Why Do They PVP?
“Thanks~”
Im Ha-rin waved her chopsticks at the PC bang part-timer from the darkest corner booth, greeting him cheerfully.
'Gotta scarf this down quick and get back to leveling...'
Humming a little tune, she dove into her dinner, then smoothly logged into Pajijik, the streaming site.
She pondered for a second who to watch but figured she'd just leave it running like background radio anyway, so she clicked into a random Lost of Fantasy stream.
“Whoa... this guy's level is insane.”
Im Ha-rin was the type to devour strategy videos on Nutube during breaks and scour community tips, all in eager anticipation of her next level-up.
So it was no coincidence she ended up in 'Ramju Thunder's' room, where the viewer count hovered at 10,000 and the energy was electric.
“...What the hell are they doing?”
Im Ha-rin slurped a couple bites of ramen, eyes darting in confusion.
'Not a dungeon... what are they fighting? Why's the hype this high? Looks like a Legend of League teamfight or something.'
Im Ha-rin had no clue about field PVP.
Sure, as a dopamine-loving high school girl, she'd watched vids like “Top 5 Dumbest PVP Moments in Gaming History.”
She knew games like Thor had a history of chaotic brawls called “blind PKing.”
Even a high schooler like her had heard of the infamous “Yatsu Liberation War.”
Hearing the three streamers' voices, Im Ha-rin set down her ramen and blinked rapidly.
'Ohhh, this is it? That Nutube vid I saw? Faction PVP? RVR?'
Recalling a 30-minute video from a famous ex-pro gamer, she clapped her hands.
The donations poured in hot as the in-game vibe boiled over.
“Whoa... so at level 40 you can just brawl in the fields like this.”
Looking pretty fun, Im Ha-rin thought as she slurped more ramen.
Having wiped out the Alliance coalition's NPCs, the streamers naturally shifted to disbanding.
'But what do you get out of this? What's the reward for all this fighting?'
A natural question. Pure curiosity.
Still hungry, Im Ha-rin reached for her kimchi with her chopsticks.
Im Ha-rin chuckled, seeing Sky voice her exact thoughts.
'GutRipper... GutRipper... trendy name these days? Unnie's is like—'
Chewing ramen, Im Ha-rin spotted a somewhat familiar 'nickname' on stream and her eyes went wide.
“Unnie? Hana unnie?”
* * * * *
“It's not your first stream, why the fuss?”
“But you saw it yourself—the community's buzzing about how good you are at the game!”
Slapping the seat next to our two-person booth, Im Ha-rin bombarded me with KakaoTalks out of nowhere.
Not just messages—she was watching streams and spotted me, then started chatting me up like crazy.
It was so ridiculously cute, and then she whined that she was at the PC bang, so let's game together.
“I only came 'cause you said you'd buy drinks. Keep your promise.”
“Unnie... robbing a high schooler like this, ah!”
“Keep. Your. Promise~~~!”
I smacked her shoulder with my left hand—thwack!—and plopped into the next seat, logging into the already-booted PC.
“But unnie, you're not even surprised?”
“I check the community sometimes. Knew people were talking about me.”
“For real? Then you saw those memes I sent too?”
“Yeah, saw 'em. I read the original posts.”
Wondering if it's okay to mention the Lost of Fantasy gallery in front of a high schooler?
She's a gamer, so she knows the drill.
“Whoa... unnie, you're totally famous now...”
“Not that big a deal.”
Just some strategy posts on the gallery or me popping up on streams like earlier.
“I'm a healer to begin with. Most go Priest, but I'm a Holy Knight.”
“Right, everyone does Priest.”
“Exactly. That's why I stand out. High-level healers are rare, and among them, I'm the only one stubbornly leveling a Holy Knight.”
Maybe I'm overthinking it.
Shift perspective a bit, and there might be plenty like me.
“Doesn't seem like it, unnie. Those streamers were calling you a pro import, saying they'd love to raid with you again—spilling all these stories.”
“Nah.”
Logging in, I smacked the decline button over 30 times for the friend requests, as expected.
At first I declined diligently, but tons re-request right after, so I gave up.
“Unnie, anyway—from that stream explanation, can you explain it to me again? You glossed over it super quick.”
“If I spelled it all out, the stream would get boring. NPCs explain some anyway.”
“Tch! That's no explanation. I went back to Demon King Castle after what you said and talked to it—didn't tell me squat.”
I just shrugged.
“Kill the red guys. Get points. Buy gear with points. Done.”
“Unniiiie...”
Im Ha-rin narrowed her eyes and reached for my waist, kneading it.
“Y-Yeah, ugh! What're you doing?!”
“Unnie knows all the systems. Explain properly. Pleeease? I die if I don't know this stuff.”
Wait, are we that close?
Grabbing my waist like that? A high schooler?
“P-Pervert, no, this is...”
“What?!”
Im Ha-rin raked my sides like crazy.
“Ah, no—gah...! Th-thanks.”
Luckily, the part-timer showed up right on time with strawberry smoothies, freeing me from tickle hell.
“Anyway... what exactly do you wanna know?”
“You mentioned Honor Points? Tell me all about it.”
“That was the explanation. You want details?”
“Yes. Like MMR or something?”
I shook my head, grabbed her mouse, clicked a soldier NPC, and opened the shop.
“Kinda, but not really. With Honor Points, you can buy gear here. Not with points directly—you pay gold.”
“Whoa... holy crap! Wh-what's this? P-purple gear?!”
True gamer, her eyes went huge as she snatched the mouse to inspect.
Makes sense—in Lost of Fantasy, after only greens and blues, purple would blow her mind.
“Whoa, combat power... insane. Purples start at 60... so good...”
“Kill enemy players, get Honor Points. Need those points to buy the gear. Get the gist?”
“So that's why you did PVP like that, unnie?”
“Nah, points are just a bonus for me. Momentum's key. If you let same-faction guys die, people turn into chew toys.”
“Pfft...!”
Im Ha-rin burst out laughing.
“What?”
“Why? Like, if allies die and you just quest nearby like a chicken instead of fighting. That vibe spreads, and it sucks later.”
Whatever was funny, she kept snickering.
“So that's it for Honor Points? But why's the purple gear red? Gold shortage I get, but it never went full red in trade windows before.”
“No, that's... like Legend of League—your rank's too low. More Honor Points raise your rank. Assigned weekly during maintenance.”
“This game has ranks too?”
“Yeah, rank determines purple gear access.”
Seeming to get it, Im Ha-rin's eyes sparkled.
“Then unnie, to farm Honor Points—kill like 10 lowbies? No, corpse-camp like earlier, kill on every rez...”
“Nope. And no points for repeat kills on the same person.”
“Ah... so complicated.”
“Do honorable stuff. Honorable. That's why Honor Points. Total pus—”
Oh, crap.
“Huh? Unnie? What? Total what? Unnie? What were you about to say?”
“N-no, forget it! Slip of the tongue! Saw it on the community.”
“What were you gonna say? Tell me.”
“No! I said it was a mistake!!!!”
But... corpse-camping weaklings as point piñatas for purple gear is kinda pushe-y, right?!