Chapter 2: Do You Always Help People Like This?

As July passed and August arrived, the weather became even hotter. This wasn’t a welcome change for me, working at a cafe.

“I’ll have an iced Americano.” “Iced Cafe Latte and sweet potato cake, please.” “Two cold brews, tiramisu, and chocolate cake.” Clang, clang. With each chime of the bell on the door, the number of orders I had to handle only increased.

“Haa…….”

After lunchtime passed, the bustling store became a little less crowded. I finished washing the dishes and let out a tired breath. I still had five more hours to go, but my heart was already calling for the end of my shift.

‘These days, Archlord isn’t much fun either.’

I used to turn on Archlord as soon as I got off work, but these days, there wasn’t much to do or enjoy, so it wasn’t as fun as it used to be.

Come to think of it, I had worked really hard over the past year to not lose to the Another guild. It was all thanks to Heunjeok, who would appear and playfully scratch at my pride, that I gritted my teeth, upgraded my equipment, and went on raids.

Now that Heunjeok had deleted his account and the Another guild had quieted down, it was a time of complete peace. And peace was terribly boring. F*ck.

‘Don’t tell me I’m getting influenced by Heunjeok and going crazy too?’

I was sighing deeply while thinking about such a terrible thought when it happened. Clang, the clear sound of the bell announcing the arrival of a new customer rang out.

Okay. Let’s pull myself together and work. I wiped my wet hands and headed to the counter.

“Hello.”

The customer standing in front of the counter made eye contact with me and greeted me with a faint smile.

The small, snow-white face revealed beneath the pitch-black hair was captivating. The long eyes were slightly folded with the smile, and the eyebrows that were partially visible through the black hair were neat.

Despite the face being prettier than most celebrities, he was very tall. Even though I’m quite tall myself, I had to tilt my head up slightly.

“Yes, welcome.”

“I’ll have an iced Americano and a slice of whipped cream cake.”

I expertly received the card the man handed over and completed the payment.

This handsome customer, whom both women and men would turn to look at, was said to be one of the regular customers who had been visiting the store frequently even before I started working here. He usually sat by the window, looking at his laptop, spending an hour or two before leaving.

He attended at least two or three times a week, so I couldn’t help but remember him. I quickly made the coffee, put the cake on a plate, and rang the vibration bell. The man, who had been tapping on the laptop keyboard, took the tray.

He always finishes the coffee, but only eats a few bites of the cake and leaves the rest. He probably doesn’t like sweets that much, but orders it as a seat charge.

The man, who was placing the coffee and cake on the table, turned to look at me as if he felt my gaze. Oops. Without realizing it, I had been staring blankly. I quickly turned my body away from the unintentional mistake.

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: Ah, I’m so bored

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: My heart hurts because of the guild members who are ostracizing the guild master and going out to play by themselves

[Guild] GoodWeather: ?;;

[Guild] YeoYeoRang: lololololol

[Guild] Maha: Excuse me, do you have any conscience?

[Guild] rxrx78: F*ck, you’ve been rejecting everything we’ve suggested since earlier

[Guild] rxrx78: And now you’re saying this lol;

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: lol

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: Bring me something I like~

[Guild] Maha: If you have nothing to do

[Guild] Maha: Go collect guild upgrade materials

[Guild] Maha: 20 Spirits of Ensher Forest 

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: ?

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: Are you serious?

The Spirits of Ensher Forest were low-level collection items, a quest given to guild members with low levels.

[Guild] Maha: Yeah

I had to go to the newbie zone and beat up low-level monsters in the field to collect those junky materials? I, the guild’s master and representative hardcore gamer, was being told to go and get them myself?

I chuckled at the absurd request and moved the mouse.

‘I have to go…….’

I had too little to do to refuse. It was still annoying, but if things continued this way, I would really be in danger of quitting the game, so I had to find some fun by doing something simple.

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: Okay..

When I sighed and answered alone, the guild members who were good at teasing me pounced on me like hyenas.

[Guild] MovieSucks: Sunday, are you having no fun in Archlord these days?

[Guild] sky004: Someone call Heunjeok

[Guild] IHave6000Won: At this point, Heunjeok is practically a hidden lover lol

[Guild] OurTeamInseongIsJoInseong: ㄹㅇ

[Guild] OurTeamInseongIsJoInseong: You two bickered almost every day

[Guild] OurTeamInseongIsJoInseong: But since Heunjeok disappeared, you’re losing weight and becoming listlessㅠㅠ

[Guild] CanYouTurnOnTheLight: Oh? This is totally…

[Guild] YeoYeoRang: Love..?

[Guild] TodayIsSunday: F*ck

I don’t know if these guys are really my guild members. Did they join just to freely insult me in the guild chat?

I moved to the Arden city with the warp stone and then headed to Ensher Forest. Ensher Forest in Arden City was a place for levels 40-50, so it was in the so-called newbie zone. Compared to other places, it was also the hunting ground with the most users who had just reached level 50.

The monster that spat out the Spirit of Ensher Forest item was one that newbies hunted for quests, so I went deep into the forest, trying to find a place where people rarely visited, so as not to interfere.

‘This should be good enough.’

I stopped in a location with sparse monsters. I thought no one but me would be here since I had come quite deep, but I heard skill impact sounds coming from the opposite side.

I wondered if it was hunting, but the skill impact sounds were heard alternately, so it was obviously field PVP.

Who is coming all the way here to fight? I got curious and went to where the sound was coming from, setting aside my hunting.

“What.”

Since it was a newbie zone, I thought at most it would be newbies fighting after arguing while hunting, but the scene that appeared on the screen was beyond my expectations.

A newbie who looked like they had just reached level 50 was getting beaten up by a user who had been playing the game for a while. The differences between the clothes the characters were wearing and the reinforcement of their weapons were too obvious.

‘That rude bastard.’

I frowned after immediately grasping the situation.

In Archlord, you can do field PVP from level 50, but it’s a system that can only be used if you activate PVP mode in the settings, so if you don’t want to, you can leave it deactivated.

But sometimes clueless newbies turn on those settings. Still, users don’t bother the other person if they are a newbie.

This was common courtesy. There’s no fun in doing PVP against a newbie who is much weaker than you, and you’ll be labeled as a bad-mannered user, so there’s no benefit.

Of course, this was only a matter of individual conscience and manners, and there were many users who didn’t abide by it. Like that guy I was seeing in front of me.

‘What is he doing coming to the newbie zone and beating up newbies.’

I clicked my tongue at the patheticness and quickly closed the distance. The newbie was a Tracker, also known as an Assassin, and the opponent was an Infighter.

It would not be easy for a Tracker, who mainly had to fight from a distance, to beat an Infighter who kept rushing in with dash skills. Well, he’s a newbie anyway, so he can’t win.

Still, looking at the way he moved and linked skills, it wasn’t like the newbie didn’t know the game at all, but the chances of winning were still slim.

There was a chance if he succeeded with a counterattack, one of the Tracker’s representative skills… But there’s no way a newbie would know the timing to use a counterattack.

I ran hard and intervened between the two just before the newbie was about to die. Then, without hesitation, I used a skill. Kwajik, the end of the staff split the ground and hit the Infighter. The Infighter, who couldn’t even block my suddenly intervening attack and took it head-on, had almost half of his health reduced.

[All] JinhaeArmyChiefEagle: ?

What do you mean, question mark? There’s no value in answering the chat, so I ignored him and continued the skill link.

There’s no decent person who beats up opponents weaker than themselves. As expected, this Infighter couldn’t even counterattack my attacks, unlike when he was beating up the newbie, and continued to get hit.

[All] JinhaeArmyChiefEagle: F*ck

The Infighter, who eventually died without being able to last even 3 minutes, cursed at me in his corpse state. He looked quite upset, so I responded in a way other than chatting.

[All] TodayIsSunday: (Emoticon)

It was that emotion expression that Heunjeok often used. When the emoticon that popped up above my head waved his hand slightly, the Infighter got furious.

[All] JinhaeArmyChiefEagle: F*ck, who the hell are you

[All] JinhaeArmyChiefEagle: You fcking bstard who’s dying to get killed ***

[All] JinhaeArmyChiefEagle: Where do you live ***

He was about to rap with curses. Whether he did or not, I practiced what I had learned from Heunjeok.

[All] TodayIsSunday: (Emoticon)

It was an emotion expression of a tearful face. Seeing that, the Infighter quietly disappeared this time without cursing. He probably pressed the city resurrection button.

Um. As expected, it’s good to act like a crazy person who can’t communicate in situations like this.

‘It’s a bit embarrassing to follow Heunjeok…….’

But who cares, I guess. It’s not like Heunjeok is here right now.

I handled the Infighter well, so now I have to soothe the newbie. I was about to tell him to deactivate the PVP mode in the settings and go catch the monsters, which was my original purpose, when a chat popped up.

[All] IlHwiIlBi: Why did you help?

[All] TodayIsSunday: ?

[All] IlHwiIlBi: I’m asking why you helped

[All] IlHwiIlBi: Do you always go around helping people like this?

I stared at the monitor for a moment and pressed my aching eyes with my hand. Ah, I must be really tired today. I’m seeing things.

It’s not a hallucination, you crazy bastard.

Is he talking to me right now? He’s using informal language to the person who helped him? Maybe he’s not really a newbie, but an alt character of someone I know… There’s no way.

[All] TodayIsSunday: Are you asking me now?

[All] IlHwiIlBi: Who else is here besides you

“Heo…….”

I couldn’t help but laugh because it was so absurd. The heat in my body suddenly soared at the other person’s brazen attitude, which far exceeded the scope of normal.

[All] TodayIsSunday: I didn’t help you, I cleaned up the trash?

[All] TodayIsSunday: Should I kill you too? You’re being such a jerk with your informal language, it’s f*cking annoying

I painstakingly suppressed the rising anger and pressed the keyboard to chat. I was determined to kill him immediately if he used informal language one more time, that was when.

[All] IlHwiIlBi: Ah, sorry

[All] IlHwiIlBi: Do you always go around helping people like this?

“……?”

I was speechless at the chat that quickly apologized and asked again in polite language.

…Who the hell is this bastard?