Having successfully closed a contract, I left work in high spirits and cracked open a beer. For snacks, I’d grabbed a cheap pack of dried squid chips from the convenience store—three bundles for 2,000 won—and tore them open. My access device sat alone on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
Should I log in for a bit?
Thinking back to what had happened earlier in the day, I had a feeling ShutUp was probably spending time with that tenant.
I told myself I’d just log in briefly, check how much my level had gone up, and log back out. I shook the remaining crumbs of the snack into my mouth. Ever since linking with ShutUp through sex, I’d felt oddly reluctant to log in—but if I was going to do it, now might be the time. I wasn’t even friends with Moment, nor were we partners, so there was no way he’d know I logged in.
<<Welcome to Blood Planet.>>
<<Moving to your last logout location.>>
When I logged in, I found myself back in that same cabin. It seemed like nothing more than a structure built out in a quiet field—nothing particularly special about it. As I stood there, my body flashed about five times.
“Level 47?”
It seemed ShutUp had logged in and done quite a bit of hunting. If I went AFK like this just one more time, I might hit level 50 in no time.
This is way easier than I expected.
Since I didn’t know where I was, I pulled out a Return Scroll to head back to town—then suddenly felt an odd emptiness below and glanced down.
I almost went to town like this…
Seeing that I wasn’t wearing any pants, I rummaged through my inventory and found a pair of low-level pants to put on. I’d meant to sell them to an NPC shop as junk, but I never imagined they’d come in handy like this. After confirming I was fully dressed, I used the Return Scroll.
<<Moving to ‘Adventurer’s Village.’>>
In an instant, the screen shifted, and I re-entered Adventurer’s Village—the same place where ShutUp and the others had once surrounded me. In the central plaza, the banner featuring ShutUp and me was still hanging. Even if I tried covering my face, my name floating above my head would give me away anyway, so I just walked around normally.
I headed straight to the shop. I’d planned to sell the items Moment had given me, but they weren’t worth as much as I expected.
“Would it be better to sell these through private trade?”
Opening the market price window, I searched each material one by one. They were crafting materials for weapons. Among them, [Eligor’s Venom Extract] was an essential ingredient for crafting assassination weapons. Maybe because it had a low drop rate, it was quite expensive.
I approached the Auction House NPC in town, opened the interface, and listed the items. The price automatically set itself to the most recent sale value. The moment I pressed [Start Auction], they sold almost instantly, and the amount—minus the commission fee—went straight into my inventory.
Just then, a whisper notification popped up in the upper-left corner.
[Human: Gentle-hyung. Long time no see. You even took down Eligor? Your level must’ve gone up a lot.]
[GentleTouch: It wasn’t me. Moment killed it for me.]
“Moment? The guy who fought ShutUp recently, right? Wow. Not long ago, you were running around town in your underwear. Now you’re getting power-leveled by rankers one after another. You’ve really made it, Gentle-hyung.”
I was about to reply to the whisper when I suddenly heard Human’s voice behind me. I whipped around to see him waving at me. For a split second, I wondered if ShutUp had logged in too, so I checked the partner window—but it was set to [OFF].
“Gentle-hyung. What brings you here without ShutUp?”
“Ah, nothing. Well, I’ll get going.”
Since Human was ShutUp’s real-life friend, there was nothing good about lingering around him, so I tried to leave. As I walked toward the portal area, he trailed after me.
“I messaged Juni, but he hasn’t replied. If you don’t have anyone to hunt with today, want me to go with you?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“My level’s pretty high too. Not as high as Juni’s, but still.”
It wasn’t about levels. If he was Jun’s real-life friend, I couldn’t help but wonder if he swung that way too. If so, what if he begged me to link after the hunt?
I was almost level 50—I didn’t want to deal with that…
Wait. If I hunt with him, couldn’t I hit level 50?
Then I could transfer servers immediately.
I hesitated—should I take the risk and leave this place a day sooner, or just wait? Days when ShutUp wasn’t logged in weren’t exactly common either.
“If you just Relax properly in between fights, you don’t have to link with me. Don’t feel pressured—let’s go.”
“Huh? Really?”
There was no reason to refuse. Just as we were deciding where to hunt, someone approached us from a corner of the village. At a glance, they looked like a shabby beginner.
“Um… high-level sirs. Could I maybe join you?”
Judging by the worn wooden staff in their hand, they seemed to be a Guide like me. Human said that since he’d be power-leveling anyway, one or two people didn’t make a difference, and invited them along. Maybe because I’d been in that exact position not long ago, it didn’t feel like someone else’s problem.
“Let’s go together. My level’s low too.”
“Ah, really?! Thank you so much!”
The voice sounded quite young. Listening to it made me realize just how dense I’d been… ShutUp’s in-game voice and Seomun Jun’s real-life voice were extremely similar. The mic output made it slightly thinner, but the tone and manner of speaking were unmistakably the same.
Thinking about that, it was obvious that the player approaching us now—[SunlightAngel]—was also young. Seeing how much more crowded Adventurer’s Village was compared to before suddenly made me think of those “Sorry” bastards.
“I guess you didn’t run into the ‘Sorry’ guys at the character creation area?”
“Huh? Gentle-nim, you got harassed too? I thought you’d made your character ages ago—because of your weapon.”
The weapon I was holding now was a Guide weapon that had been practically abandoned in the Silence guild storage. Everyone in the guild was over level 50, so this level requirement was shop trash to them—but since it was a crafted weapon with special effects, they’d kept it as a collectible.
When you held it, little heart-shaped bubbles occasionally popped out and floated around. Honestly, the effect was kind of tacky, but it was the only thing I had, so I brought it out. Still, it was better than carrying around a rotten stick that looked like it’d been picked up off a field.
“So how’d you make it to town? You must be pretty nimble.”
“No, not at all. I died once and almost gave up, but… um… this really cool Psychic player took care of the ‘Sorry’ guys for me…”
Instead of just saying it outright, SunlightAngel continued shyly.
“Honestly, I wasn’t going to play Guide because I heard it wasn’t that great… but after seeing that Psychic, I wanted to meet someone like that and play seriously.”
“Whoever that was, he sounds pretty cool. Right, Human?”
“Yeah. I don’t know any Psychics around me who are that decent.”
I opened my storage to see if there was anything SunlightAngel could use—maybe something other players had dropped before.
As it happened, I had a level 20 staff, so I handed it over. It didn’t have any flashy effects, but I’d enhanced it to +3, so it looked sturdy. Since I was giving something anyway, I also pulled out an old beginner robe I didn’t wear anymore. Watching from the side, Human praised me.
“Gentle-hyung, you really live up to your name.”
“So, where are we heading now?”
“At this hour, no bosses should be spawning. Let’s do a timed dungeon.”
I’d never been to a timed dungeon before. Human explained that it was just like a regular dungeon, except you had to clear it within a time limit, and after defeating a few mid-boss-level monsters, it would end. If you reached the goal point, you’d receive experience points and a small amount of loot as a bonus.
“I think Dreamlike Forest should be manageable.”
“Yeah? Then let’s go.”
“Just check the map and take the portal.”
<<Moving to ‘Dreamlike Forest Outskirts.’>>
We immediately moved to the Dreamlike Forest Outskirts. Several parties were gathered near the forest entrance.
Among them, I spotted a familiar head of red hair.
Moment. The one person I absolutely didn’t want to run into.
“Oh? Gentle!”
“……”
Moment, who had been chatting with another party, ran over the moment he saw me. I could see Human beside me trying not to laugh. The access device helmet even rendered subtle facial expressions.
“Party of three? Let me join.”
Moment tapped the air a few times, apparently leaving his previous party. I heard someone behind him shout, “You traitor!” at the top of their lungs.
Strangely, SunlightAngel didn’t react at all upon seeing Moment. Even when his shabby appearance transformed in an instant—his weapon and outfit materializing as flames engulfed his entire body—there was no visible surprise. It seemed I was the only one judging levels based on appearance.
“Then let’s go as four.”
Though there’d been that incident recently between ShutUp and Moment, Human brushed it off, saying hunting was hunting, and accepted him into the party.
<Dreamlike Forest> was a timed dungeon generated based on the party’s average level. Even at the lowest difficulty, if too many mobs spawned, it could be a bit of a hassle for Human to clear alone. I was the only one in the party wearing a somewhat uneasy expression. Moment, meanwhile, continued smiling brightly as he edged closer to me.
“Ah—if that last hit had landed properly back then, you’d be playing with me right now, Gentle.”
“So, ShutUp won?”
“No. ShutUp died at the same time. It was a draw.”
That seemed to be the final result. I hadn’t become Moment’s Guide, and he was still holding his flaming ring weapon—Firing. He spun it lazily on his hand, looking regretful.
To be honest, I felt a bit anxious about partying with Moment. What if he demanded kisses until I fainted again like last time?
But this time, there were two Guides in the party, so the pressure probably wouldn’t be as intense. And after searching the forums, I’d learned that some players would leave the party before linking to avoid being used for power-leveling and then ditched—a scummy tactic, but I’d memorized it just in case.
Although he’d supposedly drawn with ShutUp, Moment didn’t look like he’d dropped anything just by appearance. As I studied him closely, he suddenly approached and pressed his lips near my ear.
“What? Seeing me again after so long—does your heart flutter?”
“Don’t say things like that. ShutUp alone is already overwhelming enough for me.”
Meanwhile, Human carefully examined Moment’s weapon and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Human’s weapon was a long whip, and when he swung it, long streams of water lashed outward. Moment, on the other hand, held that blazing ring I’d seen before.
“Moment’s element is the opposite of mine. If we fight too close together, it’ll be a bit tricky.”
“I’ll keep my distance.”
Water and fire. They couldn’t have been more polar opposites.
Just then, Human, the party leader, generated the dungeon and pressed the enter button.
<<In 10 seconds, moving to the ‘Dreamlike Forest’ dungeon.>>
“Alright, I’ll take the rear. Moment, you lead.”
Moment replied casually and grabbed my shoulder, pulling me close to his side. I noticed SunlightAngel watching with what seemed like envy.
“Moment. Take care of this person instead of me. Their level’s lower than mine.”
“Hmm……”
Moment scanned SunlightAngel up and down before abruptly turning his head away. For a moment, SunlightAngel’s expression looked slightly dejected.
So I stepped closer to look after them instead.
