Chapter 7: A Bitter Victory

Ban-ye cleared the dungeon with my character in half the time it took me.

I was speechless at the unbelievable result.

“Ban-ye… I knew you were a genius, but this is insane.”

“You’re just bad.”

“Even so… not just anyone can halve the clear time.”

“Of course not.”

Ban-ye replied nonchalantly, and I found that even more impressive.

I was about to gift them a cash shop item to express my gratitude, but I stopped, remembering I wasn’t on my own account.

If they had just given me their account info, I would have charged it right away… But I bit my lip, afraid Ban-ye would be annoyed if I kept pestering them about it.

Then, Ban-ye asked,

“Can you replicate that?”

“…Me?”

“How are you going to reach 200 if you keep playing at your usual pace? You have to replicate what I did and clear dungeons faster.”

“I can’t play as well as you…”

“I know.”

“Yeah…”

I heard Ban-ye click their tongue over the headset.

“I’m logging out, so log back in. I’ll carry you.”

“Okay!”

As soon as Ban-ye logged out, I quickly switched back to my account.

Filled with gratitude and respect, I bought an item from the cash shop and gifted it to Ban-ye. They seemed to have checked the gift, as they briefly said, “Thanks,” and then sent me a party invite.

Back on their own character, Ban-ye, as expected, played much better than when they were on mine.

I wanted to try playing myself after witnessing Ban-ye’s performance, but I held back, not wanting to waste time. I just followed them around, admiring the organized inventory they had set up.

Halfway through the dungeon, Ban-ye asked, as if reading my mind,

“Want to try?”

“Huh? Me?”

“I need to see if you can.”

Without further ado, Ban-ye stopped attacking. The monster’s aggro broke.

I frantically moved my hands. I couldn’t pull all the aggro at once like Ban-ye, but it was a significant improvement compared to my earlier performance.

“You’re following along better than I expected.”

“Right? I’m good at following instructions.”

I puffed up with pride at Ban-ye’s praise.

Of course, my previous skills were terrible… but I felt a sense of accomplishment that Ban-ye had demonstrated so well, and I had managed to follow along.

So, I quickly flattered them again.

“You’re a good teacher, Ban-ye.”

“I didn’t really teach you anything… Don’t go around saying I taught you.”

“Still! Am I not your first disciple?”

“No. I just gave you some tips.”

But I liked the idea of being their disciple and hummed, “Ban-ye’s disciple, disciple number one~” Thankfully, Ban-ye didn’t scold me.

I leveled up, moved to a new hunting ground, and got carried again.

After repeatedly running dungeons and leveling up multiple times, Ban-ye, who had been quiet for a while, finally spoke.

“I think I have to stop here.”

“Oh, okay! Thank you for your hard work.”

“Keep going. If it’s too hard, look up some strategy videos.”

“I will!”

I wanted to level up at least as much as Ban-ye had helped me, to show my appreciation for their hard work.

Full of motivation, I sent Ban-ye another cash shop item. They thanked me briefly again.

“Then I’ll be going.”

Despite having run so many dungeons, Ban-ye said goodbye without a hint of fatigue and left the Discord call. Instead of logging off, they spoke in the guild chat.

[Guild][Ban-ye] Anyone want to do daily quests?

[Guild][Bogak] Sure

They went off to do their daily quests, which they probably hadn’t finished because of me. They deserved a break, but they had amazing stamina, showing no signs of fatigue after continuously running dungeons for so long.

I was a bit tired from just following Ban-ye around, but I straightened my posture, determined not to complain.

Since I couldn’t get kicked out of the guild for not reaching max level after all the help Ban-ye had given me, I stayed logged in even when they weren’t online.

“Oh, nosebleed…”

I felt something warm trickling down from my nose, and then bright red blood started dripping.

I had never had a nosebleed, not even while studying. I covered my nose with my hand and frantically searched for tissues. As I wiped the blood, my stomach rumbled.

Come to think of it, I had only had a light breakfast and hadn’t eaten anything since…

I turned off my computer, which had been running all day, to take a short break. I rummaged through the fridge, pulled out a 3-minute curry, heated it up, and prepared a meal.

“Thanks for the food.”

I said the words to no one and sat at the table, then picked up my smartphone and started watching strategy videos for the next dungeon.

For the past few days, as Ban-ye suggested, I had been watching Lilith training videos and dungeon strategy guides whenever I had a spare moment, like during meals or before bed. The now-familiar voices filled the silence of my house.

Thanks to my studies, I could now run dungeons decently well on my own, even though I had always been carried before. I could even hold my own in parties. I got yelled at occasionally, but I had never run dungeons this diligently in my life.

I quickly finished my meal, washed the dishes, and logged back into the game. As soon as my login notification popped up, a few guild members greeted me.

The guild members who had been hesitant about my joining at first started talking to me more as my level rapidly increased.

[Guild][Neda] You’re leveling up really fast, Ah-ang.

[Guild][Ah-ang] Ban-ye has been helping me a lot haha

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] Why are they helping you so much?

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] That’s not like them.

That’s… because I’m Ban-ye’s disciple.

More accurately, because we’re friends!

It wasn’t my imagination; leveling someone to max level wasn’t easy. Especially for a busy ranker like Ban-ye.

But to help me this much… Ban-ye must have fallen for my charming personality. Yep, yep.

[Guild][Male3] Maybe they have a thing for country bumpkins?

But Male3 ruined the moment.

[Guild][Ah-ang] ㅡㅡ?

[Guild][HeyYam] LOL

[Guild][HeyYam] Your tail’s wagging like a motor.

[Guild][Ah-ang] ㅡㅡ;;;

[Guild][Neda] They mean you’re cute.

Neda tried to comfort me, but it wasn’t very effective. I decided they were probably just jealous that I had become so close to Ban-ye.

[Guild][Male3] Hey, puppy.

[Guild][Ah-ang] ㅡㅡ I’m not a dog.

[Guild][Male3] I’ll carry you as an apology lol

[Guild][Ah-ang] ! Thank you!

[Guild][Male3] Lol, cheap rate, 3 million per run.

[Guild][ImSoCute] Good business skills

[Guild][Ah-ang] 3 million, deal.

They weren’t as good as Ban-ye, but the Slaughter guild members were skilled enough that I didn’t need to look for carries elsewhere. If I did, I might run into someone like HellTour or end up waiting even longer…

My gold dwindled rapidly, but my experience bar increased proportionally.

Just like that, between using experience scrolls, diligently running dungeons, paying for carries, and getting carried by Ban-ye… a week passed in a flash.

And although I barely made it, slightly over the one-week mark, I finally reached level 200.

[Guild][Ban-ye] Congrats

[Guild][ImSoCute] They actually did it

[Guild][Ah-ang] ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Thank you

[Guild][Ah-ang] Thank you so much, Ban-ye.

[Guild][Ban-ye] Heh

[Guild][Ban-ye] I put in some work too, you know.

Ban-ye casually praised themself, and I, tail wagging, agreed. Back then, I thought my gaming life would be smooth sailing from now on.

But…

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] What are we going to do?

[Guild][Neda] I can’t think of a good solution…

[Guild][Ah-ang] What’s going on?

[Guild][Youngmyeong] Ban-ye got permanently banned.

Like a bolt from the blue, the news of Ban-ye’s permanent ban arrived.

I whispered to Ban-ye’s account, which they couldn’t and wouldn’t be able to access anymore, before belatedly realizing my foolish mistake.

I opened Discord, found [Hwang Hyun-joong], and sent a message.

[Ah-ang] I heard you got permanently banned ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Ah-ang] What are we going to do now?

I waited, but Ban-ye didn’t reply.

I checked the guild chat, but it was equally quiet. The few conversations that popped up were subdued, likely due to Ban-ye’s ban.

Unable to play in this mood, I bit my nails, waiting for Ban-ye to respond.

How long did I wait?

After a long while, Ban-ye finally replied.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I’ll quit.

I almost fainted at Ban-ye’s incredibly nonchalant reply.

Quit? Just like that?

[Ah-ang] Why are you quitting? ㅠㅠ

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I got banned, so I have to quit. What else am I supposed to do?

[Ah-ang] Don’t quit! ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Ban-ye went silent again.

The other guild members must be just as upset as I was. The Discord chat must be exploding. Even so, Ban-ye eventually replied.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I’ll quit and play another game.

[Ah-ang] What?!

Despite the many people who must be trying to convince them otherwise, Ban-ye remained unmoved.