That day, I wrapped up the contract at lightning speed, and the lease premium commission was deposited straight into my bank account. I stared at the balance on my phone and smiled in satisfaction. Normally, the office closes at seven, but a working customer came by that evening, so after showing them a studio apartment for rent, I didn’t manage to close up until around eight.
After locking the office door and punching in the security code, I turned around—just as my phone rang.
“Hello?”
[Mr. Yoo Du-seon. Bring the shopping bag from the car.]
The punk was five years younger than me, and he had the nerve to call me “Mr. Yoo Du-seon.” I may not be much, but I’m still the owner of the agency. Being addressed so stiffly by name alone left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth.
I’d seen his resident registration number earlier when he signed the contract. I’d figured he was younger than me, but with his tall frame and solid build, I hadn’t realized he was that much younger.
Thinking about how I’d clung to the arm of someone five years my junior and begged him like that made my stomach churn. And now, here he was, sending me on my first errand—calling me “Mr. Yoo Du-seon” while he was at it. He must’ve memorized my name off the contract.
Still, it hadn’t even been ten minutes since I saw that commission hit my account, so I couldn’t exactly wipe the smile off my face.
“Sure. Of course.”
I looked up at the top floor of the building across from me. A silhouette approached the window, and soon the car’s hazard lights blinked before turning off.
When I opened the passenger door, I saw a shopping bag stamped with a luxury brand logo. I expected the inside to reek of stale cigarette smoke—since he’d been smoking—but instead, it carried only a cool, woody scent. I grabbed the bag roughly and slammed the car door as hard as I could. As I stepped into the building entrance, the car lights flashed again.
I went inside, took the elevator, and pressed the button for the top floor—seven. When the doors opened, there was a single front door right in front of me. I glanced left and right, but in the wide corridor, that one door was the only thing there.
Wow… Does he use the entire floor by himself?
I was so busy looking around that I hadn’t even rung the doorbell when the door suddenly flew open from inside.
“Uh, here. This—”
An arm shot out, snatched the shopping bag from my hands, and then—bang—the door slammed shut.
Seriously. Was it that hard to say “thanks” or “good job”? Fine, if saying it was too much effort, at least come out properly to take it. Even delivery drivers don’t get treated like that.
What’s with his personality? Tsk.
While I muttered under my breath where he couldn’t hear me, the elevator—which had gone down to the first floor—came back up. Still, I’d closed a contract today. Going home and playing a game sounded perfect.
And I picked up a jackpot item—the Ring of the Noble Elf’s Breath.
They say life is full of twists and turns. But whether in-game or in reality, things were going smoothly all at once. It felt like I was finally walking down a path of flowers, and I found myself humming without even realizing it.
***
“Okay. The moment I get to the village, I take the ring off.”
Back home, I put on my helmet with solemn determination.
<<Welcome to Blood Planet.>>
After practicing the key to open the status window several times, I took a deep breath. Please, just don’t let anyone notice. I stared at the character login screen, selected [Adventurer’s Village] as my destination, and with a pounding heart, flicked my hand to connect.
<<Moving to ‘Adventurer’s Village.’>>
The screen brightened, and in an instant, the village scenery appeared. I hurriedly opened the status window to remove the ring—
Just as I was about to take it off, someone shouted from behind me. The voice was clear—probably a nearby player.
“Whoa! Angel wings!”
Ah!! What do I do?!
I yanked the ring off first and bolted toward a dark alley in the village. The person who had shouted grew distant; soon, I couldn’t hear them anymore. Panting, I crouched in a corner and opened the local chat window. Everyone was already talking about the Ring of the Noble Elf’s Breath.
[IROKEIROKE : I just saw angel wings]
[KingOfKing : Where?]
[KoreaGoldExchange : Gold farm 100:1]
[IROKEIROKE : A newbie showed up in Adventurer’s Village with wings]
[IROKEIROKE : Holy crap, got a whisper from ShutUp]
[qwerqwer1 : popping popcorn]
The good news was, no one had mentioned my name. It seemed the player earlier had only seen the wings and not my ID.
Ah… thank god.
If I stayed logged in any longer, more people might gather, so I decided to just log out and pressed [Exit Game].
“…Huh? Why isn’t it working? Why can’t I exit?”
Startled, I spoke aloud without thinking.
When you use voice chat in-game, nearby players can hear you, so you’re supposed to keep your voice down. You can mute yourself entirely, but as a newbie, I didn’t even know how.
I opened the system window to check why I couldn’t log out and realized someone had initiated a trade with me. Since I didn’t even know how to accept a trade, I was grumbling about what this was when a low voice came from behind me.
“Hey.”
The voice was so deep and thick it felt like it could drill through the Earth’s core. I flinched. Wondering if he’d heard my muttering, I stayed crouched and only turned my head.
“Hand it over.”
“Pardon? H-Hand over what?”
As he stepped closer, I immediately recognized him.
He was the player who had died from that splash of water earlier. Above his head was the name [ShutUp]. Some flashy title shimmered beside it, but all I could focus on were his sharp eyes.
“The ring. Give it.”
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
I’d definitely taken the ring off, so why was he asking me for it? How did he even know I had—
Panicking, I glanced around and saw my reflection in a shop window—wearing nothing but underwear. The problem was that even though I’d removed the ring, wings had unfurled behind me before fading away. Feathery strands drifted down and vanished like holograms at my feet.
“……”
Taking off the item should’ve made the wings disappear, but maybe because I’d switched maps, some kind of bugged buff was still active. Early-stage games are always riddled with bugs.
While ShutUp looked away for a second, I tried pressing exit again—but the flashing trade window kept interrupting me. It seemed like another bug was preventing logout during a trade request.
“Open the trade.”
“N-No! It’s mine! I picked it up!”
I didn’t know how old ShutUp was, but since he was high-level, honorific speech came out of me automatically.
It had dropped on a PK server—what do you mean it was originally his? That was just unfair. Sure, I happened to pick it up, but right now, I was the owner.
Maybe our voices were too loud, because murmurs started spreading around us. Most of the nearby players were snickering. In local chat, people were going crazy, saying a newbie and ShutUp were fighting over the Ring of the Noble Elf’s Breath.
So many people were trying to log into this channel that some couldn’t even get in anymore and started shouting through global chat. From what I overheard, opinion seemed split about fifty-fifty between ShutUp and me.
“Isn’t ShutUp being kind of shameless? He dropped it himself and now he wants it back?”
A user named [Human] spoke up for me. At that, ShutUp turned around and snapped at him to shut up.
Fitting words for someone with a name like that. And Human really did talk like a decent human being. It scientifically proves that a character’s name reflects their fundamental character.
In the end, ShutUp lost his temper and gathered lightning in his hand. But what was the point? In this village, all combat was nullified. The lightning only flashed and made sound effects—no actual damage.
“Excuse me. It’s blinding. Could you stop?”
“Hey. If you want to play this game nicely, choose wisely.”
“Then at least pay me! I don’t even have any items! I got beaten to death the moment I logged in and dropped all my newbie gear. I’ve got nothing. If you take this too, how am I supposed to play?!”
To be honest, I had no real grounds to blame ShutUp for that. He wasn’t the one who killed me and took my items, yet I was venting my newbie frustration on him. Under my breath, I grumbled that if I was stuck wearing just one pair of underwear, they could’ve at least made it leopard print instead of these pathetic white briefs.
At that moment, some spectators who saw me pleading in nothing but underwear began pulling items from their inventories and dropping them on the ground. Ignoring ShutUp’s glare, I stepped past him and started picking everything up one by one.
“Ah, thank you. Bless you,” I said as I collected them.
Potions, armor, weapons—I scooped up every single thing diligently. Whether it was junk or not, I could sell it at a shop and build up some capital.
Watching me clean the ground spotless, ShutUp let out a sigh. Human, seeing him just fuming, spoke up.
“You should give him something too. Then Gentle will return the Ring of the Noble Elf’s Breath to you.”
“It’s mine to begin with.”
“Does that logic even work on a PK server? Haven’t you killed other players and taken their loot? If they asked for it back, would you return it?”
The two of them talked like real-life friends.
As I equipped the items I’d picked up, I chimed in, “That’s right, that’s right.”
Now the surrounding players were whispering about the ring’s price. They were practically holding an auction among themselves over how much someone would have to pay a newbie to get it back.
“Follow me.”
Maybe he was sick of the noise, because ShutUp told me to follow him.
I ignored him for a moment and checked my character status window. I looked properly like an adventurer now. Some of the gear even had high enhancement levels—someone must’ve given me reinforced items.
“Ah— The world is still warm.”
“Shut up and follow me.”
“I’m not leaving the village!”
At my wary response, ShutUp curtly said we were going to the guild room. I hesitated, wondering if that was really true, when Human approached me.
“ShutUp might enjoy massacres, but he doesn’t lie. You’re safe.”
Human had been on my side from the start—a kind Psychic. If I’d been a female Guide, I could’ve partnered with a Psychic like him and risen to glory.
After walking a bit, we arrived at a portal. Guild estates could be accessed through portals in the village—but not just anyone could enter.
“Jun, let me rejoin the guild too.”
Human must’ve originally been in ShutUp’s guild, because a guild mark immediately appeared above his head. Then it was my turn. ShutUp stepped closer.
<<‘ShutUp’ has invited you to join the guild. Would you like to accept? [Accept / Decline]>>
I pressed [Accept]. The same guild emblem appeared above my head.
Without another word, ShutUp invited me and entered. The guild name [Silence] appeared above us. Stepping onto the glowing platform like they did, the screen shifted, and we found ourselves inside the guild house.
“There’s a guild storage on the second floor. Let’s go up.”
“By the way… can I speak casually too?”
“Age?”
They hadn’t even asked my age before speaking casually to me, yet when I tried, they asked first.
“I’m 28.”
“Hyung, speak casually.”
“Then how old is ShutUp?”
“Us? Twenty-three. Oh, and ShutUp and I are real-life friends.”
“…Unbelievable.”
Maybe he heard my muttering, because ShutUp came close and jabbed a finger toward my mouth. “Watch your mouth,” he said, dragging me off somewhere.
It seemed that in this game, a character’s stats were everything. A high-level player pulling me along made my low-level self trail after him like a paper doll.
