KYB Ch 14

If you let your guard down, the larvae would leap and crawl up onto your character’s face. Just seeing them wriggle their entire bodies up close was horrifying enough, not to mention the poison damage ticking by the second. That was why this lower-tier raid couldn’t be taken lightly.

Everyone screamed as they killed the bugs. Ye Woo-won, too, carefully put shields on his guildmates while helping to clean them up.

In the midst of that chaos, his gaze naturally drifted toward Kisekki. Unlike the others who were shrieking and flailing, Kisekki simply and silently cut down the larvae.

‘Come to think of it, even the first time I saw him in a raid, he was quiet.’

Ye Woo-won thought maybe Kisekki was the type who stayed calm during gameplay.

But about three seconds later…

‘I guess bugs don’t bother him.’

As Ye Woo-won watched Kisekki move, something struck him as odd. It seemed like when the bugs’ countless legs twitched as they split apart—

‘He flinched.’

It looked like just a micro movement… Was that just his imagination?

Others were too busy to notice, but Ye Woo-won, a long-time tank accustomed to keeping a wide field of view, could see his movements clearly.

‘That guy looks like he actually hates bugs.’

He was staring when Kisekki’s avatar flinched at a melting bug corpse… and just then, Kisekki turned directly toward Yewoo Beomjeol.

“…”

A silence hung in the air as they looked at each other for a little too long. It felt like he’d just seen something he wasn’t supposed to.

Ye Woo-won instinctively typed into chat before realizing it.

He subtly hid his greatsword, already smeared with bug fluids, behind his back.

WhiteKimchi started to say something, but Kisekki cut him off with a well-timed “LOL.”

As if he’d been waiting for it, Kisekki fired off messages in rapid succession. Of course, Ye Woo-won saw it clearly. Kisekki was typing like he was rapping, all while making sure not even the tip of his foot brushed against a bug.

‘He hates them this much, so why did he come? Was the reward that tempting?’

Once he noticed it, it became even clearer. Just now, when a bug split in half, Kisekki had turned his whole body away to avoid looking.

Ye Woo-won quietly averted his gaze and apologized as though he hadn’t seen a thing.

Still, as they slowly broke through the patterns one by one, they finally reached the last phase of round one. This was the point when the larvae swarmed randomly toward one player. This time, the aggro had fallen on Nyamnyangi—his body was covered in clinging bugs.

Since he was instantly stunned by the poison, Nyamnyangi couldn’t move. Ye Woo-won hurried over to peel the bugs off him, but just then—

‘The Pet Larva are watching Nyamnyangi!’

Bad luck. Nyamnyangi had become the target of the boss monster, the Pet Larva. The swarm’s aggro was on him, and now so was the boss’s.

Nyamnyangi’s HP began dropping at a terrifying rate.

The LeaveTheHealToMeButIDon’tRemember hurriedly sprinkled herbs and muttered spells, but it didn’t seem to help.

Even with continuous heals, Nyamnyangi’s HP was draining like mad. The Assassin class’s low defence made survival nearly impossible.

The Healer finally gave up. Sometimes, sacrificing one player was the fastest way to finish a phase.

‘Better to let a DPS live than me.’

But Ye Woo-won judged otherwise. Nyamnyangi’s survival was more valuable. Because he was higher-leveled and dealt more damage than the Dragon Knight tank, Ye Woo-won thought it would be better to have him alive to finish the remaining part of the first round quickly.

Decision made, Ye Woo-won instantly pulled the aggro onto himself.

KRRRIIEEK!

He drove his greatsword straight into the Pet Larva’s chest as it turned toward him. While the monster screamed from the critical hit, Yewoo Beomjeol cast a shield to protect Nyamnyangi, whose HP was dangerously low.

In this pattern, letting one person die was almost a given among experienced raiders. So while Nyamnyangi was still reeling from being alive, Ye Woo-won was already preparing his next skill, patching up the rapidly draining shield—

‘Damn.’

Did another pattern overlap? Or was it just bad luck? Just then, the Pet Larva’s new phase began, breaking the aggro.

‘The Pet Larva writhes violently!’

The freed boss went berserk, and so did all the larvae. The sight of them shifting into all sorts of colors and starting to glow was truly revolting.

The sheer number of bugs swarming in made it feel like the computer was lagging. And right then, as if waiting for the moment, Kisekki spoke.

Ye Woo-won stared straight at Kisekki, who was typing in chat as if he had been waiting for him to make a mistake. Truth was, he’d wondered this since Kisekki agreed to join today.

If Ye Woo-won felt uncomfortable around him, surely Kisekki felt the same. So why had he come? If he disliked him enough to ignore his mail, why now?

But with Kisekki’s next words, all the doubt cleared.

So that’s why he came.

To spit venom. To drive Ye Woo-won out of the guild.

Nyamnyangi, who had been watching, finally spoke up.

The party window fell silent; you could feel the tension through the screen.

Sensing disaster, everyone whispered to comfort Ye Woo-won. He chuckled softly at the flood of messages. They really were kind people. They didn’t need to go this far for him.

TL’s Note:

This Guild is full of clowns. LOL.

PS: I forgot to add a note for the previous chapter. White Kimchi is a variety of kimchi, made without using chili pepper powder (gochugaru). So it’s non-spicy.