Chapter 35: The Boomerang Gift

For about three seconds, my mind went blank.

“What…?”

Why would they give this to me?

They even gave me two.

Did they actually eat both themselves?

On such a low-level map?

What’s with this person?

Or maybe items just drop really well here?

A million questions flashed through my mind in an instant.

While I was still lost, unable to find any answers, a new character appeared at the entrance.

[General]

A character wearing the Newbie Guild mark stood next to a character named ‘Bori’, then started circling around.

“A party member?”

In that moment, a lightbulb went off in my head.

“Oh, did they give it to me by mistake? Did they confuse me for that person?”

Since MonWorld doesn’t use avatars, if they didn’t see my ID, a mix-up was possible.

“Wait a sec. What if they think I’m a thief who just took the items and ran?”

It sounds ridiculous, but it’s entirely possible. I suddenly felt chills all over.

[Guild] Proposal : Where’s Happy at?

[Party] Haema : Happy-nim, where are you?

[Party] Ro : Happy?

My party members were spamming messages looking for me, but I didn’t have time to worry about that right now.

Not wanting to be misunderstood, I frantically typed on the keyboard.

[Public] Happy : Um, Jina-nim

[Public] Happy : I think you gave these to the wrong person

My brain was working overtime.

As I dragged the items I’d received in my inventory back over to Jina, my left hand gripped my phone, filming a video.

Logs of items received from others show up in the system window, but logs for items I return don’t.

“Seriously, what a user-unfriendly game. Still, my split-second judgment is impressive.”

Even as I praised myself, my hands trembled from the unexpected situation.

Why does this feel scarier than my first PK?

“I’ve never been this anxious while gaming before.”

Even after returning the items, Jina didn’t respond.

The silence only made me more anxious.

[Public] Happy : Jina-nim

[Public] Happy : ?

[Jina-nim has given you 1 Gaia’s Hat.]

[Jina-nim has given you 1 Artemis’s Earring.]

“Ahhhh!”

Seeing the items come back again, I jumped out of my seat.

Ah, this is so confusing.

“What on earth is going on…?”

I placed my hands calmly on the keyboard again.

[Public] Happy : Jina-nim, why are you

[Public] Happy : giving these to me

[Public] Jina : Ah, haha

[Public] Jina : It’s a thank you!

[Public] Jina : Sorry for giving them without askingㅜㅜ

“Huh? What?”

My brain shut down again at the sudden reply.

A thank you? Did I do anything to deserve thanks?

Shouldn’t I be the one thanking her instead?

If I think about it, Jina did give me a buff, but still…?

[Public] Jina : I heard you helped us out Sunday morning, haha

[Public] Happy : I did?

“No, I got the buff on a different day… Oh, wait. Sunday morning…”

A flash of memory—the group of newbies I ran into at dawn.

The outgoing, chatty Papak and the five others.

“These people are part of that group?”

I’d thought they might be acquaintances from another game, but I didn’t think it was actually true.

I started feeling a little happy.

[Public] Jina : My friends who play with me told me!

[Public] Jina : They said you helped them a lot

[Public] Jina : That’s why I wanted to give you something, please accept it, haha

“Oh, but…”

I did help them a little, but not enough to deserve something like this.

And honestly, these items felt a bit too valuable as a thank you.

I mean, I’d rather have a hundred red potions.

[Public] Happy : You shouldn’t give these to me

[Public] Happy : It’s better to use them together with your friends

[Public] Happy : These are new items, so they’re valuable

[Public] Happy : They’ll probably be even more useful in the futureㅠㅠ

I quickly explained, then handed the items back to Jina.

But a few seconds later—

[Jina-nim has given you 1 Gaia’s Hat.]

[Jina-nim has given you 1 Artemis’s Earring.]

“Ugh!”

My mind went blank again as the items boomeranged back to me.

[Public] Jina : We’re just playing for fun, so we don’t really need them!

[Public] Happy : Huh? But still

[Public] Happy : If that’s the case, let’s just make it a trade

[Public] Happy : I’ll buy them from you;

[Public] Jina : Oh, it’s fine!

[Public] Bori : Even if you have a lot of money in this game, there’s nothing to spend it on anyway

One of Jina’s party members chimed in.

“Well, true. As long as you don’t do PK, there’s not much to worry about in terms of potion costs…”

[Public] Yoonjae : The fact that the set’s divided by slot and purpose

[Public] Yoonjae : Seems like they want to force people into farming hell

[Public] Dodohae : Looking at the map, it feels like they’re trying to encourage PK too

[Public] General : It really is a PK-focused game, haha

[Public] Dodohae : It does seem fun, though, to some people

“Huh? Why did it get quiet all of a sudden?”

After all the back-and-forth between party members, the conversation just stopped.

Maybe they switched to party chat for casual talk?

Anyway, just from those few lines, I could tell for sure.

These people really understood the value of the items and how the system works.

They’re experienced gamers.

And they’re absolutely set on their style of play.

Pure ‘for fun’ gamers.

In MonWorld, where tryhards are everywhere and even casuals end up taking hardcore routes, to meet such 100% pure casuals…

For some reason, I felt like there was a halo shining behind their characters.

[Public] Jina : Anyway!

[Public] Jina : Thanks to your kindness, we all got to start the game off happily!

[Public] Jina : Thank you so much!

“Ah…”

Jina’s chat bubble, almost beaming with a smile, made me zone out.

When I first started Monster World,

Like most beginners, I frowned at the crude, outdated graphics and was put off.

I almost uninstalled the game, but a chance encounter with a veteran’s kindness changed my mind.

I got completely hooked after that.

So much so that, after all this time, I came back again.

That’s probably what Jina means right now.

[Public] Jina : It’s just a little thank you, so please accept it!

Her overly polite request made me feel a bit awkward.

But at the same time…

“What kind of games did these people play before this to be so friendly and laid-back?”

Honestly, they’re so laid-back it’s like they’ve achieved enlightenment.

I couldn’t help but smile at the warm atmosphere.

“Would playing with people like this be… healing?”

A part of me wanted to try gaming with them.

Then I chuckled to myself.

Here I am, daydreaming about complete strangers I’ve never even seen.

“Well, Monster World does have a way of being harsh.”

[Public] Happy : If that’s the case, I’ll gratefully accept…

It feels a bit burdensome, but if they really don’t need it, there’s no reason to refuse.

And it just so happens these are the very slots I was missing!

[Public] Happy : Thanks to you, I can complete my set a lot faster, haha

[Public] Jina : Glad to hear it!

[Public] Jina : Well, we’re off to go hunting!

[Public] Happy : Oh, if

[Public] Happy : If you ever need anything or have questions while playing

[Public] Happy : Just send me a whisper

[Public] Happy : Even if I’m AFK, I’ll check the whisper log so anytime

[Public] Jina : Okay! Thank you!

With that, Jina’s party cheerfully disappeared down below.

But, probably…

“The chances of them actually asking for help are low.”

They seemed like the type to handle things just fine on their own.

They definitely seemed capable.

Well, I left the door open, so if they ever really need help, they’ll reach out.

The more I thought about it, the more refreshing the encounter felt.

And…

“Jackpot.”

Now I just need to get the Gaia top and bottom, and I’m done.

“Artemis is a PvP set, huh? Mages can use that.”

[Guild] Happy : sry sry

[Guild] Proposal : Seriously, Happy, what were you doing?

[Guild] Proposal : I was just about to tell Ro to call youㅠㅠ

[Guild] Ro : You went silent all of a sudden and weren’t answering messages. We were worried;

[Guild] Haema : Whew, thank goodness

I wondered why everyone was freaking out, but then I immediately understood thanks to Infp’s next words.

[Guild] Infp : To all our sleep-deprived addicts

[Guild] Infp : Please remember to take care of your health

[Guild] Happy : lol sorry

[Guild] Happy : I just wandered into the wrong map for a bit;

[Guild] Happy : Ended up chatting with some newbies I met there

After that, I briefly and honestly explained how I got Gaia’s Hat and Artemis’s Earring as gifts, and the story about the newbies.

Honestly, I could have kept it to myself, but… if a rumor started, it could lead to a weird misunderstanding.

With how the server is right now, not everyone looks at newbies in a pure light.

[Guild] Proposal : Whoa, those are the newbies you mentioned before?

[Guild] Taki : Amazing lololol

[Guild] Infp : Hmm, I’d heard there were too many low-levels recently

[Guild] Infp : Looks like an entire group switched games

[Guild] Haema : Over ten people? That’s seriously crazyㄷㄷ

[Guild] Haema : What kind of game did they come from lol

[Guild] TeamLead : Thank goodness you didn’t kill the unguilded players

[Guild] Infp : Seriously

[Guild] Infp : It would’ve been bad if you messed with those people

I let out a snicker because Infp echoed exactly what I’d vaguely thought myself before.

[Guild] Proposal : But seriously, Happy’s luck is insane

[Guild] Ariel : For real lol

[Guild] Haema : How do you help newbies and end up getting items? I’m jealous

[Guild] Bambi : Helping them was truly a divine move…

[Guild] Blue : Shouldn’t we try recruiting them to the guild? lol

[Guild] Blue : They don’t seem like real newbies. If we bring them in, they’d be reliable

[Guild] Green : Totally welcome ㅡ ㅡㅋ

[Guild] Hungry : Gimme their IDs

[Guild] Taki : sluuurp

[Guild] Ariel : lololol what’s with the slurping

“Wait, I can’t do that.”

I caught myself.

A group of over ten knowledgeable newbies would be a prize for any guild.

With the ongoing power struggle, it was no wonder my guildmates were drooling at the thought.

But thankfully, what I was worried about didn’t happen.

[Guild] TeamLead : Nah, they’d probably say no

[Guild] Proposal : Yeah, if Happy’s right, they won’t play Monster World long

[Guild] Proposal : They’re clearly looking for a cute game to play together

[Guild] Ro : Monster World is not the kind of game for that, haha

[Guild] Ariel : lol, they’re kinda adorable

[Guild] TeamLead : Just let them enjoy the game on their own

[Guild] TeamLead : If it seems like they’ll stick around, then maybe try later

“Oh, sharp analysis…”

Relieved, I reflected on how I hadn’t thought things all the way through. I could’ve caused trouble for some good people.

[Guild] Infp : Let’s make sure these fresh newbies can get attached

“Yeah, we need to be a bit more clean…”

[Guild] Infp : Let’s all grind to max level

[Guild] Proposal : ?

[Guild] Blue : ?

[Guild] Ariel : ?

It’s a weird conclusion, but hey, as long as it’s a good ending…

[Guild] Woong : Excuse me^^.

[Guild] Woong : Someone’s here to sub for Woong noona, could you let them in?

[Guild] Infp : Ah

[Guild] Ariel : Must be Youngwook

It was nice to hear we had new reinforcements, but… for some reason, I felt a slight chill in the air.