GBAS 50

Just as Hyunwoo, having laid out the last sheet, was about to open his mouth to explain, a voice from the counter announced that the drinks were ready.

Half-rising from his seat, Hyunwoo gestured towards the counter with his chin and said.

“I’ll get them.”

A moment later, Hyunwoo returned with the order on a tray and placed the drinks in front of himself and Jooin. Today’s order, unlike last time, was thankfully an iced Americano.

Jooin was silently examining the work he had brought. Hyunwoo, taking a long sip of his coffee, pointed to where Jooin was looking and said.

“This part is a nice touch, isn’t it?”

In the section Jooin was looking at, a photo of Baek Jooin’s guitar, found by searching a portal site, was placed at an angle.

Jooin muttered as if he found it fascinating.

“How did you know it was this one?”

“It came up when I searched.”

“No way. Even my friends who play instruments have a hard time recognizing this one. Especially here. This is something only on the custom models. The color on the back of the body, too. Have you always been interested in instruments?”

Perhaps because they were talking about a topic he was interested in, Jooin became much more talkative.

At Jooin’s question, Hyunwoo felt the urge to tell the truth but just shrugged his shoulders.

That’s right. It was difficult to find the exact same model of the instrument. Extremely difficult!

To be honest, he had found that guitar the day after watching Jooin’s video by comparing hundreds of similar instruments in a pop-up window while grinding through game content. But now that Jooin was looking at him with such impressed eyes, he felt there was no need to confess the truth.

Jooin didn’t press any further and went back to looking over the materials Hyunwoo had brought. Then, he spoke in a slow tone.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect you to do this much.”

Picking up one of the papers spread on the table, Jooin began to observe the small printed poster drafts more closely.

Jooin’s reaction was already positive, but Hyunwoo, wanting to hear verbal praise, scratched his cheek and asked cautiously.

“So… how is it?”

Jooin, who had been unable to take his eyes off the four different versions of the posters, seemingly pleased, gave a short reply.

“It’s good.”

Was it just good? The work he had brought, ranging from the one he created at his house yesterday to completely new ones, was all so excellent that it was hard to give up any of them.

Taking the opportunity, Jooin gathered all the papers Hyunwoo had brought, organized them neatly, and looked through them one by one, admiring them again.

‘He said he was in the same department as Juha.’

Having only seen Hyunwoo act childishly within the game, a slight cognitive dissonance set in. Even while admiring the work, he would occasionally think, ‘Jeon Hyunwoo did this?’ with a hint of suspicion.

A thought suddenly occurred to Jooin, and he put down the bundle of papers and asked.

“Did you… leave early to work on this?”

Hyunwoo stretched the corners of his mouth wide and nodded his head enthusiastically with a proud expression.

“And also, hyung.”

Pushing up his slightly slipped glasses, Hyunwoo took out a few more printouts from the file he had placed beside him. He laid them down next to Jooin’s hand and added.

“I saw your and the others’ Instagrams yesterday, and the profile images were a bit… lacking, so I made a logo for now. This is a poster made with just typography. Oh, and I looked it up, and apparently, each venue has a page where you can promote your band. I’m not sure how many people will see it, but just in case. It seems the place you’re performing at today has a page, so I prepared it? But here, for the team introduction part, there’s something you need to fill in-”

Hyunwoo, who had been giving a long explanation, turned on the screen of the tablet he had pushed to his left, handed it to Jooin, and continued.

“Here and here. If you write in the marked sections, I’ll revise it and send it to you.”

“Uh, oh.”

Hyunwoo placed the tablet in Jooin’s hands, replacing the printouts he had been holding, and put a stylus in his other hand. Feeling as if he had been unexpectedly entrusted with an important mission, Jooin looked at Hyunwoo with a bewildered expression.

“And I’m only saying this because it seems like no one knows if I don’t. I’m actually a very valuable, high-end professional. So normally, I should get paid quite a bit for this level of work.”

Whether it was a line he used often or something he had memorized from somewhere, even the hand pushing up his glasses had a certain flair to it.

Hyunwoo smiled playfully and added.

“Since I started this because I was concerned, let’s just say this much was a talent donation. Design revisions, unless the content needs to be completely changed, will be provided as a paid service.”

Finishing his sentence, Hyunwoo looked at Jooin as if seeking his agreement. Jooin mentally reviewed what he had seen and said.

“I don’t think I’ll need to use the paid service.”

“If you’re worried about the price, I can give you an acquaintance disc-!”

“It’s a compliment.”

Putting down what Hyunwoo had handed him for a moment, Jooin shook his own phone and asked.

“Is it okay if I show this to the others?”

Hyunwoo nodded with a proud face.

👾🎮

Doo-doong, and with that sound, text appeared before his eyes.

[The Immortal Pioneer ‘Jeonguk-noye-jarang’ has entered the world of The Frontier.]

As time passed, the flashing text gradually faded, and his vision turned black.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in Uscela, a jungle region where leaves and stems were so tangled together that it was impossible to tell where it began or ended.

[Uscela : Spirit’s Vine Village]

Large letters briefly appeared at the top of Hyunwoo’s screen before disappearing.

Simultaneously, a flood of orange guild chat messages poured in.

[Guild] Camellia : Welcome

[Guild] WaterisSelf : yo yo

[Guild] BlackNyangi2 : Hello!!!

[Guild] KunzoO : Hiyo

[Guild] NoRegretKeepGoing : Hi!

[Guild] ItIsMe : Been a while!

[Guild] Jinyoung-kun : Noja-nim, you’re here!

Perhaps because it was the weekend, the login rate was high.

[Guild] Jeonguk-noye-jarang : Hello lol

After sending the message, Hyunwoo looked around. It was because he couldn’t quite remember what he had been doing before logging off.

Spotting a fairy NPC floating nearby, Hyunwoo opened his inventory.

“Aha.”

Seeing the bag full of grass piles, he remembered that he had come here to do ‘that’ work.

The life skills in <The Frontier> were broadly divided into nine groups.

True to the game’s nature of calling its users ‘pioneers,’ the most fundamental skills were those in the ‘Adventurer’ group.

The main skills, such as Campfire and Fishing, weren’t particularly spectacular, but because there were many passive skills that could be used in conjunction with other skills, users tended to master this tree first.

After completing the training for the ‘Adventure’ skills, which required a lot of running around, one could then dive into the crafting skills, which could be called the flower of life skills.

There was the Cook, with skills like cooking, farming, and gathering; the Apothecary, who gathered herbs, crafted potions, and made incense; the Tailor, Carpenter, and Blacksmith, who crafted items from cloth, leather, wood, and metal; and finally, the Artist, who created luxury items in the game like music, paintings, and sculptures.

Among them were skills that could make you a semi-expert, even affecting your real life, while others were grueling to level up if they didn’t suit your taste, as you had to train them by physically moving your body, unlike in PC games.

Old-time users who had played the game for a long time, especially those who had reached a level where they could maintain a high rank, mostly moved on to the next step of naturally leveling up their life skills.

This was because most of the users who reached this level were crazy about the game. They aimed for a mindless training marathon, a “max all levels” run, regardless of their hobbies or tastes.

Hyunwoo was no exception, but because he had always enjoyed working with his hands and had engaged in various crafting activities since he was young, he was able to gather skill points more easily than others.

His innate aesthetic sense was particularly beneficial. If nothing else, he had never once failed or received a ‘pending’ judgment on the ‘<Perfect> Item Creation’ quest given upon mastering a skill.

The easy path is no fun.

That’s why Hyunwoo found the Cooking and Herbalism skill trees more interesting than the crafting or production skills.

He had come to the Spirit’s Vine Village to train the ‘Incense’ crafting skill in the Herbalism tree, which had been newly added in the latest patch.

The types of fragrances one could obtain varied by region. In Uscela, a jungle terrain, you had to gather materials from trees, leaves, and wet soil, and then process them through the fairy NPC in this hidden space, the Spirit’s Vine Village.

When he spoke to the NPC, the fairy, fluttering its tissue-paper-like wings, greeted him with a bright voice.