Chapter 42: The Glint in the Mines

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: Is the War God logging in?

[Guild] Haema: Nah, it’s the sub-account.

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: Ah lol

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: But what if they just never come back, lol

Even after the raucous guild war ended, the chat window was abuzz past midnight with talk about the absent War God.

It was funny, really—since the fate of the server basically hinged on whether the War God existed or not, everyone was starting to get a little serious as time went on.

But the War God, who had gone missing, finally returned at sunrise.

[Guild] Haema: The War God’s main is back, lololol

Thanks to that, we didn’t have to worry about Season 16 ending early.

“Guess they slept it off and came to their senses.”

With such a swift return, no ugly rumors had time to spread. Not like we were the type to start them, anyway.

The guild war... to most regular players, it just looked like one side got crushed so badly, they gave up halfway through.

For now, at least.

[Public] Petit: Wow, Karma won again?

[Public] Petit: Two weeks of guild dungeon monopolization, so sweet

[Public] Joayo: Is the guild dungeon good?

[Public] Petit: Not much for high levels, but nice for lower levels

[Public] Joayo: I want to join Karma ㅠㅠ

[Public] Petit: Even if you want to, you can’t ㅠㅠ

[Public] Petit: Someone asked to join last time and they said no ㅠ

[Public] Junkshop: Maybe they’ll recruit later lol

[Public] Junkshop: Just gotta wait it out gogo

While users spent all day chatting in town, the Karma Guild’s reputation only rose.

Before I knew it, July had arrived.

“It’s already been a month in Season 16.”

We’re still staying at the ruins.

For a month’s worth of play, our growth is a bit slow.

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: This season’s been crazy with fights from the start, lol

[Guild] Taki: Lol, usually it’s just some scuffles before everyone gets to grinding

[Guild] Taki: But the Three Brothers stirred up a real mess from the start, lol

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: Honestly, it’s my first time seeing a three-way war in Another

There’s a majority opinion that it’s all our fault.

Well, I don’t really know.

[Guild] Taki: Can’t believe the stars of that storm settled in our guild, lol

We thought we’d just have fun at the start and quit early, overwhelmed by the veterans, but... we compromised, joined the guild, and are now thriving while enjoying the game smoothly.

Guild life was tough to adjust to at first, but after the second guild war, it’s become genuinely fun.

[Guild] Haema: Ari, what are you doing??

[Guild] Haema: Hunting?

“Haema really is interested in Ariel, huh.”

They say the more you know, the more fun you have, and lately, thanks to bits of info I got from INFP’s side, every word from the guild members has become interesting.

[Guild] Taki: Ugh, those jerks are acting all high and mighty again just ‘cause they got some gear, lolol

[Guild] Taki: Wish they’d all just die, lol

“Wow. This person really does have a foul mouth. I heard they curse all the time in real life too... not someone I want to get close to.”

Of course, it’s not like INFP’s reports are biased or anything.

We do have some sense, so we never just barge in without thinking.

We’re just chatting lightly among ourselves, thinking, “So that’s how it is.”

That’s how I got close with INFP, S, and Ariel.

How close, you ask...

(INFP)

[Noona, Haema-hyung is looking for you again]

(Ariel)

[So annoying, for real]

[He keeps PMing and messaging me]

(Propose)

[We’ll get her out of there soon]

We even made our own group chat.

It’s a secret chat none of the other guild members know about.

But it’s not like we made it just to talk behind people’s backs.

(S)

[Someone pick my lunch]

(Propose)

[Jajangmyeon]

(Ro)

[Number 1]

(S)

[I haven’t even posted the candidates yet?]

(INFP)

[Just get the set, gogo]

(Ariel)

[Add sweet and sour pork]

(Propose)

[With sauce poured, gogo]

(INFP)

[Seething]

(Happy)

[lololololol]

(S)

[Hey, excuse me]

[I asked you to pick my menu?ㅠ]

(Propose)

[Ah, now I gotta order jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork for dinner]

[I’m eating it with the sauce poured]

[With. Sauce. Poured.]

(INFP)

[Seething]

Most of our conversation is about food, and the mood is generally light.

That’s probably why we got so close, though interestingly, nobody dropped formalities.

Half-formal, half-informal—we kept just enough distance to get along well.

It was a bit curious.

INFP is 36. Ariel is 38.

With more than a ten-year age gap, these veterans were basically the old guard.

Never thought I’d get close to them first.

“Really, you never know until you experience someone.”

I didn’t talk about my gender.

No reason to bring it up, and no one’s suspicious anyway.

Of course, I did worry a bit because Ariel is the same gender.

Since it’s this kind of game, I thought we might get even closer.

But telling some people and hiding it from others would be even more awkward, right?

Better to just let it stay buried forever.

So, only Ro and Propose will know—I've decided to leave it at that.

[Guild] INFP: New folks, you’re grinding, right?

[Guild] Bambi: Guilty

[Guild] Reaper: Heheh;

[Guild] INFP: Seriously, everyone should learn from the Three Brothers.

[Guild] INFP: They work hard, sleeping only 5~6 hours a day

[Guild] INFP: They’re the pillars of our guild

[Guild] Blue: Please don’t compare us normies to addicts

[Guild] INFP: Fair enough

[Guild] Ro: Hm?

[Guild] Blue: I respect you guys

[Guild] Happy: Really?

[Guild] Blue: Really ^.^

Even though we had our own group chat, it’s not like we only talked among ourselves.

We chatted freely in the guild chat too, so we naturally ended up talking with others as well.

Among them, I got friendly with Blue and Bambi, who joined at the same time.

Blue ended up in charge of potion supplies, so we got close that way, and Bambi became friends with Ro due to their intense game discussions.

Both of them had just been cautious before, but turned out to be talkative and playful like any others our age.

“As for the rest... I still don’t know.”

[Guild] Assassin: Gotta hurry and get to the grasslands, hehe

[Guild] Assassin: To play with Go-Team Leader, hehe

Assassin is the most talkative and outgoing, but lately, he seems to only talk with the veteran guild members.

According to INFP, he sometimes even goes out of his way to PM her for advice.

“Maybe he’s just more comfortable with people his age?”

Could be.

But then again, ‘Reaper’ is also in his 40s and gets treated like a nobody.

Even though he’s quiet, he plays hard and seems polite enough.

[Party] Haema: Heard something

[Party] Haema: War God’s party is nearby

The field atmosphere was the same as ever.

Unlike the guild war, if you met another party in the field, you always fought.

Though one group still... wasn’t quite up to par.

[Party] Woong: We won again, lol

[Party] Haema: Looks like we’ll be heading up in a few days

[Party] Haema: Should we wait for you so we can go together, lol

It’s gotten so bad that we beat Hana’s group every single day.

Thanks to that, PK is easy, and hunting is peaceful now.

Honestly, Hana knows fighting us is a losing proposition.

That’s why lately, they seem to be avoiding fights.

Even though they could handle the ruins by now, they stick to the grasslands.

[Guild] INFP: Ugh, War God’s in the grasslands again

[Guild] INFP: Just how much did you loot from the ruins this time?

[Guild] Haema: lolololololol

[Guild] Propose: Sorry sorry

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: I wanna steal Happy over here

[Party] Go-Team Leader: Then they’d avoid us, ㅠㅠ

[Guild] Hungry: Sorry, I’m just a low-level debuffer ㅡ ㅡ

[Guild] Green: Think we’ll see more debuffers next season? lol

[Guild] Taki: Don’t think so?

[Guild] Taki: Happy’s playstyle really left a mark early on, lol

[Guild] Taki: But I dunno if anyone would really go all-in like that

Even though it’s a clunky old game, MonWorld is a true MMORPG, with tanks, DPS, and supports.

But in Another, that barely matters.

Here, the top 1-2 rankers just slaughter everyone, so buffers, debuffers, and even tanks are basically optional.

Why?

If the DPS can just nuke you in one hit, that’s all that matters.

Especially for debuffers—it’s nearly impossible to solo and grow.

Like Taki said, unless you devote your life to it and perfectly sync up with a DPS, not many can get a debuffer into the top five.

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: Right, you have to follow them everywhere—such a hassle

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: It’s tough to go as hardcore as Happy did....

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: I’d rather just play DPS and enjoy my peace of mind, ㅠㅠ

[Guild] Happy: ?

[Guild] Go-Team Leader: I mean, you’re the best, Happy

Anyway.

Everyone joked that since I stood out so much this season, who knows what the next season’s trend will be.

“Should I go debuffer next season too... Ah, what am I thinking, already worrying about the next season?”

[Party] Ro: Oh, it dropped

While I was spacing out, one of the PvP attack set items, Artemis’s Bracelet, dropped.

[Party] Propose: Yes!

[Party] Propose: I got the attack set, too!

After Cheonjon and Ro, Propose—who’d had terrible item luck—finally completed the set.

[Party] Ro: It really does feel like the bracelet never drops, lol

[Party] Haema: Now only Go-Team Leader needs a bracelet

[Party] Haema: Woong needs both bracelet and earring, lol

[Party] Woong: Yup, lol

Maybe because the mains had already decided the order, I thought Jelly would be upset about being last, but surprisingly, he was obedient.

Still, as it became clear that the bracelet’s drop rate was brutal, he seemed to grow more anxious.

[Guild] Woong: If Artemis’s Bracelet drops, please, say something, lol

Jelly, who usually never spoke except to friends, was now practically begging the newbies.

But the Artemis Bracelet was in short supply everywhere else too.

[Bizert Village — All] Hannari: Buying Artemis’s Bracelet ^^

[Bizert Village — All] WaterIsSelf: Don’t you need the ring?

[Bizert Village — All] Hannari: I have lots of rings ^^;

[Guild] Blue: Looks like they’re short on bracelets too ㄷㄷ

[Guild] Assassin: We’ve got them all, right?

[Guild] Taki: Nah, DPS are still missing most of the attack sets

[Guild] INFP: I’ve only seen it once

[Guild] Assassin: This is bad, hehe

[Guild] Gadfly: Did the dev mess with the drop rate or what ㅡ ㅡ?

While suspicions flared amid the sudden shortage, I thought briefly of the True Buffer.

“I think I sometimes see their IDs in town—should I ask if they’ve gotten any drops?”

It was a fleeting, slightly rude thought.

Then, late at night, when Haema took a sudden bathroom break and our party paused—

Just in case, I decided to check some low-level maps.

“We saw them at the temple that time, so... maybe the plague city, the snowy field, the plains? Or the mines?”

I wandered here and there and ended up in the mines.

But there’s no way anyone would be here at this hour.

As I was about to leave the empty map, something glinted below.

A trace of items—proof that someone was farming, or had farmed recently.

Just in case, I went further in.

But it wasn’t the people I was looking for.

“Huh. Just a low-level user.”

As I turned away, disappointed, a user named ‘Coffee’ killed a mob, and an item dropped.

“Whoa. Artemis’s Bracelet.”

It’s that item with the abysmal drop rate these days.

I couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

But...

“Huh?”

It was strange. Even though ‘Coffee’ got the item, he just ignored it and moved on.

In the mines, the floor is dark and the bracelet shines brightly, so it’s impossible to miss.

I wondered if I should at least say something, so I hurried after Coffee.

I started to type, but then, seeing the line of items dropped all over deeper inside, I blanked out.

More than that, Coffee was moving in a pattern, following the line of dropped items and using skills regularly.

Wait a minute, this is completely...

“It’s a macro, isn’t it?”