Chapter 50
The man’s gaze passed over Jin’s face and landed on the screen behind him. Only then did Jin realize that the newly created raw Saint character with the embarrassing nickname was fully exposed, and he hurriedly turned his chair around.
From behind, he heard a soft, “Haha.” Somehow that ticklish laugh made Jin’s face heat up. The cause was embarrassment and anger.
“Sinu… I’m going to kill him.”
To make him suffer such humiliation, unforgivable. As Jin internally ground his teeth, he entered the cash shop with a combative spirit. He thought he should first change this ugly default avatar.
He had completely forgotten that this was a character he would never log into again after today and began investing in “GodSaintClass9.”
“…What are you doing?”
When Wooseok returned to his seat, for some reason Jin was in despair, pulling at his hair. Jin lifted his head, glanced at the seat behind him, and muttered in a small voice.
“SOG, this garbage game, has finally made me cry…”
“What?”
Wooseok, who had been side-eyeing where Beodeul was sitting, was pulled by Jin and plopped down in his seat. After being somewhat forced to look at Jin’s character on the screen, he snorted with derision.
The excessively sparkling eyes, petty lips, and hair that looked like it had been eaten by mice were almost unbearable to look at.
Jin pushed away Wooseok’s shoulder as he tried to stifle his laughter and sighed. Indeed, there’s no hope for a random-chance garbage game like this. And even less hope for this garbage character.
“This is definitely a cursed character.”
“I honestly thought you were just going to delete it. Why did you suddenly go for plastic surgery? You did it yourself, right?”
“No, well…”
Jin tugged at his hair again and shifted his gaze to the back, causing Wooseok’s eyes to widen slightly. Unaware of this, Jin whispered as quietly as possible.
“That brown-haired guy sitting back there was being sold on the game by the black-haired guy next to him? But the brown-haired guy said that SOG was fun for him and that he wanted to play SOG. So I looked to see what kind of person he was, our eyes met, and he laughed at my Saint, so I just…”
Wooseok, who had been quietly listening to Jin’s story, finally curled up on the desk and started laughing silently. Jin’s face turned red again as he looked at Wooseok’s shaking back with disapproval.
“This is annoying. Now even you’re laughing at me.”
“You’re the one who made a sudden move, why are you getting mad at others? Honestly, it looked much better before you touched it.”
“I know that, okay?”
After spending quite a bit of energy laughing with the sound muted so it wouldn’t be heard by those in the back, Wooseok slowly raised his head but then froze. Beodeul was leaning his arm on the partition of his seat, looking down at him with a smile.
“Hi, Wooseok. Fancy seeing you here again?”
“*cough*…!”
“Whoa, what’s this?”
Jin’s eyes widened at the sight of Wooseok, who was startled just like he himself had been earlier. Despite knowing him for over five years now, he had never seen him this startled. Moreover, he knew that guy?
“Hi… *cough*! H-hello.”
“A-are you okay? Did I startle you too much?”
Wooseok waved his hand to indicate it wasn’t that, even as he continued to cough. Beodeul laughed, seeming a bit embarrassed.
“Sorry. I was just happy to see you… Oh? You play this game too?”
Wooseok choked even harder at Beodeul’s casual comment. Jin and Beodeul looked at each other in confusion, then awkwardly patted Wooseok’s back together.
“Um… should I bring you some water?”
“No… I’m fine, *cough*!”
“Hyung, he really doesn’t look fine.”
“Han Beodeul! Aren’t you coming? Let’s just go bowling instead.”
“Ah, just a moment!”
When it seemed like Beodeul might actually bring water, Wooseok grabbed his arm and said it was fine and he should go. It almost looked like he was begging.
“O-okay… Be sure to drink some water. See you next time.”
Only after Beodeul disappeared did Wooseok’s coughing stop. He looked as if he’d gone through an ordeal in just a few minutes, sliding down in his chair with his back against it.
“What was that…?”
Jin asked in bewilderment, but Wooseok didn’t have the strength left to answer. He stared blankly at his alt character standing in the beginner’s village, then covered his face with both hands.
‘How embarrassing…’
What on earth did he have to show such a foolish sight for? A great sense of doubt overwhelmed him. Meanwhile, his phone, which hadn’t shown any reaction until just now, vibrated.
Avoiding Jin’s gaze, he turned on his phone and swallowed a sigh as he saw a pile of voice code messages he had sent to Girmu when he had stepped away from his seat.
[SN: Girmu-nim, are you there?]
[SN: Girmu-nim]
[SN: (link)]
[SN: This looks fun, I don’t think you’ve tried it yet. It’s a dungeon with lots of mini-games in the middle.]
[SN: (link)]
[SN: Would you like to try this with me too?]
[SN: (link)]
[SN: And this is a guild dungeon. This month’s boss has a difficult pattern, but it’s fun once you beat it.]
[SN: (link)]
[SN: Looking back, I see they’re all dungeons; This is fun too]
[SN: If you like decorating or raising things, the territory farm is also good.]
[SN: Let’s become neighbors and do it together.]
He wasn’t sure why he had made such a fuss like someone desperate.
Getting a seat at the same PC bang was good initially, but the problem was that there was no plan after that. There was no way to intervene in the conversation between Beodeul and his friend.
‘And I couldn’t exactly say that I’m Sinu either.’
So in his haste, what he had sent were contents to enjoy with Girmu in the future. With the implication that there were so many things to enjoy together in the game, so don’t quit.
And the reply to this message bombing arrived just after Beodeul left the PC bang.
[Girmu: Wow, that’s a lot…?]
[Girmu: I’ll enjoy anything I do with Sinu-nim haha]
[Girmu: I’m out right now because of an appointment, so I’ll probably log in tonight. Let’s do it together if you’re online then!]
“Ha…”
Wooseok let out a hollow laugh after checking the reply, completely unaware of how Jin was looking at him.
*
“Sinu hyung has been acting weird today.”
“Is that news?”
“No, but he’s being really weird.”
Jin’s muttered words as he held his chopsticks in his mouth made the man sitting across from him, who was grilling meat, raise his eyebrows. The black pomade hairstyle revealed his forehead, showing slight wrinkles.
“Specifically, what’s weird about him?”
“First he suddenly claims SOG is a god-tier game, and then at the PC bang… Ah!”
“If you’re going to snitch, you should have been prepared.”
Jin’s eyes widened as Wooseok, sitting next to him, stomped on his foot. He immediately tattled to the man opposite them.
“Hwasan hyung, Sinu is bullying me.”
“That’s not news either.”
“My god, I don’t have a single person on my side in this world.”
“Besides, today is to celebrate Sinu’s discharge.”
“It’s been ages since he was discharged!”
“Yuntaek and I have been busy, so we couldn’t meet until now.”
“But it seems like you hyungs meet just fine without me… Ah! Hyung, why again?”
Having his foot stomped on once more, Jin’s eyes became completely triangular. Hwasan merely shrugged once at his fierce glare.
“I didn’t know your foot was there.”
“Call Shotgun. With him around, I wouldn’t be treated like this. Without him, I’m just everyone’s punching bag, aren’t I?”
“How can we call someone who’s out in the provinces?”
While Hwasan and Jin bickered, Wooseok continued fiddling with his phone. At some point, Jin fell silent and nodded toward Wooseok, gesturing for Hwasan to look.
“Is Sinu dating?”
“What kind of fresh nonsense is that?”
“Because what you’re doing right now looks exactly like Sogeumi when he’s dating?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Are you crazy?”
Jin and Wooseok frowned simultaneously. At that moment, a man with reddish-brown hair appeared, clicking his tongue.
“Hey, your shouting can be heard all the way outside the room.”
“Yuntaek, why don’t you move any faster?”
“Ugh, why are you nagging me as soon as you see me?”
“Baekdu hyung, Hwasan hyung is talking nonsense.”
“That’s normal, so just let it go.”
“Do you guys not see who’s grilling the meat right now?”
At those words, Baekdu and Yuntaek, who had thrown off their outer clothes, snatched the tongs from Hwasan.
“Hey, are you threatening kids with food? That’s not right. So petty.”
“Petty… You’re one to talk.”
“These hyungs always fight whenever they see each other.”
“That’s why I said we should meet separately.”
Jin smiled subtly at Wooseok’s indifferent remark. Seeing that smile, Hwasan brought up a different topic.
“By the way, where’s Youngglory hyung?”
“He went home because of some family business. You don’t know because you left the group chat?”
“I get enough of Yuntaek nagging me about that, so let’s drop it.”
“He said he wants to meet you separately next time.”
“Youngglory hyung said that to you?”
“Yeah. He said he was sorry. And give me those tongs. Hyung, you should put on an apron first.”
“I was just waiting to see who would bring that up first.”
“Oh my…”
Having known each other for over five years, even though their friendship started in the game, casual conversation in private settings never seemed to end. Even without the pretext of celebrating Wooseok’s discharge like today, the five people, including Youngglory who wasn’t present, lived close enough to meet like this occasionally.
Maybe because he had known them since he was a minor, Wooseok generally felt comfortable around them. But sometimes he felt uncomfortable too. For example, when questions like this were dropped without any warning.
“So Sinu, what exactly is your relationship with Girmu-nim?”
At Yuntaek’s question, Hwasan and Jin’s gazes also fixed on Wooseok’s face as if they had been waiting for it.
“What kind of relationship? The same as with all of you.”
“That seems a bit special, doesn’t it? Honestly, I’ve never seen you act like this before.”
“What are you trying to hear?”
“Do you like Girmu-nim?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
