Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Party] Honeybread: ok
[Party] Honeybread: Guess I gave you those clothes just in time, huh
It’s been nearly a year since I first fought Retaking a Class. In that time, I’d learned pretty much everything—his skill rotation, how he reacts to pressure, even his little habits. I could tell when his fingers got sluggish from drinking. That’s how well I knew him.

So if Gonyanyanya started doing the same things? Sure, we weren’t fighting as enemies, we were in a party together, but I still had to read and support his skill usage. If he moved or played like Retaking a Class, I was bound to notice something off.
That was Gang Jaegyung’s whole plan—make me sense something was wrong. Instead of PvE where skill usage is predictable, he was throwing himself into PvP, where every player’s style varies.
He didn’t want me thinking, “Wow, Retaking a Class is better than Gonyanyanya.”
No—he wanted me thinking, “That crazy-skilled Gonyanyanya? Turns out he was Retaking a Class all along. Of course.” He’d changed his strategy. After that dungeon performance yesterday, it would’ve been hard to top Gonyanyanya with Retaking a Class. He’d basically dug his own grave.

[Party] Gonyanyanya2: I’ll probably die a bunch doing main quest stuff, huh? ㅠㅠ
[Party] Honeybread: I’m literally here and you say that? Rude
He was acting all weak, so I let out a snort and replied. Then he followed up with a question, like he didn’t get it.
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Why does it matter that you’re here?

Is this bastard seriously trying to bruise my ego now?
[Party] Honeybread: ?
[Party] Honeybread: Are you scared I can’t protect you or something?
[Party] Honeybread: You saw me 1v4 yesterday
[Party] Honeybread: Never seen someone this nervous with a Supreme Commander standing next to them ㄷㄷ
I mashed out the reply, swallowing my irritation. A few seconds later, another message came in.
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: No, I just thought…
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: I’d be doing the quest solo…?
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: I’d feel really bad if you helped me with that too ㅠㅠ

Ah, now he’s pretending to be a shy newbie. Jesus.
My anger evaporated in an instant. I sighed. So he planned to act like Retaking a Class while doing the quests, but still wanted to protect the "newbie" image.
If it weren’t for yesterday, I’d never have guessed it was Gang Jaegyung.

[Party] Honeybread: I’ve got nothing better to do anyway
[Party] Honeybread: Raising you is my current life purpose
[Party] Honeybread: Don’t worry about me. Just go questing ㄱ
[Party] Honeybread: I’ve got all day to follow you around
As I praised his Oscar-worthy performance, he whimpered a bit more as Gonyanyanya, then reluctantly started working on the quest.
He kept glancing my way as he moved around the base, hesitating at NPCs, acting like he was gauging my reaction. But I didn’t rush him—I just quietly followed behind. As time passed, he glanced back less and moved more confidently.

Maybe because we’d just finished a major dungeon, there was a lot of back-and-forth between NPCs and cutscenes. I didn’t remember the story exactly, but it was something about reporting what happened in the dungeon.
The hidden quest we did yesterday had a cool storyline, but the regular main quest was the usual war drama—standard for any MMO. I only remembered the gist of it.
Still, Gang Jaegyung looked like he was actually enjoying the lore. The same guy who created a character just to chase me was now reading every line of the main story. He even stayed in a solo instance for ages. I didn’t care, but I was starting to get a little bored.

I opened my browser on my second monitor and started clicking around random sites while I waited, and that’s when someone approached my character.
Who now?

I turned my head. It was another player—someone wearing the [Militia] title. Ah, looking for an allowance.

He’d wandered pretty deep into the base too. Impressive. I chuckled to myself and initiated a trade.
[System] You have requested a trade with 'SweatySpaghettiNoodles'.
[System] 'SweatySpaghettiNoodles' has accepted your trade request.
[System] You registered 150,000 Amber as the trade item.
[System] Trade with 'SweatySpaghettiNoodles' has been completed.
[System] 150,000 Amber has been deducted.
[General] SweatySpaghettiNoodles: Thank you! Thank you!
They bowed repeatedly in the chat and I sent them a casual petting emote. In Dusk, that was tradition—get a gift, get petted.

While I was petting Spaghetti, Gang Jaegyung exited the instance. I walked over to his character to follow along with the quest again, waiting for him to move… when he suddenly typed in party chat.
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Who was that?
He must’ve seen me petting Spaghetti.

I wanted to tease him for being jealous but kept it tame.
[Party] Honeybread: Just a newbie
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Ah, I see…
He didn’t say anything else, but I felt the urge to poke him.
[Party] Honeybread: You want to be the only one I take care of?
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: No no! I was just curiousㅠㅜ!
[Party] Honeybread: It’s fine, I’d understand if you were honest
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: I really wasn’t…!

Whether he meant it or not didn’t matter. If I could tease him, that was good enough. I kept baiting him into awkward replies, and even though he could’ve just ignored me, he kept denying it. Which honestly made it even more obvious he cared.
As I giggled to myself watching him squirm, a message popped up in faction chat.
[Faction] SweatySpaghettiNoodles: Where Honeybread is~ ^^7

Oh great. Spaghetti just pinged my location. I guess people had been looking for me?
So many greedy bastards chasing Amber… I sighed.
Then party chat lit up again.

[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Did you see faction chat?
[Party] Honeybread: Yeah? I saw.
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Why are people looking for you?
Guess he wasn’t keeping up with the drama.
I’d noticed it before—he doesn’t really check forums or server boards unless something huge happens. I mean, I don’t live on them either, but I’ll scroll through when I’m bored. He clearly didn’t.

[Party] Honeybread: I started an event
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: An event?
[Party] Honeybread: Just a little thing giving stuff to newbies
Kept it vague, just enough for him to get the picture. He didn’t respond, probably thinking oh okay, that makes sense.
But then came the real problem. I figured I’d get one or two more newbies (or so-called newbies), but a whole horde showed up.

I counted at least ten. And none of them looked like real newbies—they were clearly alt accounts.
What did that make me? I’d just told Gang Jaegyung I was running a newbie support event, and now I had to follow through. I couldn’t exactly deny the new wave of "newbies" after giving money to the first guy.
Bracing for Gang Jaegyung’s disapproval, I nervously looked his way—even though he wasn’t even physically here—and traded the nearest player.

[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Who are these people?
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: They’re newbies too?
[System] Trade with 'LifeIsLikeACarousel' has been completed.
[System] 150,000 Amber has been deducted.
[General] LifeIsLikeACarousel: Thanks bro!!!!!!!!
That was definitely a jab. “Do these people look like newbies to you?” …That kind of tone.
Why was I getting self-conscious over how I spent my own money?

[Party] Honeybread: If their level’s low, they’re newbies, right? ㅎ
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Even I can tell they’re alts pretending to be newbies
[General] GgukJangie: Goo goo, I baby newbie~
[General] GgukJangie: Give me allowance plz~
[Party] Honeybread: Our newbie’s got a sharp eye, huh?

I started another trade, and then party chat pinged again.
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: If it’s a newbie support event, shouldn’t it be for actual newbies?
[Party] Honeybread: How am I supposed to screen them one by one?
[Party] Honeybread: It’s just easier to give stuff to everyone
Sure, I could screen people with a little effort, maybe hire someone to help. But it’s not like I was short on money. And with prices jacked up because of my market orders anyway, handing out a bit of Amber made people hate me less. If someone did look like a real newbie, I gave them extra.

But Gang Jaegyung clearly didn’t like it. He was so caught up he forgot he was still in newbie cosplay and started grilling me.
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: How much are you giving them?
[Party] Honeybread: Hmm... lol
[General] AbyssalMeow: Wait, you’re actually giving all these people stuff?

[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Hurry up and tell meㅡㅡ
[General] Honeybread: Yeah lol
[Party] Honeybread: 150k Amber
[Party] Honeybread: Less than what I gave you, okay?
[General] AbyssalMeow: Holy shit that’s insane
[General] AttashiByeBye: Bro let’s date pls

[Party] Gonyanyanya2: You’re giving 150k each?!
[Party] Honeybread: It’s not that much
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: What do you mean “not that much”? I checked the Viajok market rates before coming ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) here
[General] Honeybread: Can you handle it? drops mic
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Just giving those guys stuff is already over 150 bucks;
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Stop with the weird chat, seriously
[Party] Honeybread: Are you mad I’m not spoiling just you? ㅎ
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: I’m being serious here, Honeybread

That… really sounded like Gang Jaegyung. Like he’d dropped the whole newbie act for a second.
Even as I kept replying to the public chat and initiating trades with the line of greedy alts, Gang Jaegyung didn’t let up. He kept hammering away in party chat, relentless.