[Guild] Yoo Chae: Hyung.
[Guild] Yoo Chae: I feel like you've been ignoring me lately.
[Guild] SoSleepy: ?
[Guild] DrinkSomeWater: ??
[Guild] Hwa Sowoon: Huh?
As soon as we finished a raid dungeon run with the guild members, Yoo Chae sent a message. I cracked open a can of cola and frowned.
[Guild] Yoo Chae: You're being so mean.
[Guild] SoSleepy: What's the problem this time?
[Guild] Hwa Sowoon: Is this…
[Guild] Hwa Sowoon: some kind of conversation between a couple married for 5 years?
[Guild] SpicyMarinatedCrabYum: But I asked this before too—
[Guild] SpicyMarinatedCrabYum: Why don't you two use partner chat?
[Guild] MochaBread: They're basically married anyway.
[Guild] Let'sPlayRockPaperScissors: Please have some consideration for us single folks —__—
[Guild] ParkSeungjin99: Sigh…
[Guild] Haeren: LOLOLOLOL
Somehow, Yoo Chae knew exactly where I was again, and came running breathlessly all the way to the raid dungeon entrance, airing out his grievances.
[Guild] Yoo Chae: You guys went on a raid without me!
[Guild] SoSleepy: You said you had something to do and went AFK for a bit;
[Guild] Yoo Chae: It was only 30 minutes…
[Guild] Yoo Chae: If you had gone AFK for 30 minutes, I would've waited…
[Guild] SoSleepy: ;
[Guild] Yoo Chae: And whenever I message you, you just leave me on read…
[Guild] DrinkSomeWater: Whoa, you guys DM each other?
[Guild] Haeren: No wonder
[Guild] Haeren: You've barely been in the group chat lately
[Guild] Haeren: That was the reason LOL
[Guild] HuntCrazyGuy: Fr LOL
[Guild] SoSleepy: No—
[Guild] MochaBread: Did we just witness dating drama?
[Guild] SoSleepy: All you do is write out your whole daily schedule
[Guild] SoSleepy: What am I even supposed to say to that?
[Guild] SoSleepy: There's nothing to reply with, so I just leave it on read, alright?
[Guild] Yoo Chae: But you should tell me too
[Guild] Yoo Chae: What you ate, what you did today, stuff like that !
[Guild] SoSleepy: Ha…
[Guild] DrinkSomeWater: LMAOOOOOOO
[Guild] CapitalistMonster: Holy sh*t
[Guild] Hwa Sowoon: omg omg omg
[Guild] Haeren: I'm dying LOLLLLLL
[Guild] ManaOutGuy: Extreme job
[Guild] ManaOutGuy: Marriage edition
[Guild] TheHunter: The more I see, the more I'm speechless…
[Guild] Let'sPlayRockPaperScissors: If we could go back in time
[Guild] Let'sPlayRockPaperScissors: I would've held SoSleepy's pants and stopped him from making that bet on reinforcement;
[Guild] ParkSeungjin99: Guild master, if you keep being so clingy like this
[Guild] ParkSeungjin99: What will you do if SoSleepy gets fed up and leaves? ㅠㅠ
[Guild] Yoo Chae: LOL
[Guild] Yoo Chae: This is exactly hyung's type, no need to worry
[Guild] SoSleepy: Don't go making up my type, you crazy bastard
[Guild] MochaBread: LOLOLOLOL
[Guild] Hwa Sowoon: Honestly amazing in so many ways
Seriously, there's no way to stay serious with this group. Realizing I needed to change the subject fast, I scrambled for an idea.
[Guild] SoSleepy: Let's just finish what we were doing last time.
[Guild] SoSleepy: What was it again?
[Guild] SoSleepy: Something about finding five weird rings?
[Guild] TheHunter: The elf rings?
[Guild] SoSleepy: Oh yeah, that sounds right.
[Guild] Yoo Chae: After ditching me for the raid
[Guild] Yoo Chae: And leaving me on read
[Guild] Yoo Chae: Now you want me to go find rings for you…
[Guild] Yoo Chae: Hyung, your bunny-like wife is crying right now
[Guild] SoSleepy: So what, you're saying you don't want to do this together?
[Guild] Yoo Chae: Maybe I'll help you find them if you promise to stop leaving me on read…
[Guild] TheHunter: I know where all the rings are.
[Guild] TheHunter: Should I help out? lol
[Guild] Haeren: LOL
[Guild] Haeren: I know too lol
[Guild] DrinkSomeWater: Me too lol
[Guild] MochaBread: Same here lol
[Guild] SoSleepy: Haha thanks
[Guild] Yoo Chae: F*ck
[Guild] Yoo Chae: Screw off, you bastards
[Guild] SoSleepy: LOL
[Guild] TheHunter: LOLOLOL
Apparently, getting left on read hit harder than expected. Yoo Chae's plan to hold the quest hostage for a reply had been completely derailed by the guild members.
He quickly created a party recruitment post and started whining while clinging to my character.
[Global] Yoo Chae: Hurry up and join the party, hyung
[Global] Yoo Chae: Come do this with me
[Global] SoSleepy: Didn't you say you didn't want to?
[Global] Yoo Chae: I was just joking
[Global] Yoo Chae: Come on already —__—
Maybe he was worried I'd actually go do the quest with someone else, because he started rushing me, clearly anxious.
I thought about teasing him more because he looked so cute, but if he got genuinely upset, I'd be the one who'd have to deal with it—so I joined the party without a fuss.
[Guild] TheHunter: Sigh… in the end, it's the two of them again.
[Guild] Haeren: Guess we're abandoned once more…
[Guild] HuntCrazyGuy: This is why you never take sides in a couple fight
[Guild] MochaBread: True that
[Guild] RerereLagging: Wasn't Hunter already taken though?
[Guild] TheHunter: ?
[Guild] ManaOutGuy: Pretty sure you've got a thing going on with Staeric
[Guild] TheHunter: ?
[Guild] TheHunter: I'm suing all of you
[Guild] Hwa Sowoon: LMAOOOO
[Guild] Let'sPlayRockPaperScissors: LOLOLOLOL
[Guild] DrinkSomeWater: Straight to lawsuit LOLLLLL
Apparently, Yoo Chae used a teleport scroll—the scenery around us changed in a flash. I watched it shift and asked him,
[Party] SoSleepy: Wanna hop on Discord?
[Party] Yoo Chae: OMG
[Party] Yoo Chae: Yes
[Party] Yoo Chae: I want to
[Party] SoSleepy: Let's go
The voice call came almost instantly. I put on my headset and hit "accept," and soon enough, a now-familiar voice greeted me.
"Hyuuung, hi there~"
"…Hey."
Maybe because I was the one who invited him first, Yoo Chae couldn't hide the excitement in his voice.
But I had my own reason for starting the call—so his reaction felt a little uncomfortable for me.
"We're starting the quest right away, right? Did you accept it already?"
"Yeah, I picked it up last time. We just need to collect the items."
"Okay."
I replied briefly and started comparing Yoo Chae's voice to Cha Yoo-jung's. They really did sound similar… but not perfectly identical.
It could just be due to the mic or sound quality differences when playing games. Or… maybe they really were two different people.
'Honestly, I feel like calling Chae Yujeong right now…'
But even that wouldn't serve as clear evidence.
If Yoochae and Chae Yujeong were the same person, she'd just ignore the call.
Later, after some time had passed, she'd probably just say she was busy and make an excuse.
Just thinking that far made me swallow the sigh rising up to my chin.
What the hell was I doing to someone who had come running all excited just to help me?
If Yoochae and Chae Yujeong were different people and I was just mistaken…
Wouldn't even having these thoughts be incredibly rude?
If someone confused me with someone else and started doubting me like this, I'd be seriously pissed.
"Then let's start with the northern region. We can go clockwise and make a full circle."
"I don't mind."
"Oh, right! Hyung! Look at this!"
Poof. With a popping sound, Yoochae summoned a pet I hadn't seen before.
It was a large, round bird with sunken eyes called Popoko—one of the rare few pets that two people could ride at once.
"Cute, right? I bought it just to do quests together with you."
Yoochae hopped excitedly next to the pet.
That only made my conscience sting even more.
"Good job…"
"Let's ride this and go!"
"…Okay."
Answering with a lifeless voice, I mounted Popoko with Yoochae, and we began our journey around the continent.
True to its popularity, Popoko let out cute chirps like pyo-ro-roong as it soared through the sky at high speed.
"…Ahem, Kim Yoochae."
"Yes?"
After staring at the monitor in silence and deliberating for a long time, I finally managed to speak.
"Do you… not play any other games?"
"Other games?"
"Well, like Hiore or something. What did you play before Zenoris?"
"Just this and that."
Yoochae's voice didn't change at all as she answered.
Not getting the reaction I wanted, I asked again.
"You're not interested in playing Hiore?"
"Hmm… not really. Not for now. Playing Zenoris with you is fun."
"Have you ever tried it?"
"I did for a bit, a long time ago. But I prefer character-raising games, so I dropped it quickly.
You're good at it, right? I think you said you were Grandmaster before?"
Again, there wasn't the slightest trace of emotional disturbance in Yoochae's response.
Her answer, natural and smooth without any hesitation, almost felt like it was mocking me—like she was saying, 'What the hell are you doing right now?'
"No, I… I dropped it a while ago."
"Really? Zenoris with me is better, right? Oh, we're here. Talk to that NPC standing alone over there—they'll give you the ring."
"Yeah, okay…"
I moved the mouse mechanically and rubbed my forehead with the other hand.
As I bowed my head low, a groan of frustration slipped out.
'Shit, this is so fucking embarrassing.'
At this point, I was starting to feel confused, wondering if I'd just gotten lost in some delusional fantasy.
Even Kim Daeseok, who knew the situation, had said there's no way the two were the same person—so that meant the problem was just me.
A wave of guilt I couldn't voice to Yoochae washed over me, and at the same time, a faint heat rose to my face.
'I still have to meet Chae Yujeong again tomorrow…'What do I do?
I'm screwed.
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