Chapter 56: The Bomb Drops

I couldn’t help but grin as I watched the chat scroll by. The mix of people I already knew and the new faces who weren’t afraid to strike up a conversation felt surprisingly good.

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: I guess… we have to let Eon-ha go then T_T haha….

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Nuna, are you abandoning me?

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: How can you do this?! What about our friendship in the student lounge?!

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: But T_T

[Guild] Ris: You can’t beat Sephiroth… ㅡㅡ;;

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Ris-nim’s heart = my heart lol.

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: You know I love you, right? ^^

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Wow, they say you can’t trust anyone in this world….

I always knew Bong Seon-hwa nuna was quick to drop me, but I didn’t think she’d throw me overboard this fast.

Instead of feeling betrayed, I just found the whole situation hilarious. I was still chuckling to myself when a voice suddenly spoke.

“Hey.”

“Ack! You scared me!”

I jumped nearly three feet in the air. I spun around to find Sephiroth standing there, having approached without a sound. Well, it’s a game, so I guess “presence” isn’t really a thing, but don’t people usually have footsteps?

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh? Nothing. Just reading the guild chat.”

“The guild.”

“Yeah, why?”

“Nothing. Just turn on View Sharing. I’ll explain the videos.”

View Sharing was a system that allowed Sephiroth to see exactly what was on my screen. I tapped through the settings and enabled it. Sephiroth stepped up beside me, facing the same direction. From there, we replayed the video he had sent earlier.

“Look at this. Usually in a 6:6, if the tank line is solid, they use a strategy where they stay back and protect the Core Castle since their defense is high. They’ll send one or two assassins to pick off the enemy’s backline while the rest go all-in on guarding the castle.”

“That sounds like it would make the game pretty slow.”

“Yeah. That’s why I f*cking hate that strategy.”

The battlefield, which had looked like a chaotic mess of random movements before, began to make sense under Sephiroth’s tutelage. He raised a hand, pointing out specific parts of the video and adding detailed commentary. Far from being a poor communicator, he was actually an excellent teacher; everything he said was easy to grasp.

“See here? The assassin is trying to slip past the back, but they were waiting for it and dumped all their damage immediately. This map has a lot of hiding spots, so you can pick people off one by one like this.”

“But doesn’t that leave you open to a counterattack?”

“Exactly. That’s why vision is the most important thing on this map. Either that, or you stick together to cover for each other during an ambush.”

Sephiroth’s masterclass was flawless. The only thing bothering me was something outside the lecture: my guild chat, which was scrolling relentlessly. Most of it was them discussing PVP, but given the context, my name and Sephiroth’s were popping up quite a bit. Since I had View Sharing on, he could definitely see it.

“Did you get all that?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s move to the next video.”

I was about to close the video at his command when the guild chat flashed.

[Guild] JujiyukLim: But wait.

[Guild] JujiyukLim: Sephiroth doesn’t have a guild, does he?

[Guild] JujiyukLim: If we invite him to run with us, the numbers would be perfect.

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: ??? Are you insane?

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Invite who?

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Excuse me? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Nago-Rang: What did I just read…?

[Guild] JujiyukLim: No, think about it.

[Guild] JujiyukLim: Where else in Zelpia are you going to find a Ranker with that much combat power?

[Guild] Ayron: (o_o);;;;

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Are we going to get our whole guild slaughtered while looking for ‘combat power’?

No, why are you guys talking about this right now!

Since I had just closed the video, the only thing on my screen was the guild chat. I frantically turned off View Sharing, but it was already too late. Sephiroth, standing next to me, tilted his head down and leaned in to peer at my face.

“Why’d you turn off the sharing?”

“The chat was getting too personal.”

“Seemed more like it was about me than ‘personal’ stuff.”

Damn it, he saw everything.

I had no idea how to fix this. What if this guy memorized everyone’s nicknames and went on a hunt to decapitate them all? Would I get kicked out of the guild? Guilty of leading my guildmates to their deaths….

“Tell them to send the invite.”

“Wait, what?”

“They said they wanted to run together, right?”

What am I even hearing right now…?

“Are you… are you serious?”

“Of course.”

I was the one who was flustered by his unwavering answer. I tried to peer into his face to see what he was thinking, but only that emotionless black helmet stared back at me.

I couldn’t read him at all.

“Really? I’m actually going to tell them, then.”

“Go ahead. Invite me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Should I send a whisper myself?”

“No, no! I’ll do it.”

I didn’t know which of my poor guildmates he’d choose to whisper, but whoever it was would probably have a heart attack the moment his name popped up. It was better if I acted as the buffer.

[Guild] Nago-Rang: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ No, if we even talk to him, what if our guild ends up on his blacklist? T_ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Ayron: I agree, that’s probably not a good idea (o_o);;;;

[Guild] JujiyukLim: You think?

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Obviously ㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: That was a fun delusion, Won-jae. ^^

[Guild] Ris: That was a chilling thought, indeed ㅡㅡㅋ

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Um, excuse me.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Guys.

I dropped the bomb into the chatroom where everyone was still joking around, oblivious to the impending doom.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Sephiroth says he’ll join the guild.

The rapid-fire chat came to a grinding halt. After an eternal silence, the messages exploded.

[Guild] Ris: ;;;;;;??

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Oh my god.

[Guild] Nago-Rang: ???????

[Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: For real?

[Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: Somehow I had a feeling this might happen;

[Guild] JujiyukLim: Seriously?

[Guild] PpoongPpoongLove: I didn’t say anything because I thought it was too much of a reach;

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Wait, wait.

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Is this actually happening????????

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Also, I should probably apologize.

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: Sephiroth saw the whole guild chat. T_T

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: I’m so sorry T_T T_T

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Mtc.

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Looking for people to go commit suicide with (1/n).

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Looking for people to go commit suicide with (2/n).

[Guild] Ris: Isn’t Sephiroth just going to kill us all before he joins anyway? ㅡㅡ;;

[Guild] JujiyukLim: “Succeeding you, Father.”

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Ah, stop it, then I’ll be the one who dies ㅡㅡ

“What are they saying?”

“They’re asking if you’re planning to kill everyone in our guild.”

“Aww. Why would I do something like that?”

Sephiroth waved it off dismissively, but considering his usual track record, I kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t exactly an unreasonable fear. Meanwhile, the guild chat was burning. It was a total wildfire.

[Guild] NinjaBuffPls: Just logged in.

[Guild] NinjaBuffPls: What’s going on?

[Guild] NinjaBuffPls: If you’re committing suicide, count me in.

[Guild] NinjaBuffPls: Give me a Ninja buff or give me death.

[Guild] Nago-Rang: This is not the time for that!!!!!

[Guild] NinjaBuffPls: ?

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Sephiroth is joining our guild….

[Guild] NinjaBuffPls: Mtc.

[Guild] NinjaBuffPls: I should seduce him into starting a ‘Buff Ninjas’ movement with me.

[Guild] Nago-Rang: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Mtc.

[Guild] Ris: ??

[Guild] JujiyukLim: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Read the room, please! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

A new person had joined the chat, but even that didn’t seem likely to extinguish the flames. They’re never going to accept this, right? But if I told Sephiroth that, he’d probably pull some ‘But you said they invited me’ nonsense and storm the guild hall anyway.

As I was spiraling into anxiety, a new message popped up.

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Eon-ha, is Sephiroth really joining?

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Not just to kill us?

[Guild] BlueberryWhiskey: He says no.

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Hmm, well then…

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Tell him to put in a request to join. ㅎㅎ….

What?

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Huh? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Unni, have you lost your mind too?!?!?!!??? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Ris: ?!

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: Our precious guild points T_T

[Guild] VeggieHo-ppang: He says he’ll earn them for us T_T

[Guild] JujiyukLim: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] JujiyukLim: Seon-hwa’s eyes have turned into point-currency signs….

[Guild] Nago-Rang: Oppa, you’re the one who said to invite him first! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Guild] Ayron: (o_o);;;;

[Guild] Ayron: Is this real life? (o_o);;;;;;

Blinded by the allure of guild points, Seon-hwa nuna had officially declared she would accept Sephiroth. Of course, a guild invite shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but seeing things escalate this far was making me incredibly nervous.