TGMND 79

Yoon Ji-gu got so bored playing games alone that he joined a guild with an alternate character ID. Neuta recognized him and greeted him warmly.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Earth Moon?

[Guild] Ji9moon: ?;;;

It seemed Neuta was concerned about Ji-gu’s absence. Neuta had already noticed he joined the guild with an alternate without him saying anything… But nothing was confirmed yet, so it was too early to talk to him. Ji-gu wondered how he should probe and how he could be sure.

As usual, time was passing aimlessly as Ji-gu could only think about Neuta and the guy next door. Just then, he heard the doorbell ring beyond the slightly open door. The face peering through the intercom belonged to someone he wasn’t particularly happy to see.

“I’m not buying anything.”

Yoon Ji-gu thought about treating him like a salesman and sending him away, but for some reason, the man had brought his nephew, Yeong. Only then did Ji-gu remember that he had promised to look after Yeong. He let Yeong inside but not the man. However, the man seemed to have said something to the child, as Yeong started to cry and yell about the “next-door uncle” while hitting his actual uncle.

“…Please have lunch at our place.”

He had no choice but to invite the guy next door. The man didn’t refuse and quickly followed Ji-gu, grabbing only his phone. Ji-gu could only sigh.

“Ji-gu-ssi. Did you go to Daehan University?”

After eating lunch together and briefly separating the man from the child to put Yeong to sleep, the man took the opportunity to chat with Yoon Ji-gu incessantly. Ji-gu was a bit surprised when he asked about his university, but then he realized the man must have seen the paper near the dining table and felt relieved.

-This is an announcement from the management office. The owner of the silver car with plate number 6338, please move your car as it is blocking the entrance. Once again, the owner of the silver vehicle…

Just then, the same announcement from last week played. Ji-gu unconsciously glanced at the man’s face. The man listened to the announcement, thought for a moment, and then grumbled:

“Who is that? Seriously, why do they always park like that?”

That’s my mom. Ji-gu thought to himself.

After calling to ask his mother to move the car, Ji-gu noticed the guy next door fidgeting uncomfortably, which was rare. He didn’t think he’d ever seen him look so flustered before. After always seeing him light up and smile when their eyes met, seeing him this confused and at a loss made Ji-gu feel a bit smug.

“…”

Yoon Ji-gu felt it was now or never. He entered the chat room with Neuta and sent a message.

「Merong 😝」

Immediately, a HolBlue message notification sound came from the neighbor’s phone.

“What the hell, this bastard?”

Hearing that, Ji-gu felt oddly relieved. The neighbor didn’t know that he was Earth Star. He wouldn’t swear openly to someone’s face.

But even though he said “What the hell, this bastard?” there was no immediate reply. Even though he read it right away.

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

“I’ll do it later. It’s not an important person, so it’s fine.”

What?

“…Who is it?”

“Just someone I happened to meet online.”

He mumbled with an indifferent expression. It was absurd. Despite always running over to talk to him whenever he saw him, the man says he’s ‘not an important person’? It was fortunate that he didn’t know Ji-gu’s true identity, but for some reason, Ji-gu felt a bit annoyed.

“Are you close with that person?”

“Not really…”

“…You’re not? Why not?”

“Huh? We’re just… not close.”

The man muttered as if Yoon Ji-gu was asking about something too obvious. Ji-gu could only let out a hollow laugh. Not close, he says. They’re not close? Ji-gu wondered why the man would hang out with someone he was not close to, and why he accepted the couple request.

The feeling that Neuta’s character was overlapping with the face of the next-door man struck Ji-gu. Even though he had directly confirmed they were the same person, something still felt off in a corner of his mind. Does that person also have different real-life and in-game personas? If he had told him that he was Earth Star, would he have made that flustered face again like before?

Of course, Yoon Ji-gu had no intention of digging his own grave by revealing that information.

***

Yoon Ji-gu didn’t know how many days it had been. He decided to finally admit it. Neuta was on his mind. The guy next door was on his mind! Except for when he was sleeping, he spent all day and night thinking about the guy next-door.

Maybe it was because it was the first time he had met a friend from the game in real life. The Poseidon Guild didn’t even have offline meetups, and even the chat room was an open chatroom operated without profile pictures. So it was inevitably fascinating to see Neuta moving like a real person instead of a bunch of graphics. The fact that he was a pervert was already beside the point. Not just in the same neighborhood, but next door of all places. How could such a coincidence happen?

[Guild] neutaaaa: Earth Star, if you recorded today’s Isis battle, could you share it with me? T_T

[Guild] Ji9moon: Why should I?

[Guild] neutaaaa: I want to see why I’m dying so much ㅜ

[Guild] Ji9moon: For free?

[Guild] neutaaaa: Should I give you my cloak?

[Guild] Ji9moon: I won’t take it even if you give it ;

[Guild] neutaaaa: ….

Yoon Ji-gu kept thinking about what Neuta had said last weekend. Not an important person. Not someone he’s close to… It irritated him that he might have been the only one feeling close. It was true that this made him act spitefully.

[Guild] neutaaaa: Please, we’re close, aren’t we? ㅠㅠ

“…?”

This was a bit different.

[Guild] Ji9moon: Are we… close?

[Guild] neutaaaa: ? Yeah

[Guild] Ji9moon: How close…?

[Guild] neutaaaa: Very

[Guild] Ji9moon: Not like that… really, how close??

[Guild] neutaaaa: Ve~~~~~~ry

[Guild]Halloween Eggplant: Wow, you must be really close~

Ridiculously, Yoon Ji-gu was won over by just that one statement. Yeah, maybe he said he wasn’t close to ‘Earth Stars’ because he wanted to get closer to him.

After hesitating and mumbling to himself for a while, Yoon Ji-gu whispered asking if he could call Neuta “hyung”. Although last time he had firmly refused, this time he unexpectedly accepted right away. Ji-gu had gained a new older brother.

[Whisper] neutaaaa: But it has to be a secret, okay? Don’t call me that when other guild members can hear… it’s fine when it’s just us

Having a secret between just the two of them was a bonus.

***

The guy next door gave Yoon Ji-gu a gift. It wasn’t even a normal outfit, it was a bathrobe… His intentions were clear. Ji-gu couldn’t keep a straight face for a moment but managed to hold it in.

“I bought it thinking of you, Ji-gu-ssi.”

“…Thinking of me?”

Yoon Ji-gu decided to reluctantly put up with it.

“I’ll… accept this.”

“Yes.”

“…But this is as far as it goes.”

“Huh?”

“Let me be clear about this. Whatever you like or whatever your preferences are, I don’t care. …Really, I mean it. It’s your private life… As long as it doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“Okay….”

“But there can’t be anything more than this. Do you understand?”

Although he had said this before, it didn’t seem like the man understood, so Yoon Ji-gu drew the line again.

“Let’s… be friends.”

“…?”

“Just friends. Let’s settle it there.”

Ji-gu thought he would understand.

“Then to celebrate becoming friends, would you like to have a drink at my place? You just need to bring yourself.”

But it seemed he didn’t understand.

Honestly, looking back on things, the man had always given him food and, when he didn’t see him at the pool, he would visit the café to check on him. If he wasn’t a pervert, he would make a great friend. He wished the guy would just give up on him already.

[Guild] Halloween: Isn’t it a bit sad to drink alone? It’s too boring

[Guild] neutaaaa: Yeah lol I asked my neighbor but he said no

[Guild] ParkRoach: Huh? Drinking with your neighbor? Are you close?

[Guild] Ji9moon: Seems like it lol close friends maybe

[Guild] neutaaaa: Yeah, we’re close.

As expected. IAlthough he knew it, hearing a direct affirmation of their closeness from the man himself didn’t feel bad.

[Guild] neutaaaa: I even styled my character to look like my neighbor

[Guild] al0ha: ?

“…!”

This was unexpected. Only then did Neuta’s outfit start to catch Ji-gu’s eye. Black hair and sharp features. The strange cloak worn over a blue tracksuit…

“…Does it look like me?”

There was no resemblance. Despite being a common game character appearance, realizing that this character was modeled after him made Ji-gu feel strange.

After that, every time he encountered the man, he was reminded of the fact that he had styled his game character based on Ji-gu’s appearance.

It was strange that the man liked him that much.

It was strange that someone could like another person to that extent.

Ji-gu started paying even more attention to Neuta than before. When he came to his senses, he would find himself figuring out Neuta’s location and lurking nearby as a matter of course. Even when Neuta told him to go away because he was annoying, Ji-gu would pretend not to hear and act playful.

When the man suddenly put strange armor on the character that resembled Ji-gu, it really felt odd. He went even further and put a red ribbon on top of it. Is this what he wants to do with the person he likes? Ji-gu couldn’t understand why his fashion sense was so bad in the game when he dressed normally in real life. He wanted to knock on the neighbor’s door right away and demand that he change the character’s clothes.