"We did it!" Woo-jin exclaimed. Overlapping chatter and thunderous applause rang out the fortress gates. Seungwoo smiled as they had obtained their first territory in the game. From what he heard, there were many things you could do with the land. Construct walls, start a guild, craft buildings to access the game's mechanics, and tax the citizens. It was like creating your very own city-state. 

"Yes!" Zhang clamoured, "Fistbump." 

"Sweet," Woo-jin replied, lifting his hand, "What's next?"

"Breakfast, most likely," He chuckled, "We've been here for about eight hours."

"Good work, everyone!" Woo-jin congratulated everyone. He stood on top of a high pillar and projected his voice, "For anyone who is still here, you can access our Guild Hall once we build it. Otherwise, you can move and do whatever you feel like doing. We've accomplished what we wanted for today, so take a break, farm some more, or explore the land. We'll have breakfast in an hour or two, so we'll host breakfast on the rooftop. Come up for some drinks and food if you're feeling hungry!"

"What are you going to name the territory?" Seungwoo asked.

"Are you serious?" He raised his eyebrows, "We both know what the name will be."

"Alright, fair enough." 

As Seungwoo saw several players leave, he decided it was good to wait for the rest of his group to decide. Since he didn't know what to do, his best bet was to follow the lead of Woo-jin. If the group were going to wait, then he would as well. Eventually, they managed to craft their Town Hall using the gold they had leftover. Woo-jin needed several other resources, but they finally got it figured out. Seungwoo looked at his materials since he obtained several drops during the dungeon clear. Most of them were good items and enchanting material so he would be definitely using them.

About thirty minutes passed of exchanging items with other guildmates until Yoona and her group finished the dungeon. They took longer to clear than he did, but that must've meant something unexpected happened. He inspected them closely. They were in good shape, so nothing terrible must've happened, right?

"How's was the dungeon clear?" Woo-jin waved his hand, "You took longer than expected."

"Yeah, we found a secret boss," Aaron replied, "Didn't give too much trouble."

Secret boss?  

"Wait, how?" Seungwoo questioned. He was intrigued.

"There was a secret with the runes," Aaron said.

"Ah!" Si-Long replied, slapping her hands together, "I guessed as much. Did you get anything good?"

"Just a lot of gold," Aaron replied, "And this Skill Seed."

"Can I see?" Seungwoo asked.

"Sure."

"Cool," Seungwoo replied, "What's the secret?"

"To the dungeon?" Aaron scratched his chin, "So after you kill the boss, you have to re-check the libraries and activate their runes."

"Interesting," Seungwoo nodded, "I'll check it out later. Are you going to sell that Skill Seed?"

"Most likely," He nodded, "Unless one of our members will use it. I might put it up on the Guild Chat to see."

"Si-Long might be interested. She's a summoner."

"I'll tell her later, then."

Seungwoo grouped up with Yoona, which was talking to Woo-jin. They were in the middle of transferring ownership of the land, and once everything was figured out, they warped away without missing a beat. Zhang and Si-Long were already trading equipment, and Woo-jin was ready to log off to prepare the breakfast for everyone.

"You wanna join me?" Woo-jin asked.

"For breakfast?" 

"Of course," He replied, stretching his back.

"I still don't know if I want to take a break or keep grinding."

"Don't take things too quickly," Woo-jin replied, putting a hand on his shoulder, "No point in rushing this game this early on. It's a marathon, not a sprint."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean, there's enough content in this game to last several lifetimes. Rather than burning out by rushing as fast as possible every day, just set a schedule and pace yourself. We're bound to get ahead based on that fact alone. As more people get burnt out, we'll be going strong later down the stages of progression."

"Is that how that works?"

"Trust me," Woo-jin said, "The last thing you want to be doing is ruining your mental."

"Fair enough," He sighed, "Where did Aaron and Yoona go?" 

"Settling some things with the Alliance," He chuckled, "Some claim issues with other guilds require their help."

"Are they going to join us for breakfast?"

"Most likely not," He clicked, "Their schedules are more packed than ours since they're the backbone of our guild."

"Should we help them?" Seungwoo asked, concerned for their safety.

"Nah," He declined, "They got it handled. We didn't have much time to catch up on other news, so let's enjoy breakfast together and talk about what we've been up to recently. I'm excited to see you back into the fold. What made you decide to come?"

"Were you surprised?"

"Somewhat," He chuckled, "But I'm glad you're here."

"Thanks," Seungwoo replied.

Seungwoo sat on the rooftop of the Avalon guild headquarters with a fanciful dish in his hands. It was wagyu beef steak, with greens and assortments of vegetables on the side. He topped off the plate with mashed potatoes and gravy, and he got a Coca Cola can as his drink. After his talk with Woo-jin, they logged off and got their food. He said that we had to talk to some other members and would join him in a bit, so Seungwoo used the opportunity to find a place to sit.

He realised that a large portion of the Guild was already eating at circular marble set-up tables after peering around. There were only some unoccupied ones left, situated at the edge. Finding an empty seat, he sat down comfortably and looked at the gorgeous view. It was a perfect, sunny morning, and the clean air was always refreshing to him.

His stomach grumbled, almost as if it was telling him to dig into his food. He also had been eating junk food, primarily pizza for the last several days. It was a good palate change, so it felt like he was in heaven when he got his fork and knife and gulped down the food. Halfway through eating his food, Woo-jin decided to join him, sitting next to him with his chicken and steak with rice.

"Nice, isn't it?" Woo-jin looked down at the several other buildings, "The view."

"Yeah," Seungwoo nodded back, "The city feels alive. Hard to believe it was a dictatorship just a few centuries ago."

"A lot of things can change over the years," He smiled, sipping his wine, "More and more people have been introduced to gaming, and this is the perfect place to be a professional gamer. Just look at all the tournament arenas and Esports centres here. Our infrastructure currently beats most of the world in terms of fostering young talent."

"Why is that?" Seungwoo asked, "I always felt like Korea was ahead, but I couldn't exactly pinpoint why."

"Not too sure," He shrugged, "But I think we finally have a government that understands the value of gaming. Since most common jobs are being automated to robots anyways, I think more people are willing to invest in a virtual world."

"That can't be the only reason, right?"

"Why not?" He laid back, "We live our lives mostly digitally."

"I guess that could be true."

"The best part about good games is that they're fair," Woo-jin pointed out, "It matters not who you are or where you come from, the ones who have conviction are bound to be successful. I hear a lot of older folks are quitting their day job and coming in to relive their glory days. I also know that people from third world countries are alright farming for gold all day, just to make an honest living."

"I can sort of understand that."

"So, now brings me to my question," Woo-jin replied, "What made you come back?"

"What do you mean?"

"You got accepted into the most prestigious University this country has to offer," Woo-jin stated, "Yet when I sent a letter to you, you accepted without missing a beat. I knew you had a high chance of agreeing, but I didn't think it would be this fast." 

"Do you remember our old days, when we used to play duo together?"

"I do," He nodded.

"I forgot to tell you that I was doing bad in my studies. For some reason, I couldn't balance both. The allure of glory was too tempting, so I often skipped class or slept late to play games."

"Is that why you suddenly quit?"

"Not the only reason," He replied, "I thought that living a normal life and working a steady job was for me."

"Wasn't what you thought it was?"

"I just felt like I was... unfulfilled," He sighed, "I know it's a weird thing to say, but sometimes I wish I had just gone the route you did." 

"I get you completely," Woo-jin replied, finishing his drink, "You know, my family didn't support me going this route originally. They said that pro gamers were for prodigies, and I didn't seem like the one to tough it out till the end."

"They didn't believe in you?"

"Well, you know how it is," He replied, "They prefer the safe option, that's all they've known."

"It seemed like you proved them wrong," Seungwoo replied.

"I did, but I also learned of several things along the way," He replied, "As I met more and more prodigies and veterans, I realised that your individual personality played a huge part in a team. More so than I thought. I never really realized it when I played it with you but clashing with other members over pride was something that I wanted to avoid."

"You had bad experiences?"

"Yes," He sighed, his voice containing a tinge of regret, "Regardless of how much of a prodigy you are, it's quite hard to form meaningful relationships if you're a terrible human being. The clash of pride was just something that has been prevalent ever since I became a professional gamer."

"Is that why you invited me along?"

He nodded firmly, "You've always had a more knack for leadership than I did. It was sad to see you go, but I understood you had other things to deal with at the time. This time, however, can you promise me that you won't flake?"

"I thought about this a lot, too," He pondered, "I'm all in though, all the way."

"I want you to say it louder!" He pumped his chest in excitement, "Do you want to embark on this journey with me?"

"I'm in, all the way!" He yelled, raising both arms in the air.

"Alright, finish eating and once we get back into the game, follow my lead," Woo-jin stood up triumphantly, "I got some informants leading us towards some good spots to farm. We're hopefully going to hit the level cap for the first floor by the end of this week, and we're going to show everyone who's boss."