[Guild] Furple: Is this the time they’re running? If I apply now, does that mean the chances of running into Noize are high?
“Not all of Noize, but that group from earlier. They tend to be active mostly around midnight.”
Unless it was the end of the season, they always appeared at dawn as if following a routine. Just last season, Sa-yoon, whose sleep schedule had flipped due to vacation, ran into them quite often.
It wasn’t just in boss hunts but also in one-on-one matches. Honestly, he had a pretty good guess why RedAlert reacted like a berserk button whenever he saw him. Their playtimes overlapped a lot, and every time they met, he got beaten to a pulp.
Oath’s Vow: Even their running schedule is so damn sly.
[Guild] Furple: For real, that time slot has zero consideration for working people.
[Guild] Shokrates: LOL, getting cursed at just for playing at dawn.
[Guild] Freedeal: People hate what they hate, even if it’s just the way you exhale.
[Guild] Furple: We need to serve some poetic justice.
[Guild] Shokrates: Evil triumphs in the end ^^
[Guild] Freedeal: Pretty sure that’s not what poetic justice means.
Normally, the weak-willed working adults would have groaned and gone to bed, but not a single one of them had backed down—they were all fired up. Just what kind of trash talk had been exchanged…? He had to admit, Noize’s crew had some impressive provocation skills.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Damn, y’all really gathered here to tap-dance in rage!
[Guild] Freedeal: ??NGNG?? (No Good, No Good?)
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: RedAlert, WhiteNoise, Greenlight, and LOL, ComradeSoup, their little crew is way too obvious.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Wow, Chasa, your foresight is on point. Almost prophetic.
In the game, the battlefield of Athens could only be entered through the waiting room. Chasa clicked on the Athens statue installed in the corner of the capital and moved into the waiting area.
A grand lobby appeared before him. As expected of a Monday, there were significantly fewer people than usual.
On the left side stood his guild members, while on the right, Noize’s crew had gathered. They had apparently been tap-dancing in rage earlier, but now they had stopped, standing still as if on high alert, watching his side.
Ignoring them, Chasa walked over to the underworld faction and joined his guildmates. They weren’t exactly huddled around a campfire, but they were sitting in a circle with just enough space between them. The formation looked oddly intentional, making Sa-yoon instinctively take a seat to complete the circle. He then counted the members. One, two, three, four, five, six. One person was missing.
[Guild] Furple: Jeon-gi, where u at?
[Guild] Shokrates: I’m respec-ing for another head-shaving skill against Noize.
[Guild] Shokrates: It’s been so long since I last did PvP that I don’t even know what skills to pick.
“Oh! There’s a skill reset NPC inside the waiting room too!”
[Guild] Shokrates: WTF????? FOR REAL???
[Guild] Shokrates: WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME?
[Guild] Freedeal: …Because you didn’t ask?
[Guild] Shokrates: You should’ve just told me out of pure kindness! Is this all our friendship amounts to???
No one knew what “pure kindness” was supposed to mean in his rambling, but Shokrates was expressing his disappointment quite dramatically.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Tsk tsk, latecomer.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: If you’re not here in five seconds, we’re collecting a fine!
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: 5…
[Guild] Shokrates: Look at this Blade Master talking smack to a Black Mage when all you have to do is mash 1-2-3. Hope your broken-tier class gets nerfed.
[Guild] Furple: ???
[Guild] Chasa: ?
A “broken-tier class”? The moment Shokrates let that blasphemy slip, two so-called “trash-tier” class users immediately lunged at him with hooks.
Sure, Black Mages did have the annoying downside of needing to reset their skill tree depending on the situation. But there was even a rumor that half of Wartum’s dev team played Black Mage. If you had to rank the top three most overpowered classes, Black Mage would undoubtedly be number one.
Which meant that Shokrates’ statement was nothing short of pure fraud.
[Guild] Furple: WHO JUST SAID BROKEN-TIER CLASS???
[Guild] Furple: WHO?????
[Guild] Furple: WHO????
Furple shot up, thrashing like a salt-sprinkled loach at the audacity of the privileged bashing the underprivileged.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Should we kick him out, boss?
[Guild] Furple: o_o
Oath’s Vow: We were an odd number anyway, so this works out.
[Guild] Shokrates: D-damn…
[Guild] Shokrates: I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID…..
[Guild] Shokrates: I’M DOING HANDSTAND SQUATS IN PENANCE RIGHT NOW TTTTTT
Then, in the blink of an eye, Shokrates materialized in front of Furple, assuming a full-on prostration pose. It was an emote released during Armed Forces Day as a limited event item—and also one of the most controversial gestures ever introduced in the game.
Sa-yoon had met the conditions to claim it too but deliberately skipped it. The last thing he wanted was to relive his military days in a game. Yet, someone was actually using it…
[Guild] Furple: If you’ve never suffered through a trash-tier class, just don’t speak.
[Guild] Shokrates: Sealing my lips from now on, sir ㅠㅠ
Shokrates added a groveling animation for good measure, and only then did Furple finally calm down and sit back down.
Sa-yoon turned his gaze toward Noize’s crew. They were still standing motionless, likely waiting for a match.
Not that it really mattered if they had already entered. A round took about fifteen minutes, so they could just queue up in time for their return.
“So, how are we doing pairs?”
Oath’s Vow: Ah, right. We need to form pairs first.
[Guild] Freedeal: Furple, you in?
[Guild] Furple: yep, let’s go.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Jeon-gi, Jeon-gi?
[Guild] Shokrates: Ugh, I don’t like my options…ㅠ
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Aww, too bad~
As everyone paired up like they were exchanging love letters, Killer suddenly stood up and planted himself in front of Chasa. At the same time, a party invite popped up.
Seeing someone lingering so close in his personal space, Sa-yoon instinctively scrolled his mouse wheel to zoom in. Killer’s face filled his screen in an instant.
“…You want to pair up?”
[‘Killer’ nods.]
Sa-yoon had assumed that if verbal communication didn’t work, Killer would eventually give up on pestering him. Instead, the guy’s talent for silent insistence had only grown. With a nonchalant expression, Sa-yoon hit decline on the invite.
“Too bad. I’m pairing with Oath’s Vow.”
Killer, who had been moving around in a bizarre, almost courtship-like dance, suddenly froze in place. Despite being just a character model, the shock was almost palpable through the screen. What the hell gave him the confidence to think they’d pair up?
It had been a while since Sa-yoon properly looked at Killer’s face. Usually, he was too busy trying to shake him off as he trailed behind. But now that he was looking closely, something caught his eye.
“You changed your appearance.”
At that, the character’s face seemed to shrink slightly—he had taken a step back. Killer had always been the one following him, never the one backing away. Was it really that surprising that Sa-yoon noticed? It was way too different not to.
[Guild] Freedeal: Whoa, how’d you know? He used a synthetic dye.
“Aah.”
So that’s why he changed it. Sa-yoon nodded.
Synthetic dyes were items created by combining two different hair dyes. If the synthesis failed, the result would be one of the original dye colors. But if successful, it would create a blended shade—though the ratio and saturation were completely random.
And on rare occasions, it would produce a completely unrelated color that had nothing to do with the original dyes. Those rare dyes, naturally, sold for ridiculous amounts of money.
[Guild] Freedeal: Looks exactly the same to me. Why waste money on something like that?
“That’s not true.”
Because the dye Killer had used was one of those rare, high-grade ones.
[Guild] Freedeal: Huh?
Freedeal, still clueless, asked back in innocent confusion.
“Honey brown and milk brown are completely different. Milk brown only really shows its true beauty under the right lighting. If you check under natural sunlight, you’ll see that the reflection shifts in the opposite direction. Even the angel ring effect is different.”
As he spoke, Sa-yoon scrolled his mouse wheel all the way in. Killer’s face now filled his entire monitor.
Milk brown had a slightly cooler undertone, whereas honey brown was a versatile shade that suited both warm and cool tones. Judging by Killer’s skin tone and outfit, honey brown would’ve suited him far better. It also matched his eye color much more harmoniously.
And if you looked closely, the very tips of his hair had a subtly different hue. That’s why it was considered a rare dye in the first place.
[Guild] Freedeal: Oh… uh, okay…
At that response, Sa-yoon suddenly snapped back to reality as if he had been doused with cold water.
“…I mean, yeah, in darker lighting, they do look kind of similar.”
Even if the difference was night and day to him, to a regular person, it might just seem like a tiny shade variation. He couldn’t quite accept that logic, but his instinctive sense of social awareness forced him to backpedal.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Hm… Up until now, I thought Chasa was just a normal guy suffering through all this…
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: But now that I see this… maybe you two actually go well together?
What kind of blasphemy was that? Sa-yoon’s face scrunched up in horror.
“Should we queue up?”
[Guild] Furple: Ready.
[Guild] Shokrates: Time to wreck WhiteNoise!
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: And yet, somehow, the one who always gets wrecked is me…
[Guild] Shokrates: Ah—don’t jinx it…
Oath’s Vow: I’ll count down, so everyone hit apply as soon as I do.
Oath’s Vow: 3.
Oath’s Vow: 2.
Oath’s Vow: 1.
Oath’s Vow: Apply.
<Athena’s 6-Man Battlefield>
Applicants: 2 players
Estimated Wait Time: 1 min 12 sec
Considering it was an early Monday morning, the queue time was decent. It meant there was already another party waiting to match.
Sa-yoon moved his mouse to check on Noize’s group. They were still in the waiting area. Was this really about to work? A successful snipe?
Ding.
A clear chime rang in his headset—match found.
[Entering the Abandoned Underground Sewer.]
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Huh?? LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
[Guild] Freedeal: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
[Guild] Oath’s Vow: Ahahahaha
[Guild] Furple: I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT ACTUALLY WORKED LOL
As the screen brightened, familiar faces appeared in the spawn area. Since he had queued with Oath’s Vow, they were obviously on the same team, along with GegulGegulFrog, Shokrates, Freedeal, and Furple. A perfect party.
After confirming his allies, Sa-yoon pressed Tab to check the enemy team.
[Guild] Killer: ?????
Killer was all alone on the enemy side.
