Chapter 56
SaltySalt hadn’t just been passively enduring it; he had been actively collecting evidence thinking of the future. Beodeul, who had just realized this, let out an exclamation bordering on a sigh.
“Ah…”
“So I just told Youngglory Hyung not to worry about it and posted the original screenshots directly on the public chat. My timing was pretty good, since the Baram Guild master was under suspicion of account sharing at that time, so the server was in chaos. When the story about a Baram guild member trying to pull rank and play politics appeared on public chat, it spread like wildfire.”
SaltySalt’s tone was as calm as if he were describing a fire he was watching from across a river. It was hard to believe he was the one who had thrown in the kindling.
“The Baram Guild initially became famous because their guild master was ranked #1, and it grew even bigger as other rankers joined. But if the guild master falls from grace due to account sharing, the guild would collapse in an instant, right?”
“It was a time when Baram Guild’s image was plummeting, so the public opinion naturally shifted to my side without me having to do much. Afterward, that party leader guy got thoroughly cursed out and quit, and I received guild invitations.”
Since it was around the time Grace should have been founded, Beodeul asked without much thought:
“Was that guild Grace?”
“Yes. After Baram Guild disbanded, several spin-off guilds were formed, and Grace was one of them. The first guild master wasn’t Youngglory Hyung but Muhan Hyung, who was ranked 5th at that time. I heard they were real-life friends. But a few months later, when Muhan Hyung got married and quit, Youngglory Hyung became the guild master.”
“I see. So Youngglory-nim is concerned about you because of what happened in that party?”
“No. It’s more likely because I was ostracized within Grace. He was the one who first invited me to join the guild, so he probably felt responsible.”
“Within Grace…?”
“Yes. But not everyone was involved. There were a lot of guild members at that time because they were absorbing former Baram Guild members. It was mainly a few officers who came from Baram that targeted me.”
SaltySalt, who had been speaking matter-of-factly, soon muttered something that sounded like self-blame.
“I was a bit… careless. I had let my guard down too much. Things were going so smoothly that I easily dropped my guard.”
Before Beodeul could say anything, Sinu spoke in a casual tone, repeating what he had said earlier.
“You’re getting sidetracked again.”
“Huh? Oh, right. So… what was I trying to say?”
As SaltySalt momentarily lost his train of thought, Beodeul calmly reassured him.
“Take your time, you can speak when you’ve organized your thoughts.”
“…Okay. Ah, this kind of thing gets awkward if you pause while telling it.”
“You think some more. I’ll talk in the meantime.”
“About what? My story?”
“No. My story.”
Since Sinu had maintained the position of a listener who knew all the inside details until now, Beodeul found his intervention strange.
‘Is he perhaps trying to buy time for SaltySalt to collect his thoughts?’
In the end, Beodeul’s guess was correct. But he couldn’t have anticipated what would come out of Sinu’s mouth next.
“I was also bullied in Baram.”
“What?”
“It was like taking sides, that sort of thing. As SaltySalt said, the Baram Guild master was ranked #1 at that time, and I was #2.”
“Don’t tell me that the guild master…”
“Yes. He often made passive-aggressive remarks about me. Asking if I was sleeping while hunting, if I was attending school properly, saying that if my grades fell because of gaming, it would be hard to face my parents… If he had gone any further, he might have asked about my parents’ well-being.”
“…My goodness.”
“I thought, what does it matter when we’re both playing the game? It’s not like he needs to worry about my grades. And it was summer vacation. Well, if it had been genuine concern from an elder, I would have accepted it… but you know, right? You can usually tell what someone means by their tone.”
“That old guy was truly disgusting.”
“It would have been better if he had only said those things to my face… but he was more blatant behind my back, so everyone knew. He was clearly obsessed with me.”
“But did the Baram guild master know your age?”
“No. He just guessed. I neither confirmed nor denied it. But shouldn’t you be organizing your thoughts instead of listening to my story?”
“I can still hear you, what can I do?”
“…Anyway, he was like that even before I reached max level, and once I did and my ranking was fixed, I guess he really had it in for me. Whenever he saw me, it was ‘second place, second place’… People might have thought my nickname was ‘second place’. Since the guild master acted that way, the adult rankers who were close to him entrusted their egos to him and looked down on me a lot.”
“That’s truly disgusting, just as SaltySalt said…”
When Beodeul spoke sincerely, Sinu laughed briefly.
“Right? As for me, well, I wasn’t really affected by such things, so I just let it go. And it’s not like there weren’t any normal people in the guild, so I did complain about the guild master behind his back. Fortunately, Hwasan Hyung was in the same guild at that time.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“But you know, people experience things differently. In SaltySalt’s case, considering what happened in real life too, it makes sense that even though it was just in the game, it could remain as a trauma.”
It was clear that Sinu had brought up his own story to make this point. When Beodeul responded with “That’s right,” SaltySalt spoke up.
“Are you done with your story, Hyung?”
“Yeah. Now it’s your turn.”
“Okay. I’ve been thinking, and I should probably start with why I was bullied in middle school. I lived with my grandmother during elementary school. Then I went to a middle school in Seoul, but I was quite popular in elementary school? For being outgoing.”
“What’s this ‘popular for being outgoing’…”
“But that didn’t work in middle school. The atmosphere was so different that I was a bit taken aback. So, well… I was called attention-seeking and got isolated. If I had just kept being outgoing, I might have at least remained a character, but since I seemed to have suddenly lost confidence, maybe they saw me as an easy target~ Well, that’s what happened. That’s the background, but in Grace, it was a bit different.”
Beodeul noticed that the hesitation had disappeared from SaltySalt’s voice and listened quietly.
“I had taken down that scheming party leader, earned the title of some named player’s nemesis, and received an invitation to join what looked like a future major guild… I was elated. It seemed like everything was finally working out, and everything would go well from then on.”
“Some named player…”
Ignoring Sinu’s ominous muttering, SaltySalt continued.
“As I mentioned, it was the early days of the guild, but there were so many people that even within the same guild, there were many people you didn’t know. So the atmosphere was limited to hanging out with specific people, and I chose the wrong people to hang out with. Of all people, they were former Baram Guild officers…”
“What about Youngglory-nim?”
“Ah, I did receive the guild invitation from Youngglory Hyung, but he was also an officer, so he was super busy. And he didn’t invite me because we were particularly close. It was probably because he wanted to look after me because of what happened in the party. But after joining, there was no reason for him to take care of me, and the atmosphere was such that everyone made friends on their own… Though he still doesn’t seem to think that way?”
“Well, I guess not.”
“At that time, the Baram Guild officers had essentially been betrayed when their guild master was caught for account sharing. They portrayed themselves that way too. They were playing the victim, and I thought they were people who had been through hardship. I was in a state of euphoria where my judgment was a bit impaired.”
SaltySalt seemed to have spent a long time thinking and finding what he believed to be the cause, analyzing his past self, even though he was the victim.
“Those people were very welcoming to me at first, so after we became somewhat close, I talked about everything. Well, about being bullied and such. Looking back now, I think at that time I just wanted to confide in anyone I thought was trustworthy.”
“At first they comforted me, saying it was okay and that it would all pass quickly, which made me open up even more. But later, that became their ammunition. Sinu was the one who told me about it.”
“Sinu-nim?”
In response to Beodeul’s question, Sinu spoke as if he had been expecting his turn to come.
“I didn’t immediately cross over to Grace at that time; I was guildless. I was going around collecting evidence. The guy who always called me ‘second place, second place’ whenever he saw me turned out to be using account sharing, and the guys who clung to him were shamelessly playing the victim, which really pissed me off.”
“Hyung was actually upset about being second place.”
“Maybe. Well, while gathering evidence about their involvement and complicity in account sharing, SaltySalt’s case coincidentally fell into my hands. They were badmouthing him behind his back. I thought, what’s the point of telling someone who’s ridiculously being called my nemesis, but then I just told him anyway. As a way of saying he should cut ties quickly because those guys were about to be exposed.”
“What? I’m hearing this for the first time too?”
“Of course I didn’t tell you. Then I showed the evidence to the Grace officers as well and told them to make those guys leave. That’s how Youngglory Hyung found out about SaltySalt’s situation.”
“Ah…”
“Youngglory Hyung was completely furious at that time…”
“There were a lot of highly inappropriate remarks made toward a minor. After cutting out all the people involved, I joined, and that’s how we got to the Grace of today. In conclusion, there were no proper adults around either me or SaltySalt. The Baram Guild was trash.”
“That’s right.”
The conclusion of this long story was so heartbreaking. If SaltySalt had been severely shocked and traumatized, how much betrayal must he have felt from them?
“Honestly, I was just going to quit Grace and quit the game altogether at that time. The guys I had been calling ‘Hyung’ and following around were sexually harassing me using my voice behind my back and spreading rumors that I deserved to be bullied.”
“They sexually harassed you?”
“Yes. I was pre-puberty and my voice was quite high-pitched. They took that and-“
“Let’s not talk about such filthy things.”
“Um, okay. But those people would probably piss themselves if they heard my voice now.”
SaltySalt giggled as he wrapped up his story.
“Anyway, if it hadn’t been for Sinu Hyung, Hwasan Hyung, and Youngglory Hyung back then, I would have definitely quit. I had no idea they would actually come to meet me in person, when suddenly these dark men showed up in a group. I thought they were going to harvest my organs.”
“Ah, so the four of you actually met in person back then?”
“Yes. Now we often meet as five, including Baekdu Hyung. At first, it was because of me, but now it’s just to see each other’s faces occasionally?”
From Beodeul’s perspective, they had an ideal relationship, sharing and helping with problems both in-game and in real life. They were close enough to be considered real-life friends.
“After that incident, I just live quietly and appropriately in real life. In the game, I still act out in front of people I know. But I find it hard to do that with people I’m meeting for the first time. Girmu-nim, you also suffered because of me at first, didn’t you?”
“That’s right. Apologize properly to Girmu-nim again. That apology post wasn’t enough.”
“Huh… I mean, I’m sorry. I’m truly reflecting on it now.”
Hearing SaltySalt’s dejected voice, Beodeul repeatedly said it was okay. Then, returning to the original topic that led to this conversation, he asked:
“So SaltySalt-nim, do you still think it would be difficult with the new members? I shouldn’t say this myself, but maybe they could become good friends with you, just like I did.”
“Hmm. I’m not sure. If it were that easy, Youngglory Hyung wouldn’t have been bothering me about it all this time…”
“That’s probably true. But after hearing everything, I think I understand how Youngglory-nim feels.”
“What? That’s not it?”
“Haha… It’s not that there’s something wrong with you, but it’s sad that because of those X-like people, you doubt and give up on future relationships from the start. Since timing is also a factor in relationships.”
“No. W-what did you just say…?”
“…Girmu-nim?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
