Chapter 28: A 500 Won Bet

Wind Demon effect.

The kind of private conversation I really didn’t want to see started flooding the chat window.

All that was left now were Wind Demon’s childish whining and Ariel’s soulless replies.

I pretended not to notice and tore my gaze away from the chat window.

A moment later, a speech bubble popped up above the head of the Sea Horse character running alongside me through the ruins.

[Party] Sea Horse: That guy goes a bit overboard with the jokes sometimes, lolㅠㅠ Please try to understand~

[Party] Happy: Jokes? That was a joke?

[Party] Proposal: Looked 100% serious to me, lololol

[Party] Sea Horse: He’s still single and gets lonely, so he acts like thatㅠㅠ

[Party] Sea Horse: He’s not a bad personㅠㅠ

I wanted to reply, “If he’s lonely, wouldn’t it be better to go outside and have a social life?” but I held back.

[Party] Happy: So are you close with Ariel?

[Party] Sea Horse: Nn, not really that close

[Party] Sea Horse: We were just in the same guild a long time agoㅠㅠ

[Party] Sea Horse: I got a little help from him when I was a newbie, so it’s just kinda like that, lol

I could guess the situation from Sea Horse’s vague response.

[Party] Happy: Still, Wind Demon’s behavior seems pretty over the top. No one ever calls him out?

[Party] Proposal: That’s what I’m saying

[Party] Sea Horse: Yeah, there’s a reason for thatㅠㅠ

[Party] Proposal: ㅡㅡ?

[Party] Sea Horse: Honestly, everyone finds that guy hard to deal withㅠㅠ

As always, Sea Horse had a loose tongue.

[Party] Proposal: No matter how hard he is to deal with, if a guild member says weird stuff in chat, shouldn’t the officers say something?

Just like Proposal said—even if Cheonjon didn’t, Woong probably wouldn’t have let it slide.

[Party] Sea Horse: They do say something if he really goes too far.

[Party] Sea Horse: But that guy has way too much influence in the main serverㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] Proposal: Oh, he’s a heavy spender?

“Jeez. Is he, like, top 10 in the rankings or something?”

[Party] Sea Horse: His main character is Cheonpoongㅠㅠ

A few seconds later, Jiho, who was quick with his hands, looked up the rankings.

[Party] Ro: Sixth place

[Party] Sea Horse: And he’s a mage, tooㅠㅠ

[Party] Proposal: ㅡㅡ

“Uh…”

Being sixth on the main server is pretty much being a pillar of the guild.

A character like that could tip the balance of power between guilds.

“This is seriously messed up.”

[Party] Sea Horse: So yeah, no one can say muchㅠㅠ

[Party] Sea Horse: Ariel just gives him some half-hearted replies and lets it go

[Party] Sea Horse: At least

[Party] Sea Horse: That guy’s busy, so he only shows up on another server early on, stirs up trouble, then leaves, lol

[Party] Sea Horse: If it gets really bad, Sister Woong will curse him out, so just ignore himㅠㅠㅋ

In other words, even if it’s unpleasant to watch, just bear with it a little, Sea Horse laughed it off.

We didn’t really want to add anything, so we just said “okay” and left it at that…

“With that kind of attitude, I bet there are issues in other places too…”

That old saying popped into my head—if a bucket leaks from inside, it leaks outside too—and for some reason, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Before I knew it, the noisy Wind Demon had gone quiet, and the guild chat had returned to its usual atmosphere.

Just when I was about to forget Wind Demon existed thanks to the now-ordinary chat…

[Guild] Wind Demon: You sons of b****~~~lololol

[Guild] Sea Horse: What’s wrong???

[Guild] Wind Demon: Look at those blue guild mark bastards~~~lololol

[Guild] Wind Demon: Running with Jeonghun right now~~~lol

[Guild] Sea Horse: Ah lololol take it easy

The “blue ones” Wind Demon was talking about were members of the ‘Hana’ guild, which had a blue guild mark.

“So that’s why he was quiet. Must’ve been hunting with them.”

I’d hoped he’d logged out, but now that this unpleasant person was back in the chat, I just stopped looking at the chat window altogether.

And a few hours later—

An incident happened.

[Guild] INFP: Did someone get in a fight with a Hana guild member?

[Guild] INFP: They’re trash-talking us non-stop in town

[Guild] Taki: Did Hope go off cussing at them again? lol

[Guild] INFP: No, the whole group is insulting us

[Guild] Taki: Huh? lol

“What the…? Did something happen?”

Even our party, quietly focused on grinding, was full of question marks.

Luckily, it was our reorganization break, so without anyone having to say a word, we all headed straight for town.

[Bizert Village — All] Pineapple: Where are the Karma guild officers??

[Bizert Village — All] Pineapple: Aren’t you going to apologize or do something about this??

[Bizert Village — All] Hannari: Are Cheonjon or Woong’s mains here?

As soon as we switched maps, unlikable users’ chats appeared in the global channel.

Never mind the dislike; with the guild master being called out, the atmosphere seemed serious.

[Bizert Village — All] Nu: Your guild’s a real mess, lololol

[Bizert Village — All] Inspector: Geez, can’t even hunt because I’m scared of being KS’dㅜㅜㅜ

[Party] Happy: Was it a fight over KS?

[Party] Proposal: How much KS-ing must’ve gone on for them to be so sarcastic, lol

[Bizert Village — All] Hungry: lolololololol?

[Bizert Village — All] Hungry: The hypocrisy is wild

Unable to hold back, Hungry began to call out the Hana guild.

[Bizert Village — All] Hungry: That Hope guy from your guild stirs up trouble in global chat all the time and we just let it slide

[Bizert Village — All] Hungry: But the second we KS once, you all jump on us

[Bizert Village — All] Nu: What are you talking about, lolololol

[Bizert Village — All] Nu: Is five minutes of open chasing the same as muttering to yourself??

[Bizert Village — All] Hungry: Muttering to yourself?

[Bizert Village — All] Hungry: Should I show the screenshots I’ve saved?

[Bizert Village — All] Hungry: Want to post them on the official forum and see if that’s “muttering to yourself”?

[Bizert Village — All] Inspector: But why are you speaking informally?

[Bizert Village — All] Hungry: Your side started first, didn’t you?

[Bizert Village — All] Pineapple: And who are you, suddenly jumping in?

[Bizert Village — All] Hungry: Then who are you? lololol

[Bizert Village — All] Sentiment: Seriously, just bring out Wind Demon

[Bizert Village — All] Sentiment: Honestly, KS I could let slide

[Bizert Village — All] Sentiment: But why do I have to listen to trash talk and do nothing?

“What, it was because of Wind Demon?”

From their side’s claim, it was clearly Wind Demon’s fault.

But considering what Hana guild usually does, it was hard to sympathize with their outrage.

[Party] Proposal: It’s obvious Wind Demon was at fault.

[Party] Proposal: The way that guy talks, he’ll never apologize, lol

[Party] Proposal: And we have no reason to bow our heads after the stuff Hope pulled.

[Party] Proposal: Wonder how this’ll turn out ㅡㅡ

[Party] Happy: For real

[Party] Happy: If the guilds keep fighting here, worst case is endless PK in the field, right?

[Party] Ro: Exactly

[Party] Ro: But we’ve got the guild dungeon, so it doesn’t matter

[Party] Proposal: Lol, at worst the low-levels just have to level up in the guild dungeon

[Party] Proposal: And in the desert, it’s just back to fighting as usual, lol

Even so, Hana guild kept bringing up Wind Demon’s misdeeds, as if they were desperately trying to appeal to everyone’s sense of injustice.

“Huh? Something feels off…”

I sensed something odd in their persistence.

[Bizert Village — All] Wind Demon: Man, you guys sure talk a lot~~~~lololol

“Whoa.”

The man himself finally showed up—shameless as ever.

[Bizert Village — All] Wind Demon: You couldn’t even kill the thing

[Bizert Village — All] Wind Demon: I finished it off for you, and you complain? Bunch of trash players~~~~

“Isn’t that literally the definition of kill-stealing…?”

It was such an absurd line of logic that even our guildmates were thrown off.

Honestly, just keeping his mouth shut would have been better for the guild.

[Bizert Village — All] Inspector: Not only did you KS, but you’re cursing too, so shameless

[Bizert Village — All] Wind Demon: What? You’re nothing on the main server~~~~

[Bizert Village — All] Wind Demon: If you’ve got a problem, come to the main server~~~lol

[Bizert Village — All] Nu: Lol? Are you out of your mind?

[Bizert Village — All] Nu: You think we don’t know who you are on the main server? lol

[Bizert Village — All] Wind Demon: And if you do, so what~~~lol You can’t do a thing in front of me~~~

[Bizert Village — All] Wind Demon: Main server losers~~~

[Bizert Village — All] Wind Demon: Got beaten like dogs and now you’re happy coming to another server, huh? lololol

[Bizert Village — All] Wind Demon: Pathetic~~~lol

[Bizert Village — All] Inspector: Wow, Cheonpoong! Main server rank 6 Cheonpoong!!

[Bizert Village — All] Inspector: You really haven’t changed, lololol

I didn’t even know what I was looking at.

Wind Demon’s outrageous words left my jaw hanging.

He was aiming at Hana guild, but even bystander would be uncomfortable hearing this. No wonder even the guild chat was flooded with flustered reactions.

[Party] Proposal: Lololol, man, the filter is off the rails

[Party] Proposal: He’s just trash-talking all users with no shame

[Party] Happy: Wow, I guess main server rankers really are something else

[Party] Ro: That personality though…

[Party] Proposal: Is this really okay for the guild’s reputation, lol

Even though our party included the sub-masters for Sea Horse, Cheonjon, and Woong, we didn’t really care at this point. We just honestly shared our thoughts.

Not that the guild even has a real reputation to protect, but from a third-party perspective, this was a bad look.

[Guild] Sea Horse: Please, bro, just stopㅠㅠ

[Guild] S: Wind Demon hyung, stop, stopㅜㅜㅜ

[Guild] INFP: I’m losing my mind here

The guildmates all scrambled to stop Wind Demon, but it was already too late.

Users who’d just been spectating without a care were now riled up by Wind Demon’s words.

[General] Fake: Sigh, passing main server “loser” here, feels badㅡ.ㅡㅋ

[General] Like: Me tooㅜㅜ

[General] Alert: Is that guy really a main server ranker????

[General] WaterIsSelf: Yeah, pretty sure that’s Cheonpoong

[General] WaterIsSelf: He’s notorious for trash talk even on the main server

A wave of bitter reactions began spreading, fueling a backlash.

[General] MapleLeaf: Main server ranker or not, you’re just a no-life addict

[General] Petit: For real, lol, being a main server ranker just means you’re a huge addict

[General] Petit: What’s there to brag about, lololol

[General] GreenGrape: The stuff he says really crosses the line, lol

[General] GreenGrape: Makes Hope look cute, lol

[General] Fake: Honestly, that guy could say anything and he’d just look like an idiot

[General] Fake: But it’s weirdly annoying coming from him, lol

[General] MapleLeaf: Guess that’s the level of Karma guild, tsk tsk tsk tsk

[General] Alert: Sorry I’m a lowbie, sorryㅠㅠ

[General] Petit: lolololololol

Similar complaints and resentment were voiced all over town.

Most were newbie guilds, or mid-to-low levels who’d just left a newbie guild.

In other words, these were the players about to choose a regular guild.

They might be the ones who could become our allies in the near future, and now they were looking at Karma guild with a bad impression.

[Party] Proposal: It’s an operation

[Party] Happy: An operation?

[Party] Proposal: I’ll bet 500 won Hana was lurking on alts, checking guild chat, and jumped in the moment that guy logged in

[Party] Happy: No way, you really think so? lol

……

That night, I lost my precious five hundred won.

A full-blown field war erupted between Karma and Hana.