NOVEL NEXT chapter 134
"How is it?"
"…You're a genius."
Wanting to hang out somewhere with no solid ground might sound crazy, but this idea actually made sense—there were several floating islands in that area not marked on the map. They looked decorative, but some were intentionally made so players could stand on them. Size-wise, they were about the same as the islands used for arena matches during offline events. Maybe even bigger—hard to say, it had been a while.
In any case, it was the perfect spot—far from the chaos at Base 45, deep within Jeojajok territory, and unlikely to be swarmed by Viajok players roaming for solo kills. The surrounding strongholds were ones only low-level Jeojajok passed through, so seasoned players hardly visited.
"Perfect. Let’s go there."
Now that we had a meeting point, I told Gang Jaegyung to head there first, then used a teleport scroll to warp to Base 43.
Base 43 was crawling with Viajok. Some were retreating from the battle at 45 to regroup, others had just arrived to fight. The crowding seemed to be due to the Base 45 teleport NPC being killed.
I ignored the mass of players and ran off toward the spot Jaegyung had pointed to. Along the way, I heard several whispers ping in—but with no way to read them now, I just ignored the alerts. I’d explain later. Hopefully they'd understand.
I glanced over—Jaegyung was already there. Lucky bastard. He didn’t have to cross the entire continent like I did.
I ran into a few Jeojajok players on the way to the floating island, but fortunately they came in ones or twos, not parties. Probably because most users had shifted to Base 45.
After a good amount of running and skirmishing, I finally made it deep into Jeojajok territory. I passed a high cliff-ringed valley and was greeted by a twilight sky still tinged with blue. That was Jeojajok sky. The Viajok zones were closer to full night by now.
"Just a bit farther from there."
Following Jaegyung's words, I ran along the edge until I spotted someone standing alone on a distant floating island—the only one in Jeojajok territory accessible to players by normal means.
From the land's edge, I double-tapped the space bar, gliding across to safely land beside Jaegyung on the floating island. The moment I arrived, he ran in little circles around my character, then spread his wings in a flapping emote. Guess that was the only one he could use.
"Before we fight, let’s take a screenshot."
As he said that, he moved into position and jumped up and down like he wanted me to join. Not that we could use proper emotes, but still.
"How do you wanna take it?"
"I’ve had this idea for a while… If we time Desperate Slash from the Divine Knight class and Meridian Elbow from the Field Medic class just right, I think we can get a shot that looks like we’re fighting."
…Desperate Slash and Meridian Elbow?
I knew Meridian Elbow—that was the move where you ram with your elbow. But Desperate Slash? The animation was fuzzy. I usually read the animation mid-combat to time shield blocks or counters, so I remembered most skills, but not every mid-chain combo with no status effects.
I tried to recall the motion, but it wouldn’t come. So I just shrugged and used the skill on Jaegyung.
“Ah—hey! Why are you hitting me?!”
“I forgot the animation.”
I had no idea how he planned to turn that into a cool screenshot, but whatever—he could figure it out.
“Go ahead.”
Once I gave him the green light, Jaegyung lit up. He took a position with the sunset as a backdrop and explained how to time the moves.
“You start with Desperate Slash, then I’ll match my skill to yours and snap the shot. Might not work on the first try, but if we try a few times, we’ll get it.”
He even directed where I should stand, then asked me to begin.
One Desperate Aura. One Desperate Strike. Then one Desperate Slash.
As I triggered Desperate Slash, Jaegyung fired off Meridian Elbow. The status effect landed on Honeybread, but we weren’t actually fighting, so it didn’t matter.
After the animation passed, Jaegyung opened his screenshot folder and reviewed the shot. Judging by the image, it seemed he wanted a frame that looked like my character was dodging an attack from Retaking a Class while preparing to counter.
Because we were different factions, there was even a blood effect on the hit—gave it that gritty PvP realism. But… something about it felt off.
“Hmm… Let’s try that again.”
He must’ve thought so too. He reopened Dusk and lined up another shot. I didn’t mind—it wasn’t hard.
“…Mmm. Again.”
Still not the timing he wanted. I agreed to another go, but this time he kept glancing over at me with a weirdly troubled look, then suddenly minimized the game.
“Do you want to eat something while I shoot this? It’s kinda boring just waiting.”
I was about to say I wasn’t really hungry—we’d had lunch earlier—but he was already browsing the snack menu.
“Is ramen too much since we just ate? What about udon? We had sushi, and I always crave udon after sushi.”
“Ramen, udon—they’re the same.”
“No they’re not, totally different. Look at the noodles.”
Fair enough. Not wrong, technically. I stared at him, at a loss for words.
"Why don’t you just get a hot bar or something? They have those, or sausage-ricecake skewers, chicken, dumplings, even rabokki. There’s takoyaki too. It’s all frozen stuff, sure, but still. Might as well snack on something."
How long was this screenshot supposed to take? But when he mentioned those sausage-ricecake skewers, I suddenly got curious and turned toward him.
“Let’s try the skewers. I’ve heard of them but never had one.”
“Okay! And what about takoyaki? Wanna share if I get some?”
“Maybe one or two.”
“What about chicken?”
“Just get whatever you want.”
“Alright. And to drink?”
“What’s there?”
We ended up ordering a feast: the sausage-ricecake skewers, takoyaki, chicken, and even a canned muscat soda. The skewers and the soda were mine, but he’d just scarfed down forty-three plates of sushi earlier and was now adding takoyaki and chicken?
Peak metabolism years, I guess.
We kept taking screenshots while waiting for the food. I figured two or three tries would be enough, so I kept triggering my skills whenever he asked and watched him snap photos.
“…Didn’t get it. One more time.”
“I think just a bit quicker and I’d have it. Again.”
“This time was too slow… Can we do another?”
“That’s not it either… again!”
“I messed it up. Can we redo it?”
…We kept retrying even after the food arrived.
Was the timing that tricky?
I figured he’d be better at this—he usually liked taking screenshots. The lowered resolution shouldn’t have made it harder. Weird.
“…Can we try again?”
Jaegyung asked as I bit into a sausage-ricecake skewer.
At this rate, we’d be here all day.
I gestured for him to get up, still chewing. He stood, and I took his seat to get my hands on the keyboard.
“What key is Meridian Elbow?”
“Four.”
I motioned for him to sit in my chair.
“Okay, Desperate Slash is on three, so hit that. I’ll try.”
Watching him try so many times, I had a general sense of what he wanted: how the animation needed to time with the screenshot, when to trigger each skill, and when to press the capture button.
Jaegyung laid his fingers on the keys and pressed three. Honeybread attacked Retaking a Class—Desperate Aura, Desperate Strike, and finally Desperate Slash.
Right at that moment, I hit the skill key and the screenshot button in sync.
Then I opened the file explorer and checked the new image.
“—Oh!”
Jaegyung made a surprised sound, eyes wide in awe.