Chapter 31
The guild members who were present were shocked by the assertive and prickly chat message. The soul who had been picking a fight wasn’t an exception.
[Watermelon Doctor: …..??]
[Ddaji: Wait, 15? 15???]
[Soul: What the f1ck]
[Soul: How the h3ll did you get +15? Are you cr1zy?]
The astonished messages continued, seemingly even more surprised than Ji-won when he first examined Kwon-ju’s items one by one. While all guild members probably knew he had unusually good items for a newbie, this was the first time they were seeing them directly. Above all, a +15 “necklace” was beyond just a good item.
But what surprised Ji-won wasn’t the +15 necklace he already knew about, but Kwon-ju’s chat style that he’d never seen before. This seemed like the first time he’d spoken like this—was it because Ji-won had only seen him conversing normally with guild members until now?
The Kwon-ju that Ji-won knew was so gentle, quiet, and seemed to have zero fighting spirit, so even though it was just words typed online, Ji-won found it hard to imagine. Of course, anyone would be angry if their item was about to be taken right in front of them. Somehow it felt like Kwon-ju was getting angry on his behalf too, and Ji-won’s own anger began to subside.
[HolyKnightKnight: How sh1tty must your items be to brag about this incomplete gear? lol]
[Watermelon Doctor: You missed one~~!]
[Watermelon Doctor: Item thieves are so pathetic]
Kwon-ju is fierce… After always seeing his polite, articulate chat messages, this assertive and disagreeable tone felt quite different. Ji-won found himself curious about the face behind the monitor. What expression did he have while typing? His usual blank look? Or an angry face?
[Soul: This is f**king crazy, a +15 necklace, d4mn]
[Soul: Is Holy Light your alt?]
He wasn’t an alt, but he was the item buyer, so it wasn’t completely wrong. However, Kwon-ju didn’t respond directly and returned to the original topic to finish what he was saying.
[HolyKnightKnight: Instead of showing off items, you should just give it back?]
[Hando: Soul, I’ll distribute the sale money to you, so please just hand it over for now]
[Hando: If you return it, we can pretend this never happened]
Though he had said he didn’t need it, Ji-won thought it would be better to just split it cleanly and end things, so he tried to pacify the situation with kind words. Since the other party members had also been robbed of 50,000 gold right before their eyes, everyone quieted down when Ji-won typed.
But Soul’s character vanished from the map in an instant, making the persuasion pointless. He had left the dungeon on his own. Checking the party window in the upper right, Ji-won saw he had already left the party long ago.
[Watermelon Doctor: D1d he just bail?]
[Watermelon Doctor: B4stard]
[Ddaji: Wow, we just got item snatched right in front of usㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
Ji-won tried to send a whisper to Soul, who had disappeared so abruptly after the brief confrontation, but it seemed he had blocked messages as the system responded that the user could not be found. He had only planned to run Emily once and go straight to bed. Now he felt tired, thinking the problem had grown bigger just because he’d let this guy join.
[Kkangki: We should tell the guild master;ㅠ]
Since they couldn’t just let go of a party-dropped item as bad luck, Ji-won followed Kkangki’s advice and checked the Jeongwon guild’s master’s name to send a whisper.
[Hando>>Ttaekko: Are you the guild master of Jeongwon?]
[Ttaekko>>Hando: yy]
[Ttaekko>>Hando: y?]
The feeling was already bad from the shorthand response. This doesn’t seem like a decent guild.
[Hando>>Ttaekko: Soul took our party’s reward and ran]
[Ttaekko>>Hando: oh really?]
[Ttaekko>>Hando: so ur saying i should kick out our precious member just cuz u say so?]
Ah, forget it. Ji-won ended the whisper, thinking further conversation would be useless.
[Hando: lol this seems like a troll guild]
[Hando: From how the guild master responded]
[Watermelon Doctor: Ah……]
[Ddaji: I’ve never heard of Jeongwon guild]
Any troll guild ranked within the top 100 would be impossible not to know for users on the same server. But no matter how many times he looked, the guild named Jeongwon was unfamiliar. Ji-won was trying to recall if such a guild existed when suddenly a whisper came from Kwon-ju, who had been quiet.
[HolyKnightKnight>>Hando: Hyung, what’s the name of the item he just stole?]
[Hando>>HolyKnightKnight: Why??]
[HolyKnightKnight>>Hando: I was thinking of buying one]
[Hando>>HolyKnightKnight: Why would you buy thatㅠㅠ]
[Hando>>HolyKnightKnight: Don’t do anything, understand?]
There was absolutely no reason for Kwon-ju to step in and make up for something that wasn’t his mistake. While Ji-won was urgently trying to stop Kwon-ju from this unreasonable idea, Ddaji, who had been briefly idle, quickly shared some gathered information.
[Ddaji: Wow guild master]
[Ddaji: I searched Inven and Jeongwon=Ppagasari is the same guild]
[Ddaji: They must have changed their name todayㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Ddaji: Ttaekko<- This is also Ppagasari guild master’s alt]
Ppagasari was a famous bad-mannered guild on the Asuka server. Changing a guild name required a lot of guild points and gold, but it seemed they had thoroughly reinvented themselves for new trolling. If they were going to do this, they should’ve gone to another server.
[Watermelon Doctor: Ah sh1tㅋㅋ sigh]
[Watermelon Doctor: These guys are a collection of toxic users from ArkseCommunity]
[Kkangki: ㅠ.ㅠ]
[Kkangki: We were really unlucky…ㅠ]
[Ddaji: Well, nothing we can do]
[Ddaji: How would we know they changed their name today]
Watermelon Doctor, who had briefly been excited about ordering chicken with the distribution money, now wailed that his world had collapsed because of Soul.
[Watermelon Doctor: But thinking about it, I forgot because we got item snatched]
[Watermelon Doctor: Sasa’s necklace is probably going to be posted somewhere soonㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Guild][Watermelon Doctor: Guys, ArkseCommunity is about to explode tonight]
[Guild][Chelling: ??]
[Guild][Watermelon Doctor: Sasa made a necklace up to +15ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Guild][Chelling: What the**]
[Guild][Ppojjo: ??????????]
[Guild][olly: +15??necklace??]
[Guild][Tteingzzt: Who??]
The guild chat instantly became chaotic as even usually quiet guild members came out one by one, surprised by the news. People don’t typically expect a +15 item—which everyone assumed someone would eventually make—to come from their own guild.
Kwon-ju kindly linked the item in response to guild members’ requests to see it just once.
[Guild][HolyKnightKnight: (Native Necklace)]
[Guild][Chelling: For real**]
[Guild][Chelling: Is this possible??]
[Guild][olly: I’m really sorry but are you crazy?]
After confirming the +15 necklace, guild chat began to scroll down so fast it was hard to read. Even guild members with no prior personal connection jumped in, which was understandable given the item.
[Guild][3Shu3: Sasa, is this Holy Light’s item by any chance?? The options are identical]
[Guild][HolyKnightKnight: Yes]
[Guild][3Shu3: Ohmygodcrazy]
[Guild][3Shu3: I’m so embarrassed that I tried to sell my +12 armor to this person]
Thanks to 3Shu3, a longtime fan of Holy Light, the source of the purchased items was also revealed, making the guild chat even noisier. Ji-won thought it might be better to just gather and talk, and apparently others had similar thoughts as everyone soon gathered at the guild headquarters. Even members who were usually absent joined, making it quite a large gathering.
[3Shu3: How much you paid is a secret..right?]
[3Shu3: Is it okay if I start fangirling over Sasa now?? Please carry on the Holy Knight’s legacy]
After that, the Q&A session seemed likely to go on for quite a while with questions like what’s your father’s company name, how many floors is your building in Cheongdam-dong, are you really 21 and not 51, so Ji-won got up from his computer and went to the bathroom. Normally, he should be in bed by now. His mind felt foggy even while brushing his teeth.
The guild members who had been questioning non-stop for several dozen minutes finally seemed to have exhausted their curiosity and gradually quieted down. Just as Ji-won sat back at his computer thinking about logging off soon, Chelling pointed out something everyone had forgotten until now.
[Chelling: But didn’t you say the item snatcher is a Ppagasari guild member]
[Chelling: Sasa’s necklace is going to be all over the placeㅋㅋthose guys are community fame-seekers]
Come to think of it, that was highly likely. It wouldn’t be good for someone who hadn’t even reached max level to draw aggro, but since Soul had probably taken screenshots of the necklace, it was already out of their hands. There was no way there weren’t any community members among all the guild members who had gathered.
Hopefully attention-seekers wouldn’t follow him to hunting grounds and steal his kills… Feeling concerned, Ji-won advised Kwon-ju to block whispers, then checked the time, which had already passed midnight, and typed.
[Hando: I’ll head out first]
[Chelling: It’s so lateㅠ]
[Chelling: Bastards ruining the night before innocent college students’ MT]
Ah, I need to wake up at 6. The play time had been extended unnecessarily because of the unexpected item theft. Just as Ji-won was about to turn off the game, he noticed Kwon-ju’s character still surrounded by guild members. Since tomorrow was the weekend and he was the center of attention, it seemed like the chatter would continue…
[Hando: Sasa has a busy day tomorrow too]
[Hando: You promised to hang out with me, didn’t you?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Chelling: ? Is Sasa going to see a baby?]
[HolyKnightKnight: I’ll head out too]
Less than three seconds after finishing his message, Kwon-ju’s character disappeared. Wait, he didn’t mean for him to log out and go to sleep so urgently. Ji-won laughed for a while at the absurdly fast response and the empty space left behind, where he had somehow become a “baby.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
