CHAPTER 15

As soon as all the party members gathered at the dungeon entrance, a system window automatically popped up. It was the dungeon difficulty selection screen.

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: What difficulty should we pick?

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Hell go?

[Party] Let'sGoWitcher: Hell is the classic choice;;

The Kurrent Dungeon had three difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, and Hell. Hell was the hardest, and Normal was the easiest—but even Normal could be daunting for a first-timer.

"Wait. They want to go Hell?"

Do they not realize it's my first time? Should I speak up now?

Just as I awkwardly lifted my hands to the keyboard to type something—

[Party] CottonCandyFox: There are two people here with only normal-level gear.

[Party] CottonCandyFox: And you're yapping about going Hell?

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Let's go Normal.

This was a very different tone from when CottonCandyFox had asked me earlier if she could call me "oppa" (a term Korean women often use to refer to older men or boyfriends).

"…Is she not a net-kama (a man pretending to be a woman online)?"

Having played games for a long time, I've met plenty of genuine female gamers.

One thing I've learned is that most women don't go around saying "Oppa, I'm scared~" or "I want this so bad >.<".

Well, I mean, I guess some do. But the majority of the time, when someone's acting like that to scam clueless guys? They're probably a dude. I've seen it happen a lot.

So I had just assumed CottonCandyFox was one of those guys pretending to be a girl. Maybe I jumped to conclusions.

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: ㅠㅠ

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: I didn't say anything tho

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Alright, Normal it is

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: Ugh, Normal is so boring

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Then don't play and log off, ^^

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: I'll do an 8-line poem starting with "Lo"

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: LOLLLLL

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: lolol oh no

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: Like the sky… our Fox is divine...

What a mess. Still, I was relieved we were going with Normal difficulty. CottonCandyFox ignored HoneybeeBuzz's nonsense, selected the difficulty, and immediately hit the enter button. The screen turned black, and soon, the dungeon interior appeared.

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Sleepy-oppa, I'm getting drowsy~

"..."

She really called me oppa. Goosebumps shot up all over me. Regardless of gender, it was just too much to hear a stranger call me that.

[Party] SleepyMe: ?

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Did you watch any guides? ㅇ.ㅇ

[Party] SleepyMe: Yeah, I watched a few vids and read up

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Feel free to talk casually~ >ㅡ<

[Party] SleepyMe: H..

[Party] SleepyMe: I'm more comfortable like this

I politely declined as respectfully as I could. CottonCandyFox then sent a crying emote, complete with a "Hing~" sound effect.

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Since it's just Normal, it shouldn't be too hard!

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Yeah, the key is dodging attacks

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Since you've already seen the guide, you should be fine

[Party] SleepyMe: Okok

I guess my being a newbie had the party a little worried. From the guide video, the Normal mode didn't seem to hit that hard. As long as I focused, I should be fine.

Determined to die as little as possible, I followed the party deeper into the dungeon. Before long, with screeches like "Kyaaa!" and "Graaah!", hordes of zombie-like monsters came rushing in.

Dozens of these monsters would swarm in before reaching the boss room. They came in such large numbers and so suddenly that if you died here, it was hard for others to revive you.

I quickly pulled my character back and raised my staff. Still, when they cluster like that, splash damage works great, so a mage like me—who had lots of AoE skills—was well-suited to deal damage.

Tank WhatDoYouKongDoYou blocked the front, SuwonSpecialCity (a Warlord) swung dual blades, and Let'sGoWitcher fired poison arrows. Watching this, I started charging up a basic Fireball spell—when suddenly, everything sped up.

Not just faster casting—but faster mana regen and more damage?

"Damn."

So this is what a buffer can do. It was my first time actually receiving buffs from a buffer, and it was amazing.

Buffers, like healers, were a rare class, so it was hard to find one. My opinion of CottonCandyFox, who had been lying on the floor earlier, ticked up a little.

Thanks to that, I finished charging my spell much faster than usual and dropped the Fireball squarely in the center of the mob. BOOM! A thunderous roar echoed as the monsters' HP bars dropped below halfway.

[Party] CottonCandyFox: That was awesome~! >ㅁ<)/

[Party] CottonCandyFox: How do you like the buffs from Foxy? ㅎㅡㅎ

[Party] SleepyMe: Good

Since it really was good, I gave a simple reply. CottonCandyFox's character, who had been standing at the back casting buffs, suddenly started jumping up and down.

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Hey lol

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Why haven't I gotten any buffs? Wtf...

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: I feel like I'm about to die

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Wait, were you even buffing?

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: I didn't get anything—I thought you were just messing around

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: LOL only Sleepy is getting buffs~

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: Just be happy with the heals I give ya lol

[Party] SleepyMe: ;;

Wait, I was the only one getting buffs?

Only then did I notice the glittery effects were all centered around my character.

[Party] SleepyMe: I think it's 'cause I'm a newbie and my damage isn't great

[Party] SleepyMe: Sorry about that

As I typed while charging up Thunder—another good AoE spell for swarms—CottonCandyFox suddenly panicked and cut in.

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Noooo!!!

[Party] CottonCandyFox: It's not like that ㅠㅠ

[Party] CottonCandyFox: It's just that you're the only one worth buffing, Sleepy-oppa

[Party] CottonCandyFox: That's why I only gave them to you ㅜㅡㅜ

[Party] CottonCandyFox: I didn't mean anything by it

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: LMAOOOOOOO

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Ahh lol got caught

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Sleepy's pretty sharp, huh haha

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: fr lololol

[Party] Let'sGoWitcher: lololololol

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: What do we do, Fox-nim ㅠ Everyone saw that!! ㅠㅠ

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: lolololol

Thankfully, everyone seemed to be treating it like a joke. Relieved, I got back to casting skills—when suddenly:

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Ah

WhatDoYouKongDoYou suddenly froze like he'd lagged out and got sent flying backward from a monster's hit. His character crumpled to the floor with a splat, and the health bar above him drained completely to black.

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Ah lololololol

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Uh, why are you dying here ;;

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: What a noob…

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: No ffs

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Fox-nim stop spamming whispers and DMs ㅅ1bal (freakin')

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: They keep blocking my screen lol

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: I'm sorry, seriously, pleaseㅠ

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: ? lololololol

[Party] CottonCandyFox: lol

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: Tsk tsk, I knew you'd get taken out like that hehe

Turns out CottonCandyFox must've trolled him from behind. Even though the tank went down, there weren't many monsters left, so we were able to clean up the rest without too much trouble.

Now the only dead player, WhatDoYouKongDoYou used a crying emote while lying there in corpse mode.

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Please revive me, ffs ㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: But honestly though

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: Isn't Fox-nim the one who should've been more careful?

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: She didn't seem distracted at all lol

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: fr tho, how did the buff target die lol

[Party] Let'sGoWitcher: For real, the skill gap's showing, huh?

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: It wasn't just spam, okay?!

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: It was psychological warfare. You won't get it unless it happens to you, damn it

Ignoring the poor guy lying dead, CottonCandyFox casually cast a party-wide buff that increased HP and MP recovery, then typed:

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Enough chatter, let's go~

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: ????

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Guys, I'm still dead here???

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: Okok, let's move

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Normal mode is great

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Who needs a tank? We got this easy

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: You jerks

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: You're actual lunatics, I swear lmfao

Poor WhatDoYouKongDoYou. All he did was tease Fox a little and now they were just abandoning him. Fox and the rest of the party really were a perfect match—for chaos.

Feeling kind of bad, I walked over to his downed character and clicked the Revive button. He came back to life and immediately burst into a dramatic sob emote.

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: You're an angel, aren't you? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Thank you so much ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] SleepyMe: lolol

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: I have to repay you

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: Please take thisㅠ

He opened a trade window and offered me a small bottle of soy milk. Hovering the cursor over it revealed the info:

[Crafted by: WhatDoYouKongDoYou]

[Party] SleepyMe: lol thanks…

Food items offer small buffs, so it wasn't a bad gift. I gave a half-smile and thanked him. Then, from far away, CottonCandyFox came rushing over and clung to me.

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Sleepy-oppa, you revived him? ㅜㅜ

[Party] CottonCandyFox: You didn't have to! We can clear this even without a tank! ㅜㅡㅜ

[Party] CottonCandyFox: But what's this "thank you" nonsense?

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Why are you thanking that guy? lol

Ugh. My ears hurt from just reading her chat spam. I typed a lazy response, full of reluctance.

[Party] SleepyMe: It's nothing

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: hehe

[Party] WhatDoYouKongDoYou: It's our little sec☆ret~

[Party] CottonCandyFox: ?

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: lololololol

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Should I kill him, Master?

[Party] HoneybeeBuzz: Still hasn't come to his senses lol

[Party] Let'sGoWitcher: lololololol

"Haaah..."

If I left them alone, round two would probably break out. With a sigh, I started typing again.

[Party] SleepyMe: Enough. Let's move to the next room...

[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : http://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]