Chapter 47: A Forced Rest

The hope that appeared as the ‘Winner’ character in Season 15 and fueled Jiho’s fighting spirit.

He was an old hand with a decent presence, so I thought he’d easily level up after joining Musin’s party.

But sensing it would only go downhill from there, Musin chose to pick up Buffer Hannari, and Hope was dropped to the second string overnight.

Because of that, it was hard to see him these days, which was a shame—but I was so glad and thankful he showed up right in front of me like this.

Rumor had it, Hana Guild’s second string was holed up in the Poison Swamp between the desert and the grasslands, quietly hunting away.

And ever since Buffer Hannari left, they’d had to downgrade again to the Death Plateau, thanks to the poison.

“If they can’t even clear the grasslands, they’d usually share with Musin’s party. If they aren’t going, is it to let Musin monopolize it? Or did Musin tell them not to come...?”

While thinking all sorts of things, I couldn’t help but smirk.

They hadn’t been able to farm the proper map, so there was no way their level ups were on track.

You could tell just by looking at their middling rankings.

“Hope used to be about the same as Shinyeong.”

In my most recent memory, there was a gap of at least 10 ranks.

“What’s he going to do? Our Hope’s turned into a total loser...”

Well, he was always a loser anyway.

Still, Hope had dropped so far that even though it was a 6:1, it didn’t feel exciting.

There’s Hatsnow, a debuffer, whose control was better than the inspector’s and might be a wild card... but no matter how good a debuffer is, it’s all for nothing if the teammates can’t keep up.

“And it’s not like I’m in a ranking to get hit by his Undying. I’m not about to get killed by those weak dealers just because of a few debuffs.”

Even if Hope was around my rank and boasted high damage, I’d never die to him.

Of course, going head-to-head alone against six would seem a bit reckless.

Since I’m a debuffer, not a dealer, I can endure, but I probably wouldn’t escape some humiliation.

“But then, this is a place where all you need to do is hold out without dying.”

So I happily greeted them.

“Jelly, this is the time to charge in.”

Hope seemed excited to see me after so long.

He was running at me like a maniac again. So I cast Undying right away.

Maybe his ranking had dropped so much, but as expected, it landed in one shot.

While casting, I took a hit from Hope’s AoE skill...

“Why is my health only down 20%? Did he pump everything into HP?”

He must have shifted to an off-tank, being too lackluster as a dealer.

But even then, they say a casual Sword Saint flies in hunting grounds no matter how sloppily raised, so what’s Hope’s deal...

“But what makes him charge at me like that? Ah, he must be trusting his party?”

Following the tank, Beomsik, debuffer Hatsnow stuck to my side in an instant.

I guess, since I was alone, everyone was being bold.

[Hatsnow used Ominous Steps.]

[Beomsik used Powerful Taunt.]

[Yongho used Scorching Flame.]

[Nuu used Scorching Flame.]

[Hatsnow used Unlucky Song.]

[Hatsnow used Unlucky Song.]

As my character slowed down in disgust, I also began laying down debuffs in turn.

But of all things, Beomsik caught me.

In the meantime, I missed the two distant mages—what a waste.

[Yongho used Blazing Fire.]

[Nuu used Scorching Flame.]

[Hatsnow used Unlucky Song.]

The two mages tried everything to kill me.

The problem was, compared to them, my HP was so high it was laughable. Even though my defense had dropped thanks to cracked skin a while back.

“Even with a buffer, 7:1 would be a piece of cake.”

I casually pressed the potion hotkey and watched at ease.

But I had no intention of taking it forever, so I locked my cursor on Beomsik, the tank.

As soon as Taunt wore off, I hit Undying and sealed the tank. Then I chased after the mages and meticulously debuffed them.

It took a while, thanks to slow movement speed, but it was perfect.

Hana Guild members, circling around like snails, were all caught by Undying and turned into scarecrows.

The system messages quieted, making me frown unconsciously.

“That’s it?”

A disappointed sigh escaped me.

If they just got cleanly mobbed here, that would be the end, but unfortunately, they weren’t the type to get killed by desert monsters, so they just stood there staring blankly.

“Ah, this is so meaningless. Still, I can’t just run away and leave these low-level guys behind.”

It felt too soon to leave.

So I decided to focus on Hope, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, and ‘Nuu’, whose tone had rubbed me the wrong way.

[Desert of No Return — All] WaterIsSelf: No approaching from the 4 o’clock direction!!!

[Desert of No Return — All] WaterIsSelf: Big trouble if you goㅠㅠ

[Desert of No Return — All] MapleLeaf: Fxxk, fighting here again

[Desert of No Return — All] BossOfTheOrg: One side’s getting stomped for sure

[Desert of No Return — All] FakeDa: Happy’s so cool lol

[Desert of No Return — All] GreenGrape: Ah… seriously

Suddenly, all-chat got noisy, so I glanced around.

Sure enough, ordinary users standing at the edge of the screen were watching this mess unfold.

“Uh, I get the feeling I shouldn’t stick around too long...”

As I started to get nervous at the complaining crowd—

[Desert of No Return — All] Hope: Fxxk

[Desert of No Return — All] Hope: Damn flies, y’all just keep buzzing

Time for popcorn.

[Desert of No Return — All] WaterIsSelf: I-I’m just watchingㅠㅠ

[Desert of No Return — All] BossOfTheOrg: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Desert of No Return — All] Hope: Idiots, you’re too scared to even challenge us but you run your mouths lol

[Desert of No Return — All] Conjurer: Reporting you for insults

[Desert of No Return — All] WaterIsSelf: Print screen, holding it down

[Desert of No Return — All] FakeDa: Are we seeing a chat ban~~~~

[Desert of No Return — All] Hope: Do it if you can lololololol

While I sat back and watched this sudden keyboard battle, Hope’s party members, freed from slow, began to log out.

Using their 3-second invincibility, they slowly and carefully escaped toward the entrance.

I wasn’t petty enough to chase them down and block them.

Soon, only Hope was left, venting his anger in all-chat at random bystanders.

“Am I being ignored right now?”

Maybe he’d given up, or maybe he’d really gotten fixated on the regular users.

Even as I kept debuffing him, making sure he couldn’t move, Hope just stayed put and kept typing in all-chat.

“How can someone curse like that and still have zero impact...”

I actually started to feel bad for him and wondered if I should just let him go.

[Guild] Ro: ??

[Guild] Ro: Happy, what are you doing here?

Jiho appeared from up top.

Without even asking, Jiho approached and killed Hope instantly.

[Guild] Happy: lololol nice shot

[Guild] Happy: What brings you here?

[Guild] Ro: You seemed to be having too much fun yesterday

[Guild] Ro: Thought I’d come take a lap myself;

[Guild] ManagerKo: Oh, I guess those folks went on another rampage

[Guild] Bambi: Did Ro go PK right away without even saying hi?

[Guild] Blue: LOLOLOLOLOL

[Desert of No Return — All] Hope: Fxxk, these nobodies aren’t even worth—

[Guild] Ro: But what’s with that guy again??

[Guild] Happy: Dunno, suddenly a keyboard war broke out so I was just watching

[Guild] Ro: Enough with this ugliness, let’s go to the grasslands

[Guild] Ro: To hunt Musin

[Guild] ManagerKo: I’m in, too, let’s go go

[Guild] Ro: Oh, aren’t you in the middle of a party?

[Guild] ManagerKo: Hungry and Gnat went to eat, so I’m all aloneㅠ

[Guild] ManagerKo: If you’re not AFK, let’s go together

[Guild] Ro: lol, sounds good

As the party invite came in immediately, my interest in Hope faded.

Honestly, fighting Musin sounded a lot more fun than sticking around for Hope’s tantrum.

A few hours later.

Hope actually got reported and chat-banned, making us laugh all over again.

“Looks like it’s time for a shift.”

Glancing at the clock, I let out a sigh without realizing.

Jelly wasn’t even talkative, but thanks to the recent stressful events, spending time with Jelly felt uncomfortable.

I knew these feelings weren’t good, and I wasn’t showing it on the surface... but Jiho and Propose felt the same way about Jelly.

(Bae Hojun)

[How are we going to survive tonight again]

[lolol]

[S-nim seems to be holding back too, probably because Jelly makes him uncomfortable]

(Kwon Aran)

[We can only rely on Haema]

(Jung Jiho)

[It’s actually more awkward now that no one talks after that day]

(Bae Hojun)

[Getting caught up in guild politics is always a pain wherever you go]

[People like us just get caught in the crossfire]

(Kwon Aran)

[Just for a bit this morning]

[PKing was the only thing keeping me alive]

[Without that, I think I really would’ve suffocated to death]

(Jung Jiho)

[Me too...]

(Bae Hojun)

[Take care of yourselves]

[Something bad’s gonna happen if you’re not careful]

[I’m so old, I need to sleep ten more minutes at leastㅠㅠ]

After a round of trivial chat, I returned to grinding.

At least today, Haema was being talkative.

Because just now, midnight had passed and it was Saturday.

[Guild] Haema: It’s already guild war time again lol

[Guild] Haema: If we win again, will they all really quit this time lololol

[Guild] Propose: Seriously, what are they going to do

[Guild] Propose: Happy’s probably going to force another rage quit

[Guild] Haema: LOLOLOLOLOL

We were getting hyped talking about the upcoming guild war.

“Achoo—! Ah... ah-choo!”

Out of nowhere, I sneezed again and again.

Feeling something drip under my nose, I glanced reflexively at the air conditioner.

“Maybe I left it on too long?”

Come to think of it, the cold air had made my hands a little stiff.

“If I turn it off it’s hot, if I leave it on it’s cold. Even though it’s dawn, the weather is just...”

I thought nothing of it as I turned off the AC.

“Uh... what’s this.”

In less than ten minutes, my nose started running like crazy again.

My temporal bone had been throbbing for a while too.

This familiar feeling... It was definitely a cold, but the symptoms were way worse than I remembered.

“Why won’t my nose stop running?”

I stuffed some tissues in, but it was no use.

Plus, the headache kept getting worse, and my vision grew blurry, making me nauseous.

[Guild] Ro: Happy?

[Guild] Haema: lol, I think Happy’s dozing off

[Guild] Propose: Told you to take care of yourself

[Guild] Heavenly: Whoa, he stopped moving

The dizziness and drowsiness left me briefly unable to distinguish reality.

Through heavy eyelids, I saw my character standing stock-still.

“Uh... I need to move...”

[Guild] Happy: headf,,mn

[Guild] Happy: g;n goingto getmedicine

I hurriedly typed that I’d go take some medicine and got up.

But the moment I stood, my head spun. Startled, I staggered over and quickly slumped onto the sofa.

Right then, my feet tangled and I fell with a thud. Thankfully, nothing was hurt.

“Ugh, my head.”

I tried to get up, but for some reason, I couldn’t move.

It felt like heavy stones were hanging all over my body.

Unable to move even a finger, I lay back on the soft sofa, and drowsiness crashed over me.

The moment my eyes closed and I felt relieved, I realized.

“...I really have been pushing my body too hard.”

But.

What about the guild war...?

I’m in trouble.