Stalkerizing

[Party Recruitment] LobsterClaw: Tavern Speedrun Party ☆☆☆ ADC☆☆☆ One more and we’re off!!!! (5/6)

[You have applied to ‘LobsterClaw’’s party.]

[Party Recruitment] SoyMarinatedCrabMaster: Venus Garden, looking for one ADC (4/6)

[You have applied to ‘SoyMarinatedCrabMaster’’s party.]

Applying to multiple parties at once was considered bad manners. But with a blank expression, Sa-yoon applied to every party that met his conditions in the recruitment window.

Warlocks weren’t in demand, anyway.

[‘LobsterClaw’ has declined your application.]

[‘SoyMarinatedCrabMaster’ has declined your application.]

[Party Recruitment] LobsterClaw: Tavern Ultra Speedrun Party ☆☆☆ Ranger/Warlock☆☆☆ One more and we’re off! (5/6)

[Party Recruitment] SoyMarinatedCrabMaster: Venus Garden, looking for a Ranger (5/6)

Because no one ever wanted him in their party.

The parties that received Sa-yoon’s application quickly edited their recruitment posts. The “ADC” role was erased from their descriptions and replaced with the exact class they were looking for.

Even in parties that only needed one more member to depart, the final slot never went to a warlock.

Of course. Not like he expected anything else. If they had been clear from the start, he wouldn’t have wasted his time applying. He was neither surprised nor disappointed—this happened all the time.

Sa-yoon removed his gaze from the recruitment window and added every party leader who rejected him to his block list. That way, he wouldn’t waste time on them again.

After completing this routine, he clicked his mouse. A multicolored fishing rod spun through the air and cast its line into the lake.

Plop. The bobber floated up with a crisp splash.

[The Artisan’s Multicolored Fishing Rod reacts!]

[Title increases the catch rate of rare fish by 10%.]

The bobber wobbled. A small bar and a moving bead appeared above it. When the bead moved into the target zone, he clicked.

At this point, Sa-yoon could hit that mark with his eyes closed.

[You have caught ‘Cataloa’!]

[Your proficiency is too low to gain experience.]

[You cannot acquire the item.]

[Inventory full. Please clear space.]

When did I catch so many?

A system message popped up, and the fish he just caught fell to the ground. Sa-yoon opened his inventory with a button press and found it completely packed with fish.

Cataloa ×99, Tevera ×99, Autokea ×99… Enough to open a fish market.

Was he playing an RPG or a relaxing fishing game? Staring at the ridiculous number of fish in his inventory, Sa-yoon closed the window and refreshed his party application post.

[Party Application] Chasa: Max-Level Warlock, Medusa/Dionysus/Venus Garden. Veteran/Intermediate/First-Timer runs available.

While he was at it, he reopened the recruitment window to check again.

Even in popular games, server populations varied. Cygnus was widely known as a dead server. Now that he had over 100 people blocked, the recruitment window looked desolate.

“Nothing to do.”

It sounded like the complaint of an entitled player who had devoured all the content and wanted more, but in reality, it was the lament of an unemployed bum.

Afterward, Sa-yoon traveled to the capital. He stopped by his private guild storage, sorted out the fish, and then headed to the crafting workshop.

Sometime later, all the fish he had caught that morning had been turned into buff-food dishes—steamed or grilled—and listed on the marketplace.

When Sa-yoon clicked the settlement button after listing his fish dishes, the sound of coins dropping rang out, and a hefty sum was deposited into his inventory.

Unintentionally, he had been stuck in a daily loop of gathering, crafting, and selling. His vault was overflowing.

“Is this a crafting-healing game or an RPG?”

Even after settling his earnings, Sa-yoon didn’t leave immediately. He had another routine to complete—window shopping.

His search terms were rare armor and weapon blueprints, items with an incredibly low drop rate from the field. Not because he intended to use them—he was just obsessed with appearances.

A true fashion collector had to try on every available outfit, whether beautiful or hideous.

To make things worse, this game even had an item codex, tempting players with the urge to collect everything. What a merciless system.

But thanks to the abysmal drop rates and the server being a ghost town, there were never any listings. Sa-yoon entered his search out of habit, not expecting anything.

“Huh?”

[1 search result found.]

There had never been a single listing before. Sa-yoon’s eyes gleamed with curiosity as he checked the new item.

The crafter’s name was completely unfamiliar. Had someone changed their username?

Unlike in real life, where name changes involved tedious paperwork, renaming a character in a game was simple. As long as you paid, you could erase your past. Usually, players who changed their names were trying to wipe the slate clean—either scammers who had run off with stolen goods or notorious troublemakers.

Earning a crafting title required an insane amount of repetition.

Naturally, it demanded significant time and money. On top of that, patience was necessary, so the crafting community was small enough that most crafters’ names were recognizable.

But as far as Sa-yoon knew, nothing major had happened in Cygnus lately.

“Damn… That’s expensive.”

A rare listing, huh? He sighed as he checked the price. There was only one on the market, but he could tell it was overpriced even without comparisons.

Filled with lingering regret, he finished his window shopping and realized he truly had nothing else to do besides wandering the capital aimlessly.

Stretching his arms and leaning back from his monitor, Sa-yoon stood up.

With four people living in the house, chores piled up in a single day. And with university break in full swing, he was basically an unemployed bum—prime household labor material.

After finishing the dishes, he returned to his desk to find a whisper from an unfamiliar player.

[Whisper] a10235044: Hello.

[Whisper] a10235044: AFK?

[Whisper] Chasa: Who?

His confusion was immediately answered when the stranger sent a party invite without further explanation.

Who the hell is this?

Sa-yoon narrowed his eyes at the invite window. Random, impolite invitations never meant anything good.

Especially not for a warlock.

With a quick decision, he declined.

[Whisper] a10235044: ?

[Whisper] a10235044: Aren’t you coming to Medusa?

“Oh, right.”

He had completely forgotten about the party application he had posted earlier. It was something he did out of habit, but since no one ever invited him, it had slipped his mind.

But not all his questions were answered. Sa-yoon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He hadn’t refreshed his post in a while because of chores. By now, it should’ve been buried far down the list.

It was obvious. They had actually found his post? Something about this felt off.

Despite his suspicions, his hands moved on their own, typing out a question.

[Whisper] Chasa: 3-man?

[Whisper] a10235044: 2-man.

Divine’s daily quest dungeons came in two types: solo and 3-man.

The solo dungeon, Minos’ Labyrinth, had a lower difficulty and could be cleared alone, but the rewards were just as meager. High-level players usually tackled the 3-man dungeon, Medusa’s Refuge, with just two people to maximize rewards.

Sa-yoon had only ever run solo dungeons.

No one wanted to clear daily quest dungeons with a warlock, a class infamous for being utterly useless in that setting.

Even he had to admit that warlocks were garbage in daily quest dungeons.

The mobs in those dungeons didn’t have high HP. Instead of dealing tiny damage over time, it was far more efficient to nuke them with big skills as quickly as possible. Because of this system, daily quest dungeons were one of the few areas where skill and reflexes couldn’t make up for class disadvantages.

For the same reason, parties preferred tanks over healers, but above all, they wanted damage dealers. And among DPS classes, burst damage dealers were the most popular.

Sa-yoon clicked on the stranger’s username, pulling up their temporary nickname, level, and class.

a10235044
Level 60
Demon Hunter

“A Demon Hunter?”

Without a doubt, the best burst DPS in Divine was the Demon Hunter.

Wielding daggers as their primary weapons, Demon Hunters were known for their lightning-fast attack speed. Faster attacks meant higher damage output, and high DPS made them one of the most overpowered, sought-after classes in any party.

Seeing the other player’s class only deepened Sa-yoon’s suspicion.

Why would a Demon Hunter want to party with a Warlock?

The most desirable class asking to team up with the most unwanted class? That didn’t make any sense.

Based on his past experiences, two possibilities seemed most likely.