GBAS 52

Then, instead of the hectic chat window, he searched for Baek Jooin in his friends list.

Thanks to having favorited him during his runaway days, Jooin was pinned at the very top of Hyunwoo’s friends list.

When he clicked the nickname with a green light next to the name, a tag was added to the chat window. After confirming the yellow chat window, Hyunwoo sent a message to Jooin.

[Whisper] Jeonguk-noye-jarang : hyung

[Whisper] Jeonguk-noye-jarang : I haven’t done my dailies for today yet

[Whisper] Jeonguk-noye-jarang : wanna run them together??

The reply came back quickly.

[Whisper] Jooin : Sure

Even though it was a short, two-syllable answer, adrenaline surged. Was it because he was in a good mood? For some reason, he felt like his body was floating gently.

What Hyunwoo felt was not just his imagination. The wind, which had paused for a moment, now blew stronger than before, causing the three of them to flutter in the wind like flags.

From either side of Hyunwoo, who was grinning with a flushed face, came wails of horror.

[Party] rainyday : Uwaaaaahhhhhh

[Party] rainyday : Save meeeeeeeeeeㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ!!!

[Party] Kkameunnyang2 : Aaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

👾🎮

The daily quests in the virtual reality game <The Frontier> were given anew each day. Today’s attendance quest was ‘Clear five medium or large dungeons.’ It didn’t matter what type, whether normal or the more difficult hard dungeons; clearing just five was enough.

Especially if one’s level was 140 or higher, it was better to do a grand tour of Silvian Island, where dungeons with recommended levels from 100 to 140 were all gathered, rather than running around to find dungeons scattered here and there.

Since the guild members had already finished their dailies, Hyunwoo and Jooin decided to put their names on the automatic party queue system that matched them with general users.

Considering that their concentration might drop towards the end, they arranged the five dungeons in order from the highest recommended level to the lowest.

The plan was to start with the Alkon Dungeon in the Soria region, with a recommended level of 140 or higher, then go through Alkoy’s Teba, Karta’s Kalp, Usella’s Ila, and finally finish at the Rimo Dungeon near Murcia village, with a recommended level of 100 or higher.

Hyunwoo and Jooin, having quickly cleared the previous four dungeons, swiftly crossed the lush green forest.

In the middle of a dense forest with moderately tall trees, a colossal tree stood tall, so large that even thirty people holding hands couldn’t encircle it. The Rimo Dungeon was located right under this tree.

Frost, carrying the two of them, came to a stop in front of the party-matching NPC guarding the dungeon entrance beneath the tangled tree roots.

“I’ll be right back.”

Hyunwoo, who had deftly jumped off the wolf’s back, spoke to the NPC.

In the hands of the tearful-looking boy was a small tree sapling. The NPC, hugging it preciously, greeted Hyunwoo.

[NPC] Rimo : O indomitable Pioneer! Please save the Rimo Dungeon from its crisis!

Hyunwoo selected ‘Party Matching – Normal’ from the options that appeared below, entered the desired positions for the party members, and then pressed the approve button. At that, NPC Rimo smiled happily, as if he had never been on the verge of tears, and said.

[NPC] Rimo : To decide to venture into the world within the tree. You are truly a brave person!

[NPC] Rimo : Please wait a moment. I will find the perfect companions for you soon.

[NPC] Rimo : May the earth spirit protect you.

After finishing the conversation with Rimo, the words ‘Auto Party Matching in progress’ appeared at the top of the screen.

The minimum number of people to enter the Rimo Dungeon was five. He and Jooin, already in a party, occupied the Supporter 1 and Supporter 2 spots, leaving three spots open.

The most ideal party composition would be one tanker and two dealers, but as long as Hyunwoo’s Frost was there, it wouldn’t be a problem even if three dealers were matched.

As he was about to return to Jooin’s side, who was standing with Frost, the matching was completed in an instant. Complex system messages scrolled by quickly, and the matching result window appeared before the eyes of the five players.

<Tanker>

Paladin | SomanghoeSsenTa Lv.100 (Scaled Lv.100)

<Dealer>

Avenger | Jaguari Lv.100 (Scaled Lv.100)

Mage | CheeseOnionSoup Lv.157 (Scaled Lv.100)

<Supporter>

Bard | Jooin Lv.171 (Scaled Lv.100)

Summoner | Jeonguk-noye-jarang Lv.175 (Scaled Lv.100)

Damn it.

Hyunwoo’s face crumpled as he checked the levels of the matched users.

For level 100 players to join a dungeon that was accessible from level 100 meant there was a high probability that this was their first time. If it had been just one, he could have managed to look after them somehow, but two of them. He thought it would be an easy run, but he had a premonition that it would be a tough fight.

Tsk.

Clicking his tongue, Hyunwoo spoke to Jooin, who seemed to still be looking at the matching screen.

“Hyung, I think we’ll have to mark them one-on-one.”

“I think so too.”

“I’ll take care of the tanker, so can you handle that Avenger?”

At the reasonable suggestion, Jooin simply nodded without further words.

Just then, three users were added to the party list on the left side of the screen, and the party chat became noisy.

[Party] CheeseOnionSoup : Hello! Please take good care of me!

[Party] Jaguari : Hello

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : Helloooooooooo lololololololol

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : This is tanker SomanghoeSsenTa~~!

The moment he confirmed the party members’ greetings, Hyunwoo’s sixth sense sent a warning signal.

Hyung, that person…

Hyunwoo, who was about to casually bring up SomanghoeSsenTa, snapped his mouth shut.

If JuJuGeneralAssembly or Aqua had been beside him, they would have already sent about a hundred chat messages scathingly criticizing the tanker for his antics, but his current partner was Jooin. He should be trying to score points, not thinking about badmouthing others.

‘Since it’s come to this, I’ll just have to mark him properly and drag him along…!’

Hyunwoo, holding back tears, sent a greeting in the party chat before it was too late.

[Party] Jeonguk-noye-jarang : Hello~

[Party] Jooin : Hello

The Rimo Dungeon was the easiest dungeon on Silvian Island, so if one decided to speedrun it, they could defeat even the third named boss in under 15 minutes.

No matter how much he took care of them, there were two first-timers, so…

‘Let’s just endure for 20 minutes. Just 20 minutes.’

It was at that moment, as Hyunwoo muttered to himself and pressed the ‘Ready to Enter’ button that had appeared on top of the matching result window.

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : Ah lololololololol Your nicknames are pretty unique

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : Jeonguk~~~ Noye-jarang~~~! Is that what it is? lolol

‘Ah.’

His head throbbed at the sense of humor that seemed to belong to someone much older.

[Party] CheeseOnionSoup : Wow, Jooin-nim is here too…!

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : Jooin lolol nim lololol Wow, you’re a named player

He was speechless.

No. How could there be two trolls in one party.

It was at that moment, as he was seriously contemplating canceling the entry and re-matching.

[Party] CheeseOnionSoup : I’ve seen your performance before!

[Party] CheeseOnionSoup : I’m so honored to meet you like thisㅠㅠ

To CheeseOnionSoup’s chat, Jooin sent a message of thanks.

What a relief.

He thought it was another person needlessly picking a fight, but it turned out to be someone who knew Bard Jooin. With this, the number of trolls was back to one. Hyunwoo let out a sigh of relief.

The nicknames on the matching result window turned blue one by one. It meant they had finished their entry preparations. Hyunwoo and Jooin were almost simultaneous. Following Jaguari, CheeseOnionSoup’s nickname turned blue.

‘….’

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : But

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : The two supporters have really high levels, don’t you? haha lolol

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : Looks like you got a good carry from a tanker like me lolol

Perhaps not noticing that something had changed without him, SomanghoeSsenTa seemed to have no intention of entering the ready phase, only continuing to spew nonsense.

Just as he was contemplating whether to fire back a message telling him to stop talking nonsense and just ready up, Jooin beat him to it.

[Party] Jooin : Somang-nim, please get ready to enter

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : Oh yes lol

[Party] SomanghoeSsenTa : I must obey Jooin-nim’s command lololol

[Party] Jooin : Thank you

“……Fuck.”

The moment he couldn’t hold back and spat out a curse, a green light enveloped his body.