Stalkerizing

“Ah, damn it, seriously.”

Cha Sa-yoon muttered to himself as he stared at the monitor. A large calendar filled with checkmarks was displayed on the screen, except for a single empty day. The day he had met Yeon-hee.

There was no miracle of having somehow completed his daily quest while blackout drunk after stumbling home.

Why was his drunk habit taking a shower, of all things? After two years of this, shouldn’t it have become ingrained in his subconscious by now? But no matter how much he agonized over it, a missed quest was gone for good.

The worst part was that the reward had been a dye item, making his stomach twist in regret every time he saw it. He was still wallowing in disappointment when a party invitation popped up.

[‘a10235044’ has invited you to a party. Do you accept?]

“Oh, right.”

He had agreed to join yesterday but had completely forgotten about it.

Had they waited for him? Of course, they had. Feeling guilty, he accepted the invitation at lightning speed.

[[‘Chasa’ has joined the party.]]

[Party] a10235044: Everyone, watch your mouths.

[Party] a10771052: That’s not the issue right now!

[Party] a10771052: We need to hand over the Cataloa, but there’s nothing listed on the marketplace in this backwater server ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] a10397688: When’s Snowman arriving?

[Party] Freedeal: Weren’t they not coming?

[Party] a10771052: ????

[Party] a10771052: They told me they’d come as soon as they were done handling things! If they don’t show up, I’ll have to go fetch Refus again!

[Party] a10397688: Take a breath and then type.

[Party] a10771052: Free, are you baiting us?

[Party] Freedeal: You think I’d bother with such a boring-ass trick?

As soon as Sa-yoon joined, one user with a temporary nickname launched into a one-person show. It was hard to believe a single person was typing that fast, but a closer look revealed that the last few digits of each username were different.

[Party] a10771052: There’s no Cataloa, so now I can’t complete my daily quest! ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] a10771052: Did all the fishermen on this server go on strike? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

In RPGs, crafting, gathering, and production professions were always rare, but among them, fishermen were particularly scarce.

There was no deep reason for it—just as Freedeal had said, it was a boring-ass mechanic. At least in real life, you got the sensation of reeling in a fish. In the game, it was just about pressing a button when the indicator entered a designated zone.

To earn the top-tier “Fisherman” title, you had to repeat this dull process thousands of times. It was such a grind that people joked that while leveling up the skill, you were a laborer, but once you mastered it, you became nobility.

And Cataloa was a fish that could only be caught by players who held the Fisherman title.

Unfortunately, daily quests frequently required this fish, so supply never quite met demand, making it a profitable catch for fishermen.

Before Sa-yoon had earned his Fisherman title, he had set up an alert in the trading post for any Cataloa listings.

But that was all in the past. Now, he could just catch them himself.

[Party] a10771052: Even if I post a support ticket, I always get the same generic responseㅠㅠㅠㅠ These damn AI botsㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] a10397688: Why are you even bothering with daily quests? Just skip it if it asks for Cataloa, lol.

[Party] a10771052: No way! I have to get the dye this month!ㅠ

[Party] Freedeal: Someone please rip the ‘ㅇ’ key off their keyboard.

As he read through the chat, Sa-yoon found himself replying before he even realized it.

[Party] Chasa: Want me to sell you some Cataloa?

[Party] a10771052: HEEEEK????

[Party] a10771052: When did you even get here???

[Party] Freedeal: Ooh, slipping in unnoticed like that… You must be good at assassin classes.

[Party] a10397688: Hihi.

[Party] a10771052: How much for the Cataloa?

[Party] Chasa: Whisper me.

The whispers came flooding in immediately.

[Whisper] a10771052: 20 per fish, can I get 100?

[Whisper] Freedeal: Could I buy some too? I’ll pay 250k per fish.

[Whisper] a10397688: Buying at market price.

Market price? What was this, wild-caught halibut?

Sa-yoon glanced over the messages and replied to the last one, 88.

[Whisper] Chasa: You first, name your price.

[Whisper] a10397688: I’ll pay 10% more than the highest offer.

[Whisper] Chasa: Deal.

“350k isn’t bad.”

The current average price of Cataloa on the server was 250k per fish.

Sa-yoon messaged the other two with his price and available stock, and both quickly agreed.

Since direct transactions avoided the marketplace fee, it was even more profitable. Satisfied with how the negotiation went, Sa-yoon wrapped up the conversation, saying he’d send the fish over soon.

Only then did he finally get a chance to ask TemporaryNick what kind of party this was.

[Whisper] Chasa: What’s this party for?

[Whisper] a10235044: Bro, you’re broke, right?

Damn, just coming at him like that?

[Whisper] a10235044: You said it yourself yesterday. Couldn’t run dungeons, couldn’t get gear.

“Ah…”

Now that he thought about it, he did remember saying something like that—grumbling about how he had no proper armor because he felt weird taking free stuff from warlocks.

Had they actually been thinking about that?

[Whisper] a10235044: Head to the tavern now.

“…That was a lie, though.”

It was true that he hadn’t been able to run dungeons. If a party had to choose between a level 60 warlock and a level 58 black mage, they’d obviously take the latter.

[Whisper] Chasa: I don’t need to go.

So, he just bought the gear instead.

It was kind of depressing, having to pay for items that other players could just get by running dungeons. But quitting warlock wasn’t an option, so there was no helping it.

[Whisper] a10235044: Why not? You said you didn’t have gear.

[Whisper] Chasa: I have some, it’s just…

This was why people shouldn’t lie. The bullshit he’d come up with to shake off a clingy weirdo had just come back to bite him.

[Whisper] a10235044: So, your stats aren’t optimized, right? We’ll keep running until you get best-in-slot.

TemporaryNick seemed to believe him completely.

[Whisper] Chasa: How much do you still need?

[Whisper] a10235044: I still need a few pieces.

[Whisper] a10235044: Let’s keep running until we both graduate.

They even considered his situation, saying they’d keep running even if they finished their gear first. That pricked his slightly worn-out conscience.

In this game, “graduation” meant getting all the dungeon gear you needed. After that, there was no reason to run it anymore.

Divine gear wasn’t a one-and-done thing, though. The stats were divided into high, mid, and low tiers. The devs, in their infinite wisdom, had made the most important stats completely random.

No demons in the game? The devs were the real demons.

That was why, no matter how diligently someone ran dungeons, bad luck could still keep them from getting the right stats. It was also why static dungeon parties were so common in Divine.

[Whisper] Chasa: Nah, warlocks don’t need best-in-slot.

[Whisper] a10235044: Who says that???

The armor Sa-yoon was wearing was a mix of mid and low-tier stats. There was no way anyone would call that optimized.

“But what’s the point of getting the gear?”

[Whisper] Chasa: Even if I get it, no one’s taking warlocks anyway.

[Whisper] a10235044: Bro, that doesn’t mean you can just run around in trash gear forever.

[Whisper] a10235044: ㅠㅠ

This little shit. That sneaky little truth bomb hit a nerve.

[Whisper] Chasa: If you’re gonna pity me, show it with cash.

Wanting better damage? Of course, he did. Any DPS player was born with that instinct.

But if you couldn’t even get into a party and had to grind solo dungeons all the time, that was a whole different story.

What was he supposed to do, fight against himself? Sa-yoon wasn’t the type to enjoy chasing his own DPS records alone. If he were, he wouldn’t have played an RPG in the first place.

Instead, he was way more interested in PvP gear since it worked with random matchmaking.

[Whisper] a10235044: Don’t worry.

[Whisper] a10235044: You won’t have to look for a party anymore.