TGMND 57

Ding!

“…?”

At that time, for the first time in a while, Yeo-woon’s cell phone heard the sound of a HolBlue chat arrival, and after a week, a message arrived from Earth Star.

「Earth: Merongㅇㅠㅇ(😛)」

“What the hell, this guy?”

After a week without any reply, that’s all he had to say? Yeo-woon couldn’t help but let out a small laugh of disbelief. Yoon Ji-gu, who had been communicating with his mother expressionlessly, looked up and expressed his curiosity at Yeo-woon’s muttering.

“What is it?”

“… No, I received a strange text message from a friend I know.”

Yeo-woon mumbled an excuse, turned his phone on silent mode, and laid it face down on the table. He thought Yoon Ji-gu would ignore him, but instead, he asked again about the message.

“Didn’t you just get a text message? Why aren’t you replying?”

“I’ll do it later. It’s not that important.”

“…Who is it?”

“Just someone I met online.”

“From what? A game?”

As usual, it all came back to games. Though Yeo-woon wasn’t keen on explaining his online relationships, especially those formed through gaming, he resigned himself to the truth since there wasn’t much else to say.

“Um…yeah. A game friend.”

“Are you close with that person?”

Huh? Why are you asking this?

“Not really… .”

“… You are not close? Why?”

“Huh? Just… we’re not that close.”

Yeo-woon had simply answered that they weren’t particularly close, so he didn’t understand what the problem was.

“But…if you’re exchanging messages, doesn’t that mean you’re close?”

“Nah, not really.”

Yoon Ji-gu asked indifferently with a sullen look, despite not seeming very interested. Thinking it might be his way of trying to make conversation, Yeo-woon was pleased.

“…Wouldn’t that person feel hurt if you said that?”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s not like they can hear me.”

“….”

“I’ll reply later, but right now, I’m talking with you, Ji-gu-ssi.”

Despite Yeo-woon’s attempt to go along with him, Yoon Ji-gu didn’t say anything further. He silently stamped cookie cutters into the rolled-out dough, and Yeo-woon was puzzled. He seemed to be in a bad mood, but Yeo-woon couldn’t figure out where he might have misspoken.

“Oh, Yeong is asleep.”

Noticing the living room had gotten too quiet, the child stopped drawing while humming to himself and fell asleep with his cheek pressed down on his sketchbook. At Yeo-woon’s words, Yoon Ji-gu took the blanket lying on the sofa and casually placed it on the child.

“Then I should get going.”

He knew he had stayed too long. As Yeo-woon gathered his things and got up, Yoon Ji-gu grabbed him by the back of the neck. Startled, Yeo-woon choked a little as his collar tightened. Yoon Ji-gu looked down at him, his lips twitching, but he didn’t manage to say he was sorry. Instead, he continued awkwardly.

“…Take some cookies with you. My nephew can’t eat them all by himself anyway.”

“…Huh? Really?”

“Would I joke about that?”

Yoon Ji-gu attempted a joke with a completely serious expression. He can joke too? Yeo-woon stared at him wide-eyed. Yoon Ji-gu poured cookies onto a white plate and handed the whole plate to Yeo-woon.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

The golden brown cookies looked delicious. Yeo-woon was secretly impressed. This guy not only studies at Daehan University and is good-looking but also cooks well.

“…And, reply to that message from earlier.”

“Huh?”

“…”

Yoon Ji-gu stared at Yeo-woon’s face before shifting his gaze to his hand. Following his gaze, Yeo-woon realized he was looking at his phone.

“Oh, that? Got it. I’ll do it later.”

It seemed he had an unexpectedly thoughtful side too. Does this mean they’ve gotten a bit closer?

“The lunch was delicious. Next time I’ll…”

Before Yeo-woon could finish, the front door slammed shut right in front of his face. What kind of personality does he have? Getting to know the guy next door was proving to be extremely difficult. He barely spoke, and it was hard to guess what he was thinking. Yeo-woon looked at the warm cookies in his hands with a bewildered expression.

Me: The guy next door gave me cookies

It took a while for a reply to come.

Seon-young: So you’ve gotten closer?

Jeong Se-hyung: Cringe; Lee Yeo-woon playing another real-life dating sim, lol

Seon-young: Dating sim, lololol

“…”

Only then did Yeo-woon realize that he was acting as if he were trying to win Yoon Ji-gu over. It turned out that the one playing the dating sim game wasn’t Yoon Ji-gu but him.

***

The first Isis conquest battle by Poseidon was a complete mess. Since it was an event meticulously prepared by Illusion, the battle unfolded with a system quite different from the usual game mechanics.

As briefly explained in the event description, it was essentially a “castle defense game.” The system involved defending one’s base while attempting to capture and destroy the opponent’s stronghold. This meant that both defense and offense had to be executed proficiently to win. No matter how experienced one was with PVP, failing to protect the castle meant the end of the game. None of the guild members were accustomed to this castle defense system.

It was the same for the opposing guild, Romanos. They were as confused as Poseidon.

‘This is crazy. Did the genre of the game change?’

Everyone agreed vehemently with this remark made in the general chat. It felt more like an FPS game. Nearly twenty guild members moved around randomly without any assigned roles. As a result, some moved forward only to die helplessly, while others stood idly by, getting killed by the enemy’s area attacks.

Poseidon won the first battle by a narrow margin, but if one more person had died or the durability of the castle had dropped by even 3 percent, it would have been lost in the battle for Isis.

Yeo-woon was wondering what the hell was going on and the game ended haphazardly. Yeo-woon skimmed through the battle report and realized something. One person was responsible for half of all the deaths.

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Wow, one person is responsible for half of our deaths, lol

[Guild] neutaaaa: Ahahahahahahah who is it lmao

Yeo-woon shook his head at CatMeowMeowMeow’s message and clicked firmly on the graph. The pie chart death report then expanded, showing the detailed contribution and death share percentages for each guild member.

‘neutaaaa’

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Whoa Newta accounted for half our deaths!!!!

“…What?”

…It’s really him?

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Sh1t lol

[Guild] al0ha: Who is it?<<<< lolololol

[Guild] neutaaaa: …

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Hahahahahaha

[Guild] Kidney Rat: Lolololololol, talking trash without realizing it’s himself.

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Guild] ParkRoach: I am my own enemy –neutaaaa

[Guild] al0ha: Spouting some philosophical quote lol

It was him. Yeo-woon couldn’t believe he died so many times! If he hadn’t said anything, he wouldn’t have felt this shame. Yeo-woon felt the heat rising to his face and pressed his cheek with the back of his hand.

[Guild] Cat Meow Meow Meow: Whoa, but Neutaaaa died more than Cockroach!! Cockroach came in 2nd place.

[Guild] ParkRoach: Lol, so funny. But it’s ParkRoach. Can’t you read Korean?

[Guild] neutaaaa: ㅡㅡstop the commentary

[Guild] CatMeowMeowMeow: Sorry… my bad.

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Awesome, you just hit two people with one comment… lol

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Lololol the skill of one typo

“…”

CatMeowMeowMeow wasn’t doing anything wrong, but it was annoying for no reason. It’s not that CatMeowMeowMeow said anything wrong, but did he really have to announce the results from the report for everyone to see? I have eyes too. I can see it. Yeo-woon began blaming others, quietly erasing the fact that he had agreed with CatMeowMeowMeow’s words in the first place from his mind.

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: It’s okay! ^^ The important thing is that we won even with so many allied deaths. The result is more important than the process~~~!! We can do better next week! Neutaaaa, don’t slack off next time, and do your best not to die so much~^^ Go team!

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Isn’t that being sarcastic?

But he did try his best today.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Ah yes;

[Guild] ParkRoach: Hahahahahahaha look at the reaction

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: He must have done his best lol

[Guild] al0ha: Captain, you should just stay quiet;;

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: For real, lol. “Go team,” seriously.

[Guild] Wandu Wandya: Guild Master is the worst.

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: What did I do? ㅜㅜ

It may not have been intentional. Captain Poseidon’s words were the kindest of these, but they were also the ones that hurt Yeo-woon the most. Still, he’s a warm-hearted person trying to encourage everyone. With a bitter smile, Yeo-woon sighed.

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Lol, are you crying?

[Guild] ParkRoach: Lol, are you crying?

[Guild] al0ha: Lol, are you crying?

[Guild] Captain Poseidon: Are you crying?^^

[Guild] neutaaaa: ㅡㅡ

Take back what I just said. These guys were all the same. Why were they so good at this game when everyone seemed to be so frail that they would be knocked out with just one hit? Did they just eat and play Illusion non-stop? In reality, he seemed the strongest here, so it was strange he had the highest death count… There must be some conspiracy.

[Guild] neutaaaa: I want to practice, but we can’t even practice siege battles.

[Guild] Halloween Eggplant: Ah, the guilds that ran the siege ahead of us in the morning are now in an uproar, demanding a practice mode, lol.