BOORH 01

Chapter 1

[Title: Is it true that Hwansung is dating that noob tank?]

[Author: WandererByTheRiver]

[Content: Is it true that the infamous ranker healer Hwansung—who doesn’t even reply unless you’re in the same guild—is dating that noob tank? What’s her name? Sunnyah? Sunnyah?

And not just in the game, but like… for real? IRL?]

There was one particularly hot topic making the rounds in online communities these days. Normally, the hottest threads would be about calling out toxic players. But lately, something much more unusual was grabbing all the attention.

That topic? A player named “Hwansung.”

Hwansung was no stranger to controversy, but this time, the attention was especially intense.

[MaskedHandsome: Wait, for real? But honestly, maybe it is? I ran into that tank in a dungeon once—absolutely terrible LOL. No way someone would cover for her unless they were dating.]

[IWillSmackYou: Damn… if this is true, it’s next-level. Hwansung, if you’re reading this, please carry me in a raid one day.]

[HyungdonPlease: Is it really true, though? If it’s not and people keep spreading it, wouldn’t that be awkward for Hwansung?]

[HeavenlyDemonOverlord: It is true. Hwansung himself confessed his feelings with sincerity.]

[IWillSmackYou: OMG isn’t that the most hardcore roleplayer in Hwansung’s guild, HeavenlyDemonOverlord?;;;]

[ImmortalWarrior: If guildmate HeavenlyDemonOverlord confirmed it, then it must be true…]

The rumor was that Hwansung, the top-ranked healer in the game, was dating some hopelessly bad tank—someone with a username like Sunnyah or Sunnyar or whatever.

For the record, the tank’s nickname was “Sunnyah.”
And how do I know that?

Because that hopeless, clueless, trash-tier noob tank at the center of the scandal… was me.

I sighed while staring at my name being constantly refreshed and mentioned in the community threads, then shut off my phone and collapsed onto my bed.

How did things get to this point? I thought hard, but I couldn’t even begin to guess where it all started to go wrong.

Was it when I first started the game?
When I got help in that dungeon?
Or maybe…

Ding!

A notification lit up the screen I had just turned off seconds ago.

And on it was—

[Hwansung: Babe, log in already 💬]

The infamous Hwansung.

I stared at the message without replying, overwhelmed by the mess I’d found myself in.

Then, before I could even set the phone down again, more messages started flooding in like an alarm going off.

[Hwansung: Babe?]
[Hwansung: Why aren’t you replying?]
[Hwansung: You’re not ignoring me… are you?]
[Hwansung: If you are, my heart might actually break…]

He had sent those in a matter of seconds.

I tried to respond quickly, but before I could even finish typing, my phone started vibrating—an incoming call.

Of course, it was Hwansung.

I hesitantly answered, and a deep voice came through the speaker.

“Where are you? Still at home?”

How did he know I was home…?

“Uh, I was just about to log in…”

“Good. Come in. I miss you.”

“Ah… yeah, okay… I mean, sure…”

I ended the call, dazed and confused.

As I turned on my PC, I muttered to myself:

“…When did we start dating, exactly?”

To explain how things got this crazy, we have to rewind a few months.

* * *

The game was called The Legendary Sword.

Nicknamed “TheLegSword,” it held an unbeatable #1 spot in internet café play rates for over 1XX weeks. It was the most streamed game on major platforms. It even topped department store pop-up sales.

This MMORPG broke records across the board.

What was even more impressive was that the game was developed by a startup no one had ever heard of—Cosmo.

Even people who didn’t play games had at least heard of The Legendary Sword. I was one of those people.

“The Legendary Sword?”

“Yeah. They’re giving out special items if you bring in a new player. Could you help me level a new account to 20 real quick?”

I had never played a game before, but I ended up trying this one at the request of my older brother.

Normally, I would’ve refused without a second thought. But he said the item couldn’t be bought anywhere, and even offered me 100,000 won to do it—literally begged me in tears.

I had nothing better to do over break, so I agreed.

But then… my brother got drafted.

So I was left to play the game completely on my own.

I thought about just giving up, but he had begged me even on the day he enlisted, and I’d already taken the money—so I had no choice but to follow through.

The problem appeared faster than expected.

“Tank… healer… DPS? What does any of that mean?”

I thought all I had to do was pick a nickname, but there were so many jobs to choose from. A quick internet search told me they were grouped into roles.

Tanks defended, healers healed, DPS attacked. Very clear distinctions.

I suddenly remembered what my brother said before he left: “Don’t pick a tank. Tanks are way too hard for beginners.”

“Okay, let’s see…”

I started looking for something that definitely didn’t seem like a tank.

Tanks were part of the defense category, so I ruled out anything with shields.

Ugh, “Guardian”? Even I, a complete noob, could tell that was a hardcore tank class.

Then something caught my eye: Paladin.

Its description said it used a shining sword to defeat enemies.

“This must be a DPS, right?”

Confident in my smooth start, I moved on to character creation. It was a 3D game, so there were a lot more customization options than I expected.

You could adjust things like neck length and arm length. Tons of races too. I spent over an hour just creating my character.

But once I was done… dang, it looked really good?

Silver hair and light blue eyes. My character was actually cute.

Finally, it was time to choose a server and nickname.

That part was easy. I picked my brother’s server, “Lerazie,” and used the same nickname I’d always used since elementary school—Sunnyah.

It came from my real name, Yoon Hae. I just swapped “Hae” (sun) with the Korean word for sun, “sunnyah.”

[Would you like to create this character?]

A system message popped up. This was it.

I had spent almost two hours making my character. I was already exhausted.

“Let’s just get to level 20 and uninstall this…”

I hit “Yes,” and a black screen faded into a welcoming message.

[Welcome, Chosen Adventurer.]

Then the character I’d spent hours making opened her eyes, and an NPC named Lia began guiding me.

I had trouble reading the map at first and got lost a few times, but following the main quests made everything surprisingly easy.

“Maybe I’m actually good at this?”

I was already level 19. I couldn’t help but smile with pride.

Maybe when my brother got back, he’d be shocked to learn his little sister was a gaming prodigy.

I was almost at level 20.

The next main quest was to investigate a problem at some ancient ruins near town. When I got there, they warned it was dangerous—but since I was a certified adventurer by Lia, I was allowed in.

[Dungeon ‘Frozen Ruins’ has been unlocked.]

“A dungeon?”

I remembered my brother always cursing whenever he had to run dungeons. That thought made me a little nervous.

But if I just cleared this, I could hit level 20. Hmm…

Normally I’d never touch a dungeon, but I was feeling confident after how smoothly everything had gone.

And that confidence led to a big mistake.

“Oh, I got a match.”

My brother used to queue and go poop, but my queue popped instantly. I hit the enter button, and a cutscene played. There were three other unfamiliar players in the party.

In this game, unexplored areas were shown as blurry on the map. Once you walked them, they’d reveal. Dungeons worked the same.

So far, I’d done everything solo, but dungeons were co-op. I figured I should stick close to the others so I wouldn’t drag anyone down.

But… no one was moving.

“Why’s everyone just standing here?”

One player suddenly turned toward me and started jumping. I thought it was a greeting, so I jumped back.

Not everyone in this game was like my brother. Some people were nice.