Meaningless

“Eum…”

Late evening.

I logged into Deron and checked the online status of my guild members.

Quite some time had passed since the new season update, and even the raid had been conquered.

Now, it was at a level where even pick-up groups could clear it, not just fixed parties.

As a result, some people started losing interest in the game itself and their logins became infrequent.

The same was true for my guild.

“Heum…”

Offline for 2 days.

Should I cut this person or not? I pondered for a moment, but that time wasn’t long.

Seeing that they even left the KakaoTalk group chat without a word recently, it was clear that they had definitely quit the game.

I kicked the person out of the guild.

It’s a familiar task now, but seeing people leave like this one by one, a corner of my heart felt uneasy.

While I was lost in such sentiment, a message suddenly arrived from the allied guild.

CrazyBastard-[Yeon-nim. Are you there?]

A connection that started from the Korean server.

CrazyBastard, the guild leader of Requiem.

Usually, when this ajusshi contacted me first, it was bound to be something not so good.

Requiem.

A guild where people with strong PvP tendencies gathered.

It’s in decline now, but it used to be a place with very strong power as a single guild.

If I hadn’t been around, this CrazyBastard ajusshi might have taken the position of alliance leader.

Of course, the server merged and that alliance was dissolved, though.

Yeon-[What’s up?]

CrazyBastard-[Is ChewySquishyCow also participating in this war?]

Yeon-[War…?]

CrazyBastard-[It seems like you haven’t been contacted yet.]

I tilted my head at CrazyBastard’s words.

War? I wondered if a new event had come out, but it didn’t seem like it.

Just in case, I entered the keyword “war” on the community site.

But there was no information coming out.

It seemed like something was secretly spreading.

I felt a bit of interest and wrote a message.

Yeon-[Is a huge war about to break out?]

CrazyBastard-[It seems like it. The biggest guilds in the US started fighting.]

Yeon-[Isn’t a fight between guilds a common occurrence?]

CrazyBastard-[It started as a guild-level thing, but the fight has grown and now it seems like it’s turning into an alliance war.]

Watching other people fight is fun, but that’s only when you’re watching.

If you become the person involved, it’s bound to be quite tiring.

I frowned and wrote a message.

Yeon-[They’re just hitting each other. I don’t think it’s something we need to worry about.]

CrazyBastard-[The situation is a bit ambiguous, so I’m telling you. The structure of the fight is turning into a demon race versus human race thing.]

Turning into a race war?

What on earth happened for this to happen?

I smacked my lips and focused on reading the story that CrazyBastard was sending.

The content of the message that CrazyBastard sent was as follows.

Satan, the largest demon race guild in the United States, and Babel, the largest human race guild in Europe.

As they were large guilds, the alliances that accompanied each guild were also very large.

According to Satan’s claim, Babel suddenly appeared and stole the field boss they were hunting.

Babel also made a similar claim, saying that Satan stole the field boss they were catching.

Two conflicting opinions.

No evidence videos from either side.

The emotional fight that started with an argument soon led to drawing swords.

No matter how I listen to it, it’s suspicious.

I frowned and typed a message.

Yeon-[I don’t think there’s any reason to participate in that fight?]

Isn’t that right? It’s just a field boss.

If the performance of the items dropped from the field boss in Deron was very powerful like in other games, the story would be different, but Deron is a raid-oriented game.

The merit of obtaining from the field boss was too small.

My thought was that there was no need to fight, and there was no reason to fight.

CrazyBastard-[Satan said. Let’s take this opportunity to completely drive out the human race and have the demon race take all the field bosses.]

I read CrazyBastard’s message and let out a chuckle.

Yeon-[Are Satan’s kids crazy? The demon race takes all the field bosses? Does that mean the human race can’t take them?]

CrazyBastard-[I guess so…]

Yeon-[Are there many people who agree with that crazy proposal?]

CrazyBastard-[Anyway… I hope that Yeon-nim and the ChewySquishyCow guild will fight with us.]

Fight with them?

Could it be that this ajusshi already has one foot in that crazy fight?

I massaged my throbbing forehead and sighed.

Yeon-[I understand for now. But I don’t have any thoughts right now.]

CrazyBastard-[You should think carefully. Satan said that they won’t share the field bosses with those who don’t fight with them.]

I closed the chat window with CrazyBastard with that message as the end.

I wanted to write a message saying, “Enjoy the field bosses,” but anyway, he was someone I maintained a good relationship with, so I didn’t bother.

Geez.

If it were me in the past, I would have cursed a whole bunch.

It seems that the rumor that the mind follows the body was true.

Now that I’ve become a pretty girl, it might be natural for my personality to become more gentle.

***

Early morning.

I headed to school and started using my phone to find out about the guild called Satan.

There was no detailed information about the war they were trying to wage, but there was more information about the guild itself than I thought.

Guild Name: Satan

A guild that was created just before the server merge, founded by those who came from the game called [Eldorado].

Before the server merge, they didn’t have any special activities, but after merging into the global server, they were a very active guild, and now they have become one of the guilds that naturally comes to mind among Western users when they think of the demon race.

The only unique thing is that they are slightly aggressive.

Still, it was written that they were very kind to the same demon race users.

Those who came from other games.

I focused on that part and searched for the game called Eldorado.

Eldorado was basically an MMORPG genre game, but its tendencies were different from Deron.

The rights that could be obtained in the field were large, and it was a game with a system that maximized competition between users.

In short, it was a game where the guy who spent a lot of money could act like a king.

Only then could I understand Satan’s actions.

Those who came from other games.

They can’t break their old habits and are doing something strange again.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

“Ah. Sohee-ya.”

When I raised my head slightly, Sohee was already standing in front of me.

I was so focused on the contents of my phone that I didn’t even realize I had arrived at school.

“I just got curious about something.”

“What is it?”

I showed Sohee the phone screen and explained what had happened.

“Are they bad kids?”

“Bad? It’s a little different…”

I shook my head at Sohee’s question.

The Satan guild itself is not bad. The actions they take are just one way to enjoy the game.

I was respecting all gamers.

Of course, if it doesn’t harm me.

“If you only listen to what they say, aren’t they controlling the field boss?”

“Let them do whatever they want.”

I chuckled at Sohee’s words and shook my head.

Field boss control in Deron? It was a ridiculous sound.

They could do it. But what is the advantage of doing so?

Who would try to get an item that is less powerful than a raid item?

Of course, if it was before the raid was conquered, the story would be different…

I arrived at the classroom with Sohee and stretched out on my desk, yawning.

Isn’t there a law that grants mandatory vacations to outstanding guild leaders?

I spent a lot of time passing the morning classes.

Finally, the lunch time I had been waiting for arrived.

The moment the class ended, the now familiar bell rang, announcing the start of lunch time.

“Euaht…”

I got up from my seat and stretched out my stiff body.

My whole body was stiff from sitting in one position for a long time.

“Sohee-ya. What’s for lunch today?”

“Sausage vegetable stir-fry and spaghetti.”

I smacked my lips at Sohee’s words.

Come to think of it, today is Wednesday.

It’s the day when delicious school lunches come out.

If you listen to all the morning classes, the school day is roughly over.

I waited for Ellie with Sohee and headed to the cafeteria.

“Hayeon. Do you know?”

The moment I sat down and started eating lunch, Ellie opened her mouth.

A low voice and half-closed eyes.

It seems like she’s about to tell a secret story.

“What is it?”

“A big war is about to happen in Deron.”

A big war?

Is it the story about Satan and Babel?

Just in case, I took out my phone and entered the keywords Satan, Babel, and war in the Deron Gallery.

Sure enough. Some people were mentioning those words and making a fuss.

Control and war. Huge power.

You can’t help but look at such a provocative title.

The theme of the gallery has already been passed over.

I frowned and shook my head.

There was nothing until this morning, but seeing it spread now, it seemed like the fight had finally started in the game.

“I know.”

“Heo, as expected… It seems like you’ve been watching the Deron Gallery all along.”

I wasn’t.

I just knew in advance.

I sighed and said to Ellie.

“Wipe off what’s on your mouth.”

“Ah, aht…!”

Ellie, flustered by my pointing it out, wiped her mouth.

Red spaghetti sauce was thickly smeared on the tissue.

Ellie, who had cleaned her mouth, put down her fork and said.

“Hayeon. Are you thinking of participating in the war too?”

“Why would I?”

“But… isn’t it a confrontation between demons and humans… I think a great picture will be drawn.”

“I’m not going to participate in such a meaningless fight. And our ChewySquishyCow isn’t a PvP-oriented guild?”

“But the users of the gallery seemed to be expecting it.”

“They’re guys who expect whatever they want and get disappointed whatever they want. It won’t be any different this time.”

“Oh, ooh… That’s a great saying…”

I said that and got up from my seat.

Sohee and Ellie’s trays were all empty.

Everyone didn’t seem to want to eat more, so I was thinking of moving seats.

“Let’s go.”

After leaving the cafeteria, we stopped by the store and bought drinks and snacks and headed to the VR game club.

As expected, Senior Seongshin had already arrived and was stuck in the capsule inside the classroom.

Did he skip lunch and run here?

I looked worriedly at the capsule that Senior Seongshin was in.

But that worry didn’t last long.

Because I had to go inside the capsule too.

“See you in Deron!”

Before closing the lid of the capsule.

I shouted to Sohee and Ellie, who were left in the classroom.

Beyond the slowly closing lid of the capsule, the expressions of Ellie and Sohee came into view.

Sohee, who was wearing a subtle smile, and Ellie, who had a slightly nervous expression.

Could there be something between the two of them?

With that thought, my consciousness flew to the world of Deron.