Chapter 10: Responsible Party Play

Sephiroth replied nonchalantly.

“When pests start swarming, don’t you want to catch them?”

“Are you calling my friend a pest?”

“That’s why I revived her.”

“Hey.”

The moment he said that, it clicked.

I had been bitten by the most unsalvageable lunatic in this game. This guy was someone you could never settle things with through normal conversation. My dream of a happy gaming life—my new hobby—would never come true unless I figured out how to deal with this bastard.

Either quit the game, or handle him. Those were the only two paths.

I wracked my brain desperately. How could I persuade this animal who didn’t understand human speech? After visualizing the face of Professor Choi Gil-nam—who taught the Psychology of Persuasion yet used grades to threaten his students—I finally made my move.

“I’m deleting my account.”

I threw out my final ultimatum.

“Why?”

It was a total gamble, but it worked perfectly. In a rare display, Sephiroth showed a reaction that bordered on flustered.

It seemed this madman really, truly wanted to fight me. My threat of deleting my account actually held leverage over him.

I wasn’t curious about why he was going this far. Why did defeating one AI matter so much? Trying to understand a lunatic’s mind is like staring into the abyss—you’ll just get swallowed. Since I’d confirmed my gamble worked, I planned to use it for all it was worth, regardless of the reason.

“Why? Because you’re running around killing everyone near me! How am I supposed to play? I logged on to have a cozy time with my friends, not to be your sparring partner.”

I spat the words out in a rapid-fire burst.

Will this work? Even I was skeptical, so I took a cautious peek at his reaction.

“Fine.”

The madman nodded submissively.

“I won’t kill the people around you.”

Oh. He agreed that fast?

I was prepared for a much longer verbal tug-of-war, but he accepted my condition more easily than expected. Is he going to pull some “deal with the devil” twist later and kill them under a weird technicality? I entertained all sorts of paranoid thoughts before giving him one more warning.

“If you do anything weird, I’m really quitting.”

“Sure.”

His compliant nodding was suspicious, but there wasn’t much else I could do.

Let’s just consider it resolved for now. I notified the guild chat that the catastrophe had been averted.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: ㅠㅠ Noona, I’m so sorry. I talked some sense into him. [Guild] JujiyukLim: You talked sense into the Fanatic? [Guild] JustOneHitOppa: Wai-wai-wai-wait. [Guild] VeggieSteamedBun: What is happening right now?~~??~?!! [Guild] Eiron: There’s a nickname I don’t recognize in the guild, but you’re making some shocking statements ㅇㅅㅇ…

Is it… resolved?

With a heavy heart, I turned off the guild chat. There was no way to explain this whole situation. Seonhwa Noona, who was supposed to carry me, was now completely preoccupied with sharing her “Meeting Sephiroth” story in the guild chat. I was already an afterthought.

Fine. I’ll just quest alone.

Thanks to everyone else fleeing the area, the hunting ground was wide open. These monsters looked like the perfect punching bags for my pent-up rage toward Sephiroth. Just as I drew Pluton’s Sword and took a step—

Wait, didn’t I say I talked sense into him? Why is he still hovering around me?

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

“You just said I can’t kill people.”

“……So you’re going to watch?”

“Want to party up?”

“No.”

I wanted to avoid the horrific experience of being in a party with a psycho. When I shook my head vigorously, Sephiroth shrugged.

“Are you shy?”

What is he even saying?

As expected, getting tangled with a nutcase was nothing but exhausting. Maybe because I was alone, I felt even lonelier. Here I was on a beautiful day, arguing with a crazy person in a virtual world.

I sent an SOS to the guild chat, which was still burning up.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Um, excuse me. [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Someone give me a bus (carry) please….

And while you’re at it, take care of this guy for me too.

Surprisingly, absolutely no one showed any interest.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: You traitors. [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: You said you’d carry me. [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Where is the loyalty of the Hankuk University Economics Department? [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Did you drink it all away with Makgeolli? [Guild] VeggieSteamedBun: Eon-ha-ya ㅠㅅㅠ [Guild] VeggieSteamedBun: You saw me get murdered by Sephiroth earlier ㅠㅅㅠ [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: I settled it with words. [Guild] JujiyukLim: Can you even settle things with him with words? ㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] Eiron: Can I post this on Inven? ㅇㅅㅇ [Guild] Eiron: This is a guaranteed “Popular Post” ㅇㅅㅇㅋ

It’s hopeless.

It seemed the “Carry Chae Eonha” campaign had been unilaterally terminated the moment Seonhwa Noona was brutally killed. The people who were so welcoming and eager to help me level up just a moment ago had completely wiped their mouths and were now too busy chatting about their Sephiroth experience.

I called them traitors, but I didn’t blame them. If I had flown over all excited to help a friend only to have some lunatic split my head open, I’d want to go home too.

But still, to abandon me this completely?

I scanned the empty plains. Aside from the black-armored Sephiroth crouching over there doing something, not a single player was moving. Which meant Seonhwa Noona, who was on her way to me, had ditched me and left.

I was fuming. I thought I’d finally have some fun gaming with friends, but one thug had ruined the whole vibe. Come to think of it, the reason I was abandoned was all because of that guy.

Isn’t this too unfair? He ruins someone’s social life in-game and then stays here all peaceful? He should take some responsibility, shouldn’t he? Since he ruined my party play with the max-level Bong Seonhwa, he should do it instead.

……Then again, soloing might be better than partying with this mental patient……

Despite my cold logic, my body was already moving.

“Hey. Take responsibility.”

I approached Sephiroth and spoke bluntly. Looking closer, Sephiroth was digging in the dirt with a trowel. Is he seriously gathering? Flabbergasted, I slapped a hand on his shoulder.

“Didn’t you hear me—!”

“I’m picking herbs.”

With his sweet voice came a lightning-fast axe swing aimed right at my head. With the mindset of a wuxia protagonist practicing a desperate roll, I tumbled along the ground and barely dodged it. As I tried to calm my racing heart, Sephiroth stared at me blankly and muttered:

“Ah, what a waste.”

He looked like he was itching to fight again. I had to change the subject before he became a “Fight Me” parrot again.

“Forget that, just take responsibility.”

Sephiroth stood up, leaning casually on his axe.

“For your life? That’s a bit heavy.”

“What nonsense are you……. My friends were going to help me level up, but they left because of you.”

“You and your friends really take my Resurrection Scrolls too lightly.”

“And I think you take PK-ing too lightly, so let’s call it even?”

Sephiroth chuckled as if my blunt response satisfied him. Perhaps because the low laughter echoed inside the helmet, it sounded muffled and deep, like it was coming from a cave. I got annoyed at the unnecessarily good voice that didn’t match his trashy personality.

“What’s so funny?”

“So, you want me to help you level up now?”

“You gave me elixirs to use for leveling up anyway, so why can’t you help? Let’s party up.”

I had learned something from watching Sephiroth. A person needs to be shameless. It wasn’t the rational person who won, but the one who was confident and loud.

Right now, I was extremely confident. I even had a rational reason. Since my friends wouldn’t help me because of him, wasn’t it right for the culprit to fix the problem? Thinking of it as him paying back a debt made me feel like a dignified creditor.

“You have nothing better to do here anyway, right?”

“Didn’t you see me picking herbs?”

“Stop the bullshit, please. We both know you didn’t come here for that.”

There was no way a guy who had seen all the end-game content had anything to do in a newbie zone. Picking herbs was clearly just an excuse. If he really wanted to gather, he’d be in a high-level dungeon picking rare herbs.

I mean, think about it. A guy who splits heads like watermelons is out here picking medicinal herbs for his health?

“Isn’t your goal to get me leveled up so we can fight? Why don’t you help out until then?”

“Is it worth the hassle?”

“You were helping me just fine yesterday. Is one party invite that hard?”

“So, you want a party?”

Sephiroth’s tone sounded like he was asking, ‘Can you handle it?’

Kid, what’s there to handle? I’m already handling you.

“Look, just think about— no, forget it.”

I started to speak but closed my mouth. I felt pathetic for trying to persuade him. What good would come from partying with a bum I didn’t even want on my friend list? At best, my stomach acid would flare up and give me an ulcer.

“Don’t do it then. It’s just a newbie mission anyway.”

Dashing forward without looking back once I got fixed on something was a bad habit of mine. Just as I thought the habit was kicking in again and started walking toward the monsters—