Can't Control Be Bought With Money? 15 - Hyacinth in Bloom

Chapter 15

[SN: Have you been practicing the next dungeon alone?]

[Girmu: Ah…]

This doesn’t seem right. As soon as he saw Girmu’s response, Shin Wooseok tried to change the subject.

[Girmu: That’s not it, but I’ll go practice now hehe;]

[SN: No, I’ll join you when I get in]

[Girmu: No, I’ll be practicing, so take your time coming]

[SN: I didn’t mean for you to go practice]

This time there was no read receipt. He really disappeared like the wind.

Shin Wooseok’s fingers wandered aimlessly over the touchpad before finally sending a message saying “I’ll be there soon” and pressing the back button. Of course, it was a message the other person wouldn’t check.

“What’s with that stood-up expression?”

Park Sunha asked with an interested look as Shin Wooseok left the changing room with his belongings.

“What do you mean stood up.”

“Did you get a lover?”

“Give me a break.”

After responding cynically, Shin Wooseok left the café without lingering. Then he took out the phone he had briefly put in his pocket and checked the pending notifications one by one.

After a while, having checked the guild chat room, he stopped abruptly in the middle of the street.

“What is this?”

Even as people passed by him when he suddenly stopped, Shin Wooseok’s gaze remained fixed on the screen.

< Grace

Hong Ara/Tangerine

SaltySalt kkkkkkkkkk what did you dokkkkkkkkk (link)

Han Jiseok/Youngglory

SaltySalt, were you almost sent to the company board?^^;

Go Noa/BoatToBottle

kkkkkkkkkkkkkk you’ve been appearing on the board frequently yesterday and todaykkkkkkkk

Kim Gabin/Goyounghee

Omg I almost went to manipulate comments thinking you really went on the company board;

Hong Ara/Tangerine

Gabinie… even if SaltySalt is a mess, they’re still our guild memberTT

Kim Gabin/Goyounghee

I would have left a comment exposing SaltySalt’s terrible personality

Hong Ara/Tangerine

I knew you would^_^ But then it wouldn’t be manipulation?

Kim Gabin/Goyounghee

True*^^*

The link his guild members shared with roaring laughter connected to a post in the <SOG> free board. The post’s author was SaltySalt, themselves, and the first issue was that the title was “Letter of Apology.”

[General] SaltySalt: I have committed a mortal sinT_T

[General] SaltySalt: I will never sass Girmu-nim again

[General] SaltySalt: I swear absolute obedienceTTTT

The second issue was that a screenshot was attached showing SaltySalt completely flattened, kneeling in front of Girmu and begging. And the final, third issue was discovered when Shin Wooseok narrowed his eyes and zoomed in on the screenshot.

“No way…”

In the screenshot, a golden effect indicating +15 enhancement or higher was swirling around the weapon Girmu was holding!

Shin Wooseok put his phone back in his pocket and ran toward the nearest PC bang. What on earth happened?!

Beside the blacksmith NPC, Girmu hammered the anvil. Bang! With each crisp sound, the gold in Girmu’s inventory disappeared rapidly.

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Honestly, at first I thought Sinu hyung had gone cr1zyㅇㅅㅇ;;

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Coming back from the military without a word and then doing things he’d never done before…

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Has this guy completely lost his mind????? I’m sure many others suspected it too, not just me

The character sitting across from Girmu was SaltySalt disguised as MakeAWishBuang. They had formed a party to chat comfortably and honestly using party chat, but SaltySalt occasionally wondered if Girmu was actually focusing on their story.

Girmu hammered the anvil once more. Bang! After the sound, light burst above his head like fireworks exploding, and the character cheered. It was the effect that appeared when enhancement was successful.

After failing twice and succeeding just now, what enhancement level would it be? As SaltySalt was pondering, Girmu responded.

[Party] Girmu: Is that part of what I need to hear?

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: To see the big picture, you need to know the small details firstㅇㅅㅇ

[Party] Girmu: Ah, I see… but I feel uncomfortable hearing gossip? about someone who isn’t herehehe

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Gossip? Nononononono this doesn’t even qualify as gossip compared to Sinu hyung’s personalitykkkkkkk You’re so innocentㅇㅅㅠ

Though SaltySalt replied as if it was funny, they inwardly adjusted their perception of Girmu a bit higher. This person might be quite decent? And indeed, it wasn’t easy.

[Party] Girmu: Anyway, SaltySalt-nim has something else to tell mehehe

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Hmm… the beginning is Sinu hyung’s usual personality, but the point is that he did >>>things he never does<<< get it?ㅇㅅㅇ+

Girmu didn’t answer and hammered the anvil again with a Bang! This time, there was a cracking sound, and Girmu showed frustration. Failure. It was the motion when enhancement level decreases. That’s not easy either!

Anyway, what SaltySalt needed to do was explain… no, not explain, but rather provide a description of what they considered to be perfectly legitimate circumstances by their own highly personal standards.

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Even when someone’s acquaintance who just reached max level joins the guild, he usually just minds his own business, but what??? He’s even using his alt to hang around with someone

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: And he barely responds in guild chat? When asked if he’s coming back, he says not yet, but behind our backs he was playing around. When our guild member witnessed that, can you imagine how the guild was flipped upside down???

[Party] Girmu: This still sounds like gossip about Sinu-nim though…?

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Still, we reasonably concluded that you might be a friend or acquaintance, which wasn’t impossible… if you were his acquaintance, he might take care of you a little?? But when we tested through guild chat, that wasn’t the case?? So what’s left?? Only one thing

Girmu’s brief objection couldn’t stop the excited SaltySalt.

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: He was trying to have an online romance behind our backs!ㅇㅅㅇ

Crack, Girmu’s weapon was once again enveloped in gray. A speech bubble appeared above Girmu’s despairing head.

[Party] Girmu: ?

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: ? Don’t tell me it broke??

[Party] Girmu: No, that’s not it… online romance?

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: You know those people who come back from the military a bit twisted… like beasts mad with desire

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Panting even through online chats, oh that sounds gross when I say it like thatㅇㅅㅇ;

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Anyway, that’s why we wondered if he lost his mind after coming back from the military

SaltySalt continued talking relentlessly in front of the speechless Girmu.

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: But since he and our guild have some famekkk there have been people trying to get a piece of our success for a while. We were worried he might have fallen for one of those people with his mind clouded after coming back

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Once there was someone pretending to be a newbie who kept bothering us and himkkk

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Both me and our guild members felt sorry for that b*stard being treated coldly by Sinu hyung all the time, and thinking we should take care of a newbie, we were nice to them, but then we were seriously betrayedkkkk

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: That b*stard was in the wrong, but we were the ones being mocked, it was a total mess^ㅅ^

Whatever it was, it was incomprehensible to Girmu. After spewing all that nonsense, SaltySalt threw a bomb that made all their careful build-up of the story seem pointless.

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: So I thought maybe Girmu-nim approached us by pretending to be someone else like those guysㅇㅅㅇ It was a reasonable suspicion

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Are you deliberately acting like a newbie to get Sinu hyung’s attention? That would be kinda boringkk I thought that too, and yes, I did test you yesterday

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Well, I’m not completely convinced even nowkk anyway, be carefulㅇㅅㅇ+ I’m watching you??

After saying these horrible and rude things so casually, SaltySalt seemed relieved. It was natural since they had planned to openly pressure Girmu while pretending to reveal their true thoughts from the beginning.

At that moment, the silent Girmu cleaned up the anvil and started moving.

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: ㅇㅅㅇ? Where are you going????

[Party] Girmu: I used all my enhancement stones, so I’m going to buy more

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Huh? What enhancement level are you at now?

[Party] Girmu: +11

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: ????? You’ve enhanced your equipment to +11?

Is this person’s hobby wasting money? SaltySalt thought briefly before deciding it didn’t matter. They weren’t acquainted, and it was someone else’s enhancement anyway. Whether it failed or succeeded, it was just entertaining to watch, so they didn’t care.

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: How many do you need?

[Party] Girmu: I think I’ll need a lot

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: Then shall I connect you with someone I know?

[Party] Girmu: That would be great

SaltySalt quickly sent a whisper to someone, and soon a user appeared in the map where only the two characters had been.

[General] MakeAWishBuang: This is the person, Girmu-nim

[General] Capitalism: OK

Girmu and Capitalism were quiet as the trade proceeded. Then after a short while, a chat appeared.

[General] Capitalism: I’ll get the rest from the guild storage

[General] Girmu: OK, I’ll also deposit some in storage and come back

[General] MakeAWishBuang: ?

For a moment, SaltySalt didn’t understand the flow of this conversation.

Capitalism, famous as a merchant on the server since the early days of the game, dealt in large quantities of enhancement stones, one of his main sources of income. One might suspect that most of his inventory was filled with enhancement stones, as no one had ever seen his supply diminish.

But for him to need to visit the guild storage after just one trade…?

[Party] MakeAWishBuang: How many did you buy??

[Party] Girmu: I just think I’ll need to keep using them for a while