— Small Dragon: Nice to meet you. I see you’ve been having an interesting conversation while I was lurking. I’ve been a Dark Gamer for 6 years.
The users who had been lurking joined the conversation and the chat room soon became hectic.
As they exchanged greetings and conversations started, the old text ascended quickly. In spite of that, the frenzy didn’t even last 10 minutes before calming down.
Users left to look for information they needed, or were taking a break while keeping the chat room open.
Lee Hyun also briefly went to look at different information and returned to find Huni and Wicked Me having a conversation.
— Huni: Hyun-nim. Are you there?
— Hyun: Yes.
— Huni: Actually, this time there’s a quest I want to accomplish…. I’d like to consult the two of you.
— Wicked Me: What quest is that?
— Huni: First of all, please be understanding of me when I say that I won’t disclose details about the quest’s contents.
— Wicked Me: Of course.
— Hyun: I understand.
— Huni: Thank you for understanding. To be honest, I’ve been doing a quest that’s a little special.
— Wicked Me: Is it a dangerous quest?
— Huni: You could say that. It also has a high degree of difficulty… The quest prevents you from ever reviving again.
— Wicked Me: I don’t understand what you said about not reviving. What does that mean?
— Hyun: The character would completely die in Royal Road, right?
— Huni: Yes. Thats right.
The complete death of a character.
It was something that could happen if you learned a forbidden magic, or if gave your soul for some reason or another. It was standard for Dark Gamers to refuse these kinds of requests. Curses that were difficult to cure could somehow be resolved after a time, but if your character disappeared, you have to start again from the very beginning.
After his profession was changed to Legendary Moonlight Sculptor, he had initially been very dissatisfied, but the reason he gave up on raising another profession was because it was hard to start over.
— Hyun: How did you come about that quest?
— Huni: I was with the guild I manage, it was a quest we got as a guild.
— Wicked Me: If you’re managing a guild, you must have quite an exceptional character; that’s quite regretful.
— Huni: Yes. Now I’m feeling a little regretful. I wonder if I started something too excessive because of my friends and guild mates, but the rewards that can be obtained through the quest are considerable.
— Wicked Me: As a Dark Gamer, is it worth starting over?
— Huni: I’ll have to see how the quest progresses, but right now I think it’s worth challenging. Even if we aren’t able to clear the quest, we accepted it because we can hope for such a huge reward.
— Wicked Me: If it were me, I’d worry first. Even so, to raise another character is going to be tough.
— Huni: In my 7 years of being a Dark Gamer, I think this is the biggest opportunity and challenge yet. Since there’s some money I’ve earned, even if I die I’ll probably be able to start over.
If you read in between the lines, you could feel that the Dark Gamer Huni was trying to force himself to be positive about his situation.
For a Dark Gamer, losing their character was the same as becoming unemployed!
To be unable to expect employment insurance and unemployment pension, if you considered such disaster, you would only become anxious. If Lee Hyun was also in a situation where his character Weed might be permanently deleted, his anxiety would be too great to express in words.
‘I haven’t made enough money yet!’
Perhaps because the all work he had done would have been a waste, so he didn’t think he would be able to accept a quest like that.
He’d have no choice but to suffer from an extremely severe apprehension. In real life, Grandma’s hospital bills and their living expenses would be threatened by this approaching menace. Though Huni might have saved up a little spare money, that alone would not assure him, for this was something that could very possibly ruin a Dark Gamer’s life.
If you died while hunting, your level and skill proficiency would drop, and if such an incident were to occur again and again, it would be an unfathomably devastating blow to a Dark Gamer.
— Wicked Me: I hope you receive a lot of items. The items are what’s left.
— Huni: Of course. All the items we obtained on the quest are gathered separately, and are being sold. However, when I imagine the character I raised and very attached to, completely disappearing… It’s not something that will happen right away, but my chest really hurts thinking about it.
— Hyun: You must worry a lot.
— Huni: There’s nothing I can do but to move forward.
— Hyun: Since you have experience, you’ll be able to grow again, and the quest…
Lee Hyun’s hand, which had been clacking on the keyboard, suddenly came to a halt.
Though it was just a speculation, even if those kinds of quests were to be successful, because of the ridiculous chance for a character to be deleted, there was no one who would be willing to accept such quests.
But the Dark Gamer Huni was even considering death.
‘It seems like he has received a truly difficult quest.’
He guessed it would be much harder to succeed in this quest than to find a needle in a haystack.
— Hyun: I pray for your success. Those words are all I can offer.
— Huni: Thank you. I’ll do my best. I needed some reassurance.
— Wicked Me: It’s really heartwarming to see you two talk.
— Huni: Wicked Me-nim, Hyun-nim. Shall we be friends? Although I don’t know how old you are or where you live, I don’t think it’ll be bad to get along as friends in the Dark Gamer chatting room.
— Hyun: I’d like that as well.
— Huni: I will introduce myself first. I’m twenty-eight years old.
— Hyun: I’m twenty-three years old.
— Huni: Hyun is like my younger sibling then.
— Hyun: Yes, elder brother. Please speak informally.
— Huni: Do you mind? Then Wicked Me-nim, how old are you?
— Wicked Me: Elder brothers! I am 15 years old. I’m the youngest. My two elder brothers, please take care of your cute brother.
— Huni: …
— Hyun: …
— Huni: Hey Me.
— Wicked Me: Yep!
— Huni: It’s already 11. You’d better go to bed.
— Wicked Me: Ah! Is that the time already. It’s nearly time for my mom to come home soon… I guess I’ll pretend to study and go to sleep. Goodbye.
— Hyun: …
— Huni: …
Lee Hyun’s school life went by busily. Even if he barely passed the tests, the assignments kept coming.