Chapter 7 : Trampling Flowers, Inviting Death

Jaeho logged into the New World with a much calmer mind after safely overcoming the crisis from the previous day.

“Ah! Oh, you’re already here!”

Mei was already logged in.

“You came quickly?”

“Haha… I just got here myself.”

Mei said this while fidgeting nervously and casting a wary glance at Jaeho.

“But when I logged off yesterday, it suddenly occurred to me… we didn’t even introduce ourselves.”

“Oh, now that you mention it…”

Jaeho had been so absorbed in compiling the encyclopedia that he had completely forgotten, and Mei had been too terrified to even think about it.

“I’m Mei!”

“Hu… no, I’m Alicia.”

The nickname was still unfamiliar to the owner herself, so it was probably even more awkward for the listener.

“…That’s… a nice name!”

There was already a painfully long silence, but Jaeho decided to understand and move on.

Their second day together began much like the first.

Jaeho continuously observed the plants, collecting seeds and samples.

[ <Alicia’s Plant Encyclopedia>— < Flowers of Luxi Forest> The success rate of has reached 50%.]

[The affection level of <Luxi Forest> Elves in toward you has greatly increased.]

[The affection level of all Elves toward you has slightly increased.]

[You receive a Buff to flower observation progress rate.]

“Ahem, ahem.”

Mei, who had been watching Jaeho blankly, finally couldn’t contain her curiosity and spoke up.

“Um… Alicia… why did you start the New World?”

“Huh?”

A question that could easily cause misunderstanding.

“Well, you see… most people start and rush straight to level up! But Alicia… it seems like you’ve been playing this game for quite a while, yet you only ever seem to be looking at flowers.”

Trembling.

“?!!!”

Jaeho’s body was trembling ever so slightly.

At that sight, Mei’s face turned a deep shade of blue.

“W-Was that such an unpleasant question?!”

“I-I don’t mind! You don’t have to say it if it’s uncomfortable…”

“No!”

“Ahh?!”

Jaeho’s sudden outburst.

Despite the intimidating aura his fierce expression gave off, Mei braced herself for an onslaught—but in reality, Jaeho was touched that Mei had asked such a question.

“A flower shop!”

“Flower… shop?”

Jaeho nodded.

“I’m going to open a flower shop.”

That sounded like nonsense coming after the name ‘Alicia.’

“A f-flower shop…”

“In reality, that’s impossible. So I thought, at least here in the New World, I’d try to open a flower shop as a substitute.”

The prejudice that had filled Mei’s mind gradually began to lift.

“Ah!”

At the same moment, she suddenly realized.

“So the Elves… had noticed this side of Alicia!”

The veteran members of the Luxi Association she had met could be broadly divided into two groups.

Those who had insufficient information and mistakenly chose Luxi, and those who chose it out of a dark heart toward the Elves.

Mei was in the latter camp.

But Jaeho was different.

That kind of pure passion was what had moved the Elves.

“Maybe…”

The spark of passion inside Mei, scorched from two months of life as a beggar, was reignited.

“If I learn from this side of Alicia, then maybe I can… with the Elves too…!”

With her expression shifting moment by moment, Mei quietly stoked her own determination, causing Jaeho to discreetly put some distance between them.

“She really is a strange person.”

***

Luxi Forest’s newcomer was Usster.

At level 134, he had recently been promoted to the rare class ‘Knight of Twilight.’

Typically, players promote to rare classes around level 150, so the fact he promoted in the 130s was a testament to his outstanding skill.

Thanks to that, he had even been offered the position of founding Guild Master of the famous ‘Prime’ Guild.

While scouting for ways to make some money, he came across a job posting recruiting bus drivers for Luxi Forest.

The request was rather lonely.

He knew the bad reputation of Luxi Forest, but Usster trusted his own ability.

Since Luxi Forest was included in the starting area and the recommended level for nearby hunting grounds was only about 50, it shouldn’t be that difficult.

So, he accepted the job and headed toward Luxi Forest.

Getting to Luxi Forest was no problem.

The issue started when he was negotiating with an Elf near Trian Village.

No, the real problem was the pride of Usster, who had fought through battles without any hesitation until now.

“Is this Johnnos? I’m here to pick him up, so guide me!”

He shouted at the mounted Elf, but his words were met with complete silence.

“Given recent events, I’ll let it slide this once. Now leave quietly.”

This was the word from the front lines, as the atmosphere around Trian Village had improved due to the emergence of the new Spirit Wall.

But Usster kicked that chance away.

Click —

He pointed his sword at the Elf.

“Bring me this Johnnos if you don’t want to die.”

And so… hell began.

***

“Chuk hyuk hyuk!!!”

Usster ran blindly through the bushes with no pride left.

His only thought was to escape the forest alive by any means necessary.

He launched a reckless first strike at the Elf, but it sliced through thin air with ease.

Then, when he was hit on the chest and stomach by the Elf’s swift counterattack, one-third of his stamina drained instantly.

The attack power was something he couldn’t believe with his own eyes!

“The moment I thought something was wrong, I got hit again and started crawling on the ground.”

He hurriedly drank a healing potion and charged again but was hopelessly outmatched.

“Hey, to be a bus driver here, you need to be at least level 250. Don’t trust the recommended level!”

He remembered the Guild Master’s warning.

“Ah, if I can just tank it with my Con stat, it’ll be fine.”

But at that moment, he painfully realized that Con stat wouldn’t help at all.

“Damn! They said it was a level 50 area?!”

In the end, he had no choice but to run.

“I just have to survive for now. If I die, I’ll lose too much experience!”

Moreover, his pride was that he had never once died during his entire gameplay.

The title he earned from that, , granted a tremendous defense buff.

However, it was a handicap that disappeared if he died even once, so he had to survive no matter what.

Paw!

At that moment, an Elf suddenly leapt in front of him.

“Damn!!”

Clang—

He barely blocked with his shield, but the impact sent him flying at least ten meters.

“No way!! At this level, this should at least be the power of a Named Knight NPC!”

Thud—thud!

Usster tumbled down a relatively low cliff, blood trickling from his mouth.

“In the end… I have to use that…”

He had a desperate last resort.

But he had kept that skill in reserve because unless he wiped out his opponent, there was no backup plan.

Still, he gathered his resolve.

If he died one way or another, then at least he could try his final resistance!

“Here I go! < The Wall of Twilight>!!!”

Goo goo goo goo

The skill required about three seconds of concentration and consumed all his mana—a dangerous move.

Since the Elf had just thrown him far away, now was the perfect moment to use it…

Tip -!

A hand touched his shoulder!

“?!!!”

Startled, Usster turned halfway around.

[ < The Wall of Twilight> casting has been canceled.]

It was ruined.

The skill canceled and all his mana drained, Usster had nothing left.

“Hey, who’s there…”

What he saw was a broad chest as wide as the Pacific Ocean.

Slowly raising his head, a man with a presence so striking it could drive one mad came into view.

“Ugh?!!!”

Usster wasn’t an NPC but a player.

Therefore, he felt a realistic and overwhelming pressure from the man before him—Hwang Jaeho.

“You…”

Jaeho’s lips slowly parted.

“What are you doing…?”

***

Jaeho was, as usual, working on the encyclopedia with Mei.

At that moment, they had discovered a cluster of countless flowers and were about to investigate.

“Huh? Don’t you hear something?”

Mei asked Jaeho, who had stepped ahead.

“Huh? What?”

“From somewhere… it sounds like fighting…”

Kraang—!

At that moment, Usster burst through the trees, tumbling on the ground and trampling the flowers with all his might.

“Eek!”

Seeing this madness, Mei let out a sharp gasp.

Until now, Jaeho was someone who loved flowers so much…

Goooo—

Jaeho’s expression hardened like stone.

As if anger was seeping from his entire body, Mei even heard hallucinations ringing in her ear.

“So, this is really him getting angry…”

Only now did Mei understand the subtle difference.

Team—

Meanwhile, Jaeho’s large hand pressed down hard on Usster’s shoulder.

“Gah?!”

Facing Jaeho’s furious glare, a groan involuntarily escaped from Usster’s lips.

“What are you doing…?”

“W-What?!”

“How dare you brutally trample flowers?”

Usster was stunned by Jaeho’s words.

But after confirming Jaeho’s ears weren’t pointed like an Elf’s, he relaxed somewhat.

That meant he was a player of Luxi Forest—a newbie, most likely.

“Get off me right now!”

Usster had no time to deal with this madman.

He had to quickly recover mana with potions and face the Elf.

Whish—

He swung his sword roughly at Jaeho.

Crack—!

Jaeho countered with a punch.

“?”

The blow landed very cleanly, but the damage was negligible.

It was more than enough to provoke Usster.

“…Are you really crazy?”

No matter how fierce his opponent’s appearance was, level difference was a trump card here…

Thwack—!

Jaeho’s large fist landed again.

“?!!!”

Usster was bewildered.

It was clearly a healing potion, so it shouldn’t hurt…

“Crazy! Why is he so fast?!”

Moreover, the visual impact from that big fist was overwhelming.

Huh huh!

Jaeho’s fast one-two punches kept coming.

Regaining his senses, Usster dodged but the angles of Jaeho’s strikes were no joke.

Thanks to his agility and defense, he barely avoided damage, but being unable to keep up with Jaeho’s movements and getting hammered was the real problem.

“D-This guy… actually knows how to fight!”

Usster was a player known as a genius.

Even so, he was overwhelmed by Jaeho’s rapid punches.

Despite having buffs on his stats!

“Damn it!! Stop annoying me, you mosquito bastard!!!”

He drew his sword in a long horizontal slash.

“One hit! One hit is enough!!”

No matter how good your senses are, attack power is the absolute factor in the New World…

Buhng—

“Huh?”

But Jaeho dodged.

How such agility could come from that huge frame was beyond belief.

He bent backward deeply and avoided, then countered with a punch.

“Impossible!!”

Usster was shocked.

No stat buffs, just pure eyesight and reflexes—he dodged the attack?

“This guy…”

Usster felt even more wounded to his pride than when he was scolded by the Elves.

In fact, if Usster had just used one skill, Jaeho would have been wiped out.

But he was completely out of mana due to the aftereffects of his previous skill!

“Not only trampling the flower field, but swinging a sword too?!”

“Ugh!!”

It was a full-scale assault.

The number of punches landing on Usster’s body steadily increased.

But soon, Usster’s mana also recovered to some extent.

“You bastard!! This is the end now!”

Usster raised his shield forward.

“!!”

Bang—!!

Just as he was about to use a skill, a powerful impact struck him in the back of the head.

The damage was incomparable to all the hits he had received from Jaeho so far.

[Due to a powerful strike, status abnormality has occurred < Stun>.]

“Gahk! W-What…”

“Alicia! Are you okay?!”

“?!!!”

The one who struck the back of Usster’s head was the Elf he had been fighting.

“Huh?”

Meanwhile, Jaeho was stunned too.

Why was there suddenly an Elf here…?

But that was a problem for later.

Now was the time not to stop the punches that had caught fire.

Coincidentally, Usster was still standing without moving.

Wham wham wham—

Jaeho’s fists wildly pounded back and forth with the momentum of his bouncing body.

“De-… Phsychrul?!”

Usster was terrified.

It looked like something straight out of a flashy manga.

“No, no!! Please!”

He yelled, but nothing changed.

The current Jaeho was like a firefighter putting out flames with his burning fists.

[ < Spirit of Vitality> says ‘What does that even mean…?’]

Kraang—!!

[You have died.]

[Death penalty: Level reduced by 1.]

[PK penalty: <Twilight Barrier>has been dropped.]

[You will be disconnected in 10 minutes.]

[You can resurrect at the checkpoint (Line Castle) after 10 hours.]

“Ugh! No!!”

That was Usster’s final moment.