And from that day on, Yeonjun sighed while pressing a hand to his forehead in misery, realizing why words that had once been spoken could not be picked back up.
How had “I can’t stop your freedom to come to the field, so do whatever you want” turned into “It’s fine for you to follow me around”?
At that transcendent logic that seemed to skip several steps of procedure, Yeonjun stared at the monitor with a distant expression.
By the time Yeonjun hit the limit of his patience and looked back at the chat window with a sinking feeling, he had already taken his anger out on Haesal.
[Whisper/Ignis: When I come home after being trapped at a damn company for 11 hours and working my ass off, 95% of Sung Yeonjun has already clocked out. The remaining 5% of Yeonjun is the one talking to you right now, Haesal-nim, you know?]
[Whisper/Ignis: With this mental state, do you think I can raid? PvP?]
Today, too, Yeonjun had just come back after leaving a soulless macro reply to child Hansol’s regular inquiry. How did Hansol and Haesal somehow even have similar names?
On top of that, there was clearly Chief Joo’s Hyeongseok too.
Why did all these H-something people who persistently fed him crap keep clinging to him?
Was there some curse attached to H-something? Yeonjun was genuinely horrified.
Words already spoken could not be picked back up. Even if it had been venting, at the moment he typed it, he had felt a tiny bit refreshed, so it was fine. Just as Yeonjun was repeating that soulless excuse to himself, Haesal’s chat came up, so stubborn it went beyond steadfast and became irritating.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Hyung, I think your fingers are still fast.]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: There’s potential.]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Whoa, but hyung, your real name.]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Is it Sung Yeonjun? Your name is really pretty.]
This crazy bastard, seriously. What on earth could he do to shake him off?
Yeonjun grabbed his throbbing head one more time.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Hyung, that’s too many hearts.]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Ah, I’m getting excited…]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Do you maybe like me?]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: My heart is beating crazy fast right now.]
[Whisper/Ignis: ♡♡♡ Seriously…]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: For the record, I like you, hyung.]
Apparently, it was fine if he ran away, fine if he showed lousy skill in a raid, and fine even if he cursed at him.
Even Chief Joo, who had made the sleaziest advances Yeonjun had ever experienced, had burned with hatred in both eyes and retaliated against him when Yeonjun had done nothing more than reject him.
Yeonjun could not understand what this kid saw in him that made him follow him around this much.
[Whisper/Ignis: Is something wrong with you?]
[Whisper/Ignis: Why are you so bad at understanding what people say?]
Understand it by now if I say this much, Yeonjun thought, recoiling once again, but Haesal answered brightly.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Hyung, but for the last thing,]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Can I say just one thing?]
Yeonjun refused at once.
But there was no way Haesal would back down just because of that.
It had already been a long time since any chance of having a smooth, warm, friendly relationship with Ignis-nim had gone down the drain.
If so, at the very least, he had to leave Ignis-nim with the impression that this guy really was different from the others, that rather than falling for the persuasion of those other half-hearted guys, this one at least seemed the most desperate among them.
He had to differentiate himself somehow.
[Whisper/Ignis: No.]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Ah, just one thing ㅠㅠ]
At the point where that unusually polite and pure way of speaking, unlike kids his age, had collapsed, Yeonjun could not help being shocked, wondering just how much this guy had been pretending all this time.
If he did not listen to this too, he would probably keep sending messenger messages and bothering him. After thinking for a moment, Yeonjun typed exactly two ㅇs.
[Whisper/Ignis: ㅇㅇ]
As soon as Yeonjun’s permission dropped, Haesal once again powerfully scraped at Yeonjun’s insides.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: But hyung, you’re not that old.]
[Whisper/Ignis: ㅡㅡ]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Even people in their forties raid just fine.]
He knew that being in his early thirties was not old. But why did Haesal not know that this was exactly why it felt even more miserable?
No, of course he would not know.
If he was a college student now, what would he know? At that age, Yeonjun himself had not known either.
In a generation looking toward an average life expectancy of one hundred years, Haesal did not know how miserable it was to be only thirty and yet already past the prime of one’s gaming skill.
All of his standards were set to his past self, and no matter how much he struggled, he could not keep up with that level. Until someone experienced it, they could not know how bitter it was to feel that not at forty or fifty, but at only thirty.
That was why he could not be with Haesal even more. Even if saying he did not have to do anything was not empty talk, it was meaningless.
You might be fine with it. You might say, ‘He’s an old Named, so what can you do?’ and since it was someone else’s business, it might not matter to you, but not to me.
I can’t watch kids who are in the middle of enjoying the time that has already passed me by and cheer them on with a happy laugh, thinking, ‘Must be nice’.
He did not care if people said he was jealous over something insignificant. The timing had gone completely out of alignment, and that was not a problem he could blame anyone for.
Of course it irritated him, but it was not as if he had no gratitude toward Haesal at all, so he simply wanted to end things here.
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Ah, hyung, please, anything but blocking me;]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: I was wrong.]
[Whisper/Ignis: Do you know what you did wrong?]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: ㅠㅠ…]
Yeonjun swallowed a sigh as he looked at Haesal’s character, who was somehow beside him, holding both arms up in a punishment pose.
[Whisper/Ignis: Then you can go raid with those people in their forties.]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: Ah, hyung.]
[Whisper/DoHaesal: But hyung, it’s really because I think you’re too much of a waste.]
[Whisper/Ignis: I don’t think I’m a waste.]
And he quickly pulled out a weapon that could make Haesal close his mouth.
[Whisper/Ignis: If you whisper me one more time within the next hour,]
[Whisper/Ignis: Know that I really will block you.]
At Yeonjun’s threat, Haesal nodded with a motion instead of a whisper, as if he understood.
His ears, standing tall and pricked toward the sky, fluttered on the screen. The bobber sank beneath the surface of the water and then rose again with a ‘pong’, the pond rippled peacefully, the fishing rod twitched, and a black tail swayed.
If only that Haesal bastard were not crouched right beside him, looking up at Yeonjun’s character, it would have been a perfect moment.
“…”
When Yeonjun told him not to speak, he really did only not speak, sticking close to him like a pet and just staring. Yeonjun could not even get more irritated at him over it.
‘Ha.’
When he quietly folded his chair and moved a few steps to the side, Haesal, without fail, crept after him and took the seat beside Yeonjun.
When I was a castle lord, I felt like I was incredibly busy, so why does this bastard have so much time?
Yeonjun had no way of knowing that in the meantime, the rules had changed and the standard practices had shifted, so they had become less busy by that amount.
Aren’t you going to siege war? When do you do territory occupation war? He wanted to ask, intending to tell Haesal to hurry up and go there instead, but Yeonjun could easily predict what kind of reaction would come back if he actually asked.
Hyung, are you worried about me right now? Do you maybe want to go to territory occupation war? Why are you asking about defense war? Do you maybe want to try it once?
Haesal would infer things he had never said, then conclude with the same answer as always: Come with us, hyung. I’m telling you, you have to join our guild.
In the end, after spending the whole two hours or so of his connection time stuck with Haesal again today, Yeonjun closed the game and pressed his fingertips against his throbbing temples.
When the game screen went out and the monitor turned black, embarrassment finally flooded over him at what he had said.
Thinking about it again, it really was like getting slapped at the Han River and glaring at someone in Jongno.
Haesal must have been offended by the sudden informal speech and all those jumbled sentences he had thrown at him. Yet he had not shrunk back at all.
On the contrary, as if he were happy that Ignis-nim, who had always used polite speech and felt distant, had finally exploded with his true feelings, Haesal threw away his act and started spouting even more heated nonsense.
The reason Chief Joo pestered him was obvious.
It was purely his face.
This was something Yeonjun, who had lived thirty-one years of life as a handsome man above the average, was certain of.
Compared to Chief Joo, he was younger, lower in rank, and not from a very good family.
Chief Joo had probably thought he could swing him around however he wanted, belittle him, and play with him, but since he could not, how displeased must he have been? ‘I was willing to step forward and embrace a lacking guy just for his face, and yet he dares to reject me?’
As long as one was not an idiot, there was no way not to know that this was the grudge Chief Joo held toward him. So he could understand Chief Joo’s obsession with him.
But Haesal…? Why…? He could not understand at all why he was that important to him. I’m telling you to play happily with another good paired DPS besides me?
Yeonjun had no way of knowing that to Haesal, Ignis-nim was the one and only player. Even if Yeonjun himself was not satisfied with his skill, no player had ever reached that realm until now, so there was no way he could recognize his own symbolism.
“…What a strange guy.”
Yeonjun pressed a hand to his heated forehead. But what was even stranger was himself, because even though this tiresome courtship irritated him, bothered him, and was a nuisance, he did not completely hate it.
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