Chapter 5
[Guild][‘HolyKnightKnight’ has reached level 178.]
To reach max level as quickly as possible, HolyKnightKnight began leveling up at a frightening pace. Although Ji-won and several guild members with time to spare helped whenever they could, gaining 3 levels in just two days after joining the guild was truly impressive.
[Chelling: I hate the end of the year]
[Chelling: I hate company dinners]
After running hard for two days, the regular party members who had been helping HolyKnightKnight gathered at the guild headquarters for a break. Having been busy with nothing but hunting since joining, HolyKnightKnight seemed fascinated by the guild headquarters they were entering for the first time, silently looking around everywhere.
[Ppojjo: Office worker.. just quietly go to company dinners while doing work leave every day]
[Chelling: Hahaha that’s true^^]
[Chelling: But I’m curious, how old are you, Sasa?]
[Chelling: I’m 29 this year]
[HolyKnightKnight: Twenty]
[Ddaji: Wow, so young]
[Watermelon Doctor: That’s why I gave you the nickname ‘baby’]
[Ddaji: But bro, you said your high school brother was gross..]
[Watermelon Doctor: Haha online babies are different]
Since most guild members had irregular login times, and far more played quietly without socializing late at night or early morning, the few who regularly appeared in chat were mostly college students. Even Watermelon Doctor wasn’t that old to be treating a twenty-year-old like a baby, but the newbie received plenty of treatment as the youngest.
[Watermelon Doctor: So are you on break now?]
[HolyKnightKnight: No, I’m retaking the college entrance exam]
[HolyKnightKnight: I’m submitting my applications today]
[Ppojjo: Wow, you’ll definitely get accepted]
At HolyKnightKnight’s unexpected revelation about retaking the entrance exam, everyone sitting in a circle offered words of encouragement, starting with Ppojjo. Though Ji-won had gotten in on his first try, having gone through the hellish regular admission process himself, he could relate and offered words of encouragement several times. He had wondered why HolyKnightKnight was playing all day like someone obsessed with the game, but being a student who had finished the college entrance exam explained everything.
[Chelling: When Sasa gets into college, I’ll hang a banner in front of the guild headquarters]
[Hando: Permission granted]
[HolyKnightKnight: Hahaha thank you]
While HolyKnightKnight was awkwardly receiving endless attention from the guild members, Ppojjo suddenly turned their character slightly and asked:
[Ppojjo: By the way]
[Ppojjo: Would you like to join the battle this week, Sasa?]
Arc Serenity was fundamentally a game that aimed for and encouraged PVP. You couldn’t indiscriminately kill passing users, but it offered various forms of limited PVP, with the most common content being the freely conducted guild war system.
Guild wars, which were established when one side declared war and the opposing guild accepted, could be participated in at most once a week. You could decline and declare defeat to avoid fighting, but there were consequences. Rankings would drop, and there were penalties like losing guild points or some assets, so higher-ranked guilds typically accepted challenges. And since there was much to gain by defeating a similarly ranked guild, most didn’t hesitate to declare war first.
The reason most users aspired to join large guilds, and guild officers desperately searched for and scouted high-spec users, was almost entirely because of this guild war system. It was only natural that victory for one’s group would be thrilling, even in a world made of zeros and ones.
[Ppojjo: Your level is still a bit low, but we happen to be short on people this week]
[Ppojjo: I think it would be good for you to come watch]
[Ppojjo: Just think of it as an experience]
Plum’s current guild ranking was 29th on the server, not quite at the very top, but certainly large enough to be considered a major guild. In fact, if they pushed hard enough, it wouldn’t be difficult to reach a single-digit ranking.
While level wasn’t that important, higher levels had lower barriers to top equipment and were more adept at control through long practice and real battle experience, so guild wars were typically led by max-level players. Joining now wouldn’t add much fighting power, but if they consistently raised the Holy Knight well—one of the few tank characters in the game—they might become an unexpected asset.
[HolyKnightKnight: Yes, I’ll join]
[Hando: Sasa, do you have PvP-specific equipment?]
Though HolyKnightKnight didn’t have a guild when Ji-won first brought them in, they might have belonged to another one before, so he asked just in case. Arc Serenity had separate PvP and PvE equipment, each requiring its own enhancements, doubling the time and money needed. Most users who couldn’t properly equip their PvE gear typically used the basic PvP equipment provided.
[HolyKnightKnight: How do I know if it’s PvP-specific equipment?]
[Hando: It’s written in the top right corner of the item info window]
After a moment of silence, perhaps checking their items, HolyKnightKnight finally replied.
[HolyKnightKnight: Yes I have some but I don’t know much about it]
[Hando: That’s okay haha]
[Hando: Everyone typically doesn’t bother with it until max level anyway]
[Hando: You can just use what you have]
Guild wars were essentially max-level battles, and it was far better to use the capital they had now to enhance PvE equipment even slightly to prepare for higher dungeons or bosses, rather than tinkering with PvP gear.
[Chelling: Holy Knights have large HP pools]
[Chelling: Even with low-quality equipment, you won’t get one-shot hahaha]
[Chelling: But let’s hunt hard until Wednesday, I’ll help you]
[Hando: Yeah, focus on leveling first and I’ll help you with equipment setup later]
Ding-dong-
A familiar doorbell sound pierced Ji-won’s ears as he was typing in chat. I’m not expecting anyone. Thinking it might be someone from the church down the street, he neither went to check nor responded, continuing to focus on the items on screen when he heard the sound of the door lock being pressed. The front door swung open with a beep as someone entered without hesitation.
“Hey, gaming again?”
At the familiar voice, Ji-won craned his neck to look outside through the gap in his open door. The man who had casually taken off his shoes and entered, buried in a large long padded jacket, was his longtime friend Jung-hoon.
“What, why are you here?”
“Just saw your place while passing by. Why is it so cold in here? Turn up the heat.”
“Your studio is unusually warm, I’m telling you.”
[Hando: I’ll be back in a moment, need to take care of something]
After quickly typing a message, Ji-won reluctantly got up from his chair and turned up the boiler temperature. As if finally able to breathe, Jung-hoon hurriedly removed his ankle-length padded jacket and the scarf wrapped around his neck multiple times, then naturally took water from the refrigerator and drank it.
“I’m taking a break from streaming for a while.”
“I guess you feel at ease after eliminating your competitor, since you were streaming without sleep for a while.”
“Ah, Holy Light quitting? My subscribers did increase thanks to that… But that’s not it, I’m planning to go on a trip, a long one. Spending Christmas alone gave me an existential crisis.”
“I made plans with my classmates because you said you were streaming. You should have called me.”
“No, I have plenty of acquaintances to call. The problem is not having a girlfriend.”
“Ah.”
“Your completely unsympathetic expression really annoys me. You’ll just get another one when the semester starts, right? You fraud.”
Ji-won had a girlfriend before enlisting in the military. She was two years older and attended a nearby university, but they broke up for practical reasons when Ji-won’s enlistment coincided with her job search preparations. He didn’t have much lingering attachment, and during the year and a half rotting in the military, he never particularly yearned for romance.
“I’m not going to see anyone for a while. I’m going to tutor during summer break, so I need to play a lot now.”
“Don’t you have nothing to do now? I’ve been trying all sorts of things lately because I’m running out of content. Dabbling on other servers.”
“Well, I do dailies, occasionally level my alts, upgrade my specs… Lately I’ve been taking care of a new guild member.”
“In our guild? I didn’t know.”
“You wouldn’t know since you don’t log in with your main. They said they haven’t been playing long, but they’re on literally all day.”
“Maybe it’s because the Guild Master is a gaming maniac. Why do only these types of people join?”
Jung-hoon stuck out his tongue. Despite gaming being his profession, he couldn’t match his friend’s lifelong affection for Arc Serenity. The guild they had created as a joke had grown this large thanks to Jung-hoon’s name value, but its continued existence was entirely thanks to Ji-won.
“So you won’t be logging in for a while?”
“Yeah. You’ll have to run the guild well in my place.”
“What am I supposed to do without my right-hand man? It’s so much easier having you around during battles.”
Jung-hoon was Ji-won’s only real-life gaming friend. His middle and high school friends and college classmates preferred lightweight shooting games over RPGs like Arc Serenity, and even those were mostly played on mobile phones nowadays, making it difficult to drag them in to play together.
He had succeeded in bringing them to PC cafes a few times, but they all just completed early quests before quitting, so he had long given up on making real-life gaming friends.
“If you quit, I have no friends.”
“Would I quit my livelihood? Who else would play Arc with you if not me?”
Ji-won, who had been lying precariously on the bed as if about to fall off, abruptly sat up straight and retorted.
“I have guild members, that’s enough.”
When he had quit for the college entrance exam, or when he was away in the military, the guild members were always consistently there in the game. Plus, a new diligent guild member around his age had joined. They didn’t know each other’s faces, names, or anything, but spending time together was always enjoyable.
Ah, I said I’d be gone for a moment, but it’s been too long.
“I need to go hunting now, so leave.”
“What hunting?”
“I told you, helping the newbie.”
“Okay.”
Ji-won helped Jung-hoon put on the padded jacket he had carelessly thrown off and opened the front door. Accustomed to being kicked out, Jung-hoon obediently put on the sneakers he had worn, leaving quietly without the slightest hesitation.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
