I'm a Good Vampire, You See
[Ice Coffee: Already? That's fast. Congrats.]
[JinYoo: thx thx]
My friend read the message right away and congratulated me.
And then the next chat arrived.
[Ice Coffee: But which difficulty did you do?]
Hmm...
This was a tricky question to answer.
It'd be awkward to honestly say Nightmare.
I was hiding my identity, and more than that...
Even if I told the truth, they probably wouldn't believe me.
If a newbie who just awakened suddenly said they cleared Nightmare, wouldn't it sound ridiculous? They might even think I was pretending to be an awakener because my job hunt failed and my mental broke.
But I didn't want to lie either.
Uh... let's just dodge it vaguely.
I racked my brain for a second and decided on a suitably evasive tone.
[JinYoo: What else? I did Easy, obviously.]
I did clear it easily, so it's not a lie, right?
It was Nightmare difficulty, but I cleared it in 3 seconds flat, super easily.
No lie there...!
[Ice Coffee: Ah, figured as much.]
Of course, my friend naturally assumed I meant the Easy difficulty, given the context.
[Ice Coffee: Don't get too hyped about awakening and push yourself. Tell me if you need help.]
[Ice Coffee: I'm a pretty high-rank hunter, so I can help out.]
Ooh, acting cool?
I smirked faintly at my friend's words.
A hunter who grinds games with me on weekdays—how high-rank could they be?
B-rank at best? Probably.
That's still impressive, of course.
Anyway, I might not need help, but I should appreciate the sentiment.
[JinYoo: ok ok, will do if needed]
[Ice Coffee: Cool.]
[Ice Coffee: Duo?]
[JinYoo: ok ok let's go]
I accepted the party invite. The duo we couldn't do last time—we could today.
Here we go~
I grinned and cracked my knuckles.
In the residence of Gangnam's most luxurious hotel.
Eunseol Baek, dressed in comfy pajamas, stared quietly at her monitor.
It had been a while since their last duo.
Phew. Good thing nothing happened.
Only after getting a reply from her friend did the nagging worry in her mind finally vanish.
With major incidents like the True Ancestor case popping up one after another, no contact from her friend had kept her on edge for some reason.
But her friend was fine, and had even cleared floor 3.
Impressively fast progress. Enough to make her earlier fretting feel a bit embarrassing.
If they cleared floor 3 already... they must have some real talent?
Just awakened, and already floor 3. Maybe they got a pretty good class.
Her mood lifted for no reason.
It was always like this. Chatting or gaming with her friend somehow brought a sense of peace. Harmless, you could say. A bit simple and emotionally volatile, but it came off as cute rather than annoying.
conquering Europe’s S-rank gates had worn her body and mind to the bone.
And right after exiting the gate, some mysterious group and True Ancestor monsters complicated her head.
Even America's ranker kept bugging her with contacts.
One massive problem after another. But with her friend, she could escape those headaches, if only for a moment.
So this time was precious to Eunseol Baek.
I'll play for a good while before bed today.
A faint smile touched her lips.
Then, a sudden passing thought.
...Huh? Come to think of it, they cleared it almost at the same time as the True Ancestor.
The True Ancestor cleared floor 3 earlier, and her friend said they did too.
Same day. Almost the same time, same floor.
Which meant... Did they get stimulated by the True Ancestor's record and rush right in? So friend-like. She chuckled.
Should mention it later sometime. As she thought that, the queue popped, and they entered character select.
Her friend's picked character appeared on her screen.
-The sea will be dyed in blood!
A vampire-type mage in a red robe. Blood Mage.
...Huh? Did they used to main this one?
Eunseol Baek tilted her head.
[Ice Coffee: You used to play Blood?]
Ah.
The party chat flew in right after picking the character.
I felt a bit embarrassed.
She noticed right away.
Because this character was one I hadn't played much before, only recently practicing it.
Thanks to my class being Blood Lord.
I fantasized that picking a vampire character in-game might trigger some hidden synergy, boosting my reaction speed insanely and turning me pro.
Of course, nothing like that happened.
But once I tried it, the character itself was fun, so I kept at it.
Even if there was real synergy boosting reactions, the game had a "max reaction speed limit" system. To keep it fair for awakeners and non-awakeners, they capped motion speeds and skill reactions. Plus, various factors meant raw physicals alone couldn't dominate.
Though top rankers and pros were all awakeners anyway.
But Ice Coffee was a hunter too, and their physicals were seriously good.
First Blood! Ally has slain an enemy!
See that? Solo kill already.
When I asked before, they said they'd started not long ago... I'd played Rio Hon for ages, yet our tiers matched already.
In a year, they'd probably skyrocket past me.
Honestly, a bit envious.
Tsk. If I pump more Agility stats, maybe my game physicals improve?
Real Agility didn't directly translate to game skill, but it definitely affected reflexes and dynamic vision, or so I'd heard.
Maybe I shouldn't have all-inned Blood Power—left some for Agility?
As I idly pondered.
Wait a sec.
Sudden realization hit.
Thinking back, when I awakened, my stats became a pathetic Strength 3, Vitality 3, Agility 4.
Average non-awakener adult male was around 10, so I was nerfed to half or less.
So my game physicals should have tanked accordingly, right?
But why hadn't I felt it at all?
Same as my non-awakener days?
...Does that mean my original reaction speed was Agility 4 trash?!
I confronted a staggering truth and plunged into deep shock.
That bitter red pill aside, the duo with my friend went pretty smoothly overall.
Win rate was solid—five wins in a row.
Too bad the last one ended in loss because I spectacularly imploded in top lane.
Right before base exploded, our teammates started politics in chat.
"How is this this one's fault! 'Twas a jungle diff!!"
I pointed accusingly at the monitor, fuming with injustice.
Noble Bearing made my speech haughty, but it was pure gamer rage.
But then.
Fwaah-!
The moment I vented, waiting Katarina and Siyeon zipped to my side.
When did they...?
"My liege, is there one who requires disposal?"
Katarina exuded murderous intent.
"Just give the order, Master."
Siyeon's nails extended.
... That wasn't necessary, was it?
I hated the top laner who abandoned lane for their jungle and the politics-spamming teammates, sure.
But that wasn't a capital crime worthy of death...?
And confessing with hand on heart: I got a solo kill without ganks too...!
If I even jokingly said wipe them, they might track down and slaughter the team like Katarina did the gangsters last time.
I opened my mouth to dissuade them—as plausibly as my passive allowed.
"Ahem. Withdraw. 'Twas merely humoring the antics of lowly beasts. This one would not be enraged by such trifles."
"My apologies, Master."
"Pardon the offense, my liege!"
The two familiars bowed instantly, killing intent gone.
Phew. Saved. Er, I saved them.
Teammates, you owe me big time.
After the commotion, back in the lobby.
[Ice Coffee: Good games. Sucks about the end.]
[JinYoo: gg gg]
I was wrapping up with light farewells.
[Ice Coffee: Oh right, you know about True Ancestor?]
My heart dropped at those two words in her chat.
True Ancestor?
That's me?
Why bring me up suddenly...?
[JinYoo: Know of 'em. Why?]
[Ice Coffee: You kept picking Blood Mage, so I wondered if you're a fan too.]
[Ice Coffee: Floor 3 timing overlapped with their record too. Motivated by the new record?]
Gasp.
Friend seemed casual, but it hit me hard.
It wasn't overlap—the I was the True Ancestor.
I typed nonchalantly.
[JinYoo: Nah? Not that. Coincidence.]
[Ice Coffee: Gotcha. Anyway, what's True Ancestor's deal?]
She continued curiously.
[Ice Coffee: With that skill, they could register with the Association ages ago and be a hero. But they stay unregistered, no contact.]
[Ice Coffee: Rumors say they're a criminal hiding something.]
"Guhk."
A short gasp escaped as I stared at the monitor.
How'd they know? I am a criminal!
Hunter circles already buzzing with that rumor.
Good thing I stayed lowkey in my room.
But getting painted as a bad guy to my friend felt unfair.
[JinYoo: Hm... I don't think they're a bad person?]