He Is That Guy

As soon as the entire party gathered at the dungeon entrance, a system window popped up automatically. It was the dungeon difficulty selection window.
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: What should we pick?
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Hell g?

[Party] WitchLetsGo: Hell is the only real option;;
Keyrunt Dungeon had three difficulty levels: Normal, Hard, and Hell. Hell was the hardest, Normal was the easiest, though honestly, Normal was still tough for a first-timer.
‘Hold on. Did they just say Hell?’

Do they not know it’s my first time? Should I tell them now?
Feeling awkward, I hovered my hand over the keyboard to type something when—
[Party] CottonCandyFox: We got two no-max levels here

[Party] CottonCandyFox: And you’re sayin let’s go Hell?
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Normal g
CottonCandyFox’s chat came out in a completely different tone than when she asked if she could call me oppa.

‘…Are they not a netkama?’
I’ve been gaming for years, so I’ve met plenty of female players.
And one thing I’ve learned is that most female players don’t go around saying, ‘Oppa, I’m scared~’ or ‘I want this so bad >.<’ type stuff.

I mean, sure, some probably do. But most of the time, the ones pretending to be girls to scam clueless guys are overwhelmingly male. I’ve seen it happen to people around me way too often.
That’s why I was convinced CottonCandyFox was just some dude netkama-ing, but… maybe I jumped the gun.
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: ㅠㅠ
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: I didn’t say anything tho
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Normal gogo
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Ahh Normal is boring af tho

[Party] CottonCandyFox: If it’s that boring, then leave ^^
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Okay doing an 8-line acrostic with Ro
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Lolol ha
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Ro-mantic like Fox-nim who’s like the sky itself..
What a mess. But at least they picked Normal, so I could breathe easy. Ignoring HoneybeeBzzz’s nonsense, CottonCandyFox selected the difficulty and hit Enter. The screen faded to black, and the dungeon interior loaded in.

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Sleepy-oppa
“……”
They really called me oppa. Goosebumps crawled all over me. Regardless of gender, having some stranger call me oppa was just way too much.

[Party] ImSoSleepy: ?
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Did you by any chance watch any guides? ㅇ.ㅇ
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Yeah, read some posts and watched a couple vids

[Party] CottonCandyFox: You can talk casual with me~ >ㅡ<
[Party] ImSoSleepy: H..
[Party] ImSoSleepy: I’m good like this

I politely declined in the most formal way possible. CottonCandyFox responded by spamming a teary-eyed emote. The sound effect even came with a ‘Hiiing~’ whimper.
[Party] CottonCandyFox: It’s Normal, so it won’t be that hard!
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Yeah, dodging attacks is the key

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: You’ve seen guides already, so you’ll prob do fine
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Okok
Guess they’re still a bit nervous since I’m new. The Normal mode I saw in guides didn’t hit that hard, so if I stayed focused, I should be fine.

Determined to die as little as possible, I followed the party deeper into the dungeon. We didn’t get far before—Kyaaak, Kyaak—zombie-like giant monsters started pouring in.
Before reaching the boss room, dozens of these things would come swarming. There were so many, and they rushed in so fast that if you died here, it was hard for the others to even revive you.
I quickly moved my character back and raised my staff. But with that many grouped up, splash damage¹ worked great, so Mages with AoE spells like me had an advantage.

Tank WatDoUCongDoU blocked up front, War Lord SuwonSpecialCity swung dual blades, and WitchLetsGo fired poison arrows from the back. Watching them, I started charging the standard Fireball, but suddenly my casting speed shot up.

Not just faster casting, but mana regen and more damage?
‘Holy shit.’

So this is what a Buffer feels like. It was my first time actually receiving buffs from one, and it was insane.
Buffers were one of the rarest classes, right up there with Healers, so meeting one wasn’t easy. My goodwill toward CottonCandyFox, who had been crawling on the floor, ticked up a little.
Thanks to that, I finished charging way faster than usual and dropped the Fireball right in the middle of the mob. Kuuuuung—! With a deafening boom, the monsters' HP bars dropped below half.

[Party] CottonCandyFox: You’re so cool~! >ㅁ<)/
[Party] CottonCandyFox: How’s Fox’s buffs feelin’? ㅎㅡㅎ
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Good

It really was good, so I gave a short reply, and way in the back, CottonCandyFox’s character started hopping up and down.
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Hey lol
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Why aren’t you buffing me? ㅅㅂ..

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: I’m about to die here
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: You were buffing?
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Damn, I wasn’t getting anything, thought you were AFK

[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Lol buffs are only going to Sleepy-nim~
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Be happy with my heals k
[Party] «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» ImSoSleepy: ;;

Wait, I was the only one getting buffs?
I finally noticed all the glittery effects stacked around my character.
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Probably ‘cause I’m a newbie and my DPS sucks

[Party] ImSoSleepy: Sorry sorry
While typing, I started charging Thunder, another good AoE spell, when CottonCandyFox interrupted in a panic.
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Nooo!!!

[Party] CottonCandyFox: It’s not like that ㅠㅠ
[Party] CottonCandyFox: It’s just, besides Sleepy-oppa, no one’s worth buffing
[Party] CottonCandyFox: So I only buffed oppaㅜㅡㅜ

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Totally didn’t mean it like that
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Lol you got caught huh

[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Sleepy-nim’s sharp as hellㅋㅋ
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: For realㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] WitchLetsGo: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: What do we do Fox-nimㅠ totally exposed!!ㅠㅠ
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Thankfully, everyone was treating it like a joke. I relaxed and started tossing out more spells—right then—

[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Ah
Suddenly, like his game lagged, WatDoUCongDoU stood frozen and took a monster hit that sent him flying. His character slammed to the ground with a splat, HP bar drained pitch black.
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Ah ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Hey, why you dying here;;
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Weakling confirmed..
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: No ffs

[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Fox-nim stop spamming whispers and PMs ffs
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: You keep blocking my screen ah ㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: I apologize okay please

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: ?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] CottonCandyFox: ㅋㅋ
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Knew this would happen hehe

Turns out CottonCandyFox had been griefing him from behind. The tank died, but with only a few monsters left, we cleaned it up no problem.
Left as the sole casualty, WatDoUCongDoU spammed crying emotes from his corpse.
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Save me ffsㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: But honestly tho
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Pretty sure Fox-nim spamming you
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Shoulda been busier huh??

[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Fox-nim didn’t miss a beat lol
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Fr tho why the guy getting all the buffs die?ㅋㅋ
[Party] WitchLetsGo: Fr his skills got exposed huh?

[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: No it wasn’t just spam
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: It was mental warfare ffsㅠㅠ only way to get it is if you’ve been through it
Finally, CottonCandyFox tossed an all-party buff to boost HP and mana regen, completely ignoring the downed WatDoUCongDoU.

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Quit yappin, let’s go
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: ????
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: I’m still dead guys

[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Okok gogo
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Normal’s so chill
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Totally doable without a tank right?

[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: You f***ers
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: You’re all f***in crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Poor WatDoUCongDoU, abandoned just for messing with CottonCandyFox. Really, they’re all made for each other.

Feeling bad, I walked over to his corpse on the cold floor and hit . He barely got back up, sobbing.
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: You’re an angelㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Thank youㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Party] ImSoSleepy: ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: ㅠㅠㅠㅠ As thanks

[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Take thisㅠ
What he put in the trade window was a tiny soy milk. Hovering the cursor over it, it read [Crafted by: WatDoUCongDoU].
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Lol thanks..

Food items gave minor buffs, so it wasn’t a bad deal. I chuckled, said thanks, when CottonCandyFox sprinted over and latched onto me.
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Sleepy-oppa saved him? ㅜㅜ
[Party] CottonCandyFox: You didn’t have to! It’s easy even without a tank! ㅜㅡㅜ

[Party] CottonCandyFox: But what’s with the thank you thing?
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Why say thanks to that guy?ㅋㅋ
God, so noisy. It was just text, but somehow my ears hurt. I lazily replied.

[Party] ImSoSleepy: It’s nothing
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Hehe
[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Our little se☆cret lol

[Party] CottonCandyFox: ?
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Should we kill him, Master?

[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: He’s clearly still out of it lol
[Party] WitchLetsGo: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
“Haa…”

If I left them alone, round two was about to kick off. I sighed and typed.
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Quit it, let’s move to the next room..