Chapter Text
"You're my last hope, Kim Dokja."
Kim Dokja sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Don't you have better things to do with your time? Like writing your next hit novel, for example?"
Han Sooyoung's voice echoed tinnily from the phone pressed against his ear.
"I do, so that's why I'm asking you for this favour."
"So you're implying that I don't have anything better to do." Kim Dokja rested his elbows on the railing on the rooftop, his gaze roaming over the panoramic view of Seoul that stretched out in front of him. Talking with Han Sooyoung was always an...interesting experience, to say the least. He never knew whether he enjoyed it or hated every second of it.
"Look, I know you've been stressed lately about your job," she said, lowering her voice in a conspiratorial whisper. "This is your chance, Kim Dokja! You can log into the game, kill some people, and blow off steam that way. The STD-free, non-sexual way. You'll feel much better after committing pixellated mass murder, I swear."
"I already have to play shitty games at work everyday, I think I'll pass on this one."
"But this is different. You're playing for yourself here, not for your stupid company that doesn't pay you enough," Han Sooyoung insisted. "Come on, Kim Dokja! If I'm gone for a month I'll be way behind all the other people in the new server and I’ll miss the levelling event!"
For a moment, she almost sounded whiny. He would have teased her about it if he wasn't sure she'd make him pay for it ten times over. Kim Dokja’s arm was getting sore from holding the phone, so he switched the phone into his other hand. "And why should I care?"
"You're so heartless," she said accusingly. "Don't you remember all the favours I did for you back in the day? I even commented on every damn chapter of your fan--"
"Can't you ask one of your other friends to help you? Or pay for a level booster?" interrupted Kim Dokja.
"My friends are all on the same trip as me, idiot." That was uncalled for. "And I don't trust any of the bastards I met online with my passwords."
"Didn't we also meet online?"
"Yeah, but you're also the type of person who gives out their email to the first stranger on a webnovel forum who asks for it."
"...What's that supposed to mean?"
"So, are you going to do it or not?" she asked, sounding determined. "I'll repay you in expensive souvenirs from my trip, so name your price. Do you want 20 virgin sacrifices? 20 male virgin sacrifices? A sketchy favour that you can cash in at any time, no questions asked? Take your pick, I promise I'll make it worth your time."
He sighed again and idly picked at the rust on the railing. "Fine, I'll do it,” he said after a pause. “But I'm only getting you to level 50, and then I'm uninstalling the game client and never looking at it again."
"Good enough for me," Han Sooyoung said cheerily. She always managed to get her way, damn her. "Call me tonight when you get home from work, okay? I'll walk you through the process. Oh, and remember to comment on my newest chapter! I just posted it this morning."
She hung up just as abruptly as she had called him, and he was left with nothing but the beeps of the dial tone ringing in his ear.
To be honest, Kim Dokja wasn't really sure what the nature of his relationship with Han Sooyoung was. If he had to describe it, he would say it was something like comradery mixed with a healthy dose of mutual antagonism. Yet somehow, he trusted her, and she trusted him back.
After ending the call, he made his way down the stairs and back to the floor of the building that Mino Soft was on. His contract with the gaming company was ending in a few months, and his enthusiasm for his work was decaying exponentially as time passed and there was no sign of them wanting to retain him as an official employee. Not that he was passionate about his job to begin with, but this was truly a new low, even for him.
Maybe she's right, he thought to himself as he wound his way through the cubicles. I do need to let off some steam. In a non-sexual way.
Besides, there was nothing worth reading online recently. All the currently serializing, popular webnovels were either an embarrassment to human evolution or updating so irregularly that he was better off waiting for it to end before starting it. Nothing could fill the gap that Ways of Survival's abrupt ending and subsequent deletion from the site had left in him. Tls123 had also vanished from the face of the earth, and he doubted he would ever see them again.
Sometimes he almost regretted stopping Han Sooyoung from plagiarising WOS, if only so he'd actually have something worthwhile to read. But then again, not really.
Deputy Yoon frowned at him as they passed each other in the hallway. "Where were you?"
"Smoke break," he said smoothly.
Deputy Yoon didn't look convinced, but Kim Dokja ignored his disapproving stare and headed back to his cubicle. He picked up the empty coffee mug on his desk and headed to the breakroom. Sure, maybe taking a coffee break right after skipping work to take a call wasn't proper employee behaviour, but it didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore when you were about to be unemployed.
There was someone else in the breakroom when he entered, and to his surprise, he actually recognized her. Yoo Sangah was leaning against the countertop with her earphones in as the coffee machine hummed in the background, watching something on her phone. She looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps.
"Kim Dokja-ssi," she greeted, taking out her left earphone. "Are you also on break right now?"
He nodded politely and set his mug down on the countertop next to her. Out of curiosity, he snuck a glance at the phone in her hands. It was some sort of gaming livestream. "I didn't know you played LoL, Sangah-ssi."
"Only occasionally, I'm not very good at it nor do I have the time," she said, humble as always. It was probably a vast understatement, considering how Yoo Sangah never did anything halfway.
They stood together in awkward silence for a few seconds as they both mentally scrambled for something to say.
"Are you a fan of this streamer?" asked Kim Dokja, pointing a finger at the man whose expressionless face was encased in a small, black box at the bottom left of the screen.
"Not really, I'm just watching it because it was recommended to me." She tilted her screen towards him with a smile. "Do you not recognize him? It's YJH."
Now that she mentioned it, he did. In fact, YJH was one of the only pro gamers whose names he knew, and only because he had read too many webnovels that were not-so-loosely based on the guy’s illustrious career. "Didn't he retire?"
On screen, YJH killed someone in a burst of technicolour fireworks.
"Well yes, but he still streams sometimes. I think he's working as a coach for his team now or something? I'm not sure."
YJH killed some more people. The fans in the livestream went wild and showered him with gifts, flooding the screen with cartoon animations of confetti and rockets.
"This guy’s really popular, isn't he," mused Kim Dokja, shielding his eyes from the painful flashes of colour.
"Of course!" Yoo Sangah leaned in towards him, looking mischievous. Kim Dokja discreetly leaned back. "After all, he does have an aesthetic advantage over the other streamers," she whispered, winking.
Kim Dokja studied the face on the phone screen. It was hard to deny the conventional attractiveness of the man's features. "I suppose," he admitted.
He was getting flashbacks of that one terrible BL web novel he accidentally read, where yet another super obvious YJH clone was involved in a painful BDSM relationship with some poor college student. Kim Dokja had seen a lot of messed-up shit on the internet over the years, but that was on a whole other level. Even now, he still got phantom pains in his nether regions whenever he saw the words 'garden hose' and 'pineapple'.
"I know, right?" Yoo Sangah smiled brightly at him and picked up her fresh cup of coffee. "Ah, I should probably get back to work now before the others get mad at me. See you around, Dokja-ssi."
"See you."
The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully apart from a few passive-aggressive comments from his supervisor, which he ignored as usual. After getting home and cooking a lonely dinner for one, he obligingly gave Han Sooyoung a call as he settled down in front of his computer.
"Did you finish installing the game client yet?" was the first thing she said once the call went through.
He was really regretting the fact that he let her talk him into this. "Are you not even going to greet me properly?"
"No. My email’s the usual one and my password is blackflamesempress2018, and if you click on the newest server called Windia..."
“Slow down, it’s still loading.”
Kim Dokja moved the mouse around absently as Han Sooyoung's familiar voice drifted through the speakers. On the laptop screen, her male game avatar's traditional clothes flowed in the air elegantly as the camera's viewpoint spun around him. [BF_Empress], the name floating above the man read, probably because. The whole thing reeked of chuunibyou, but he was too tired from work to bicker with her about it or ask what sort of horrible acronym it was supposed to be.
"--spent two hours customizing his face," Han Sooyoung was boasting. She sounded extremely proud of herself. "What do you think? Don't I have good taste?"
"Sure."
In his opinion, real men (like YJH, maybe) or the 1D ones in books were far more attractive than these 2D caricatures. The blank faces of the avatars reminded him of the uncanny valley effect, and he personally thought Han Sooyoung had gone way overboard with sharpening the jawline. Not that he would ever tell her that; he currently still wanted to live.
"Why are you playing as a guy?"
"What's wrong with playing as a guy?" she retorted. "It's the 21st century, you gotta live a little."
That was also uncalled for. "I don't care if you play as a girl or a guy, I'm just curious."
"Well, the male avatars in this game are easier on the eyes," Han Sooyoung said casually, as if that answered all of his questions. "What, Kim Dokja, are you scared you'll have a sexual awakening if you stare at his carefully sculpted ass for too long?"
"No."
"Anyway, check your phone, I texted you a list of the things I need you to do everyday. I’ll know if you skipped a day, trust me. I know things."
God damn it.
***
[ You have acquired 1/100 Leather. ]
[ Leather: 1/100 ]
[ You have acquired 88 coins. ] [ You have acquired 131 EXP. ]
[ You have acquired 1 Leather. ]
[ Leather: 56/100 ]
[ You have reached Level 10! ]
[ You have acquired 100 coins. ] [ You have acquired 152 EXP. ]
[ You have reached Level 11! ]
[ Leather: 100/100 ]
[ Quest Completed: <Collect 100 rolls of Leather for Grandma Yeon> ]
[ Grandma Yeon: Thank you so much for bringing me these 100 rolls of leather, BF_Empress! Do you think you have time to help an old lady like me out with another request? ]
[ New Quest: <Collect 500 rolls of Leather for Grandma Yeon> ]
Well, fuck.
While the lore of the game and the NPCs' dialogue were interesting, the actual process of levelling up was pretty damn boring. Killing fictional monsters wasn’t de-stressing at all; it was actually more stressful, because he kept having to stop to pick up all those cursed rolls of leather. I should just tell Han Sooyoung I quit. Or that my internet is too slow for the game.
His job hunting wasn't going that well either. He didn’t get any responses back from the countless applications he sent out, and the fact that hiring season just ended made things worse. Han Sooyoung kept insisting that he should just quit and become a writer like her, but he wasn't sure he wanted to take that risk. QA testing didn't pay well, but it did pay more than what an unsuccessful writer would make.
Kim Dokja dug up 50 flowers from the garden of the village elder, got 100 chewed-up carrots by killing rabbits for the friendly librarian, and delivered love letters back and forth between two star-crossed young lovers who lived on opposite ends of the forest until he reached level 15. The last quest in the chain of beginner's quests took him to the depths of the tangled forest surrounding the little village, where even the BGM was ominous.
According to the guides online, he was supposed to kill the boss of the forest dungeon and report back to the town chief, after which he would be allowed to move on to the cities. The dungeon could only be completed in parties of 2-4 people, which was a huge issue for him. He didn’t know anyone in the game, and neither did Han Sooyoung, apparently, because her friend list was empty.
Kim Dokja was reminded of picking partners in gym class all over again, and how nobody ever wanted to pair up with him so he had to practice volleyball with the gym teacher in the corner while everyone else goofed off with their fr--stop. That was enough. He could just wait in the forest until another lonely player showed up and was forced to partner with him.
The path leading to the dungeon entrance was as empty as Kim Dokja felt inside. At this point in time, the majority of the players had already reached level 20 and above on this new server, which meant that there weren't many people hanging around the low-level maps. It was nice being able to wander around and enjoy the scenery in peace since he never got to go on a real vacation, but it didn't bode well for his questing prospects.
Suddenly, the sound of slashing blades cut through the pleasant background music. In the clearing right outside the cave, a small girl with cat ears on her head was viciously hacking away at one of the trees. After what seemed like an eternity, the tree let out a pathetic whimper and crumbled into dust. The girl picked up whatever loot it had dropped and turned to face him, her eyes sparkling in the in-game sunlight.
[ [mia123] has invited you to join her party. ACCEPT or DECLINE ]
A party request suddenly popped up on his screen, and Kim Dokja clicked 'ACCEPT’' in bewilderment. He hadn't even said anything yet.
[BF_Empress]: Hello.
[BF_Empress]: Are you also looking for someone to go through the dungeon with?
[mia123]: .
The catgirl turned around and disappeared through the portal that marked the cave entrance, and he hastily followed her in.
[BF_Empress]: Wait up
[BF_Empress]: Where are you going?
[mia123] disappeared into the depths of the dungeon as Kim Dokja fumbled through the dialogue options with the cave NPC so he could chase after her. It was the first time he had skipped through an in-game conversation, which only added to his irritation. Lore was important, damn it.
His computer screen faded to black as he was transported through the portal to a different part of the dungeon. The first thing he heard when the map loaded was the sound of squealing cries, and then the darkness cleared away and he was left standing in the middle of a crowd of rabid rats, whose numbers were rapidly dwindling under [mia123]'s relentless assault.
[ You have acquired 34 Party EXP. ] [ You have acquired 44 Party EXP. ]
[ You have acquired 49 Party EXP. ] [ You have acquired 39 Party EXP. ]
[ You have acquired 31 Party EXP. ] [ You have acquired 30 Party EXP. ]
Kim Dokja numbly made his way towards one of the few rat survivors, but [mia123] got to it before him. She raised her blade and stabbed it through its skull, and the rat died with a painful shriek and the tremulous clatter of gold coins.
[ You have acquired 25 Party EXP. ]
He knew he should be grateful to her for carrying him, but he was really more annoyed than anything else. He was also starting to think she might have anger management issues.
[BF_Empress]: Thanks for clearing the stage.
[BF_Empress]: You could have waited for me to get here, though.
[BF_Empress]: Hello?
[mia123] finished up her massacre, whirled around on her heels, and stalked away from him. Annoyed, he followed her to the portal and into the next stage of the dungeon, where she repeated her brutal assault against a swarm of differently coloured rats. Kim Dokja almost felt sorry for them. How was her damage range so high?
Having resigned himself to the fact that there was no way he could contribute to the party, he amused himself by trying to get a reaction out of her. He wasn't that talkative in real life, but there was something about the promise of anonymity that seemed to awaken a piece of his personality he had long thought dead.
Also, he just wanted to annoy her.
[BF_Empress]: Sorry I'm not contributing, but it kind of seems like you'd prefer if I stayed out of your way.
[BF_Empress]: Do you really hate rats?
[BF_Empress]: Or just animals in general?
[BF_Empress]: Because it almost feels like you're personally offended by them.
[BF_Empress]: Are you trying to do a speed run or something? You've been skipping through all of the NPC dialogues.
[BF_Empress]: It's too bad that no one actually reads them, they're actually a huge pain to come up with.
[BF_Empress]: And a huge pain to debug.
[BF_Empress]: A lot of people don't appreciate the hidden effort that goes into games like this one.
[BF_Empress]: Maybe I'm just projecting, never mind.
[BF_Empress]: I didn't know you could kill trees in this game, but I guess that's environmentally accurate.
[mia123]: shut up
[mia123]: are you always this annoying?
After years of getting tormented and called all sorts of names, the weak insult didn’t even sting. It was hard to get upset with a stranger on the internet who was using a tiny catgirl as her in-game avatar. His finger slipped on the mouse, and to his delight, he found himself staring at a whole panel of emojis he could choose from. He made sure to send every upset one to her for bonus annoying points.
[BF_Empress]: ( ´_ゝ｀)
[BF_Empress]: (╯-_-)╯ ~╩╩
[BF_Empress]: (◕︿◕✿)
[BF_Empress]: （╬￣皿￣）＝○＃（￣＃）３￣）
[BF_Empress]: (｀⌒´ )
[BF_Empress]: ｡･ﾟヾ(✦థ ｪ థ)ﾉ｡ﾟ･｡
[BF_Empress]: 。：゜(；´∩｀；)゜：。
[mia123]: shut up
[BF_Empress]: What, you don't think they're cute?
[mia123]: no
[BF_Empress]: That's the only way I know how to express my disappointment in you.
Kim Dokja paused for a moment to think about what he should say next to guilt-trip her. This was technically Han Sooyoung’s account, so a little white lie wouldn’t hurt, would it? It's not like they would ever meet in real life. He had already gone overboard with the cute emojis, and once you crossed that line there was no way to backtrack and reveal you were an adult man all along. He had to commit.
[BF_Empress]: You really hurt my feelings, unnie ㅠ.ㅠ
[BF_Empress]: I was just trying to make the world a better place. A little bit of kindness goes a long way in this world.
[BF_Empress]: I’m sorry. I guess I'll stop speaking to you if you hate it so much.
[mia123]: ok
[BF_Empress]: ...
He was starting to suspect [mia123] was a sociopath. He had already called her unnie and firmly established his identity as a fellow woman, so why was she still acting so heartless? Shouldn’t their shared virtual sisterhood bring their hearts closer to each other?
The two of them didn't speak after that, as [mia123] continued her ritual massacre and Kim Dokja lurked around the edges of the map in boredom and organized his inventory by colour.
Eventually, [mia123] finished clearing the stage, and made her way across the map to the portal that would take her to the next stage. She hesitated beside the portal, as if she were checking that he was still following her.
Kim Dokja had half a mind to forfeit the quest and force her to start over, but then he'd be sabotaging his own progress as well, and he'd rather just get it over with. It was always possible that he'd end up with an even worse partner next time, and he had to admit [mia123] set a pretty high bar in terms of efficiency.
Making up his mind, he navigated his avatar towards the portal and went through it. [mia123] appeared beside him shortly afterwards, and she determinedly set off to single-handedly wipe out the sewer rat population once more. Kim Dokja despaired for the biodiversity of the game world.
As he waited for her to finish, he pulled out his phone to scan through his local job listings. He hoped he wouldn't end up washing dishes for a local restaurant or something, but at this point he was starting to get desperate.
The unmistakable ping of a received message cut through the cacophony of shrieks and slashes, and he looked up from his phone in surprise.
[mia123]: empress, collect
The offer came as a complete surprise; [mia123] had been sweeping up all the items and equipment the monsters had dropped so far, and he had let her because it was only fair. Was this some sort of apology for her rudeness? Either way, Kim Dokja wasn’t going to pass up on free loot.
[BF_Empress]: Please don’t call me empress, I don’t need more reminders of how cringy this screen name is.
[ You have acquired 309 coins. ] [ You have acquired 1 Nimble Rat's Tooth. ] [ You have acquired 1 Nimble Rat's Tears of Pain. ][ You have acquired 1 Nimble Rat's Tail. ] [ You have acquired 1 Nimble Rat Fang Sword ]
The chime of the notifications were almost soothing, and the unexpected income brightened his mood considerably. Money was the eternal currency that paved the way to mutual understanding.
[BF_Empress]: Thanks.
[mia123]: .
A few minutes later, he got another message.
[mia123]: collect
[BF_Empress]: Got it.
Kim Dokja had never been one to refuse an olive branch when offered one, so he put his phone away and went back to the game with renewed vigour. Surprisingly, things went a lot more smoothly after that.
[mia123]: empress, go left
[BF_Empress]: You really don't have to call me by my name. We're literally the only ones here, I know who you're referring to.
[mia123]: where the hell are you
[BF_Empress]: Still in the previous room. Relax, I'll be down in a second.
[BF_Empress]: Why are you smashing the blue boxes? Did you not read the quest guide?
[BF_Empress]: You do know that it's more efficient to destroy the red ones first, right? The blue boxes reset over time and you would need to smash them again.
[BF_Empress]: You know I'm right. Why are you still being stubborn?
[BF_Empress]: See, now you have to destroy the blue boxes all over again.
[mia123]: can you shut up for once in your life
And whenever [mia123] lashed out, Kim Dokja would pull out the panel of emojis to pacify her.
[BF_Empress]: You're so quick-tempered, unnie. I'm just trying to help QAQ
[BF_Empress]: It's alright, I don't expect an apology. I know I'm not going to get one.
[BF_Empress]: !
[mia123]: what
[BF_Empress]: Nothing, the sudden background music change startled me.
[BF_Empress]: I don't get why all the monsters are rats. There's no soul to this party quest at all.
[BF_Empress]: And the rat models are all clearly just copy-pasted from stage to stage, they only changed the fur colour.
[BF_Empress]: The NPC dialogues are lazily written too. You get the same response no matter which dialogue option you choose.
[BF_Empress]: Oh, the game just glitched.
[BF_Empress]: I guess the map doesn't extend that far.
[mia123]: you
[BF_Empress]: ?
[BF_Empress]: Were you going to say something?
They still weren't exactly communicating, but it was much better than how they started out. At least he no longer felt like he was speaking to automated customer support, even if [mia123] was still using one word replies and the period as a valid response.
They eventually defeated the dungeon boss together--well, [mia123] did while he watched--and collected their rewards from the NPC. With this quest complete, the World Map was finally unlocked, and they were now able to explore the rest of the world the game had to offer. Which meant, of course, that they could finally part ways.
[mia123] wasted no time in disbanding the party and heading down a path through the forest, but Kim Dokja was much less desperate to leave her. [mia123] was one of the best MMORPG players he had ever come across, and possibly one of the best in the whole server. It would be hard to find another workhorse like her who didn't complain that he was slacking off. It was also refreshing to meet someone who seemed to be over 18 and could sort of carry a conversation without devolving into profanity.
(There was always the possibility that she was a child, but he was pretty sure she wasn’t. She had none of the bright-eyed youthfulness that children normally had. In fact, she seemed just as dead on the inside and battered by society as he did.)
With the goal of establishing a long term partnership in mind, Kim Dokja turned around and followed her down the path like a stalker.
[BF_Empress]: Wait up. Are you heading to Showa Town, unnie?
[BF_Empress]: Mia?
[BF_Empress]: Sure, you can keep ignoring me, but I won’t stop talking.
[BF_Empress]: You're not an elementary schooler, are you?
[mia123]: are you an idiot?
[BF_Empress]: Is that a no?
[mia123]: stop following me
[BF_Empress]: I'm not following you, this is the only road to Showa.
[mia123]: don't walk beside me
[BF_Empress]: The avatars move at the same pace, it can't be helped.
[mia123]: shut up
[BF_Empress]: Did anyone ever tell you your personality's terrible?
[BF_Empress]: I'm going to take your silence as a yes.
[mia123] didn't reply after that, which was disappointing. They continued on to the town without speaking, and Kim Dokja eventually lost track of her in the crowd of other players, and decided to leave it at that.
As he headed to the next recommended training spot, he wondered if he would ever run into [mia123] again. Not that he particularly wanted to hang out with her, but she did seem like an interesting person to be around. Besides, having an ally who was skilled at the game would make this whole levelling up process much more bearable than the slog it currently was.
As he emerged onto the grassy plains, he was delighted by the sight of a now familiar pair of cat ears. However, its owner was less than pleased to see him.
[BF_Empress]: Hello! What a coincidence, seeing you here.
[mia123]: i said don't follow me
[BF_Empress]: I'm not following you, we just happened to end up in the same place. This is the best training spot for levels 20-23, you know.
[BF_Empress]: Why are you so paranoid? It's not like I have any ulterior motives.
Okay, so maybe he did. But Kim Dokja liked to think of their partnership as mutually beneficial: [mia123] provided the brawn, while he provided reliable background narration and +1 to the headcount. Now that they had met again, he was truly starting to feel that their partnership was inevitable. He just needed some way to convince her to friend him, and she would never be able to get rid of him.
Just to be safe, he added,
[BF_Empress]: Don’t worry, unnie, I’m not trying to hit on you. I’m not interested in women.
Clearly done with the conversation and with the monsters on the screen, [mia123] left the map through a portal while he hastily followed after her. He noticed that she seemed to be lavishing most of her attention on the wild boars roaming through the grass on the map, even though he would have pegged her as an undiscriminating animal hunter…
[BF_Empress]: Are you hunting the boars for leather?
It was clearly the right thing to say. [mia123] froze mid-swing and took a hard hit from a resentful boar. She recovered swiftly and killed it with a flick of her sword, but Kim Dokja knew he had found her weakness.
[BF_Empress]: Are you using the leather for equipment smithing? Or is it a quest?
[BF_Empress]: That reminds me, I actually have 300 leathers left over from Grandma Yeon's quest.
[mia123]: price
[BF_Empress]: There's no need for that.
[mia123]: how much
[BF_Empress]: I'd be willing to give them to you for free as a token of our friendship, provided that we do have one.
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ]
[ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[mia123]: no
[BF_Empress]: Just so you know, most party quests require at least two people. And somehow I get the feeling that you're pretty hard to approach.
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ]
[ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ]
[ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ]
[ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[BF_Empress]: You can't hold out forever.
[BF_Empress]: You know you want the leather. Hunting boars is a real slog, isn't it?
[BF_Empress]: Last I checked, the drop rate of leather for boars was only 15%, so you'll be hunting them for a very, very long time.
[BF_Empress]: It's just not worth it when you could be doing something else. Something...worthwhile.
[BF_Empress]: Like party quests with me.
[BF_Empress]: Make the right choice, unnie.
[mia123]: shut up
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ] [ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ] [ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ] [ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ] [ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ] [ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ] [ [mia123] has rejected your friend request! ]
[ You sent [mia123] a friend request. ]
[ [mia123] has accepted your friend request! ]
[BF_Empress]: Huh. Did your finger slip?
[mia123]: i'll delete you
[BF_Empress]: Is that how you treat your life and death companion?
[mia123]: give me the leather
[BF_Empress]: Add me to your party first.
[mia123]: empress
[BF_Empress]: Yes?
[BF_Empress]: You know you can’t kill other players in combat until Level 30, right?
[ [mia123] has invited you to join her party. ACCEPT or DECLINE ]
Kim Dokja clicked 'ACCEPT' with a smile.
[BF_Empress]: I think this could be the start of a wonderful partnership.