Chapter 7: Enemy of the State

[Party] Mir: ?Ku, you too?

[Party] Ku: They’re suggesting I join with you, Mirㅎㅎ

[Party] Mir: ?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is killing me

[Party] Ku: Are you interested at all?

A cautious question made a flood of thoughts rush by for a moment.

Hana Guild was now undeniably the dominant force on the Another server. If I joined, I’d be able to monopolize every map just like them.

For someone like me with no connections or backers, it would be a huge advantage.

But I could never forget what those guys did to me—or what kind of people they were.

[Party] Mir: I don’t want to. How about you, Ku?

[Party] Ku: Me neitherㅎㅎ I don’t want to be lumped together with them

[Party] Ku: I’ll tell them I’m decliningㅎㅎ

Thankfully, Ku felt the same way I did.

Just seeing that chat bubble made me breathe out a sigh of relief.

“I was worried Ku might be too ambitious and side with them, but thank goodness.”

Knowing that there wouldn’t be any bad blood with Ku in the future made me feel reassured. After playing together, I knew Ku would be a tough enemy.

Nodding, I let Vitamin know my decision.

[Whisper] Mir > Vitamin: The Hana Guild members were mocking us in general chat earlier

[Whisper] Mir > Vitamin: I don’t want to be in a guild with people who treated me like dirt

Honestly, I could have just refused outright without going into detail.

But the rudeness of Seungja and Guksan had rubbed me the wrong way, so I just let my feelings show.

[Whisper] Vitamin: Hm

[Whisper] Vitamin: I see… I didn’t think of that

[Whisper] Vitamin: Sorry if that upset you

[Whisper] Vitamin: I’ll go talk to them—

[Whisper] Mir > Vitamin: No, it’s fine

I could already guess what was coming next, so I cut it off.

Vitamin fell silent for a while, and I ended it unilaterally.

[Whisper] Mir > Vitamin: Well, take care then

[Whisper] Vitamin: I could at least apologize—

[Whisper] Vitamin: Ah, okay, enjoy the game

“Are they going to think I’m rude? Well, whatever. They were rude first.”

I glared at Vitamin’s ID, convincing myself it was justified.

[Party] Mir: I just turned them down right away

[Party] Mir: But I kind of said it pretty harshly, is that okay?

[Party] Mir: What if they get pissed and chase us even more?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] Ku: Rejecting an invitation always makes you an enemyㅎㅎ

I could see what the future held for us. But now that things were clear between us and Hana Guild, I felt refreshed inside.

---

After Hana Guild’s recruitment attempt, Ku and I became closer.

We’d both been marked, after all. There was no way to roam around solo. Ku suggested a fixed party, and after that we hunted together on schedule and fended off PKs as a team.

Because of that, my PvP skills improved dramatically. Whenever we set foot in the field, Hana Guild would swarm after us, so it was impossible not to improve.

[Deep Labyrinth―All] DarkWarrior: Whoa, Mir and Ku are here againㄷㄷㄷ

Because we fought Hana Guild openly, we’d become minor celebrities on the Another server—whether we wanted to or not.

[Deep Labyrinth―All] MoneyFatDormouse: Should I report if Seungja shows up?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Deep Labyrinth―All] DarkWarrior: But seriously, you two are amazing ㄷㄷ How do you keep holding out;;;;

[Deep Labyrinth―All] DarkWarrior: I’d never last if it were meㅜ

To the average player, two mid-levels taking on the top guild’s entire force was a shocking sight.

But even if most people didn’t say it out loud, a lot of them disliked Hana Guild and cheered us on.

Everyone we met wished us good luck, but honestly, it didn’t really move me.

[Party] Mir: That DarkWarrior guy

[Party] Mir: He’s the one who swept up all the mobs behind us and ran yesterday, right?

[Party] Ku: Probably

[Party] Ku: He even picked up all the drops before leavingㅎㅎㅎㅎ

They cheer for us to our faces, but half of them just take advantage of the situation behind our backs.

[Party] Mir: They could at least try to help

It was strange. They’d curse Hana Guild to our faces and tell us to hang in there, but once a fight broke out, nine times out of ten they’d run away.

Of course, we’re just two weaklings and they’re an overwhelming majority.

I know it’s only natural.

I know that… but it’s still kind of bitter.

“When was the last time I actually hunted properly…?”

Sadly, I couldn’t even remember.

Hana Guild kept popping up without a break these days, so we never lasted more than ten minutes on any map. There was no way to build up any EXP.

All we did was run and escape.

“This is annoying, but weirdly fun?”

Most people would’ve raged and logged off by now, but I was a little odd.

Thinking about how those guys were wasting their time just because of us was weirdly thrilling.

Especially when top rankers who should’ve been grinding hard were chasing after us—it felt even better.

Should I be thankful they followed us all the way to these miserable corners?

[Party] Ku: rrrrrrrr (run run run)

[Party] Mir: Left, go go go go go

We hadn’t been in Deep Labyrinth five minutes before Seungja, the leech, showed up, with a whole string of Hana Guild members trailing behind like sausages.

“These crazy bastards? All of them are name players? They really have nothing better to do.”

All six were IDs I recognized from the top ranks. As I stared in disbelief, Ku’s character paused for a second.

[Party] Ku: Even the vice master’s hereㅎㅎ

It was true. Looking closely, I saw a small silver star next to one ID.

In Monster World, the guild master has a gold star next to their ID, and the vice master has a silver one.

I widened my eyes at the sight of Hana Guild’s vice master on our tail.

Leading the pack of five was “Cheonga.” Even though she was a tank and high-level—brushing past her meant instant death—I was strangely pumped.

Maybe it was because of the time we ganged up and killed Vitamin?

“Should I mess with them a little?”

My mind was already made up, the corners of my mouth twitching upward.

Even though I knew slowing down meant certain death, I deliberately closed the distance to bring them into my debuff range.

“Sss. This should hit, right?”

I used “Gnawing Poison”—the same HP-drain skill I used to kill Seungja before.

It has a long range and hits pretty easily even if thrown casually.

Why use such a useless skill?

Just to mess with them. Imagine, a high-level like her getting debuffed by a lowbie like me—how infuriating must that be?

It’s pure humiliation.

Thankfully, “Cheonga,” who was leading, got hit. Seeing green drops dripping above her character made me clutch my sides laughing.

But maybe her pride was really hurt, because Cheonga kept using her taunt skill—which only works up close—over and over on me. The other rankers following her did the same.

If I got caught even once, I’d die, so I spammed the mouse like crazy. Even so, proud of my little victory, I kept showing off my HP-drain “acrobatics” against Cheonga.

Of course, not a single hit landed on me from Cheonga or the rest of Hana Guild.

“Awesome! This is so fun!”

I’d definitely found a new kind of fun.

This nerve-wracking chase only ended when we found the exit and escaped. The Hana Guild guys slunk back to town, tails between their legs.

[Party] Ku: Whoa

[Party] Ku: You really toyed with themㅎㅎ

[Party] Mir: Honestly, my heart’s poundingㅠㅠ

[Party] Ku: Wanna go again?

[Party] Mir: Let’s do itㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

After that, we hopped from map to map, giving Hana Guild the slip.

We trolled them so much by running and baiting that eventually Seungja cursed us out in all chat and even started asking after our parents.

At first, it really pissed me off, but after hearing it a few times, my thoughts changed.

If I annoyed Seungja so much he had to swear, that meant I’d really gotten under his skin.

Thinking about it that way just made me laugh.

[Party] Mir: Wow, he must be seriously pissed now

[Party] Ku: He chased us for half a day and never caught usㅎㅎ

[Party] Mir: It’s sad I can’t level, but this is fun tooㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] Ku: Since leveling’s ruined anyway, we might as well enjoy ourselvesㅎㅎ

Someone once said:

If you piss off your PK enemy, you’ve won.

So we were always winning, trailing Hana Guild wherever we went. Before I knew it, they were marking us 24/7.

After a couple months of this, even outsiders started finding us fascinating.

[Deep Labyrinth―All] BabyDeer: Whoa, they still haven’t quit???

[Deep Labyrinth―All] BabyDeer: Still running around like that

[Deep Labyrinth―All] BabyDeer: Mir, Ku, are you okay??? You’re not crying behind your monitors, right??

[Deep Labyrinth―All] Doryeongnyong: ㅋㅋㅋㅋIt’s amazing they haven’t quit

[Deep Labyrinth―All] Icarus: The official theory is those two are GMs' insiders boosting server activity

[Deep Labyrinth―All] ThankYou: They brought tension to this relaxed event server...

[Deep Labyrinth―All] Doryeongnyong: Did you see yesterday when Mir shook off the rankers and Ku sniped Seungja from hiding?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Deep Labyrinth―All] OnlyLiveToday: Is Seungja stupid? He gets wrecked every time I see him

[Deep Labyrinth―All] Icarus: Most old players here are grandpas now, their control sucksㅋ

[Deep Labyrinth―All] Doryeongnyong: Next season is gonna be a bloodbathㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Deep Labyrinth―All] OnlyLiveToday: When does next season start?

[Deep Labyrinth―All] BabyDeer: Only about two months have passed, apparently

[Deep Labyrinth―All] BabyDeer: Hana Guild’s monopolizing now so they’ll probably close and reopen early, server can’t function like this

[Deep Labyrinth―All] BabyDeer: And there’s a rumor about new items next season, so they’ll probably reset soon

[Deep Labyrinth―All] Police: 1111111111111111

Things got so bad that users invented a code for Hana Guild’s arrival. As soon as a “1” popped up, the chat would go dead silent and a dry laugh would spread.

That “1” was the general users’ signal that a Hana Guild member was online.

“Man, if you’re going to help, actually help…”

Sometimes I got tired of fighting alone.

But wherever you are, if you hold out till the end, you’re the winner.

After more than two months, even Hana Guild, who’d tormented us endlessly, began to fade away.

Chasing just the two of us—both low-levels—every day, and getting nothing but humiliation in return… Even their taunts didn’t get a reaction out of us. No wonder they were getting tired.

[Party] Ku: That’s the classic downfall of a guild that controls a server without competitionㅎㅎ PK event servers only last if there are at least two rival guilds…

Well, whatever. Thanks to that, we had fewer enemies and things got a lot easier.

With no one in our way, our levels started going up at a steady pace. The people who picked fights with us were average at best, and we handled PKs without much trouble.

Of course, we still couldn’t handle overwhelming numbers or top specs, but we could take on up to three mid-tier players.

Naturally, Mir and Ku—

Our characters became the new names of the season’s Another server. As a joke, people would say they were looking forward to what we’d do next.

Only then did we relax and mingle, gathering information. Petty revenge didn’t satisfy us anymore; I was already hooked on PK.

My goal was the next season.

A few days after we steeled ourselves, an announcement finally came: the early end of Another server’s season.

Thanks to Hana Guild’s uncontested dominance and their rapid exit.

As soon as we saw the announcement, Ku and I agreed to meet up for the next season.

And we exchanged contact info.