Chapter 55: The Mad Fanatic’s Reputation

Of course, those complex tournament rules were the least of my concerns. I was too busy lamenting my tragic fate—being forced into a 6:6 public match while strictly tethered to Sephiroth as a duo…

[Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: His name is BlueberryWhiskey. [Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: He’s the newbie who cleared the Nightmare tutorial. [Guild] JujiyukLim: Oh wow, seriously? [Guild] Nago-Rang: He cleared Nightmare?

Wait. Why is the conversation suddenly about me?

[Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: Won-jae hyung, this kid is legit. [Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: He’s better than me… [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Still, we can’t send our baby into a brutal 6:6 battlefield T_T [Guild] Nago-Rang: If he’s a Nightmare-clearing newbie, he’s more than welcome! Why didn’t you tell us sooner?! T_T

<JujiyukLim has invited you to the party.>

An invite flashed across my screen immediately.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Uh. [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: I don’t think I can join though… [Guild] JujiyukLim: Why? [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: I already have someone I promised to duo with. T_T

We hadn’t exactly “promised,” but since the quest had essentially arranged a marriage between our fates, it was close enough. But instead of backing off, the guild members clung to me even harder.

[Guild] JujiyukLim: Who is it? [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Blueberry-ya, we’re really good at the game. >< [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Just trust nuna!!! [Guild] JujiyukLim: Blueberry ㅋㅋㅋ Yeah, he’s right, we’re not bad at all.

Hearing them use my nickname was somehow strange. It was probably because there were people in the chat I didn’t know yet. As long as I wasn’t talking to Sephiroth, I didn’t really care if my real name was revealed—this was the guild chat, after all.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: You can just call me by my name. [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: But I really have to duo with this person… [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Why? T_T [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: This can’t be happening! We can’t let our Eon-ha be stolen away~!!! [Guild] OneHitOppa: Hey, nuna, why do you give up on me so easily? ㅡㅡ [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: I’ll stop giving up on you once you learn how to use a space bar. ^^ [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: How did you even get into college? [Guild] OneHitOppa: Do I have to be good at spacing to study? [Guild] OneHitOppa: Even if I’m bad and clumsy at it, I still study well. [Guild] Ris: What era is that song from… ㅡㅡ;; [Guild] Nago-Rang: Ris-nim appears as soon as a song from that generation pops up ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] JujiyukLim: Eon-ha, who is this person? [Guild] JujiyukLim: Girlfriend?

Girlfriend? My god. Thinking of Sephiroth’s black armor, I shuddered and shook my head.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: It’s nothing like that, just someone I met in the game. [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: But due to some circumstances, [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: I absolutely have to play with them.

However, my guildmates—who had already resolved to dive into the battlefield with me to leech off my point multiplier—were persistent.

[Guild] Ris: Blueberry-nim… [Guild] Ris: What guild is that person in…?

Pardon?

Won-jae hyung immediately followed up on Ris-nim’s question. Even LTE wouldn’t be faster than this.

[Guild] JujiyukLim: Ah, true. What guild is he in? [Guild] Ris: Our guild isn’t lacking… [Guild] Ris: Tell him if he’s not in the #1 guild, he should just quit his guild and join us… [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: For once, Ris-nim is making sense! >< [Guild] Ris: For once… ㅡㅡ;;?? [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: No, it’s not like that…

What are they talking about? Telling Sephiroth to quit his guild?

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Who is it? Who? [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: I’ll go snatch him up right now! >< [Guild] Nago-Rang: I’m coming too!! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] Nago-Rang: Can’t let a Nightmare-clearer get away!! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Prepare for departure!! [Guild] Nago-Rang: Fire!!!!!! [Guild] Nago-Rang: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: Ah, wait. Could it be… [Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: Hey, Eon-ha. Is it…

I had no choice but to confess honestly.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: It’s Sephiroth… [Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: Sephiroth. [Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: Ah. [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: ? [Guild] JujiyukLim: ? [Guild] Ris: ? [Guild] Nago-Rang: ?

A feast of question marks was followed by a heavy silence.

[Guild] Ris: Wait, wait… ㅡㅡ;; [Guild] Ris: Is that a typo…??

The player with the nickname Ris-nim, whom I was meeting for the first time, expressed his disbelief. He looked completely flustered as he typed away.

[Guild] Ris: Are you talking about a knockoff like Salphiroth or Selpharos… ㅡㅡ;;;? [Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: Probably not… [Guild] Nago-Rang: THE Sephiroth I know? [Guild] Nago-Rang: The psychopathic murderer and Mad Fanatic? [Guild] Nago-Rang: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ? ? [Guild] Ris: I don’t understand this situation… ;; [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: What happened? How?

As expected, Sephiroth’s name carried a legendary notoriety among max-level players. The entire guild was in shock. Famous quotes from Sephiroth’s past started flooding the chat. He really wasn’t a normal guy.

[Guild] Ris: Excuse me, but how do you even know Sephiroth… ;; [Guild] Ris: I thought that guy… killed everyone around him… ;

They even started questioning me directly. How was I supposed to explain this? Sephiroth is a Mad Fanatic, but should I be defending him? Why do I have to defend his personality? But then again, he didn’t seem like that bad of a person—bad enough to make everyone react this way. Or… was he?

Meanwhile, Han Gyu-tae, who had been crying until a moment ago, chimed in.

[Guild] OneHitOppa: Sephiroth [Guild] OneHitOppa: These days he says he’ll use Resurrection even if he kills someone. [Guild] Ris: ㅡㅡ;;; Dae-man-nim, don’t lie… [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Ris-nim, that part is actually true… [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: I was the one who got resurrected… ㅎㅎ [Guild] Nago-Rang: Eeeeh?? [Guild] Nago-Rang: Am I dreaming right now? [Guild] Nago-Rang: No, really? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ?

With Han Gyu-tae’s revelation and Seon-hwa nuna’s confession, the guild chat spiraled into a state of chaos and destruction. Those who couldn’t accept the reality kept spamming question marks.

Sephiroth, your image is really in the gutter.

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Wait, did Sephiroth sell his account? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] Nago-Rang: I saw him earlier. [Guild] Nago-Rang: He was using weird emoticons in the Shouts. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] OneHitOppa: Ah, f*ck, I saw that too! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: Is that emoticon a trend? I saw Eon-ha looking at it earlier too.

Seong-jin! Why would you blab about my secrets like that!

While I was suffering from the sudden betrayal, the conversation shifted again.

[Guild] JujiyukLim: But wait a second. [Guild] JujiyukLim: How did Eon-ha end up playing on the battlefield with Sephiroth anyway? [Guild] JujiyukLim: Didn’t Eon-ha start the game less than a week ago? [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Uh… it’s a long story. [Guild] OneHitOppa: Sephiroth has been following that guy around. [Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: Damn, is it okay to summarize it like that? [Guild] Ris: Am I the only one who doesn’t get this… ;;?? [Guild] Nago-Rang: No, me too… T_T [Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Honestly, I don’t think anyone gets it… ㅎㅎ….

The chat, which looked like it had been hit by a bomb, only calmed down after I gave a rough explanation.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: So, basically… [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: The final difficulty of the Nightmare tutorial [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: involved fighting a Sephiroth AI. [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: After I won, [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: he asked me to do a 1:1 match with him. [Guild] Nago-Rang: But he’s max level ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] Nago-Rang: Are you close with Sephiroth-nim? T_T? [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: No. [Guild] Nago-Rang: Isn’t he a crazy bast*rd? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

My thoughts exactly.

Finding a guild member who shared my opinion made me feel a sudden surge of affection for the guild. I nodded vigorously, even though no one could see me.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Tell me about it. [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: So I told him I couldn’t fight a max-level player. [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: And he said he’d wait until I reached max level, [Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: and that he’d help me grow until then… [Guild] JujiyukLim: Wow. [Guild] JujiyukLim: That’s insane. ㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] Ayron: (o_o) [Guild] Ayron: This would make such a good post for the Free Board. (o_o) [Guild] JujiyukLim: No, don’t ㅋㅋㅋ [Guild] JujiyukLim: If you want to get kicked out of the guild, go ahead and try. [Guild] Ayron: T_T I won’t do it.

The guild member who desperately wanted to post my story on the community boards was quickly silenced by Won-jae hyung. What a relief.