TWKH Ch2

[Party] bohillercho: Is my love not enough for you, darling?

[Party] Habaek: Are you saying that the billion I spent on this bus was a waste?

[Party] bohillercho: Why do you always ask for so much? Ugh, it’s so annoying.

[Party] Habaek: Where did you throw away your conscience?

There was no communication between them. As they threw out only what they wanted to say, engaging in a battle of wills, SeongsudongKimJinwoo, who had realized bohillercho’s true identity, squinted and spoke up.

[Party] SeongsudongKimJinwoo: What’s going on here? Is this person a healer?

[Party] bohillercho: I’ll do better… Darling, please don’t ignore me… love you…

[Party] Habaek: I pampered you, and now you’re crossing the line again?

[Party] Habaek: Ugh, you’re disgusting, old man.

“I’m disgusted too, you bastard.”

Jehyun didn’t want to type such ridiculous things, but he would do anything to enjoy the game he had dedicated his life to in peace. He had already done all sorts of things to survive in a dying game, so saying “I love you” in a chat was nothing…

Jehyun pretended to gag while repeatedly calling out to Habaek, “Darling, darling…”

There was a reason he was saying things he didn’t mean. Habaek was like a leech that couldn’t be shaken off with a simple argument. In such situations, the fastest way to get Habaek to leave the party was to act like a pathetic lover, calling him “darling” and “whining.” Of course, this only worked in dungeons with minimal penalties for quitting.

Habaek might have been the top damage dealer not only in this party but in the entire server of Caplet, but that was fine. The dungeon bosses in Caplet adjusted their health based on the number of party members, so even if members left after entering, as long as the remaining ones knew the mechanics and could deal decent damage, clearing the dungeon wasn’t a big issue.

[Party] SeongsudongKimJinwoo: I got into the wrong party…

[Party] SeongsudongKimJinwoo: Cut it out, you damn gays.

Almost every user on the Countess server knew that the Healer and Habaek hated each other. Their fights had caused the party to disband multiple times, so SeongsudongKimJinwoo seized the opportunity to criticize them before choosing to leave. It was essentially him fleeing from Habaek, but he tried to preserve a bit of his pride with a parting shot.

[Party] SeongsudongKimJinwoo: You guys should go join a guild party, stop bothering regular users.

SeongsudongKimJinwoo has left the Party.

But to Jehyun, a damage dealer who couldn’t even put out a million damage per second was meaningless. Yeah, someone like you should just leave. Shin Jehyun nodded and smiled. Now, all he had to do was get rid of Habaek, and the three of them could clear the dungeon as a tank-damage-heal party.

[Party] bohillercho: Darling… Should we go on a date tomorrow? How about a 10-win streak in the Crucible? 😄

[Party] Habaek: Hey, I’ll get 10 kills for you later, okay?

[Party] Gae: That troll left, good riddance. Let’s just go with four people.

[Party] Habaek: See you on the battlefield, old man.

Habaek has left the Party.

As the nonsense continued, just as expected, Habaek didn’t bother to deal with Shin Jehyun any further. He left the party with just a parting remark.

Shin Jehyun smiled while sucking on the candy rolling around in his mouth. After smiling in that condescending way, he sent a whisper to Habaek before typing in the chat to suggest they continue.

[Whisper to Habaek]: Darling, see you tomorrow ❤❤ mwah mwah

[Whisper from Habaek]: How long are you planning to keep up this bullshit?

[Whisper to Habaek]: Until you accept my feelings..?><

As he typed, he felt goosebumps all over his body. It was truly disgusting, but he knew Habaek was probably even more disgusted. Shin Jehyun took comfort in that and quickly blocked Habaek before he could respond, then checked the party. Now, there were only three people left, including Jehyun.

[Party] Gae: With Habaek gone, can we manage with three people? I really need to clear this today… It’s my last achievement…😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[Party] KimBoksunSub653: We have a healer, so it’s fine. I need to clear it too. Let’s reset and go again. Let’s go!

[Party] Gae: We can do it, right? I’ve never done it with three people before…

Glancing at the damage meter, Jehyun saw that both Gae and KimBoksun were dealing over a million damage per second. It was more than enough for a three-person clear.

[Party] bohillercho: Yeah, totally doable.

[Party] bohillercho: I’ll handle the mechanics by myself.

[Party] bohillercho: I’ll reset first.

Since his true identity was already exposed, Jehyun’s tone had completely changed now that Habaek was gone. Jehyun popped the candy in his mouth and charged at the boss monster in front of him. He needed to reset the boss’s health from a five-person setting to a three-person one.

After getting everything in order, the three of them stood once more before the final boss of “Galie’s Labyrinth”—Galie.

Galie, a mutant raptor who loves puzzles, is an 80-level boss with an instant-kill mechanic. In the game’s story, “Galie’s Labyrinth” holds a mid-tier position among the endgame dungeons.

The fight takes place on a puzzle-filled map, and to clear the dungeon, players need to match the puzzle pieces that appear above their heads when the boss’s health drops to 75%, 50%, and 25%.

Stepping on an empty spot before the puzzle piece appears causes players to fall into a lava pit, making revival impossible. But if they move to the correct spot after the puzzle piece appears with Galie’s cue, they get squashed flat and then spring back up, filling the empty spot.

Among the endgame dungeons, this one is relatively easy—experienced players could clear it with one hand. Moreover, since the puzzle debuff only affects the damage dealers and healers, and with only three people in the party now, Shin Jehyun only needed to keep an eye on the damage dealer, Gae.

[Party] KimBoksunSub653: Let’s go!

[Party] Gae: Please let’s clear this! Go, go, go!

[Party] bohillercho: When the puzzle appears, just stay put. I’ll handle it.

With the tank KimBoksun giving the signal, they began attacking the boss. Although their damage output decreased with two people gone, the boss’s health had also dropped, so the rate at which the health bar decreased wasn’t much different from before.

While keeping an eye on Gae, who seemed clumsy and kept getting hit by simple attacks, Shin Jehyun continued healing and applied a debuff that reduced the boss’s defense for four seconds as he monitored Galie’s patterns.

And then 75%. When the puzzle appeared above his head, Jehyun quickly used a mobility skill to match his piece first, then used a rescue skill to help Gae.

Using the special effect of the Rescue skill, Shin Jehyun transferred Galie’s puzzle debuff to himself. Then, by using the remaining mobility and evasion skills, he dodged the boss’s area attacks and matched the final puzzle piece.

Well done, Lord of the Labyrinth, Galie… Let’s play a little longer then!

With Galie’s shout displayed in the center of the screen, the phase shifted. The strategy remained the same afterward. If they had a damage dealer like Habaek, they could have bypassed the 50% pattern with a burst of damage, but since the other two weren’t at that level, Shin Jehyun leisurely completed the puzzles and cleared the dungeon.

I haven’t… finished… my puzzle in the Labyrinth yet…

You have defeated the Lord of the Labyrinth, Galie.

The evil aura dissipates.

[Party] Gae: Wow!!!!!!! Great job!!!!!!!!

[Party] Gae: I’ve never seen a priest who can solve all the puzzles alone..ㅠㅠ Thank youㅠㅠㅠ I finally finished the achievementㅠ

[Party] KimBoksunSub653: Haha, our healer is pretty good.

Kim Boksun was a member of a social Guild on the Countess server, one of the “character creation addicts” in Shin Jehyun’s 20-person raid team. As a tanker user, he had already raised his 653rd alternate character, giving off a strong scent of a seasoned player.

[Party] bohillercho: Good work, everyone.^^

[Party] KimBoksunSub653: Good work^^~ See you later on the battlefield.

[Party] bohillercho: Haha, sure.

You have left the Party.

After saying goodbye, Shin Jehyun immediately left the party and moved to the Guild headquarters. He deposited all the items he was wearing with the warehouse keeper there, then returned to the character selection lobby and deleted bohillercho. Since he had cleared the dungeon and earned Guild points, the character was no longer needed.

Next, he created a new alternate character, a level 1 priest, and applied to join the Guild “Neungdong.” To approve the request, he logged in with his main character, Healer.

Welcome to the eternal Caplet!

The blessing of the hero Arnea envelops your entire body.

You have 397 unread messages in your mailbox.

Arnea: Long time no see!

As light scattered on the ground in front of NPC Arnea, Healer appeared. Shin Jehyun’s human male character had black hair and sharp, slanted eyes. He wore a blue robe styled like a tunic, with buttons undone down to his chest. The +15 Mallorca robe was styled like a cheongsam, with slits up the sides from the hips, and a long black belt cinched at his slim waist, hanging down just above his knees. Underneath the robe, he wore black leather +15 Mallorca pants, and on his feet were boots with multiple buckles—also +15 Mallorca shoes.

On Healer’s back was a glowing blue +15 fully-enhanced wand, the only +15 full-option Mallorca wand in Countess, which had cost hundreds just to get the right options.

[Guild] Contempt: Welcome, o(^▽^)o

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: Hey, hey, hey, hey!

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: Did you hear the news?

While creating his new character, two people had logged in. Responding to the Guild leader’s call, Jehyun pressed the G button to approve the new character’s Guild application and replied.

[Guild] Healer: Server merge?

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: Yeah, isn’t it crazy? Does this mean we don’t have to run dungeons with those Jangji bastards anymore? Even with alts?

[Guild] Healer: Hahaha, I heard the server’s shutting down.

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: ㅠㅠㅠㅠ I saw that too… Honestly, that makes more sense…

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: Seriously, if those Cass bastards were like, ‘Server merge~ o(^^)o,’ and then the data got wiped during the merge and they had to shut down the service, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. Haha.

The distrust toward Capital Studio was a fundamental sentiment shared by all Caplet users.

If there were still any users who believed in Ahn Yiyoung and Cas in Caplet, they were likely either saints or people suffering from short-term memory loss who had forgotten all of Cass’s past atrocious deeds.

[Guild] Contempt: ;; That’s way too hyper-realistic.

[Guild] Contempt: Just thinking about how the last time they took the servers down, the storage server got wiped, and all the loot boxes I opened were rolled back… I still want to burn down Cass’s headquarters.

[Guild] Contempt: Please don’t trigger my PTSD..ㅠㅅ”ㅠ

[Guild] Healer: Noona, apologize quickly.

[Guild] Healer: What are you doing in front of an innocent victim?

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: I’m sorry… I’m sorry…

The sinister truth behind Contempt’s words was revealed even as she spoke tearfully. Seeing her snap out of it after the Boss’s apology, Jehyun chuckled and typed.

[Guild] Healer: Honestly, I was also thinking about the server shutdown;; but it shouldn’t come to that… If it does, I’ll put out a hit on Ahn Yiyoung.

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: Right? My late 20s are invested in this. If they shut down the server, my life at 202 [apartment] would be shut down too.

Jehyun’s early 20s were also invested in this. Probably his mid and late 20s too, with Caplet involved, right? Just as Jehyun was about to agree with the Boss, Contempt suddenly chimed in.

[Guild] Contempt: Anyone up for a battlefield match before the server shuts down? ㅣㅅㅇ 

[Guild] Healer: Invite me to the party.

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: Me too.

[Guild] Boss12MoreHours: We can’t let those Jangji bastards take first place this week.

It was Sunday evening at 6 p.m., the perfect time to head into the battlefield. As the sky turned crimson and blood-red clouds floated by, it was the perfect time to crush those funeral directors in the battlefield…

Shin Jehyun quickly ran to the warehouse and changed into his equipped items. After putting on accessories that increased his PVP defense and debuff resistance, he donned his fully enhanced anti-personnel robe and waited for the match to start.

Since the 3-player battlefield server was shared across all servers, the matchmaking didn’t take long. Playing with the ultimate PVP combination of Priest, Warlock, and Chain Swordsman, there was no chance of losing to opponents from other servers.

After playing a few battlefield matches, the Neungdong party finally encountered the funeral director bastards they had been waiting for in their fifth match. The classic tank-damage-heal combo consisting of Sangjae, Habaek, and BeoseotTangsuYuk. It was a fateful meeting with their enemies.