Chapter 14: The PapayaTalk Trap

PapayaTalk group chat.

Usually, there are two options: a real-name group chat and an anonymous group chat with virtual profiles.

Online spaces, especially games or among people who aren’t that close, generally use the latter.

But I was someone who never cared much about online relationships.

Having grown used to a company-like network, the idea of an anonymous group chat never even occurred to me.

More than anything, I’d exchanged numbers with Jiho right away before, so I just thought sharing numbers was the obvious thing to do.

[Party] Happy: Can I get your number, Proposal?

Even after I asked directly, I didn’t realize what was wrong.

At least, not until Jiho whispered to me.

[Whisper] Lo: Aran

[Whisper] Lo: You’re making even the group chat with real names?

[Whisper] Lo: Are you sure that’s okay?

“Huh? What do you mean?”

[Whisper] Lo: There’s OpenChat, you know. Anonymous profiles.

“Anonymous… Anonymous? Oh, ah! Right, there was that way?!”

Come to think of it, I could’ve used an open group chat with Jiho at first, too, but I didn’t know and just went ahead and asked for her number…

What an idiot I am.

I smacked my forehead in self-blame, but it was already too late.

[Party] Proposal: okokok

[Party] Proposal: 010―1×××―2×××

Now that my number was blatantly up in the party chat, there was no way to ignore it.

“Ah… I dug my own grave.”

I was nervous.

I could trust Jiho, but could I trust Proposal, too?

A feeling of unease rose up from somewhere inside me.

But Proposal had already shared his own number openly.

I couldn’t very well tell someone who’d cheerfully given out their personal info that we should switch to an anonymous chat.

I had to take responsibility for what I’d said.

[Whisper] Happy > Lo: Ah, I didn’t know about the anonymous chatㅠㅠ

[Whisper] Happy > Lo: I’ll just make the group chat with real names, I guess

[Whisper] Lo: Figures

[Whisper] Lo: I thought it was weird you asked for my number right away tooㅎㅎ

[Whisper] Happy > Lo: ;;;;

[Whisper] Lo: I’ll make the chat first and invite you

[Whisper] Lo: That way you won’t have to give out your number

[Whisper] Happy > Lo: Ah, thank you so muchㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] Lo: I’ll message you guysㅎㅎ

And thus, the three-person group chat was created.

[Jeong Jiho has invited Kwon Aran.]

(Jeong Jiho)

[.]

(Kwon Aran)

[Hello~]

(Bae Hojun)

[Huh?]

[Happy’s actually a woman??]

[The name is…….]

“Ah. Maybe I should’ve changed my profile name.”

Why am I so dumb?

It was only after I greeted them that I realized how much my name stood out.

“Ah, what do I do?”

For a moment, I was on edge, but there was no need to worry.

Proposal didn’t react as strongly as I feared.

(Bae Hojun)

[Oh wow, that’s really something.]

[It must be tough for a young woman to play this kind of game.]

Rather, he started out by expressing concern.

(Kwon Aran)

[Ah, haha, were you surprised?]

[Sorry…]

(Bae Hojun)

[No need to apologize]

[I get it]

[There are so many idiots in this game]

(Kwon Aran)

[hahahahahaha]

(Bae Hojun)

[Don’t worry, Happy]

[I’ll keep your gender safe]

That meant he wouldn’t treat me as a woman in the game.

It felt considerate, so I thanked him.

After that short exchange, we returned to the game.

[Party] Lo: Then, if anything urgent happens, just drop a messageㅎㅎ

[Party] Proposal: okokok I’m just a sidekick but I’ll rush in whenever

[Party] Lo: You can just talk to me casually, hyung-nimㅎㅎ

It seemed Jiho had decided Proposal wasn’t a bad person.

Once the honorific “hyung-nim” was used, the two quickly hit it off and started chatting away.

I wondered if it was okay for things to get so friendly so fast, but… Fortunately, Proposal didn’t make a big deal about age and kept things appropriate.

The chat was only used to check if we were online; otherwise, it was pretty quiet. In fact, our in-game chat was much livelier, and our bond as a trio only grew stronger.

[Party] Proposal: Nice, Jiho

[Party] Proposal: Careful, Happy, the Inspectors are coming

[Party] Proposal: Dropping down

[Party] Lo: Top-tier boss cut

[Party] Happy: Made the Inspector look like an idiot

[Party] Happy: Hurry up and finish it

Marius Prairie was always bustling.

The well-organized Karma and Hana guilds, along with our party, were mixed up in constant battles every day.

“Are we farming or just PK’ing all the time…?”

For several days now, the rankings of the top players—including us—had remained unchanged.

Even the desert, which was a battleground not long ago, had now settled into a bloody contest among mid-levels, and the rankings were stuck.

[Party] Happy: Ugh, this is tough

It was honestly exhausting, weaving between the two massive guilds with perfect party compositions.

Yet, somehow, we managed to hold out and snatch victory multiple times.

[Party] Jiho: Looks like the Karma guys are grouping up

[Party] Proposal: Then let’s pull back and ambush them when they fight each other

[Party] Happy: Wipe them out, good plan

We devised our own strategies and played both guilds for fools.

At this rate, Karma and Hana could just ally and wipe us out first.

“As if that would ever happen.”

Those two guilds would probably keep fighting each other to the bitter end, even if the world ended… There was no way they’d join forces.

Of course, to the regular guild members, it must’ve looked pretty strange.

[General] Hope: Ah, those bastards in the middle are reaping all the rewards, lolol

It happened when we stopped by Vizerte Village for a quick break.

Karma and Hana were also swapping out members and busy with their own rest and regrouping.

Just then, a chat bubble appeared from the Hana guild side, who were clustered together.

“Hope? Is that jerk talking about us? Ugh, he’s been running his mouth for a while now. Still, he acts like he’s the winner every time.”

[General] Hope: The ones who ran away all last season, lolololol

Oof… My suspicion, already at 99%, shot up to 99.9%.

Seriously, this game—everyone’s the same in the end.

[Vizerte Village – All] Hungry: Wow, nice self-introduction

Hungry was from Karma guild. His character was far away, no subject in the sentence.

He was even poking the “Green” character right beside him.

From the vibe, it looked like he was talking to Green, but anyone could see it was a direct jab at Hope.

“Wow, picking a fight out in the open?”

Unless Hope was totally clueless, he’d know they were talking about him.

You could tell just by how the chat suddenly went silent.

So I got curious what Hope would do in response.

[Vizerte Village – All] Manager Go: Oh, but I’m just so cool, you know

Manager Go from Karma guild responded wittily.

If Hope’s foul-mouthed attitude had come back with more insults, it would’ve definitely escalated into a fight.

I was a little disappointed the tension was defused, but honestly, grinding and PK’ing were more important to me.

---

[Party] Proposal: Wow, these guys are relentless

[Party] Proposal: Don’t they ever get tired?

Day 6 of the prairie war.

We were still brawling like mad, and the standoff was still three-way.

This three-faction brawl was unheard of in Another Server’s history, so lately even ordinary users were talking about us.

[General] Like: Huh, so there are only two guilds??

[General] Fake: Yup, two big ones

[General] Fake: Newbie guilds with the tag drop out automatically once their level gets high

[General] Fake: Soon the guilds will split, so just go where you like

[General] Like: Which one’s better?ㅎㅎ

[General] Fake: I dunno either, lol

[Vizerte Village – All] Manager Go: Karma guild recruiting new members^^

Manager Go had always been famous as an attention-seeking user.

He broadcasted most of his conversations in the all-chat, flaunting his presence.

When the somewhat famous Manager Go jumped into the low-level user chat, people began gathering from all over.

[Vizerte Village – All] Baby: Wow, Manager’s on fire this season too, huh

[Vizerte Village – All] Baby: Gonna take over the prairie??

[Vizerte Village – All] Manager Go: Nah…….

[Vizerte Village – All] Baby: Huh? Why not?ㅋ

[Vizerte Village – All] Manager Go: There’s a super strong debuffer on the prairie……

[Vizerte Village – All] Manager Go: We lose every timeㅠㅠ

[Vizerte Village – All] Fake: Ah, haha, the Happy trio?

[Vizerte Village – All] Manager Go: They just won’t dieㅠㅠㅠ Too strong

At first, he mentioned us as a joke, but after that, Manager Go started bringing us up all the time, whining about us.

At first I thought he was being sarcastic, but thinking about his usual antics, that wasn’t it.

[Marius Prairie – All] Manager Go: Heading out again today! Good luck, everyone!

At some point, Manager Go even started greeting us and Hana guild.

Maybe because he acted a bit more friendly, our most outgoing and social member, Proposal, was the first to respond.

[Marius Prairie – All] Proposal: Good luck!

[Marius Prairie – All] Manager Go: Ah, Proposal, stop cheeringㅠㅠ

[Marius Prairie – All] Manager Go: It hurts too much when you hit meㅠㅠ

[Marius Prairie – All] Proposal: You hit harder

The two of them would sometimes chat like this, building a subtle sense of camaraderie.

Still, that didn’t mean they ever went easy on each other in the PK map. If anything, they kept things strictly professional.

So after a big fight, there were never any hard feelings.

Maybe “refreshing” is the word for it?

Whenever we fought Hana guild, our competitive spirit would ignite, and all our nerves would be on edge, but fighting Karma was just fun for everyone.

Maybe that’s why it was strangely even more fun.

[Party] Proposal: Another fun day

[Party] Happy: Ugh, I should’ve hit Hope’s Immortality buff twenty times, too bad

[Party] Proposal: hahahahaha, but you kept pestering them so it was easy

[Party] Lo: I think I killed him like five times

[Party] Happy: Good

[Party] Proposal: But the desert guys are probably moving up now

[Party] Proposal: Are you guys gonna be okay?ㅠㅠㅠ I’m scared

I was starting to feel the pressure.

As top players, our leveling had stagnated since we were too busy fighting each other, but in the meantime, the mid-tiers were starting to push into the prairie.

“This isn’t good. Both of those guilds probably have close to twenty players online at a time, but we’ve only got three…”

Sure, we were outplaying both guilds now, but if their numbers kept growing, we’d be in trouble.

There’s no way to win when you’re getting mobbed.

With each passing day, as the looming threat crept closer, my worries piled up.

[Party] Proposal: Huh, Manager Go just suggested a truce with us??

My eyes widened at the unexpected news.

But thinking about it, it made sense.

Karma was currently at a disadvantage in numbers compared to Hana.

I didn’t know their internal situation, but if all the mid-level Hana guild members came up to the prairie, it’d be very bad for Karma.

So he wanted to secure our help in advance.

“Well, even with just three people, a trio of top rankers is better than ten mediocre mid-levels…”

[Party] Proposal: Judging by the constant whispers, he’ll probably try to recruit us soon, right?

[Party] Lo: It’s better for Karma that wayㅎㅎ

[Party] Happy: Just play along, haha. We’ll have a headache if too many Hana guys come up

[Party] Proposal: lololol Manager Go is getting his hopes up

Our only goal was to enjoy the fun of PK.

So for a while, Proposal took the lead in stringing Manager Go along.

And every time he told us about it, it was so entertaining we cracked up.

It was just then, as we were laughing, that an announcement popped up on the MonWorld homepage for the Another Server.

[Another – Event] Guild War Schedule and Additional Guild War Benefits Announcement

“What? New benefits? Damn it…”

For us, who preferred being guildless, this was a bolt from the blue.