyle, it actually made sense. Turns out, with the right skills, a Warlock-Hunter duo can generate some crazy synergy, even without a tank.
It was a really unique strategy, but since they’re still climbing the ranks, I won’t go into detail here.
In my opinion, this Warlock-Hunter pair is the biggest wildcard in the current season.
We’ll have to keep watching, but this might just be the first step toward Warlocks finally getting some recognition.
Comments (224)
That was an interesting read, thanks for the analysis! 🙂
No burst damage? Lol, what about Invasion?
└ Use Invasion five times and your mana bar is gone.
Tbh, Warlocks have some of the best attack animations and demon weapons. They look sick as hell.
└ Okay, Applied Warlocks, stop crying and just say what you wanna say.
└ Fuck…
└ So all their balance points just went into the visuals, huh?
“Warlocks are rising” lol, unless they get buffed, they’re permanently doomed.
(Photo) Currently ranked #7
└ Ooh, excited to see how far this goes.
└ Wasn’t Warlock supposed to be a coffin-sitter? Everyone else is riding a bicycle while this dude’s racing on a unicycle.
└ LMAO, the Warlock community already lost its mind over this. They’re calling it ‘The Warlock Rebellion.’
└ Honestly, rightfully so.
***
[Warlock] Guys, check out our server’s Warlock ranking.
(Cygnus_7th_place.JPG)
Comments (19)
????
Wait, for real?
HOW???
I didn’t even know single-digit ranking was possible for a Warlock.
Damn, I struggle just to hit top 500…
A Warlock actually pulled this off?
Additional context: He was already a top-rank player, plus he’s a fashion collector, so he’s probably grinding hard for this season’s rewards.
Chasa’s that well-known image board name, right? The one with the custom avatar he never shares?
└ Yeah, that’s him.
└ Wait, is his partner really Killer? Wasn’t that the infamous Lepus guy who used to spam requests for Chasa’s avatar settings?
└ LOL, I checked, and it’s true. How the hell did those two end up as a pair? Lepus used to hate him with a passion.
└ Maybe he agreed to duo in exchange for sharing his character customization?
└ No way. If that was all it took, he wouldn’t have ignored all that harassment for this long.
└ If that’s actually true, then bro literally sold his soul for aesthetics.
└ Right? I saw the spam happening in real-time too. So did Killer actually get his wish?
└ Doesn’t seem like it. I’m on Cygnus, and Killer’s customization looks different from Chasa’s.
└ Chasa probably dealt with enough harassment that he negotiated some kind of deal—post-payment style.
Damn, why are the scores so insanely high over there?
***
