When Yeonjun instantly lowered the corners of his mouth, which had unknowingly risen a little, until they were level with the ground, Chief Joo immediately twitched his eyebrows.
“What? Yeonjun-ssi, did something good happen?”
At the random provocation Chief Joo threw at him out of nowhere, Yeonjun answered with an expressionless face.
“Nothing happened.”
Then Chief Joo clung on persistently, as if that could not possibly be true.
“No way. In all my time working here, I’ve never seen you smile like that.”
Of course he hadn’t. If it were in front of Chief Joo, Yeonjun was confident that even if a personal comedian stood right in front of him and performed stand-up tailored exactly to Yeonjun’s comedy tastes for twenty-four hours, the corner of his mouth would not so much as twitch.
“I don’t think it’s anything you need to concern yourself with, Chief.”
Yeonjun swallowed a sigh as he glared at the elevator numbers, which refused to change, wondering why the elevator, packed full today of all days, was descending so sluggishly.
At last, when the elevator finally reached the first floor and employees taking the shuttle or using public transportation were about to spill out, Chief Joo asked Yeonjun with an expression mixed with mockery, as if there was no way that was true.
“If someone saw you grinning like that at work, they’d think Assistant Manager Seong was dating or something.”
Who grinned when? This was not a matter of mood.
Objectively speaking, Yeonjun had never grinned.
Yeonjun immediately snapped back and got off the elevator.
“Even if I were dating, what would that have to do with you, Chief?”
Behind Yeonjun’s back, Chief Joo jeered.
“You’re not saying you aren’t?”
What do you want me to do about it?
Yeonjun maturely suppressed the urge to raise his middle finger behind his back and went out to the main road.
In front of the company, every kind of employee filled the area: people waiting at the stop for the city bus, people slipping away to find the intercity bus line, people searching for the shuttle line, and employees excited to be leaving work.
To think he had run into Chief Joo on the sacred commute home.
Feeling filthy, Yeonjun rummaged through his pocket and took out his phone, hoping to calm his mood a little.
Since he had changed his settings so notifications would appear at the top again, a summarized message from Haesal was pinned there.
[Dohae] (Emoticon) 7:00 PM
Should I see what he sent this time?
Thinking it was nothing serious, Yeonjun tapped the notification.
It was an emoticon of a white rabbit tugging both ears all the way down, blinking its black eyes.
He could not tell whether it was sad, sulking, or apologizing, but it was enough to make Yeonjun let out a small laugh.
Cute really is cute.
If either Yeonjun or Haesal had been a woman, it would not have been strange to mistake the situation for something romantic.
After all, sulking and disappointment were feelings that came from having expectations of the other person.
Haesal had probably sent those messages in the middle of the night because, in his own way, he had expected that if Yeonjun ever stepped back into high-end content, he would at least give Haesal a hint, or maybe do it with him.
Yeonjun himself was the same.
Even though he had only said things like, “Stop it,” “You’re annoying,” and “Go away,” he had still worried that Haesal might really leave for good, and had been thinking about how to smooth things over.
If Haesal’s goal had been to make Yeonjun conscious of him, then it had succeeded more than halfway.
Whether the fact that this feeling was only that of a cute junior who followed him well was a tragedy or a comedy, he did not know.
Thanks to Haesal, Yeonjun headed toward the subway station in a better mood.
After finishing his own neat little mental sorting and returning home, Yeonjun ate a simple meal, showered, and once again stood before a massive wall.
‘I don’t want to log in.’
This was not a joke. He meant it sincerely.
Before coming home, he had steeled himself, thinking that since he had roughly talked things out with Haesal, he would log in, appropriately ignore any fights people picked with him, and really just fish before logging off.
But now that determination felt meaningless, and logging in had become frightening.
Until right before getting home, the things he wanted to do had unfolded endlessly in the hopeful version of events, only for all motivation to vanish the moment he entered his house.
That was what it meant to be a true office worker of this era.
After drying his hair until it was fluffy, Yeonjun was about to go straight to his desk, but he staggered off course and flopped onto his bed instead.
When he had defeated Bingsu, Yeonjun had been full of energy, and he had guild members around him who could endure the situation with him.
Now, pathetically, Yeonjun was alone.
Of course, if he asked Haesal, it seemed like he would come running, but… after refusing him the whole time, asking for help only when he needed it would be shameless.
Just thinking about dealing with the flood of whispers, the pouring guild invitations, and duel requests already made him feel dizzy.
Yeonjun lay on his bed for a while, being lazy, then remembered the crying emoticon Haesal had sent and sprang upright.
If he was not going to quit the game again like this, then either way, this was something he had to overcome. Let’s think of it as a good… thing.
If lots of people gathered around him, then just as much meaningful information might flow in too. Yeonjun barely gathered his strength, sat in front of his computer, and logged into Erha Online.
[System: The place where your story soon becomes legend! Welcome back to Erha Online.]
[System: ‘Returnee’ benefits are being applied.]
After confirming that his character was tucked away in his private home, Yeonjun saw the [Returnee] title applied above the black cat ears standing proudly upright and swallowed a snort of laughter.
A ranker receiving returnee benefits. It was a title that truly did not match.
After confirming that his private housing setting was set to “No entry except mutual friends,” Yeonjun cleared his throat and quietly changed his title.
[Successor of Flame]
[Ignis]
Seeing the familiar title sparkling above his nickname made pride well up inside him.
I’m just enjoying the mood. Just the mood.
Thinking that, Yeonjun stepped outside his private home and immediately saw a crowd of people swarming in front of his private yard.
“……?”
He was so flustered that he had barely ducked back inside the house when, in that brief instant, guild and party join requests poured in. Yeonjun jumped and rapidly hammered the reject button. How many of these came in? Counting awkwardly, including the windows he had already closed, there were seven guild join invitations and thirteen party invitations.
“What the hell…”
As Yeonjun doubted his eyes and immediately opened a portal to a field where there would probably be no people, users who had already figured out his location through the one-sided friend-add function followed after him.
[Whisper/BaeChuKimchi: Hello, Is-nim. I’m sorry for whispering you so suddenly.]
[System: Yeoneo has invited you to a party.]
[Accept][Reject]
[Whisper/HangulWordDocument: Hello. Have you perhaps not joined a guild yet?]
[Whisper/Yeoneo: Is-nim, would you have a moment?]
[System: MatJogae has invited you to a party.]
[Accept][Reject]
[System: HariboJelly has invited you to a guild.]
[Accept][Reject]
Just as Yeonjun was lagging and repeatedly hitting the reject button, wondering where on earth all of these people were popping out from, Haein sent him a message through Open Messenger.
[Dohae Hyung, I’ll send you a party request, so accept it. 9:02 PM
It was as if he had already expected Yeonjun to end up in this predicament.
[System: DoHaesal has invited you to a party.]
[Accept][Reject]
As soon as Yeonjun accepted Haesal’s party invitation, he was switched into a state of already belonging to a party, and the party invitation windows that had been endlessly covering his screen vanished all at once.
[Dohae] You’ll probably be uncomfortable for a while because of party invites and guild invites. 9:02 PM
[Dohae] Set your whispers to reject except from friends. 9:03 PM
[Dohae] When I’m online, send me a party request. 9:04 PM
To Yeonjun, whose eyes were spinning because it had been so long since he had received this kind of fame, Haesal advised him very skillfully.
Yeonjun stared blankly at the message screen with Haesal for a moment, then suddenly came to his senses and asked.
[Ignis] How did you know I was lagging because of party invites, guild invites, and whispers? 9:05 PM
At Yeonjun’s foolish question, Haesal burst into a soft laugh beyond the screen.
Wasn’t it obvious? Even if his skill had fallen a lot compared to the past, everyone would be desperate to recruit him just for the symbolism alone.
There was no guild that would not lose its mind over a Flammer who had quickly and cleanly KO’d the current rank 1 almost as if toying with him. And Haein was no exception.
[Dohae] Hyung, you’re totally my style right now. 9:06 PM
[Dohae] There’s no way any place wouldn’t want to take you. 9:06 PM
[Dohae] I’ve seriously been saying that ever since I first saw youㅠ 9:07 PM
Haein typed, “If you’re really uncomfortable, you can come to our guild……” then deleted it.
In a situation where Is-nim was already sick of the flood of guild join invitations, saying something like that seemed like it would have the opposite effect.
He had never once been insincere, but he worried first that it might look like he was saying it lightly, as if it were the usual, “Even if it’s a persimmon I can’t eat, I’ll still poke at it.”
What if Is-nim really got persuaded by some weird guy and slipped right in somewhere?
Haesal knew that probably would not happen, but he still grew anxious. Just as Haesal fell into that agony, a reply came back from Is-nim.
[Ignis] Of course I thought you were just saying it to make me feel good. 9:08 PM
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