“Ah, we lost her.”
Hearing my mutter, ShutUp strode toward me in long steps. The way he pointed a finger as he approached was anything but ordinary. As expected, a storm of nagging poured out of his mouth.
“Why didn’t you say you got scammed? How did you even manage to get played by idiots like that?!”
Human tried to calm him down from the side, but it was impossible to shut that mouth of his completely. I half-raised my hand, thinking maybe I should just voice-mute him too, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“Where do you think you’re muting? Trying to get scolded?”
“Ah, seriously! Stop nagging already! My ears are gonna start bleeding!”
“Want me to make them actually bleed?”
As ShutUp grabbed my face, Human and Enlistment rushed over and pulled him away.
“Jun, that’s enough—.”
The four of us were bickering when a familiar voice came from behind.
“Hey, you clumsy idiots. I brought a present.”
Moment tossed something toward us like Santa Claus. At first I couldn’t recognize it because it was covered in mud from head to toe, but it was Goddess—the one who had run away earlier.
“She was running that way, so I caught her.”
Thankfully, it seemed she didn’t have a Return Scroll after all. Goddess lay quiet, possibly unconscious. The thing binding her tightly was Moment’s Fire Ring.
When ShutUp told Human to wake her, Human formed a droplet of water in his right hand and flicked it at her face. As the mud washed away, her face was revealed. She blinked, staring at us with frightened eyes.
Human approached her and gently brushed her damp hair back as he asked,
“So… feel like trading now?”
Without speaking, Goddess nodded repeatedly.
Once Moment released the Fire Ring, she collapsed to the ground and began lamenting her situation. Then, reluctantly, she sent me a trade request and handed over the items she was wearing. Among them was the winged outfit.
“You can keep the winged outfit.”
Even when Moment said I’d be taking a big loss without it, I just told him it was fine and returned it. Not saying thank you seemed to be Goddess’s last shred of pride.
“Next time, don’t scam people. Try living honestly.”
After tossing her a Return Scroll, Human gave her a firm warning. As she accepted it, she muttered something under her breath, probably a curse about not letting this go.
“Why are you even listening? Let’s deal with that one instead.”
Having voice-muted her, ShutUp casually ignored Goddess and pointed toward Yot Seller, who was still lying behind us.
Goddess looked like she wanted to keep arguing, but when she saw Moment summon Fire Ring again, she finally returned to town, throwing a curse at our backs as she left.
Now, the only one left was Yot Seller.
He was here purely because of Seomun Jun’s grudge—and because he had scammed me too. Even if he claimed he was ordered to do it, he was basically an accomplice. I decided to just let ShutUp do whatever he wanted.
“Is that enough?”
“No. A little more.”
I listened to ShutUp and Enlistment’s conversation but didn’t understand what they meant, so I asked Human beside me. Human shook his head, saying he didn’t know the details either, but Moment—who was polishing his Fire Ring behind us—asked if we seriously didn’t recognize it just from the swamp’s name.
“Fowler Free Amoeba. You really don’t know?”
Hearing the creature Moment mentioned only made Human and me more confused. Human, who seemed to have read a few books, gave a guess.
“It sounds like a novelist’s name.”
“I only know amoebas. Aren’t they those things that split into two when you cut them?”
“That’s planaria. What shape is an amoeba anyway?”
“My mom’s fridge pants have an amoeba pattern. Probably looks like that?”
I thought Human and I were having a fairly serious conversation, but Moment just looked at us with pity and kept polishing his Fire Ring.
I had imagined ShutUp killing Yot Seller and looting his items, but instead, he simply left Yot Seller buried in the swamp and watched. The Yot Seller, who had struggled violently at first, now showed no movement.
“Looks like it’s done.”
“Yeah.”
Only then did Enlistment and ShutUp release the chains binding him. They hauled him up and threw him onto firmer ground. Regaining a bit of awareness, Yot Seller groaned in dizziness, crawling on all fours as if he had just ridden a roller coaster nonstop.
ShutUp looked down at him crawling and smirked, then glanced at Enlistment.
“What level did you say he was?”
“Around 65, I think. But doesn’t he look barely over 60?”
“About sixty-five times, then.”
With his foot pressing down on Yot Seller’s back, ShutUp announced,
“From now on, I’m going to turn you into level 1.”
“Wha… th….”
Yot Seller spoke like a heavily drunk person, unable to form words properly. Watching from the side, Moment explained that his brain was infected with amoeba intoxication.
“In this swamp, there’s something called Fowler Free Amoeba. If your face stays submerged long enough, it enters through your nose and takes over your brain. Even if you’re alive, you can’t behave normally. The scarier part is—you stay like that even after death. But once you die and respawn, you can fix it easily by taking deworming medicine sold at village shops. Usually, if you die in a swamp like this, you return to town anyway, buy the medicine, and it’s over. But judging by this… ShutUp’s planning to keep reviving him, right?”
Maybe because they were both rankers, Moment’s guess was spot on. ShutUp had brought Yot Seller here for exactly that purpose. Not just to kill him and take his items—but to reduce him all the way down to level 1.
Crackle—!
ShutUp began killing Yot Seller in earnest. Before Yot Seller could even use a skill, Enlistment bound him again, and ShutUp unleashed attack after attack. Death came instantly. Of course, dying usually meant going to the waiting screen—but ShutUp immediately used a resurrection item to bring him back.
Even when resurrected, losing experience was unavoidable. That resurrection item was normally a paid item used to avoid losing equipment or to revive instantly during boss fights.
Recently, however, wealthy Psychics had been abusing it to lower other players’ levels. Since each item cost over ten thousand won, only big spenders like ShutUp could afford such extravagance. And right now, a textbook example of that abuse was unfolding before my eyes.
“P-plea… se st… op….”
With every item that dropped around him, Yot Seller’s outfit grew lighter. His screams sounded like they were playing in slow motion. Honestly, watching a group beating like this wasn’t pleasant. Even if it was revenge, it felt cruel.
“I’m going back to the guild hideout and logging off for a bit. I wanna wash up.”
“If I call, log back in right away.”
ShutUp said that while twisting his Thunder Spear deeper into Yot Seller’s chest. I nodded and started to leave when Moment approached me.
“I’ll bring you Aneros tomorrow, right? I caught Goddess for you, remember.”
“Thanks to you, everything got resolved. Got it.”
Maybe ShutUp overheard us, because he told Enlistment to keep going and suddenly walked over.
“What are you two talking about?”
“Nothing much. Just thanking him for helping earlier.”
“Gentle, if you’re thankful, give me some Relax.”
I looked between the two of them and cast the skill. Moment looked relieved, as if his business was done, and said he’d see us later before using a Return Scroll. Just before leaving, he winked at me—and ShutUp’s expression twisted immediately.
“You close with Moment?”
“No. We just see each other around sometimes.”
“Make sure you log back in later. If you don’t, I’ll come find you.”
“Like you even know where I live.”
The way he said that almost sounded like he actually knew me. Come find me? Could it be—does he know who I am? Just as I was about to ask with suspicion in my eyes, he answered first.
“Wherever it is, it’s somewhere in South Korea, right?”
“Do you even know how big our country is?”
As if he really didn’t know, ShutUp just grinned slyly. I told him I’d log back in later if he contacted me and then logged out.
Strangely, today felt like we kept approaching some invisible line without quite crossing it. Like water sloshing inside a cup, just on the verge of spilling over. It felt like if even one clue dropped into place, the truth would come pouring out… an ominous feeling lingered.
Still, I had gained something today. I had recovered about seventy percent of the Relax cost. The exact amount would depend on how much it sold for at the auction house, but next time I sold game currency, I decided I’d bring Hanwoo or Roban along.
<<Logging out.>>
I removed the helmet and took off the gloves on my hands. Today marked the second day since I’d been scammed, and it was finally resolved. Yot Seller’s unexpected involvement played a part, but being on friendly terms with Moment and ShutUp had helped a lot too.
I got up and headed to the bathroom. It felt like a long-standing blockage had finally cleared all at once, leaving me in a good mood. Thinking it’d been a while, I decided to fill the bathtub for a soak.
Ssshhh—.
Since it was an old apartment, the bathtub had basically been useless until now, but on a day like this, it felt perfect for washing away fatigue. I’d bought bath salts because I had a tub, yet never used them—so today was the first time opening them.
“Is this enough?”
I misjudged the amount, and foam overflowed out of the tub. After scooping away the excess bubbles from the bathroom floor, I slowly sank into the bath as if entering a cloud.
“Ugh… this feels good.”
It felt like all my exhaustion was melting away. The soft bubbles brushing against my skin were ticklish yet pleasant. In the quiet bathroom, only the faint sound of tiny bubbles dissolving and popping filled the air. Sleepiness started creeping in.
I shouldn’t sleep… if I sleep….
I must have dozed off for a moment. My neck suddenly snapped back as I nodded off, and the back of my head bumped against the wall. That small shock woke me, and after looking at my wrinkled hands, I struggled to stand.
My whole body felt heavy, like waterlogged cotton, forcing me to move sluggishly. I roughly rinsed off the remaining bubbles with the shower and stepped out. My steps were still heavy, and my mind felt hazy.
As I collapsed onto the bed, it felt warmer and more comfortable than ever. The bed was heaven. And little by little, I drifted into sleep.
