Goes South

Sometimes, the leaves shirred, dancing with the wind. Here, the air was magnificent and clear. It was rare for Yung Jae to feel fresh with grass, humus, and forest in his nostrils.

The strange trees were gigantic, fat, and not too much, filling the forest. Even so, the sun still scorched the green beneath the Aventi forest. It arrived from the hole up there, as the trees did not always love each other and distanced themself.

There was the noise of chatter and whistling of an arrow or simply the swinging of a weapon. Still, Aventi Forest was a safe palace, at least for now.

Players would P.K each other, but it was today. They focussed on leveling up, hunting low-level monsters that freely roamed, and many were not even aggressive.

Yung Jae, thanks god. As a low-level player, it would be child play for those red-name players to P.K him.

There, beneath the cloud, Yung Jae and Natasya stood together on the grassland, side by side, facing the wild board. Grey in the mane, with oink oink noise. Small, like a golden retriever, and harmless, but the boar will hurt players with a ram attack.

"Come one, show me how you swing your dagger." Yung Jae said, leaving Natasya to handle the wild boar. He needed to know if she deactivated [Assist system] like he does or relied on it.

And he needed to know how she waggled dagger.

"Why? It is a male job to do such a thing." Her cheeks pumped up like a jjinppang. Cute.

"I just want to know if you were the girl who tugged on someone or the Amazonian girl who relied on herself."

"Relied on someone." She chuckled and shook her head slowly. "Oh wow, just because I asked you to open the door, huh."

"You said it," Yung Jae smirked. "Not me."

"Just admit you are afraid of pigs, boy." Her tone mocked, her dagger whistled, and she hungered for blood. "And I neither cry baby who relies on a nanny, nor an amazonian. I'm a Siberian winter."

Yung Jae twists his lips. He liked how she answered. Now, he was curious if her skills were up to par with those strong words.

She leaped forward and thrust the boar with a dagger. She missed. The dagger was short. She murmured something before sliding forward and dodging the ram attack with a fencer move.

As the boar was now closer than before, she managed to damage him once with thrust. "Eat this!" She launched a repeated thrush on the board, dealing critical damage before dashing forward. Dust came from her feet as she moved quickly, almost like a flash.

She put her dagger on her chest and pointed up, like those fencer players.

The boar let out the last long oink, before collapsing and scattered into light, leaving items for loot. A mane, teeth, and two bronze coins.

Dagger pointed up, touching her heart. She knew how to do a stance. Weird, she uses a dagger like a fencer.

Yung Jae whistled in admiration. Such a flower. Dangerous one. She had a skill and deactivated the [assist], which was great. He didn't need to babysit her. Even better, he might be partnered with her for a dungeon raid in the future.

"Done." She said, after putting the loot on her waist bag. "Geesh, it's hot here."

She shook out her hair and tied it in a braid. The curve of her body was so challenging, the bum protruding backward and the chest towering forward, not small or big, just perfect and thick, and damn, it enticed him.

She asked, "How is it?"

Yung Jae gulped, and his adam apple bounced. "You are amazing."

"Thanks, I learned that move from my fencer club."

"Oh, that," Yung Jae awkwardly smiled. His face became hot like there was lava sliding on it. He wanted to hide his face now. "Yeah, uhm, that's a good move. Now, my turn."

He can't look bad in front of her. He must have shown his skill while killing a wild boar.

He dashed forward with a dagger pointed back, swung hard, and created a whistle while his blade kissed the wind. It was so fast, leaving no room for the board to counter. Yung Jae closed her attack with a jump and stabbed the board.

Oink. The board lay motionless before it went, and loot came in. "How is it? Cool, huh?" his playful smile came. "Give me feedback."

"Do you want an honest or sugar-coated one?" she smirked, probably can't admit if Yung Jae was cool.

"Honest, of course." Yung Jae bent and snatched his loot.

From behind, another boar rammed his but throttled him forward. He lost balance and kissed the ground.

Natasya held her and chuckled, covering her maw. Yet, it doesn't last long as she guffaws with cute oink between her laughter ringing in the forest, ringing on Yung Jae's head loud like a clang of church bells.

"Oh good, that was cool!" She holds her laugh. "I'm never going to lie. Two thumbs!"

"Shit," he murmured, rose with a mouth that tastes like grass. He pew a few of it.

"You need HP potion, Yung Jae, the grass slayer?"

"No, thank you, save it for you later."

He wanted to bury his face. Anywhere. Away from her. Not to blame the boar. It just respawned and rammed him. It was his fault. Not serious about the quest. If only he activated [assist], he would evade ram attack easily.

"Come here, you pig." Yung Jae attacked the boar with a swing and a stab. No acrobatic move. He got his revenge.

But thanks to the boar, he enjoyed Natasya's natural laugh. It was his first time, though, seeing her laugh, and their time flowed like a river.

The sky turned yolk. The forest lost green. The gust is stronger as the bird sings a song of goodbye. Many players did their quest and left for tonight's main event, but not those two.

"Well, there are two quests left," she said, reading a two-question paper. "Grass slayer, you take the wolf hunting, and I gather mushrooms. We finished it before the sun went down. How is it? I don't want to miss the event."

"Let the man do their job, heh. Ladybgathering." He swirled up his nose and slid the paper into his pocket. "What event did we have in the city?"

"Find the icon." She was full of spirit. "Kang Chae Wo will come, but she hid in an unknown race. It was our job to find out where she hid."

Yung Jae failed to hide his solemn look. Now, he wanted to log off or make his long quest, and he had reason not to meet her. He feared awkwardness later when he met her.

"Come one, what is wrong with your face?" she nudged him. "What, you don't want to see our idol?

"I love it too, but…. How do I speak to her."

"Hha, like you wish." She knows nothing. "Hurry, the lord of grass. I'll meet you at the main city entrance."

She moves out alone, waving, claimed by the shadow of a golden yolk forest. There was no one nearby. When he was alone, his mind went back to Chao Wo.

He ventured deep to the south, away from the mushroom in the north. The wolf was an aggressive monster. It would be challenging for him to hunt. But because they are strong, they usually move in packs.

Besides that, he noticed many eyes were tailing him from the shadow. What they were after was unknown. Perhaps they are just passers-by.

Yung Jae had a bad feeling about it.

At the wolf respawn point, he wages war alone, slicing those poor souls and wasting his precious HP potion. From twenty to just two. He noticed Natasya did her quest, and both had the experience from a done quest. He was leveling up and hit level five.

Yet, he didn't smile. Yet, the eyes were not gone. Yet, he gripped his dagger hilt and strode away. Always ready for anything.

Should he run?

Just before he decided to pace up, the whistling arrow pierced the wind. Reflex, Yung Jae jolted back, rushing his dagger, facing the direction of the arrow coming.

There was laughing, trash talk, and steps coming from the shadows.

Tightening his grip on the hilt, he shivered a bit. Red player?

There were two, three no, but five of them coming out from the shadow. One cane late.

One was laughing hard.

He knew whose voice it was.

"I will mark you, PK you, until you rage quit."

Everyone laughed hard. There were many red players and few who kept white names, meaning they had never PK in someone before.

His eyes trembled while looking at a familiar face. "How do you know where I'm?" Yung Jae said. He hid his shiver and tried to look strong.