Chapter 118

Mo Yeonhoo stared blankly at the screen, turning Kwon Mieon’s words over in his head.

...When he said Yeonhoo, did he mean me?

Until now, Kwon had played with that unreadable, expressionless face of his. But now his eyes were sharp, and he was muttering in a vicious tone.

He’s mad because of me, isn’t he?

The thought that Kwon had fought that tank because of him—that he was angry because Yeonhoo had been messed with—left him feeling strange.

No. Strange wasn’t enough to describe it.

What was this?

It was almost like...

(Global) oTyudakTyudako: i butted in for no reason...

(Global) oTyudakTyudako: thank you for helping me;;

Ah.

The new messages snapped Yeonhoo out of his thoughts.

Right! He wasn’t saving me. He was helping another support!

Come to think of it, Kwon had rescued him when he was getting bullied on Server X too. Maybe he actually had a quietly righteous streak.

Feeling an odd mixture of relief and something almost like disappointment, Yeonhoo looked awkwardly back at the screen.

(Global) NotMiyoung: nope

Kwon typed in chat for the first time.

He hadn’t so much as blinked at all the taunts thrown at him during PVP, yet now Yeonhoo’s eyes locked onto the message he had sent.

(Global) NotMiyoung: i was saving my sweetheart

Then Yeonhoo’s gaze began shaking wildly.

...Huh? Sweetheart?

As if to hammer the point home, Kwon even turned his character around to face IOnly standing behind him and added another message...!

(Global) NotMiyoung: right sweetheart

There he went again.

With that ridiculous nickname over his head, calling Yeonhoo sweetheart just to mess with him.

Yeonhoo should have been pissed.

...Have I lost my mind?

The Judicator character stood there looking at him with that absurd sentence floating overhead, BirthDateTime’s corpse sprawled on the ground nearby, while a quiet chuckle came from the seat beside him.

Why does he look so cool?

It was obviously a joke, yet instead of getting angry, Yeonhoo felt strangely unsettled.

It was similar to what he had felt when he first met Kwon on Server X—only much, much stronger.

Before he knew it, he was staring blankly at Kwon.

“What’s wrong?”

Apparently Yeonhoo’s unusual silence caught his attention. Kwon turned his head and asked gently, as though wondering whether something had happened.

The tone was completely different from the voice he had been using while glaring at the screen moments ago.

The man whose eyes had been blazing with hostility was gone. Now Kwon was looking him over with those distinctive bright, glossy eyes of his.

Yeonhoo couldn’t keep looking at him.

“...Nothing. Chat’s moving again.”

He changed the subject for no reason, scratching his cheek in embarrassment.

(Global) oTyudakTyudako: wow im crying

(Global) oTyudakTyudako: NotMiyoung seriously thank you; thinking about getting my gear looted makes me shudder;

(Global) oTyudakTyudako: omg im cryinggg i really shouldnt have jumped in;;

(Global) MidOnly: guys but are supports normally good in pvp???

(Global) DIDIDI: nope?

(Global) IReallyGotNothin: ngl that felt pretty satisfying lol

(Global) IReallyGotNothin: that person kept hogging the quest mobs and it was getting annoying,,,,NotMiyoung seriously thank you,,

(Global) JELLlly: so they were just some ♥ who kept making up their own claimed spots

The chat was busier than Yeonhoo had expected.

Apparently oTyudakTyudako wasn’t the only one who had been watching. Quite a few users had been quietly following the whole situation while pretending not to.

Curious how Kwon would react, Yeonhoo stole a glance sideways.

Kwon rested his hands on the keyboard with a blank expression and started typing something.

Well, with everyone showering him with this much praise, surely even he would feel good enough to say something...

(Global) NotMiyoung: im not Miyoung

Yeonhoo deflated.

(Global) GottaDoIt: wow committed to the bit tho

And with that one message, Kwon took his hands off the keyboard as though he had nothing else to say.

Then he casually sent Yeonhoo a party invite.

“Let’s just finish our quest.”

He clearly had no interest whatsoever in the commotion around him.

The chat, however, was still heatedly analyzing his play.

(Global) DIDIDI: but seriously think thats the first time ive seen someone win with the item-lock skill out of all the support skills? :?

(Global) oTyudakTyudako: yeah ive seen support Judicators use it sometimes in pvp but the activation conditions are insanely strict

(Global) DIDIDI: yeahhh wasnt it head shoulders stomach or something, all have to hit?

(Global) oTyudakTyudako: winning without whiffing a single shot is kinda insane;

Apparently support players understood far better just how impressive Kwon’s control had been.

While Yeonhoo was reading the chat, a ding sounded.

He checked the bottom of his own game screen, but nothing new had appeared.

The sound seemed to have come from Kwon’s side.

“Did you get something?”

Yeonhoo leaned over slightly to look.

An invitation had appeared.

You have received an invitation to join the <SystemError> alliance. Would you like to accept?

YES

NO

The SystemError alliance invited Kwon?

Yeonhoo blinked.

He tilted his head, confused, but a series of whispers soon explained what had happened.

(Whisper) oTyudakTyudako: NotMiyoung are you maybe interested in joining an alliance??

(Whisper) oTyudakTyudako: we need lots of supports too..! and we put a lot of effort into helping beginners level!!

(Whisper) oTyudakTyudako: i asked our alliance leader and they said a skilled support is ALWAYS welcome so if youre interested wanna join??

(Whisper) oTyudakTyudako: our alliance members have seriously good specs!!!

They had clearly taken notice of Kwon.

Not that it matters. Knowing Kwon, he’ll reject something like that instantly... Huh?

But unlike usual, Kwon didn’t immediately hit decline.

He simply stared at the screen.

He even seemed to be thinking it over.

Then again, nearly all the content in this game revolved around alliances. Quests would probably go much faster with alliance members helping too.

Click.

But Kwon dismissed the invitation after all.

Then he dropped a set of coordinates into party chat and asked,

“Yeonhoo, what about over here? Looks like there aren’t many people around. Think it’d be good for hunting?”

He was still talking about the quest.

“You’re not joining the alliance?”

Yeonhoo was the one who ended up confused.

“They don’t look bad...”

He searched them in the alliance window.

<SystemError> really did have a lot of members. Their ranking also seemed to have climbed considerably lately.

“I was already keeping an eye on them, so I didn’t reject it right away.”

That answer was completely unexpected.

“You were keeping an eye on that alliance?”

Maybe if this were Server X, Yeonhoo could understand.

But it was strange that Kwon would be watching an alliance on Eden, a server populated mostly by beginners.

“There’s a separate reason they’ve been bothering me. Well... I’m still not sure, but I do want to check whether they’re connected to what I’m looking for.”

Kwon explained it casually.

Yeonhoo, however, froze.

If they were connected to what Kwon was looking for...

Does he suspect they’re VITA?

And then Yeonhoo remembered something he had completely forgotten amid everything else going on.

Right! What happened with the spy?!

He almost demanded an answer from Kwon on the spot.

But he couldn’t.

He had already declared that he wasn’t 0momo0. What was he supposed to ask now?!

Ah, this is driving me insane.

It would have been one thing if he had quit the game entirely.

But he hadn’t, which made everything horribly awkward.

Yeonhoo cautiously watched Kwon for a moment before broaching the subject.

“Let’s join the alliance.”

“What?”

“SystemError. Let’s join them.”

Only a few minutes ago, Yeonhoo had seemed completely uninterested in alliances.

Now that he was suddenly burning with enthusiasm, Kwon blinked, then gave a quiet snort as though he had figured something out.

“All of a sudden?”

“W-Well, I heard alliances give you a lot of benefits. Quests are easier too, and if higher-level players help us...”

Kwon watched Yeonhoo ramble through his excuses.

He paused as though he was about to say something, then merely shrugged, apparently deciding to let it slide this time.

“Sure. I mean... joining an alliance does make the game easier.”

“Exactly. That’s what I’m saying.”

“Then should we join that one?”

“Yeah! Ah! Obviously I’m not going because I have some other reason or anything. I’m only saying we should join because alliances are genuinely useful, okay? And you seemed like you wanted to join too, so...”

“Sure. I understand.”

“You really do, right? I seriously don’t have some other reason. I just want to join, that’s all...!”

“Yes, yes. I’ll message them.”