TGMND 54

“Here you go.”

An iced Americano was then placed on the table where Yeo-woon was sitting. Yoon Ji-gu had brought over the drink Yeo-woon ordered to his seat. The faint aroma of coffee beans wafted up. As Yeo-woon looked up at him, Ji-gu met his gaze with his usual cold expression. It seemed he had something to say since he came in person. Ordering a coffee makes the part-timer come over, huh… Yeo-woon muttered inwardly.

“Today is the third time.”

“…Huh?”

When Yeo-woon asked with a dumbfounded expression on his face, Yoon Ji-gu let out a small sigh. He stretched out three fingers from thumb to middle finger and held them in front of Yeo-woon’s eyes.

“You promised to come only three times a week. Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.”

“…Yes?”

“Today is the third time, so that’s it for this week. Who comes here every day just because they like it?”

Yeo-woon, who was unable to understand what he said, managed to recall what Yoon Ji-gu said a few days ago.

‘Oh, then just come three times.’

Yeo-woon thought he was just saying it casually.

“That’s too one-sided…”

“But a promise is a promise.”

“Yeah…”

The ice cubes rattled in his cup. Yeo-woon nodded as he sipped his coffee through a straw. After all, it was the weekend from tomorrow on… Since he didn’t say not to come to the cafe at all, what was the problem? He wouldn’t have time to come more than three times a week anyway. Yoon Ji-gu’s brows furrowed at Yeo-woon’s nonchalant reaction.

“By the way, Ji-gu-ssi…”

“I told you not to call me by my name.”

“Have you counted all the days I’ve been here?”

“…What?”

“One by one?”

“…”

Yoon Ji-gu opened his eyes wide and held his breath. Yeo-woon blinked his clear eyes as he looked at him. From the moment he had set foot in the cafe, he had always felt his gaze nakedly upon him. Yoon Ji-gu shook his head as he raised his hand to wipe his nape.

“No, it’s just that you came every day since Wednesday, so…”

“Seems like you were, though.”

“…Enjoy your drink!”

Yoon Ji-gu mumbled something and turned around. As he strode into the counter area with heavy steps, the female part-timer around his age who worked with him giggled as she looked at his face. Yoon Ji-gu mumbled something to her with an annoyed expression. It looked like they were bickering. Yeo-woon turned his head back and thought,

‘Is life hard…? He never smiles whenever I see him.’

Yeo-woon was concerned because he always had a frown on his face. He wanted to see him genuinely smile at least once, this man who seemed to always smell faintly of coffee at the nape of his neck.

***

Even without setting an alarm, he always seemed to wake up early on weekend mornings for some reason. Yeo-woon squinted his half-open eyes and put a toothbrush with toothpaste on it into his mouth. He shuffled out, turned on his computer, and brushed his teeth slowly, deep in thought.

This week felt like it went by faster than ever. There were frequent rainy days, perhaps a sign of the beginning of the rainy season, and he was suddenly swamped with work at the office that kept him busy. His boss, furious for no fault of his own, yelled at Yeo-woon who was just sitting there quietly. After getting off work yesterday, Yeo-woon opened up a new installment savings account. The name of the savings account was <Hiring a Hitman Savings>.

‘neutaaaa has logged into the game.’

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Hi

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Huh?

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Neu-nim, aren’t you getting ready for work this morning?

[Guild] neutaaaa: You picking a fight?

Yeo-woon glanced coolly at the chat window and deducted 1 point from his evaluation of CatMeowMeowMeow. This person didn’t seem like that before…

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Ah right it’s the weekend I forgot after being up all night hahaha

[Guild] neutaaaa: Be careful^^

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Yes! Sorry sorry

Yeo-woon generously forgave CatMeowMeowMeow. People who know how to admit mistakes have the potential to improve in the future.

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: People need to get some rest on the weekends.

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: But office workers are not people lol.

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Don’t say stuff like that;

[Guild] neutaaaa: ㅗ

[Guild] KidneyMouse: Reported.

[Guild] ParkRoach: Lolololol all the office workers are coming out lololol

[Guild] al0ha: Lololol Thank god I’m not employed yet, almost got made fun of

[Guild] ParkRoach: Really not employed?

[Guild] al0ha: Fvck youㅜㅜ

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Wandu, how is Manager Park?

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Are you interested in our manager? Want me to introduce you?

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Not into bald guys;

The guild members who always come in the morning were chatting noisily. Come to think of it, tomorrow was the first siege event of the conquest event. That’s why there was a notice in the guild chat room asking everyone to participate in the Sunday event if possible.

…But was Earth Star suddenly busy this week? Why is he not saying anything in the guild chat and not even logging into the game at all…Yeo-woon clicked on the couple window and sighed heavily as he looked at the offline nickname ‘Ji9star’.

‘If the #2 ranked person is missing, will tomorrow’s siege go smoothly?’

The first guild siege opponent for Poseidon tomorrow was the 6th rank guild on the Athena server, <Romanos>. Since it was a fight over the largest city of Isis, the participating guilds were quite formidable. Yeo-woon browsed the list of online guild members to check their levels.

“…?”

As Yeo-woon slowly looked from the bottom up, matching nicknames to levels, he tilted his head when he saw a very familiar name displayed above Earth Star’s offline nickname that he hadn’t seen before.

<On> Ji9moon

“What’s this? Is it Ji9star’s alternate character?”

Yeo-woon thought for a moment and decided to ask in the guild chat room.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Ji9moon << Who is this?

[Guild] al0ha: Oh, that person haha

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: …

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Haha, he joined yesterday haha.

[Guild] ParkRoach: A real noob

“A noob…?”

No way. This is clearly Earth Star no matter how you look at it. It was clear that it was not just ‘Earth Moon(Jigumoon)’ but ‘Ji9moon’ written on it. There was no way there was anyone other than Earth Star who would use a nickname like that.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Earth Star

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: He won’t reply if you call him that…Damn it’s another crazy guy again

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: He says he’s not Earth Star lol.

“…?”

Yeo-woon thought for a moment and called him by a different name.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Earth Moon?

[Guild] Ji9moon: ?;;;

Earth Star, or rather Earth Moon, who had not said anything until now, suddenly appeared. He hadn’t been seen all week, so Yeo-woon felt a surge of joy at his reappearance.

[Guild] neutaaaa: You’re raising an alt these days?

The ‘Ji9moon’ character had just passed level 180. Yeo-woon checked that he was at the Aquarium entrance through the guild window and used a warp capsule. Running left from the spire, he saw the familiar name tag up ahead. Yeo-woon approached Earth Moon and jumped around teasingly.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Hey, you look exactly the same?

Earth Moon was a character decorated exactly like Earth Star. However, it felt like something was different, so Yeo-woon stared intently and noticed a small mole under his left eye.

[Guild] Ji9moon: ? Do you know me?ㅠ_ㅠ;;

Earth Star… No, Earth Moon suddenly started saying strange things. Rather than being dumbfounded, Yeo-woon was utterly perplexed about what was going on. He re-read the previous conversation but still couldn’t make sense of it.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: No one knows… Yesterday he suddenly whispered to me to let him join the guild so I did, and he’s been like this ever since;

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: Does anyone know why he’s acting this way?!

[Guild] neutaaaa: …

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Lmaoooo he went full concept mode lololol

[Guild] Ji9moon: Con? cept? ㅇ_ㅇ??

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: For real why is he like this lololol

[Guild] al0ha: Lololololololol

[Guild] ParkRoach: #AmnesiacGuy #AppearedOutOfNowhereWithMole

[Guild] ParkRoach: Seems like his concept is appearing after a week of no contact and not remembering anything

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Lol so lame, is that supposed to be funny?

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Guild Master, Earth Star keeps whispering to me and telling me to shut up.

[Guild] Ji9moon: Who is that…

“…Crazy punk.”

Yeo-woon decided to stop paying attention. Anyway, he’s alive. He’ll probably be on his main character normally tomorrow. That’s all that matters.

“He really has no limits with this stuff.”

Seeing the mole under Earth Moon’s left eye made Yeo-woon shake his head. Yeo-woon left Earth Moon with his “concept” act standing there, Yeo-woon left to find a 4-person Milky Way Dungeon party through matchmaking.