TGMND 62

Before heading upstairs, Yeo-woon glanced toward the residents’ mailboxes to see if he could pick up the mail that had accumulated, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of a stranger. On this sweltering summer day, someone was rummaging through the 902 mailbox while wearing a black hoodie pulled low.

“Hello.”

“…”

Thinking the person might be a resident, Yeo-woon approached and greeted him, but the stranger only flinched without looking back. Yeo-woon stared at him for a moment and then realized something.

“Did you used to live at 902?”

“Huh?”

Occasionally, mail addressed to someone other than Yeo-woon arrived at his unit. It seemed to be for the previous occupant, who might have missed updating their address.

“I recently moved into 902. I’ve been putting any misdelivered ones in the return bin but…”

Yeo-woon glanced down at the mail in the man’s hands. It seemed he was going through them one by one, and it was filled with credit card bills and advertising flyers with Yeo-woon’s name on them.

“Can I take a look for a moment?”

Yeo-woon practically snatched the mail from the man and started flipping through, intending to find any non-addressed to himself to give back.

Lee Yeo-woon, Lee Yeo-woon, Subscriber Lee Yeo-woon, what? These are all mine. Lee Yeo-woon, Lee Yeo-woon, Mr. Lee Yeo-woon, Customer Lee Yeo-woon…. Yoon Ji-gu?

“Doesn’t seem like there were any misdeliveries, are you looking for specific mail? If you leave me your number, I can contact you when any arrives.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Or should I forward it to you? What’s your address?”

“I said it’s fine.”

The man shoved past Yeo-woon’s shoulders with his own and hurriedly exited the building. Yeo-woon wondered what the rush was – as soon as the man left the building, he pulled his cap low and seemed to run off. Must be shy. Yeo-woon turned with a dazed expression and put the mail for Yoon Ji-gu back into the 901 box.

The mailman probably made a sorting mistake in their haste. Anyone can make mistakes.

***

‘neutaaaa has logged in.’

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: Hello~^^

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Hi hi hi

[Guild] al0ha: Hi

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: You’re early, aren’t you?

[Guild] Ji9moon: Hi

[Whisper] Ji9moon: You’re late.

He was not too late, was he? Logging in within 30 minutes after the last message was pretty quick. Yeo-woon muttered to himself as he dried his slightly damp hands with a towel.

The guildmates were gathered in the guild room playing around. CatMeowMeowMeow watering the crops, Halloween plucking the grown crops, and ParkRoach sitting and fishing….

[Guild] Ji9moon: So slow

‘Ji9moon has logged off.’

‘Ji9star has logged in.’

[Guild] Ji9star: So fast lol

Returning to his speed-optionalized main character, Earth Star darted around the guildroom at a speed that made it impossible to see his character properly. Like a pesky fly. So annoying…. Yeo-woon shook his head as he watched Earth Star.

[Couple] Ji9star: Unlock your equipment

Yeo-woon changed the equipment viewing permissions to “all” as Earth Star requested. Although his equipment didn’t have any outstanding options, he had restricted viewing access because everyone else did, so he thought he should too.

[Couple] Ji9star: Can I ask you a question>_<?

[Couple] Ji9star: What did you do at the cafe?

[couple] neutaaaa: How’s my equipment?

[Couple] Ji9star: I mean, what were you doing that you came so late? Were you hesitant about coming up? Is that why? lol

What does it matter.

[Couple] neutaaaa: I’ll run a round with my current equipment. I just need to be careful with skill cancellations, right?

[Couple] Ji9star: lol ignoring me as you wish, huh?

Well, he wasn’t even worth dealing with. Moreover, Earth Star was bound to ramble on however Yeo-woon reacted, so the best answer was to ignore him somewhat. Earth Star muttered about Yeo-woon’s bad personality and how he’d regret it later, but as always, Yeo-woon didn’t bother responding at all. Earth Star’s meaningless chatter was practically daily background noise, almost like visual ASMR.

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: Well, it looks like we’re all here, so why don’t we start a practice game?

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Yep

Captain Poseidon spoke to the NPC and selected the Siege practice mode. The team was arbitrarily divided by him.

Yeo-woon was on the same side as Earth Star, and on the other side were the KingSaber Halloween Eggplant and CatMeowMeowMeow. The guild room filled with a gentle green glow was illuminated by red lights.

[You have selected Practice Guild PVP Siege ver. (Isis). Points earned in practice mode will not be reflected in guild rankings.]

[Moving to the event map.]

[Party] Captain Poseidon: I thought it would be a good idea to familiarize ourself with the Siege meta first.

[Party] Captain Poseidon: Let’s do about three rounds? We’ll start by testing the efficiency of the building placements.

[Party] ParkRoach: What? I went to brush my teeth and came back to this

[Party] Captain Poseidon: We haven’t started yet, lol.

Earth Star began destroying small bricks floating around the map. The guild’s castle that needed protecting would automatically be constructed as the bricks were destroyed.

The issue was the subsidiary buildings.

The supply depot, which produced small robots to assist in attacks, and the hospital building, which increased the healer’s efficiency and gradually restored all guild members’ health, were crucial in determining victory. Yeo-woon had watched a recorded battle by another guild, where they focused solely on the supply depot, neglecting the hospital, and barely won.

However, the strategy used by the other guild wasn’t necessarily the best. As many pointed out, their high casualty rate led to a narrow victory by just two points. Yeo-woon decided that even a low-level hospital was essential.

[Party] Captain Poseidon: Let’s upgrade the hospital building to Level 2 first. ParkRoach, please check the heal difference.

[Party] ParkRoach: Got it~!

[party] neutaaaa: Fighting Cockroache!

[Party] ParkRoach: Picking a fight?

[party] al0ha: Lol lol lol

Poor innocent Yeo-woon, who only meant to cheer him on, closed his mouth. Actually, it was intentional… But it was still absurd how he got riled up every time someone called him ParkRoach despite choosing that nickname himself.

The defense team, including Captain Poseidon, remained near the citadel and began discussing how to set up supply stations and hospitals. As soon as the construction of the citadel was complete, Earth Star threw himself against the gates, seemingly eager for the battle to begin. It was almost comical to see him bouncing up and down as if he couldn’t keep still for a moment.

[The battle has begun!]

Just like last Sunday, a loud trumpet sounded. Yeo-woon turned his back on the defense team, who were studying the efficiency of building placements, and started running after Earth Star. Everyone had their own goals for the practice game; for Yeo-woon, it was to “die as little as possible.”

[Ji9star has begun attacking the enemy castle!]

Earth star, moving much faster than everyone else, had already reached the enemy’s territory. The durability of their castle was visibly being chipped away. The weakness of Valkyries was simple – while they had strong single-target damage, they were also easy to avoid. Yeo-woon dodged an incoming chain from CatMeowMeowMeow, only to get hit by Halloween Eggplant’s fist, his body twisting from the impact.

Yeo-woon hid behind ParkRoach, bewildered that his health had been cut in half so quickly. He continued to hit the health potion shortcut.

[Party] ParkRoach: ?What the heck

While the potion cools down, Halloween Eggplant shielded CatMeowMeowMeow as he used that opportunity to bind ParkRoach and Yeo-woon together, inflicting poison damage. ParkRoach hurriedly tried to use a dispel skill but before he could heal, the dealer meant to protect him was chugging potions behind him, leaving ParkRoach to fall on the battlefield without being able to use it.

‘ParkRoach has died. 20 seconds until resurrection…’

‘neutaaaa has died. 20 seconds until resurrection…’

[All] Halloween: What are you guys doing? lololololololol

[Party] ParkRoach: Damn it lololololololol

It had all happened so fast. Yeo-woon let out a hollow laugh as he watched the black-and-white screen while waiting to revive.

[Party] Ji9star: ?

[Party] ParkRoach: lololololololol

[Party] ParkRoach: I’ve never seen a dealer use a healer like this before.

[Party] Captain Poseidon: Why?

[Party] ParkRoach: Hahahaha Neuta used me as a shield and chugged potions alone;

[Party] neutaaaa: I only drank two!

[Party] Captain Poseidon: ….

[Party] Ji9star: lolololol

[Party] Ji9star: lolololololol

[Party] ParkRoach: I was a fool to trust you to protect meㅜㅜ

[Party] Ji9star: Lol lol lol

[Party] neutaaaa: No, I was just really flustered…

Being flustered is no excuse. Yeo-woon resolved to never hide behind the healer again from the next round. After that, he played diligently without hiding behind anyone, but the report after the practice game ended was disastrous. Out of both teams combined, Yeo-woon had the highest number of deaths.

[Party] ParkRoach: Lol lol lol

Even the healer, ParkRoach, laughed at the aftermath. Bad cockroach…. Yeo-woon was in shock.

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: Looks like your equipment has no defense stats

[Guild] Ji9star: Yeah, you’ll die less if you change your equipment.

Still, it seemed like too many deaths to just blame on equipment. It felt like he was just a burden last week too. After a moment of hesitation, Yeo-woon asked.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Should I just sit out this Sunday?ㅜㅜ

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: What? If we were going to drop you for being bad, we wouldn’t have accepted you as a guild member. So you must participate.

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Agreed!

[Guild] al0ha: Agreed!

[Guild] neutaaaa: You’re saying I’m bad…. ㅠㅠ

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: ….

[Guild] neutaaaa: Guess I amㅠㅠㅠ

[Guild] al0ha: Lol lol lol

[Guild] al0ha: Lol lol lol lol lol

[Guild] al0ha: Fainting from laughter….

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: It’s better to get hit instead lol

[Guild] ParkRoach: Gentle violence

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Our Guild Leader can’t actually say what he doesn’t mean, you know?

Even so, Yeo-woon didn’t want to be a burden causing the team to lose because of him… While he may not be helpful, he didn’t want to be a nuisance. Everyone was laughing it off, but Yeo-woon couldn’t laugh. Noticing Yeo-woon’s silence, Ji9star called out to him.

[Guild] Ji9star: Neu-nim, how long have you been playing Little forest?

[Guild] neutaaaa: Around 2 years? Maybe…

Yeo-woon tried counting with his fingers. It seemed like around 2 years. He didn’t remember exactly though…

[Guild] Ji9star: But why don’t you know the most important thing about the game?

[Guild] neutaaaa: ??

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: What is it, skill?

[Guild] neutaaaa: ㅠㅠ

[Guild] al0ha: lol lol lol

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Neu-nim, you’ve been punched in the face again

[Guild] Ji9star: Bad Cat;

[Guild] Ji9star: More important than skill. You can’t game for long without this no matter how skilled

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Personality?

[Guild] ParkRoach: Nah, that’s something only I have

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: ? Then everyone except me should quit the game.

[Guild] al0ha: Seems like I’m the only one with personality here? haha

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: I wonder if any of you have a conscience… except me^^;

The guild members started bragging about their personality. CatMeowMeowMeow said he picked up trash on the side of the road again today, ParkRoach said he called his parents today, and Halloween Eggplant said he’s just naturally good. But to Yeo-woon, he seemed to be the only one with real personality.

[Guild] Ji9star: Not skill x Not personality x

[Guild] Ji9star: It’s blaming others

[Guild] ParkRoach: Ahahahahahaha

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: It’s essential….

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: It’s makes sense

[Guild] neutaaaa: But I still feel like we lost because of meㅜㅜ

[Guild] Ji9star: Not “we lost because of me” (X) “We lost because of that dumb@$$ noob”(O)

[Guild] Ji9star: Try it

Try it? How… Yeo-woon wasn’t good at blaming others. He typed into the chat without hesitation.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Ah, lol. I died because that puny cockroach with low HP didn’t function properly as a shield lol.

[Guild] ParkRoach: ?

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Nailed it;

[Guild] Ji9star: Lol lol lol lol

[Guild] al0ha: Great learning ability

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Damn lololololol

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: I’ll add this to the guild announcement.

Everyone encouraged Yeo-woon except for ParkRoach. Yeo-woon realized that blaming others made him feel better and more comfortable. Shortly after, ‘Always blame others’ was added to the guild notice. Feeling much improved, Yeo-woon regained her calm.

[Guild] Ji9star: Gotta go

‘Ji9star has logged out.’