A Hopeless Lack of Sense
"Player Kim Tae-hyun is truly remarkable. Look here—the Fire Magic Beast is running with its body lowered, right? It might look easy on video, but since you're doing this in person, you have to maintain your balance. And you have to attack in that exact situation. I keep saying this, but I can't stress it enough. It's pure, natural talent!"
As Jeong Su-hyeok blinked at the screen, Tae-hyun paused the video.
"Now. What is the name of the player shown here?"
"Kim Tae-hyun...?"
"And my name?"
"Senior Kim Tae-hyun...?"
"Does this trigger any association? Don't these two faces look somewhat similar?"
"Gasp, haaaah!"
Only then did Jeong Su-hyeok realize the situation, his eyes widening to the size of saucers. To think that *the* Kim Tae-hyun was *this* Kim Tae-hyun!
"Se-Senior!"
"Don't cling to me. It's hot."
"Please! Please teach me!"
Jeong Su-hyeok fell to his knees. To anyone who didn't know the context, he looked incredibly desperate and solemn. He was so intense that even Tae-hyun was momentarily shaken!
But Tae-hyun quickly steeled himself. Why? Because...
So he's doing all this just to become popular, huh?
It was the absolute height of patheticness! Tae-hyun looked down at Jeong Su-hyeok with pitying eyes.
"I'll do anything! I know that compared to you, Senior, I am lacking a lot—no, immensely! But I'll do everything you tell me to, so please let me follow you and learn!"
"No matter how I look at it, you should have majored in physical education. Then again, seeing how you moved earlier, maybe even that wouldn't have suited you."
Tae-hyun dusted off his knees and stood up. Jeong Su-hyeok looked up at him with sparkling, puppy-dog eyes.
"Fine. I'll take a look at what your problem is. Call it the affection of a senior from the same department."
"Senior...!"
"Hey. Hey. Get off me."
Jeong Su-hyeok, with teary eyes, tried to pull Tae-hyun into a tight embrace. Two massive men trying to hug in the middle of the university campus in broad daylight!
"Oh my, oh my..."
"Did he just confess?"
"If you don't get off me, I'm throwing you."
"Yes, sir."
Tae-hyun was weak against people who worked hard and tried their best. Even if their reasons were shallow and pathetic. Jeong Su-hyeok wasn't trying to just leech off Tae-hyun; he genuinely wanted to learn and achieve something on his own. That was what touched Tae-hyun's heart.
"Senior! Where are you!"
Having arrived at the designated meeting place, the Valley of Despair and Sorrow, Jeong Su-hyeok shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Senior?"
"Senior??"
Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan turned to look at Tae-hyun. Tae-hyun let out a deep sigh and approached Jeong Su-hyeok.
"If you have eyes, use them. I'm the owner of this place, so where else would I be?"
"Y-Yes, sir! My apologies!"
Jeong Su-hyeok stood at rigid attention, practically radiating military discipline. Seeing this, Kim Ji-sahn and Park Seong-chan swaggered over.
They could sense a new rival! On top of that, he seemed to know Tae-hyun in real life.
We have to establish dominance!
Right? We got here first!
Of course, they thought they were swaggering, but to Tae-hyun, they looked like they were drunk and their legs were giving out.
"Ahem, hem. You seem to be new here. Do you know who we are?"
"Huh? No, I don't know who you are."
The innocent Jeong Su-hyeok answered the question completely literally.
"We are the legendary blacksmi—"
"Stop talking nonsense and get out of the way. Go over there and finish polishing that armor."
"What?! We finished today's quota!"
"Right. But when you finish work early, more work is naturally created. Didn't you know? And don't even think about slacking off. I've memorized your working speed."
"...!"
Tae-hyun didn't just tease these blacksmiths for fun. Currently, the Valley of Despair and Sorrow only had temporary merchant shops. Polishing and reinforcing the armaments sold there was entirely the blacksmiths' job. On top of that, when visiting players asked for repairs or buffs, Tae-hyun immediately assigned them to the blacksmiths. Thanks to this, Tae-hyun's popularity soared, but the blacksmiths were worked to the bone.
"You said you're in the level 60s? Is that all your gear?"
"Yes!"
Jeong Su-hyeok answered energetically. Wearing a robe and holding a staff embedded with an amethyst, Jeong Su-hyeok looked like a decent mage. Except for his massive build!
"At level 60, you shouldn't be completely weak. In terms of current player standards, you'd be somewhere between a mid-tier player and an expert. What's your class?"
"I am an Erance Magic Tower Mage."
"Wait. Isn't that a Normal Class?"
Classes in the game were divided into Normal, Rare, Epic, and Legendary. Of course, going up in rank didn't automatically make a class better. Some Rare classes were better than Epic ones. But people naturally preferred Rare over Normal, and Epic over Rare. It was only human nature to choose the harder-to-get option when advancing! Unless it was the very beginning of Fantasy Online 2, players with Normal classes were actually rare now. Many Rare class advancement quests had been made public, so players could easily find and clear them. The difficulty wasn't even that high.
"Yes, it is a Normal Class."
"Aren't there tons of players in the Erangs Kingdom? There must be plenty of quests around the Magic Tower. Didn't you look for a Rare class quest?"
"I like this class. It's the first one I got, so I'm attached to it... and more importantly, isn't it about how I raise it?"
It was a commendable attitude, as if he had memorized the exact answers Tae-hyun would like for an interview! Tae-hyun nodded. This was a completely different level of diligence compared to the blacksmiths behind him, who were constantly looking for ways to slack off.
This is why I like diligent guys!
If there were a message window, it would have shown Tae-hyun's favorability rising by +5.
"Uh... is it not good? Should I look for a quest now?"
"It's a very good attitude. Admirable. Alright, shall we do a few tests?"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
"It's a simple test. Cain! Come over here."
Tae-hyun called Cain. As expected, Cain was the easiest to use as a guinea pig for these kinds of experiments.
"Why me again..."
"Attack this mage friend here as if you're fighting a mage. Don't actually hit him, though."
After saying that, Tae-hyun turned his gaze back to Jeong Su-hyeok.
"Do you know what a mage should do when facing a close-combat class?"
Every class had a sort of formula. Warrior vs. Mage, Archer vs. Warrior, Rogue vs. Warrior... Of course, Tae-hyun became famous by exploiting and completely shattering these formulas, but most players memorized them. Which skills to use in what situation. You could call it the standard textbook play.
When Tae-hyun asked, Jeong Su-hyeok answered immediately.
"First, I must cast a defensive spell on myself, apply a debuff to the opponent, and once those two are done, transition to the fastest offensive spell I can cast to create distance!"
"I'd give that a B-minus. Too average. But it's a decent method, so try it out. Against this guy."
Tae-hyun planned to test Jeong Su-hyeok's sense. Just how lacking in sense was he that he had to come crying and begging for help?
Come to think of it, what is Yu Ji-soo up to?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Yu Ji-soo is our leader! Yu Ji-soo is our leader!"
"Let us sing a song of praise!"
"Please... just be quiet..."
Yu Ji-soo covered her burning face in sheer embarrassment. The Pied Guild was a good guild. It was small, and all the members were incredibly kind. It was indeed a guild worth Choi Sang-yun's recommendation.
After joining the Pied Guild, Yu Ji-soo experienced explosive growth. She had potential to begin with. Excellent archery skills in real life, combined with the powerful Epic class, Tyrum Ranger. Once she made up her mind and focused intensely, her growth speed became insanely fast.
If Tae-hyun, who was still lingering in the level 50s, heard about this, he would have clutched his chest in sheer frustration!
Supported by the Pied Guild members, clearing consecutive Tyrum Ranger class quests and leveling up, Yu Ji-soo was no longer a newbie. The problem was...
"Long live Tyrum!"
The Tyrum Ranger class was deeply connected to Tyrum. The more class quests she cleared, the higher her reputation in Tyrum grew, and her standing among the Tyrum Hunters rose. And the Tyrum Hunters were NPCs who would easily rank at the top of the "NPCs you'd be embarrassed to walk around with" list!
Yu Ji-soo gave up and kept walking. Now was not the time to stand still out of embarrassment.
I need to break through to the 3rd floor of the dungeon today... and clear it by this week.
She had been keeping up with Tae-hyun's recent exploits through broadcasts. A terrifying level of activity! Though she had leveled up quite a bit, it was incomparable to the quests Tae-hyun was currently clearing. To avoid being a burden and to clear quests alongside him as equals, she had to climb higher.
If I clear this, I can complete the quest. Then I can take the Tyrum Hunters to the next quest...
Of course, Yu Ji-soo had no idea that Tae-hyun's level was still only 50.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Alright, get ready. Start!"
Crash!
Cain charged immediately at Tae-hyun's command. Jeong Su-hyeok flusteredly aimed his staff. First, he had to cast a shield spell on himself. A fast-casting shield spell was best. Next, he had to cast a spell to stop the opponent's approach. Debuff spells like Slow or Blind were ideal. After that, he could transition to attacking. Whether to widen the distance or take down the opponent first was up to him.
But Jeong Su-hyeok...
"?!"
Cain, who was charging, stopped in surprise at the system message that popped up.
You have been granted Intermediate Shield. Your defense has temporarily increased.
"Why are you casting it on me?"
Before Cain could even finish, Jeong Su-hyeok tripped and fell. He had cast the debuff spell on himself!
Seeing this, Tae-hyun was amazed.
"Casting a buff on the opponent and a debuff on yourself... incredible. Have you considered streaming with this concept?"
"P-Please give me one more chance!"
"Fine. Try again."
But no matter how many times they tried, the result was the same. Tae-hyun finally understood what it meant for Jeong Su-hyeok to have "no sense."
The moment he had to cast multiple skills simultaneously in a high-pressure situation, his fingers got completely tangled. He would attack himself, buff the opponent, or cast completely unrelated skills... Normally, even if someone was slow, they would get used to it after repeating it multiple times, but Jeong Su-hyeok transcended that level.
He was a hopeless dunce!
Jeong Su-hyeok dropped to his knees and slumped forward. Even Cain looked at him in disbelief.
"Where did you pick up a guy like that?"
"Found him on the street. He asked for help, but this isn't something I can help with."
Cain nodded. Even to him, Jeong Su-hyeok's skills were beyond saving.
"How do you even help with that? He cast Intermediate Shield on me instead of himself."
"Yeah, I saw that. Intermediate Shield... wait, he cast *Intermediate Shield* on you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Not Low-grade Rapid Shield or something like that?"
Tae-hyun paused. Jeong Su-hyeok had a Normal class, so his spells shouldn't be anything special.
"No, it was definitely Intermediate Shield."
"But for an Intermediate Shield, wasn't that cast way too fast?"
"Are you seriously measuring his casting speed right now?"
"I didn't do it on purpose. I'm just so outstanding that I can tell even when I'm just standing still."
"..."
Cain shut his mouth and grumbled internally.
Obnoxious bastard!
Natural talent was so unfair!