After safely getting through Monday and Tuesday, it was finally Wednesday. Ahead of the prelims with the Fever Guild, I made a new Discord channel.
The participants were me, Yuchae, Ssesesese, and Haereun—everyone who knew about the incident where the Fever Guild stole my staff.
[DrinkSomeWater] We'll wait in the center,
[DrinkSomeWater] and once the prelims start,
[DrinkSomeWater] we'll head to the portal where the newbie with the staff appears.
[Haereun] Ok ok
[SseseseseHajaGo] But wouldn't it be hard
[SseseseseHajaGo] to immediately recognize who the newbie is?
That's true. Since the other guild members don't know about the newbie or the staff incident with the Fever Guild, it'd be hard for them to identify them from hearsay alone.
[DrinkSomeWater] It's fine
[DrinkSomeWater] I figured that might happen, so I brought in one more person.
–GuguOtter has joined the chat–
[SseseseseHajaGo] Oh?
[Haereun] Oh
[Haereun] Otter, hey~
[GuguOtter] Heyyy
[DrinkSomeWater] Remember when I said I planted an alt in Fever before?
[DrinkSomeWater] That's Otter LOL
[DrinkSomeWater] Otter's alt is in the Fever Guild, lmao
[ImSoSleepy] Ohhh;
[ImSoSleepy] Hello
[GuguOtter] Hellooo lol
[GuguOtter] Once the prelims start,
[GuguOtter] I'll check where the newbie goes and post it here.
[ImSoSleepy] Thx thx
[Yuchae] The staff.
[Yuchae] What's its current status?
I was wondering that too, and thankfully Yuchae brought it up first.
[GuguOtter] I don't know all the details,
[GuguOtter] but it's definitely been upgraded, yeah
[GuguOtter] I heard the guild leader did it for her
[GuguOtter] 'Cause the newbie's a girl, lol. He's being super attentive~~
[Haereun] lmao
[SseseseseHajaGo] That loser's
[SseseseseHajaGo] at it again...
[Haereun] For real, it's hilarious to watch
[Haereun] Guy never learns or grows, lol
[DrinkSomeWater] Am I wrong or...
[DrinkSomeWater] didn't Fever's guild leader
[DrinkSomeWater] once get totally shut down in public
[DrinkSomeWater] after creeping on another player?
[Haereun] Yeah yeah, that happened
[Haereun] The player he confessed to
[Haereun] still plays, I think
[SseseseseHajaGo] What a stain
[SseseseseHajaGo] on someone else's gaming life
[Haereun] Guild leaders, man… always the issue
[Haereun] Oh crap;
[DrinkSomeWater] ffs LOLLLLLLLLLL
[ImSoSleepy] hahahahahahaha
[Yuchae] lol
[Yuchae] Looks like he wants to lose his points again...
[Haereun] Sorry ;; haha;;
[SseseseseHajaGo] Guys who act like that just because someone's a girl
[SseseseseHajaGo] are straight-up disgusting
[Haereun] For real. Gross af
[GuguOtter] lol
[GuguOtter] Shockingly, the newbie's actually got a nice personality
[GuguOtter] But seems like she doesn't do comms or forums at all
[DrinkSomeWater] If she used forums or platforms like PlayForum,
[DrinkSomeWater] she would've never joined Fever in the first place, lmao
[SseseseseHajaGo] Yeah, exactly LOL
[ImSoSleepy] People who actually check that kind of stuff while gaming…
[ImSoSleepy] Probably like 2 out of 10, tops.
[ImSoSleepy] I don't bother either.
I only ever open those up when I need info on guides or skills. I don't even click on the general discussion boards or drama forums where players just chat or gossip. Lately, even for guides, I prefer videos over text posts anyway.
[Yuchae] Right
[Yuchae] Most people are like that
[GuguOtter] The funny thing about Danghan-i is,
[GuguOtter] he had zero interest in the newbie at first, lol
[GuguOtter] But now that they're in the same guild,
[GuguOtter] he wants to do group chats and Discord calls together.
[GuguOtter] I guess he found out she was a girl while helping with a raid,
[GuguOtter] and then he just went full simp, lol
[Haereun] Ahahaha
[Haereun] I can totally picture it
[SseseseseHajaGo] What a dumbass
[DrinkSomeWater] Kinda starting to feel bad for the newbie...
[GuguOtter] Even the staff—
[GuguOtter] the newbie said she didn't want to take it,
[GuguOtter] but he kept pushing it on her,
[GuguOtter] saying it's not expensive, just take it,
[GuguOtter] and that rejecting it over and over makes him look bad.
[GuguOtter] He even aired it in guild chat in front of everyone,
[GuguOtter] basically forced her to take it
[Haereun] ?
[Haereun] What the hell, this guy's insane;
[SseseseseHajaGo] That's straight-up gaslighting. Fucking disgusting
[DrinkSomeWater] A top-tier veteran doing this shit to a newbie, lol
[Haereun] Top-tier oldies like that are always the worst…
[Haereun] Oh wait;
[Haereun] Sorry, guild leader
[Yuchae] ? lol
[SseseseseHajaGo] LOLLLLL
[GuguOtter] hahahahaha
I had a hunch since he ambushed me and ran off with the staff, but I didn't realize he was that much of a trash human. Then again, considering he's basically infamous across the whole server, I shouldn't be surprised.
[GuguOtter] Compared to Danghan-i,
[GuguOtter] our guild leader looks like a total normal person
[Haereun] Yep
[Haereun] Looks like a saint in comparison, lol
[ImSoSleepy] Honestly just kind of cute
[Yuchae] Am I cute?
[ImSoSleepy] …?
[SseseseseHajaGo] ?
[DrinkSomeWater] Ahahaha LOL
[Haereun] wtf
[Haereun] My brain's short-circuiting
"Sigh…"
I lowered my head and held my forehead. Every time Yuchae dropped random stuff like that out of nowhere, I just couldn't help but sigh.
The first few times, I thought she was just messing with me and it pissed me off, but now I know she's being completely sincere. That last comment—yeah, she definitely just asked because she genuinely wanted to know if I thought she was cute.
[DrinkSomeWater] Okay, let's not get sidetracked, lol
[DrinkSomeWater] I feel bad for the newbie, but
[DrinkSomeWater] we've gotta keep killing her until she drops that staff
[DrinkSomeWater] Can you tell me her username?
[ImSoSleepy] When we practiced against a sharpshooter on Monday,
[ImSoSleepy] she dropped her weapon on the fifth death.
[DrinkSomeWater] Hopefully the same happens this time
[Yuchae] The drop rate on death isn't high,
[Yuchae] so we'll need a bit of luck too
[ImSoSleepy] Yeah
[GuguOtter] Her username is
[GuguOtter] MelodyCode << that's it
[DrinkSomeWater] Wow, cute nickname, lol
MelodyCode, huh? Gotta remember that name so I can track her right when the prelims start.
[GuguOtter] I always wonder—
[GuguOtter] why don't they just make items that can't be dropped?
[Haereun] If that bothers you, then turn PvP off, lol
[Haereun] They're probably too lazy to make new item types just for a one-off event like the prelims
[SseseseseHajaGo] Truly... a "shitty game"
[DrinkSomeWater] From our point of view,
[DrinkSomeWater] it's a total win
[Yuchae] Hyung (bro)
[Yuchae] We need to kill her multiple times as quickly as possible.
[Yuchae] It's a time attack, after all.
The prelim match ends once the gauge fills up. Since the other guild members don't know my situation, they'll fight like usual—killing enemy guild members to fill the gauge.
[ImSoSleepy] Yep
I'd already gauged the fill speed during the past two days of prelims. It might be a little slower this time since Yuchae, who contributes a lot to the gauge, won't be helping with that.
[DrinkSomeWater] Our job is to
[DrinkSomeWater] clear out the enemies around the newbie
[DrinkSomeWater] so Sleepy can kill her more easily.
[GuguOtter] But
[GuguOtter] Danghan-i will probably be right next to her.
[GuguOtter] At least, that's how it was during the last strategy meeting.
[GuguOtter] Might change once the match starts, though.
[ImSoSleepy] Got it got it
[ImSoSleepy] That actually works better for me, lol
I didn't have any good feelings about Fever Guild's leader either.
If I could quickly recover the staff from the newbie, I definitely wanted a proper fight with that Fever bastard.
[DrinkSomeWater] 30 minutes left
[DrinkSomeWater] Everyone check your gear one last time
[DrinkSomeWater] and be in voice chat before the prelim starts.
[DrinkSomeWater] Otter, update us via text right away when the newbie's position is confirmed.
[GuguOtter] Yup
[GuguOtter] My alt's name is GoingMailHo<
[GuguOtter] If you run into me, go easy~ lol
Just like Water said, I did my final equipment repairs and steeled myself.
＊＊＊
Twenty minutes before the prelim, we gathered in the Discord voice channel as planned. It was to allow faster and more accurate briefings.
"We'll wait in the center and then go straight to the gate Otter tells us at 50."
Starting at 6:50—10 minutes before the match—attack team members can no longer leave the respawn zone. That's also the first time everyone finds out who's been assigned to which gate.
As Water spoke, I rotated my camera slightly in-game. Behind my character, a silver flag was shining brilliantly.
"Hmm, I bet they'll come through the north gate."
"That's the most likely," Water agreed with Ssesesese's guess.
Two more minutes passed—it was now 6:47. As I stretched out my hands before the big match, a familiar voice followed.
"To make it easier for you to focus on the fight, we'll clear out the ones around her first. Once that's handled, we'll back you up."
A soft and moderately low voice—Yuchae.
"After all, if we die, there's a respawn delay. You okay with that?"
"Yeah, no problem," I nodded without hesitation.
According to Otter, who had planted an alt in the Fever Guild, the newbie hadn't even wanted the staff to begin with. So I had no reason to feel hung up about killing her.
The goal was just the staff. Killing her repeatedly and quickly to make her drop it was in her best interest too.
'More than that…'
I was a little surprised by how Yuchae had just said what I was thinking. I'd always thought we were on the same page about this kind of thing, but to this degree?
"Hyung, once it starts, just focus on the staff. I'll help you do exactly that."
"Got it."
And she was talking more than usual today, too. Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed—Water sounded surprised.
"Wow, look at you, talking this much."
"It's an important day."
"Oh~ I see. Very important, huh~"
"Pfft!"
Yuchae's firm tone made Haereun burst out laughing. I couldn't help but chuckle too. A dry laugh, but still.
As we chatted, it hit 6:50 before we realized it. The attack team had just finished moving into the respawn zone when Otter sent a Discord message.
[GuguOtter] Guys
[GuguOtter] It's the west gate.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : http://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]