Stalkerizing

[Party] Freedeal: Uh, I think I broke my finger. Is this right?

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: My DPS is dead too. ㅜ

[Party] Furple: …

[Party] Freedeal: Ah, my DPS addiction. ㅠ

After the first boss died, everyone collapsed to the ground as if they had agreed upon it beforehand. Only then did GegulGegulFrog check the damage meter and use a crying emote. A character with green hair lay face down on the ground, sobbing.

[Party] Shokrates: Did 1st boss get updated?

[Party] Furple: NMF* Tavern got balance patched while I wasn’t looking? (*NMF = No More Fun, a common abbreviation for nerfs in Korean gaming slang)

[Party] Shokrates: We cleared this with four people before. This is weird…

[Party] Furple: We had the Vow back then.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: The first boss is always hard without a tank! ㅜ So unfair! ㅠ

GegulGegulFrog, despite being the tank, had the audacity to claim there was no tank. Freedeal jumped up and kicked at him.

[Party] Furple: Even considering we have no tank, something feels off.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: I told you I was only half-baked! ㅜ I have no confidence!

[Party] Freedeal: You weren’t supposed to graduate so fast, Frog… sigh RNG-hell game.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: I’m just lucky. ><

If he was still half-baked, it made sense for him to be shaky. But wait—he graduated before even fully mastering the role? If you looked at the odds, it was like winning the lottery multiple times in a row. Must’ve done some serious good deeds in a past life. Sa-yoon’s face was full of envy.

They were about to let it slide as a case of inexperience when—

[Party] a10235044: Frog, what armor are you wearing?

[Party] Freedeal: Oh no… hahaha.

[Party] Freedeal: No way. No matter how crazy Frog is about DPS, there’s no way he’s wearing DPS armor while tanking, right?

[Party] a10235044: Link it.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Hehehe.

[Party] Furple: Hehe?

[Party] Freedeal: Ah, fk.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Frog doesn’t know stuff like that. ><

[Party] Freedeal: You absolute fking lunatic. ㅠ

[Party] Freedeal: I knew something was off with how fast your HP was dropping.

[Party] Shokrates: Frog, didn’t you brag to me about your extreme offense build last time? That thing had literally zero defense stats…

[Party] Freedeal: Ah, fk.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: I can’t stand damage loss. ㅜ

[Party] Freedeal: You’re a tank, not a DPS, goddammit. ㅜ

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: But I think of myself as a DPS, so why do I have to be a tank?

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: You told me to go all out on damage, didn’t you? Let me live up to your name! ㅜ (Note: “Freedeal” implies unrestricted DPS)

[Party] Freedeal: What the fk are you even saying, you crazy bastard?! ㅜ

Freedeal had been speaking formally at first, but at some point, his speech had completely unraveled. Gone was the deeply moved reaction he had when Cha Sa-yoon thanked them at the start of the dungeon. Now, Freedeal finally looked like a proper healer.

Yeah, this was normal. People say only lunatics level a Warlock to max, but as far as Sa-yoon was concerned, healers were just as insane.

[Party] Chasa: Still, this is better than a random group. Haha.

[Party] Freedeal: …Huh?

[Party] Chasa: No one rage-quit or went AFK mid-run.

[Party] Chasa: Since we all know each other, no one ninja-looted, either.

[Party] Chasa: And the damage was solid.

[Party] Chasa: Only Frog died in the end.

In other words, he was telling them to stay positive and keep their spirits up.

But after Sa-yoon’s words, the party chat suddenly went dead silent.

Why did it suddenly get so quiet? It’s not like I said anything wrong.

[Party] Freedeal: Ninja-looting?

[Party] Shokrates: Rage-quitting…?

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Going AFK when you should be dealing damage??

[Party] a10235044: And you just let that happen?

The chat flooded with messages, all ending with question marks. They clearly couldn’t wrap their heads around it.

[Party] Chasa: No, I blocked them.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: You chose the peaceful route of blocking? Are you… Gandhi? A pacifist?

[Party] Freedeal: No halo over your head, but something feels off…

It wasn’t actually that peaceful. Sa-yoon had gotten his revenge, but he didn’t feel the need to mention it.

[Party] a10235044: You should’ve forced them to delete their character, not just blocked them!

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Or stalked them until they quit the game.

[Party] a10235044: Why waste my time chasing them?

[Party] Furple: Or exposed them in the forums?

[Party] a10235044: Nah, those types don’t care about forum drama.

[Party] Freedeal: For once, I actually agree with Inseong. Those assholes should be forced into a character deletion duel.

“Oh.”

That’s when Sa-yoon realized something. They all came over together.

If they transferred servers as a group, they were likely in the same guild. Of course, that meant they had run dungeons together before.

[Party] Chasa: I was fine with it, though.

Well, it had been tough when everything went down in the same party, but this? This was nothing in comparison.

Now, Sa-yoon understood why Freedeal seemed so fragile. These guys were basically delicate greenhouse flowers.

[Party] Chasa: At least the second boss doesn’t need a tank.

[Party] Shokrates: True, true. Blade Masters should handle that one fine.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Pfft, I’ll take care of everything!

Yeah, no. We were the ones who got taken care of.

The second boss, Euroria, had a gimmick where if you positioned it in a specific spot, its attack power would be reduced. As long as someone knew how to do this, it didn’t really matter who played the tank role.

But someone didn’t know how to do it. And so, they wiped.

With a party full of squishy ranged DPS, the moment they lost a tank, they dropped like flies. Freedeal glared daggers at Frog and interrogated him, but this time, the only conclusion was that he really was just inexperienced.

It took them two tries to finally clear it.

[Party] Shokrates: So… tanks… are actually important?

[Party] Freedeal: Someone fire our “tank”.

[Party] Furple: As if that would ever happen.

[Party] Freedeal: From the start, it didn’t make sense to go in with a single healer and no tank.

After only two bosses, Freedeal was visibly wilting, already eyeing the exit.

And he wasn’t wrong. In Divine, the standard party composition was one tank, three DPS, and two healers. Even Pure Priests, who were dedicated healers, didn’t like running solo-heal without a tank.

But Freedeal couldn’t quit here. Healers were practically nobility in public parties—so rare that finding a replacement mid-run was nearly impossible. And they’d already cleared two bosses.

Sa-yoon acted fast.

[Party] Chasa: I’ll tank.

[Party] Freedeal: No, Chasa, don’t! ㅜ

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Can a Warlock even be a tank?

[Party] a10235044: Literally anything is better than you.

[Party] Shokrates: No lies detected. ㅠㅠ

[Party] Freedeal: Still, even if it’s bad, it’s something. Wouldn’t a Blade Master tank be better than a Warlock? ㅜ

[Party] Freedeal: Not to insult you, Chasa! I just mean, generally speaking, shoulder guards offer better defense than robes.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: If you could tank, you should’ve said so earlier. ㅜ

[Party] Shokrates: Freedeal, Frog already rage-quit.

[Party] Freedeal: How did I end up in this cursed party… ㅜㅜㅜㅜ

As the party basked in the beautiful atmosphere of insults and blame, Sa-yoon quietly swapped his armor. The black uniform of Chasa transformed into a pure white priest’s robe.

Noticing this, Temporary Nickname bounced up and down beside him.

[Party] a10235044: Hyung… ㅠㅠ 

[Party] Shokrates: Why is Inseong like this? Is there fire under his feet?

[Party] Freedeal: Him randomly freaking out isn’t new. I’m not even surprised anymore.

[Party] a10235044: ㅠㅠ

[Party] a10235044: Hyung, you don’t have to do the dirty work. ㅜㅜ

Freedeal and Shokrates, already worn down after only two bosses, whispered among themselves. Meanwhile, Temporary Nickname ignored them entirely.

For a group that trashed each other so casually, they actually seemed pretty close. And yet they claimed they had no friends?

[Party] a10235044: Just use the DPS as meat shields and stay somewhere safe.

[Party] Chasa: That’s a bit…

I mean, I’m a DPS too, and so are you.