Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Party] Honeybread: how the hell

[Party] Honeybread: did you even know
[Party] Honeybread: that it was possible to match with a Pair?
As soon as I asked, Retaking finally stopped casting the endless stream of heals. A moment later, he started explaining the part I’d been dying to know.
[Party] Retaking: I wasn’t sure at first, but the match was weirdly slow, and when it passed a minute, a “switch to standard matchmaking” button popped up.

[Party] Retaking: Like I said earlier, it’s a two-person dungeon where roles and stances aren’t supposed to matter. There’s no reason it should take that long to match.
[Party] Retaking: Plus, my viewers said their matches were fast. It’s the dungeon’s launch day—there’s no way there weren’t enough players.
[Party] Retaking: Then suddenly this never-before-seen match conversion thing appeared...

[Party] Retaking: So I thought, what if—and waited for you to log on before queuing.
[Party] Retaking: hehe
[Party] Retaking: Wasn’t that smart of me?

So that’s what the KakaoTalk message was about. The one asking if I’d matched yet—saying he wanted to “test something.” That’s why the moment I replied, we got matched.
Wait. Then what was that thing where my character died before entering the dungeon? Did I imagine it? No way. I definitely heard the death sound, the screen cracked, and even the loading screen carried the damage over until the dungeon loaded and everything returned to normal.
I was debating whether to tell Retaking about it when suddenly the chat started flooding.

[Party] Retaking: Wasn’t that smart of me?
[Party] Retaking: Wasn’t that smart of me?
[Party] Retaking: Wasn’t that smart of me?

[Party] Retaking: Wasn’t that smart of me?
[Party] Retaking: Wasn’t that smart of me?
[Party] Retaking: Wasn’t that smart of me?

[Party] Retaking: Wasn’t that smart of me?
[Party] Retaking: Wasn’t that smart of me?
He was desperate to be praised. When someone begs for attention this hard, it really makes you want to ignore them just out of spite.
[Party] Honeybread: y

…But after sending it, I started feeling a little guilty for being so cold. And sure enough, Retaking didn’t reply. He didn’t even send a crying emote.
Did I piss him off? He had me targeted and was just staring silently at my character, like he was saying, “Seriously?” or “That hurt.”
I needed to do some damage control.

[Party] Honeybread: u did reeeal good
Maybe that was enough?
[Party] Retaking: ㅠ okay then

Guess so… good enough.
[Party] Honeybread: good
[Party] Retaking: ㅠ?

Retaking gave off a stunned “are you kidding me” vibe, then started smacking me with Corner Smash back to back. Even though the animation showed him slamming that thick academic book down hard on me, it didn’t deal any damage at all. Wild.
At that point, I decided to throw him a nice juicy topic to distract him (or rather, redirect his energy).
[Party] Honeybread: btw

[Party] Honeybread: did you randomly die
[Party] Honeybread: right before entering the dungeon?
[Party] Honeybread: cause I did
[Party] Honeybread: and my screen shattered

[Party] Honeybread: and the cracked screen carried over to the loading screen
[Party] Honeybread: it was freaky af
Retaking grabbed that bait immediately.

[Party] Retaking: oh
[Party] Retaking: OH!
[Party] Retaking: I saw that too. Right before loading, my character suddenly died and the screen cracked—and that glitch carried into the loading screen and only disappeared once we loaded in.

[Party] Retaking: If that happened to you too, then it’s probably connected to the HiddenS.
[Party] Retaking: I’m not 100% sure yet, but I’m guessing there’s some kind of trigger that only activates when we die or get knocked out.
His disappointment from earlier vanished instantly, replaced by the pure hyperfocus of a lore-obsessed maniac. When Retaking gets on a story tangent, he talks even more than usual—like bonito flakes writhing in hot steam.

If this were voice chat, he’d probably be gasping between sentences by now.
[Party] Retaking: The fact that we left a corpse and not just a light orb when we died, and the broken screen lingering through loading—there’s no way that’s just an Easter egg. Not with how deliberate this dev team is.
[Party] Retaking: And hey, isn’t it weird that we can even talk right now? ZeroSoft isn’t the type to ditch their sacred design just to make things convenient for players. There’s no way they just “relaxed the rules” to let different races talk to each other.

I agreed with that. Honestly, I could accept the idea of a Jeopa and Bia being matched together. Unlikely, but not impossible. “Strange bedfellows” and all that. Maybe we’d get a rare joint quest or something.
But cross-faction chat? That was wildly off-brand for ZeroSoft. Just ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) look at the most recent cutscene—the whole thing was clearly slanted toward Bia script again. ZeroSoft didn’t give a damn if that caused narrative imbalance between players. They were stubborn about their worldbuilding.
[Party] Retaking: Is it just party chat that works?

[General] Retaking: Can you read this?
Suddenly Retaking switched to general chat.
So much for the theory that we were only allowed to talk through party chat for the player’s convenience.

[General] Honeybread: yep, reads fine
[Party] Retaking: yep, something’s going on...
[Party] Retaking: The death just before we entered—maybe it’s the reason we can talk now?

He went quiet after that, probably thinking hard. While Retaking was lost in thought, I grabbed the glass of water I’d set aside pre-patch and took a sip.
I was crunching an ice cube when:
[Party] Retaking: uhm

[Party] Retaking: was I talking too much?
Retaking, who had been chirping like a sparrow a minute ago, suddenly got shy and cautious. Was I too quiet? Or were his viewers telling him to shut up because I was here?
[Party] Honeybread: nah
[Party] Honeybread: it’s fine
[Party] Honeybread: I like hearing u ramble tbh

I sent that to reassure him, then went back to crunching ice. But even after some time passed, Retaking didn’t say anything.
…Was he suspicious? Did he not believe me?
[Party] Honeybread: fr

When I sent that follow-up to emphasize I meant it, Retaking finally replied, slower this time.
[Party] Retaking: okay
[Party] Retaking: now that I know your taste

[Party] Retaking: I’ll talk your ear off after I kill you :)
A sudden murder threat in the chat. What the hell. Was this whole thing just a trap to make me say that?
[Party] Honeybread: tf kind of synth drum set noise was that

[Party] Honeybread: not like I’m gonna die anyway lol
[Party] Retaking: but you said you liked me talking
[Party] Retaking: isn’t that basically saying you love dying?

What the actual fuck is that logic. I like your bubbly voice that sounds like it belongs in a national cultural archive, not watching you talk through a rigid-ass dialogue box while your polygonal corpse lies stiff on the floor.
[Party] Honeybread: shut up and play
[Party] Retaking: ㅠㅠ?

I cut him off cold before he got too out of hand. He whined like a kicked puppy, but too bad for him.
[Party] Retaking: Then before we start, let’s decide one thing
[Party] Retaking: Are we sticking with our current stances?

At last, something normal. Given that we were running tank + healer, we were probably gonna be short on damage. Maybe one of us should switch to DPS.
But...
[Party] Honeybread: as a tank main…

[Party] Honeybread: switching to DPS would…
[Party] Honeybread: hurt my pride a lil :’)
[Party] Retaking: hehe same...

We were in complete agreement.
There was only one possible answer.
[Party] Honeybread: let’s be the textbook definition
[Party] Honeybread: of “you die, I live”

[Party] Retaking: LOLOLOLOL
[Party] Retaking: perfect
[Party] Retaking: they won’t even realize they’re dying

We're gonna slow-burn them to death. With spoons.
[Party] Retaking: we got this
[Party] Retaking: let’s go
[Party] Honeybread: lmao
[Party] Honeybread: gogogo

The moment I sent that last message, I took off, following the trail of light the angel had left behind.
Retaking and the NPCs followed right behind me.