Play Dirty, Win Dirty
Hong Yeon-hwa had been hearing nonstop chatter about a game called Weapon Master.
Everywhere she went across campus, students were raving about it. Naturally, curiosity got the better of her. Just how fun could it possibly be to dominate every conversation? She decided she had to experience it firsthand.
Looking to shake off some stress, she headed to the Game Center in the downtown commercial district over the weekend.
Weapon Master was essentially designed for two-player cooperative play. Solo queue was an option—the system would automatically assign a teammate—but team games were infinitely better when played with someone you actually knew.
Scanning the floor, she spotted a second-year senior she was reasonably acquainted with. They grouped up and queued into a match.
Yeon-hwa was assigned a barbarian warrior, while her upperclassman rolled a mage. The rumors were true: the game deliberately handed players combat roles polar opposite to their actual hunter specializations, dumping a pure martial, frontline brawler right into her lap.
Me, playing a barbarian?
Her heart fluttered with giddy anticipation.
That excitement, however, lasted about ten seconds.
Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!
Out of absolute nowhere, twin silhouettes materialized from the shadows, drove daggers repeatedly into her vitals, and evaporated into the brush. Hong-barian turned into a cold, stiff corpse before she could even blink.
Driven by vengeance, she marched straight back to the scene of the crime the moment she respawned, only to meet the exact same grisly fate.
Thud! Stab!
"Aaargh! Again?!"
Yeon-hwa trembled with white-hot fury. Her upperclassman glanced over and gently probed the waters.
"What do you want to do? Should we rotate somewhere else?"
"……."
Those two assassins were clearly miles ahead of them in mechanical skill, and they held complete command of the surrounding terrain. Rationally speaking, the sensible play was to abandon this quadrant entirely and farm kills elsewhere on the map.
Yet Hong Yeon-hwa's pride simply refused to let it go.
Run away? Me?
To her, fleeing from this fight was tantamount to surrendering the entire match. What would racking up ten or twenty kills across the map matter if she couldn't take down the very players who humiliated her? She'd still just be under their heels.
Stubbornness flared within her chest.
"Let's try one more time."
"All right." The senior smiled wryly and nodded.
Even if the outcome was glaringly obvious, she didn't mind. She had come to the arcade strictly to unwind, not to chase high-tier rewards, and she owed a massive debt of gratitude to the Ruby Magic Tower anyway. Wasting a few arcade points on respawns was pocket change.
And so, the barbarian and the mage ventured back into that cursed patch of woods for round three.
Yeon-hwa kept her senses drawn taut as a bowstring, parting the underbrush with agonizing caution.
Come on out… Show yourselves… Let's settle this…
Perhaps the heavens were answering her call, because leaves rustled loudly just ahead. But instead of cloaked stalkers, two fully armored knights stepped into the clearing. One hauled a massive greatsword, while the other brandished a classic sword-and-shield combo.
Wait, not you two!
Where were the damned assassins she wanted to butcher? Why the hell were armored tanks showing up instead?
She prayed they would just scurry along, but the knights paid no heed to her inner monologue and charged straight at her. Yeon-hwa had no choice. If she didn't want another death on her record, she had to swing.
Whoosh!
The vanguard knight swung a devastating greatsword arc. Hong-barian dodged the cleave by a hair's breadth, but before she could counter, the second knight closed the distance with a wicked longsword slash. Only after violently dodging that blow did she manage to bring her battleaxe crashing downward.
CRACK!
The knight wasn't helpless; he raised his shield just in time to deflect the worst of the impact. At that moment, the greatsword knight suddenly backpedaled with startling agility.
BOOM!
A scorching fireball erupted where he had been standing an instant before—courtesy of her senior mage.
Yet right in the middle of their chaotic four-way scuffle—
Fwip-fwip!
The sharp whistles of displaced air echoed as twin arrows pierced the clearing, striking Hong-barian and the knight with perfectly balanced, democratic precision. A rival barbarian alongside a ranger strode into view from behind the trees.
Yeon-hwa was completely flabbergasted.
Are you serious? Another party?!
Two more interlopers? She had specifically come back here to slaughter two cowardly assassins, only to find herself trapped in the middle of an all-out battle royale. Her lack of options remained entirely unchanged: the knights pressed forward with their blades once more, forcing her to push her focus to its absolute brink just to parry and weave through their strikes.
Fwip! Thwack!
More arrows rained down from afar. The enemy barbarian roared, charging headlong into the fray to get a piece of the action.
This is an absolute clown fiesta!
Sighing internally, Yeon-hwa swung her weapon with desperate fervor. But right then—
Thud! Splat!
The archer firing from deep cover abruptly collapsed face-first into the dirt. Next to his crumpled body, two dark silhouettes flickered briefly against the foliage before vanishing into thin air.
Yeon-hwa recognized them in an instant.
I knew it! They never left!
They had been lurking in stealth the entire time, patiently watching the spectacle unfold. An isolated sniper stationed out in the open was the juiciest prey imaginable.
Wait… if that's how they hunt…?
A sudden bolt of dread struck her mind. Someone on her own team was in that exact same, vulnerable situation—
Stab! Slash!
Her senior mage became the duo's immediate next victim.
Watching the backline collapse in a split second, Yeon-hwa blurted out an indignant burst of applause-laced fury.
"Hey! I get you guys want to win, but playing this dirty is ridiculous!"
Rage aside, she had to admit it was the most ruthlessly efficient strategy possible. More frustrating still, there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was drowning in close-quarters combat against two knights and a barbarian.
Thwack! Thump!
The assassin pair re-emerged, buried their twin blades into the enemy barbarian's spine, and vanished once again. Now only three combatants remained standing. At this point, Yeon-hwa threw all caution to the wind.
"Screw it!"
Dead if she retreated, dead if she fought—she might as well take someone with her!
Hong-barian let loose a bloodcurdling battle cry.
"WRAAAAGH!"
Ignoring the greatsword and longsword cleaving toward her flesh, she relentlessly hammered her axe down into the greatsword knight.
CRUNCH! CRACK! SPLAT!
She absorbed horrific damage in the trade, but she successfully sent the heavy hitter straight to the graveyard.
Just as she turned to confront the remaining shield knight—
Stab! Slash!
The shadows peeled back once more, cleanly executing the wounded knight. Without even bothering to re-enter stealth, the two assassins pivoted instantly toward her.
Yeon-hwa mustered every ounce of strength she had left to swing her axe, but Assassin A casually ducked beneath the heavy blow and delivered a flawless, clean decapitation strike.
SHING!
"Aaargh, seriously?!"
Yeon-hwa raised a clenched fist on pure reflex, desperately wanting to punch the screen. But sanity held her back; she couldn't bring herself to deliver a literal Fire Punch to an arcade console, settling instead for huffing and puffing as she swallowed her fury.
Her senior chuckled beside her.
"Ready to go somewhere else now?"
"I… I can't leave it like this. I really can't!"
Even if winning was off the table, she needed to kill those two rat-bastards just once. Only then could she walk away with a shred of peace in her soul.
The senior offered a helpless, fond grin.
"You never change, do you? Fine, let's do it your way."
Taking a massive breath, Yeon-hwa steeled her resolve again and again.
Just one kill. Let me catch them just once!
As if resonating with her fiery determination, the respawned barbarian warrior let loose another earth-shaking war cry.
"WRAAAAGH!"
"Ha… haha… ha…."
Yeon-hwa slumped against her seat, letting out an empty, hollow wheeze. Her soul had completely left her body. Die, insert coins, respawn, die again—before she even realized it, her death counter had skyrocketed to nine. Nearly three thousand points had vanished into thin air in one sitting.
Meanwhile, she hadn't even grazed a single hair on the assassin duo. Her grand accomplishment consisted of accidentally clubbing some random, innocent bystander to death.
She bowed her head deeply toward her senior.
"I'm so sorry, sunbae……."
"Don't sweat it. Think of it as a learning experience." The senior gave a warm, easygoing smile. "Want to keep going?"
"No… I'm done. I give up……."
Her fighting spirit had been comprehensively ground into dust. Besides, the match was wrapping up shortly anyway; continuing would be utterly pointless.
I need to eat something… anything…
Maybe stuffing her stomach would distract her from this lingering misery. Trudging away on heavy legs, her eyes wandered toward an adjacent two-seater booth.
She peered at the glowing monitor.
On screen, two assassins were practically gliding across the map, ruthlessly turning every enemy in sight into human pincushions.
It's them!
The architects of her profound despair were sitting right there. A silver-haired male student and a blonde female student. Something about their backs felt vaguely familiar, yet she couldn't recall anyone in her social circle matching that exact description.
I have to see what their faces look like.
Yeon-hwa stood by, waiting for their match to conclude. It was just a game, so she had zero intention of starting a real-life brawl over it; she was merely burning with curiosity to see the faces of the people who played like absolute scoundrels.
A few moments later, the assassin duo wrapped up the match with an overwhelmingly lopsided score and turned around in their chairs.
As their faces came into view, Yeon-hwa's jaw gradually dropped.
Huh……?
It was Kim Ho and Seo Ye-in.
No wonder their backs had looked so familiar—they had simply dyed their hair! Kim Ho caught sight of Yeon-hwa and casually raised a hand in greeting.
"I had a feeling that was you."
"Uh… what? Y-You knew…?"
He knew I was there the whole time?
Thinking back, she had shouted quite a few colorful complaints during the match. Hearing those outbursts, it wouldn't have been hard to identify her voice. Yeon-hwa's eyes darted frantically as she scrambled to find the right words.
"Well… you guys played really well."
"We played pretty dirty, didn't we?"
"N-No! I mean, that's not—"
Yeon-hwa's face drained of color. He heard my exact words!
Kim Ho let out a heavy, exaggerated sigh.
"We just really wanted to win. The arcade prize was calling our names, so we lost our heads a bit……."
"No, really, I didn't mean it like that—"
She flailed her arms, desperately trying to walk it back, but Kim Ho wasn't finished. Turning toward Seo Ye-in, he offered a mock scolding.
"Look what you did. How could you play so dirtily? You made her furious."
"……."
Seo Ye-in blinked, fixing Hong Yeon-hwa with an utterly blank, deadpan gaze.
That quiet stare alone sent a shiver straight down Yeon-hwa's spine. Having been battered repeatedly in their previous PvP spars, an unspoken pecking order had long since been etched into her subconscious. After a beat, Ye-in tilted her head slightly.
"……Mad?"
"Mad?! Me?! No! Not mad at all! Not even a little bit!"
Yeon-hwa frantically waved her hands in the air. To be completely honest, she had been seething with volcanic rage until about ten seconds ago, but the moment she realized who her tormentors were, her anger management system instantly engaged at peak efficiency.
Ye-in stared at her silently for another moment, then pivoted to Kim Ho and uttered a single, clipped syllable.
"Bread."
Bread……?
What did that mean? Dropping a solitary noun with zero context was impossible to decipher. Kim Ho, however, paused for half a second before nodding in apparent understanding. He looked straight back at Yeon-hwa.
"Hong Yeon-hwa."
"Y-Yeah?"
"She's telling you to go buy us some bread."
"……?"
Yeon-hwa froze in utter disbelief. A heartbeat later, a fresh wave of indignity surged into her chest.
What?! Go run an errand for bread?! Hey! Treating me like a shuttle errand-girl has its limits! I'm Hong Yeon-hwa! The rising star of the Ruby Magic Tower, Hong Yeon-hwa! You two go buy your own damn bread! Right this instant!!
…was the fiery monologue that blazed through her mind. What actually spilled past her lips was:
"Uh… what kind of bread……? From where……?"
Seo Ye-in gently tugged at Kim Ho's sleeve and shook her head, clearly communicating that he had completely twisted her intent. Kim Ho, having anticipated this, chuckled lightly.
"Just kidding."
"Ah……."
"She's asking if you want to eat bread with us."
With a flick of his wrist, he produced a meal voucher for the Downtown Bakery.
It was a premium pass granting a full meal for up to four people, covering an expansive dining menu well beyond simple baked goods. Considering the bakery's elite reputation in the commercial district, it was practically an admission ticket to a five-star luxury restaurant. The vouchers were notoriously difficult to obtain due to cutthroat competition, meaning even Yeon-hwa had never managed to dine inside.
Faced with such unexpected fortune, she found herself suddenly turning shy.
"I… Is it really okay if I join……?"
"If you're fine with it, we'd love to have you."
Judging by Kim Ho and Seo Ye-in's calm demeanors, the invitation was entirely genuine. Hesitating for only a moment, Hong Yeon-hwa gave a bashful, eager nod.
"……I'll go."