KYB Ch 7

When the alert popped up, Rotten Seed stopped its pattern.

It had entered a groggy^[1] state.

As soon as the groggy notification appeared, the gazes that had been fixed on the Dragon Knight instantly shifted toward Rotten Seed, as if nothing else had happened.

The moment they kicked off the ground and leaped toward the boss, magic circles began to appear in midair. Watching the dazzling effects, Yewoo Beomjeol extended his hand again, casting a shield to support them.

It had been a long time since he’d done a raid, and it was fun. So much so that it felt almost bittersweet.

Following Rotten Seed, the second-round boss Wilt Rose was also cleared in an instant.

‘Maybe everyone’s level is just that high.’

Originally, Rotten Seed took at least 30 to 40 minutes, and Wilt Rose could take two to three hours, since even one mistake meant a complete restart. They were exhausting bosses.

But this time, it hadn’t even taken an hour.

‘Seems like the rewards are about the same, though.’

While checking to see if the rewards differed from the ones he used to get before quitting, Ye Woo-won stared at the quiet chat window.

‘Why isn’t anyone saying anything?’

Of course, saying “good job” wasn’t an obligation. But these people were unusually silent. They didn’t even loot the boss’s corpse for rewards; they just stood there doing nothing.

‘Don’t think I made any mistakes, though.’

Aside from the moment in the first round when everyone threw their hooks at once, no one had said anything. Ye Woo-won wondered if he’d done something wrong, but nothing came to mind.

‘Well, I’ve got plenty of other things to do. I should head out.’

A returning player always had much to do: check rewards, read guides for the next Apostle Maestro, and so on.

So he left the party window, but just then, a whisper came in.

It was one of the people from the earlier party.

Talking about what?

As he was wondering, the guild window suddenly lit up with a notification.

The Gaesae Guild — that was the one the party members were in.

Being suddenly invited to a guild was confusing, but when he glanced up, he realized—

‘Oh right. I don’t have a guild anymore.’

Originally, Ye Woo-won had belonged to the same guild as Kim Hee-yeon and her friends. But during his six-month absence, it seemed she had told them about the breakup, and he had been quietly kicked out.

‘A guild, huh. It would be nice to have one again.’

In MMORPGs, joining a guild came with plenty of perks — easier raid groups, access to materials for gear enhancement through guild territory, and more.

Though such things could also be solved with money, so the old Ye Woo-won wouldn’t have dared to join a stranger’s guild.

Kisekki: @MysticComeServeMe Is your life’s biggest achievement being a Mystic?
Kisekki: @MysticComeServeMe Talking like some wannabe Association again lol that cringy Mystic loser club?
Kisekki: @MysticComeServeMe What’s with your nickname anyway? Why do all of you have names that sound like someone’s supposed to bow down or serve you? Seriously, why are there so many “worship-me” guys these days, lol. Guess you’re all too busy carrying each other on palanquins to even make time for raids.

Remembering Kisekki’s earlier chat, Ye Woo-won chuckled and clicked the mouse.

The guild name Gaesae floated gently above his character’s head.

Suddenly, a flood of messages came from no.10. Apparently, it hadn’t been a mistaken invite.

‘So that person was the guild master.‘

no.10 was the master of Gaesae, trying to build up to a formal invitation — only for Ye Woo-won to accept mid-speech, leaving her flustered.

The system worked fast; a guild chat window immediately opened.

Thinking it’d be polite to greet them, Ye Woo-won typed into chat.

Their chat continued right beneath the system message showing his arrival.

He noticed a few familiar nicknames — the same people from the earlier raid. No wonder party chat had been so quiet; they must’ve been chatting in guild chat the whole time.

When you join a guild, you gain access to its territory, a shared area where guild members can gather and hang out.

In the territory, players can do various things, such as farming or producing materials used for equipment enhancement.

‘Of course, my previous guild’s land was small, so I couldn’t do much there.’

However, the number of members who could enjoy the guild’s benefits was determined by the size of its territory.

His previous guild had a tiny one and expanding it wasn’t easy.

‘You had to do a territory war for that.’

To expand beyond the basic plot, guilds had to engage in territory wars against others.

The more victories a guild had, the higher its ranking and the larger its territory. Ye Woo-won’s old guild never participated, so their land stayed small.

‘And everything was already taken anyway.’

Most of Kim Hee-yeon’s friends had already claimed the perks, so he’d never gotten to use any. So Ye Woo-won didn’t expect much from Gaesae’s territory either — until his eyes widened.

‘What the…’

The loading took longer than usual.

‘This is the territory?’

He couldn’t even see the end of it.

As Ye Woo-won quickly dragged his mouse around, the sheer size of the land. So vast he couldn’t even see the edge of the map. It left him momentarily stunned. Then, a set of shimmering numbers caught his eye.

It was the ranking displayed next to the territory.

‘Ranked 2nd?’

This guild was ranked second across the entire server.

For someone who’d come from a near-empty guild, it was both stunning and bewildering. As he hesitated, wondering what to do, no.10 approached.

Ye Woo-won thought, That’s what I should be saying.

TL’s Note:
I really want to smack no.10 for using so many crying emoticons. Why is this guild master so crybaby… LOL