TGMND 88

On Saturday morning, several very large delivery boxes were piled up in front of Yoon Ji-gu’s house. Some of them had already been opened and disassembled, while others looked like they had just arrived.

“Did he buy new furniture?”

Yeo-woon wondered what Yoon Ji-gu could possibly need so much stuff for. Yeo-woon, who had just returned from the convenience store, tilted his head curiously before heading back to his own house. For the past few days, he would occasionally hear things falling when he opened his window. Maybe Yoon Ji-gu had taken an interest in rearranging his room.

He was curious about what was causing all the noise. Should he ask to see it later? Unlike his own place, the apartment next door had a loft. What was up there? He also wondered why someone living alone needed such a spacious place.

*

From Saturday morning, people were logging into the game and going about their tasks. Recently, with the “Bountiful Autumn” event launched ahead of Chuseok, the village looked more lively than ever. Like everyone else, Yeo-woon wandered around the village wearing an orange mushroom hat with white spots.

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: I’m gathering newbies for the dungeon in front of Horntail right now

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: I met people wearing the exact same clothes as Neuta-nim lolol

“……!”

Yeo-woon, who had been casually leaning back in his chair browsing the auction house, sat up straight at those words.

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Cat is being a sucker again lol. You’re helping newbies through the dungeon again?

[Guild] ParkRoach: Do you have that much free time? You should be farming mushrooms with that time instead

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: I probably farmed more than you, cockroach?

[Guild] ParkRoach: Doubt it.

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Pretty sure I did? How many do you have?

The two decided to compare the number of mushrooms they’d collected, as tracked in their quest logs. Halloween Eggplant counted down “3, 2, 1,” and the winner was CatMeowMeowMeow.

[Guild] ParkRoach: That’s impossible!!!

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Too bad~

[Guild] ParkRoach: How did you farm more than me when you’re just being a bus driver for newbies and not farming mushrooms?

[Guild] al0ha: Cat was farming mushrooms late into the night yesterday too lol. It’s nice to see someone playing the game so diligently

Recently, after hitting max level, CatMeowMeowMeow had started creating his own content to enjoy since there wasn’t much left to do. He enjoyed following around beginner players who had just started in the village, helping them level up and get accustomed to the game.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Cat, wait for me

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: lolol okay

And occasionally when CatMeowMeowMeow saw a cloaked newbie, he would call for Yeo-woon. Yeo-woon hurriedly withdrew money from the bank and headed to CatMeowMeowMeow’s location.

[Global] CatMeowMeowMeow: You’re here~

[Global] neutaaaa: yep

Upon arriving at the entrance of the beginner dungeon <Horntail’s Wrath>, two beginner characters wearing black cloaks were visible behind CatMeowMeowMeow. As soon as they saw Yeo-woon, they raised their fists in greeting, and Yeo-woon mimicked the action while initiating a trade.

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Neuta is giving money to the refugees again lol

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: There’s no stopping him even if you try…

[Guild] al0ha: Can’t believe our guild has two suckers lolololol

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: I’m just doing it cuz I’m bored and have nothing better to do~

How can you be bored enough to spend the whole day chauffeuring newbies around because you’re bored? Yeo-woon shook his head. There’s only one sucker in this guild. CatMeowMeowMeow. He was just showing goodwill to people he was glad to see, not handing out charity to all beginners.

Whenever the guild members witnessed Yeo-woon giving spending money to beginners, they teased him about being a billionaire, but he didn’t think of it that way. He wasn’t throwing his money around recklessly, and what he gave away was pocket change, not enough to hurt his wallet.

[Global] Forestspirit: Hehe thanks~

[Global] Forestspirit: I’ll use it well >w<!

[Global] neutaaaa: np np(No problem)

Yeo-woon handed over what he needed to and coolly used a town return capsule.

[Whisper] Forestspirit: Neu-nim, you came from Little Forest right?

[Whisper] neutaaaa: Yep lol

[Whisper] Forestspirit: I knew it lol. I also got the Spirit’s Cloak as soon as I started this game~

[Whisper] neutaaaa: lolololol same

He felt oddly happy again. In Little Forest 2, the item symbolizing veteran players was called the “Spirit’s Cloak”. And players who came over from that game wore the Black Cloack in Illusion, which looked the most similar.

[Whisper] Forestspirit: By the way, did you know? There’s a returning player event for Little Forest right now. If you play for just two hours, you get ten Eternal Herbs and even a cultural gift certificate, lol.

[Whisper] neutaaaa: Huh? Eternal Herbs?

[Whisper] Forestspirit: Yep lolololol

The Eternal Herb part caught his eye more than the gift card. Eternal Herbs, an item essential for raising stats at higher levels, were hard to obtain even with money due to lack of supply.

“…”

He felt oddly nostalgic even though he had quit the game. He’d deleted the game after losing interest, but now he was tempted to reinstall it. He hadn’t even sold off his items before quitting. His character had worked at the biggest restaurant on the server. He wondered if it was still there.

[Whisper] neutaaaa: Thanks for the info haha

[Whisper] Forestspirit: np have fun lol

Kindness really does come back around.

When Yeo-woon first started Illusion, he also received a lot of help from others. He was now paying forward the kindness he had received. Though he occasionally met strange people, most didn’t refuse free items. Yeo-woon felt really proud when he received thanks or saw how happy they were.

Just then, a notification sound pinged from his phone. It was the sound of a new message from HolBlue.

「Earth: Y」

He thought it might have been sent by mistake, but the “online” status was lit up next to Earth Star’s name. It was a request for a voice call. Earth Star probably wanted to complete the daily quests for the autumn event in the morning. Since the autumn gathering event applied to parties, it was more efficient to gather resources in a group.

-Hyung, are you there?

Earth Star called out as soon as Yeo-woon connected to HolBlue as if sensing his presence. His voice sounded more hoarse than usual. Hearing him cough mid-sentence confirmed it.

“You just woke up, didn’t you?”

-I stayed up late last night. Why are you nagging me first thing in the morning?

He didn’t particularly nag, but Earth Star got defensive on his own. Yeo-woon chuckled as Earth Star cleared his throat awkwardly.

-What about you?

“I woke up at eight.”

-Wow, you’re an early bird….

“No way. How is eight o’clock early?”

-Ah whatever. Hold on… I’m logging into the game. Wait a sec.

Earth Star said that as he made keyboard typing sounds. Not long after, a message popped up on the monitor saying Earth Star had logged in.

‘Ji9star has logged into the game.’

[Guild] Ji9star: Good morning! >_<

[Guild] neutaaaa: hi

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: It’s past noon though? It’s after 12

[Guild] Ji9star: lol Cat is always such a buzzkill

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Can’t you read a clock;;

[Guild] Ji9star: lol I don’t want to hear that from a middle school dropout >_>

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Even my 5-year-old cousin can read a clock lol

“Why are you fighting first thing in the morning again.”

Yeo-woon tried to stop them as the keyboard sounds got louder. Earth Star paused in dealing with CatMeowMeowMeow for a moment. Those two seemed to get along well sometimes, but they bickered often. At first, CatMeowMeowMeow would just endure it, but he must have caught it from Earth Star at some point, as he now fought back quite well. Whether this was a good change or not was unclear…

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Earth Star, did you just wake up?

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: hi hi

[Guild]J i9star: yep lol. Let’s do daily quests

‘Ji9star has invited you to a party. Do you accept?’

Yeo-woon immediately pressed accept, and soon Wandu Wandya and ParkRoach were also invited to the party. It was the same group that had been gathering mushrooms around the server yesterday evening.

Yeo-woon pressed F2 to change the gathering key. Using the gathering key he had mapped to the shift key, the mushroom in front of Yeo-woon popped off with a “pop” sound. With four people, if they start from Aquarium and make one round through all the worlds, the daily quests will be mostly finished.

-Yaaawn….

It was clear that Earth Star had called as soon as he woke up. Yeo-woon could faintly hear the sound of him yawning through his headset.

“Just sleep more if you’re sleepy.”

-I’d like to, but….

His sleepy tone trailed off at the end.

[Party] Wandu Wandya: Earth Star, did you eat breakfast?

[Party] Ji9star: Sort of

[Party] Wandu Wandya: Ok! No going AFK in the middle

[Party] Ji9star: lol

He thought Wandu Wandya was asking out of concern, but it was just telling him not to go AFK.

-I ate some bread…

“Suddenly?”

-In case you were curious.

Earth Star mumbled. Yeo-woon just played along, saying “I had fried rice.” If he didn’t, Earth Star would get sulky. The four people gathered in front of the Aquarium stone tower started running to the right by unspoken agreement. They always had to maintain an appropriate distance since party gatherings didn’t work if members were too far apart.

-Hyung. Eat the mushrooms that fall down below.

Yeo-woon ran below the flying Earth Star to pick up the purple mushrooms he dropped. Earth Star, wearing a mushroom hat, did a backflip and threw his spear at the mushroom monster that appeared in the field.

The event monster King Poison Mushroom had 0 attack power but a large health pool, so it didn’t die easily even with multiple people attacking it. Yeo-woon, who had been silently hitting the mushroom, suddenly had a question.

“Why didn’t you invite Wandu and Cockroach to the voice chat?”

-Ah…. Do we really need to?

“Should I ask them?”

-No.

Earth Star said firmly. And he quickly added:

-It’s just, ah, I only need to communicate with you… That’s why it’s not necessary. You’re always wandering off to weird places if I don’t tell you to come. The others do fine without being told.

“…”

-You’re not saying anything. Feeling guilty?

He was right. But that was just because Yeo-woon had a strong focus. Unlike other guild members who quickly skimmed the map, Yeo-woon had to meticulously pick up every visible mushroom to feel satisfied… That’s why he needed Earth Star to tell him, “Hyung, let’s move to the next map,” so he could finally catch up with the others.

-Meow.

“…?”

Yeo-woon was startled. …Earth Star suddenly made a cat sound in a thin voice. What’s he doing?

-Ah, go away. I already played with you.

Suddenly his voice became distant, and cat sounds mixed with Earth Star’s voice.

“Earth Star, do you have a cat?”

-…

Earth Star paused for a moment even though it wasn’t a big deal, then mumbled quietly, “Ah, yes. I do.”

“I like it too.”

-What?!

“Cats. Why are you so surprised?”

-Ah, …oh. Cats.

Who knows what’s going through his mind. Maybe he’s still not fully awake. Earth Star mumbled after fumbling with his words for a while:

-I do have one.

“Is that something you need to hesitate over? It must be cute.”

-I’m not sure if it’s cute, but it’s pretty big for a cat?

“…”

Yeo-woon was at a loss for words. That’s a strange way to compliment a cat – he’d never heard someone praise their cat like that before. When Yeo-woon just let out an “Ah…” without saying anything, Earth Star seemed to misinterpret it as agreement.

-It headbutted me this morning demanding food and woke me up. I wanted to sleep more but so rude…

And he started badmouthing the cat to Yeo-woon. The sound of a cat meowing in the distance mixed with his grumbling voice. Though he’d never raised a pet himself, just from the meows it sounded very cute.

[Party] ParkRoach: brb something came to the security office

The party that had been running smoothly was briefly paused by ParkRoach’s time-out. Earth Star said he was going to get some water and left, and Wandu Wandya also said he was going to the bathroom and disappeared. Left alone, Yeo-woon debated what to do before opening an internet browser after seeing the black cape flickering on his shoulders.

‘Little Forest 2’

He started downloading the game from the homepage he hadn’t seen in a long time.