CHAPTER 77………………
“Uh, just a second…!”
I quickly told Hwansung and the guild members that I’d step away for a moment so they wouldn’t be confused if I suddenly vanished, then I took off my headset and turned my chair toward the door.
“Come in.”
At my words, my brother carefully opened the door and peeked his head in, making eye contact with me.
“Are you busy?”
“Not really, but…”
I wasn’t busy, but I did have people waiting for me, so if it was going to be a long talk, we’d need to save it for later. My brother seemed to catch on, because he skipped the small talk and went straight to the point.
“No, it’s nothing big. I was just wondering if you could give me that Holy Kingdom letter code.”
“Oh! Right! I’ll tell you now, since I’m in-game!”
Earlier, when he’d left the house, he asked me to text him the code number, but I had completely forgotten in the meantime. I quickly spun my chair back toward the monitor and opened my inventory.
‘Where did I put it again…?’
I had shoved it in a corner somewhere, but my inventory was a total mess—stuffed full to the brim with items I couldn’t tell apart.
Torn Ladybug Wings, White Turtle Blood, Starlight Fish Scales… just random drops from field monsters cluttered everything. On top of that, my mailbox was overflowing with letters, so finding the one from the Holy Kingdom was proving difficult.
In the end, the only way was to hover my cursor over every letter-looking item and check the names one by one.
While doing so, I suddenly wondered what exactly that “letter from the Holy Kingdom” was. If my brother, who usually didn’t bother with games, had actually offered me money just to get it, it couldn’t be something ordinary. Without stopping my hand, I asked, curiosity seeping into my voice:
“Oppa, what’s that item even for?”
“Wait… don’t tell me you’ve been playing this whole time and you don’t know what it is?”
“…Of course I might not know.”
I was still a newbie, rushing through main quests, and honestly, there were more things I didn’t know than things I did. Why would I pay attention to a non-usable item? None of the guild members had ever mentioned the Holy Kingdom letter either, so I had forgotten about it after day one.
My brother chuckled at my sulky response and finally explained what the letter was.
“That’s a pet exchange ticket. And not just any—Legendary.”
“What?!”
Normally, I had zero interest in pets. I already had a giant one that healed me, and most pets were just little followers with no abilities anyway.
But after visiting the farm with Hawon, I’d started to see them differently. Even in that short time, I’d grown fond of the pets’ unique personalities and quirks. Maybe that’s why people liked them so much.
Seeing my reaction, my brother grinned in satisfaction, as if to say I wasn’t done being surprised yet.
“And it’s not just any pet—it’s Athanas. Do you even know Athanas?”
“What?”
I froze, my hand stopping mid-search, and snapped my head toward him.
Of course I knew! I’d even been thinking about it earlier today!
“Wait, but… if it’s that rare, why would they give it away just for bringing in a new player and getting them to level 20? Doesn’t that ruin the whole Legendary scarcity thing?”
That was my first thought. The conditions seemed way too easy. But his answer wasn’t what I expected.
Apparently, the letter from the Holy Kingdom had been a limited-time summer event item. New players who reached level 20 during that period received the letter—but only existing players could redeem it. Basically, it was just a sneaky marketing trick to make people recruit their friends.
And depending on when the existing player had first started the game, the rewards were different.
Athanas was available only to players who had been around since open beta. Which… honestly made sense for a true Legendary pet.
The fact that my brother had been playing since open beta was surprising enough, but the idea that he could redeem the letter for Athanas was even more so.
I could already imagine it: everyone staring in awe, envious eyes following him around in-game, while he pretended to be modest but actually bragged as hard as possible.
No wonder he was willing to pay me ₩100,000. For something you literally couldn’t buy with money, that price almost seemed cheap.
I looked at him, full of envy. He covered his mouth and made a weird “hong-hong” laugh, clearly enjoying my reaction.
“So hurry up and give me the code. I want to summon it already.”
I nodded and turned back to the monitor, resuming my search for the letter.
Meanwhile, he still hadn’t stepped fully inside—just kept leaning in, head poked through the doorway. My eyes skimmed across more than half of the inventory, nearing the end.
Where was it…? I was sure it had a white background with gold trim.
Just in case, I hovered the cursor over non-letter icons too, checking their names.
Dark Orb… Sands of Time… Flame Rune… Affection Check… Wind Crystal…
“Huh?”
My hand suddenly froze over the Wind Crystal, caught off guard by something unusual. Among all those fantasy-styled names, one item stood out as jarringly different.
I quickly moved my cursor to the item beside it, with a little magnifying glass icon.
[Affection Check]
[Legendary / Non-tradeable]
[Being able to measure someone’s heart with numbers rather than words or actions is impossible for humans. But perhaps through the eyes of something not human, it can be done.]
[Allows you to check another person’s affection level.]
“…”
I hadn’t been imagining it. When it said item delivery was complete earlier… this was it. The Affection Check item was sitting right there in my inventory.
Seriously… texting me like that, and now this? Completely unpredictable.
But how did I even use it? Like a normal item, just double-click?
I tried it—and a window popped up.
[Whose affection would you like to check?]
Wh-whoa… this was insane.
The prompt came with an input box to type a name. Obviously, the person I most wanted to check was Hwansung. He was the only one I even could think of.
But with my brother still hovering there, I couldn’t do it now. I’d have to save it for later.
Meanwhile, he started teasing me again, clearly suspicious that I hadn’t found the letter yet.
“Hey sis, still looking? Can’t find it? My neck’s about to snap here.”
“Uh, yeah… I know I didn’t throw it out, but I can’t see it anywhere. Do you want to try looking yourself?”
Honestly, I probably wasn’t going to find it. Better to let him check. Just in case, I quickly shoved the Affection Check item into my storage, then scooted aside so he could sit more comfortably.
He finally stepped fully into my room and examined my messy inventory.
“Wow… sis, this is a disaster. Your inventory looks like a pigsty.”
“It’s… not that bad…”
He clicked around, tossing out useless junk as he searched.
“Ah, here it is.”
It didn’t take him long. The letter from the Holy Kingdom had been sitting right there in the very first slot, tucked in the corner.
‘I swear I checked that spot already… how did I miss it?’
He snapped a picture of the code on his phone and smiled with satisfaction.
“Done. Now, can you let me play in peace?”
I was desperate to use the Affection Check item, so I practically shoved him toward the door. But he resisted, stiffening his legs like a rock.
“Ugh, I said hurry up and get out!”
“Ahem. Since I’m here anyway, I might as well check your character’s nickname.”
Luckily, the inventory window was still covering my character, hiding the name. It was annoying that he wouldn’t tell me his nickname but wanted to know mine, but I figured the fastest way to get rid of him was to just let it happen.
“I’m curious about your customization too…”
He grinned and closed the inventory window. And just like that, his grin vanished into shock.
