Quietly Grinding to Max Level, the Next Day
Unlike usual, today I called Im Harin to the PC bang and sat us down in a couple's booth.
"Hana unnie, this feels kinda old-school."
"Yeah? Then should I just keep it all?"
"No way! Who eats up 4 million won right in front of someone?!"
Im Harin chirped like a chick, grabbing my wrist and shaking it lightly.
But isn't this obvious? It's not like we're splitting the bill after a meal—
sending 4 million won to someone whose face I know just like that? Where's the fun in that?
"You transferred it? Did it go through?"
Im Harin snatched her smartphone with both hands at the notification sound, her eyes sparkling.
"Whoa, whoa... it's really 4 million won, unnie? You sold it all? In one day?"
"I calculated based on you saying I sold 4,000 gold, like you mentioned."
Of course, Im Harin's 4,000 gold had already landed in my hands before I sent the money.
That's why I said we should talk face-to-face.
"Jackpot... But how'd you sell it so fast, unnie? Yesterday, everyone was just buying scraps."
"How'd you know that?"
"I couldn't post, but I can lurk."
Lurking didn't help with trading anyway.
No one was dumb enough to trade based on a random in-game whisper instead of Discord.
"There's ways."
"Come on... You didn't just dump it on some guildie and take a loss, right unnie?"
"Nah, sold it to that warrior ajusshi."
"How'd you know?"
"His name was some wuxia nickname."
Im Harin blinked.
"Why wuxia? Don't you know it's trending, unnie? The Youngest Daughter of the Sakpa Clan is the best—"
"That's not wuxia!!!"
Thonk! I jabbed her chest with my elbow.
What nonsense is she spouting!!
"Anyway, I paid up, right? No scamming."
"Heehee... 4 million won for yesterday's nogada? That's months of allowance..."
"......Allowance?"
Do kids these days get that much pocket money? 4 million won comparable to it? Is she joking?
Wait, thinking back, even when I bought her that bra last time... she does seem to get a lot.
"How many months' worth?"
"A bit over 4 months."
"What? You get a million won a month?"
Im Harin nodded right away.
"That much?"
"Yeah, but I cover everything from phone bills to food. Even school fees come out of it."
"...Dude, isn't that just giving you a million a month and letting you auto-farm?"
Im Harin burst out laughing, clutching her stomach and shrugging her shoulders.
"Pfft, hee-hic... Unnie, what? Why bring up auto-hunting?!"
"Feels like they toss you a million and leave you to fend for yourself."
"Mom and Dad are both working their asses off, no choice. Anyway, I like it this way. Figured it out back in my jamsoon days."
In my eyes, you're still a jamsoon... whatever.
Digging deeper would just make me look like I'm nosing into family business with a knock knock hello~
"Spend it wisely. Not every day like today."
"Yeah. Checked the game today—prices are tanking."
"...How'd you check? Didn't you come straight from school?"
Im Harin was still in her uniform, reeking of tteokbokki.
"Duh? No point changing at home. Parents know I live at PC bangs."
"No, how did you check."
"Logged in during lunch."
"Agh!"
Smack! I slapped the back of her head.
"Skipping lunch for PC bang gaming?! Brag much!"
"Ow, au! Why! School lunch tastes like ass..."
"Brag, total brag... Anyway, lunch is 30 minutes—what'd you even see?"
"Well... heehee, thought I'd farm herbs for 30 mins and sell. They're pricey."
This kid's a true gamer at heart.
"But why?"
"Farmed some, took to auction house—prices halved."
"Told ya? One-season stuff. From the start. Pro job mats can't stay expensive forever."
I held up three fingers and wiggled them.
"Infinite supply, anyone can farm. No scarcity."
"Oh..."
"Prices spiked 'cause Playpeople hyped it. Fake demand. Plus, herbalists pick the pro buff—passive marks herb spots on map. Folks are realizing 55 mats aren't just from Moonlight Spire bs."
"Unnie sounds like a total pro."
Short version: the honey pot was hype, and we slurped the last of it.
...And Playpeople's eating padlip over that honey pot now, obviously.
"Anyway, it'll keep dropping. Simple gathering won't cut it forever."
"Why's that?"
"How we gonna beat bot farms?"
Im Harin nodded, grasping the truth.
"Anyway, what's your level? 55, right?"
"Yeah. 3 levels behind you now. Damn..."
Im Harin puffed her cheeks and pouted.
"Then let's run dungeons together today."
"For real? Hell yeah for me. But don't you have quests or something?"
"No quests."
I pointed to my experience bar, halfway to 58.
"Uh-eng?"
"Precisely, a bit more to go. Like 10 left, but mostly PvP quests from West Continent NPCs—gear but crap XP. Meh."
"How do you level normally then?"
"Doksa or manlep from here."
Lost of Fantasy was a pain like that.
Modern MZ games have main quests post-manlep, sparking "Do I have to clear all???" posts.
No main quests here—not even. Sweeping open-world quests barely fills the bar. Original server tragedy.
"You know I can't doksa. Healer."
"Fu-hung, so dungeons with me? Without me you'd—"
"Yeah, then I'd ditch you and solo Spire. Have fun alone, Harin."
"Ack!!! Why no mercy?! It's WWE!"
Im Harin poked my chest with her cotton-candy fists.
Yeah, no chance.
In dungeons or raids, I'm the boss.
"Dealers are a dime a dozen, you know?"
"So mean... Where else you find a DPS like me?"
"Ooh... Im Harin, where's that confidence from?"
Im Harin flashed a V-sign.
"Master 445?"
"Yeah, so when's our Firefrog pro match...?"
"Ah! Unnie, cut me some slack! Master's top-tier!"
She shook my shoulders wildly, grinding her teeth.
Well, truth is, she's good.
Wouldn't lose to any streamer.
Hard to find a black mage who DPSes this steadily!
"Anyway, you never been to Moonlight Spire, right? I'll show you—follow orders."
Lots of folks begging me to call 'em anyway.
"Agh... what the hell, guys. Can't even get in? What the fuck. What're these psychos doing here!!!"
Dojabber smirked sinisterly at Gang Minseo's whiny voice.
"Control's dead~"
"Suckers slurped the honey good."
"This is justice, right? Justice."
His sniper Discord was buzzing with overconfidence from the sure win.
Dojabber, lurking Gang Minseo's stream live, spotted Jeong Hana forming a party to Moonlight Spire and alerted Discord ASAP.
Over 20 gathered and blocked the sole entrance to Moonlight Spire.
"Ugh, this ain't working? I could squeeze in solo, but does that fix shit?"
"Minseo, what do we do? Not like last time—no fighting back."
Jeong Hana's party was mostly the usual crew.
Streamers all 58 or 57 like her, questless, needing doksa or dungeons.
No reason to refuse when sure-clear Jeong Hana leads.
Gang Minseo "gathered" them formally, but everyone knew Hana did.
"Agh... seriously, why snipe?! So boring!"
Gang Minseo wanted this over quick.
Dojabber targeted all Demon King users heading to Moonlight Spire, naturally.
Demon users formed strike teams to break through? They'd pinpoint Jeong Hana's party and wipe 'em.
Unlike last time, snipers leveled up.
Same-level focus fire = instant death, blocking entry, infinite loop.
"Shoulda slipped in earlier."
Sky and Ramjwi Thunder sighed faintly—party camped 20 mins at Spire entrance.
"Bitches, go home jerk off and sleep."
Quest drought at 58? Streamers proved it.
Dojabber grinned, plotting to snipe if they doksa.
"Then dungeons today... Huh? For real?"
Victory seemed locked—then Gang Minseo perked up.
"Undead Academia? Where's that? Anyone know?"
"Wait, if the knight suggests it, better spot, right? Let's go?"
Sky and Ramjwi Thunder sounded puzzled but thrilled.
"No... fuck?"
Dojabber gawked at the stream, dumbfounded.
"Where's Undead Academia?"
Dojabber, blocking the entrance, had no clue on this new dungeon.
"What, where even is it?"
"Wtf keeps popping up. What?"
"Thought dungeons ended here? No quests? Where?"
One voice answered the panicking snipers.
"Awesome! Knight-nim! Let's go quick! Even if tough—with your guidance, we'll smash it!"
Unable to stomach the chat rage, Dojabber hurled his keyboard at the floor.