TGMND 43

What. Yeo-woon, who had been typing the words ‘Even if I was worried’ in the empty chat window, deleted them all with the backspace key. When he thought about it, it seemed like Earth Star was expressing his gratitude in his own way. The Earth Star he had seen was someone who really hated embarrassing situations and would say thank you with an emoticon as a joke.

[Whispering] neutaaaa: I heard you moved because of that incident, so I wanted to get permission to laugh about it

[Whispering] Ji9star: Hahahahahaha Why are you asking about it now?

[Whispering] Ji9star: I was right that you are worried haha.

[Whispering] neutaaaa: So what if I was worried?

[Whispering] Ji9star: Hahahahahahaha

Earth Star got off the Tulip and sat down in front of Yeo-woon. Yeo-woon stopped digging cabbage and sat down on the spot, following Earth Star. The two characters sat facing each other between the cabbage fields, occasionally tilting their heads in accordance with the waiting motion.

After a while, a yellow speech bubble popped up above Earth Star’s head.

[Whispering] Ji9star: I’m in the voice channel>_<

[Whispering] neutaaaa: ??

[Whispering] Ji9star: Holblue

At those words, Yeo-woon picked up the cell phone that was connected to the charger. When he entered the Holblue app and went into the conversation menu with Eart Star, he could see a yellow circle indicating that he was online.

‘Voice channel > on. Earth’

Suddenly having a voice conversation without saying a word? Although Yeo-woon was a little embarrassed, he found the earphones he had stored nearby and put them in his ears. When Yeo-woon entered the voice channel and activated the microphone, the name ‘neutaaaa’ came online under the name ‘Earth’.

White noise mixed with a weak noise came from the earphones in my ears. After waiting for a long time without anyone speaking first, Yeo-woon cautiously opened his mouth.

“… Hello?”

– Yes, I can hear you.

The one who had been silent all along immediately responded. Yeo-woon looked at the screen with his eyes wide open. Earth Star character, still sitting, comes into view.

‘It’s quite unexpected.’

When Yeo-woon saw his attitude, he thought Earth Star would be very blunt and rough, but when he actually heard his voice, it was the exact opposite of what he thought. He could say it was a surprisingly pleasant voice to listen to. Since Illusion wasn’t a game focused on voice, it felt even more unfamiliar.

– What’s this. Are you being shy now?

The other person grunted slightly. It seemed like there was a bit of laughter mixed in.

– Really? Are you nervous now that you’ve heard my voice? You’re not saying anything.

“Huh? No, it’s not like that. Your voice sounds a bit different from what I expected.”

As Yeo-woon hesitantly expressed his thoughts, a faint chuckling voice came through the earphones.

– Do you usually think about what my voice sounds like? Wow, that gives me goosebumps.

“…Earth Star.”

– Why?

“It’s gross.”

– What?

“You were bad at Korean when you were in school, right?”

-… What! Are you suddenly making personal attacks?! Did I hit a nerve?

When Earth Star, who was sitting, suddenly stood up and used a meaningless skill, the guild members remaining in the guild room wondered ‘?’ Who was hit just now… Yeo-woon burst into laughter.

“You’re acting crazy, sit down.”

– Well, the sound of the actual voice and the phone call is a bit different.

He muttered stubbornly as he sat back down. His emotions seemed quite rich. He was laughing earlier, but now he’s annoyed. His voice was unexpected, but he was definitely Earth Star.

“Oh, yeah….”

He wasn’t saying the voices were different… Well, Yeo-woon didn’t know what his usual voice sounded like. But there’s no need to say, ‘I was surprised that you’re not as blunt as I thought.’ So Yeo-woon just kept his mouth shut.

“But why are you suddenly using voice chat?”

– It’s faster to talk. And since Neu is so interested in me-…

“Oh yes.”

– … Did you just interrupt me? You were just worried about me earlier.

“What are you eating now?”

– You’re changing the topic? Candy.

No wonder it sounded like he had something in his mouth.

– Where should I start talking about this…

Earth Star paused for a moment and spoke with a small exclamation.

– About this time last year. That’s when strange people started joining the guild.

“Strange people?”

– Yes. At that time, there were no level restrictions, so we just asked them to do something like acrostic poems and sign them up regardless of whether they were good at it or not, you know? Even Cat joined. He kept bothering me saying things like, ‘Even though you told me to do acrostic poems and all, I’m still joining,’ but I just couldn’t stand it. Annoying bastard…”

“Oh, acrostic poems…”

Yeo-woon glanced at CatMeowMeowMeow, who had joined after reciting acrostic poems and had been scolded by Earth Star. He was talking about the siege update without even knowing someone was talking about him.

– But since last winter, all the people who’ve joined have been weird. Out of ten people, nine of them have been like that. They’d demand things from us as if it were obvious, asking for items in dungeons, ignoring Cat because he’s young. They’d even accuse me of using hacks. It’s so damn annoying…

Yeah, yeah. Yeo-woon, who was listening to the story, suddenly became a little flustered by the lower tone of his voice.

“Um, are you… crying?”

– What? Why would I be crying?

As the softly spoken voice returned to its original tone, it sounded puzzled. It was a needless worry. Yeo-woon scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“No, I thought… you were crying. So?”

– Back then, those guys would subtly alter the conversations in guild chat and spread them around everywhere. They coincidentally overlapped with the hacking rumors, so wherever we went, we’d get cursed at and all that.

“I see.”

– Even now, they really hate our guild in the game forums. They’re spreading rumors about our reputation being trash, aren’t they?

“Yeah, they are. Calling it trash.”

– …But then why do they still mess with us if they know?

“Well…”

Damn it, you’ve been bothering me all day long!

“Just because?”

– Just because?

Of course, at first, Yeo-woon felt annoyed and wanted to lash out no matter what Earth Star did, but once he got involved with Poseidon guild members, he realized their conversations were completely different from what others were cursing about.

Rumors of discriminating against people with spending limits, forming cliques within the guild and ostracizing newcomers, the guild master having a criminal record, being involved with Illusion… all sorts of outrageous rumors followed Poseidon.

“Just because. You guys didn’t seem like those kinds of people.”

-…

“I’m telling the truth.”

– Hmph. You’ve got a good eye for people.

The end of his words sounded oddly satisfying.

– Also, I didn’t know, but it seems my media social ID was vaguely displayed as a notification in the captured photo I uploaded to the guild talk a long time ago.

“ID?”

– Yes. The coordinates seemed to have been posted on the bulletin board, and suddenly there were a lot of comments.

“Wow, that’s too much.”

– Naturally, all the guild members who joined that day were forced to leave.

“Is the account still active?”

– No. I deactivated and deleted it. It was bothersome with notifications popping up asking for phone number verification, and login attempts kept coming in…

The more Yeo-woon listened, the more speechless he became. How could someone invade a person’s personal space like that? The unimaginable intrusion made his expression involuntarily frown.

“As for your moving….”

– … Strange mail kept coming. I don’t even know how they got my address.

“Mail?”

-But the strange thing is that no one in the guild knows my address. I think they figured it out by looking at photos of the neighborhood, but even after I reported something like this, it wasn’t handled properly. They claimed there was no malicious intent. …Does that make sense?

“What kind of mail?”

-…There is. Something strange.

He trailed off. It seemed he didn’t want to discuss the mail further. He added, urging Yeo-woon to change the subject.

– Ah. Well, there was that too! I was already planning to move out because of a fight with my eldest brother.

“You had a fight?”

– He always nagged me about what I eat. He should mind his own business… I got annoyed and said I’d just move out. So, you don’t have to worry about the moving.

“Did you catch the stalker?”

– No, we couldn’t.

“What about reporting?”

– …We did, but they couldn’t catch the person. They said a few mails… No, packages weren’t enough to be considered a threat. But because of that, I almost got killed by my mom for real. There was even a note saying not to mess with them. If that’s not a threat to life, then what is it?

As Yeo-woon listened to his story, Earth Star became even more engrossed and began to vent his frustrations. Unlike the silent first impression of his voice, he turned out to be subtly talkative.

Tired of sitting still, Earth Star got up and started digging cabbage instead of Yeo-woon. The cabbage he collected went straight into Yeo-woon’s pocket thanks to the looting function that Yeo-woon had turned on.

– Oh right. Today, the pervert next door gave me candy.

“Is it delicious?”

– Very. … But you were still worried about me, right?

Worried about you? Yeo-woon suddenly felt flustered by the unexpected turn of conversation but nodded his head in response.

“A little?”

– Wow, really…?

He muttered to himself. It seemed quite surprising to him that Yeo-woon agreed that it was true that he was worried even after asking the question. Earth Star took a long pause before speaking again

– Can I sometimes come to you for advice?

“Yes.”

– Then, can I call you ‘hyung’?

“No.”

He didn’t like that. Yeo-woon replied calmly.

-…

Earth Star seemed at a loss for words in response, just breathing in and out repeatedly. Then, out of the blue, a pink-colored effect appeared on the screen along with the message, “Ji9star requests to be in a relationship with you! Will you accept?”

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: What’s this?

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: LOL

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: Huh?

[Guild] neutaaaa: ? WTF