Chapter 4: Luck Doesn’t Strike Twice

After burning through the night with the magician ‘Ku’, I got just enough sleep, woke up, ate breakfast, and hurriedly sat down in front of my computer.

Before logging in, my eyes wandered over the homepage. I was checking to see if there were any new event announcements, and saw that the ‘Today’s Rankings’ had been posted.

User rankings are displayed by level and experience points.

Considering that a character’s combat power in Monster World is based on stats, and those stats are made from experience points, the rankings pretty much reflect actual combat strength.

In other words, it’s a ranking of no-lifers.

On the Another server, since it’s for events, the admin tallies and updates the rankings on the notice board every day.

Of course, it’s still early in the season, so the rankings get completely shuffled every day and don’t mean much. Still, I was really curious where my hard-trained character stood right now.

“Mir… Mir… Am I on it? I must be. I have to be. If not, that’d make no sense. After all the suffering I went through… Ah, found it.”

My character ‘Mir’ was ranked 67th overall. Considering that only up to 200th is displayed on the homepage, that’s a pretty satisfying number.

“There’s no way I can catch up to the top 40—those guys are all hardcore addicts.”

I knew from the start that debuffers hunt slowly, but after the brief taste of victory last night, I couldn’t help feeling a bit let down.

Letting out a half-laughing sigh, I scrolled up. Even though I knew it was pointless, I checked out the top IDs one by one.

Among them, ‘Ku’s name appeared.

“55th?”

That’s higher than I thought, I mused. Suddenly, I remembered the winner who fought us.

“Wait, so what rank is the winner?”

Recalling the fight from last night, the winner’s level must be similar to Ku’s. Even though I focused on HP stats, he still couldn’t kill me in one shot.

But the winner’s name wasn’t anywhere near Ku’s on the list. Just in case, I scrolled up further, and finally, the winner’s ID appeared.

“35th?!”

That was odd. Right below, in 36th place, was ‘GoTeamLeader’.

GoTeamLeader is a pretty famous user on the Another server. For one, he always uses the same ID every season, and he’s got a strong presence—not to mention he’s very social.

Maybe it’s for attention, but all his chats with friends are always public, and his tone makes him sound like a friendly older guy.

And he’s a well-known no-lifer.

Every time I’ve played on the Another server, I’ve never seen this guy stuck at the bottom. Even with daily ranking updates early in the season, GoTeamLeader always manages to stay near the top.

“Were there just more players this season? Or is GoTeamLeader just taking it slow?”

No way. There were other well-known no-lifers just below him for the same reason. That leaves only one explanation…

“Wow. The winner—what a clown. High level, but totally useless. Complete noob, huh?”

Even though it was a 2-on-1 and I was a debuffer, he still lost to Ku and me despite his high stats…

Not to mention, a few days ago, there was a rumor that GoTeamLeader had beaten three people in the desert 3-on-1, so I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

“Still, we were really lucky. Out of all the seasoned players, we ran into a scrub.”

Thinking about it made me feel a little sorry for the winner.

He probably acted all high and mighty because he was ranked up there. But not only did he die to Ku, who was ranked way below him, he couldn’t even finish me off, someone he’d never heard of.

No wonder the winner just logged out without a word.

---

Once again, it was a streak of leveling up. As soon as I logged in, I went to the hunting ground with tired eyes and mechanically hammered at my mouse and keyboard.

Before I knew it, it was dawn. Tomorrow’s Saturday, so ‘Ruined Temple’ was more crowded than usual. Maybe that’s why the sweet time I’d had in the desert yesterday kept floating up in my mind.

“Why is it so slow here…”

The experience bar filled up more sluggishly than in the desert. Every time I rounded an empty path, I’d run into other players. I was desperate for even a single mob, but some jerks would sneakily steal my kills as they passed by.

[Ruined Temple—All] AejeunguiPurun: sry

“Ah, so annoying…”

That was already the fourth one who’d left in a hurry after a quick apology.

Since I have to kill one mob at a time, whenever I get surrounded, passing magician players would instinctively cast their area-of-effect skills.

Then, the mobs I’d worked so hard to tank would vanish as those guys’ experience points.

Their thing is to spam skills and speed-run the map, and since I’ve played magician before, I know these kinds of mistakes are inevitable…

“Wow. But having it done to me? This really sucks.”

Not that I had anywhere else to go. Grumbling, I just wandered around the Ruined Temple, dragging my feet.

Then, past 1 a.m.

[Whisper] Ku: .

“Huh?”

Ku suddenly sent me a single period.

[Whisper] Ku: hehe hello

Monster World doesn’t have friend lists or other community features, so if you want to know if someone’s online, you have to contact them directly like this.

Ku was checking if I was online. And I had a pretty good idea why he was looking for me. Yesterday’s events popped up in my mind again.

I burst out laughing like a madman.

[Whisper] Mir > Ku: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Whisper] Ku: hehehe

[Whisper] Ku: Want to go to the desert?

This time, I actually laughed out loud. He was probably half-joking, half-serious. Still, I was riding the high from yesterday’s victory and got cocky.

[Whisper] Mir > Ku: Sure lmao

And so, we boldly set off for the ‘Desert of No Return’.

Of course, luck doesn’t strike twice.

On top of that, today was Friday night. More people than usual would be staying up late, and there wasn’t a war on the main server like yesterday.

[NariDad has used Shattering Earth.]

[You have been killed by NariDad.]

At the entrance were two magicians from the ‘Hana’ guild, a warrior, and a debuffer. Four of them stood like totems. Ku and I didn’t even get a chance to squeak before being flattened by one of their AoE attacks.

It was what you’d call a “one-shot kill.”

[Desert of No Return—Normal] Guksan: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Well, of course, I sighed, and just then some guy started laughing loudly in chat as if to rub it in. Then the others started joining in.

[Desert of No Return—Normal] Ma: Ah~ Look at these minnows

[Desert of No Return—Normal] Ma: Sneaking up here just because it’s late at night, huh

[Desert of No Return—Normal] Ma: Hyeonje, I’ll go do a Bakku run, so keep watch here

[Desert of No Return—Normal] PatrolInProgress: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Have a good one

“What the hell are these crazy bastards saying…”

People are right there on the screen, and they’re mocking us in public chat. They don’t even treat us like people. Feeling insulted, the first thing I did was take screenshots.

Guksan, Ma, PatrolInProgress, NariDad.

NariDad, the one who killed us, didn’t say anything, but just being part of the ‘Hana’ guild was enough for me to hate him.

[Party] Ku: Let’s just go back

[Party] Mir: Are they insane? They’re openly insulting us

[Party] Ku: That guild is always like that, lol

As if telling me to hurry up, Ku returned to town first. The others kept spamming ‘lol’, and I muttered curses as I teleported out.

[Party] Mir: Disgusting, really

[Party] Ku: Just ignore them, haha. They’re always like that. I’ll report them, but it’ll probably just be a chat ban.

Official punishment for insults or profanity is just a chat ban. The more reports stack up, the longer the ban gets, but honestly, it doesn’t matter.

Early in the season, chat bans last at most a day, and these days, everyone uses voice chat anyway.

So those guys are probably still laughing it up on voice chat right now.

[Party] Ku: Want to try the maze this time?

Ku was always up for a challenge. The place he mentioned was the ‘Deep Maze.’

Officially, it’s a higher-level map than the desert, but if you look at the mobs and the experience you get, it’s actually lower. And true to its name, it’s a cramped labyrinth with few mobs.

To make things worse, there’s a mob in there that spams poison debuffs like crazy. So normally, no one bothers with this unpopular map.

[Party] Mir: Think we can handle it by ourselves?

[Party] Ku: We’ll just have to bring tons of antidotes, haha

Thankfully, poison debuffs can be removed with antidotes bought at the potion shop.

The only issue is, antidotes are heavier than regular potions and there’s a limit to how many you can carry. It’s a bit of a balance to keep buffer characters important.

“It’ll be a pain, but… better than the overcrowded temple, right?”

If I play potion and antidote mule, and with the reliable Ku on my side, the maze shouldn’t be all that tough.

So once again, I gladly accepted Ku’s suggestion.

---

“Not bad.”

The Deep Maze. Except for the darkness and the confusing paths, it was actually a pretty decent place. Best of all, being a niche map, not a single other person was around.

[Party] Ku: It’s cramped, so don’t push yourself. Just follow me, haha

Seems like Ku was planning to use me as a potion mule. Of course, with just the two of us, this was the best strategy. If I tried to debuff and ended up dying…

“No point being a burden when I’m getting carried.”

[Party] Ku: This place is good, right?

[Party] Mir: Of course! Lol. Seriously, thanks to you, Ku, I’m living the good life again.

[Party] Ku: hahaha

Emphasizing my gratitude, I diligently trailed after Ku.

Even for Ku, the maze was a potion sink, so every so often, I dropped potions and antidotes for his character.

After doing this for quite a while, Ku suddenly asked,

[Party] Ku: Still got enough potions?

[Party] Mir: Yep, lol. I swapped to a strength ring.

Inventory weight depends on your character’s ‘Strength’ stat. I’d actually changed my equipment specifically to play a proper mule.

On this server, weight limits are higher than on the main, and I’d loaded up on potions like a tank. Ku was impressed by my sense.

“The more I see him, the more I think—good manners, nice, good at PK. Would be great to keep playing together.”

Thinking about a fixed party, I smacked my lips unconsciously.

“With this friendly vibe, maybe we can play together again tomorrow…”

Even if it seemed a little shameless, chances like this were rare, so I hesitantly typed away at the keyboard.

[Party] Ku: Uh-oh, looks like someone came in

Ku, who’d been far ahead, suddenly stopped and looked around. I’d just typed out a request to play together again, but hurriedly hit ESC to delete it and scanned the dark floor.

There were traces of someone else’s items.

[Party] Mir: Who could it be?

[Party] Ku: Looks like someone else had the same idea as us, haha

[Party] Ku: Anyway, let’s avoid overlapping routes

[Party] Ku: I’ll map a new path, this way

‘Deep Maze’ is a PK map. Nothing good comes from running into someone.

If it’s someone of similar ranking, you’d both want to avoid trouble, but in a PK map, peace can turn to chaos in a second.

Anyway, thanks to Ku, who had the maze memorized, we found a new route.

There were fewer mobs than the original path, so we both complained a little by the second lap. But soon, we saw more traces of someone else’s items along the route we’d already been through.

[Party] Mir: What’s going on

[Party] Mir: We’re going the opposite way, so there’s no reason to cross paths.

[Party] Ku: Looks like we’re being followed

The sudden appearance of a PKer snapped me to attention. Just then, a message popped up in all chat.

[Deep Maze—All] Winner: wd

[Deep Maze—All] Guksan: Center

A chill ran down my spine.