Chapter 123

“Yeah. We should make L4 tomorrow.”

It was sheer, bullheaded determination.

Leveling this insanely fast in barely ten days was bad enough, but collecting this many skills on top of it could only be described as grinding out of pure spite. That became obvious when compared to the progress of the other alliance members who had joined around the same time as Yeonhoo.

(Alliance) ASi: what r u guys machines???

(Alliance) jungsuuuuuk: whoaaa that speeddd

(Alliance) SouthGateIntersection: dude how are you guys already there;; what even

(Alliance) WhatShouldMyNickBe: im still only L7..😭

(Alliance) x0x0: I’m still L6;

Several alliance members they’d gotten acquainted with in passing stared in shock at Yeonhoo and Kwon, who had already reached L5, and flooded the chat.

And it wasn’t just the other beginners.

(Alliance) nnppcc: Wow, that’s amazing! It’s extremely rare for anyone to raise their rank this much in such a short time!

Even nnppcc was impressed.

It felt good to see, but Yeonhoo and Kwon hadn’t gotten this far through sheer physical labor alone.

We’ve been spending money here and there too.

Besides the skip tickets they received as rewards, they had bulldozed through every minor quest that took too long with paid items.

Of course, skills themselves couldn’t be bought, so those really were the result of raw playtime.

Cart Movement Speed MAX

Ladder Repair Speed MAX

Dug-Up Ground Restoration Speed MAX

Watchtower Construction Speed MAX

Rocket Installation Speed MAX

Watchtower Repair Speed MAX

Rocket Repair Speed MAX

.

.

Yeonhoo smiled proudly as he stared at his skill window, which seemed to scroll down forever.

Training skills inside the alliance territory had been exhausting because they had to pretend to be beginners who had never played a game before. Then, once they moved on to repetitive quests, the boredom had nearly driven him insane.

Is this why people are so obsessed with getting certifications?

Yet now that he could actually look at this completed list of skills, nothing could have felt more satisfying.

And his glorious new skill window wasn’t the only thing that had changed.

“Yeonhoo, are you heading home soon?”

“Yeah. I should get going.”

“I ordered food.”

“...Then I’ll eat before I go.”

“Sounds good.”

The distance between the two of them had changed too.

At first, of course it had been uncomfortable. The fact that they were both playing while lying to each other had a lot to do with that.

Playing at Kwon’s unfamiliar apartment had been awkward. So had constantly defending himself against Kwon’s teasing and figuring out how to react every time he prodded at him.

But now?

“The delivery’s here.”

“Whoa! Thanks.”

Maybe it was because he had been coming and going so often that the place practically felt like his own.

Sitting at their computers, eating together while playing the game had become so natural it flowed without thought.

In fact, they had gotten so in sync that Yeonhoo caught himself thinking they almost felt like actual roommates.

He froze mid-chew, his mouth still full.

...Aren’t I getting a little too used to this?

That was when—

“You got something on you.”

Kwon’s hand suddenly entered his field of vision.

Before Yeonhoo could even react, gentle fingers dabbed the corner of his mouth with a tissue.

His entire body went rigid at the unexpected contact.

Right.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t gotten completely used to Kwon after all.

Whenever Kwon casually touched him like this, Yeonhoo stiffened so badly that even whatever he had been about to say died in his throat.

“Yeonhoo?”

“......”

“Yeonhoo? Are you uncomfortable?”

“...No. I’m fine.”

Kwon didn’t even seem conscious of what he’d done, so why was Yeonhoo the only one reacting like this?

He abruptly turned his head away and checked the time as though nothing had happened.

“It’s one.”

The clock was already showing one in the morning.

Normally this was around when Yeonhoo headed home, and he was just about to get up when Kwon spoke.

“But Yeonhoo. Don’t you feel like it’d be a waste to stop now?”

“If we keep going just a little longer, I think we can hit L4 tonight.”

Yeonhoo looked back at the screen.

L4.

The rank that would finally grant them access to the Inner Area they had been aiming for all this time was right within reach.

A little more leveling, a few more alliance quests, and they would probably meet the requirements for the next rank review.

“Yeah... but it’s way too late.”

“Still, wouldn’t things be a lot easier starting tomorrow if we just finish it tonight?”

Yeonhoo had been about to refuse, but his ears practically perked up at the next part.

“Once we hit L4, we can go straight into the Inner Area. We’ll also be able to see the chat used by the higher-ranked members.”

That was true.

<SystemError> had turned out to be even more closed-off than they’d expected.

Higher-ranked users like oTyudakTyudako, whom they’d seen on the first day, never even showed their faces in the beginner zone on the outskirts. Forget the alliance leader or officers.

There’s probably a separate chat window only the Inner Area members use too....

When Yeonhoo fell into thought, Kwon gently fanned the flames.

“Once we get in, resource storage opens up too. And more importantly, we won’t have to do this kind of grinding anymore....”

Pulling carts.

Repairing ladders.

Digging up the ground.

The days they had spent squeezing every last second out of their schedules and working themselves to death for rank advancement flashed through Yeonhoo’s mind like his life passing before his eyes.

His pupils trembled violently.

“If we stop tonight, we’ll have to do all this again tomorrow.”

That was the killing blow.

Kwon was right.

It was six of one, half a dozen of the other, but if this was a mountain they had to climb anyway, they might as well finish it tonight.

Yeah. Faster is always better!

More importantly, wasn’t their whole purpose here to find out whether <SystemError> was the alliance spreading spies around, what they were after, and why they kept destroying alliance cores?

If so, there was no question that raising their rank even a few hours sooner would help.

“Fine! Then I’ll just finish this before I go.”

Yeonhoo grabbed his mouse again.

After coming this far, there was no reason to back out now.

All he wanted was to get it over with quickly and go home.

“Come on, let’s finish this!”

“Sure.”

A faint smile curved Kwon’s lips, but Yeonhoo had no time to wonder whether it was the smile of a victor or simple happiness at being on the verge of ranking up.

The final hurdle of L5 was the Hideout Installation and Trace Removal skill.

Building a concealed hideout in a tree and restoring the surrounding terrain afterward required fairly precise controls.

The problem was how boring it was.

Click, tick, tap....

Click, tick, tap....

Click, tick, tap....

His stomach was full.

The room was warm.

The air at this hour made everything feel drowsy.

All the exhaustion from spending morning to night glued to the game these past several days seemed to hit him at once.

“Yaaawn....”

He had lost count of how many times he had yawned already.

Practically sliding down in his chair, Yeonhoo blinked sluggishly and glanced to the side.

He hasn’t moved an inch....

Unlike Yeonhoo, who felt ready to die from sleepiness, Kwon was sitting perfectly upright without even resting his back against the chair, eyes fixed on the screen.

His concentration was almost awe-inspiring.

Yeonhoo shook his head hard and tried to return to the repetitive task, but sleep was relentless.

His eyelids felt as if weights had been tied to them, and his head kept tipping sideways no matter how hard he fought it.

No. I can’t do this....

He jolted himself awake.

Only for a moment.

Through his blurring vision, his character on the screen seemed to be nodding off atop the tree.

And when Yeonhoo finally closed his eyes—

—Shhhhhhh.

The distant sound of running water made his eyelids twitch.

It tickled his ears from somewhere between dreaming and waking, drawing a faint frown between his brows.

...What is that sound?

His body felt refreshed, as though he had slept deeply, but his head was still wrapped in fog.

As the sound of water became clearer, Yeonhoo slowly lifted his head.

In the darkness, before his eyes had fully adjusted, he saw something strange.

A glowing door?

What the hell was that?

Why was a door glowing?

Still half asleep, Yeonhoo rolled his eyes around.

This isn’t even my apartment. Where am I? Where did I...

Click.

Then the glowing door—

No, just a normal door—

opened.

Yeonhoo turned toward the sound and saw a silhouette standing in the center of the light spilling through the doorway.

The first thing he noticed was the white towel sitting dangerously low on the man’s hips.

Then the massive frame that seemed almost broad enough to fill the doorway.

His body was built with the kind of deliberate perfection that looked sculpted, the well-defined muscles gleaming with water he hadn’t fully dried off.

Yeonhoo stared blankly.

Eventually his gaze settled on the man’s hand as he lowered his head slightly and ruffled his wet hair.

Kwon Mieon?

His mind snapped awake.

All traces of sleep vanished instantly.

“...Yeonhoo?”

A low voice spoke in confusion.

Kwon immediately strode toward him.

The sheer size and striking definition of his body felt almost intimidating, impossible to ignore, and without thinking, Yeonhoo squeezed his eyes shut.

Step. Step.

The footsteps drew closer.

Then stopped directly in front of him.

“Yeonhoo.”

Tap.

Tap.

Kwon seemed to lean down.

“Are you asleep?”

A drop of water fell beside Yeonhoo’s tightly shut eye.

His heart felt like it was about to explode.