He was at least aware that his twenty-year-old self had been famous.
There had even been fan cafes on every platform made up of people saying they supported him, so there was no way he would not know.
But given that the number of members in those cafes had never once gone past three digits, and that the last post on them had been in 2013, there was no difference between that and being someone forgotten now.
It was not as though he had never done ego searches back when he was aware of his own fame, but after he vanished, he knew people could not have had only good things to say, so he deliberately never looked.
It was not as though he had wanted to wrap everything up and leave that suddenly either, and getting cursed out as selfish or irresponsible for it would have been too miserable.
The self from the past that he had worked so hard to look away from was someone he envied, and someone he was ashamed of.
No, the one who was shameful was really the current him.
Yeonjun wrapped the blanket all around himself like a cocoon, then curled his body up like a shrimp.
If he had just not been demoted, he thought he would not have been such a shabby adult.
It was not as though his career had been all that dazzling, but if he had still been in the company’s number one revenue studio, he would never even have known the sorrows of being stuck in some weak little department like this.
At the very least, he might have been going around with his shoulders squared, telling himself, Isn’t this enough?
That damned Director Joo!
Yeonjun burned again with resentment toward Director Joo and writhed in place while still wrapped up in his cocoon.
This really was a pitiful adult’s appearance.
As he squirmed around to cool down his anger, he wound up banging his head hard against the headboard, then swallowed a sigh and buried his face in the pillow.
No matter how angry and wronged he felt, it did not change what he had to deal with right now.
As a responsible adult, what Yeonjun had to do now in order to handle tomorrow’s schedule was perfectly clear.
‘First, I need to sleep.’
Before he knew it, the clock was already pointing at one.
Sleep.
For a good adult, it was time to go to sleep so he could power through tomorrow.
After tossing and turning for a long time, Yeonjun finally managed to fall asleep, and that was when the truly ridiculous dream started.
The rabbit beastman character with a face so pretty it looked almost gender-ambiguous, the one he had seen on the screen right before falling asleep, came bouncing around Yeonjun in little hops, wagging its plump, soft tail.
‘Wow, did you really think I wouldn’t know?’
‘But I never imagined you’d be this pathetic…’
‘And pretending to be Ignis, that was a lie too, right? Ah, come on…’
A male Yana-race default voice he had never even heard before kept whining on and on without stop.
Yeah, and who asked you to admire me in the first place?
I just did what I wanted to do.
And then you go and decide on your own to like me, respect me, call me cool, build up expectations, and then act disappointed because I’m not as great as I was back then.
That made him feel bitter and irritated.
Do you think I live like this because I want to?
How many people’s lives really go the way they want them to?
Everyone lives by compromising with reality, accepting it, adapting to it.
I’m not supposed to be this kind of person.
I’m not someone who belongs at this level.
Even if I reject reality and tell myself I’m not satisfied with how I live, I know I’m the only one who gets hurt by that, so I’m just enduring to survive.
This is the best flailing I can manage, so what am I supposed to do?
As Yeonjun desperately shot back, the blue-eyed rabbit blinked its upturned eyes in a prim little way and smiled.
‘Looks like you really do need me, hyung.’
What kind of bullshit is that?
When Yeonjun jerked awake in outrage, it was about twenty minutes before his alarm was supposed to go off.
“Ha…”
He wiped his sweat-damp forehead with the back of his hand and got up, and his back was soaked too, from how much he must have tossed and groaned because of the nightmare.
Since he was up early anyway, he took a quick refreshing shower, and when he came out, his head felt clearer.
‘What exactly am I so worried about?’
The more he interacted with Haesal, the more afraid he became of the fact that Haesal might find out he really was Ignis.
That he wanted to confess, I’m really not someone worthy of that much admiration from you.
That he was nothing more than a pathetic man in his thirties, just like any other adult, busy struggling to keep his real life afloat.
That the Ignis he admired no longer existed anywhere in reality, and that it would probably be easier on his heart to think of him as a fictional figure.
His real life was full of nothing but things that annoyed him.
Of course, Haesal was annoying in a different way too, but whenever he looked at him trying, in his own way, to help even a little, it made him feel strange.
It was embarrassing, and it made him want to run away somewhere.
He knew perfectly well that, by adult standards, the things Haesal sent were not really worth much in monetary terms.
But the fact that, while preparing those little things, he was thinking about Yeonjun every single day, that was burdensome, but he did not dislike it.
In reality, the only thing that got prepared for him every single day was work…
Even if he had started his return with ambitions of his own, he could easily have quit along the way thinking, I barely even have the energy to go to work, so why am I doing this, and it’s not like realistically finding some angle that’ll cut Director Joo’s throat is easy either.
If he had not quit his return, then honestly, a lot of the credit belonged to Haesal.
The fact that there was someone who looked forward to his logging in every day and prepared a small gift for him was not something that bothered him and nothing more.
He would find himself wondering what Haesal might send tomorrow, and worrying a little that maybe nothing would come.
In Yeonjun’s daily life, crowded with nothing but unpleasant people, those small gifts had quietly seeped in.
And the less his relationship with Haesal felt like “annoying, but…,” the more fear seeped in with it.
I’m not someone worth this much care.
Going by his guess, Haesal seemed to be somewhere in his late teens or early twenties by now.
The guilt of deceiving someone that young, someone so painfully green, weighed heavily on Yeonjun’s conscience.
At the same time that he wanted Haesal to find out nothing, he also wanted to tell him everything and feel relieved.
‘…..’
While Yeonjun, troubled from the moment morning began, absentmindedly dried the water from himself, the time came when he needed to hurry if he wanted to get ready for work with any room to spare.
First, go to work.
In this great nation, adults had to go to work first even if the whole country got devastated by a zombie outbreak.
Stuffing himself quickly into a simple shirt and pants and stepping outside, he saw the people who had already started their day diligently from early morning.
Game matters were matters inside the game.
He was a real person living in the real world.
Right now, it was time to focus on real-world matters.
And so, while Yeonjun was peacefully continuing his leveling with that restored distance between him and Haesal, what blocked his way was a quest he had never expected.
[◈The Bond Closest at Hand]
It seems a small problem has arisen with Esmeralda’s engagement. Help resolve Esmeralda’s worries and make sure the wedding can be held safely.
[▶ Talk to Esmeralda]
[▶ Talk to Onyx]
[▶ Purchase a fresh cream cake at Onyx’s Bakery and deliver it to Esmeralda]
[▷ Form a 2-person party and talk to Esmeralda]
[Mission Completion Reward]
- 100,000 EXP
- 3,000 Gold
- 10 Essences of Magic
The whole time it had been made so you could solo it alone like some console game.
And now suddenly this mandatory two-person party quest popped up, making Yeonjun frown.
He did a quick search on the quest details to see what else it would make him do afterward, and ah…
Apparently, to comfort the bride, who was feeling anxious before the wedding, you had to run an RP dungeon reproducing something that had happened to her. (*RP: Role playing, content where the player becomes an NPC and proceeds through the scenario.)
And who exactly am I supposed to do that with?
If it had been back when the update had not been out long, there would have been parties all over the place with people asking to trade clears once each, but now it was the end times while everyone waited for the next chapter update.
Around the NPC, there was not even a single soul in sight.
‘…’
Yeonjun opened the friend list, glanced over the list of nicknames dyed gray, and after thinking it over, sent Haesal a mail.
Should he call it here for today, and ask whether tomorrow, if Haesal happened to be free, he could run it together with him?
If Haesal said no, then he could ask around in region chat for someone to go with him.
Surely at least one person would show up willing to help.
Honestly, he was fairly reluctant to go around crowded places or put something up in region chat because he was afraid someone somewhere might recognize him again, but if he wanted to progress, it could not be helped.
Two minutes after Yeonjun sent over a small housing junk item stamped with [Crafter: Ignis], a whisper arrived from Haesal with practically no delay at all, even taking into account the time it took for mail to arrive.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Hyung, is now a good time for you?]
What, this guy was online?
Not even imagining that the reason Haesal had switched his status to logout was because of him, Yeonjun’s eyebrows twitched.
If he’s online, why set it to logout?
Before Yeonjun could even guess at the reason, a party invitation came in from Haesal.
[System: DoHaesal has invited you to a party.]
[Accept]/[Decline]
He had sent the mail in the first place to ask Haesal to party with him, so there was no reason to refuse.
A very slight sense of indignation welled up shamelessly inside him, then Yeonjun pressed Accept.
[System: You have joined DoHaesal’s party.]
[Party/DoHaesal: Just let me know whenever it’s convenient for you, hyung]
[Party/DoHaesal: I’ll come over there]
Yeonjun moved the corners of his mouth for a moment, then typed back.
[Party/Ignis: I’m free right now]
[Party/DoHaesal: Then I’ll move over right away!]
Maybe Haesal had immediately used the function to move to the area where a party member was, because the current location in the friend list had already turned green and was now showing the same region as Yeonjun’s.
[Online]
- DoHaesal (Northern Motril Plaza)
Watching the blue party-member marker on the minimap get closer and closer, Yeonjun found himself suddenly asking,
[Party/Ignis: By the way, Haesal-nim]
[Party/DoHaesal: Yes??]
[Party/Ignis: Why did you set your status to offline?]
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