TGMND 147
by Springlila#Each Person’s Preferences
Yeo-woon’s phone, which had been lying next to him as he stared at his monitor at work, briefly vibrated. The screen lit up with a new message.
Ji-gu: I bought a house >_<
“…”
At this random message, Yeo-woon rubbed his eyes and looked at the screen again.
Suddenly a house…? Wait, by himself?
“I hope he’s not getting scammed somewhere.”
Yeo-woon muttered worriedly as he sent a reply.
Yeo-woon: Are you moving?
Ji-gu: ?????
Ji-gu: (photo)
Due to slow WiFi data speeds, the photo took a moment to load. When it finally loaded, the phone screen showed a single house rendered in game graphics.
Yeo-woon: Oh, housing in a game?
Yeo-woon: lol you scared me I thought…
Ji-gu: Seriously? There are limits to how clueless someone can be. Unrealㅡㅡ
Ji-gu: How could I afford a real house, obviously it’s a game;
Yeo-woon: Oh, right.
Ji-gu: Yeah;;
This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
Just last month, there had been a similar incident. Ji-gu had been obsessively checking the in-game market for a rare cosmetic item called the “Chronicle of the Holy Spirit,” which he had been coveting for a while. The prices had started dropping slightly, so he had spent all day monitoring the auction house. They exchanged messages at exactly the same time as now.
Yeo-woon: What are you doing…?
Ji-gu: Wow, messaging me at this hour?
Ji-gu: It’s Monday morning aren’t you working?
Yeo-woon: Let’s not start Monday with bad feelings.
Ji-gu: lol sorry
Ji-gu: I.. bought clothes! >_<
At the mention of buying clothes, Yeo-woon naturally thought of Ji-gu’s interests at the time. Ah, he must have finally bought the Chronicle of the Holy Spirit.
Yeo-woon: Show me how it looks on you
Ji-gu: Later when I get home
Yeo-woon: You’re out? At a PC bang?
Ji-gu: PC bang? I went out to buy clothes
Yeo-woon: Not the Chronicle of the Holy Spirit but your clothes?
Yeo-woon: No I mean
Yeo-woon: Real clothes?
Ji-gu: …..
Ji-gu: ….didn’t even think of that..
Ji-gu: ah right should’ve bought Chronicle of the Holy Spirit instead of thisㅜㅜ
How much were the clothes?
Ji-gu: 2 Chronicle of the Holy Spiritㅠ
Yeo-woon: lol
Ji-gu: Ahㅜ I bought a new swimsuit tooㅠ Should I return it??ㅠㅠ
Ji-gu: It’s not too lateㅠㅠ Haven’t removed the tags..
Yeo-woon: How much?
Ji-gu: Quarter of Chronicle of the Holy Spiritㅠㅠ
Yeo-woon: Why is Chronicle of the Holy Spirit the unit of measurement lol lol
Yeo-woon: Just keep it you were going to buy a new swimsuit anyway
Ji-gu: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Though Ji-gu ended up buying the item that week when a good deal came up, Yeo-woon hadn’t expected to confuse reality and game talk again like back then.
Yeo-woon: Didn’t you say housing was too bothersome and you wouldn’t do it?
Ji-gu: Haha There might have been a time I said that
Ji-gu: (photo)
Ji-gu: That was before Bbosong appeared!!!!
The photo Yoon Ji-gu sent contained a cat with exactly the same fur coloring as the cat he was raising.
Yeo-woon: Haven’t seen that before
Ji-gu: Of course not it’s from the new dungeon
…
[New Instant Dungeon]
The new dungeon ‘Blessing of the Four Guardians’ has been added.
Access Requirements: Adventurers who have completed all Eastern Continent scenarios
Level Requirement: Level 200 or higher
Maximum Party Size: 6 players
Time Limit: 90 minutes
Completion Rewards: First-time dungeon clear grants a new achievement and provides a dungeon conquest title to inventory. Upon raid completion, all party members will be transported to the reward map where a ‘Blessing of the Four Guardians’ chest will be provided.
[‘Blessing of the Four Guardians’ Chest Drop Items]
▶New items have been added.
[Fashion Items]
[Enhancement Items]
[New Soul Stones]
[Housing Items]
…
The new dungeon in this Illusion update was targeted at high-spec users. While guild members had been excited about the main content being updated after a while, Yeo-woon actually didn’t find much enjoyment in dungeon progression, whether it was advance parties or whatever.
And in that section he’d only half-listened to was ‘Bbosong’.
Yeo-woon: Should’ve opened the housing earlier if I knew this would happen lol right
Ji-gu: Ah for real that’s what I’m saying -_-
The Housing feature, introduced about six months ago, was designed for in-game married couples. It allowed players to build houses that other users could visit and even rate. However, when it first came out, it felt more like an additional feature that not many people were interested in.
But with each monthly update adding new housing items and allowing housing-exclusive pets to be placed, it caught the attention of users who enjoyed decorating features. In the end, it even managed to turn Yoon Ji-gu’s attention to housing.
Ji-gu: Come visit later>_< Built it on a large plot!
Yeo-woon: Gasp I have some money saved in storage should I contribute?
Ji-gu: Don’t need pocket change
Yeo-woon: ㅡㅡ
Though he called it pocket change, a large plot meant the initial costs must have been substantial.
To do housing, you first had to purchase land. Then you could build a house on that land and gradually expand its size, but like all content, the costs increased dramatically as you progressed.
‘I remember you had to gather materials yourself too.’
He did all that troublesome work alone? Moreover, not all the furniture wanted for the house was readily available – some items dropped randomly from dungeons, making it content that really required luck.
When housing first came out, Yeo-woon had clicked his tongue at the unconscionable prices and just went to look at houses others had built. Meanwhile, Yoon Ji-gu had been more focused on going to terrorize CatMeowMeowMeow’s newly built house.
Didn’t expect him to belatedly get his own house now. Though Ji-gu bought it all himself… Yeo-woon spent the afternoon as usual, recalling common housing examples he’d seen.
That evening. After returning home and logging into Illusion, Yeo-woon immediately witnessed a familiar scene.
[Guild] Ji9star: 2 vs 1 is cowardly!!!!!!! Fight fair and squareㅡㅡ!!!
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: lol lol lol talking about fair and square because you’re gonna lose
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: if you’re jealous bring one more person too thx
“They’re fighting again, these kids.”
CatMeowMeowMeow and Earth Star were arguing again. Perhaps because it was no different from usual, no one was trying to stop them.
When Yeo-woon entered the guild room, most of the currently online guild members were sitting in a row, and the two people fighting weren’t there. Wandu Wandya, who had been sitting in line, suddenly stood up and looked back.
[Global] Wandu Wandya: Neuta-nim is here~
[Global] neutaaaa: Hello
[Global] ParkRoach: Oh Neuta-nim’s here lol
[Global] Halloween Eggplant: neutaaaa hi hi
[Global] neutaaaa: Why are they like that again?
[Global] neutaaaa: Someone stop them
[Global] Halloween Eggplant: No one can stop Cat-nim right now
[Global] Wandu Wandya: Yeah, it’s been a while since they went full throttle like this
[Global] KidneyRat: lol lol lol
[Global] Rexu: lol lol lol
Everyone just laughed without explaining the situation. As Yeo-woon kept floating consecutive question marks above his head, someone finally stepped up.
[Global] Wandu Wandya: Remember when Cat-nim first got housing
[Global] Wandu Wandya: And it was trendy to lower their rating?
“Ah. That…”
Yeo-woon found himself nodding unconsciously. There was no way he could forget that.
CatMeowMeowMeow was one of the first to jump into the housing content when it came out. And since his partner was the notorious Sunset, ‘lowering house ratings’ spread from the guild to become a server-wide trend. Yeo-woon had also visited that house a few times for housewarming back then.
[Global] Wandu Wandya: Back then Earth Star
[Global] Wandu Wandya: Gave the most negative house ratings
[Global] Wandu Wandya: lol lol lol Cat-nim’s having a blast getting revenge as soon as Ji-gu opened his new house.
As if proving those words, Earth Star could be seen wailing in the guild chat.
[Guild] Ji9star: Stop dumping trash already ah!!!!!!!
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Just returning what you left back then ^^
[Guild] Ji9star: 2 vs 1 is cowardly!!!!!
[Guild] Captain Poseidon: Excuse meㅠ this has been bothering me but why is it 2 vs 1?
“Oh, Guild Master is here?”
Yeo-woon belatedly confirmed that the Guild Master was currently online by scrolling up the list of connected guild members. He’d thought they hadn’t logged in yet since they weren’t visible in the guild room…
[Global] Halloween Eggplant: Captain went to support Earth Star lol
[Global] ParkRoach: If you watch carefully they pretend to hate Sunset but really like them?
[Global] ParkRoach: It’s hilarious how they rush in like a wasp whenever there’s a fight with Sunset
[Global] Halloween Eggplant: Omg screenshotting this lol gonna tell
[Global] ParkRoach: Wandu-nim asked me to pass that on
[Global] Wandu Wandya: ? Why you dragging me into this
From what he heard, it seemed the Guild Master Captain Poseidon had gone to help Earth Star who was currently fighting with CatMeowMeowMeow.
[Guild] Captain Poseidon: Since I’m helping Earth Star-nim isn’t it 2 vs 2?
[Guild] Ji9star: nono
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: nono
[Guild] Ji9star: too slow
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: too slow
It was almost amusing how perfectly in sync they were when teasing someone else.
[Guild] Captain Poseidon: lol
‘Ji9star has been demoted to regular guild member.’
‘CatMeowMeowMeow has been demoted to regular guild member.’
Saw that coming.
The annoyed Captain Poseidon demoted both players one rank down in the guild hierarchy.
[Global] ParkRoach: Abusing power lol lol
[Global] neutaaaa: I knew they’d be like this
[Global] Wandu Wandya: Haven’t seen this event in a while… brings back memories
[Global] Rexu: So peaceful
[Guild] Ji9star: ㅠㅠ
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: ㅠㅠ
[Global] Halloween Eggplant: lol lol lol
‘Ji9star has been promoted to elite guild member.’
‘CatMeowMeowMeow has been promoted to elite guild member.’
[Guild] Captain Poseidon: I’ll restore your positions, so come to the guild room and make up, you two
[Guild] Ji9star: Wow acting like you did nothing now is amazing lol
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: fr though lo
‘Ji9star has been demoted to regular guild member.’
[Guild] Ji9star: I’m sorry I’ll go to the guild room >_<
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: ahㅡㅡ Earth Star just lowered our house rating againㅡㅡ
[Guild] Ji9star: Go take care of your Sunset. He’s on the roof throwing trash again;;
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: I’ll tell him to stop
[Guild] Ji9star: ok good
The situation was quickly resolved. Returning to the guild room, Earth Star spotted Yeo-woon, who had been sitting among people watching this situation unfold and bounced over to sit in front of him.
[Couple] Ji9star: Hyung did you see? CatMeowMeowMeow bullied me so badㅜㅜ
[Couple] neutaaaa: It’s ok it’s ok you won since it was 2 vs 1
[Couple] Ji9star: Haha
When Yeo-woon made a head-patting motion, a heart popped up above Earth Star’s character and burst in mid-air. Yeo-woon chuckled, having succeeded in quieting Earth Star with just one supportive comment.
The gathered guild members dispersed to their own tasks, and Yeo-woon belatedly entered the housing area.
‘Where’s our house.’
He wondered how to find their house among countless others, but just then an invitation arrived.
[Ji9star wants to summon you to ‘Our House’. Will you accept?]
When he pressed accept, the screen went black as the map loaded. The screen that returned showed the house interior.
“What is all this.”
Yeo-woon encountered a house whose rating had plummeted to the bottom within a day of being built. Moreover, the house was full of trash. When he moved his mouse cursor over them, most showed ‘Creator: Sunset’ or ‘Creator: CatMeowMeowMeow’. Looking at the guestbook spammed with ‘ㅇㅅㅇ’s made him feel his low blood pressure being cured.
“…”
While picking up trash items one by one to organize the inventory, Yeo-woon discovered familiar names among Sunset and CatMeowMeowMeow’s festival of items.
[Guild] neutaaaa: ParkRoach-nim
[Guild] ParkRoach: Yes?
[Guild] neutaaaa: Wandu-nim Eggplant-nim
[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Here
[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Yes
He wasn’t seeing things wrong. In the ‘Creator Name’ part of the items, guild members’ names were clearly embedded.
These people really…. They weren’t just sitting and watching, were they?
[Guild] neutaaaa: Thank you for leaving the trash. I’ll sell it and add it to our household funds^^
[Guild] ParkRoach: Sometimes Neuta-nim scares me when he’s like this tremble
[Guild] Wandu Wandya: lol lol lol lol
[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: tremble
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Huh when did they come and go
[Guild] Ji9star: These people dumped trash before you logged inㅡㅡ
[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Serves you right
Yeo-woon looked at the trash that remained even after filling his inventory to capacity and thought.
Ah, I wonder if anyone else isn’t doing housing…