“Perfect.”
As soon as I got off work, I finished all the housework in one go, even took a shower, and then cracked open a can of beer. If I just enjoyed a bit of gaming and then went to bed, today would truly be flawless.
“Yeah, the game didn’t do anything wrong. It’s the bastards inside it that are the problem.”
It was almost 9 o’clock when I glanced at the wall clock. I sent Han-woo a message.
[Logging in now]
[kk]
I slipped the glove joystick onto my hand and put on the helmet. A warning message appeared on the connection screen: <<Please take a seat.>> Since I wasn’t fully logged in yet, I could still see my surroundings faintly through the translucent display.
I carefully walked over and settled comfortably onto the same sofa I had sat on yesterday. The message <<Loading.>> appeared, the screen rapidly shifted, and just like yesterday, the character selection screen came into view.
As if to prove that yesterday hadn’t been a dream, my character’s hands were empty. I had dropped even the beginner robe, so I was wearing nothing but a single piece of underwear. If I had dropped even that underwear item… I didn’t want to think about it.
<<Welcome to Blood Planet.>>
The moment I pressed connect, the screen turned white and then opened onto a grassy field. I instinctively looked around, but those “ImSorry” bastards from yesterday were nowhere in sight.
I used the in-game whisper function to talk to Han-woo.
[GentleTouch: Where?]
[ToTheLord: Hey RUN RUN RUN]
“Huh? Run?”
BOOM—!
Right then, a thunderous crash split the ground behind me. Dust billowed up, and for a moment I couldn’t even see the path beneath my feet. I bolted in one direction, just trying to get away from there.
“Ah, what the hell! What is it this time?!”
As I ran blindly forward, I noticed several people chatting in the regional chat window at the bottom left of the screen.
[Human: Popcorn angle]
[ImSorry: ㅗ That’s my spot, get lost]
[ShutUp: Shut your mouth]
[WhatAreYouSorryFor: You crazy?]
[ShutUp: Shut it]
From what I could tell, it looked like the guys who had slaughtered me yesterday were in the middle of a 2:2 PK with someone else—and apparently, it was happening right around here. Soon, I could see conversations not just in regional chat but in general chat as well. The ridiculous part? I was currently sprinting toward the opposite side of the village.
“Damn it!”
If I wanted to get back toward town, I’d have to pass straight through that chaotic war zone exploding with blasts. And right now, even brushing against it would definitely get me killed.
[GentleTouch: What do I do?]
[ToTheLord: Just wait for now]
I crouched down near a rock where no one was likely to pass and hid. But the fight only seemed to escalate, and the wide-area skills were creeping closer and closer.
[GentleTouch: Hey, what the hell is going on? When can I pass through?]
[ToTheLord: Looks like today’s a bust. They’re going at it hard. I’ll go somewhere else. I’ll help you again tomorrow.]
I didn’t really have much choice. The path to town was pure chaos, Psychics clashing in full-blown warfare.
Then suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into my head.
“If someone dies, won’t they drop items?”
Still wearing nothing but underwear, I solemnly rose from behind the rock.
Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. The only thing I had left to drop was a single pair of underwear—and I had zero experience points anyway. They say you’re brave when you’ve got nothing to lose. So I slowly crept toward the battlefield that looked like a full-scale war.
Wow….
Hiding beside a large tree, I watched their fight unfold. It was incredible.
Each Psychic is randomly assigned a different elemental attribute. The ground burst into flames, lightning lashed out like spears—it looked like something straight out of a superhero movie.
If I grab the item from whoever dies and log out immediately…?
It wasn’t impossible. And if I got caught while looting and died? Well, I’d just die of embarrassment. Big deal. They’d probably just think some random beggar idiot died trying something stupid.
It’s just a game. What’s the worst that could happen?
Keeping my body as low as possible, I edged closer. BOOM! BOOM! I was practically crawling between the blasts when I spotted a user some distance away, down on one knee, catching his breath.
His entire body shimmered as though wrapped in lightning. Thin threads of electricity flickered off him. It looked lethal—like I’d be electrocuted just by brushing against him. I swallowed hard as I watched.
Then, a massive pillar of water crashed down from the sky onto him. Just like in reality, fine currents ran across the water-soaked ground.
Shit, I almost died.
I barely managed to avoid death by crouching atop a tree trunk. When I looked back at where the water column had struck, the user who had been emitting electricity was now lying flat on the ground.
<<ShutUp: Deceased.>>
His status message hovered above him.
Where ShutUp’s body vanished, a small ring remained behind.
This is it.
I sprinted, breath ragged, grabbed the ring, and immediately disconnected from the game.
Pulling off the helmet, I blinked rapidly.
“Whoa… What the hell did I just pick up?”
Because the moment I grabbed it, it auto-equipped, and suddenly energy surged through my body. I felt invigorated—power flooded every inch of me.
I hadn’t had time to check the ring’s name before logging out in a rush. I put the helmet back on and, while still on the connection standby screen, opened my character status window.
Naked as the day I was born except for a single ring.
Ring of the Noble Elf’s Breath.
Looking at the stats, it seemed like an insanely good item.
[Ring of the Noble Elf’s Breath]
▶ ATK +100
▶ DEF +100
▶ MR +100
▶ DEX +100
Considering that every one of my character’s stats had been an honest, pitiful 1…
Now they were all 101.
But there was another stat I didn’t remember seeing before. [CH 100,000]. I checked what it was—‘Charm.’ It didn’t seem to be an additional ability from the ring, but rather a random trait assigned when I created the character.
What am I supposed to do with Charm? I’m not making a princess or anything.
Since it wasn’t useful for hunting, I ignored it. Still, better than nothing. Maybe it’d come in handy someday.
Under the ring’s special ability section, it read:
<<Warp available to all villages.>>
Sure enough, beside the game’s connect button, a new village selection window had appeared.
“Whoa! That’s insane!”
What kind of jackpot was this? The thought of never having to see those ImSorry bastards again made me grin. The PK system really was amazing. You could even score a ring like this!
For today, I decided not to log in again. Someone might have seen me pick it up. I’d monitor the forums first—make sure no screenshots had been posted—before moving carefully.
I set my alarm for 4 a.m., before work, so I could log in early tomorrow, and went to sleep.
But I didn’t wake up.
***
After showing a prospective tenant around a monthly rental property in the morning, I returned to the office and grabbed lunch nearby. A 6,000-won set meal—no need to think twice. It came out generous, like homemade side dishes. I was wrapping rice in dried seaweed when Han-woo called.
He asked if I’d logged out safely yesterday and said he’d help me today. I told him I’d call back after finishing my meal and hung up.
Filling a paper cup with sikhye for dessert, I stepped outside and called him back.
“Hey, I hit the jackpot yesterday!”
[What, you made it through that battlefield and reached the village? Damn, impressive. I barely got out just watching.]
“No, no. I looted a ring from someone who died in PK.”
[A ring? What ring?]
“Something Elf or whatever!”
[Whoa… Was that you? What the hell were you thinking, stealing that?]
“Stealing? I just picked it up off the ground.”
[That was ShutUp’s. Forget it. Instead of me explaining, just check the forums. You’ll see why I’m saying this.]
I shot back, asking what the big deal was, but Han-woo warned me: “If you don’t want to quit the game for good, don’t tell anyone you picked it up. And absolutely do not sell it right now.”
What the hell kind of item is this?
Back at the office, I sat in front of the PC, sipping my sikhye as I accessed the official homepage forums.
Just like Han-woo said—every post was about the ring.
The grains of rice from the sikhye stuck in my throat.
***
[New] Who took ShutUp’s ring?
Whoever you are, if you get caught, you’re quitting for sure
――――――――――
┗ Didn’t the opposing guild take it?
┗ ┗ They all died
┗ It dropped during PK, so why are you making such a fuss?
┗ ┗┗ ShutUp’s PG was full, so he asked a real-life friend to kill him. Someone stole it in between
┗ What ring should I wear at level 50?
┗ Wasn’t the ring engraved? How’d it drop?
┗ Engraved or not, everything drops. This game’s screwed.
***
It was exactly the situation I knew. And judging by the reactions, that ring’s value was massive.
***
[New] Price of that ring
I’ll buy it. Cash. 010-472-5xxx
――――――――――
┗ This bait? ShutUp?
┗ Doesn’t even say how much
┗ At least 5 million, no?
***
…Five million?
My pupils shook violently at that last comment. They didn’t mean 5,000 won. They meant 5,000,000 won.
Other threads argued over whether the person who picked up the ring was a thief or not.
Among them was a post directly from the one who lost it.
***
[New] Looking for informant / ShutUp
Reward offered for information on the Elf Breath Ring. Whisper me.
――――――――――
┗ If someone secretly bought it and equips it, once they’re caught, they’re getting jumped
┗ How would you even know if they equipped it?
┗ If you wear it, wings sometimes appear behind your back
***
Reading that, a chill ran down my spine. Just like Han-woo said, if I’d wandered around wearing it without thinking, I’d have been mobbed and had it ripped off me.
Wings show up? Damn….
After browsing the forums, I got the gist of the situation. I checked where exactly the ring dropped from.
“…Random drop from one of 72 Hell bosses. And even the weakest Hell boss starts at A rank. What rank am I?”
On the Blood Planet homepage, Psychics and Guides were ranked S, A, B, C, and D. But no matter how many pages I flipped through under Guide rankings, my character was nowhere to be found.
Well, I was level 1. What ranking was I expecting? I closed the page and searched for ShutUp’s ranking.
Not in A rank.
With a sinking feeling, I checked S rank.
Fifth place.
“Th-This is insane….”
My legs trembled as I tried to process everything.
What’s the point of 5 million won? I couldn’t even sell this ring. And if I kept wearing it, I’d get PK’d the moment I stepped into a hunting ground and drop it. Worse, if I got on this guy’s bad side, I could already picture being killed over and over until I was ground to dust. I’d just thought I’d scored the jackpot, and now I was considering a server transfer.
But according to the homepage, server transfers were only available from level 50—and it was a paid item.
“Ah, what do I do….”
I considered creating a new character on a fresh server, but it felt like such a waste to bury an item worth that much. And starting from scratch in a place where I knew no one seemed worse than staying here, at least with Han-woo around.
As I weighed my options in my head, the office door opened.
“Um… I’m here to inquire about a shop space.”
Still unconsciously clutching my head, I hurriedly closed the forum window at the sound of the customer’s voice.
