Chapter 18
In the newly created 5v5 Conquest map waiting room, there was only one other person besides me.
“Hello.”
A calm, low, and gentle male voice.
[WhiteSnow]
Blue hair, silver eyes.
Wearing a white coat—clearly a support-type healing mage.
His height was about the same as mine.
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
His character had a glowing, almost angel-like appearance with paid visual effects shimmering around his eyes.
I had come in a bit tense—
But without realizing it, I relaxed.
Pale face, blue hair, shining silver eyes—
His smile felt both cool and kind.
‘So this is my sponsor… looks like a total sucker—no, a really nice guy.’
Even knowing this was just a game avatar—
The first impression stuck strongly.
My guard lowered.
And I started to feel a bit favorable toward him.
His customization was really well done.
【Hmm.】
The blue constellation circled around him suspiciously.
glancing somewhere, probably at his constellation.
WhiteSnow stepped closer and smiled slightly.
“This kind of meeting is okay, right?”
“Of course.”
“Have you started the stream?”
“Not yet.”
“Could you carry me a bit? As you can see, my rank isn’t that high.”
That was actually a welcome request.
‘So that’s why he’s been donating—he wants a carry.’
My doubts about him faded a little.
“Come on, gold rank isn’t that low.”
Honestly, I only consider Diamond and above as real players—
But as long as my sponsor isn’t completely useless, I’m grateful.
I’m not exactly the most patient person.
I grinned.
“Let’s play together sometimes.”
Play together, earn money, enjoy the game—
perfect.
WhiteSnow stared at me instead of answering.
I froze slightly.
“…Do you not want to?”
“Ah—no, it’s not that—”
Just as he was about to respond—
A new player entered.
[Notification: DarkKChoco has entered.]
“…?”
I turned quickly.
Black hair, black eyes—
and that familiar katana.
‘Is this guy stalking me?’
【Did he follow you? I don’t like him. Especially his constellation—what’s it staring at?】
My constellation growled.
But DarkKChoco looked just as surprised.
He stared between me and WhiteSnow—
then froze.
[Notification: TodayHardCarry12 has entered.]
A moment later, another player joined and widened his eyes when he saw me.
“Huh? Wait—?”
I quickly checked their specs.
Both are Diamond rank.
‘Two melee rankers, one ranged Diamond, and a Gold support… this is almost perfect.’
I’m not great with team battles—
But this looks solid.
Anyone else can fill the last slot.
Today HardCarry walked up excitedly.
“Wow! Hello, Chicken-nim! I really enjoyed your match the other day! Small world, huh? We were enemies then and now teammates.”
“…Yeah.”
So he’s DarkKChoco’s friend.
Teammates, huh.
As long as they don’t ditch because of the Gold player—
This is fine.
Then he asked,
“Should we remake the room?”
As expected.
He wanted to remove the Gold player.
I glanced at WhiteSnow.
He was staring coldly.
‘Oh… so he’s not that gentle after all.’
I need to protect my sponsor.
Just as I was about to refuse—
DarkKChoco snapped.
“Are you crazy? No. We play like this.”
“What? You expect me to carry gold? We can just invite another Diamond.”
Today HardCarry glanced at me and smiled.
“Plus, we can get closer to Chicken-nim.”
Too bad.
I’m on the side of whoever pays.
DarkKChoco spoke firmly.
“Carrying weaker teammates is also a skill. Just play.”
“Wow, what a boomer.”
While they argued—
[Notification: RangedYura has entered.]
Another player joined.
Gold again.
Today HardCarry frowned.
“Ah…”
Of course.
With a Gold host—
Random entries will include Gold players.
The constellation muttered beside me.
【Not bad. Weak teammates make it more fun. More chances for me to shine. 】
“Sure.”
I ignored it and turned on the stream.
WhiteSnow, who had been quiet the whole time—
started the match immediately once the last player joined.
Before logging into GOF—
DarkKChoco, a dojin, recalled what happened earlier.
Ping!
[Heean: Busy?]
[Me: Not at all.]
He replied instantly.
[Heean: The test tournament is starting in GOF.]
[Me: I’ll join.]
Dojin was excited.
It wasn’t easy to get close to Heean—
So this was rare.
Then—
[Heean: I need a favor.]
[Me: Yes, hyung]
Dojin tensed up.
[Heean: I’m raising a sub-account. No one can know.]
[Me: Understood]
That made sense.
Heean attracts too much attention.
[Heean: My constellation rank is low. Bring one skilled player.]
Strange.
Even with a new account—
Your constellation usually catches up quickly.
‘He must be hiding his identity carefully.’
[Heean: Don’t tell them it’s me.]
[Me: Got it.]
Honestly—
This was difficult.
Most strong players are hunters—
and strong hunters tend to have bad tempers.
‘Who’s the nicest one I know…’
He asked,
[Me: Can I bring a healer support?]
[Heean: I’m the healer.]
…Crap.
[Me: What rank?]
[Heean: Gold]
Total disaster.
No one would respect a Gold—
if they didn’t know it was him.
Dojin held his head.
[Heean: Don’t worry about me. Bring someone good.]
And now—
Team (5):
DarkKChoco
ChickenFireSlap
TodayHardCarry12
RangedYura
WhiteSnow
Two rankers.
One top player pretending to be Gold.
The enemy team—
all diamond.
Also two rankers.
Since Korean players couldn’t match evenly—
They were matched with a Japanese team.
Dojin looked at the battlefield.
‘What even is Chicken-nim…’
BOOM—!!
In team PvP—
Chicken-nim was insane.
Handling multiple enemies—
dealing damage efficiently—
dodging like an instinctive monster.
They weren’t used to multi-target combat—
but it didn’t matter.
Because—
The support behind them was perfect.
At that moment—
WhiteSnow used a constellation skill.
His eyes flashed.
Today HardCarry opened voice chat with Dojin.
“Hey—what is that WhiteSnow guy? Is he really Gold?”
Among hunters—
Gold is considered trash.
Most hunters hide the game until they reach Diamond.
“That guy just overtook you and reached second place overall!”
‘Of course.’
Dojin thought.
‘That’s Heean.’
Then—
he wondered—
‘What’s the relationship between those two?’
He came to support Heean’s alt—
but didn’t expect to meet Chicken here.
‘Does Chicken-nim know who he is…?’
It didn’t look like it.
