Harin, Let's Just Do One Quest Together
It had already been a day since I'd shown Im Ha-rin her optimized leveling route. My own leveling speed was slowing down to the point where it was almost embarrassing to admit I'd shared that info with her.
But it was to be expected—hell, it was downright inevitable.
Lost of Fantasy's max level was 60. From level 50 on, it was what players called the Red Levels—not just because of the massive experience requirements, but because the quests demanded you hunt way more monsters and gather piles of materials. On top of that, trash mobs started packing serious health pools, making it a slog for a healer without a ton of damage skills.
"Time to... do that thing, huh..."
Healers' sluggish leveling was an unsolved issue even in the latest expansion pack—no big surprise there. Sure, they'd patched in some improvements here and there. But come on—DPS classes got a barrage of attack skills right out the gate. How was a healer supposed to keep up with monster-killing speed?
Anyway, now that I was in red territory, it was time to recruit some help...
—Zing!
Talk about perfect timing—a KakaoTalk notification.
What kind of girl drags her butt to the PC bang first thing in the morning?
Wasn't this okay for a high schooler?
I thought high school girls spent weekends squealing with friends, window-shopping, or hunting down those four-panel life photo spots. Sure, most were probably buried in hagwon classes.
...As long as turning a fresh high schooler into a PC bang zombie didn't mess with my plans, who cared.
Perfect—I needed a DPS right now. Having her plop down next to me? Pure honey.
"Hey! Give me that blue one!"
"Why should I? It's a sword."
"You crazy bastard! I can equip swords too! Gimme!"
Humming a little tune as I threw on my windbreaker, I arrived at the PC bang to a bizarre scene.
Not that bizarre, I guess.
The place was already buzzing with the healthy yells of kids from early morning. Normally, I'd just tune out the brats, but the unfamiliar chatter caught my ear.
"Hey, I gave you that blue armor earlier. You ate an item, so give me one back."
"You couldn't equip it, sold it to the vendor, and it dropped for me. This one's equippable for me."
"Argh, you fucking cheap bastard."
What the hell was this?
Kids—four or five of 'em—lined up playing Lost of Fantasy in a PC bang? Who saw that coming...
Student-level, of course: fresh-faced sprouts who'd just hit level 15.
"Which one's best to pick?"
"That one, hey, hey, hey! That! Warriors go Weapon Warrior, they said."
"Sun-woo, Kim Sun-woo! Pick good. Eun-yoon picked Hunter Gunner yesterday and had to reroll."
...No need to reroll that, really.
But a big sis in her twenties butting in would probably weird them out.
Watching these kids geek out over the game left me feeling oddly nostalgic.
"Unnie, you here?"
After about a minute of kid-watching, I slid into yesterday's secluded couple's booth. Im Ha-rin—casual clothes, no uniform—greeted me.
"But... you know those kids? You were staring."
"Noisy, so I checked—turns out they're playing Lost of Fantasy. Kinda curious."
"Eww... they play?"
Im Ha-rin shook her head like it was gross.
"Doesn't matter, right? Not like League with auto-matching forcing you together."
"True... yeah, figured kids like that play a ton."
"Why?"
"You didn't know, unnie? Lost of Fantasy is #1 in PC bangs right now."
Really? The glory days were back.
Or in Jeong Hana's world, this was just the legend beginning.
"Don't care about PC bang charts. Oh yeah, did you do that OTP thing I mentioned yesterday?"
"OTP whatever? Did it right when I got home. Inventory really expands four slots, right?"
"It does—but don't come crying to me after looting everything and begging for buys."
Im Ha-rin snickered and logged in around the same time as me.
Nice, nice. Perfect level.
"You leveled up more since yesterday? Wasn't this your level when you headed home."
"Duh, played more at home."
"Wait, you can game at home?"
"Why not? I have a PC. Of course I can."
Then why come to the PC bang? Just play at home.
"Um... I don't like Mom and Dad being home."
"But late-night grinding's fine?"
"They're asleep then, so no complaints."
Suddenly made sense why the landlady wanted me to keep an eye on her...
Family stuff—better not pry.
"Anyway, unnie. What're we doing today?"
"Oh, right. Didn't explain. Let's level up together."
I pointed at my freshly minted level 50 character with my right hand.
"Level up? Together?"
"Obviously. Level gap made it tough before."
"No, like... we can really party? Why don't others?"
"Beats me."
Im Ha-rin blinked.
No, really—I had no clue.
"Party quests share mob kills, joint looting on corpses, parties near-mandatory for elites—tons don't know that."
"Not tons—first time hearing it like you."
"And Red Levels? Parties make it comfy. Trash mobs go nuts. HP's insane."
"What's a Red Level?"
I pulled up the map and pointed.
Power Plains
"See how the zone name's red?"
"Yeah? Mine's yellow."
"High-level zone signal from devs—don't stroll in carefree or you'll die."
"Ah~~ So Red Levels 'cause you level in red zones? So childish..."
Im Ha-rin grinned, loving the term.
"But unnie—one unnie."
"What now. Spill."
"...Isn't this me bussing you?"
Well, well.
"What, you don't wanna bus unnie?"
"N-no! I mean, I'd love gaming with you. But then... coffee at least?"
I grabbed her side with my left hand and kneaded.
"After all I've taught you for free."
"Ah, ahng! Hng! J-joking! Joking! Unnie! Can't you take a joke?!"
"That was straight-up jamsoon eyes trying to pickpocket poor unnie's wallet."
Im Ha-rin burst out laughing, breathless, then fanned her flushed face as I let go, squirming out of her cornered spot.
"Ha, hee... whew. So unnie, I'm bussing you today, right?"
"Kinda... seriously, heading to the fastest-but-riskiest spot. Party's a win for you too."
Im Ha-rin covered her mouth.
"Why not say that first."
"Spelling it out like 'party with me for gains' sounds like scamming a high schooler..."
"Pfft...!" Why laugh?
"Listen. Me to you: Harin-ah~ solo in Power Plains? Alliance rogues gank you all day, corpse-camping. Better safe party with unnie~ Funny, right?"
"Kkh, hnk...! Unnie, gank?"
"Argh, seriously!! What's with you high schoolers?! Why so savage?"
"Why? No pure kids around me, mff, web—"
I squished her cheeks shut before the bomb dropped.
"Heh heh... anyway! Dangerous 'cause of that—field PVP!"
"Yeah. Rogues and annoyances."
"Fought 'em? They're all trash. Suck but harass anyway."
"You've scrapped some, huh?"
She flashed a cute V-sign.
Makes sense—gamer blood means no fear of stealth cheese.
"Anyway, come to my spot?"
"Power Plains? Can't teleport. Quest points there."
"Then... walk from Ashen Port here. Looks far, but lowbie zone hop's easy."
"On it. Wait a sec, unnie. I'll carry ya quick."
Humming again, she hit Ashen Port flight path and zoomed.
"But unnie, map shows tons of red zones—why Power Plains?"
"Eh, nothing special. Quest NPCs clustered, PVP's fierce but parties survive."
"Ooh... other spots total hellholes?"
"Yup. Newbies hit Halpas Hill—near Demon King Castle. Pure hell."
"Aah... seriously!! What the hell is this zone?! NPCs all hacked up? Why stand there giving no quests!!"
Kang Min-seo was taste-testing the "hell" I'd warned about, screaming her lungs out.
"Ugh... seriously! Total garbage! Two hours and not even one level!!!"
"Eugh... hate this place so much... anyone know better leveling spots? Not here?"
Nearly three hours down the drain—Kang Min-seo was at her limit.
"Tank like me struggles soloing... quests nonexistent... routes insane, elite mobs thicker than players on the paths, no way..."
Like healer leveling, but worse without self-heals—she needed saving.
"Anyone... anyone wanna help a girl out? Pleeease."
Whining got her nothing but mockery. Kang Min-seo clutched her chest and sighed deeply.
"Can't survive here! I'll walk to another red zone!!!"