[Server Board: (Nacht Server)]
[Title: Has Yeonhwa Guild’s guild master been staying offline lately?]
[Body]
(Screenshot)
I don’t think I’ve seen it switch back to online in over a week?
Didn’t the guild master show up for the defense battle last week?
[Comments]
ㄴThey did show up.
(This comment contains an image.)
ㄴ Yeah, they did.
ㄴMaybe they set it to offline because some stalker-type was clinging to them and they were trying to shake them off?
ㄴ Seeing a post like this go up, that might actually be it.
ㄴ (OP) No, it’s just that it’s gray every time, so I got curious;;;;
ㄴDid they get into some kind of trouble or what? (popcorn)
ㄴ But Yeonhwa is a guild full of goody-goodies, so it’s not like there’s really anything they could get in trouble for…
ㄴ It’s always guys like that who suddenly lose it one day, pull off one big score, and run.
ㄴ Oho, sounds plausible.
(This comment contains an image.)
All kinds of rumors drifted around the server board, and in the end a Yeonhwa guild member even posted an explanation saying that the guild master had only been switched to offline display for a bit due to personal circumstances, but since Yeonjun never looked that far into it, the truth remained a mystery.
He simply assumed that Friday, at least, would definitely mean a login, and waited only for the time of the Parel Castle defense battle displayed on the UI window.
Since the defense battle was scheduled for 1 a.m., he figured he would log in sometime after around 12:30.
Yeonjun gave up one side of the UI entirely and left the friend list open while he waited.
After waiting like that for quite a while, around 12:50 he did not miss the moment when the marker beside [DoHaesal] turned green, and immediately sent a whisper.
[Whisper/Ignis: Haesal-nim!]
He had waited over a week just to send that one short line.
Yeonjun let out a sigh, remembering how, during all that time, he had worried about every little thing, wondering if maybe something had happened after all.
As expected, it probably really had been nothing.
Relieved, he started typing the rest.
And before he could even hit Enter, Haesal’s reply came back.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Yes!]
Ah, why is he so fast to respond?
Yeonjun calmed his startled heart and finished the sentence.
[Whisper/Ignis: I made good use of the gear you sent me by mail. Thank you.]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Ah, I’m glad it got to you safely haha]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: It’s nothing much, so feel free to use it]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: And when you’re done with it, it’s fine if you sell it on the market board or something]
Yeonjun had sent just one line, but the whisper that came back had turned into three sentences, and it left him frazzled.
With this guy, trying to send something long all at once would not work.
It felt like maybe he needed to break it up midway and at least give off an, “I’m not done talking yet,” kind of signal.
[Whisper/Ignis: Thanks to you I really did make good use of it, but]
[Whisper/Ignis: Going forward, it’s okay if you don’t send me any more, I just]
[Whisper/Ignis: Feel bad about it]
What kind of way of talking was this exactly?
If he sent it all at once, it would be clean for both sides, but instead he split it up and hit <Enter> while tense, worried that before he even finished what he wanted to say, the other side’s reply would come flooding back again.
But his opponent was even less easygoing than that.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: If it really weighs on your mind that much]
No, whatever it is, it’s not that serious.
I’m just saying you don’t need to send any more from now on.
I really did use it well, so I’m thanking you for that.
Shouldn’t you be hurrying off to get ready for the defense battle?
Yeonjun grew anxious instead as he glanced at the time, which had already ticked over to :55.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Would you like to join our guild?]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: There are a lot of people besides me who like slipping freebies to newbies]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: So you’d probably be able to get help more comfortably haha]
What is he even talking about?
Being grateful was one thing, but in that instant Yeonjun’s reason flashed and his hand turned cold and decisive as he typed.
[Whisper/Ignis: No, that’s a bit]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Yep]
In response to Yeonjun’s quick refusal, Haesal answered without clinging any further.
And, completely unaware of Yeonjun’s guilt that maybe he was the one holding up someone who ought to be hurrying off to prepare for siege right now, he tried a new bit of small talk instead.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: By any chance, is there anything you plan to do once you hit max level?]
No, it’s already :58 right now.
Shouldn’t you be getting ready to enter, repairing your gear, and all that?
Growing anxious, Yeonjun answered quickly to wrap the conversation up.
[Whisper/Ignis: Like I said before, I’m not going to do combat content]
[Whisper/Ignis: I’ll probably just work on the codex]
There were more than five categories just in the codex alone, so filling all of that out would easily take half a year.
And once he factored in that his login time topped out at maybe three hours at best, and that when work got busy it could be hard even to log in at all, it seemed better for his mental health to assume it would take even longer than that.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Ahhh~]
The number had already changed to :59, and Yeonjun quickly cut the conversation off.
Why did he have to feel like he was interfering in someone else’s defense battle.
Just go already!
[Whisper/Ignis: Then good luck with the defense battle]
[Whisper/Ignis: I’ll get going now]
Since it had already gone past the time when he really should have logged off right away, Yeonjun’s head was starting to feel heavy.
If he wanted to wake up and go to work as soon as morning came tomorrow, this was the time he needed to get the back of his head onto the pillow and fall asleep.
While waiting for Haesal, he had already prepared a simple breakfast for before work tomorrow and put it in the fridge, and he had brushed his teeth in advance too.
The only thing left now was really just to lie down in bed and sleep.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Yep, thank you!]
After confirming that Haesal’s whisper had come in, Yeonjun pressed ESC without the slightest lingering attachment, opened the settings window, and clicked log out.
The screen darkened and went black, then soon his glossy wallpaper appeared.
Now really, go to sleep.
Whatever happened with somebody else’s guild defense battle had nothing to do with him, really.
That guild master did have a bit of a connection to him, but they were hardly especially close.
A ranker who unilaterally claimed to be a fan of a former Named, and a former Named making excuses to himself that all he had done was luckily pick up the nickname admired by that ranker.
In any case, the other person did not know that he was the real Ignis, so there was no reason to worry that much.
Now it really was time to sleep for tomorrow.
Yeonjun quietly plugged his phone into the charger, checked his morning alarm, set it facedown, and slipped under the covers.
Then he closed his eyes.
“…”
From beyond the window, right behind his head, came a faint car horn, layered chaotically with the sound of cars and the wind.
Then there was the everyday noise from the upstairs apartment, and even the sound of water draining from some floor he could not identify.
Under the assault of all those small noises, Yeonjun could not fall asleep right away.
He tossed and turned for quite a while before suddenly sitting bolt upright.
‘It’s bothering me!!!’
He had kept pretending not to care, but there was no way he could help wondering who it was that had taken Parel’s lord seat.
Who took Chalet’s turf?
It had become an area that no longer had anything to do with him now, but it still bothered him.
Of course it did.
Back when he had been throwing his whole life into the game, it was a seat he had never once lost, so there was no way it was the kind of thing he could coolly let go of just because he wanted to.
In the end, Yeonjun kicked off the covers and got up, turned on the light, powered up the computer, and logged into Erha Online’s official homepage.
Since the main banner had a giant notice page for the broadcast right on the front, it was not hard to find where he had to go to watch the live defense battle stream.
‘Just for a second. Just for a second.’
The moment Yeonjun made that promise to himself and entered the live broadcast page, Haein was already slaughtering the challengers with a terrifying momentum from the very start.
——
‘Ignis cheered me on!’
Not only had he gone out of his way to wait for him and thank him over gear that was hardly a big deal, he had even cheered him on.
He was not just good at games. His heart was broad as the sea and fine as silk too. There really was no one else whose very existence itself was a cheat code.
While the entrance wait timer was up, Haein, trying to calm down his overexcited mood, slammed his forehead down onto the keyboard. Bang!
A red mark bloomed across his round forehead, but that did not matter in the slightest.
Ignis is cheering me on, and right now, that’s what matters!
Inside Haein’s head, he was already imagining a scene where a shy, imaginary Ignis told him that in that case he had no choice but to join the guild, and put [Yeonhwa] over his head.
Today, no matter what, he had to do well.
Not just win, either.
He had to win so overwhelmingly that the challengers would not even dare come sniffing around again for a month.
Ignis wants war! (Note: he never said that.)
Never again, war! Never again, war!
While Haein was smashing his forehead into the keyboard yet again, PleaseScoldMe shuddered from a nameless fear.
Something bad was definitely happening.
[Party/PleaseScoldMe: Why does my gut feel so rotten today]
[Party/Fang: Is this one of those days where something’s gonna latch onto you?]
[Party/Middle-Aged Hunter: Don’t say ominous shit]
[Party/PleaseScoldMe: Yep]
And three minutes later, PleaseScoldMe had no choice but to scream as he tried to keep up with a volume of orders unlike anything he had ever received before.
[Party/DoHaesal: Hon-nim, you’re about 10 meters away at 11 o’clock]
[Party/DoHaesal: Hon-nim, move to the place I just pinged]
[Party/DoHaesal: Hon-nim, hurry, go to the 6 o’clock side]
[Party/DoHaesal: Hon-nim, this way]
[Party/DoHaesal: Hon-nim, that side’s cleared, hurry and regroup]
[Party/DoHaesal: Hon-nim, don’t tell me you got caught?]
[Party/DoHaesal: Hon-nim, where’d you go, not there]
[Party/DoHaesal: Hon-nim?]
No fucking marionette gets controlled this hard!
Because PleaseScoldMe only had two hands, even when he wanted to respond to maybe thirty percent of the orders, his hands just could not keep up, so there was no way to match them.
And every time that happened, with Haesal’s contempt seeming to come right through the screen, PleaseScoldMe could do nothing but beg forgiveness, wondering what exactly he had done so wrong.
Ignis, please! Ignis, please take my position already!
Yeonjun would never know that the very reason PleaseScoldMe had to run all over the field making beastlike cries of ‘hwaaah’ was none other than that same Ignis.
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