TWKH Ch11

Raterre was such a famous game that even people who weren’t interested in gaming had likely heard about it through the news at least once. If you mentioned Caplet, people would respond with, “What’s that?” but when you said Raterre, 95 out of 100 people would nod and say, “Ah, that one.”

Whenever someone asked Jehyun if he played games, he always said Raterre. It wasn’t because he was embarrassed about Caplet; rather, it was to avoid potentially grabbing someone by the collar when they inevitably asked, “That dead game is still around?”

“Oh, Raterre?”

Ha Baekyung’s reaction was no different. Tilting his head slightly as he echoed the name, Ha Baekyung raised one corner of his mouth and ran a hand through his hair. Lowering his gaze, he soon picked up his glass and asked Jehyun again.

“On the Asia server? I play Raterre, too.”

The tricky thing about using Raterre as a cover was that it was so famous, a lot of people actually played it. Jehyun gave a half-hearted laugh, furrowing his brow and rolling his eyes.

“Oh, what was it… was it Centaurus?”

There was a set answer for moments like this. Raterre operated servers by continent, and Centaurus was a non-PVP server notorious for its lack of players. Mentioning that server usually dampened people’s interest in Jehyun, who they then assumed was a peaceful, non-combative player.

At Jehyun’s response, Ha Baekyung’s eyebrows also drooped in apparent disappointment.

“Centaurus? Sunbae, you don’t like PVP?”

“Yeah, I hate PVP… Fighting with people I don’t even know, trash-talking—it’s so childish, don’t you think? And I’m not even good at it.”

“I see.”

Ha Baekyung nodded, eyebrows raised, as if he had expected Jehyun’s answer. Then he added with a faint smile, “You look like you’d be really good at games, though. Surprising.”

…?

If this were a game, Jehyun felt like he’d be typing a question mark in the chat right about now. That’s how absurd the comment felt.

As much as he hated to admit it as a hardcore gamer, society didn’t have a great perception of gamers. Among men, saying someone looked like they were good at games was almost a declaration of war.

“I look like I’d be good at games?”

“Yes. A lot.”

Thinking he might’ve misheard, Jehyun asked again, but Baekyung just smiled brightly and nodded.

Though he had a bit of a delinquent look, Jehyun knew he was handsome. So hearing this, he couldn’t help but think, Is he picking a fight with me?

Shin Jehyun stared directly at Baekyung, who was still smiling with his eyes narrowed, and decided to return the compliment.

“Really? You look like you’d be great at games, too. Ha ha ha. Judging by your looks, you could be a total gaming addict… though that’s probably not the case.”

“Oh, really? Thanks for the compliment,” Baekyung responded with a wide smile, clearly pleased. Seeing his reaction, Jehyun’s brief suspicion faded.

From the way he smiled at the term “gaming addict,” it seemed like Baekyung didn’t actually know what it meant. Yeah, it made sense. A good-looking, popular guy like him probably didn’t know much about games. He probably just dabbled in Raterre because it was famous. Maybe he even took “gaming addict” to mean someone highly skilled at the technical aspects of games.

Watching Baekyung’s innocent demeanor, Jehyun let his guard down and laughed, asking, “So, how long have you been playing Raterre? Have you been at it long?”

“Actually, I haven’t been playing for very long. I’m still not that familiar with it. What about you, Sunbae?”

“…Me neither.”

As he thought, Baekyung was just a casual player. Still, Jehyun was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected a guy who looked so polished and put together to play Raterre. Then again, the game was so popular that even people like him were drawn in. Jehyun felt a slight pang of jealousy, thinking how Raterre attracted popular, well-adjusted people, unlike the misfit crowd of Caplet.

…No, Caplet, you’re a great game. Don’t compare. Jehyun sipped his lemon soju and glanced at Baekyung, who was drinking water in front of him.

This was only their second time meeting, but Ha Baekyung had already made a great impression on Jehyun. From his glimpses of Baekyung’s personality, speech, and polite behavior, there wasn’t anything he didn’t like about him. Knowing Baekyung played games made Jehyun curious.

What’s this guy like behind the keyboard? A little tipsy and with his guard lowered, Jehyun wondered how nice it would be to have a well-behaved newbie like Baekyung in his Guild. He cautiously asked, “So, besides Raterre, do you play any other games? Like League of Legends, Overwatch, or… what was it? Caplet? I heard that’s a thing, too.”

This much should fly under the radar, he thought, casually throwing in Caplet among other game titles. As expected, Baekyung gave a subtle smile and glanced at Jehyun.

“Caplet?”

“Yeah, wasn’t that popular back when I was a freshman? I don’t play it anymore, but I did for a bit back then… I guess younger people don’t know it these days?”

Jehyun’s expression was perfectly natural as he said this, like a parent suddenly asking their child about some long-forgotten fad from ten years ago.

It might’ve come off a bit old-fashioned, but that made it all the more convincing. Confident, Jehyun watched for Baekyung’s reaction. And Baekyung’s reply was…

“Sunbae, who plays that dead game these days?”

He struck a nerve. Baekyung’s offhand diss of Caplet caused Jehyun to freeze.

No matter how much he cursed at it a hundred times a day, calling Caplet a garbage game he hated with a passion, Jehyun loved Caplet. Sure, the management was terrible, the lag was awful, and there were no updates to speak of, but in Jehyun’s eyes, no game was as fun as Caplet.

But calling it a dead game? That was too much. Jehyun bit his lip and, after a moment’s pause, said to Baekyung, “Baekyung, calling a game that people worked hard to make a dead game… isn’t that a bit harsh? I mean, dozens, maybe even hundreds of people probably put their efforts into making that game. Don’t you think you should be kinder with your words?”

“You’re right, maybe I was a bit harsh. But it’s still dead, isn’t it…?”

Even though Jehyun tried to gently correct him, Ha Baekyung furrowed his brows, as if acknowledging his mistake, but then once again irritated Jehyun.

“It’s not… dead. It’s probably still being serviced.”

Dead? Jehyun couldn’t tolerate the spread of such baseless rumors and retorted.

“It’s just a figurative expression. If a game doesn’t even rank in the top 50 in PC cafés, we consider it dead.”

“Do you really have to play games at a PC café? There are plenty of people who play at home. Judging a game’s success based solely on PC café rankings is a very narrow-minded way of thinking.”

“There’s a saying, ‘You can see the forest by looking at the trees^[1],’ right? Other games tend to show a similar trend between PC café rankings and player counts, so it’s unlikely Caplet would be an exception. With that few players, I don’t think there’s any other word to describe Caplet but ‘dead.'”

“Why would you say it’s dead? There are other ways to put it. Like, ‘It has few users.’ ‘Player activity is scarce.’ ‘Caplet players are a rare breed.’ If you rephrase it, it doesn’t sound so bad. I didn’t realize you were so into negative expressions.”

“…”

At Jehyun’s irritated response, Ha Baekyung went quiet for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing. His clear laughter rang in Jehyun’s ears.

Laughing? You find this funny?

Narrowing his eyes, Jehyun glared at Ha Baekyung. He was about to tell him to take back what he said about the game being dead, forgetting in his drunken state that he was trying to keep his gaming habits under wraps. But at that moment, his junior and Seo Eunjae returned.

“What’s so funny? You guys seem to have really hit it off. Is someone making a move?”

Jehyun’s alcohol-soaked mind was wavering dangerously. His attention quickly shifted to Seo Eunjae. There’s a saying that gays can always spot each other, and Jehyun was getting suspicious of Seo Eunjae, who kept making strange comments. Squinting at him, Jehyun answered.

“Of course, it’s me. You’re next.”

“You have no idea what you’re saying, Shin Jehyun. If you want a shot at me, take a number.”

Seo Eunjae’s comeback made Jehyun laugh, even though it wasn’t really funny. The idea of Seo Eunjae talking about waiting in line was hilarious. As Jehyun chuckled, Ha Baekyung, who had been laughing as well, chimed in.

“Sunbae, there’s no ‘next.’ If you date me, you have to marry me. I’m a firm believer in no premarital stuff.”

That ridiculous comment made Jehyun, who had been half leaning on his hand, smile at Baekyung. His old social tendencies, which had once almost led him into alcoholism during his freshman year, were slowly resurfacing.

Jehyun grinned, seeing Baekyung’s playful response to his joke.

“Oh, really? That’s a bit too much pressure.”

“Man, Baekyung is a catch. You should be grateful. What’s this talk about pressure?”

“Is that so? Yeah, you’re right. It’s more than I deserve.”

Jehyun, still laughing, had almost entirely forgotten about Baekyung’s earlier comment about Caplet being dead. He was now simply enjoying the lighthearted banter.

Turning to Baekyung, he said in a casual tone, “If you’re serious about it, give me a call. Got it?”

“Jehyun, is it okay if I throw up?”

That random question from Seo Eunjae made everyone laugh again. Shin Jehyun, now on the borderline between rational and irrational, was letting out loud, careless laughter.

“Damn, this guy’s wasted, huh? Everyone, Jehyun’s blacked out tonight. He’s covering the tab, so eat and drink as much as you want!”

“Wow! I’m still hungry!”

Seizing the moment, Seo Eunjae grabbed Jehyun’s card when he realized how drunk Jehyun was. The drinking continued long into the night, and at some point, Jehyun blacked out, completely forgetting everything that had happened.

—

The semester was about to start. Having successfully registered for classes with Seo Eunjae, Shin Jehyun was now doing daily quests in preparation for the server merge that would happen when the semester began.

Stupid server lag. Jehyun was muttering curses at Caplet out of habit when he glanced at the chat window in the corner of the screen.

[Guild] Contempt: I checked the other server with my alt account, and they’ve got Guilds like Hell and the Four Heavenly Kings racking up over 50,000 points. Shouldn’t we recruit more people?

[Guild] Habaek: Both of those Guilds dominate the field raids. Once the server merge happens, we’ll be taking over their all-clears, so the points won’t be that different.

[Guild] Habaek: Just think of it as us taking 30,000 of their points.

[Guild] Habaek: The issue is leveling alts, but everyone’s raising at least one alt a week anyway.

[Guild] Healer: Yeah, no need to worry. The only reason our points are low is that we haven’t been able to take the field raids yet.

[Guild] Healer: Once we get that field boss-stealer on our side, we’ll win.

[Guild] Habaek: Thanks for the compliment, vice Guild leader.^^

[Guild] Healer: With a hardcore gamer like you, why worry?

[Guild] Habaek: Haha, it’s embarrassing hearing that from a legend in the gaming community.😭

Would you still be able to smile like that if I punched you in the face? Jehyun glared at Habaek’s chat. Suddenly, a strange sense of déjà vu made him furrow his brows.

It felt like something similar had happened before. Someone had accepted a ridiculous compliment just like that… but who?

No matter how much he thought about it, no face came to mind. Was he confusing Habaek with someone else? Jehyun stared at the black-robed character standing next to him and shook his head to clear the distracting thoughts, checking the time.

8:25 PM. The field raid boss would respawn soon.

[Guild] Healer: Everyone, come to the citadel at 8:30.

[Guild] Healer: Fire resistance potions are a must.

[Guild] SpellChecker: Got it.

[Guild] Contempt: Yep.

[Guild] Healer: Seriously, how the hell do we only have 4 members online after merging the Guilds?

[Guild] Contempt: We need to recruit more… 8ㅅ8..

[Guild] Habaek: We’ll have to see how things go after the server merge.^^

[Guild] Healer: Does that mean we’ll lose the first phase of the Hall of Fame?

[Guild] Healer: I’m already pissed just thinking about it.

If a Guild maintained the #1 rank for four consecutive weeks, they could place their Guild flag in the Hall of Fame at the Guild House. In front of the Hall of Fame stood a history book, and it recorded the names of the Guilds that held the #1 position for more than four weeks.

Interestingly, there was only one name listed in the history book of the Countess server: the Guild DK, which existed in the early days of the server.

No Guild had entered the Hall of Fame since DK. For over four years, Jangji and Neungdong had been in constant competition, preventing any Guild from maintaining the #1 rank for more than four weeks. It was easy to understand how fiercely the two Guilds had been keeping each other in check.

To make it to the first phase of the Hall of Fame, we’d need to recruit more members, right? Jehyun thought this as he pressed Alt+Tab and minimized Caplet, switching to Caplet Vendor.

38 new posts. Caplet Vendor was bustling these days. With the news that Flex had acquired Cass, new players were joining Caplet in droves.

“Hey, I’m new here. Which server should I choose? Is Countess okay?”

“Not really.”

Comments (4)

Anonymous 1: Countess is a dead server; it takes over an hour to form a party. Go for Cullin or Maverick.

└ Oh, are those the popular servers? Thanks!

Anonymous 2: Yeah, parties on Cullin or Maverick take 20-30 minutes tops.

└ What? Is this like a small town vs. a big city? Are there actually people there? How do you even party up?

Of course, the Countess server wasn’t even considered by new players.

Whenever they asked about it on Caplet Vendor, the answer was always that it was a dead server. Some who unknowingly created a level 1 character would see the deserted starting area and quietly delete their character.

While new players were joining other servers, the only ones left in the low-level zones of Countess were veteran players raising alts to increase Guild points. Although the Guild leader had posted a recruitment message on Caplet Vendor, there hadn’t been any response.

—

Recruiting new Guild members for Countess Guild.

Hello, I’m Boss12MoreHours, Guild leader of the Countess Guild.

We proudly have several top-tier rankers in Caplet, and we’re currently recruiting new members for the Countess Guild.

The Countess Guild was formed by the merger of the former Neungdong PC Bang 500 Won Per Hour Guild and the former Funeral Director Guild. We are home to several server rankers, including the #1 Priest Healer, #1 Time Thief Habaek, #1 Chain Swordsman Contempt, #1 Swordsman SpellChecker, #6 Lancer Sangjae, and #10 Elementalist BeoseotTangsuYuk.

We welcome players who wish to deepen their understanding of their class or players who want to experience more than just regular dungeons and enjoy Caplet’s content more fully!

The requirements for joining are as follows:

1. Either a max-level Caplet player, or a new player who has reached max level in another game and experienced end-game content. (Verification required)
2. A player with a competitive spirit who can’t tolerate losing to other Guilds/Parties.
3. Someone who enjoys long-term Guild competition content and plans to stay with Caplet for the long run.
4. A player interested in war and PvP content.

If you meet even one of these conditions, don’t hesitate! Message Boss12MoreHours, Sangjae, or Healer, or send us a whisper.^^ You can join after a simple interview.

+Although Countess is currently the server with the fewest players, after the server merge in March, we’ll all be playing on the same server, so server choice won’t matter. We look forward to your interest!

—

Of course, the response wasn’t great.

Comments (15)

Anonymous 1: Wow! I heard there are insane game addicts who merged with their enemy Guild after the server merge!

Anonymous 2: I’m dying to know what they were thinking… How did they decide to merge after fighting each other for four years? Seriously, sometimes when I see them fighting in the battlegrounds chat, I can’t believe they merged.

└ Gamers’ minds are beyond normal people’s understanding.

└ Nah, even as a hardcore player, their level is something else.

└ It’s hilarious though. I heard they used to fight like crazy in the battlegrounds, but would quietly dungeon together while leveling alts.

└ Yeah, that’s what it takes to survive on a dead server.

Anonymous 3: Cass really messed up with this one.

└ Yep, Yiyoung needs to apologize.

└ They’re the monsters Yiyoung created.

Anonymous 4: Could you even dungeon with them? Amazing.

Anonymous 5: I kind of get it, though. It’s like imagining a Korea-China-Japan merge. Of course, we’d side with North Korea.

└ Dude, that makes too much sense, which is disturbing.

└ I don’t want to understand gamer logic, but I kind of do after hearing that…

Anonymous 6: The name of the enemy Guild is so lame;;

└ Yeah, what kind of name is that? Sounds like a local community center.

—

Jehyun read the comments with a sour expression and furiously typed on his keyboard.

Anonymous 7: If you’re not joining, don’t comment.

But he couldn’t bring himself to hit the submit button, so he pressed backspace and deleted everything. Instead, he wrote, “You can get your questions answered if you join the Guild,” and posted that.

The game nerds lurking in the Caplet forums were undoubtedly all flawed individuals like Habaek, but every person counted. Even if they smelled rotten, you had to welcome them with open arms.

“Isn’t there a decent newbie out there somewhere?” Jehyun, wearing a sullen expression, Alt-Tabbed back into Caplet.

As soon as he returned to the game, a speech bubble popped up on his screen. It was from Habaek, who stood beside Jehyun’s character.

Instead of responding, Shin Jehyun moved his mouse to zoom in on the screen. He observed Habaek’s character, with his slicked-back silver hair and black robes, before slowly responding.

Healer: “Why do you keep talking to me in direct messages?”

Habaek: “You blocked whispers, remember? ^^”

Habaek: “Are you going to unblock me?”

Healer: “No, I just don’t like seeing the word ‘whisper’ next to your name.”

[Guild] Habaek: “Then I’ll just talk here ^^?”

[Guild] Habaek: “Do you know the exact respawn time for the field boss?”

[Guild] Contempt: “ㅇㅅㅇ.. Shouldn’t we ask if they’ve killed it first?”

[Guild] Healer: “Yeah, you’d know only if you’ve killed it.”

[Guild] Habaek: “Oh, you don’t know, do you? Heh.”

Jehyun frowned at the screen. “Don’t know?” Did Habaek mean that he knew?

[Guild] Healer: “You talk like you know everything, don’t you?”

Caplet’s field raid bosses appeared in designated locations and would disappear within 30 minutes if they weren’t defeated. It was an event-type monster.

If a field boss was defeated, a system message would appear. If not, the boss would vanish, and it wouldn’t appear again until the next scheduled maintenance. If players defeated the boss, it would respawn a few days later, but its exact respawn time was not publicly disclosed. Caplet didn’t release the information, and guilds that killed bosses on other servers kept the details private to maintain control over the raids.

Because Jehyun’s guild had never managed to kill the boss due to Jangji’s interference, he also had no idea about the respawn times. He had assumed Habaek, who had failed to kill the boss because of Neungdong, would be in the same situation.

Jehyun smirked slightly, pondering. Then, with a serious expression, he sent a whisper to Contempt.

[Whisper to Contempt]: “Honestly, I’ll cut you some slack.”

[Whisper to Contempt]: “Did Jangji kill the field boss while I was in the military?”

[Whisper from Contempt]: “ㅇㅅㅇ… This is why I hate sharp people.”

“Ugh…”

Before enlisting in the Marines, Jehyun had firmly instructed Contempt and the guild leader to prevent Jangji from killing the field boss at all costs.

Neungdong and Jangji had been sabotaging each other’s raids for years. It was a task Jehyun took seriously, setting alarms and ensuring that the other guild wouldn’t kill the boss. Sabotaging a raid for several minutes until the boss vanished wasn’t too difficult, and for a long time, the two guilds had blocked each other’s progress, following a “if I can’t have it, neither can you” mentality.

But while Jehyun was serving in the military, Contempt had failed in his duty, allowing Jangji to snatch the field boss. Feeling irritated, Jehyun sighed and invited Habaek to the party.

You have invited Habaek to the party.

Habaek has joined the party.

[Party] Healer: “So what’s the respawn time?”

[Guild] Habaek: “The respawn time is…”

[Party] Healer: “Dude, talk in party chat!!!”

[Guild] Contempt: “What’s the time?? ㅣㅅㅇ…”

As soon as Habaek tried to reveal information in guild chat, Jehyun frantically stopped him. The fewer people who knew this kind of valuable information, the better. While Jehyun trusted Contempt, there was a new player named SpellChecker in the guild chat, and Jehyun was wary of discussing sensitive details openly.

Seeing Jehyun’s urgent messages, Habaek burst into laughter, stepping closer to Jehyun’s character. He even did a laughing motion in-game before shrugging and finally replying.

[Party] Habaek: “If the boss dies during in-game daytime, it respawns 48 hours later.”

[Party] Habaek: “If it dies during in-game nighttime, it respawns 36 hours later.”

[Party] Healer: “Respawn time is death time +48/36?”

[Party] Habaek: “No, first hit time.”

[Party] Healer: “That’s such a pain…”

Jehyun began running a simulation in his mind. If the boss spawned on time, their party would likely take about 20 minutes to defeat it. Naturally, thoughts of other servers’ guilds crossed his mind.

Those guilds had more players, so they’d kill the boss much faster. While Habaek could kill the enemy guild’s healer, and SpellChecker and Sangjae could reset the boss’s aggro by running away, delaying the fight until the spawn window closed wasn’t too hard. But while sabotaging was feasible, actually defeating the boss was a different story.

Even without PvP, they couldn’t win against the other guilds’ sheer numbers. While skipping the field raid was an option, the guild points earned from killing a field boss were on par with those awarded for first dungeon clear achievements. Leaving any unknown factors out in the open wasn’t Jehyun’s style.

The only conclusion he could reach was that they needed to recruit more guild members, no matter what, in order to comfortably secure the top spot in the new server rankings.

But how could he possibly rebuild the guild’s terrible image and attract new players?

Given the current sentiment in Caplet’s forums, even after the servers merged, it seemed unlikely that any new members would want to join the Countess guild. The guild had nothing to boast about except for a surplus of top-ranked players. However, because the game had a relatively small player base, there were plenty of top 10 players (those ranked from 1st to 9th) in other guilds as well.

Of course, there was a significant difference between being ranked 1st and 2nd, but the average player wouldn’t understand that. For them, it didn’t matter whether a guild had the 1st or 2nd-ranked players. They would inevitably choose the guild with the better reputation over the one with a bad image.

[Guild] SpellChecker: Shall we be invited to the gathering?

[Guild] Contempt: Me too.

[Guild] Contempt: I was about to lead the party, but since I can’t invite anyone…

[Guild] Contempt: You two seem to be quite cozy… ㅇㅅㅇ

[Guild] SpellChecker: It seems the rumors are true.

[Guild] Contempt: Ugh… ㅇㅠㅇ;; Are we going to get wedding invitations from you two first?

While Jehyun was contemplating recruiting guild members, Contempt and SpellChecker arrived at the meeting point. Ignoring Contempt’s nonsense, Jehyun quickly invited them to the party.

Then, he mounted up. However, all the party members had the same mount. It was the bizarre-looking motorbike, nicknamed “Fake Bike,” which came from the “Raptor’s Swift Mount Box” six months ago, boasting a movement speed of 355. The drop rate was only 1.5%, and it was a bind-on-pickup item, so seeing everyone riding the same thing made Jehyun realize that they were all gaming fanatics. He consoled himself by thinking that, at least, he was the most normal among them.

[Party] Contempt: I can’t believe we’re finally catching this thing.

[Party] Habaek: Thanks to us, we caught it a lot.

[Party] Contempt: ㅡㅅㅡ Quiet, please…

[Party] Contempt: Or you’ll get scolded by him.

SpellChecker was generally quiet. It seemed like he wasn’t familiar enough with Korean to contribute more to the conversation. Just like in Neungdong, even after joining Countess Guild, the one who dominated the guild chat was Contempt. Surprisingly, Habaek often entertained Contempt’s nonsense.

Maybe their mental age was similar? Jehyun glanced at the guild info and confirmed that Habaek hadn’t written his age in the self-introduction section, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Everyone else—SaJang, Contempt, SpellChecker, and even Habaek’s brother, Sangjae—had listed their age as 27. The only ones with blank profiles were Jehyun and Habaek.

However, there was no time to ask about Habaek’s age. They quickly arrived at the location where the field boss respawned, near the fortress.

In the snowy plains with a view of Mallorca’s Grave, countless snow-covered fir trees stood in rows. Deer wandered lazily beneath the trees, and mutant raptors trailed behind them.

Amid the peaceful landscape, they spotted an area in the center of the plains where steam rose from the ground. The terrain had buckled upward, creating a clearing with deep craters scattered around. Approaching too closely would trigger a heat debuff from the lava pits, and falling into them would mean instant death.

[Party] Healer: 1 minute to spawn. Buff up and let’s go.

Using Shield of Salvation.

A Holy Shield protects the party.

Using Call to Battle.

The party is now under the gaze of the God of Destruction.

Attack power and speed have increased.

The four of them gathered around Jehyun to receive buffs as they stood at the edge of the clearing. Jehyun’s character, a priest clad in blue robes, knelt to pray, sending beams of light down from the sky to envelop the party members. Though the character’s kneeling animation resembled a rapid kick to the ground, it still felt slow to Jehyun.

After finishing the buffs, they consumed Flame Resistance Potions, which would last for 30 minutes. Just then, the screen transitioned to the field boss respawn cutscene.

“Kraaa! The Lord of Flames, Ragnarr, roared in fury.”

A familiar opening message flashed in the center of the screen. Since it couldn’t be skipped at first, Jehyun chewed on a lemon candy while watching the cutscene with a blank expression.

The video showed the underground of the clearing where they stood. Ragnarr, submerged in lava, opened his eyes, enraged by the falling snowflakes.

How is snow even falling there without melting? Jehyun thought, finding the setup ridiculous, as he repeatedly pressed the escape key. The cutscene skipped just as Ragnarr took flight, soaring above the ground.

Contrary to the fierce roar in the video, the respawned Ragnarr sat quietly in the clearing, wings folded, and its spiked tail wrapped around its feet like a cat.

[Party] Contempt: It looks cute no matter how many times I see it. ㅎㅅㅎ

[Party] Healer: It really does look like a cat, lol.

Jehyun agreed.

It didn’t take five minutes for them to realize that was a hasty judgment.

—

“Wow, damn it.”

Jehyun, in a dazed state, rapidly pressed his skills.

Using Sanctuary of Grace.

Using Step Back.

You dealt 270,000 damage to Lord of Flames Ragnarr.

You are paralyzed by Lord of Flames Ragnarr’s roar.

Lord of Flames Ragnarr is preparing to use a breath attack.

Jehyun had never actually seen Ragnarr’s attack patterns before, as their usual method of sabotaging Jangji’s raids involved mostly PvP, so he’d never watched Ragnarr transition through phases.

This was his first time properly forming a party to tackle Ragnarr, and despite his earlier expectations, the patterns were ridiculously difficult.

Jehyun wasn’t the only one overwhelmed. Contempt, also encountering Ragnarr for the first time, was struggling to deal damage properly while managing the chaotic skills.

Seeing Contempt’s damage output at the bottom of the meter, Jehyun couldn’t help but chuckle. His DPS was even lower than during their first attempt at the bombardment in Mallorca’s Grave.

After 30 minutes, Ragnarr would disappear back into the ground. But at this pace, there was no way they could defeat him in time.

[Party] Healer: This isn’t gonna work.

[Party] Healer: We’ll need to reset and turn on voice chat.