"Ah, I’ve entered at such a strange time."
I was planning to eat dinner and then go back to playing the game, but I ended up falling asleep. Then, at 4 AM, my eyes snapped open, and I couldn’t fall back asleep.
In the end, after a quick run and shower, I still couldn’t sleep and headed to the PC room around 6 AM.
"Playing games at 6 in the morning..."
Even the usually crowded PC room had fewer people at 6 AM on a weekday.
"I’ll just craft the accessories and then log off. I’ll come back later."
Ye Uwon was planning to handle just the accessories he had queued for crafting and log out.
Since it takes about 10 hours to craft, if he started now, it would be finished by the evening when he logged back in.
"You've sent me mail."
As soon as he logged in, his mailbox was unusually glowing, and when he checked, he found a long letter from no.10, along with some gold.
Sender: no.10
Hello, Ye Uwon.
I’m sorry to surprise you with a letter all of a sudden.
ㅠㅠThe thing is, earlier, I was talking to that guy, and then I was doing some research, so I wasn’t able to properly say goodbye when you logged off. I know it’s not easy to step up like you did. I really appreciate it. ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
In a world like this, to meet someone like you…
The letter was full of gratitude and a lot of “ㅠ” characters.
Ye Uwon sent the gold back, replying that it was okay and that he felt sorry for making things bigger than they should be when he didn’t fully understand.
"These accessory options suck. I’ll re-craft them… huh?"
A green light was on in the guild window. This meant someone other than Ye Uwon was online.
"Who is it?"
Ye Uwon clicked on the guild member list.
Since it was 6 AM, he didn’t expect anyone else to be online, but there was exactly one other person online besides him.
"Gisekki?"
He was even in the guild voice room.
Curious, Ye Uwon clicked on it. It was the same voice room where the earlier chaos had unfolded. All the other guild members had left, but both Gisekki and Ye Uwon were still there.
It seemed like, while fleeing from the guild members earlier, Gisekki had hurriedly logged off without leaving the voice room.
"I should leave too."
But why was Gisekki still in the voice room?
Had he forgotten to log off, or was he just lurking?
Ye Uwon stared at Gisekki’s ID, puzzled, when a ding sound made him blink in surprise.
Just moments ago, there was a muted icon next to Gisekki’s ID. But now...
"He unmuted?"
Earlier, another guild member had mentioned that Gisekki never turned his mic on.
So, even when things got heated in that argument, he had stubbornly refused to unmute.
Confused, Ye Uwon forgot to leave and stared blankly at the screen. Then, a faint rustling sound echoed in his ear, followed by a quiet breath.
The voice was deep, sinking, almost languid.
Ye Uwon froze, completely unprepared for the voice.
He had imagined Gisekki’s voice many times over the past month as they stuck together. Gisekki always used foul language in chats, so Ye Uwon had assumed his voice would be high-pitched and fast-paced...
But no.
The tone was sharp, but it was surprisingly low. Moreover, it had a slow and lazy quality to it, almost as if the words were being dragged out. It was a voice that felt strangely soothing to the ears, even though it was littered with curses. It was a tone that felt a little out of place compared to the aggressive chat messages.
Ye Uwon stared at the screen, as if hypnotized, and then, almost instinctively, put on his headset. He unmuted as well and opened his mouth.
"Side..."
Since it was the middle of the night, the PC room was unusually quiet, and through the quiet headset, it almost felt like Gisekki was intently listening to his own voice.
"I didn’t hear that."
Was it possible that he thought Ye Uwon had taken his side?
"I didn’t really take a side; I just corrected what was wrong..." Ye Uwon spoke slowly, reflecting on Gisekki’s words. His own words started to become less clear.
Ye Uwon didn’t think he had taken Gisekki’s side. He just stated what was obviously true.
After all, the whole problem started when Gisekki fought with the Spirit Priest and got blacklisted, but Ye Uwon didn’t think that was Gisekki’s fault.
The same applied to the events that had happened earlier. How much gold had they been pocketing during those sieges?
Even if others had noticed, they would have acted the same. It just happened to catch his eye, and he spoke up about it.
As Ye Uwon continued his train of thought, the strange word "happened to" made him reconsider his actions.
Could he really say it was purely accidental that he noticed? And above all...
It suddenly dawned on him that there was no real reason for him to have stepped up at that moment.
Of course, he agreed that things needed to be corrected, but there was no need for him to do it right then and there.
Ye Uwon was usually a cautious person.
Normally, if he found something strange, he would have gathered all the data perfectly before mentioning it to no.10.
But he didn’t do that this time. He had acted quickly, trying to correct the mistakes of the four who were demanding that Gisekki be kicked out.
And, a little recklessly, he had pressed them without proper data.
"...Or maybe not."
How did he not notice this earlier?
Ye Uwon ran his hand through his hair, laughing in disbelief.
"I did take his side, didn’t I?"
If he hadn’t wanted to take Gisekki’s side from the start, he wouldn’t have even calculated the siege win rates to find faults with the four.
He would have just stayed out of it, watching the situation unfold from a distance.
But Ye Uwon hadn’t done that. The real reason he had moved was because, unlike usual, Gisekki’s silence had stuck in his mind.
"Yeah, I guess so."
Gisekki seemed flustered by Ye Uwon’s sudden comment.
"I guess I wanted to take your side, Gisekki. I didn’t even realize it myself."
Earlier, he had confidently said he hadn’t taken a side, but now...
Ye Uwon chuckled lightly, almost at how ridiculous it all was.
Once Ye Uwon admitted it, Gisekki seemed to be at a loss for words.
Ye Uwon rested his chin on his hand, blinking slowly.
The light from the computer made the skin around his eyes look almost dark blue.
Based on what he had seen of Gisekki, this was totally possible.
After all, the first thing Gisekki said when he entered the voice room was, "Who the hell are you to take my side?"
Ye Uwon waited to hear what Gisekki might say next, but as the silence stretched on, he started to get a little bored and moved his character in the guild territory.
Gisekki was still in the guild’s territory. It was strange that he was still in the same spot from earlier, but Ye Uwon moved his character and stopped in front of Gisekki.
He stared at Gisekki’s Necromancer character.
A sharp-looking scythe and the dark robes of a reaper, like it was ready to take his soul.
At first, the sharp Necromancer image seemed to fit Gisekki, but now that he heard the voice, it didn’t seem quite right.
His voice was low and husky, and while it was foul-mouthed, it also had an oddly gentle side to it. It was a surprisingly pleasant voice, and somehow the curses seemed to suit it. It felt different from the aggressive chat messages.
Then Gisekki spoke.
The flustered look from earlier vanished, and he asked in a sharp tone.
Ye Uwon, still unsure about what Gisekki meant by "fan," thought about it and then finally muttered quietly.
"Ah, you mean me being your fan?"
He remembered now. When he was asked why he joined the guild, he had said it was because he was a fan of Gisekki.
Did he still remember that?
It was something Ye Uwon himself had forgotten, but now he answered truthfully.
"Yeah, I’m your fan."
As soon as Gisekki heard that, he cursed loudly.
Gisekki muttered angrily and made a rustling sound, as if about to leave.
For some reason, Ye Uwon felt like he absolutely had to stop him.
"Serve the spirit!"
In his haste, he blurted the words out without thinking.
Ye Uwon immediately realized his mistake, but what did Gisekki think?
Gisekki replied in an incredulous tone, as if to ask why he suddenly said that.