Chapter 30
My gaze naturally moved from his large hand to the arm right above it. He seemed to have a habit of exercising every morning, and the muscles I could see were quite impressive.
So it was only natural that I wanted to press that arm once.
The last time, on the bus ride home after the offline meet-up, I thought he disliked physical contact, so I’d quickly poked and pulled away before we even bumped. Back then, I didn’t have a chance to really feel the muscle.
Now, the index finger I’d been using to press the “H” key firmly pressed Hwanseong’s arm.
For some reason, his hand—which had been busily adjusting key settings—froze for a brief moment. But not long after, he resumed without hesitation, as if my pressing his arm didn’t bother him at all.
Encouraged, I began pressing here and there as I spoke.
“Wow, your muscles are…”
“……”
“You work out every day, right?”
“……”
Hwanseong seemed completely focused on the key settings, not saying a word. To prove the point, his hands on the keyboard and mouse only moved faster.
Watching him create an entirely new key configuration for me—despite us playing different classes—as if it were his own, I thought it was both amazing and impressive. I put my hand back on my thigh.
After a little more time passed—
“Hey.”
Hwanseong finally called me softly, as if the settings were complete.
“Yes?”
“Sorry, but… could you stop touching me?”
“…What?”
The words that came out of his mouth had nothing to do with the key settings.
“You know… that poking and prodding you’ve been doing…”
“Poking and prodding?”
“Yeah. Poking and prodding.”
I shifted my eyes from the screen to my hand. Somehow, instead of resting neatly on my thigh, it was still on his arm.
And, just as he said, at some point both of my hands had started fully feeling the muscle of his arm…
“I—I’m so sorry!”
Oh, my god… what am I even doing right now?
I quickly pulled my hands back in shock and raised them up, showing I hadn’t meant anything by it.
Wow. Why did I even do that?
I thought I’d only poked him a few times and stopped, but at some point, without realizing, I’d been seriously feeling his muscles. I had zero dirty intentions—it was completely unconscious.
“I’m really sorry! I don’t even know why I…”
Normally, even if I forgot to raise my defense skill and took painful hits, Hwanseong would tell me it was fine. But this time, he just sat there silently, one hand covering his mouth, fist clenched.
His face was even redder than at the meet-up. I immediately realized it wasn’t from body heat but because of me.
And right then, a new status I’d never seen before appeared above his head:
[Status: Awkwardness, Trembling]
The trembling was always there, and until now, the statuses had been positive—like happiness or enjoyment. But awkwardness? This was the first time, so I was a little surprised.
“You’re not really that awkward, are you?”
It was meant as a light joke to ease the mood, since the status window usually guessed his feelings wrong.
“I am awkward.”
“……”
For once, the status window was right.
‘Of all times… it had to be now…’
He let out an unreadable sigh and brushed his hair back lightly.
“But…”
He spoke again, as if making a careful decision.
“If you enjoyed poking and prodding me, you can keep doing it… I mean, I’d like it.”
“……”
Um… That’s not really something you should say with a face that red…
“You must’ve liked it enough to touch me unconsciously, right?”
“Uh, well… that’s…”
What was I even supposed to say to that?
Now I was the one feeling awkward, not him. Still, it was a relief that he didn’t think I was some kind of pervert.
Meanwhile, having finished the settings, Hwanseong slid the keyboard and mouse back toward me.
But just then, we heard an irritated voice from the seat behind us.
“Ah… seriously.”
We had no choice but to turn around.
Sitting there was…
A man who looked exactly like how I’d imagined Hwanseong before meeting him in person.
He opened his mouth, loud enough for us to hear.
“You two hogging the PC café for yourselves or something…?”
We both awkwardly turned back without answering. The guy clearly had the wrong idea.
Thinking back on our conversation just now, I realized that my face was as red as Hwanseong’s.
Hwanseong didn’t wait for my answer to his earlier question and changed the subject.
“Want me to explain the key settings?”
“…Yes, I think that’s for the best…”
Hwanseong arranged my most frequently used skills around the movement keys, leaving space for future skills I’d unlock as I leveled up. Unlike me—who just slotted new skills in the order I got them—his setup prioritized efficiency.
‘As expected, good gamers are on another level.’
“It’ll feel awkward at first since you’re not used to it, but once you get the hang of it, it’ll be much more convenient than clicking with the mouse.”
“Yes!”
Now that the settings were done and the new skills were ready, it was time to head for the dungeon Blue Canyon.
Opening the guild window, I saw Hoe-nim and Cheonma-nim already grinding in another dungeon. Yuchan, surprisingly, still hadn’t logged in—probably more tired from yesterday than expected.
Seeing that, our party leader, Hwanseong, sent invites to the remaining two.
[Kim Sook-yi has joined the party.]
[Jan-gyeong has joined the party.]
[Party] Kim Sook-yi: ♡♡ It’s here… that time… the damn couple—no, married couple—party time.
[Party] Jan-gyeong: Ohhh ^^!! Is this that famous party I’ve only heard about? ^^~~!! I’m so nervous lol
[Party] Kim Sook-yi: Bro, I’m a slave to this party…
[Party] Hwanseong: More like you’re an experienced hire ㅇㅇ
[Party] Jan-gyeong: So where we going?
[Party] Sunya: We’re heading to a dungeon called Blue Canyon…!
[Party] Kim Sook-yi: ♡ Nice
[Party] Jan-gyeong: ^^……
But the moment I mentioned Blue Canyon, both Sook-yi and Jan-gyeong’s reactions were less than enthusiastic.
Especially Sook-yi—up until now, except for the boss fight against Eregos, he’d treated every dungeon like an easy breeze, always eager to clear fast and leave.
That meant this dungeon probably wasn’t all that easy.
[Party] Sunya: Is this dungeon… really hard? Haha…
[Party] Jan-gyeong: Mmm… It’s called the “Newbie’s Wailing Grounds” for a reason ^^……
Jan-gyeong explained that, in most MMORPGs, beginners start as rookie adventurers, and if the game is too hard early on, people just quit. That’s why early dungeons are easy.
As players adventure further, they grow more experienced, and the dungeons get harder. The dungeon where the difficulty suddenly spikes? Blue Canyon.
The problem was… it spiked too much.
So many newbies cried here that it was better known as “Newbie’s Wailing Grounds” than “Blue Canyon.”
Of course, to veterans like our guild members, it was so easy it was boring.
‘Just when I was finally getting used to dungeons… now the difficulty goes up.’
And to make matters worse, this was a tank-heavy dungeon—harder for tanks than anyone else.
In a game where tanking was already tough, a harder-than-normal tank dungeon was…
“Ugh…”
I couldn’t help letting out a sigh.
[Party] Kim Sook-yi: This party’s gonna be chaos. So many retries incoming.
[Party] Sunya: ㅠㅠ I’ll do my best…!
[Party] Hwanseong: But you cleared Eregos on your first try with 0 deaths.
[Party] Kim Sook-yi: Stop.
[Party] Hwanseong: You were the one who died once, though. Statistically, that makes you the bigger problem.
[Party] Kim Sook-yi: Quit milking that story!! ♡♡ Even bone broth doesn’t get milked this much, you ♡♡♡♡
Even if it was an accidental death, that one death in Eregos seemed destined to be Sook-yi’s eternal shame.
[Party] Jan-gyeong: Wait… you died in Eregos? Is that even possible? ^^
[Party] Hwanseong: Yup. And he’s dual-blade, but still got out-damaged by Poongdo.
[Party] Jan-gyeong: Wow. Why even play dual-blade then? LOL
[Party] Kim Sook-yi: ♡♡ Okay, enough — let’s just clear the dungeon; stop milking it.
At that, Hwanseong simply clicked “Enter Dungeon.”
“They say it’s tough for newbies… now I’m nervous.”
“You’ve got me. Just do what you’ve been doing.”
If I do what I’ve been doing, won’t that cause chaos…?
[Entering Dungeon: Blue Canyon]
