CHAPTER 37……..
If you asked which guild was the most famous on the Lerazie server, most people would say the V3 Guild.
And its guild master, Jankyung—better known as Seungho—was enjoying the most unusually peaceful days since the guild’s creation.
At first, the guild had started small with just Healer ObedientWarrior and Tank Nyangmongi. Then, as one or two people joined here and there, they gradually gathered members—who all turned out to be pretty well-known players. Naturally, the guild’s name rose in fame alongside them.
It wasn’t intentional, but the members’ classes and positions ended up balancing out perfectly, making them capable of running full raids as a guild. With everyone being skilled, the name “V3” became a regular sight on the server’s first-clear raid boards.
Maybe because of that, the guild members’ personalities were just as diverse as their classes.
“No… not just personalities. More like… slightly crazy tendencies… ahem.”
Anyway, with such strong personalities, clashes sometimes happened—whether with other random players or even among the guild members themselves.
Most of the time, it was between Hwansung and Haneul.
To Seungho, the two were complete opposites: one was so indifferent it rubbed people the wrong way, while the other was hot-tempered enough to get rubbed the wrong way.
So, whenever the two clashed, their “synergy” was explosive—like the damage spike during burst time.
And every time, it was Seungho, the guild master, who broke into a cold sweat. Like a proper leader, he took a neutral stance, mediated their arguments, and settled things fairly. The pattern was always the same: Hwansung ignored Haneul, Haneul snapped back, and things escalated…
Other guild members could have stepped in, but honestly, the best way to help was to just stay out of it.
“At least they’re not screenshotting and posting polls on the forums about who’s acting more childish…”
Every clash reminded Seungho of the saying, “When whales fight, it’s the shrimp’s back that gets broken.” He truly understood that. Thankfully, both had no grudges, so once things were resolved, that was the end of it.
Seungho thought he’d live out his days as the shrimp stuck between those two whales until the server shut down… but one day, he suddenly escaped that role.
And that was thanks to the newbie Hwansung brought in: Haeya.
Seungho was shocked—Hwansung, who barely spoke to anyone outside the guild, had personally brought in a newbie. What shocked him more was that this newbie was none other than that legendary someone.
After Haeya joined, Hwansung stuck to her like glue, which naturally reduced his clashes with Haneul.
To Seungho, Haeya was like a single ray of light piercing the dark night sky.
He even thought to himself, “Some people are just born lucky.” How else could you meet your old crush again—not just anywhere, but in a game?
God had taken Hwansung’s personality, sure, but had given him everything else… and now even his lost first love.
“God really is unfair…”
Still, Seungho secretly hoped the two would not only get married in-game but also actually date in real life.
In the game, Hwansung surprisingly made the first moves, but in person, he became shy—so much so that it was almost nauseating to watch.
But Seungho still remembered vividly the time Hwansung had cried while searching for Haeya. Knowing how much he had suffered in silence made Seungho root for them even more.
And objectively, they were a perfect match: a handsome man and a beautiful woman.
Of course… Seungho’s desire for guild peace also played a role in that hope.
But that peace didn’t last long.
There’s a saying: “You may not notice when someone joins, but you always feel it when they’re gone.” That perfectly described the guild’s current atmosphere.
No, with Haeya, they had felt her presence strongly from the very start. And so, her absence now was even more painfully obvious.
The guild that had been so peaceful for weeks now felt colder than ever.
[ObedientWarrior^^: Hey, Sunya contacted you?]
[Nope…….]
[ObedientWarrior^^: Fix this mood before I come back, okay?]
[Help me fix it toooo……ㅠㅠ]
[ObedientWarrior^^: gl hf]
It all started after Haeya sent the message: “Please don’t contact me… ㅠㅠ…!!”
Since then, she hadn’t logged in or responded to any messages.
To Seungho, it felt like his heart had dropped through the floor.
If their one ray of light truly never returned, then this guild would…
“Break apart…!”
Not only Seungho, but also the guildmates who had played with Haeya daily bombarded her with messages. Still, no reply.
Yuchan, who had coincidentally met her at an internet café during Hwansung and Haeya’s in-game wedding, even tried calling her directly…
[Yuchan… Sorry for asking again, but still no word from Sunya…? ^^…ㅠ?]
[CutesyIssa^^: The phone just says, ‘The number you have dialed is powered off. Please leave a message after the beep—’ … T _ㅜ…….]
[Ah… no way…….]
After that, the core guild members and Seungho held an emergency meeting: why would someone so devoted suddenly quit both the game and all contact?
After heated debate, they came to one conclusion:
It was all because of Choi Haneul on the day at Blue Canyon.
Haeya was the only one in the guild who wasn’t good at the game. That day, after she caused a wipe, Haneul gave her looks, told her never to come again, and even after she logged off, he posted an “8-stack” screenshot in the group chat to rub it in.
When the group chat came up, Seungho suddenly realized something.
“Wait… Sunya always replied kindly, but that day she didn’t respond at all, right?”
Checking back, he saw only the argument between melee and ranged DPS about the 8-stack, with no replies from Haeya.
That one final message—“Don’t contact me…”—felt less like anger and more like the kindhearted Haeya sparing them trouble, even tolerating Hwansung’s rudeness until the end.
So really, unless it was because of Haneul, there was no reason for her to quit.
From that moment, Haneul was branded a traitor within the V3 Guild.
Normally, Haneul would’ve exploded, yelling it was nonsense, but even he couldn’t deny it—if not for that day, Haeya had no reason to leave.
[HotBloodedSooki^^: Uh… I’m sorry.]
[ConceptMage^^: Should’ve just backed out sooner! Hmph. You flaunted your melee pride, and now look what’s happened!]
[HotBloodedSooki^^: …Next time, I’ll just step back early if things look bad.]
[ConceptMage^^: When Sunya returns, you’d better apologize properly!!]
By now, Seungho started worrying about Hwansung.
Normally quiet, Hwansung would talk more in one day about Haeya than he did in a week. His silence now felt different from usual.
Seungho cautiously sent him a private message:
[Hwansung^^~~!! Hey, I’m going to Jamsil for a baseball game this weekend. Want to grab a meal together? My treat, lol. I’m really splurging here^^]
He made sure to sound casual.
[RudeHwansung^^: No appetite.]
Normally, Seungho would’ve rolled his eyes—“That brat’s being rude again.” But this time, seeing “no appetite” made him genuinely worried.
As far as Seungho knew, Hwansung had silently pined after his crush all through school, graduating without any real connection. Judging by Haeya’s reactions in-game, she didn’t even seem to know they’d gone to the same school.
It’s one thing to lose someone when you never had contact… but losing them after actually spending time together every day? That’s completely different.
If Hwansung had suffered that much in silence back then, how devastated must he be now, after finally being close, only to lose her again…?
“Sunya… for the sake of our guild, and for Hwansung, please come back like nothing happened…”
Even though Seungho’s favorite baseball team was winning on TV, he couldn’t feel happy at all.
But what none of them knew was this:
Haeya hadn’t quit the game out of anger or sadness. She had just been slammed with assignments once the new semester started and simply hadn’t had time to log in.
And when Haneul posted the 8-stack screenshot, she hadn’t replied out of embarrassment, not resentment.
But thanks to one vague message and the unfortunate timing of that Blue Canyon run, misunderstandings piled up until the entire guild believed Haeya had quit for good.
