4
#4 - The Price of Not Thinking Things Through
"Carryyy~"
"WAAAAAH! Yeon Taeyang, what the hell are you!? Are you a god!?"
"Yeah, it's your hyung."
"Seriously, with mechanics like that, you're not becoming a pro gamer?"
"...What pro gamer? I like Elrmo more than LoW."
"Yeah, yeah. You're amazing."
Two hours had passed since Kim Seunghyeok and I entered the capsule room.
During those two hours, we'd been grinding ranked matches in LoW.
LoW was a 5v5 AOS game and, alongside Elrmo, one of the most popular online games in Korea.
Elrmo technically had an AOS-style PvP mode too, but when it came to AOS gameplay, most people agreed LoW was more fun.
Elrmo was slightly more popular overall.
...Probably.
At least its player count was a little higher.
Just a little.
Anyway, after finishing two matches, we still had two hours left.
I needed to eat, and as for preparing for class...
No need. It was just orientation anyway.
That meant I should leave about an hour early, giving me only one more hour in the capsule room.
Which meant...
"Hey, I carried you for two games, so I'm heading out."
"Where?"
"To play Elrmo."
Time to play Elrmo.
Perhaps because I'd carried him twice, Kim Seunghyeok didn't try to stop me this time.
"Okay. Two carries and plenty of rating points. Approved."
"Later."
"See ya."
After a brief farewell, I exited LoW.
The game's sleek futuristic lobby disappeared, replaced by a familiar private room.
The only difference from my home capsule was the additional holographic billing interface displayed by the capsule room's rental system.
With practiced movements, I opened another holographic window and logged into Elrmo.
After completing identity verification through my biometric data, I immediately logged into my main character.
The familiar weight of my sword and armor greeted me.
Zephyrus's Sword, adorned with wing decorations, and Euros's Armor.
They were perfect equipment for a Wind-style Swordsman like me.
Though now that I'd defeated Typhon on Gigantomachia difficulty, it was finally time to part with them.
The "Typhon Fang" dropped from Gigantomachia Typhon could receive any elemental enchantment and any option.
I could pass the equipment down to an alternate character, but unfortunately my alts were a Spearman and a Martial Artist.
One used spears, the other gauntlets.
Neither could wield Zephyrus's Sword.
"Ah, what a shame. Since things turned out this way, maybe I should make a third alt and raise a Dual Swordsman?"
Honestly, Zephyrus's Sword was an amazing weapon.
While it was fundamentally a Wind-element weapon, it could become Ice or Nature element depending on its enchantments.
If I wanted to sell it, buyers would line up for miles.
But I'd grown too attached to it.
I'd already been considering a third alt.
Maybe I really should make a Dual Swordsman and hand over Zephyrus's Sword.
...I'll think about that later.
Right now, the important thing was finishing my daily quests.
Daily quests usually took between thirty minutes and an hour.
One of three quests would be assigned randomly, and each took a different amount of time.
If I got the hour-long one, I'd need to hurry.
Just then, my friend list began flashing in the lower-right corner.
Yeon Seoyeon?
No, she should still be at work.
Then one of the guild members?
Curious, I opened the friend list.
[Friend Request: Celial1234]
That bastard had sent me a friend request.
Of course I accepted immediately.
Let's hear what nonsense they have to say.
The moment I accepted, a message arrived.
[Celial1234: Are you Long Live Taeyang?]
[Yes, that's me.]
Now what kind of teabagging was coming?
Maybe something like "Stop wasting your time playing vigilante" or "Thought I was a newbie lol?"
High-ranking players who discovered my vigilante activities often messed with me like that.
Some were upset I wouldn't join their guilds.
Some were angry because I'd overtaken them in PvP rankings.
Some admitted they just found me annoying.
So what creative reason did this one have?
[Celial1234: Um... I'm really sorry for suddenly disappearing the other day...]
[It's alright. Things happen.]
[Celial1234: The thing is... I exceeded my usage time limit that day... so the game forcibly logged me out ]
...Huh?
Most capsule-based games had incredibly high quality.
And were extremely addictive.
Because of that, the Virtual Reality Association encouraged developers to include features allowing players to set time limits that would automatically force the game to close.
Adults rarely used them, though.
Would any grown adult willingly impose gaming restrictions on themselves?
...Well, I did last year.
Otherwise I would've spent all my time gaming instead of studying for college entrance exams.
Maybe Celial was a minor.
I wasn't sure.
Anyway...
[Celial1234: I'm really sorry I didn't even get to thank you]
Our bastard...
No.
Our precious king-tier newbie hadn't been trying to screw me over.
Our glorious king-tier newbie had simply fallen victim to their own geas and been forcibly disconnected.
I decided to reply first.
[It's okay. You were probably panicking in Golem's Labyrinth and forgot to check the time. That happens.]
[Celial1234: I'm really, really sorry...]
Our endlessly apologetic baby newbie...
Wait.
That means Celial hadn't intentionally messed with me.
Well, technically they did.
Just not on purpose.
Which meant...
I was allowed to raise them.
After quickly calculating everything in my head, I sent another message.
[Ms. Celial, could I ask you a favor?]
[Celial1234: A favor?]
[Yeah. I recently decided to raise an alternate character... would it be okay if we leveled together?]
[Celial1234: Huh...?]
A brief silence followed.
During that silence, I realized I'd phrased that horribly.
Level together?
What exactly were we leveling together?
A single account?
Capsule games don't even allow account sharing.
Or what?
Were we raising a child together?
Or was I planning to raise Celial like my own daughter?
...Okay, that last one wasn't entirely wrong, but still.
I hurriedly corrected myself.
[What I mean is...! We could do party hunting together! Run beginner raids together! I could level my alt while helping you level! That's what I meant!]
[Celial1234: Ah... I know! Yes! Of course I know!]
[I'll also provide support and give you tips. If it's too much pressure, you can say no.]
Another moment of silence.
This one didn't last long.
[Celial1234: Um... if it's really okay with you...]
[Ah, thank you! I look forward to working with you!]
[Celial1234: Me too...!]
And just like that, I was able to dream once more about raising a newbie.
I'd do my daily quests after getting home.
For now, I needed to quickly create a character.
I made the appearance exactly the same as my main character.
Everything else I set up casually.
The beginner equipment would become trash the moment I accessed the account storage anyway.
And I'd already decided on my class.
After finishing character creation, all that remained was choosing a name.
For my alternate characters, I usually based their names on sun gods.
Things like Horus Manse.
Haemosu Manse.
Shamash Manse.
Because of that, my friends always figured out my new alts immediately.
"Using that nickname this time?"
That kind of reaction.
Shield-hyung had even gone as far as writing a program to identify my alternate accounts.
Apparently he'd entered the names of every sun god in existence.
According to him, there was no way I'd ever escape detection.
Which was exactly why I'd prepared something special.
[GoldenTaeyang1234]
To match the name, I dyed the character's hair blonde.
Tanned skin?
Of course I did that too.
Yeah.
This was it.
I was no longer Long Live Taeyang.
Now I was GoldenTaeyang1234.
I wanted to use GoldenTaeyangManse or simply GoldenTaeyang, but both were already taken.
Anyway, that was how I created a newbie character named GoldenTaeyang1234...
...Wait.
Now that I think about it, adding 1234 makes it look like a matching couple nickname.
Hey, wait a second, Lord Elrmo, stop—
The mighty and glorious Elysion Sermo completely ignored my plea and proceeded with character creation.
And just like that, I somehow ended up with matching couple names alongside Ms. Celial.
...Let's send the friend request first.
I'll come up with an excuse later.
Later.