Chapter 297: Playing Dirty

Hong Yeon-hwa had heard about the game “Weapon Master” in passing.

She wondered just how fun it had to be to come up in conversation so often and felt the urge to experience it for herself.

So, to take her mind off things, she headed to the game center in the downtown area over the weekend.

Weapon Master generally encouraged players to participate in teams of two.

Solo players would be automatically paired with a teammate, but team-based games were always better when played with someone familiar.

Just then, she spotted a second-year senior she knew by face and teamed up with her to enter the game.

Hong Yeon-hwa’s character was a Barbarian warrior, while the second-year senior’s character was a Mage.

She had heard that players often ended up with a class completely unrelated to their real-life expertise, and sure enough, she was assigned a close-combat class.

I can’t believe I’m actually playing a Barbarian.

Her heart pounded with excitement.

But that excitement didn’t last long.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!

Out of nowhere, two dark figures emerged and drove their daggers into her.

In the blink of an eye, Hong-barian had become a cold, lifeless corpse.

She returned to the same spot for revenge, but the result was the same.

Thwack, thwack!

[Hong-barian 0K/2D/0A]

“Agh! Again?!”

Hong Yeon-hwa trembled with rage.

Seeing her frustration, the second-year senior cautiously asked,

“What do you want to do? Should we go somewhere else?”

“…….”

The two assassins were clearly more skilled than them and even had the advantage of the terrain.

Considering these factors, retreating to another area and continuing the match elsewhere would have been the rational choice.

But Hong Yeon-hwa couldn’t accept that.

Run away? Me?

To her, running away felt no different from giving up on the match itself.

What was the point of racking up 10 or even 20 kills elsewhere?

They would still be beneath those assassins anyway.

So, Hong Yeon-hwa decided to let her stubbornness take over.

“I’ll give it a few more tries.”

“Okay.”

Her second-year senior smiled faintly and nodded.

The outcome was obvious, but it didn’t matter.

She had come to the game center for fun, not for prizes, and besides, she owed a debt to the Ruby Magic Tower.

Wasting a few points was nothing.

And so, for the third time, the Barbarian and the Mage returned to the same spot.

With her senses sharpened more than ever, Hong Yeon-hwa pushed through the forest.

Come out… Come on… Let’s fight…

Maybe her wish had been granted.

A rustling sound came from up ahead.

Then, two knights in heavy armor emerged.

One carried a greatsword, and the other carried a sword and shield.

No, not you guys.

Why was it knights appearing instead of the assassins she was looking for?

She wished they would step aside, but unaware of her frustration, the knights charged forward.

Hong Yeon-hwa had no choice.

If she didn’t want to die, she had to fight.

Whoosh!

The knight in the lead swung his huge greatsword.

The Barbarian barely dodged in time but didn’t counterattack.

The sword-and-shield knight right behind had already begun slashing with his longsword.

Only after dodging that as well did the Barbarian finally bring down his axe.

Crash!

But the longsword knight wasn’t going down so easily. He barely managed to block with his shield.

Just as Knight A was about to swing his greatsword again at the Barbarian, he suddenly pulled back.

Boom!

An instant later, a fireball crashed into the spot where he had just stood.

It was a spell cast by her second-year senior.

As the four of them clashed fiercely—

Swish!

From somewhere, two arrows whistled through the air. One struck the barbarian, the other hit the knight.

Right after that, a second Barbarian and an archer revealed themselves.

Hong Yeon-hwa was dumbfounded.

What the hell now?

Two more had joined the fight?

She had come to hunt down and kill the assassins, yet somehow, she found herself caught in an all-out brawl.

Of course, just like before, she had no other choice.

Once again, two knights came at her, slashing with a greatsword and a longsword. Hong Yeon-hwa pushed her focus to the absolute limit and started narrowly dodging their strikes.

Swish!

Arrows continued to rain down.

Meanwhile, the enemy barbarian also charged in, eager to join the fray.

This is a total mess.

Hong Yeon-hwa sighed in her mind and swung her sword desperately.

And then—

Thud, thud!

The archer, who had been shooting from a distance, suddenly collapsed to the ground.

For a brief moment, two dark silhouettes flickered into view beside him before vanishing again.

Hong Yeon-hwa instantly recognized them. The assassins.

Of course. There was no way they’d just leave.

They had probably been lurking somewhere, watching and waiting for the right moment.

And a lone archer that was isolated from the rest must have looked like the perfect prey.

Wait a second… that means…?

A realization struck her like lightning.

Someone else was in the exact same vulnerable position as that archer—

Thud, thud!

Her senior, the mage, became the assassins’ next target.

Seeing that, Hong Yeon-hwa couldn’t help but blurt out in frustration.

“Oh, come on. I get that you want to win, but this is just plain dirty.”

Of course, that didn’t change the fact that it was, objectively speaking, the most efficient strategy.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

She was already too busy grappling with two knights and a barbarian right in front of her.

Thud, thud!

The assassin duo reappeared and stabbed their daggers into the barbarian’s body before vanishing once more.

Now, only three fighters remained.

At this point, Hong Yeon-hwa had had enough.

“Ah, screw it!”

She was going to die no matter what. So might as well go down swinging!

With a battle cry, she charged forward.

– Kraaaaaaaaah!

She paid no heed to the greatsword and longsword slicing toward her and started hacking away relentlessly with her axe.

Crunch! Crack! Smash!

Though she took heavy damage in the process, she managed to take down the greatsword knight.

[Hong-barian 1K/2D/0A]

Just as she turned to face the longsword-and-shield knight—

Thud, thud!

The assassins reappeared and swiftly finished him off.

And this time, they didn’t even bother hiding again. Instead, they came straight for her.

Hong Yeon-hwa mustered the last of her strength to resist, but Assassin A easily dodged her axe and delivered the finishing blow.

Slash!

[Hong-barian 1K/3D/0A]

“Ugh…!”

She instinctively raised a fist.

But she stopped herself before she could unleash a fire punch at the arcade machine; instead, she gritted her teeth and seethed in frustration.

Her second-year senior spoke up again.

“Wanna go somewhere else now?”

“I-I… I can’t just leave it like this.”

She knew she couldn’t win, but she had to take down those dirty bastards at least once.

Only then would she feel even a little better.

Her second-year senior let out a wry smile.

“You’re really something else. Alright, go ahead.”

Hong Yeon-hwa took a deep breath and steeled herself over and over again.

Just once. Just take them down once.

As if it had read her determination, the barbarian let out a thunderous roar.

– Kraaaaah—!

***

[Hong-barian 2K/9D/1A]

“He… Hehe…”

Hong Yeon-hwa let out an empty laugh while half-dazed.

Dying, respawning, and dying again…..before she knew it, she had racked up nine deaths.

Nearly 3,000 points had vanished into thin air.

And yet, she hadn’t even touched the assassin duo. The only thing she managed to do was take down some random enemy.

She lowered her head and muttered to her senior,

“…I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. This is all part of the experience.”

Her senior smiled warmly before asking again.

“Wanna keep going?”

“No… I’m done…”

Hong Yeon-hwa had completely lost her fighting spirit.

Besides, the match would be over soon anyway, so there was no point in continuing.

Let’s just get something to eat…

Maybe filling her stomach would make her feel a little better.

As she trudged forward, she suddenly turned her gaze.

Her eyes landed on the screen of a two-player setup.

On the screen, two assassins darted nimbly across the battlefield, leaving gaping holes in their enemies.

It’s them!

The ones who had thrown her into utter despair.

A gray-haired male student and a blonde female student.

Something about their backs felt oddly familiar, but she was sure she had no memory of anyone dressed like that.

Let’s at least see their faces.

Hong Yeon-hwa decided to wait until the match was over and just watched.

It wasn’t like she was going to vent her frustration on them; it was just a game, after all. She was simply curious about what they looked like.

Before long, the assassin duo wrapped up the match with an overwhelming score and slowly turned around.

The moment she saw their faces, Hong Yeon-hwa’s mouth slowly fell open.

Huh…?

It was Kim Ho and Seo Ye-in.

No wonder their backs had seemed familiar; they had dyed their hair.

Kim Ho recognized her instantly and gave a casual wave.

“Knew you’d be here.”

“Uh… uh? Uh…”

He knew I was here all along?

Looking back, she realized she had blurted out quite a few things during the game without thinking.

If they had heard her, they might have recognized her voice.

Hong Yeon-hwa darted her eyes around and started searching for the right words.

“Uh… you were… pretty good.”

“We did play a bit dirty, huh?”

“N-No, that’s not what I meant.”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s face turned pale.

She even praised them!

Kim Ho let out a deep sigh and admitted,

“I just really wanted to win. The prize was too tempting…”

“N-No, I didn’t mean it like that—”

Flustered, Hong Yeon-hwa tried to smooth things over, but before she could, Kim Ho turned to scold Seo Ye-in.

“You can’t play that dirty. Look, she’s mad.”

“..……”

Seo Ye-in stared at Hong Yeon-hwa with an unreadable expression.

That alone made Hong Yeon-hwa’s stomach tighten.

After getting beaten down in every match, the hierarchy had naturally been established.

Then Seo Ye-in tilted her head slightly and asked,

“…Are you mad?”

“No? No! Not at all! Not even a little!”

Hong Yeon-hwa frantically waved her hands.

To be honest, she had been pretty mad just moments ago, but the second she saw the two of them, her anger dissipated almost instantly.

Seo Ye-in continued to stare at her in silence. Then she turned to Kim Ho and said just one word.

“Bread.”

…Bread?

What was that supposed to mean?

She had tossed out a single random word, making it impossible to understand her intent.

Kim Ho, on the other hand, seemed to get it after a brief moment of thought.

He looked directly at Hong Yeon-hwa and said,

“Hong Yeon-hwa.”

“M-Mhmm?”

“She wants you to go buy bread.”

“……?”

For a moment, Hong Yeon-hwa was utterly blank. Then, anger surged through her.

What? Buy bread? Hey! There’s a limit to how much you can treat someone like an errand girl! I’m Hong Yeon-hwa, the promising student of the Ruby Magic Tower! You go buy the bread! Right now!!

…Of course, that was all in her head.

What actually came out of her mouth was,

“Uh… what kind of bread? From where…?”

At that, Seo Ye-in tugged on Kim Ho’s sleeve and shook her head.

It seemed that wasn’t what she meant.

Kim Ho who was already aware of this turned back to Hong Yeon-hwa and said,

“It was a joke.”

“Oh….”

“She wants to eat bread together.”

He pulled out a bakery coupon as he spoke.

It was a coupon that allowed up to four people to dine and order a variety of foods beyond just bread.

Considering the bakery’s prestigious reputation in the downtown area, it was practically equivalent to a meal ticket for a high-end restaurant.

Naturally, getting one required overcoming intense competition, so Hong Yeon-hwa had never actually been inside to eat before.

Faced with this unexpected stroke of luck, she suddenly felt hesitant.

“Are you sure… it’s okay?”

“As long as you’re okay with it.”

Judging by Kim Ho and Seo Ye-in’s demeanor, they seemed to be making the offer with genuine goodwill.

So after a brief moment of hesitation, Hong Yeon-hwa gave a small nod.

“…Let’s go.”