Chapter 45: Meeting Again

‘Wow!’

The moment the BGM for a ‘dud’ played, Paul let out a cry of admiration.

He lifted the monkey mascot head in his hand and jumped up from his seat as if leaping.

‘So cute!’

Although his face was covered by a mask, it was obvious that Paul’s mood had improved greatly.

‘The last one is a dud, huh?’

‘Well, it’s amazing that they came out consecutively like that.’

He heard such words from his surroundings, but they didn’t reach Paul’s ears.

He was just so happy that he got what he wanted at the end.

It was when he was spinning around in place, holding the large monkey mascot head.

Paul’s eyes caught a player holding a different head behind the fountain where he had been sitting until just a moment ago.

Paul looked at the monkey mascot head in his hand once, and then at the rabbit mascot head the person was holding.

So there was a rabbit head too!

It wasn’t in the announcement, but he wondered if items from the past had also been released, so Paul headed behind the fountain as if possessed.

And there was a man with light brown hair, holding a rabbit head and sighing.

Seeing that, it seemed that he was disappointed because he hadn’t gotten what he wanted.

Paul, wondering if he could exchange it for that rabbit head, spoke to the man.

‘Excuse me. Do you happen to need this?’

‘M-Me? Huh, that’s this event’s item!’

What Paul took out was the [Holy Light of Tainan], of which he had drawn two.

‘Really?’

‘Yes!’

The man repeatedly asked if it was really okay to accept it with a dazed face.

At that, Paul smiled brightly and replied.

He had a collector’s spirit, but if he had two of the same thing, he was the type of person who wouldn’t mind giving one away.

‘Are you really giving it to me?’

‘Yes! I have one more!’

Paul shook the swords he held in each hand as if to say there was nothing to worry about.

The man’s mouth dropped open as he looked back and forth between the identical swords with a surprised face.

If someone else had seen it, they would have said it would be more profitable to sell it on the auction house or to a private buyer to make money, but Paul knew almost nothing about that.

In the first place, he was the type of person who would sell it if asked and just give it away if he felt like it.

Paul, who played the game casually, had almost no desire for material possessions, and he didn’t think he particularly needed money.

It wasn’t like he couldn’t do anything just because he was a little short on money, and on top of that, Paul was a self-sufficient jack-of-all-trades.

If he needed potions, he could gather herbs from the roadside and make them, and if he was hungry, he could just pick berries from a tree and cook them.

When he really needed money, he would solve it with what he had saved up, or if that wasn’t enough, he would lightly go around the village and do part-time jobs.

On top of that, the fact that he would luckily obtain what he needed when he needed it also contributed to this mindset of his.

And this wasn’t the first or second time a situation like this had happened to Paul.

He would often hand over items to strangers on the street, saying his bag was full.

His friends and guild members would see him and either call him a pushover or grab his legs and beg him to sell it to them instead…

Unfortunately for them, there was no one by Paul’s side that day to stop him.

‘Instead, could you give me the one in your hand?’

‘Huh? The one in my hand… You mean this?’

The man held up the adorable rabbit head as if he couldn’t believe it.

At that, Paul nodded his head quickly, saying that was it.

‘No, are you really okay with something like this? I think you can sometimes find this if you search the auction house…?’

‘It’s okay!’

‘…I’d be grateful if you just gave it to me, but, um, I feel bad. I have a conscience too…’

Still in a state of bewilderment, the man hesitated.

Seeing Paul’s attire, he wondered if he was a newbie and didn’t know the value of the item, so he was hesitant to say yes.

‘Ah, then would you like to add me as a friend? If you need any help, be it a dungeon or anything else, just call me! I’m a paladin who’s on the higher level side, you know!’

‘Is that okay? I’d love to! Please help me out when I need a party later!’

‘Of course. You even gave me this sword for free… I really wanted this! I was about to give up because only potions came out when I opened them… Thank you so much!’

‘It’s nothing.’

Seeing the man who was thanking him profusely with sparkling eyes, Paul smiled and waved his hand.

Then he brought up the friend request window and asked for the man’s nickname to write it down.

‘You can just call me Paul. Your nick is…?’

At that, the man hesitated for a long time and then said in a small voice with a flushed face.

‘…It’s Choi, Choi Kang Hae Yoon.’

‘Ah…’

A moment of silence fell between the two after Paul’s single exclamation.

‘That’s, that’s a strong-looking name!’

As the flustered Paul gave a thumbs-up and a clumsy compliment, Choi Kang Hae Yoon, in his embarrassment, finally raised his hand and covered his face.

‘…Please just call me Hae Yoon. Please! Just leave out the Choi Kang and just call me Hae Yoon…’

‘Yes, yes, Hae Yoon-nim! Um, I’ll be going now then.’

‘Ah, yes! Have fun playing!’

After parting ways awkwardly like that, the two never met again.

Paul was used to solo play and rarely partied, and even if he did, if he just typed ‘Anyone available to help?’ in the guild chat, a guild member would appear from somewhere and help him, so he had completely forgotten about his existence.

Of course, this was also a common occurrence for Paul.

His friends list was full of people he had added as friends but had never contacted once.

Wouldn’t they have also forgotten about Paul’s existence by now?

Contrary to him, Choi Kang Hae Yoon remembered the person who had given him a high-grade item for free.

His attire at that time was so unique that it was memorable.

Wouldn’t it be stranger not to remember the new race elf who was wearing a strange mask made of bark that covered his entire face, with a monkey mascot head on his back and a brightly shining bastard sword in each hand?

“Ah, Choi… Hye Yoon-nim!”

“Th-That’s right. I’m glad you remember!”

“Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you like this!”

“It’s been a long time! I never imagined I’d meet you here, Paul-nim…!”

“By the way, what brings you here?”

“I was just called over for a contribution. My class is a paladin, you know.”

Choi Kang Hae Yoon tapped his armor and smiled brightly.

“Ah, I’m using this sword well too.”

“Really? Oh, you’ve enhanced it too. I need to get mine repaired, but I completely forgot, so it’s on the verge of breaking with just one swing.”

“Oh my, shall I introduce you to a blacksmith I know well? Since this sword is S-grade, the repair cost is not to be taken lightly.”

“Hmm, I have a regular blacksmith, so it’s okay!”

As he was laughing and chatting with Hae Yoon, a hand suddenly shot out from behind him.

A strong arm wrapped around Paul’s neck, and Khan, who had approached at some point, whispered softly.

“Caught you.”

For a moment, a chill ran down Paul’s spine.

He slowly turned his stiff neck and looked up at Khan.

He ended up being held tightly by Khan, but Paul knew.

He was holding him like this so he wouldn’t run away again!

As proof, his beautiful purple eyes were looking down at him with a frown of annoyance.

“Oh, you’re here? Hahaha, um, th-this is my friend. Hae Yoon-nim…”

“Ah, hello!”

“…”

Choi Kang Hae Yoon smiled awkwardly and greeted him, but Khan just gave a half-hearted nod without a word.

Paul smiled wryly at the awkward Choi Kang Hae Yoon.

Choi Kang Hae Yoon also just smiled awkwardly back at Paul.

“By the way, Paul-nim.”

At that moment, Choi Kang Hae Yoon called out to Paul as if he had remembered something.

“It’s fate that we met like this, and I haven’t been able to help you with anything after receiving the sword, have I? So this is the only thing that comes to mind right now.”

“Huh?”

Choi Kang Hae Yoon looked around.

After confirming that there were no other people around, he covered his mouth with one hand and whispered in a small voice.

“This is a story that hasn’t been released to the public yet. You can’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Oh, what is it?”

Saying that made him even more curious.

He wanted to lean forward, but Khan wouldn’t loosen his arm, so he just perked up his ears and showed his curiosity.

“I think something is going to happen between the temples soon. There’s talk from the higher-ups that it might even be on the scale of a continental quest, you know?

I don’t know the details yet either… but the temple side has been gathering players in order of their high contribution to prepare before the incident breaks out.

Actually, this kind of thing is rare unless it’s for a main quest. So what I’m trying to say is, just in case, you should prepare yourself beforehand. It would be a big problem in many ways if a war suddenly broke out, right?”

At those words, the corners of Paul’s mouth trembled.

Fortunately, it wasn’t visible because of the mask, but he couldn’t stop his perked-up ears from drooping.

But Paul acted as if he had just learned something he hadn’t known before.

“I-I see! Wow, thank you for telling me!”

“It’s nothing. I just said it because you seem like the type who doesn’t like this kind of thing, Paul-nim, so I hope it was helpful. Then, have fun playing!”