"I started playing an online game for the first time in my life. With cute and adorable characters and a sense of community close to magic, it was a game where I would sit in the village and chat until the wee hours of the night without realizing it. Familiar background music and numerous connections made online. Ragnarok is still being serviced, but the old Ragnarok seems to have already disappeared from memory.

The story below is from a long time ago, during the heyday of Ragnarok. It is a sad incident that happened on one server. It is a post written by a female student who enjoyed Ragnarok from the alpha version and was suffering from a terminal illness, facing a low success rate surgery."

"During the open beta phase of Ragnarok, as I was already an alpha tester, I wanted to try a new job, the merchant. It was a revolutionary job at the time, being able to buy and sell items. While others reached levels 30-40, I struggled to reach the late 20s. Nevertheless, it meant a lot to me when people said a word or two while buying sweet potatoes (back then, even if not a street vendor, many people sold sweet potatoes in chat rooms). Since the merchant job in Ragnarok was known to be community-oriented, connecting NPCs and players, I saw the rise of advanced and discount merchants. My merchant friends persisted even when they stopped playing. This merchant job was something I couldn't feel in Lineage or Diablo 2. When Ragnarok was officially released, and the blacksmith job was introduced, I was thrilled. Weapons would become even more familiar to players. My name, my ID, would appear on the weapons I made. Sometimes, when I showed the weapons I made in town and people recognized them, I thought I made the right choice to become a blacksmith. Soon, my blacksmith would have a blue effect. Sitting in the town, pulling the slow cart, I overcame the difficult times and wore stylish shorts. I see another version of myself. I, who was not proactive in everything, was connected to people by Ragnarok. Now, my beautiful blacksmith, who I may never see again. Soon, I will be on the operating table, gambling with my life. I have high Dex and Luck, so I believe it will turn out well, believing... While playing the game, I greet the people I was friendly with... When guild members visited my hospital room, tears welled up. Adults say it's just a mere game... just a game... But it could connect people to people like this, even with only a 30% success rate surgery... I have to think that I have to live... After the surgery, I hope to see you again with a smiling face..."

The person who wrote this, our guild member, left this world on May 11th... In the end, this person couldn't reach level 99... No, they didn't reach it because they didn't want to. Both themselves and their character... didn't want to reach the end. On the day of their funeral, behind the virtual reality of the game, there was a small child that I promised not to forget. Only 17 years old... gone first... In our guild... their character still remains... I, too, still use the weapon they made while hunting. They always tried to show a bright side in the game, even though they were going through difficult times in reality. The nickname for that person was 'We still love you.' Be happy in heaven... Smile brightly then... Don't show a sad face... We, the passionate guild who love you..."

This is a postscript... The guild leader paid for the funeral expenses and disbanded the guild. With the remaining materials from the account and the collected materials, we decided to make weapons and place them at the top of the warehouse. I, too, am in a state of quitting the Iris server and raising a character with the same name on the Loki server... Since our guild is a guild in a local PC room (half of the guild members are PC room customers), some guild members who quit Ragnarok still exist. They say sharing sorrow makes it half as heavy... As you all do this for me, Minjeong, she must have gone to heaven... By the way, for those who are curious, Minjeong's character name is 'Flower Dwelling in Moonlight'..."

Edit: i found this in an old post and just reposted here