Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Gang Jaegyung]
I'm embarrassed they're fighting because of me ㅇ//ㅇ 15:12
Jesus. Here we go again.

[Me]
Go respawn.
I'm heading to Base 45. 15:12
[Gang Jaegyung]
Did that upset you?
Sounded... kinda harsh. 15:12
The way he looked like he was worried made me laugh. Over something like this, really?

[Me]
It's fine.
If he reports me, whatever. 15:12
[Gang Jaegyung]
Then why'd you step in?
I could've taken care of it on my own. 15:12
Yeah, right.

[Me]
Not even close.
Go start your stream already. 15:13
[Gang Jaegyung]
(emoji) 15:13
It was a cute rabbit character puffing out its cheeks. When did he even buy and start using this stuff?

I put down my phone—no more messages were coming in—and turned my attention back to the monitor. The idiot who'd been spewing nothing but profanity while I was messaging had clearly run out of things to say and was now grumbling to himself about seeing me later or whatever before walking off.
Gang Jaegyung vanished to respawn after the guy left. I watched him disappear and placed both hands on the keyboard.
[Whisper] Honeybread >> Assassination1212: Hey
[Whisper] Honeybread >> Assassination1212: You there?

It didn’t take long for a reply to come in.
[Whisper] Assassination1212 >> Honeybread: Yes, sir, I’m here.
[Whisper] Honeybread >> Assassination1212: Serve Generously but Take Little. I’m probably getting suspended soon, so just feed him hell until then.

[Whisper] Assassination1212 >> Honeybread: Serve Generously but Take Little — that’s the guy, right?
[Whisper] Honeybread >> Assassination1212: Yep.
[Whisper] Honeybread >> Assassination1212: Once he disappears, I’ll check how many times you got him and pay accordingly.
[Whisper] Assassination1212 >> Honeybread: Got it! You can count on me. ^^

[Whisper] Honeybread >> Assassination1212: Always do. Haha.
[Whisper] Assassination1212 >> Honeybread: Your trust gives me strength, boss.
He was connected to one of the assassin guilds ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) from the Silver-Fox Tribe. In a massive game like Dusk, there were all kinds of concept guilds, but since PvP stirred up emotions easily, assassination guilds were especially common.
Keeping lines open with a skilled assassination guild made everything a whole lot smoother. As I wished “Serve Generously but Take Little” an insincere rest in peace, I messaged Nangman-nim.
[Guild] Honeybread: Heading to 45 now.
[Guild] RomanticCat: You report him yet?
[Guild] Honeybread: I’ll do that later.
[Guild] Honeybread: I put out a hit instead lol
[Guild] RomanticCat: Ah LMAOOOO
[Guild] RomanticCat: Classic you.

With the chaos at Base 44 behind me, I sprinted back to Base 45 to finish collecting the last of the Moonroot. The campfire I’d set up there had long since disappeared during the scuffle with that idiot, and now a few players from the Silver-Fox and Via tribes were bickering nearby—probably soloing or gathering. As always, we jumped into the fray, wiped out the enemies, and secured the Moonroot.
After gathering one, I moved on, only to hear fighting not far off. Curious if the brawl would spill over and disrupt my gathering, I glanced around to check what was happening—only to spot Gang Jaegyung among those fighting. So he had come back to Base 45 like he said, and must’ve gotten dragged into a fight on the way.
I crept closer, just to see how far he’d come.

He was executing combos exactly the way I’d taught him, canceling block animations cleanly. Not bad. Based on that alone, he looked like a mid-tier player—officer or maybe squad leader level. If he practiced sticking close to ranged enemies and learned to kite properly in melee range to interrupt enemy combos, he could probably hit Commander rank without too much trouble. Not easy, though. We’ll see.
Oblivious to my presence, Gang Jaegyung was fully focused and managed to take down a Destroyer-class assassin with officer rank without much trouble. Not bad, considering it was his first time fighting that class.
Half his HP gone, he popped a potion and then finally noticed me. He came over—not like he was looking for a fight.

[Public] Retaking a Class: 6 ^0^)9!!!
An emote popped up above Gang Jaegyung’s character. What was that supposed to be? A 6 and 9… arms maybe? A flexing pose? “I’m strong,” or something like that? Given the situation, that made sense. He’d just soloed an officer-class assassin.
[Public] Honeybread: ＼ ^-^)/

I sent an emote of my own, meant as praise. Gang Jaegyung started bouncing around happily. Guess he’s really into playing Holy Knight. It is a fun class. Soloing is tough, but in a party, it's valuable enough that people pay for PvP support.
Still, it'd be a pain if he gave up being a Harmonizer... I might be getting ahead of myself, but yeah, that’d be bad. I’m the top Holy Knight, but no one else plays Harmonizer as well as he does. For the sake of both the game and my own fun, I needed him to stay a Harmonizer.
I made a firm decision to make him want to go back to playing Harmonizer.

[Guild] RomanticCat: Done!
[Guild] RomanticCat: Thanks, Honeybread~ I finished collecting everything I needed for the flowerpots.
[Guild] Honeybread: Oh, you’re done?
[Guild] Honeybread: Nice nice.
[Guild] RomanticCat: Lemme know if you need any food ^^~
[Guild] Honeybread: Will do hehe
Right on cue, RomanticCat finished her gathering. I opened the map to teleport back to base and switch jobs. As my character glowed with a blue aura during the teleport cast, Gang Jaegyung leapt in surprise.
Then he slapped me with a basic attack and canceled my teleport.

[Public] Retaking a Class: ???????????
Guess that meant, “Where do you think you’re going, leaving me behind?” I calmly scanned the keyboard for a string of symbols that could convey my thoughts.
[Public] Honeybread: 7 | < |- 2=|

Wait for me. He’d get it, right?
As I began casting teleport again, Gang Jaegyung didn’t try to stop me this time—he just sent a crying “8-8” emote. Was this how dog owners felt when they left for work in the morning? I suddenly felt weirdly guilty.
I’ll just go change clothes. Wait for me. I muttered to myself.

As soon as I arrived at the base, I rushed over to the weapons depot. I talked to the Silver-Fox Tribe NPC guarding the armory and selected the research manual and quill—swapping from Holy Knight to Harmonizer. It’d been about a year since I last leveled this class, back when I studied it to learn how to counter Gang Jaegyung. Basically a dusty storage class.
I pulled out the PvP-exclusive gear I’d pre-exchanged using spare equipment stones and suited up. I'd even used leftover enhancement stones on all my backup gear, and today it finally paid off. Aside from the accessories, everything was shining at +12—just looking at it made me feel full.
My character's outfit also changed from heavy armor to the light, flowing Grand Commander uniform. Visually, it was way sleeker now.

As I paused to admire the updated look, a nearby player suddenly stopped in their tracks.
[Public] Shinha: Aren’t you Honeybread?
[Public] Honeybread: That’s me~

I replied, and soon enough, a small crowd started forming. I’d already drawn attention thanks to Retaking a Class, but after playing in the Arena at the offline event, the attention had multiplied to an annoying degree.
[Public] Shinha: Why are you holding a Harmonizer?
Ah, must’ve looked odd with my current outfit.

[Public] Honeybread: Just for a change of pace~
[Public] Shinha: You going out to the field with that?
[Public] Honeybread: Yep.
[Public] Shinha: Huh? Why???
Like it’s your business. I swallowed my irritation. Sure, it was weird for a top commander to bring a backup class into the field—basically asking to be fed to the enemy. So I guess it was fair for people to be curious.
I was debating whether to explain or just rip up the teleport scroll when someone else suddenly chimed in.

[Public] MangoTastesGood: Isn’t it ‘cause Retaking a Class picked up Holy Knight today?
How the hell did that get out? Who spread it so fast? Or does literally everyone on Server 3 just AFK in cities all day watching Gang Jaegyung’s streams?
[Public] Shinha: Ah... got it.
[Public] Shinha: Are you good at Harmonizer?
[Public] Honeybread: I know the basics.
[Public] Shinha: Just the basics?

[Public] Honeybread: Yep.
Shinha went quiet for a second. Then, suddenly, a new message popped up—not in public chat, but in the race-wide channel normally filled with PvP support requests.
[Race] Shinha: Urgently recruiting escorts for Lord Honeybread

[Public] Honeybread: ?
The hell is that supposed to mean?