"Jin."
It was a mistake.
"You've been coming home late these days."
As soon as Yu Jin stepped through the front door, he caught sight of his father in the kitchen, sipping a cup of barley tea. Yu Jin paused mid-step just as he was about to head upstairs, then turned and replied:
"I needed to cram a few things. Studying with a group helps."
His father nodded without looking away from the cup.
"I see. Just make sure you're getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation creates brain fog. Would be a shame if it started affecting your grades."
"Yes, Father."
"Oh, and this Thursday. We're having dinner with your sister-in-law's family. Don't be late."
"Yes."
With nothing more to say, Yu Jin turned away and made his way up the stairs. Reaching the second floor, he headed straight to his room and closed the door behind him.
The moment he was alone, he let out a long, quiet sigh and dropped onto the bed without even bothering to change. As Yu Jin stared up at the ceiling, his mind began to replay everything he had reviewed.
In a family of doctors, there was no room for failure.
With those thoughts, Yu Jin closed his eyes and it didn't take long for the exams to come.
They were grueling. Six-hour marathons, spanning two major subjects each day for three straight days. By the end of it, Yu Jin walked out of the lecture hall with sore limbs and a blank mind.
He stretched out his back with a groan, then quickly made his way out. Once the exam was over, students were free to leave campus, and Yu Jin did just that.
As he walked down the familiar street, he passed the local net cafe. Money wasn't tight, but it wasn't that. He missed the atmosphere of net cafes.
Thinking it might be a good way to unwind, Yu Jin pushed the door open and stepped inside. He figured he'd grab lunch, maybe watch a film while he ate.
After all, for the first time in days, he didn't have to think.
After finding a seat, he turned on the PC and placed an order for food on the side. While waiting, he pulled up a recent drama and let it play.
"Oh, it's you."
"Huh?"
A voice came from beside him as he watched. Turning, Yu Jin noticed a woman peeking her head around the divider. She looked familiar, though he couldn't place her right away. He removed his headphones and raised an eyebrow.
"Do you need something?"
"Ah, mister. Do you remember me?"
"No? Who are you?"
"It's me, from the other day. You helped us win that arena match."
Yu Jin rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment. Then the memory came back to him.
"Ah, yeah. That was you. Can I help you with something?"
"Mister, if you're free… want to join a boss raid?"
"Boss raid?"
"We need one more player. We can't enter the dungeon without a full party."
Before Yu Jin could respond, someone beside her spoke up:
"Hey, Zhao Lusi. Don't be rude."
Another player, presumably her friend, stood up and gave her a light tap on the side. He scratched the corner of his cheek, offering Yu Jin an apologetic smile.
"Sorry about that. She gets a little too forward sometimes."
But Zhao Lusi didn't back down and pointed at Yu Jin.
"He's the one I told you about. The guy who used your account that day and defeated three players without losing a single HP."
"Huh, really?"
Zhao Lusi turned back to Yu Jin with a grin on her face.
"So, what do you say, mister? We'll split the rewards fifty-fifty. You keep half, we keep the other half."
Yu Jin leaned back in his chair, thinking it over. His food hadn't arrived yet, and the drama playing was kind of boring.
He didn't even care about the rewards, thinking they'd probably be just EXP and boss materials anyway, which was nothing useful to him. He barely played the game anymore, after all.
Still, he had time to kill before heading home. Weighing the pros and cons, it didn't seem like a bad way to pass the time.
He turned to look at them and nodded.
"Okay."
"Yes!"
Zhao Lusi pumped her fist in victory.
They led Yu Jin over to an open PC beside theirs and powered it on for him. Within minutes, the game launched, and Yu Jin logged into his account.
Leaning over the divider, Zhao Lusi peeked at his screen.
"What's your ID, mister? Ah, by the way, I'm Zhao Lusi."
"I'm Sun Qian."
Yu Jin glanced between the two. Now that he got a better look, they both seemed younger, most likely high school students.
"Yu Jin. My ID is Acheron."
As they added him, Zhao Lusi beamed upon seeing his user ID, displaying certain numbers.
As they sent him a friend request and added him to the party, Zhao Lusi's eyes lit up the moment his profile popped up on her screen.
"Wow, an old player?"
She pointed at the user ID displayed just below his name.
[100000903]
That meant, Yu Jin's account was the 903rd ever registered in Legacy Online, indicating he was a veteran. Most players these days had IDs in the tens of millions.
Sun Qian leaned over and whistled.
"That's one of the founding batch accounts, right? You joined during the closed beta?"
"Ah, really? I don't really remember."
Sun Qian let out a laugh.
"How do you not remember being part of the first thousand players?"
"Didn't play much, I guess?"
And his words weren't empty. Both Sun Qian and Zhao Lusi blinked when they noticed his level was only 63.
The current level cap in Legacy Online was 80. Most competitive players were around the mid-to-high 70s, with level 60 being the bare minimum required to enter official tournaments.
For someone with a founding batch account, Yu Jin's level was surprisingly low.
The game had launched seven years ago. To still be at level 63 after all that time clearly meant he hadn't played consistently, or, at the very least, hadn't participated in the kinds of quests, dailies, or seasonal events that handed out large amounts of EXP.
In comparison, both Sun Qian and Zhao Lusi were already in the 70s. Reaching level 80 was notoriously difficult. That was because every player aiming to reach the cap eventually had to leave their original server and transfer to the main server.
The separate servers simply didn't have enough content or experience gains to support progression beyond a certain point.
But functionally, Yu Jin was qualified to fight at their level.
But still... seeing a low-level founder account was something else.
There was a certain reverence to it, especially from newer players. It meant they'd been there from the start. Of course, since Yu Jin's account was an old one, he naturally played on the first server.
Zhao Lusi and Sun Qian, on the other hand, played on a different one. Normally, that meant they couldn't interact outside of neutral hubs. However, specific content like dungeon boss raids were hosted on a separate cross-server instance.
That's how they could all raid together despite the server split.
But if they ever wanted to explore the open world together, they'd have to log into the Legacy Server, a specialized server where players from every server gathered.
In that server, everything was multiplied. From enemy health, damage, AI difficulty, each and every feature would triple across the board. But so were the drops.
The rewards were massive, but it was also notoriously brutal. Only the elite dared to step foot inside.
Anyone under level 60? It wasn't even recommended.
Once the entire party was gathered, overlapping voices filled Yu Jin's headphones.
This particular boss raid required a minimum of six people. They had five now, including Yu Jin, though the others weren't physically present at the cafe.
[All players ready.]
[Instance: Duke Leviathan – Difficulty: Extreme]
[Entering dungeon…]
The screen faded to black as the loading screen began.