Ye Uwon slowly opened his mouth.
'It wasn't?'
Otherwise, why would an executive just suddenly pick a fight with a new guild member?
That’s why he naturally thought it was an interview...
(Guild) NyamNyami: Wait, so you didn’t even ask if it was an interview... you just started fighting?
(Guild) QuengKang: That first hit was solid tho.
(Guild) LifeIsSolo: ㄷㄷ
Ye Uwon, unsure what to say because of how flustered he was, cautiously typed into the chat.
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: I'm sorry...
Maybe it was just supposed to be a joke and he took it way too seriously?
But if that was the case, wasn’t Gisekki way too brutal?
Just as he quickly apologized out of panic, no.10 spoke up.
(Guild) no.10: ㅠㅠUh..ㅠㅠIdon'tknowwhyGiseactedlikethatㅠㅠbutnormally Gise...
(Guild) no.10: ㅠㅠ...isn’t exactly a reasonable person...ㅠ
Most of the time, there’s a reason behind people's actions.
But sometimes in life, you meet people who just do things you can’t understand.
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: Ah. I see.
Ye Uwon quickly accepted it, trying to process the situation.
'Yeah, sometimes... Oh.'
Wait a second.
Ye Uwon, who had agreed reflexively, was startled when he saw the message he just sent.
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: no
Realizing how that could be misinterpreted, he scrambled to explain.
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: Ididn’tmeanthatGisekkinimisunreasonablebutthatIaccepttherewasnointerview
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: AbsolutenotcallingGisekkinimunreasonable
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: WhatImeantwas
It was the kind of excuse that made it worse just by saying it, and by then the guild chat had already exploded.
(Guild) LifeIsSolo: Oh I seeee lolololololol
(Guild) WhereTheDPSAt: lol lol lol someone screencap this shit lol
(Guild) NyamNyami: lololololol he actually admitted it lololol
(Guild) Jinhee: lol. lol. lol. lol. ah lolol I shouldn’t be laughing..ㅠ lol
Ye Uwon paused for a moment to think.
(Guild) QuengKang: @@!!!!!!Superstrongnewbieappears!!!!!@@
...Maybe I should leave?
Ding, welcome.
Ye Uwon gave a small bow to the PC cafe worker he now recognized and lifted his phone closer to his ear.
"Lee Seokhyeon. Just saw your call. What's up?"
-...Wow. Only now you're calling me back after something happened!
As soon as he answered, Ye Uwon narrowed his eyes slightly at Lee Seokhyeon's sharp voice and let out a small sigh.
"What, you said it was urgent. You sent like ten crying emojis begging me to call immediately, made it sound serious."
-It's serious if Ye Uwon is ghosting me, damn it.
Hey, what the hell have you even been doing lately? You've gone completely off the grid.
"I've just been busy working."
Thankfully, it seemed like it was just a fuss over a casual check-in.
Scratching his eyebrow sheepishly, Ye Uwon sat down at his usual PC cafe spot and powered on the computer.
-Working my ass.
Didn’t you quit your job for a while to help your parents?
"How did you know?"
-News about you just spreads on its own, man.
Always has, ever since school.
Lee Seokhyeon chuckled.
Well, considering how famous Seokhyeon was for having a million connections, it wasn’t surprising he heard.
-So you’re still helping them out?
"No.
They're both out of Korea right now... Are you graduating this year?"
-Yeah.
I'm in my last semester.
God, taking a break and the army screws everything up.
Anyway, what’s that noise? Are you in a PC cafe or something?
"Yeah."
-Ohhh... Wait, are you playing that RPG you used to play with your girlfriend?
Girlfriend?
'He doesn’t know yet.'
Ye Uwon blinked slowly and said in a calm voice.
"I broke up."
-What?!
He could hear Seokhyeon inhale sharply through the phone, and even without seeing him, Ye Uwon could picture the huge gym rat crumpling up in shock.
After a short silence, Seokhyeon finally spoke again.
-Oh, that explains it.
I heard she was crying when she met up with some of our classmates...
I figured it was just because her company sucked or something.
You guys were so solid, I thought you’d end up married... I really did.
"Really?"
There was a hint of awkward guilt in Seokhyeon’s voice.
Ye Uwon slowly clicked the game shortcut on the screen, thinking to himself.
"'Solid,' huh..."
Maybe that’s how it looked from the outside.
They never fought, they were too busy tiptoeing around each other the whole time.
-Anyway, I'm sorry, man.
Want me to set you up with someone?
"Haha. No thanks.
I'm not even thinking about dating right now."
-You always say that, and then you’re right back in a relationship.
Ye Uwon wondered what to say, then just laughed it off.
This time, he really did plan to take a break from dating for a while.
He was tired of the emotional drain, and sick of accidentally hurting people.
-Anyway, everyone's begging you to show your face at least once.
Come visit campus before I graduate.
"It’s been ages since I graduated, what are you talking about?"
-You’re different, dude.
Even the freshmen who were just starting when you graduated still talk about you.
So what, you broke up, quit your job, and now you're just holed up gaming like a hermit?
Come on, get out a little! Get some sunlight! See some people! Huh?
As Lee Seokhyeon rattled off nags that even a mom wouldn’t bother with, Ye Uwon chuckled helplessly.
"Seokhyeon, you don't get it. Even in the game..."
(Guild) no.10: Hello Yeu-nim!
(Guild) LifeIsSolo: Hello!!
(Guild) Jinhee: Welcooome~
(Guild) QuengKang: hihihihi
At that moment, the loading screen had finished, and as soon as Ye Uwon logged in, he saw the guild members' greetings flooding the chat.
"There’s a ton of people."
Adding that there was also a ton of stuff to do, Ye Uwon heard Seokhyeon nagging even harder like he was dealing with a gaming addict.
-Don't tell me... you're gonna end up dating someone you met through the game this time?
"What the hell."
-I'm serious, my instincts are sharp.
You're gonna end up seducing someone without even meaning to with that innocent way of talking, and they'll fall for you and confess — I can already see it.
And our soft-hearted Ye Uwon will be... Ah, professor's here.
What kind of bullshit was that?
Ye Uwon opened his mouth to argue, but—
-Anyway, don’t go leading people on again!
Let’s meet up soon.
Before he could get a word out, Seokhyeon hung up, saying he had class.
'What the hell.
Why did he even call?'
Ye Uwon stared at his phone in disbelief — then got a ding from Seokhyeon.
Lee Seokhyeon
Right; meant to tell you this.
We're having a reunion with some of the guys. Wanna come?
Looking at the schedule Seokhyeon sent, it was nearly two months away.
Well, it was about time to start meeting people again.
By then, he figured he'd be fine, so Ye Uwon texted back a "sounds good" and flipped his phone over.
He stretched lightly, then smiled as he looked at the long list of things he had to do in-game today.
'Dating in a game, huh.
I'm drowning in events already.'
Ye Uwon pressed his knuckles lightly against his eyes, thinking.
He should be recovering more easily since he was on a break from work, but somehow, he looked even more haggard these days.
It wasn’t just his imagination.
He had only taken a few months off, but so many updates had piled up that he was busy trying to catch up on missed raids and events.
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: Hello.
(Guild) no.10: You logged in a little late today, huh?
(Guild) YeUbeomjeol: haha
At first it had been awkward, but now Ye Uwon smiled as he returned the greetings, feeling pretty comfortable in the guild territory.
'It’s been over a week, huh.'
Maybe because the beginning had been so rough.
He’d expected guild life to be more chaotic, but it turned out better than he thought.
Logging in almost every day, he had chatted with a lot of guild members — and aside from Gisekki, they were all incredibly friendly.
'Even Gisekki’s been quiet since then.'
The person who had worried him most, Gisekki, hadn’t caused any more trouble after logging out that day.
Of course, their play times didn’t really overlap either.
Ye Uwon usually logged in during the day and, even at the latest, logged off by 11 p.m. or 1 a.m. at most.
Meanwhile, Gisekki usually logged in around 11 p.m. or even later, sometimes playing until morning.
'Did anything show up today?'
After exchanging light greetings with the guild members, Ye Uwon went to check his mailbox again today.