The time it took Banye to clear the dungeon with my character was half the time it took me.
I couldn’t close my mouth at the unbelievable result.
“Banye-nim… I knew you were a genius, but this is seriously no joke.”
“You also have things you can’t do.”
“No, still… Not just anyone can get half the clear time, you know?”
“Of course.”
Banye answered nonchalantly, and I found that appearance all the more cool.
I was about to gift Banye a cash shop item to express this emotion, but then I realized with a start that it wasn’t my character.
If only he’d give me his account, I’d charge it right away… But I was afraid Banye would hate it if I kept pestering him about it, so I just pouted my lips.
But then, Banye asked me.
“So can you follow along?”
“…Me?”
“How are you going to reach 200 if you keep going at your original speed? Obviously you need to follow along and clear it faster.”
“I can’t do it like you though, Banye-nim…”
“I suppose not.”
“Yes…”
Beyond the headset, Banye clicked his tongue lightly.
“I’ll log out for now, so come in. I’ll carry you.”
“Yes!”
As soon as Banye logged out, I quickly returned to my account.
And with gratitude and respect in my heart, I purchased an item from the cash shop and gifted it to Banye. Whether he checked my gift or not, Banye said “Thanks” briefly and called for a party again.
Banye, back on his own character, naturally played much better than when he was on mine.
I wanted to try it myself because of Banye’s performance I’d just witnessed, but I held back, afraid I’d just waste time. And I followed along behind him like a duckling, admiring the inventory Banye had organized for me.
When we’d gone through about half the dungeon, Banye asked as if he knew exactly what was on my mind.
“Want to try killing one?”
“Huh, what?”
“I need to see if you can do it.”
Without saying anything more, Banye let go of the monster he was fighting. The monster’s aggro was released.
I frantically moved my hands. I couldn’t do as well as Banye, pulling all the aggro at once, but it was much better than my initial skill level.
“You’re following along better than I thought.”
“Right? I’m good at doing what I’m told.”
I got cocky when Banye praised me.
Of course, my previous skill was also terrible, but… I felt proud thinking that Banye had shown me so well, and I’d followed along well.
So I quickly sucked up to him again.
“I think Banye-nim is also good at teaching.”
“I didn’t really teach… Don’t go around saying I taught you.”
“Still! Aren’t I disciple number one?”
“No. I just gave you some tips.”
Still, I liked the word disciple, so I hummed “Banye’s disciple, disciple number one~.” Fortunately, Banye didn’t scold me either.
We leveled up, moved to a new hunting ground, and got carried again.
When we’d gone in circles repeatedly and the level-up message had appeared several times, Banye, who’d been quiet for a while, spoke up.
“I think we should stop here.”
“Ah, yes! Good work.”
“Keep going. If it’s hard to clear, at least look up strategy videos.”
“I’ll work hard!”
For Banye who worked so hard for me, I wanted to level up at least as much as he’d helped me.
Full of motivation, I gifted Banye another item from the cash shop. Banye briefly expressed his thanks this time too.
“I’m hanging up then.”
After clearing so many dungeons, Banye said goodbye without showing any signs of fatigue and ended the Discord call. Instead of logging out of the game, Banye spoke into the guild chat.
[Guild][Banye] Anyone for daily quest
[Guild][Bokgak] me
And he went to clear the daily quest, which he apparently hadn’t done yet because of me. He could take a break. His stamina was incredible—unbelievable for someone who’d been clearing dungeons continuously until now.
I was a bit tired even though I’d just been following Banye around like a duckling, but I couldn’t complain, so I sat up straight.
* * *
Since I couldn’t get kicked from the guild for not reaching max level when Banye was helping me, I logged into the game all day even when Banye wasn’t around at all.
“Ugh, nosebleed…”
Just as I felt something warm flowing under my nose, bright red blood dripped down.
I’d never had a nosebleed even while studying. I covered my nose with my hand and hurriedly looked for tissues. While wiping the blood, my stomach growled.
Come to think of it, I’d eaten breakfast simply and hadn’t eaten a single meal since…
I turned off the computer that had been running all day, taking a break. Then I rummaged through the refrigerator and took out a 3-minute curry to heat up and make a meal.
“I’ll eat well.”
After greeting no one in particular, I sat at the table and picked up my smartphone. Then I started watching strategy videos for the dungeon at the next level.
For the past few days, whenever I had a moment during meals or before bed, I watched Lilith training videos or dungeon strategy videos as Banye told me, so now a fairly familiar voice filled the silent house with sound.
Thanks to my studies, I, who used to only get carried every day, could now clear dungeons fairly well on my own. I joined parties and did my share decently. I got cursed at sometimes, but anyway, I cleared dungeons more diligently than ever in my life.
As soon as I finished eating hurriedly and washing the dishes, I logged into the game again. When the login notification appeared, several people greeted me.
The guild members who’d been lukewarm about my guild membership at first also started talking to me little by little as my level began to rise steeply.
[Guild][Neda] Aang-nim’s leveling speed is really fast
[Guild][Aang] It’s because Banye-nim helped me a lot haha
[Guild][Anajokiwojo] Why is he helping you so much
[Guild][Anajokiwojo] That’s not like him?
That’s… because I’m Banye’s disciple.
More precisely, because Banye and I are friends!
It wasn’t my delusion—getting someone to max level wasn’t easy. It was even more so for a ranker like Banye who had a lot to do.
But to be so nice to me… Banye must have fallen for my personal charm. Yeah yeah.
[Guild][Suckeot3] Does he have like a country mutt charm?
But Suckeot-nim, who didn’t know better, dissed me.
[Guild][Aang] ㅡㅡ?
[Guild][Haeyam] ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Guild][Haeyam] His tail does seem to spin like a motor though yam
[Guild][Aang] ㅡㅡ;;;
[Guild][Neda] He means you’re cute
Neda said as if to comfort me, but it wasn’t very consoling. I decided to just think they were jealous that Banye and I had gotten close so quickly.
[Guild][Suckeot3] Puppy-nim
[Guild][Aang] ㅡㅡ I’m not a dog
[Guild][Suckeot3] I’ll carry you as an apology lol
[Guild][Aang] ! Thank you
[Guild][Suckeot3] lol cheap at 3 million per run
[Guild][Nanneomukeoeyeowo] Good business sense ㄷㄷ
[Guild][Aang] 3 mil call
Not as much as Banye, but the Gyeoksal guild members also played the game well, so I didn’t need to get carries elsewhere. If I tried to get them elsewhere, I might meet bastards like Jeoseungtour, or the waiting time could be longer…
The gold disappeared in an instant, but proportionally, the experience bar increased tremendously.
Like that, eating Experience Scrolls while diligently clearing dungeons, paying for carries, getting carried by Banye… a week passed in an instant.
And I barely exceeded a week by a little bit, but anyway, I reached level 200.
[Guild][Banye] gz
[Guild][Nanneomukeoeyeowo] He really did it
[Guild][Aang] ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Thank you
[Guild][Aang] Banye-nim really thank you
[Guild][Banye] heh
[Guild][Banye] I worked pretty hard
Banye praised himself nonchalantly, and I jingled along agreeing with those words. Until then, I thought only a flower path would be laid out in my game life.
But.
[Guild][Anajokiwojo] What do we do
[Guild][Neda] I can’t think of a good solution…
[Guild][Aang] What’s wrong?
[Guild][Yeongmyeong] Banye-nim got perma’d
Like a bolt from the blue, news came that Banye’s account had been permanently banned.
I sent whispers to Banye’s account, which couldn’t log in and wouldn’t be able to in the future, before belatedly noticing my foolish mistake.
And I went into Discord and searched for [Hwang Hyunjung] to send a message.
[Aang] I heard you got account banned ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Aang] What do we do now?
I sent the message and waited, but Banye’s answer didn’t come back.
I went to the guild chat for no reason, but it was just as quiet there. Even the occasional conversation that came up had a sunken atmosphere, perhaps because of Banye’s permaban.
I couldn’t play the game in this mood, so I bit my nails and waited for Banye’s answer to come back.
How long did I wait like that?
After quite a while, Banye’s answer finally came back.
[Hwang Hyunjung] I should quit
I felt like I was going to faint at Banye’s words that were cool enough to freeze to death.
Quit, just like that so easily?
[Aang] Why quit ㅠㅠ
[Hwang Hyunjung] I got banned so I should quit, what else can I do
[Aang] Don’t quit ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Banye was silent again for a while.
The other guild people must be in an uproar like me, right? Even though the Discord chat window was obviously on fire, Banye answered late.
[Hwang Hyunjung] I’ll quit and play a different game
[Aang] Huk
Even though many people were probably holding onto him, Banye didn’t care.
