“Who said you could change my ideal type on your own?”
I stopped signing and looked up at him. He had a face even more unrealistic than a game character.
“If you want to be my type, come back with long, straight hair.”
Ignoring my remark, he leaned over and fixed the headband neatly onto my head again.
“How did you even get in here?”
“I wanted to see you. Didn’t you want to see me?”
Of course, I did. But right now, I was more baffled than sentimental.
Rather than feelings about seeing him after so long, this intrigued me more.
“It’s just surprising you showed up at an event where a hundred people were already selected in advance. You must’ve gone through identity verification too.”
“That’s classified.”
This jerk bought a ticket at the venue. Today, I even heard entry was delayed quite a bit.
Imagining Kessler standing blankly in the entry line, I couldn’t help but smile. Now I couldn’t even properly express feeling slighted.
I adjusted the pen in my hand, finally voicing the question I’d been dying to ask.
“What’s your real name?”
“Kessler.”
“You must have a Korean name, right? I’ve been curious.”
“Seong Juwon.”
“Seong Juwon…”
I repeated the name to myself. No way—was his nickname ‘Kessler’ because it sounded like ‘Castle-er’ from Seong Ju-won? **
“Leave out the surname when you write it.”
- Juwon
“Add a heart too.”
- Juwon♡
“Can you fill in the heart?”
- Juwon♥
Sneakily, I added my phone number beneath it.
“Take care, and text me sometime.”
“Alright, time to move along now.”
“Wait a second.”
“Your minute is up. You need to move.”
“I’m talking to Woo-rim right now.”
Wait… Why was he saying lines even I wouldn’t say?
“You gave the others more time, why are you rushing only me?”
“You were given the same time as everyone else.”
“The person before me got forty extra seconds.”
“That was due to an issue with the pen ink…”
“One fan got two extra minutes.”
“That was a child.”
With the practiced flow of a veteran staffer, Kessler was smoothly guided below the line and offstage. Even as he filed a mock ‘customer service complaint’ about being kicked off earlier than others, the next fan was already stepping up.
“Hi, Woo-rim Oppa! Do you remember me?”
“Of course I do. How have you been?”
“I’ve been doing really well! I brought a headband too! Can I put it on you? I made it myself!!”
“Wow, really?”
She placed a headband decorated with the adorable character I frequently played as my main champion.
“It looks so good on you!”
Throughout the signing event, I continued interacting warmly with fans who’d already received autographs and settled in the audience seats. That’s when I spotted Kessler among them, staring at me with a sullen expression.
‘Of all times, the fan after Kessler also brought a headband…’
I hurriedly layered on the fox headband Kessler had given me, positioning it visibly at the front.
Seeing this, Kessler subtly raised his phone. Though drowned out by the surrounding noise, his posture clearly indicated he was snapping a picture.
As Kessler took my photo, some fans eyed him uncertainly.
“Wait, are you the guy from the Fox account? The one who suddenly got blurred out—are you actually real? Are you a friend of the Pro?”
“Friend? We’re even closer.”
“Gasp.”
Though the post had since been taken down and mosaic-censored, there were still people who recognized him—his face had once been revealed publicly as ‘Kessler NPC.’
Due to organizational delays, the fan signing started twenty minutes late, eventually concluding an hour beyond the scheduled end time as a service gesture.
“Moments are a matter of skill—please keep using your LuminoBox cameras! And make sure to catch lots of our matches this season. Thank you, and get home safe, everyone!”
“Yes~~! You be safe too, Pro!”
“I don’t wanna say byeeeee……”
Wrapping up with a scripted farewell slipped in by the organizers for camera promotion, I finished the event.
That was it for today’s schedule.
[Jung Da-hoon]
Pro, your fan meeting went well today, right? And you met that guy too?
[Wait… turns out you got him in? You guaranteed his entry?]
[Jung Da-hoon]
Yeah yeah, I wanted to go myself, but the moment we made eye contact he just… T_T
[You did good. Let’s do a private PC bang fan meeting next time.]
[Jung Da-hoon]
Gasp T_T
Now it was clear Kessler had stolen Jung Da-hoon’s ticket. I clenched my teeth tightly. Causing trouble everywhere, in-game and out—I couldn’t let this slide. It was time for a talk; I’d need to take responsibility for him myself.
Back home, I kept glancing at my phone. I didn’t even bother changing clothes or fixing my hair, sensing I might go out again.
Honestly, I’d felt a bit hurt.
It had already been three weeks since I left the game. Over twenty days passed without Kessler reaching out. Of course, I hadn’t either, so I had no room to complain, but our accessibility to each other’s contacts was vastly different.
As a semi-public figure with countless details online, especially given Kessler’s position at Kinder Games headquarters, he would’ve easily had access to my personal information as a test participant. A simple text would’ve been easy enough, wouldn’t it?
I suppressed my lingering disappointment again, gently stroking the fox ears on my head. Soft and comforting.
Just as my eyes began to drift closed, my phone rang. An unknown number.
“Hello?”
—It’s me.
“Who are you?”
—I’m your master.
“…You’re still in Ilsan, right? Wanna meet?”
—Where should we meet?
“Hmm, well… Did you eat yet? Want a Korean set menu?”
—Sure.
“Okay, I’ll text you the address. Can you come?”
—Got it.
I wanted to pick him up myself, but sadly I didn’t have a driver’s license yet. I quickly texted him the address of a Korean restaurant highly praised by a former foreign teammate and grabbed my jacket to leave.
‘He’s from overseas—he probably doesn’t know the roads well. Will he be okay?’
Then again, he’d found his way to the Kintex Exhibition Hall for the fan signing easily enough. If he got lost, I could just pick him up then.
“Reservation for two. Name’s Yeo Woo-rim.”
The upscale Korean restaurant. A server led me down a long corridor into a private room. When the door opened, Kessler was already seated.
“Baby fox.”
Oh my god, that nickname. I’d graduated from that game ages ago, yet here he was still calling me ‘Baby Fox.’ But everything felt so natural, as if just yesterday, leaving me momentarily speechless.
“…You’re here already?”
I asked, taking the seat opposite him.
Truthfully, I had plenty of questions. So much I wanted to say, but just seeing his face in real life felt like enough.
“When did you get here?”
“Came straight after punching the address into the GPS.”
“…You can drive?”
“Of course. You know how old I am?”
“How old are you?”
He’d looked quite young at first glance. But the more I observed his build and overall presence, the more maturity I felt emanating from him.
“How old do you think?”
Kessler countered, pouring water into my cup. The casual way he set the table and asked questions was unmistakably Korean.
“You sure you’re from overseas? Twenty-six?”
“You don’t even know your master’s age.”
“You never told me.”
“Should’ve figured it out just by looking. I even know your birthday.”
“Oh come on. You can literally find that just by Googling. So how old are you, really? I’m seriously dying to know.”
I took a sip of the water he’d poured. The comforting aroma of ginkgo tea spread gently through my mouth.
“Twenty-four.”
“So that’s your age based on the new calendar law? Or…”
At that question, Kessler simply gazed at me in silence.
“…Show me your ID.”
“Not into younger guys?”
“It’s not that.”
Still, I hadn’t quite expected he’d actually be younger.
I briefly considered how we should handle addressing each other now but quickly let it go. Why worry about things like that between us?
“When you’re ready, call me Hyung.”
“Hyung.”
“…Seriously? That fast?”
“You told me to.”
Well, I didn’t think he’d do it immediately.
We continued chatting while enjoying our meticulously arranged traditional hot-stone rice set.
Kessler said he had just arrived in Korea today, and as expected, had been busy. After postponing the game’s launch, they’d tackled the unidentified in-game possession error we’d experienced.
“I heard the game concept got revised too.”
“Yeah.”
He explained the delay came from finding a way to grant eternal peace to the child who’d still been wandering alone in the dark.
“That’s why I couldn’t come sooner. I missed you so bad I nearly died.”
“If you missed me that much, why didn’t you reach out?”
“I was afraid I’d drop everything and come find you if I did.”
“…”
“Still, on the days I missed you most… I watched your videos.”
“My videos?”
Kessler nodded, wiping a bit of gochujang from the corner of my mouth. I stuck my lips out slightly to make it easier for him.
His eyes lingered briefly on my lips before rising to the top of my head. One corner of his mouth curled upward.
“It suits you.”
“Where did you get this headband anyway?”
“I bought it at the airport.”
“If you just got here today, you must be tired. Aren’t you?”
“Will you let me sleep at your place?”
After dinner, we took a stroll around Lake Park. We grabbed two cans of butter beer from a convenience store nearby and sat on the steps overlooking the lake.
A cool breeze fluttered pleasantly through Kessler’s fox headband. Two grown men sitting here might look absurdly nerdy, but Kessler didn’t seem bothered by any stares, making it easier for me as well. Besides, people’s gazes were something I’d always lived with anyway.
We occasionally talked while drinking our beer.
“Baby fox, I came to Korea to protect you.”
“…Protect me from what?”
“From all the evils in the world.”
His expression was too serious to jokingly ask if he was still stuck in-game.
“Kessler, look. I may beat people up, but I’m not the kind of guy who needs protecting, okay? I was only weak in the game. In real life, I’m basically a gangster. Watch.”
Kessler watched me standing proudly before him, then pulled out his phone and snapped several photos, adjusting angles and poses carefully.
“Let me see. How’d it turn out?”
“I’m amazing at taking photos.”
“I don’t know about that—but damn, the model looks incredible.”
Click, click. I stood behind Kessler as he sat again on the stairs, resting my hands on his shoulders as I checked the photos. The darkness around us actually made for more atmospheric shots.
As I straightened up after reviewing the photos, he suddenly turned his head and lightly kissed my cheek.
His cheek, slightly flushed from fatigue and beer after a long flight, had turned faintly rosy. I’d lost count of how many times he’d yawned already.
“You really do look tired.”
“I’m sleepy, but I don’t wanna go home yet. My heart’s too excited—I haven’t slept at all.”
I sat back down next to him and gently guided his head onto my shoulder.
“Just close your eyes for a bit like this. Hyung isn’t ready to let you go yet.”
“Hehe.”
His fox ears tickled my cheek. I pressed my face softly against the top of his head, rubbing gently a few times.
“But hey… is it true programmers are super busy too? I feel like I’m gonna be crazy busy this season. If we’re both constantly slammed then… are you asleep?”
I murmured quietly, blowing gently on his soft hair.
“Kessler, you’re still such a heavy sleeper… just like back then.”
** Note: the Korean surname “Seong” = 성 also means “castle”. “Kessler” -> “castle-er” phonetically resembles someone related to a castle.
