Can't Control Be Bought With Money? 18 - Hyacinth in Bloom

Chapter 18

[SN: Did you go]

[SN: to the dungeon practice well?]

This feels just like a middle school teacher asking if you did your homework. Even though he felt that sense of déjà vu, he didn’t wish to unsend the message he’d already sent.

While waiting for Girmu’s reply, Shin Wooseok opened MiTube to check his video’s view count. Even though he’d uploaded it just hours ago in the afternoon, it already had around 80,000 views. If just one of those 80,000 was from Girmu, then he would have achieved his purpose…

[Girmu: Ah I think I need to be with my guild members today]

[Girmu: I don’t think I can practice ㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

‘Ah, guild. Come to think of it, which guild was he in? Was it Dalkeum? But yesterday, didn’t he keep wanting to go to dungeon practice?’

During other dungeon runs yesterday, Girmu would leave to watch strategy videos on MiTube whenever there was a break. It was because he wanted to learn quickly, practice, and then go to the dungeon together.

So Shin Wooseok thought he would have gone straight to practice as soon as he logged in today… It was a bit unexpected that he was with his guild members. Could it be that he’d been socially excluded from his guild because of him?

‘That’s going too far.’

Shin Wooseok dismissed it casually, then joined the guild chat where they were forming parties for a field raid.

[Guild] Youngglory: There’s one spot open in party 2, who wants to join?

[Guild] Sinu: I’ll go today

[Guild] Shotgun: ?

[Guild] FreeMiumUser: ????

[Guild] Dodam: What’s up with you, Sinu?? You haven’t gone once since coming back;;

[Guild] Youngglory: Then Sinu joins party 1 and Shotgun goes to party 2^^

[Guild] Shotgun: Getting kicked out just like that ㅅ1ㅂr乙

[Guild] Goyounghee: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ living up to your name

Then I’ll just do some *guild activities today. Shin Wooseok accepted it and moved on, but at that time, he didn’t know. That after this, he would find it difficult to even run into Girmu.

Shin Wooseok stared intensely at his phone screen with his arms crossed.

“Hey, you idiot. You’re scaring customers away from ordering when you look that scary at the counter.”

Park Sunha, who had urgently pushed Shin Wooseok aside to take an order, lowered his voice to scold him. Still, Shin Wooseok remained silent. The way he kept staring at his phone made it seem like he was waiting for some contact.

“Did something happen?”

“No.”

“Bull. Look at yourself in the mirror. Your expression looks dead serious.”

Hmm, Shin Wooseok sighed and raised his head. His face still hadn’t relaxed as he looked around.

“Hey, just go home today. I’ll handle it alone. The boss won’t say anything, right?”

“It’s fine.”

“I’m not fine watching you.”

Shin Wooseok didn’t refuse twice. Seeing him immediately take off his apron and toss it, Park Sunha clicked his tongue, as if he’d expected this.

A while later, having changed out of his uniform without hesitation, Shin Wooseok spoke up.

“Hyung, what does it mean when someone you’ve been in regular contact with starts taking longer to respond?”

“Huh? Just suddenly with no warning?”

“Probably. They still respond, but the intervals are much longer.”

“Well, they could just be busy.”

As Park Sunha answered, he glanced at Shin Wooseok’s expression. Is this guy really dating someone? Or just a crush?

“Hey, how do they respond? I need to know that to tell.”

“Just like normal.”

This meant the person wasn’t giving any openings as usual, but Park Sunha interpreted it differently.

“Ah, then what are you worried about? They’re probably just busy. Don’t they tell you that?”

“No. They don’t really talk about themselves.”

Could this be unrequited love? Park Sunha was momentarily shocked. So even someone with a face like that experiences one-sided love… With looks that seem destined to only receive confessions his whole life, this guy.

“Don’t worry too much, hey. It’s probably nothing.”

“I’m just a bit concerned.”

Shin Wooseok spoke in a flat tone, but it sounded different to Park Sunha. What do you mean “a bit” concerned? Just looking at his thumb constantly fidgeting with the dark screen shows how much it’s bothering him.

“I’ll be going then.”

“Yeah, go on~”

Shin Wooseok left the café, not realizing that Park Sunha was looking at him with pity. He turned on his phone out of habit, and immediately noticed the quiet notification window from the voice chat app.

‘Must be very busy.’

Girmu had been slow to respond for three days. He logged into the game, but when sent a whisper, he usually replied that he was spending time with guild members, making it difficult to meet. Among those responses, the overwhelming majority seemed to be that he was helping someone.

Not only that, but the time it took him to check voice chat messages had also gotten a bit longer.

‘I can understand during the day since he said he doesn’t check while working.’

But what about when he’s logged into the game? What could be keeping him so busy that he can’t even check voice chat? Even postponing the dungeon practice he was so enthusiastic about.

[Girmu: I haven’t been able to properly practice the dungeon yet ㅠㅠ]

[SN: You can take your time ㅋㅋ]

Their conversation ended with last night’s message. Judging by the lack of a read receipt, it seemed he hadn’t even read the reply yet.

After leaving the café, finishing his workout, and returning home, Shin Wooseok turned on his computer and fell into thought. Instead of worrying alone like this, couldn’t he just ask directly?

[SN: Are you very busy these days?]

While waiting for the ‘read’ indicator to appear, his computer finished booting up. Just as Shin Wooseok logged into the <SOG> website and clicked the game start button, the ‘read’ indicator appeared on his message.

‘Oh.’

He thought there would be a reply soon since it was just read, but strangely, there was silence. Shin Wooseok became puzzled. It didn’t seem like he’d asked a difficult question.

The loading finished. As soon as he logged into <SOG>, greetings poured in from friend chats and guild chats as usual, but Shin Wooseok, seized by a strange intuition, opened the friends list first.

‘…Oh.’

Girmu was online. And there was still no reply on voice chat.

“Read and ignored?”

In truth, Shin Wooseok often read and ignored messages himself. Just not from the receiving end.

He repeatedly closed and opened the friends list, checking Girmu’s location multiple times. Not in a dungeon, but on a map at the boundary between some town and hunting ground. A place people rarely visit. Given that he wasn’t moving, he might be AFK. Or maybe not.

‘Surely, there’s no way, but… is he avoiding me?’

His character, Sinu, spun around in place a few times before moving to the center of town and taking the portal that led to the guild’s central castle.

[General] Dodam: hi

[General] Tangerine: hihi

Dodam and Tangerine, who were near the castle entrance, greeted him first. Seeing them on mounts, it seemed they had been having a race from one end of the map to the other.

[General] Sinu: hi

[General] Tangerine: ?

[General] Dodam: ?

[General] Tangerine: wow

[General] Dodam: wow

He had responded to their greetings when he was about to pass by, but only received boring reactions. Shin Wooseok ignored their open whispering in the general chat and moved his character deeper inside.

Perhaps because of the upcoming field raid, there were many guild members in the central castle.

[General] Sinu: Anyone have invisible cloaks

[General] Goyounghee: I do~

[General] SaltySalt: Where did the Sinu who used to call for the execution of invisible cloaks go?ㅇㅅㅇ

[General] Dodam: That was Sinu, but this is ㅅ1nu right now

[General] Tangerine: Agreed, seeing him greet us entering the castle, he must be ㅅ1nu

[General] SaltySalt: Wow, not just a dual personality theory but a doppelgänger theory?

SaltySalt, who had recently regained permission to enter the central castle, was running their mouth as usual today.

[General] SaltySalt: So why the invisible cloak?? Planning to stalk someone?

[General] Sinu: You shut up

[General] SaltySalt: ……

[General] Goyounghee: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Guild members scattered throughout the castle gathered slinking in like hyenas looking for entertainment, and soon it became bustling. Shin Wooseok played the role of the one sighing among them.

[General] Parody: Did you see the chaos at Ashen Palace because of Sinu?

[General] Shotgun: Yeah, I heard the number of public parties increased a lot ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[General] BoatToBottle: They said Ashen Palace will be similar to the next new dungeon, so they’re practicing in advance ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Amidst the laughing people, Sinu, who couldn’t laugh alone, quietly sent a whisper to someone.

[Whisper/Capitalism] Sinu: *Invis cloaks

[Whisper/Sinu] Capitalism: *How many?

[Whisper/Capitalism] Sinu: 100

[Whisper/Sinu] Capitalism: Coming soon

Without much wait, Capitalism appeared at the central castle entrance riding the “Vroom Vroom” mount.

Capitalism was one of the users who had free access to the central castle despite not being a Grace guild member. Operating a one-person guild with just his main and alt characters, Capitalism had permission from the guild master Youngglory to come and go, and was often in charge of filling the guild warehouse, also known as “supplying.”

[General] SaltySalt: Hi Mr. Capitalism

Capitalism didn’t answer and immediately initiated a trade with Sinu. When a bundle of 100 invisible cloaks appeared, Sinu put up the amount with a 2% VIP discount and completed the trade.

[General] Shotgun: No no, hi Vroom Vroom

As soon as the trade completion window appeared, the headlights of Capitalism’s mount “Vroom Vroom” flashed at a frightening speed. The guild members were delighted with Capitalism’s performance.

Why are they like that? To Shin Wooseok’s eyes, the guild members looked a bit like idiots.

[General] Sinu: thx

Since Capitalism’s delivery service always ended at ultra-high speed, everyone thought he would leave the castle without hesitation. But surprisingly, Capitalism didn’t leave and pointed his headlights at Sinu’s face.

*Guild activities: Guild activities.

*Invis cloaks: Invisible cloaks.

*How many: How many.