Stalkerizing

“Ah, so close.”

That was the extent of their luck. From this point on, the pattern would just repeat until the entire party was wiped out, meaning it was effectively a failure.

[May the blessing of radiant gold be fulfilled!]

[Midas: To think I failed to stop the intruders… How infuriating.]

At the same time as the Golden Blessing message appeared, Midas’s HP was completely depleted.

[Party] Shokrates: We saw the golden one twice and cleared it? We’re fucking amazing!

[Party] Furple: This was pure insane luck.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Furple, go buy a lottery ticket!

[Party] Furple: Gonna do that.

As Midas collapsed, the party members all rushed toward the chest that appeared in place of its corpse, each throwing out a comment. They all seemed to think they had bypassed the pattern due to a bug.

Except for one person running toward him.

[Party] a10235044: Hyung! Good work!

[‘a10235044’ has initiated a high-five gesture.]

A peacock-headed character with fluffy hair suddenly raised a hand in front of him.

[Party] Chasa: Ah, wait a second;

Sayoon opened his emote menu and scrolled down. The motion the temporary-named player had initiated was a cooperative emote that required the other party to respond for it to be executed.

“Where is it…?”

He had never used it before and had no idea where it was located. As he scrolled through the endless list, it seemed the time limit expired, and the temporary-named player’s hand dropped.

[Party] a10235044: ㅠㅠ

[Party] Chasa: I’ve never used this before.

[Party] Chasa: Found it.

[‘Chasa’ has initiated a high-five gesture.]

[‘a10235044’ has initiated a high-five gesture.]

A crisp smack rang out as their palms met. The sound made the frog, who had been hopping around near the chest, turn his head.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: How wholesome…

[Party] a10235044: ?

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: It’s so nice to see! ^^

[Party] Furple: Damn, we’re broke.

Furple, who had been rummaging through the chest, delivered the unfortunate news. Their effort was not worth the reward. The update announcement had mentioned something about an increased drop rate, but…

[Party] Shokrates: But doesn’t this seem like a bug?

[Party] Freedeal: Could it be because the demon got hit by the gold?

[Party] Furple: Earlier, the guild leader suddenly used a debuff.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Whoa, even making Midas shut up. What a guy, Inseong!

[Party] Shokrates: I thought we had to restart for a second, but our luck was insane~

Sayoon had no intention of explaining the skill he used.

At first, he had tried to advocate for himself. That because he had this skill, a Warlock was never a troll pick. That if you placed him in a DPS slot, he could pull his weight.

But it wasn’t enough to change public opinion. Ever since someone coined the phrase “good skill, bad class” on the job forums, people had treated Warlocks as a class that could be ignored and excluded without consequence.

No one ever listened when he tried to talk about his contributions, so he had naturally given up.

[Party] a10235044: Hyung, you did that, didn’t you? The thing with Midas.

[Party] a10235044: You told me to use debuff on him earlier.

But now, this temporary-named player had pinpointed the key detail.

And so, this thought crossed his mind—maybe this guy was different. Maybe, just maybe, he’d actually listen if Sayoon explained.

[Party] Shokrates: Huh? How do you even remove a named boss’s skill?

[Party] Furple: Is the demon the variable? Does hitting a demon with a skill trigger a bug?

[Party] a10235044: No, no, it’s not a bug.

[Party] Chasa: Ah.

[Party] Chasa: Yeah, this is a Warlock skill.

[Party] Chasa: One of the first-tier Warlock skills is called “Blossom”…

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: The one that gives a 5% mana regen buff?

[Party] Freedeal: If only you had this level of dedication when studying the tavern phase…

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: But since Warlocks actually appear on the battlefield, we had no choice but to study them.

[Party] Chasa: If you take “Blossom,” the next skill increases a demon’s HP by 10%.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: But I’ve never seen a single Warlock actually use that.

[Party] Chasa: Because it’s a trash skill, haha.

Using “Blossom” was a waste compared to just drinking a potion or investing in a defense skill. Even the second-tier skills that became available after picking “Blossom” were garbage. That’s why most Warlocks ignored it.

[Party] Chasa: If you go that far, three third-tier skills unlock, and one of them is called “Hypnosis.”

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: This one?

[Party] Shokrates: Damn, with that level of dedication, you could’ve gotten into Korea University.

[Party] Chasa: Yeah. The Hunter’s debuff lowers enemy defense by 10%, right?

[Party] Chasa: I tested it, and when you cast “Hypnosis” on a demon already hit by that debuff, it has a 100% activation rate. If you use it normally, it doesn’t work.

The lively party chat suddenly fell silent.

“Hmm…”

Did he explain it too confusingly?

[Party] Furple: I just checked the official skill descriptions.

[Party] Shokrates: So it’s different from “Blessing Theft”?

“Blessing Theft” was a first-tier skill that applied a debuff with a 100% success rate, without any preconditions or activation chance. It was a core skill that every Warlock took.

[Party] Chasa: “Blessing Theft” only works in PvP and against regular mobs. Plus, it only has a guaranteed activation in combo chains, so no one uses it in PvP.

[Party] Furple: Just reading the description, I’d never put points into that.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: How the hell did you figure this out?

[Party] Chasa: Haha, I had nothing else to do, so I messed around with everything.

[Party] Chasa: Honestly, if you just take this one skill, there’s no reason to exclude Warlocks here.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Even if I calculated every possible skill combo, I don’t think I would’ve discovered that.

[Party] Chasa: I got lucky. And I had a lot of time.

[Party] Freedeal: My brain is melting a little… This is normal, right?

[Party] Shokrates: This guy gives off a master craftsman vibe.

[Party] Furple: Wait, that Cataloa you fished up earlier—did you really catch that yourself? Did I just eat a wild-caught one?

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Bro, how long were you unable to get into parties?

[Party] Chasa: Well, the fewer players on a server, the fewer parties there are, right?

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: I’m literally tearing up right now.

[Party] Shokrates: The way you’re saying it so casually makes it even sadder.

Was this really something worth this kind of reaction? Sayoon awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, overwhelmed by the sudden flood of sympathy.

There had been a time when he had nothing but time. A period where he couldn’t use his legs and the only thing he could do upon waking up was log into the game from his bed.

[Party] a10235044: Hyung, you’re seriously amazing.

[Party] a10235044: Even the way you preloaded all the aggro skills on the Tank Warlock from the start…

[Party] Shokrates: Yeah, it’s like Chasa knew in advance that our party’s tank was doomed.

[Party] Chasa: Eh, in a pre-made party, it’s normal not to have a perfect composition.

[Party] Chasa: I was just preparing for the worst.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: ★A heartwarming true story★ Came to carry, ended up getting carried. Thumbnail-worthy?

[Party] Freedeal: This is pissing me off.

[Party] a10235044: But still, I’m sorry for always bringing weird people…

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Today’s new nickname = Meat Shield, Weird Person (now!)

[Party] Furple: Are you sure that’s the right spelling?

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Ah, typo.

[Party] Furple: That’s a hell of a typo. Your keyboard keys aren’t even close to each other.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: n e w 🙂

They were like a pack of unruly beagles. Say one thing, and they’d come back with three more. It was impossible to have a proper conversation with the temporary-named player.

Sayoon scrolled up, trying to find the previous messages from the temporary-named player, and frowned.

Why the hell does he keep putting three dots after everything? The dots added a weirdly melancholic tone, making everything he said sound weighed down. He came across as not just kind and innocent but outright fragile.

He hadn’t even spoken much in the party chat either. Based on what Sayoon had gathered, he started picturing some frail middle schooler.

But seriously… What was there to apologize for? So they were a little shaky on the first boss, had to retry the second one once, and didn’t have a tank, meaning he had to take on that role as a DPS.

It wasn’t a big deal.

Switching to whisper chat, Sayoon sent a message.

[Whisper] Chasa: Today was fun.

[Whisper] Chasa: No weird people either.

[Whisper] a10235044: Have you played with weird people before?

[Whisper] Chasa: Just as much as anyone else has, lol.

As a Warlock, a class deemed worthless by the community, Sayoon had seen more than his fair share of disastrous parties.