Chapter 41
Kwon-ju moved his character away from the endless trade requests. But the other player refused to give up, following him and continuing to send trade requests, even typing intimidating messages to show their determination to make him accept.
[Hando: Accept the trade quickly]
[Hando: I’ll keep sending it until you accept]
As soon as Kwon-ju reluctantly accepted the trade, items began appearing one by one. Since the equipment was already perfect with nothing left to give, Ji-won had been finding items that could be sold for gold and giving them one by one—this was already the fifth trade today.
[Ddaji: Wait, Guild Master, why have you become so obsessively devoted?]
[Hando: I owe a debt]
[Ddaji: You, who’s never borrowed gold from anyone?]
[Ddaji: What did you do wrong?]
[Hando: There’s something haha]
Strictly speaking, Ji-won hadn’t done anything wrong to incur a debt, but it was something that needed to be repaid anyway. About 300,000 won, at that. It would be easier and more convenient for both if he deposited the cash all at once, but that seemed a bit awkward, so Ji-won chose an alternative method: repaying little by little with material things rather than cash.
In real life, buying meals; in the game, slipping items into trades. They’d been alternating between the two for three days now, and it was more fun than expected. When they went out for their first meal together, Kwon-ju had begged to be allowed to pay, but he seemed to find the food surprisingly delicious and quickly softened up, his face completely forgetting about the bill, which was adorable and endearing.
Whenever I think about Kwon-ju, I always end up talking about his face. It’s the most impactful part so it can’t be helped, but Ji-won thought his junior might not appreciate a senior staring at him thinking his face was pretty. Better keep those thoughts to himself.
[Ddaji: Sasa what did you get?]
[HolyKnightKnight: A bundle of Immortal Gems]
[Ddaji: Oh those sell for 3,000 gold each lolololol]
[Ddaji: Little by little makes a mountain!!!]
Ddaji pushed him to go sell them quickly since the market price was high. As soon as Kwon-ju’s character reluctantly disappeared to the marketplace, Ji-won checked the time and sent a KakaoTalk message.
[Kwon-ju, it’s already dinner time haha]
[Ah]
[What do you want to eat?]
Something Ji-won had learned while spending his savings on lunches and dinners was that Kwon-ju seemed to skip meals frequently. He was the type who ate three proper meals a day while living with his parents, but after starting to live alone, everything became bothersome, so he’d just tear off some bread and habitually starve. It was common and frequently seen among their peers, but unlike others, Kwon-ju was someone Ji-won felt like feeding well. He was bigger than most people, but still.
[It’s okay]
[What can I eat that lasts a long time?]
Ji-won glanced at the “it’s okay” message and dismissed it, opening a delivery app. The main screen happened to show packaged samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), and he decided on it immediately. He remembered Kwon-ju mentioning in passing during a previous conversation that he preferred samgyetang to fried chicken.
[Kwon-ju, your home address]
[My address??]
[Yeaah, go ahead]
[??]
Although he seemed confused, Ji-won expected him to diligently write his home address, but strangely, no reply came even after waiting. Did he perhaps go to search for his road name address?
[It’s unfair if only I tell you]
[Hyung should tell me too]
The answer that came back wasn’t his address but a proposal to exchange addresses. Fair enough, it would be strange if only one side knew the other’s address. Ji-won sent his villa name and unit number, and finally obtained Kwon-ju’s address—a road name address complete with a postal code.
[I just sent something, so eat it and take care of your health~]
[Ah]
[Ah hyung..]
[Don’t send me anything just because you know my address lolololol]
Ji-won was the type who always had to give something in return when he received anything, and it seemed Kwon-ju had a similar personality. This would turn into an endless gift exchange. Using his senior authority, Ji-won firmly declined and turned his attention back to the game screen.
[You have received a message.]
A message had suddenly arrived in that brief moment. The sender was predictable, so he opened it, but surprisingly, instead of the four-character nickname he expected, it showed the system.
[Your popularity has increased by +1.]
Wasn’t the popularity system practically gone? Originally, popularity appeared right above the nickname, but after numerous complaints from people who found it distracting during gameplay, they patched it to be invisible. They’d removed almost all means to increase it too… Now only visible to the user, nobody cared about it anymore.
[Hando: Ddaji, do you know how to increase popularity?]
[Ddaji: Clara’s love letter probably hasn’t been blocked yet]
[Ddaji: It’s a consumable item, if you write “to.username” on it, that person’s popularity increases lololololol]
So this cute method still existed. The name of the user who sent the love letter wasn’t written, but he didn’t need to think about who did it. There was only one person.
[Hando>>HolyKnightKnight: Kwon-ju, you forgot to add your name to the love terror]
He tried to joke with a whisper, but there was no response, probably busy selling items at the market. In truth, the reason Kwon-ju couldn’t respond was because he was trying to hold onto his consciousness that was slipping away due to the unexpected reaction, but anyway, this could be considered being busy if one were to call it that.
When did someone who barely knew what dungeons existed search up how to increase popularity? But Ji-won’s joy didn’t end there.
[(Photo)]
[I’ll enjoy the meal]
About 10 minutes after the delivery completion notification, an unexpected verification shot came from Kwon-ju with a photo. The steaming samgyetang in a clean bowl as if just brought in, with perfectly arranged spoon and chopsticks, looked just like a photo for social media. Does Kwon-ju perhaps have Instagram? I should ask later.
[Lolololololol what about a photo of you eating?]
[Ah..]
[A selfie..?]
Knowing Kwon-ju, who had a face worth photographing all day but never took a single picture, Ji-won didn’t actually mean for him to send one. But seeing the KakaoTalk messages with pairs of dots indicating genuine contemplation, Ji-won finally remembered that Kwon-ju took everything seriously, and added that he was just joking and to eat before it got cold.
He seemed to have started eating as it went quiet for a while. Looking at the photo made Ji-won want to eat too, so he ordered the exact same thing he’d sent to Kwon-ju’s house and had a late dinner with samgyetang about an hour later.
* * *
“Why is there so much material to cover?”
As the last lecture ended and the professor left, a classmate who had collapsed with his head on the desk groaned. Since discovering by chance that they were taking the same course, he had been sitting with Ji-won in class, but he looked in worse condition than ever before.
“Are you going straight home? Want to go eat some pork belly? I feel like I need to smash some soju in my face to get in the mood to study.”
“No, I have plans.”
“This guy always has plans. With that good-looking freshman you’re always with?”
“How do you know?”
“How could I not know? He stands out so much. He came to both the orientation and departmental meeting, so all the department kids know him. I think I saw some posts about him on the anonymous board too.”
Ji-won nodded at his friend’s perfectly reasonable explanation. His face does stand out a lot… He could proudly say that if Kwon-ju were a little less timid, his university life would definitely not be the same as it is now.
“He’s really pretty-looking. Even in high school, he seemed like someone from a different world.”
“Yeaah… Is that so?”
He hadn’t intended to compliment him that much. His classmate smiled awkwardly and looked up and down at the handsome guy in front of him. Doesn’t he think about himself? It would be strange if people didn’t stare when two handsome guys stuck together roaming around campus, visible from 100 meters away.
“Let him hang out with his classmates and let’s gather the guys and go to a PC room.”
“You guys don’t play Arc.”
Ji-won responded casually while putting his books and stationery into his bag. Although he’d said it offhandedly, his friend’s words did make sense. When he saw at the MT, it seemed like many people wanted to be friends with Kwon-ju, so he wondered if he was monopolizing him too much. But then again, it didn’t seem like Kwon-ju was making any plans with other people. It would be weird to tell him to go hang out with his classmates first.
“Ah… whatever. I need to feed my junior, so I’m going ahead.”
“You even feed him? Did he save your life or something?”
His expression seemed too good for someone just buying meals. So there was a reason he kept him so close. Ji-won didn’t say anything, but his classmate, having reached his own conclusion, nodded in understanding.
“A life savior deserves respect.”
“What are you talking about? I’m going.”
Though not a life savior, Ji-won left the classroom without hesitation to meet his junior who had made a great contribution to the Silver Wolf falling into his hands. Discovering Kwon-ju standing quietly in the hallway waiting because the lecture ended earlier than expected, Ji-won, feeling happy to see him, thoughtlessly put his arm over his shoulder.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
