Chapter 52
Just as he curled my hand around the key and made me hold it tight, my vision lurched violently. A sharp ringing in my ears stabbed at my eardrums. As if there was no time left, Boss spoke more desperately than before.
― “Follow Bar. Follow… Adam. Run. ……Go. Repair……. yourself.”
After the voice, barely intelligible through the static and utterly weakened, cut off, my sight blacked out as if my eyes had closed. Then my vision slowly brightened, and I saw Abrea looking up at me with a strange expression.
That expression was not unfamiliar at all. It was the same expression I had seen when I logged back in after getting thrown out by the raid-wipe mechanic.
With that as the last scene, the screen shifted with the effect of being sucked somewhere. In an instant, it showed my character back in the present—in the Glass Cave. Honeybun, who had been standing there blankly as if he had recovered his memories, blinked a couple of times as though coming to his senses, then whipped around to stare at the enormous glass door leading to the Mirror Maze.
And with that, the story cutscene ended, returning me to the gameplay screen.
So there had been a reason why Abrea and Adam had suddenly disappeared. I had thought it was absurd to tell a Divine Knight not to believe in a god, but I couldn’t understand how that very Divine Knight had actually followed his bizarre advice and run away after Adam.
Had I misheard something, or missed something? I went over what I had heard in the story cutscene several times, but I still couldn’t understand Abrea’s actions. Maybe it was simply because I had no talent for understanding and analyzing stories like this.
For now, I left my questions about the story in my head and looked through my quest list. After clearing the dungeon and coming out, the main quest had been updated. Confirming that it had changed to “Return to Atelierna Wishar and visit the Cardinal NPC,” I used a base transfer scroll and left the Glass Cave.
As I waited through the loading screen that occurred during the transfer, my phone screen suddenly flashed on. For a moment, thinking the boss was using an AoE skill, I flinched and nearly pressed the hotkey where I had registered my evasion skill. It was the aftereffect of a one-hour try.
Swallowing a helpless laugh, I picked up my phone. When I unlocked the screen, I found that, unusually, a KakaoTalk message had arrived from Retake during his stream.
[Kang Jegyeong]
Want to go farming together next Thursday?
It doesn’t have to be Thursday though 14:27
The message was him trying to coax me into going farming together. As if he’d erased the fact that he’d kicked me from the party from his memory, he was being utterly brazen.
Farming with Retake, huh. Separate from the fact that running dungeons with Retake was fun, I wasn’t particularly eager to keep appearing on his stream for the reason I had mentioned before.
……Still, perhaps because I had already gotten used to the hidden dungeon’s gimmicks, and because I liked the unique atmosphere of the Mirror Maze, it was hard to reject the offer outright.
After hesitating a little, I proposed one condition.
[Me]
If we go with the stream off, okay 14:28
[Kang Jegyeong]
Ah 14:28
Retake sent that and didn’t reply for a while. Then he said this.
[Kang Jegyeong]
Were you really uncomfortable being on stream? 14:29
Maybe because I kept bringing up the stream whenever I refused or hesitated, his thoughts seemed to have jumped in a bad direction.
Seeing him nervously worrying that I might have been swept up by him and ended up on a stream I didn’t want to be on, the corners of my mouth loosened for no reason. Did I look like someone who would just get dragged around by things like this? I had that thought, too.
[Me]
LOL no, if that was the case I would’ve just turned the game off
It’s not that I’m uncomfortable being on stream
There’s just something I’m a bit concerned about 14:29
[Kang Jegyeong]
Ah
That’s a relief haha 14:29
[Me]
Where did the nerve to kick me from the party go 14:29
[Kang Jegyeong]
That was because you gave me permission haha 14:29
[Me]
Unbelievable 14:29
[Kang Jegyeong]
I prefer doing it with the stream off too
Then when should we do it? If it’s not Thursday, there might be days I can’t go
I’ve got stuff to do... 14:29
As for me, I had plenty of time as well as money, so adjusting to Retake’s schedule was a piece of cake.
[Me]
Do you not know
I play games all day LOL
I’m free anytime
After your stream on Thurs, go? 14:30
[Kang Jegyeong]
That works for me
(emoticon)
Then around 1:30 or 2 a.m. on Friday is okay, right? 14:30
[Me]
Yeah lol 14:30
[Kang Jegyeong]
Great haha
Then I’ll contact you in advance next Thursday, so don’t forget
Okay? 14:30
[Me]
Okay okay
Hurry up
and go back to your stream 14:30
[Kang Jegyeong]
Haha
All right
Come hang out on stream 14:30
[Me]
I’ll think about that one haha 14:30 1
I sent a mischievous reply as a joke, but Retake had already left. This guy was definitely the type to take his lover home and, instead of saying, “I’ll go after I see you get inside,” just say, “Go on in,” and leave.
I closed KakaoTalk and opened the calendar app. It was just in case, so I could make a note of it. On my calendar, which had been cleanly empty, Retake’s three-syllable nickname was stamped onto every Friday.
Recently, since I had finished enhancing my gear long ago, I had had no need to go farming. Now that I had something new to farm, I felt good at the thought that I could raise my specs. On top of that, I had even gotten a fixed party member to go with me—and that person was none other than Retake.
I pulled over the cat plushie sprawled beside me, hugged it, and leaned back heavily in my chair, staring at the three-syllable nickname written on every Friday of my calendar. Then I added a notification, too. I had tried not to set an alarm as well, since it felt like getting unnecessarily excited over it, but well. Since we had gone to the trouble of agreeing to go, I couldn’t forget.
Unfortunately, however, that promise could not be kept.
[Notice] Information Regarding the Issue Preventing Entry into the Concealed Mirror Maze (Revised)
* Notice Regarding Bugs Under Correction
- Unable to re-enter “Concealed Mirror Maze”
└ Scheduled to reopen after a partial dungeon remake (“Mirror Maze” can be entered at all times.)
Hello, Executors. This is GM Rufla.
We have received a report that the “Concealed Mirror Maze,” a derivative dungeon of the “Mirror Maze,” cannot be re-entered after its first clear despite the conditions being met, and we are currently working to resolve the issue.
The final named boss / temporary designation “null,” which is the cause of the above bug, will unavoidably be deleted and replaced with another named boss, and we are currently making corrections so that users can enter normally.
As “null” was a named boss with a unique concept that received much interest from many of you, we made efforts in many ways to resolve this through correction work rather than replacement if at all possible. However, due to internal issues, the deletion of “null” has become unavoidable, and we ask for your generous understanding regarding our ultimate decision.
We will do our best to normalize dungeon entry as quickly as possible.
―
find unused program
block_moth reboot success.
―
[GM Note] Advance Notice of the 2nd Anniversary Offline Event
Hello, Executors!
This is GM Versiz, who always runs in to monopolize the notice board whenever there’s a festival!
As many of you may already know, on the upcoming July 16th, an offline event will be held to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of 《Dusk》 and to express our gratitude to all of you Executors!
You’ll be able to see the new content to be revealed this time, the large-scale update trailer, pretty and cute goods only available at the offline event! And to make this day even more special, you’ll also get to meet six special guests invited from across all servers! Aren’t you so, so excited?
We would love nothing more than to personally thank each and every one of you and give you gifts, but……. Life doesn’t always go the way we want, does it? Unfortunately, the offline event will be limited to exactly 700 people! Attendance will be available by advance reservation, one ticket per person. T-T
Of course, for those Executors who sadly can’t attend the event, generous 2nd anniversary gifts will be sent just for logging into the game, so please look forward to them~.
Today, I’ve come with brief information for the advance notice, but I’ll see you again in a week with a more detailed announcement. Until then, everyone, please wait for this GM Versiz! Bye-bye, everyone~ *^_^*
* Event Date and Time
- Saturday, July 16, 20XX, 10:00 ~ 19:00 (Live Broadcast 13:00 ~ 18:00)
* Event Location and Advance Reservation
- To be announced later
* Event Details
- Large-scale update reveal, new arena content demonstration by rankers, 2nd anniversary event
- Details to be announced later
【New Content Demonstration Participants】
3rd Seat Server - [Bia] Honeybun (Divine Knight)
1st Seat Server - [Jeoba] Real Tanker (Warrior)
3rd Seat Server - [Bia] Slaughter (Assassin)
2nd Seat Server - [Bia] Calm (Assassin)
4th Seat Server - [Jeoba] WhyYouLittleAgainWhack (Priest)
3rd Seat Server - [Jeoba] Retake (Combat Medic)