As soon as he logged into Divine, a pop-up icon flashed and blinked.
***
[Siege War Commander Candidate Participation Survey]
*This survey is only sent to users who ranked within the top 10 of the previous season’s siege war.
Hello, Hero Chasa!
This is a confirmation survey regarding your registration as a commander candidate for the God of War Ares regular siege war.
1st siege war command date: September 21, 20:00
Additional commander rewards: Commander-exclusive Life Jelly ×100
Commander-exclusive Mana Jelly ×100
Commander-exclusive Elixir ×30
Commander-exclusive Title: ＜Opposed the God of War Ares＞ (Effect: Applies within the siege war field – HP +20,000, MP +20,000)
If designated as a commander, you must obtain the Commander’s Seal from the capital city NPC Arum by 18:00 on the 21st.
Once the acquired Commander’s Seal is activated in your inventory, you will gain access to the commander-exclusive channel.
Would you like to participate as a commander in the God of War Ares siege war?
Yes / No
***
There were two types of siege wars.
First, the regular siege wars, held four times a year in spring, summer, fall, and winter.
Second, the guerrilla siege wars, which occurred irregularly based on event triggers.
Since the rewards were generous, the majority of players participated. Naturally, this meant that the siege war targets were designed under the assumption that a significant portion of the server’s players would join. As a result, these targets had high HP pools and strong attack power.
The role of leading the siege war participants fell to the commander. The commander was determined by a system that designated the top contribution player of the previous season.
However, players could quit the game in the meantime, or they might simply be offline on the day of the siege war.
To prevent such situations in advance, this survey was sent out.
By pre-checking the participation of the top 10 players, the system ensured that if a designated commander failed to visit the NPC and claim the role on the day of the event, the position would automatically be transferred to the next highest-ranked player who had expressed interest.
It looked complicated, but it was actually simple. The person who led the autumn siege would become the top candidate for commander in the following winter siege. If they quit before winter arrived, the next person in line would move up to the first rank.
Sa-yoon moved his mouse to the “No” option and clicked. Being a commander was a bit too difficult for a solo player.
If the commander died, they wouldn’t be aware of the battlefield situation, meaning they would need party members to provide briefings. On top of that, someone had to check the status of the nearby shrines before entering the main castle.
It was much easier if there was at least one acquaintance to form a party with. Because of that, large guilds usually took command positions.
More than anything, Sa-yoon had barely made it into the top ten last season. Even if he wanted to be a commander, it was obvious he would be outranked before he even got the chance.
[‘a10235044’ has invited you to a party. Do you accept?]
[You have declined the party invitation.]
[Whisper] Chasa: I’m not doing a dungeon today.
[Whisper] a10235044: Is something wrong?
[Whisper] Chasa: I hurt my hand.
Luckily, it was just his wrist, so using his fingers wasn’t an issue. Still, he planned to be careful for the next few days. It would be beyond pathetic if he made it worse just by gaming.
“So, when’s your next treatment?”
“Why?”
“Because I need to go too.”
“Why?”
“What if I don’t come?”
The way he spoke so matter-of-factly made Sa-yoon momentarily mistake him for his guardian. Sa Shin-jae’s sense of responsibility wasn’t just strong—it was excessive. Sa-yoon had already decided to go alone for future treatments, but…
At least it was his left hand that got injured. If it had been his right, Shin-jae would probably have barged into his house, insisting on taking care of him.
In any case, because of that incident, he planned to hold off on any serious gaming, including dungeon runs, for the time being.
[Whisper] a10235044: Your hand?
[Whisper] a10235044: Did you cut yourself while cooking?
[Whisper] Chasa: No, it just kind of happened…
[Whisper] a10235044: Your right hand? Left hand? How bad is it?
[Whisper] Chasa: Left hand. It’s not that serious.
Ah, right. There was a kid here too. And an even more innocent fledgling at that.
[Whisper] a10235044: Then did you fall while working out? ㅠㅠ
[Whisper] Chasa: Yeah.
Even though it was a vague answer anyone could see through, his temporary nickname immediately jumped to exercise. Well, students did tend to rush to the field the moment lunch break started, so it made sense he would assume that. Sa-yoon didn’t feel like correcting the misunderstanding, so he just went along with it.
[Whisper] a10235044: It’s not a fracture or anything, right?
[Whisper] Chasa: Just a slight ligament strain, lol.
[Whisper] Chasa: So I’m just planning to stick to daily quests for now.
Solo dungeons and three-man dungeons were on entirely different scales. A solo dungeon, at least with a full tavern buff set, was easy enough to clear using only the mouse. Three-man dungeons, on the other hand, had much better rewards, but they were also packed with tougher monsters, making them way more difficult.
[‘a10235044’ has invited you to a party. Do you accept?]
Sa-yoon was about to head to the entrance NPC when another party invite popped up.
[Whisper] a10235044: Then let’s run together. It’s harder to do alone.
[Whisper] Chasa: It’s fine if I take it slow.
[‘a10235044’ has invited you to a party. Do you accept?]
[‘a10235044’ has invited you to a party. Do you accept?]
[‘a10235044’ has invited you to a party. Do you accept?]
[Whisper] a10235044: Accept the party invite.
Even after being rejected, 44 was as relentless as a bulldozer. He was clearly going to keep sending invites until Sa-yoon accepted, so he gave in and clicked “Accept.”
[Party] Chasa: I seriously won’t be able to deal much damage.
Since he had a partial cast due to a ligament issue, even a slight twist or sudden movement of his wrist caused pain. His plan had been to stick to slow solo dungeon runs.
[Party] a10235044: I’ll carry you.
[Party] a10235044: Hyung, just avoid the Medusas.
He insisted so much that refusing would’ve been more of a hassle. If the guy was willing to run the dungeon for him, why not? He could always repay him later with Cataloa.
[Party] a10235044: But, hyung…
[Party] a10235044: If your hand hurts, shouldn’t you avoid typing too much?
That was true. Realistically, he shouldn’t even be playing in the first place. But there was no way he was going to stay logged out until he fully healed. The 30-day attendance reward was a rare dye, after all.
Logging in just for the attendance check and daily quests should be fine, right? It wasn’t like he was running dungeons or participating in battlegrounds. This was basically the same as breathing.
Since Sa-yoon didn’t realize how little other people played compared to him, he convinced himself that daily quest dungeons were a reasonable limit.
[Party] Chasa: Just bear with my slow typing.
[Party] a10235044: Instead of that…
[Party] a10235044: Why don’t we use voice chat?
[Party] Chasa: Which one?
[Party] a10235044: VoiceOn.
Divine had an in-game voice chat function, but like most games, it was riddled with bugs and had terrible audio quality. Most players opted for external voice chat programs instead.
VoiceOn was the most widely used program among gamers. Naturally, Sa-yoon already had it installed on his PC.
Since it seemed easier than typing, he agreed.
[Party] Chasa: Alright.
[Party] a10235044: I made a room under my name. Password is 0115.
Typing in the now-familiar name brought up a private room with a capacity of two.
“Hey.”
Sa-yoon greeted as he connected, but there was no response from the other side.
“Can you hear me?”
Each time he spoke, the volume bar next to his ID would rise and fall, but a10235044’s bar remained silent.
“44?”
Thinking he might have set something up wrong, he checked his settings, but everything looked fine.
[Party] a10235044: Hyung.
[Party] a10235044: Try speaking again.
“Can you hear me?”
[Party] a10235044: Can you hear me?
[Party] Chasa: Yeah, can you hear me?
[Party] a10235044: Yeah, I can hear you just fine.
[Party] a10235044: I think my mic suddenly stopped working… Let’s just play like this for now.
“Alright.”
There wasn’t much they could do if his mic wasn’t working. At least Medusa wasn’t a difficult dungeon, and they had already run it multiple times together without needing much communication.
“When did you even get in?”
While Sa-yoon was still launching the voice chat and entering the room, his partner must have already started. The front area was completely cleared of monsters.
Sa-yoon hurriedly summoned his demon and caught up.
How the hell did he clear the second chamber alone? That narrow room had seven monsters crammed inside—it wasn’t something one person could handle solo.
Still pondering, he kept running forward until he finally spotted the shimmering peacock in the third corridor.
