TGMND 3

It was almost a year ago that his relationship with the name ‘Business Partner’ began. Furthermore, he wasn’t particularly friendly at first, and his relationship with the guy wasn’t that good.

Yeo-woon has always liked games since elementary school. He started by sneaking coins out of the change piggy bank placed in the living room and going to the local arcade to play, started playing mobile games that were popular among his friends in middle school, and then started playing online games in high school. After playing a variety of games, he came across Illusion when he was preparing for a job. And from that point on, he was stuck with that game until now.

Illusion was not a game with a solid user base for no reason. The guild system was exceptionally well-functioning and the events were vibrant. Moreover, it was a game specialized in character customization, so there were often players who played the game solely for dressing up their characters. The user age range was diverse, and trading was also active. It was a game that made you want to play.

‘Should I join a guild too?’

One day, that thought suddenly came to his mind. In other games, Yeo-woon had mainly played solo, and because of that, he had rarely joined a proper guild.

Illusion was a game where it was difficult to progress through the story without hunting for all classes. When he was working hard to level up and was about to advance to his first job change, he heard that it became difficult to progress as you went to higher levels without a guild. So, he joined any guild that was recruiting guild members for hunting buffs, but since the guild master didn’t log in regularly, guild members left one by one, and it became a ghost guild.

‘If I’m going to do this, should I just create a one-person guild and do it alone?’

He briefly considered that idea but quickly gave up on it because there was a significant difference in hunting buffs based on guild level. Creating a one-person guild would be less efficient than not joining any guild and playing as he was.

Yeo-woon was searching the party matchmaking window to see if there was any guild currently recruiting members when he suddenly changed his mind.

Party Matchmaking

[★Full-time part-time job★Star Cradle 5th edition 2.0]

[[Purchase] Please refer to the detailed description of various items!]

[The Moon Breaker’s Party]

[Unlimited purchase of hammer @@@@ presented by Bayabaya Warehouse Cat <<]

1 2 3 4 … 9 10 ▷

The party matchmaking window was filled with various trade rooms and dungeon runs for part-time parties. While scrolling through the party matchmaking from page 15 in reverse order, Yeo-woon noticed a guild recruitment post.

★[3ch] Seeking Members for Poseidon Guild]

‘Shall I go here?’

Yeo-woon clicked the ‘Join the party’ button without thinking. When the party leader accepted Yeo-woon’s participation in the party, a mini-map in the upper-left corner of the screen appeared, indicating the party status. That marked the beginning of everything.

There were a total of two party members. They were ‘Captain Poseidon’ and the max level Knight Spear, ‘Ji9star.’ Joining the party was easy. He just needed to click the “Join Party” button after selecting the party.

‘neutaaaa has joined the party.’

[Party] Ji9star: Hello hello

Ji9star was the party leader who had accepted the party request. Yeo-woon thought this person might be the guild master, so he was polite and greeted them.

[Party] neutaaaa: Hello!

[Party] neutaaaa: I’m trying to join the guild.

Until then, he had no interest in guilds or in-game names, so he had no idea what the Poseidon Guild was. This means that he was completely unaware of the numerous rumors about Poseidon.

Earth Star checked the party window to see where Yeo-woon was and moved directly to his location. The other party member, Poseidon Leader, was in stealth mode or perhaps not present at all..

Using the world mini-map, Yeo-woon could see a blue silhouette indicating a party member approaching. He quickly stood up from his seat and prepared to greet Earth Star.

However, the Earth Star that appeared in front of Yeo-woon abruptly stopped and just stared at him for a long time. Yeo-woon had greeted them earlier, did he need to do it again? A speech bubble appeared above Earth Star’s head just as Yeo-woon was about to start a conversation.

[Party] Ji9star: Hey, why are you so weak…[trembling]

[Party] neutaaaa: ?

[Party] Ji9star: ㅇㅅㅇ?

[Party] Ji9star: Did you join without seeing the party introduction?

Party introduction? Was there such a thing? Yeo-woon went back into the party matching window, found the guild recruitment post, and clicked on it. When he clicked on the party title, along with the “Join Party” button, the party introduction written by the user appeared. It seemed to be referring to that.

The introduction was simple and straightforward:

‘200LV↑/Active players/Interview required/Daily guild quests/Ranked battles participation mandatory’

Yeo-woon hadn’t read it closely before, so he didn’t know there were conditions. The first guild he joined accepted him immediately after expressing his intention to join. Although they all left later, and the guild became a ghost guild, Yeo-woon confirmed that among the conditions set by this guild, the level requirement was not met. He had just crossed the 120th level mark.

[Party] neutaaaa: Ah, I just saw it nowㅠㅠ

[Party] Ji9star: Haha

[Party] neutaaaa: Too bad… ㅜㅜ

[Party] Ji9star: Yes haha

[Party] neutaaaa: But

[Party] neutaaaa: I think I’ll hit level 200 soon.

[Party] Ji9star: Hahaha?

[Party] neutaaaa: I reached level 50 in one day, isn’t it cool?

[Party] Ji9star: ??

[Party] neutaaaa: I stayed up all night

[Party] Ji9star: ?

[Party] neutaaaa: Can’t we negotiate about the level requirement? lol

[Party] Ji9star: ????????

It was just a casual joke, but it seemed like Earth Star wasn’t the kind of person who would take such jokes lightly. The reaction from the other side was not very positive, and Yeo-woon ended up feeling embarrassed. As he was about to hover the mouse over the party withdrawal button, a speech bubble appeared above Earth Star’s head.

[Party] Ji9star: Do you like me?

“…?”

[Party] Ji9star: LOL

[Party] Ji9star: Hey

[Party] Ji9star: Why do you keep following me?

“… Eh?”

Who’s following who? …Me? Him?

Yeo-woon was at a loss for words and stared at the monitor for a while. Since there was no answer, the Earth Star laughed again, ‘LOL’.

[Server] Ji9star: 3ch >neutaaaa< Whoever the fastest to kill him wins 100 million

“Huh…?”

What’s going on here? This message looked different from the previous ones. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like Earth Star had used the server mic. Looking at the bold letters at the beginning, it appeared that he had sent the same message to the entire server using the server mic.

[Whispering] Mustard Ketchup Chicken Rice: Huh?

[Whispering] Berry Strawberry: Where are you?

[Whispering] Mustard Ketchup Chicken Rice: Huh?

[Whispering] Atil: What did you do wrong again? Lol

[Whispering] Mustard Ketchup Chicken Rice: Huh?

[Whispering] Mustard Ketchup Chicken Rice: Huh?

[Whispering] Mustard Ketchup Chicken Rice: Huh?

People he didn’t know were sending him whispers rapidly. In the guild zone, there was a system that allowed users to engage in PVP combat with each other without requesting it, and if you died in the guild zone, you received a death penalty unless you had a “Resurrection Mark” item.

Not long after the whispers started pouring in, users with rainbow-colored outfits began flying over and attacking Yeo-woon relentlessly. When he heard the sounds of their flashy attacks, Yeo-woon quickly used a potion and tried to escape from the guild zone. He pressed the right arrow key, but he was bound by a user using a binding skill and couldn’t move. He was beaten mercilessly.

“You have died. Would you like to resurrect in the nearest town?”

Yeo-woon looked at the screen blankly after seeing that his character’s eyes had turned into X’s and some of his experience points had been lost due to the death debuff.

[Global] Berry Strawberry: Woohoo, I got the kill! ^^v

[Global] Douner: ?

[Global] 101112: Ah, too late, Kavi.

“What, I’m really dead?”

Yeo-woon muttered absently. He couldn’t quite grasp what had just happened.

[Global] Douner: Berry, you little b***h, lol

[Global] Douner: I’m the one who chipped away all of that person’s blood.

[Global] Donner: He just got the last hit, lol.

[Global] Ji9stars: ㅇㅅㅇ haha

[Global] Douner: Wow, no matter how much I think about it, this isn’t it.

[Global] Douner: If you have a conscience, step down on your own

[Global] Berry Strawberry: Why are you saying I only got the last hit? lol I was the first one here

[Global] Douner: You have no proof, so just back off?

[Global] Berry Strawberry: Seriously? Then maybe you should’ve tried harder to get the last hit?

[Global] Douner: Hey, if you say so

[Global] Douner: Let’s split it 7:3. I am 7 you are 3

[Global] Douner: Deal?

Douner and Berry Strawberry were making a deal over Yeo-woon’s death. Yeo-woon, the person in question, remained silent.

[Global] Berry Strawberry: It sounds like a bullshit deal haha.

[Global] Berry Strawberry: If we report this as bad manners, my name will be the only one in the logs.

[Global] Berry Strawberry: Then I’ll be the only one facing penalties, lol.

[Global] Berry Strawberry: Then isn’t it just a benefit to you?