Chapter 3: An Overwhelming Request for a Handshake

[Whisper] PoongPoongieLove: Are you mad by any chance…? ㅠ

[Whisper] PoongPoongieLove: Sorry, we shouldn’t have dragged you here….

[Whisper] PoongPoongieLove: We’re leaving the capsules first. Come out when you feel better. Kyutae says he’ll buy ramen.

I belatedly checked the flood of messages Seongjin and Kyutae had sent.

The tone, which started playfully at first, had transformed into a letter of apology by the end.

Well, I suppose I had been trapped in this Tutorial Tower for nearly 20 minutes.

Since I hadn’t replied for 20 minutes, they must have been sh*tting themselves with anxiety.

“I should take this chance to fix Han Kyutae’s attitude.”

Recalling my own image of singing the “I don’t want to play Zelpia” song for two years, I headed up to the 5th floor without replying.

An eerie aura drifted through the 5th floor of the tower.

Even though there wasn’t a breath of wind, it was strangely chilly.

I felt a slight tension at an energy I hadn’t felt from any of the previous enemies I’d faced.

Wait, what is there to be nervous about?

If I die while doing this, I’ll just tell them I’m not playing anymore.

As I loosened my lightly tensed limbs, the door opened and an opponent clad in pitch-black armor appeared.

Judging by the height and build, it seemed to be a male character, but I couldn’t be sure since he was wearing a black helmet over his face.

[Your opponent this time is a Berserker.]

[The Berserker is a character equipped with violent and overwhelming attack power. Understand the characteristic of the Berserker: the more health is lost, the stronger the attack power becomes.]

I brushed aside the notification window and took a deep breath.

If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just stop.

Reiterating the thought I’d already had several times, I looked at the Berserker before me.

Just as the thought that his physique resembled someone crossed my mind, the standoff broke and the Berserker charged toward me.

“Hey, Eonha really looks pissed, doesn’t he?”

“That’s why I asked why you kept sending whispers.”

“How was I supposed to know he’d go to Nightmare? Ah, f*ck…. I even bought fireworks in town to set off when he finished Easy difficulty…….”

“The ramen here is good, so let’s feed him ramen first, then buy him some fried chicken tomorrow or the day after.”

Han Kyutae and Park Seongjin waited for Chae Eonha in the lounge with miserable expressions.

Their friend had apparently chosen the absolute worst tutorial, known for making newbies despair in Zelpia.

Because rewards were given differently for each tutorial, ignorant newbies sometimes chose the Nightmare difficulty, but recently it was a practically defunct difficulty level. Various newbie guides gave stern warnings never to choose Nightmare, even if you were confident in your controls.

Except for the very early days of the game, a user who cleared Nightmare difficulty hadn’t appeared for a whopping three years.

“Who was it that cleared Nightmare?”

“No one has cleared it since Sephiroth.”

“Didn’t Chae Youngyoung say he was going to delete his character and clear Nightmare while he was trending? Did he fail?”

“I think Chae Youngyoung declared his surrender on the 4th floor.”

At the mention that even a famous pro-gamer streamer had given up on the clear, the two men’s shoulders slumped once more.

If he were going to die, he would have died long ago; seeing as he hadn’t come out of the capsule for 30 minutes, he must be so furious that it was taking a long time to cool off.

Still, seeing as he was still logged in, they supposed it was a relief that he hadn’t gone home first.

While the two were letting out long sighs, a group of people suddenly swarmed into the lounge, raising their voices.

“Holy sh*t! Did you see the Nightmare clear notification?”

“It was insane! They must have deleted their character and remade the ID, right?”

“Isn’t it the first time in three years? This is huge. There’ll be articles about it tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? They’re coming out today.”

……Huh?

[BlueberryWhiskey has cleared the Tutorial – Nightmare!]

[The Blessing of Nightmare is bestowed upon the entire server!]

I stared blankly at the notification window popping up in front of me.

Clear.

That word was burned into my eyes.

As expected of Nightmare difficulty, the final boss on the 5th floor was by no means easy.

The passive skill ‘Rage,’ which increases attack power as health decreases; the skill ‘Sacrifice,’ which grants invincibility and a speed buff for 5 seconds in exchange for consuming one’s own health; and the skill ‘Resolve,’ which increases attack power by 300% for 3 seconds but inflicts damage on the user every time they attack.

There wasn’t a single skill that wasn’t tricky.

However, even more difficult than all these skills was the final boss’s AI.

As if mocking my preconception that he would just blindly charge, the Berserker charged sharply when an attack angle appeared and retreated like a blade when it was time to defend.

The enemy’s attacks were fierce, and I couldn’t see an opening for my own attacks to land.

“Wow, I actually won this.”

It was a relief the Berserker’s HP was low.

If his health bar had been even a bit bigger, my head would have been taken first.

I thought it was manageable, but this time it was definitely a close call.

After a 10-minute life-and-death struggle, I was drenched in sweat.

[You have cleared the Tutorial – Nightmare.]

[A Nightmare Beginner’s Gift Set is given as a reward.]

[You have achieved a Great Accomplishment.]

[The Hidden Piece, ‘One Who Started with Nightmare,’ is granted.]

As I was reading the guidance text appearing in a row before my eyes, the silent whispers began to explode.

[Whisper] PoongPoongieLove: Uh, hey, buddy.

[Whisper] PoongPoongieLove: If it’s not too intrusive, can I ask you something?

[Whisper] PoongPoongieLove: Are you by any chance…

[Whisper] JustOneHitOppa: NO F*CKING WAY. Did you really clear Nightmare???? Is this for real????????

[Whisper] PoongPoongieLove: Did you clear the Nightmare difficulty?

[Whisper] JustOneHitOppa: Is this real? Hey, for now, just AAAHH, for now, follow us;;;;

Uh, well, I did clear it…….

I was slightly flustered by the reaction, which was more intense than expected, but I soon changed my mind.

I saw earlier that it was a system where a blessing is bestowed upon the entire server; seeing as they implemented such a system, it seemed like only about ten people a day managed to clear Nightmare difficulty.

If it happened with that frequency, it was worth being surprised.

Thinking idly like that, I stepped into the portal and was immediately faced with something like a crowded market.

“It’s BlueberryWhiskey!”

“Praise the King-God-Whiskey!”

[Due to excessive general chat within the server, the voice chat function is automatically disabled.]

[General] Somersby: This is insane, truly insane.

[General] Memory123: I am at the scene of history.

[General] PrivateKimJinTae: Please give me an autograph.

[General] Henna: Wow, look at how many people there are;;;

[General] siss: A literal flood of requests for a handshake.

…

The chat began to scroll up at a crazy speed, giving me no time to even read it.

Party request alarms lined up next to me.

It wasn’t just a time to be horrified by the flood of countless friend requests.

A sea of people had formed in front of the warp gate I had come out of.

What is all this?

[Friend] JustOneHitOppa: ;;;;;;Hey, for now, I’m opening the sanctuary.

Hurriedly switching my chat tab, I was able to check the message from Han Kyutae.

Since I had registered Han Kyutae as my recommender, he was already on my friend list.

It was a huge relief. Because whispers were also coming in like crazy, chatting was practically impossible.

[JustOneHitOppa has invited you to their House. Would you like to visit?]

Trade requests, friend requests, guild invitations, party invitations.

Amidst the flood of countless selection windows, I barely found Han Kyutae’s nickname and pressed Yes.

Soon, my body, which was in the middle of the crowded market, vanished. The background changed, and I found myself inside a house completely decked out in pink.

……What is up with this pink house?

The people were gone, but this was flustered in its own way.

Moreover, Han Kyutae’s character standing before me was the same.

A glamorous female character with long hair tied up high was standing there in a black pantsuit.

Our Kyutae might have a decent face, but he definitely wasn’t a woman.

This bastard really was roleplaying a girl?

“What the hell is up with your character’s look?”

“Why? It’s pretty.”

“I’m asking why you are doing that.”

“Isn’t a strong woman more attractive? If a big sister like this tramples me and conquers me…”

“I have no desire to know about your kinks.”

As I looked longingly at my friend, who was a madman in reality but had become a double madman after entering Zelpia, my other friend Seongjin was also soon summoned to the pink-pink house.

I was going to deeply reconsider my human relationships if even this guy had a weird kink, but fortunately, Seongjin was a bearded shield-bearer.

“Do you also want a bearded ahjussi to trample you?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden, Eonha?”

Thank God. This guy is normal.

As I swept my hand over my chest and looked around, the sense of displacement in this bizarre space became even more severe.

From the sign with a pink heart on a white background that said [JustOneHitOppa’s House], to the pink curtains, pink accent wallpaper, pink sofa, pink bed, and pink teddy bear.

The house looked like someone had accidentally splashed a pink filter over it in Photoshop.

In such a house, there was a glamorous female character in a black suit, a bearded male character with massive muscles and a shield, and me, wearing nothing but rags—the three of us.

It’s weird. It’s definitely weird!

“It’s really too weird!”

I wondered if I had let the voice of my heart out of my mouth, but those words had actually come from Han Kyutae’s mouth.