He Is That Guy

MochaBbang, who had just taken out ParkSeungjin, sprinted over to Yoo Chae’s side. I calmly assessed the situation.
On our team, it was me, ManaIsDryGuy, TheHunter, and MeLostInHunt still alive. On the enemy team, Yoo Chae, MochaBbang, Hwaseoun, DrinkWaterPlz, and Haerun were still up. The real issue? They had both a pure tank and a healer, which put us at a serious disadvantage.

With DoraHee dead, we had no buffer left. Meanwhile, Team B was getting rapid heals from Haerun and major defense buffs from the Holy Knight. It wasn’t looking good.
[All] TheHunter: ParkSeungjin really threw
[All] ParkSeungjin99: pls don’t :(
TheHunter had also come closer to guard ManaIsDryGuy, like I had, but he barely had any HP left. He probably couldn’t hold out longer than five seconds.

MeLostInHunt was still keeping DrinkWaterPlz and Haerun busy, which was the only reason [N O V E L I G H T] we weren’t already wiped. If he’d gone down, we wouldn’t even have gotten a counterattack in.
[Team] TheHunter: if we knew it’d be like this
[Team] TheHunter: maybe Mana should’ve just fought too
[Team] ManaIsDryGuy: true tbh
[Team] ManaIsDryGuy: ult’s taking way longer than expected
[Team] ImSoSleepy: let’s go with that next round
We still had a chance. If Mana’s ultimate could take out the healer and the tank, we could turn this around.

Maybe Team B had finished talking too, because MochaBbang suddenly summoned three powerful spirits at once. She was clearly planning to kill TheHunter first, then come after me and Mana.
I wasn’t in great shape either. I’d only been grazed by Yoo Chae’s chain earlier, so I still had a lot of HP. But I was squishy and had no buffs—one mistake and I’d go down just like DoraHee.
[Team] TheHunter: hey
[Team] TheHunter: I’ll protect Mana and die doing it
[Team] ManaIsDryGuy: eek ♥

Knowing he wouldn’t last much longer, TheHunter used a reflect skill to bounce back MochaBbang’s attack and dashed forward. If he was going down, he’d at least land some damage first.
Just as I moved to help him, a golden chain cracked down in front of me.
[All] Yoo Chae: Hyung
[All] Yoo Chae: You should be focusing on me

Yoo Chae had read my mind and cut me off. I clicked my tongue and dodged the next chain with an evade, then fired off my standard skill combo.
Snare first, followed by the heavy-damage W, then the quick-cast Q and R. But unlike earlier—when he took the full combo—Yoo Chae dodged the moment the snare wore off and swung his chains.
Clang! Whip!

The chains whipped around me like a snake, suddenly pulling in. It was Chain Blade’s CC skill—wrapping chains around the opponent to immobilize them. I dodged just before it hit and mentally reviewed my skill list.
Anything with a long cast or slow speed wouldn’t land. Worse, it’d just get me killed. That only left about four usable skills out of eight.
I checked my snare cooldown and kept dodging. He’d gotten better—dodging me without even using evasion skills now.

[Team] TheHunter: damn
[Team] TheHunter: can’t hold on
[Team] ParkSeungjin99: ffs
Team A’s TheHunter has been killed by Team B’s MochaBbang.
[All] MochaBbang: got my revenge
[All] TheHunter: seething
Just as expected, TheHunter died, leaving three of us. But he’d done some solid damage—MochaBbang was only at 50% HP now.

Considering how good most EveningGlow members are, that meant TheHunter was one of the better players too.
At this point—
I used my saved dodge skill and charged straight at MochaBbang. Yoo Chae realized too late and chased after me, but I was a step ahead.

[All] MochaBbang: ???
I had to kill her before Yoo Chae got there. She only had half HP—if I skipped the unnecessary skills, I could do it.
My fingers danced across the keyboard like piano keys. E-W-Q-R-D. In less than a second, MochaBbang, snared and hit with the full combo, saw her HP plummet.

Team B’s MochaBbang has been killed by Team A’s ImSoSleepy.
[All] ParkSeungjin99: oh damn
[All] TheHunter: LET’S GOOO
The moment she dropped, Yoo Chae’s chain pierced my side. The screen flashed red. I had 60% HP left.

"Ah, shit..."
Bad positioning. Rushing the kill had left me exposed.
With this angle, he’d probably go for E. Chain Blade’s E skill was wide and left a burn DOT. No way I could ignore it.

It was over. I couldn’t dodge any skill from here. Yoo Chae definitely knew that too.
What a shame. If I’d held out just a bit longer, Mana could’ve ulted. As I was kicking myself—
Yoo Chae’s character suddenly flinched. He stopped the attack. It was just a split-second hesitation, barely noticeable unless you were right next to him like I was.

“What the hell?”
That one second was more than enough for me. I didn’t even lift my hands from the keyboard. I dodged just in time.
A chain slammed into where I’d been standing. Yep. Definitely the E skill.

I scrambled and hid behind a nearby pillar.
At the same time, storm clouds churned above. Thunder cracked loudly across the sky.
[All] ManaIsDryGuy: prayer complete

The final magic circle lit up. Mana’s character raised his staff to the sky. The gem in the center gleamed, and something massive began plummeting from the clouds.
[All] DrinkWaterPlz: oh shit
[All] MeLostInHunt: LMAO
[All] MeLostInHunt: where you goin
[All] Haerun: AAAAAAHHH
[All] Haerun: SAVE ME
[All] Hwaseoun: gg
A massive meteor, wreathed in fire, fell right onto DrinkWater, Haerun, and Hwaseoun. BOOM! Wind blasted outward, the screen shook, and huge damage numbers exploded onscreen.

Team B’s DrinkWaterPlz has been killed by Team A’s ManaIsDryGuy.
Team B’s Haerun has been killed by Team A’s ManaIsDryGuy.
Team B’s Hwaseoun has been killed by Team A’s ManaIsDryGuy.
Thanks to MeLostInHunt stalling them, they couldn’t escape—and got hit dead-on.
[All] DrinkWaterPlz: holy f—
[All] ManaIsDryGuy: DUDE
[All] ManaIsDryGuy: that one ult left me with only 100 mana, wtf
[All] MeLostInHunt: living up to your name lol

The game flipped instantly. Now Yoo Chae was in a 3v1.
MeLostInHunt dashed in, closing the gap. Yoo Chae didn’t hesitate—he swung.
Team A’s MeLostInHunt has been killed by Team B’s Yoo Chae.
Team A’s ManaIsDryGuy has been killed by Team B’s Yoo Chae.

[All] ManaIsDryGuy: this guy’s insane
Still, Yoo Chae was Yoo Chae. Even nearly dead, he managed to kill two of us. Finally, after taking one last hit from me, he went down.
Team B’s Yoo Chae has been killed by Team A’s ImSoSleepy.

[All] Yoo Chae: owie :(
[All] Yoo Chae: sobbing
With Yoo Chae’s silly chat, the first arena match ended. I could hear cheering somewhere offscreen, and a bunch of system messages popped up.
Victory!
You earned 200 Arena Points.
Returning to lobby in 10 seconds. 10, 9...
Achievement Unlocked: Use the Arena.
Achievement Unlocked: Win in the Arena.

The screen faded, and we returned to the lobby. Our party was now back to a regular group.
[Party] Haerun: ugh, so close
[Party] Hwaseoun: all I did was block MeLostInHunt lol
[Party] Hwaseoun: and it was over T_T
[Party] MeLostInHunt: bet that was fun for you tho
[Party] Hwaseoun: ???
[Party] DrinkWaterPlz: this was all Yoo Chae’s fault
[Party] DrinkWaterPlz: threw so hard
[Party] LaggingLikeHell: why go for the buffer though lmao
[Party] ParkSeungjin99: how do you even beat the guildmaster? guy’s nuts
[Party] Haerun: dodge everything, land everything
[Party] Haerun: ez clap
[Party] ParkSeungjin99: got it
[Party] MochaBbang: now I’ll be the one eating hits and missing lol
[Party] DrinkWaterPlz: rematch?
[Party] TheHunter: need to repair first
[Party] MochaBbang: same
[Party] DrinkWaterPlz: cool
[Party] DrinkWaterPlz: repair then requeue
There was an NPC just outside the arena for quick repairs. We all headed out to prep for the next round in five minutes.

[Whisper] DrinkWaterPlz: Sleepy
I didn’t have much to repair, so I stayed a step back. That’s when DrinkWaterPlz sidled up and whispered to me.
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: Yeah?

[Whisper] DrinkWaterPlz: You teaming with Rahee again?
I blinked a few times. Why ask that? And in a whisper? I had a ton of questions but just answered.
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: I’d like to, yeah

[Whisper] DrinkWaterPlz: oh... okay
What was that weird vibe? Was he annoyed I wanted the buffer again? Or asking me to back off? He should just say so.
[Whisper] DrinkWaterPlz: I kinda figured
[Whisper] DrinkWaterPlz: you and Rahee seem like a thing lol

...What?
[Whisper] DrinkWaterPlz: we don’t ban relationships or anything lol
[Whisper] DrinkWaterPlz: but if it’s too obvious, people’ll start gossiping
[Whisper] DrinkWaterPlz: think you could keep it lowkey?
[Whisper] DrinkWaterPlz: just until tryouts are over!
"...The hell?"

It was so ridiculous I felt like I was glitching out.
He thinks I’m getting together with DoraHee?