“W-wait, Do Haejun, just hear me out for a second—”
“Shut up! You think this kind of bullshit is funny or something?”
“Calm down.”
Seo Jeongyeon grabbed my wrist where I had him by the collar. His body temperature felt cold against the back of my hand.
“I wasn’t planning to tell you like this either. I mean it.”
“……”
“But the situation… I didn’t really have a choice, right? Do Haejun, you ran into that impersonator yesterday, didn’t you?”
Impersonator.
That single word snapped me back to my senses.
If what he was saying was true… then the ‘heunJeok’ I ran into yesterday at the Shutel City square really was a fake, just like I suspected. An impersonator working together with NoFuture, the vice master of Another.
I glared at Seo Jeongyeon for a moment before slowly letting go of his collar.
He had clearly been waiting for me to sit back down. As soon as I did, he smoothed out the wrinkled collar of his shirt with a faint smile. The clean beige fabric was only crumpled around the neck. Served him right.
“Tell me everything you know. I’ll decide whether to believe you after that.”
“Sounds good. I figured you wouldn’t believe me right away anyway.”
Seo Jeongyeon picked up the phone sitting at the edge of the table and started tapping on the screen.
“Yesterday, I told you I’d look into it, remember?”
“…Yeah.”
Funny enough, hearing that made it hit me all over again—this ridiculous reality that the guy sitting in front of me was Heunjeok, and at the same time Ilhwiilbi.
That message—“I’ll check and come back”—had been sent in party chat. There were only two people in that party: me and Ilhwiilbi. Which meant the fact that Seo Jeongyeon knew about it proved he was Ilhwiilbi.
“This is a conversation I had with the vice master, NoFuture.”
He handed me his phone. The screen showed a message log.
“You seem pretty close with your guildmates, but I’m not. The only person I ever contacted privately was the vice master, and even that ended a month ago when we talked about the account issue. So it was a bit hard to figure out what was going on.”
I scanned the messages while listening to him.
You still playing Arc Road these days?
nf
Long time no see
Yeah, I am
Everything good?
Even if I deleted my account, I feel kinda bad for disappearing like that
nf
Nah it’s fine
It’s already been a month lol
The guild?
nf
Guild’s fine too
I’m managing it well
No need to worry
Alright
nf
Why?
You thinking of coming back?
lol no
Just popped into my head so I asked
Take care
nf
Yeah
After reading NoFuture’s replies, I narrowed my eyes.
The implications in the text were one thing—but what really bothered me was something else entirely.
“This guy’s a complete idiot.”
“Right?”
Seo Jeongyeon sounded like he was testing me, but it was obvious—NoFuture had walked straight into every trap.
‘I’m managing the guild just fine,’ ‘You don’t need to worry’—that part was hilarious. And the way he was clearly trying to gauge whether Seo Jeongyeon might come back? He’d really shown everything.
“It’s pretty clear NoFuture is working with the impersonator.”
“Figures. He’d have to step aside as guild master first for something like that to even work.”
“I checked reactions here and there yesterday, and most people seem to believe the real Heunjeok is back.”
Seo Jeongyeon finally picked up his coffee and took a sip, smiling at me.
“Except for one person.”
“Obviously.”
That “one person” was me.
I snorted and handed his phone back.
“You think I’d fall for something that half-assed? It didn’t even feel the same. I couldn’t have been fooled even if I tried.”
“Was it that bad?”
“Yeah. I even took screenshots of the chat from yesterday. Want to see?”
“Sure.”
I started rummaging through my phone, getting weirdly fired up at the idea of trash-talking the impersonator—then suddenly came to my senses.
‘Wait… what the hell am I doing?’
Why was I getting all excited about showing this guy screenshots?
He wasn’t someone I should be that casual with. Neither was this situation.
I cleared my throat and shoved my phone back into my pocket.
“Why not?”
“Forget that. Just finish what you were saying.”
“What I was saying?”
“Why tell me you’re Heunjeok and Ilhwiilbi? What’s your goal?”
Seo Jeongyeon looked briefly confused, then shrugged with a strange expression.
“Do I look like I have a goal?”
“Cut the crap. You already left Another, didn’t you? If you were planning to go back, you would’ve done it when you made Ilhwiilbi. But you didn’t.”
He listened calmly, then let out a short laugh.
“You’re right. I have no intention of going back to Another. And yeah, I do have a goal. You’re sharp—not just in-game, but in real life too.”
Of course he had a goal. If he didn’t, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.
He was exactly like Heunjeok.
Always smiling, always wandering around—but impossible to read, and only ever moved when he had a reason. Still didn’t understand why someone like that had spent over a year fighting a war against our guild.
“Stop beating around the bush. What’s your goal?”
“Don’t you want to know?”
“What?”
“Aren’t you curious why NoFuture is going this far?”
Seo Jeongyeon set his cup down, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair.
“Even if he wanted to find someone to replace me, do you think that’s easy? Most people don’t just impersonate someone and commit fraud. Finding someone willing to take that role wouldn’t be simple either.”
“Well… were you that famous or something? And if you become Heunjeok, you get control of Another, right?”
“Another was already falling apart when I left. If you’re talking about value… I don’t know. If it were a guild like Yoil, maybe. But Another as it is now? It’s already a dead guild.”
His voice was cold as he talked about his own guild.
How could he sound like that? I couldn’t understand it. I actually cared about my guild and my members. Come to think of it, though—I’d never really seen Heunjeok hanging out with his guildmates outside of war.
“Even if you say it’s hard, they already found someone. The impersonator’s running around just fine. So what now?”
“So I’ll go in and see for myself.”
“…Go in? Where?”
“Where else?”
Seo Jeongyeon smiled brightly.
It was the kind of smile that reminded you of warm spring sunlight—clean, pretty.
And with that same smile, he said something completely insane.
“Another guild.”
“What?”
“I’m going to join Another and see how things are actually running. Clear up my questions, gather proof they’re impersonating me… two birds with one stone, right?”
“Wait, hold on.”
I couldn’t keep up anymore. Pressing a hand to my throbbing forehead, I asked again.
“So… you’re going to join the guild that’s impersonating you? Personally?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
“Why not… I mean, technically nothing’s stopping you. But still.”
“I spent all night and this morning trying to think of a better way, but there isn’t one. No need to overcomplicate things.”
“How are you even going to get in? You can’t just walk in like that.”
“NoFuture announced it in server chat. They’re recruiting members starting today. I’ll just make a sub account and join.”
I stared at him in disbelief as he casually said something completely unhinged, like he was talking about the weather.
‘Yeah… this guy really is Heunjeok.’
At this point, I couldn’t deny it anymore. Who else would come up with a plan like this?
“Fine. Impersonation’s a crime anyway, so I’ll cheer you on. But why are you telling me this?”
“You’re sharp, but you keep pretending you don’t get it…”
Muttering that, Seo Jeongyeon looked straight at me.
“Come with me.”
“…You’re not seriously about to suggest I make a sub account and infiltrate Another with you, are you? Because that sounds like absolute bullshit.”
“Yep. That exact kind of bullshit. Let’s go together.”
This lunatic.
Not even worth responding to. I shot him a cold glare, but he just looked back like he didn’t understand what the problem was.
“You’re bothered by this too, aren’t you?”
“Sorry, not really.”
“Really? The ones who should be most worried about that impersonator are Yoil.”
“……”
“No matter how well he imitates me, he’ll at least try to act similar to keep up appearances. Which means he’ll pick fights with Yoil, just like I did. Probably even declare guild war.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t argue with that.
Because that was exactly what I’d been worrying about all night.
Fake or not, a player using the name ‘heunjeok’ had returned. That meant Another would try to start a war with us again.
I had to be ready for that.
As I stayed silent, frowning, Seo Jeongyeon’s smile deepened.
“So let’s go see it for ourselves. What Another is really like right now.”