After that, I took Kang Jegyeong with me to the edge of the land. Beyond it stretched an endless sea, and far off in the distance was a large island. That island was the residential complex where users built their houses and lived.Once we arrived at the water’s edge, a notification sound rang out indicating that flying was now available. We both spread our wings and began flying toward the island.Since the doping effect I had used to bring Kang Jegyeong this far was about to expire, I reapplied it to increase our movement speed. It was a bit disappointing that flight didn’t have a sprint function, so you couldn’t fly any faster, but while I listened to Kang Jegyeong cheerfully chattering with excitement, we made it to the housing district in no time.Even then, we didn’t stop flying and continued on toward where my guild house was located. Running with a land-based sprint was faster, but flying seemed less conspicuous.The guild house was situated right in front of the largest plaza at the center of the island. Since this was the only housing district, the competition never decreased—if anything, it only got fiercer. So getting a wide-open spot like that was an incredible stroke of luck.As we flew toward the guild house, I glanced down below. Even as Kang Jegyeong passed by, the characters didn’t budge, which probably meant everyone was AFK or not looking at the minimap. And anyway, most people would be out in the field at this hour, so hardly anyone was around. There were maybe two people selling food or crafting materials at home to avoid fees, but they either hadn’t seen us or just hadn’t reacted—things seemed quiet so far.Eventually, we reached the plaza with a huge statue erected in its center. That area, too, was completely deserted.“The Bia Tribe housing area is just the same as the Bia Tribe region. It feels a bit livelier, but…”Kang Jegyeong mumbled a simple impression. Told you, there’s nothing special.I subtly adjusted my direction and lowered altitude, flying straight ahead. There stood a three-story building painted all white for a modern look, its roof boldly ripped off.“This the place?”“Yeah.”On the overgrown yard where nothing had been planted, Nangman-nim sat quietly gripping a crafting station. Judging by the look of it, he must’ve been AFK or had the game window minimized to do something else.I’d wanted to show off that I brought Jaesugang, but oh well. Since there was nothing to be done, I pushed aside my disappointment and approached the front door to bring Kang Jegyeong inside.Meanwhile, Kang Jegyeong spun around in the sky, chattering about how it looked like a modern building and how pretty it was. Maybe he liked this kind of architecture, or maybe he was just buttering me up because it was my guild house—I couldn’t tell. Or perhaps, since styles like this had gone out of fashion in Dusk long ago, it felt novel to someone like him who started playing only a year ago…“Nothing planted in the yard?”After finishing his inspection of the exterior walls, Kang Jegyeong came down and asked. One of the reasons people did housing was to plant trees or cultivate crops, so most would at least plant a standard honey-blossom tree and then grow whatever they needed or could profit from.Not us, though.“No one here’s really interested in that stuff.”“Still, not even one tree? Trees grow on their own without needing constant watering…”Grumbling a lot for someone who wasn’t going to take care of it. I cut him off with a “that’s enough” and told him to come to the front door.Once he obediently came over and stood at the entrance beside me, I scoured the game interface looking for the housing management button. Technically the house was under my name since it was a guild house, but we’d left the management entirely to Nangman-nim, so I couldn’t even remember where anything was. Just finding the button was a struggle.After finally pulling up the housing management window, I clicked on interior management. My eyes darted around trying to find the function I needed, but I just couldn’t see it.Maybe it was under a different category? I tried clicking on every tab—exterior management, yard management, facility management—you name it, but what I wanted wasn’t there.Kang Jegyeong, being an enemy race, couldn’t use the interaction to open the door… which meant we had to remove the door altogether. But I had no idea where to do that.If I’d ever done housing myself, I might’ve had some clue, but I was completely drawing a blank. I even tried removing a wall via exterior management, but the system stopped me, saying I couldn’t apply exterior changes while the wall was removed.Sigh… I wanted to let Kang Jegyeong in through proper means. But the inflexible system wouldn’t allow it.No helping it.“Hey.”“Yes?”“Break the door.”I could already picture Nangman-nim freaking out, yelling that the thing was made of expensive materials and the repair cost would be no joke. Sorry, Nangman-nim. I’ll cover the repair. That’s fair, right?“Are you sure?”“I can’t figure out how to remove the door. Just break it.”That’s what durability on ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ housing items is for anyway. When else would these things ever get destroyed?Since I said it so matter-of-factly, Kang Jegyeong didn’t hesitate. He switched from the Harmony stance he always used to the Executioner stance. We weren’t fighting each other, and hitting the door as an Executioner would be way faster than as a Harmonist.Switching stances put all his skills on a 10-second cooldown, and as soon as that ended, Kang Jegyeong began pounding the front door. Some of the attacks were AoE, so I got splashed with DoT too, but it wasn’t painful enough to kill me, so I just stood my character there.The glowing skill animations from the military doctor’s spellbook flashed brightly as pages spilled out. Executioners really did have even more DoT skills than Harmonists—which was already a lot—and the effects were flashier too, making them look more lethal. It’s not that Harmonist effects were weak, but Executioner ones just looked like they could kill.I leaned toward Kang Jegyeong and rested my head on his forearm, watching him use his skills from that position. He usually played as a Harmonist, so when did he even practice Executioner? His keystrokes were just as sharp as when he played Harmonist. Or maybe he was just mashing randomly. But this was Kang Jegyeong—we both knew he wouldn’t do that.While I comfortably leaned on him and admired the popping effects and deft fingerwork, I started to notice his hands slowing down. The durability must be almost gone, so why the slowdown? Wasn’t he trying to break it fast?“What are you doing?”“…Huh?”When I called out to him and he replied a beat late while looking at me, I knew for sure—he’d zoned out.“Your fingers were getting sluggish.”“Ah… no, it’s nothing. My fingers just hurt a little…”He turned back to the monitor and continued attacking the door, but that rapid-fire skill spamming from earlier was long gone. Even after regaining focus, his fingers were sluggish.From the way he reacted when I called him, it was either zoning out or being lost in thought. But then again, if it was either of those, Kang Jegyeong was the type to blurt it out honestly—“I was zoning out,” or “I was thinking about something for a sec.” That made it more suspicious. Though to be fair, even I had off days when my fingers felt stiff. No reason Kang Jegyeong wouldn’t.Still leaning on his forearm, I pondered, and then a pleasant voice spoke above my head.“…Hey.”“Yeah?”I stopped thinking and watched him attack the door again, waiting for what came next. After some hesitant fumbling—uncharacteristically for him—Kang Jegyeong finally continued.“Um… well… viruses, you know, they live by parasitizing living cells, right?”“Yeah.”“Then shouldn’t the military doctor’s virus skills not work on inanimate objects like buildings or doors?”…Must’ve been pretty bored hitting the door. What a random thought. Not that I disliked it—actually, it was kind of funny and curious, so I chuckled softly. Maybe that made me shake a little, because I felt Kang Jegyeong briefly glance my way.“…I always participated in sieges as a Harmonist, so I’ve never hit a castle wall before. That’s probably why I never noticed how weird the virus skill is. But hitting the door now, it just struck me as odd.”“It is weird. Kinda sloppy realism for Dusk. But imagine the military doctor sitting there sucking their thumb while everyone else pounds the walls. That’d look even weirder. Not to mention balance issues.”“Mm, that’s true.”If that’s the reason, it’s a little disappointing… Kang Jegyeong murmured softly. It didn’t really sound like disappointment, though.Still smiling faintly, I blurted out an unfiltered thought.“Or maybe in Dusk, even this stuff counts as a living organism…”“How is this a living organism?”His incredulous tone made me feel a little mischievous.“Come on. We raise these with lots of money. Doesn’t that count?”“They don’t have biological functions.”“What’re you talking about—they breathe through air vents, drink rainwater, grow mold, get injured, even leave scars. And they open their doors for me when I come home.”Even I found that ridiculous, but I insisted stubbornly, lifting my head to glare at him. He must’ve had enough, because he gently but firmly guided my head back onto his forearm with his non-keyboard hand.“Just stay like that.”“What, are you saying what I said makes no sense?”“I didn’t tell you to shut up.”While I bantered with Kang Jegyeong, a crashing sound came through the computer speakers. The door, whose durability had been fully depleted, had broken. Beyond it, the inside of our guild house lay completely exposed.I lifted my head and straightened my posture. Though Kang Jegyeong’s body temperature seemed low, I must’ve picked up some warmth while leaning on his arm—because now that I pulled away, the air conditioning brushed against my head and made it feel chilly.“Let’s go in.”I brushed my chilled hair lightly and looked at Kang Jegyeong. I thought he’d be all excited to explore the guild house, but for some reason, his expression was odd.“…What?”“No, it’s nothing. Let’s go.”When I asked, feeling oddly unsettled, Kang Jegyeong just smiled like usual and replied like it was truly nothing. Did I imagine it? It wasn’t a particularly strange expression—just a bit wistful. He stared at me with that face long enough that I thought he might say something.But I quickly forgot about that expression and entered the guild house ahead of him. Once inside, the game loaded the map and displayed a loading screen, which also popped up on Kang Jegyeong’s monitor as he followed me in.Now then. What was there to show off in our guild house?As I waited for the loading to finish, I tried to recall things worth explaining to Kang Jegyeong.

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