Note: Previously Dohyun will now be Dohae (도해)
“Time really feels like it’s going by fast today.”
After handling all at once in the afternoon the small tasks he should have finished in the morning, it was already almost time to leave work. Yeonjun stretched his arms up toward the ceiling as if pulling them out, then nodded as if agreeing with Team Leader An.
“Tomorrow’s the weekend, so hurry home and get some good rest.”
Only then did the game problems he had put off while handling company work begin to return to Yeonjun one by one. If he did not intend to disappear again like this, he had to think about how to clean this up before leaving work.
‘What do I do now…’
All day long, whenever people from other departments came in and out of the office, they talked about the legendary named player from the game’s early launch period who had suddenly returned.
Because of that, Yeonjun had to keep calming his heart, which kept jumping like he was someone caught stealing.
“I guess Ignis’s return really is a hot topic. Pretty much every game YouTuber posted a summary video.”
It seemed that in one corner of the Open Festa preparation team, there was even a plan being discussed about inviting Ignis for Open Festa’s third anniversary.
Considering the symbolic nostalgia Ignis held from the game’s early days, it was not a bad suggestion.
The problem was that this Ignis was an employee currently working at the company.
“I heard the GM in charge is going to try contacting him at least once. But whether it’s email or contact info, if the person doesn’t agree, then unless he committed fraud or a crime, we can’t unilaterally look into his personal information. So they said there’s nothing to do but wait until he logs in…….”
The Personal Information Protection Act is the best!
From the depths of his heart, Yeonjun sincerely thanked the laws of the Republic of Korea and barely let out a sigh of relief.
The fame Yeonjun could handle belonged strictly to the internet.
If people in real life started asking, “You’re that Ignis?” “Did you really just eat and play games all day?” “You don’t look like it, but you like games that much?” and spouting all kinds of nonsense with every sort of prejudice, he would go insane.
At that point, he would sooner quit. There was absolutely no way Yeonjun himself would step forward at the company and say, “I am Ignis.”
Maybe if they gave him about two billion won. But Yeonjun knew better than anyone that such a thing would never happen.
‘Forget that, the immediate problem is what I’m supposed to reply to this guy with…’
Yeonjun glanced at the clock, which was almost at quitting time, then looked into the app on his phone screen.
Wondering if any other messages had arrived while he was working, he quietly opened the app and checked for new messages, but there had been no contact since 2 a.m.
‘…’
Without realizing it, Yeonjun thought with faint disappointment, ‘Still, he could have contacted me one more time by now’, then immediately shook his head.
How many of his messages had you already read and ignored? If he sent more from here, it would no longer be an admiring hyung-dongsaeng relationship.
He would literally be a stalker.
Yeonjun barely came to his senses, then tapped the reply box and opened the keyboard.
What should I send? ‘I’m not that angry? If anything, I think I’m the one who should be sorry?’ Even after opening the screen to reply, his fingers would not move easily.
Yeonjun let out a long inward sigh and set his phone down on the desk.
He had never been used to things like this. To begin with, Yeonjun had not apologized to others very often. He was naturally the type who rarely made mistakes, and if there was some minor trouble, he calmly presented a solution.
He had often been the target of envy and jealousy, but aside from a few people who were truly hostile to him, he had not often clashed directly with anyone. And even in those cases, it was usually because some random person had developed a grudge against Yeonjun out of inferiority-fueled rage.
There were almost no cases where Yeonjun had wronged someone and earned their resentment.
So naturally, having to resolve something like this, whether through an apology or anything else, and bring it to a proper close, was his weak point.
Ten years ago too, instead of facing the problem and asking for understanding, Yeonjun had chosen to run away.
Instead of explaining the situation to the companions who had stayed by his side and helping them understand, Ignis had disappeared.
If he was going to run away the same way this time too, then just as Yeonjun had found countless blocks when he came back, he had to be prepared to disappoint Haesal.
‘What is he to me anyway…’
Yeonjun rested a hand on his forehead for a moment.
Even though Yeonjun had denied himself so much and could not trust himself, Haesal at least had believed in him, even while preparing himself to be hated by him.
It was too persistent to call simple admiration, but before treating him the same as the other people who obsessed over Yeonjun, he had to admit it honestly.
It was true that he had been comforted by the way Haesal treated him like he was someone worthwhile, when in reality he was treated as nothing more than an office parasite.
It annoyed him and made him grateful at the same time. It was burdensome, and at the same time, he hoped Haesal would not stop.
‘Are you a middle schooler going through puberty or what…’
Yeonjun took off his glasses, set them on the desk, then rested his forehead in front of them and closed his eyes for a moment. Then, before Team Leader An could notice, he quickly lifted his head.
Human feelings really were sly. While feeling ashamed of himself, Yeonjun also recalled the question he still had no answer to.
Like he had said, there were more than one or two strange guys obsessed with him, so why did he not completely dislike this one?
After thinking for a moment, Yeonjun spotted Chief Joo’s extension number among the company messenger contacts and immediately clenched his fist.
‘At least this guy won’t harass me or anything…’
After taking a deep breath, Yeonjun finally typed.
[Ignis] I was too out of it yesterday, so I couldn’t contact you. 6:38 PM
[Ignis] It wasn’t because I wanted to duel. 6:39 PM
[Ignis] The situation just suddenly turned out that way, so it happened unintentionally on my end too. 6:39 PM
Since it was a reply sent at a fairly random time, Yeonjun expected it to take a while for a response to come back and was leisurely writing out his message.
Then he was startled by the unread mark disappearing in an instant and nearly dropped his phone.
[Dohae] Hyung…with me. 6:39 PM
[Dohae] You’re not angry at me, are youㅠ? 6:40 PM
Who said anything about being angry? He was a little irritated, but he was not angry. It was not as if he could not understand why Haesal felt betrayed either.
[Ignis] No, I’m not angry. 6:41 PM
[Ignis] Yesterday, I was a little surprised too. 6:41 PM
What was he supposed to do with someone who jumped like a startled rabbit at a single word from him?
Even if I dated someone younger than me, they’d be easier to deal with than this.
Yeonjun leaned all the way back against his chair, blew a breath up over his forehead, then fixed his disheveled hair and sat up properly again.
[Dohhae] No, I was a little yesterday too. 6:42 PM
[Dohhae] I’m sorry for speaking out of turn to you, hyung. 6:42 PM
Rather than speaking out of turn… If Yeonjun had been in the same position, he probably would have felt betrayed too.
Suppose time went back to 2011, and he, back when he was actively serving as guild master, had found a skilled player he absolutely wanted to recruit and had followed him around for over a month, begging and pleading.
If that person had denied it the whole time, saying he had no intention of doing high-end content and could not because his skill was dead now, refusing and running away, only to be flying around like that somewhere Yeonjun could not see, it would have been enough to push his buttons too.
No, thinking objectively, if it had been Yeonjun, he would already have sent a duel request on the spot. That would have been entirely possible for him back then.
So Haesal, who was apologizing in a tearful voice as if he himself had done more wrong, could actually be said to have more decency than twenty-year-old Yeonjun had.
[Ignis] Don’t worry about it too much. 6:44 PM
[Ignis] But you know that doesn’t mean you should get your hopes up, right? 6:44 PM
[Ignis] I meant it when I said I wasn’t going to do it from now on. 6:45 PM
When Yeonjun saw that it was about time to leave work, he tidied up his spot and sent the reply. About ten minutes later, a short answer came back from Haesal.
[Dohhae] Yep. 6:58 PM
Seeing that a sulking, crying rabbit emoticon was attached to it, Yeonjun reflexively let out a fake cough and nearly choked.
‘He’s sulking.’
In any case, it seemed he was not as hated as he had worried.
Yeonjun picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, recalling Haesal’s voice, which he had heard briefly the previous night.
Was he just about twenty now? His voice was low for a high school student, but it still had a boyish intonation, not the fully settled feeling of an adult man.
He probably wanted to sound cool for no reason and was trying hard to lower his voice, but he had not yet tasted enough of life’s crap to hide that distinctive lightness.
When Yeonjun imagined him hastily calling at dawn because his messages were not being read, then fidgeting with his hands while writing a long apology, he laughed.
Suppressing a quiet chuckle, Yeonjun said goodbye to Team Leader An, who was likewise watching the clock so he could leave in time for the shuttle.
“I’ll head out first.”
Team Leader An, who had been glaring at the clock as if it were a shooting target, waved at Yeonjun and answered.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow~.”
With his heart feeling much lighter, Yeonjun went out into the hallway and stood in front of the elevator. Since he had a moment, he opened his message window with Haesal and sent a cat emoticon that looked as if it were poking fun at him.
The unread mark vanished instantly. Before a reply could come back, Yeonjun quickly closed the messenger and stuffed his phone into his pocket.
It was not as if the thing with Haesal was the only matter he had to resolve, but this was enough for now.
Just as Yeonjun was quietly moved by the fact that this time, he had not run away and had properly said something…
Ding.
With a cheerful chime, the elevator doors opened, and a horrible face appeared.
“…”
The bastard whose head Yeonjun had never once not wanted to blow off at any given time was staring straight up at him.
Leave a Reply