TGMND 91

Over the past few days, Yeo-woon’s friends list had new usernames added. It all started when someone asked “What’s the sous chef’s Illusion nickname?” while Yeo-woon was giving out free food items in Little Forest, and Yeo-woon answered. It wasn’t a problem that he had gained friends, even ones he didn’t have in Little Forest. In fact, it was rather nice.

The real issue was Earth Star. Whenever someone wearing a cloak appeared while they were together, Earth Star would get overly cautious for no reason. And whether it was a mistake or intentional, he ended up mentioning Little Forest in the guild chat.

ParkRoach: Little Forest?

al0ha: ㅡㅡ?

Wandu Wandya: Playing other games alongside is illegal due to some law or other

neutaaaa: Whoa

In fact, there were plenty of people in Poseidon who played other games on the side. However, the moment someone said, “I’m going to play another game,” they became prime targets. And this time, it was Yeo-woon’s turn.

The person who tattled about Yeo-woon taking Earth Star to another game for a bit was very quiet. If only this bastard had kept their mouth shut, no one would have known…

Halloween Eggplant: Why did Earth Star follow again? You should have stopped himㅡㅡ

This was the moment! Yeo-woon needed to shift the blame to Earth Star.

neutaaaa: Exactly, if he’d stopped me, I wouldn’t have goneㅠ

Ji9star: …? Lol lol lol

neutaaaa: Sigh… I just wanted to quietly go alone… but Earth Star insisted on coming with meㅜ

Ji9star: So it’s my fault?????

neutaaaa: Yesㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Ji9star: lol lol lol;

ParkRoach: Our newbie’s gotten really good at blaming others now.

Halloween Eggplant: Seriously, getting better at it every day….

neutaaaa: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Ji9star: lol lol this is ridiculous, but I haven’t told you everything yet.

Ji9star: Neuta said he’s going to visit Little Forest often in the future.

neutaaaa: Proof?

Ji9star: I have proof lol

Ji9star: (Photo)

neutaaaa: ;;;;

When did he even take a screenshot? In the photo Earth Star sent, there was a clear shot of him saying he’d visit often. He thought Earth Star was just sitting quietly on his horse, but he was actually taking screenshots? Yeo-woon’s blood pressure spiked at Earth Star’s sneaky behavior.

Wandu Wandya: Are these two having a lover’s quarrel?

Halloween Eggplant: asdfasdf lol lol Neuta’s username looks like it was randomly generatedㅋㅋ

al0ha: Both of you, get a gripㅡㅡ Illusion isn’t a joke; it’s not something you just do for fun

Halloween Eggplant: Seriously lol Let’s tighten up the guild rules

CatMeowMeowMeow: Earth Star, kneel

Halloween Eggplant: That’s going too far?

Wandu Wandya: Cat is really harsh

Ji9star: *(Drops to the floor)*

ParkRoach: lol What are they doing? Lol lol

It seemed like CatMeowMeowMeow and Earth Star didn’t get along, but they actually matched well. Maybe they were on the same level.

Anyway, Earth Star’s revelation led to an update in the guild announcements.

Captain Poseidon: Hello, Poseidon guild members. This is your Guild Master, Captain Poseidon. After an internal discussion within the guild, we’ve decided on new rules. Please read them carefully and make sure not to break them

※ Play other games secretly. If caught playing another game, you must play twice as much Illusion!! Show some love to Illusion!! (If you disagree, that’s unfortunate) ※

Captain Poseidon: That’s all. Thank you^^

Halloween Eggplant: Huh? Who did you have an internal discussion with? Isn’t the vice-guild master me?

Captain Poseidon: The Guild Master had it alone

Halloween Eggplant: Thank goodness haha I almost cried thinking I’d been demoted.

CatMeowMeowMeow: lol lol lol lol

Wandu Wandya: How is that an internal meeting? lololololol

KidneyMouse: Damn, “Love Illusion a lot” lololol

ParkRoach: So funny lolololololol

Ji9star: Lmao lololololololololol

al0ha: Yes, I’ve read the announcement. Thank you for your hard work, Guild Master!

CatMeowMeowMeow: lololol cute lolol

ParkRoach: Don’t pretend you’ve read the announcement lolololololololol

Captain Poseidon: Thank you, Aloha~^^

Yeo-woon briefly scanned through the “Guild Announcement_Final.ver.8,” which had been neatly updated and Lifosted as an official notice. He confirmed that the “Love Illusion a lot” had indeed been added at the very end. Captain Poseidon seemed to have an unexpected quirky side, unlike his first impression.

‘By the way, why did Earth Star suddenly tattle about what happened in Little Forest?’

Yeo-woon suddenly wondered. Even though Earth Star was the one who asked if he could follow him to that game first…

「Earth Star」

As soon as he sent a private message via Holblue, the light indicating Earth Star was online lit up next to his nickname.

「Earth: Yes?ㅡㅡ」

While speaking informally wasn’t hard, addressing him was. He tried calling him “Earth Star-ah,” but it felt like calling a dog. “Hey” seemed too impersonal. After pondering for a moment, Yeo-woon came up with a slightly better form of address.

「Earth Star-ah, I have something to ask you」

「Earth: ;;;」

「Earth: Don’t call me that….」

Failure. It seemed he didn’t like it, so Yeo-woon would have to think of another way to address him.

「Why did you really follow me to Little Forest?」

「Earth: lolol I told you, I was curious about what it looked like there」

「For someone who said that your Lifo level is still 1」

「Earth: It’s not level 1, it’s 2, you know?」

「Even when I went to hunt golems for a bit, you just waited…」

The more Yeo-woon thought about it, the stranger it seemed. In Little Forest, you could easily level up to 10 by completing just a couple of quests. In Illusion, Earth Star would nag him saying things like “your stats are too low” or “why aren’t you level 10 when you’re less than 5 levels away from max level,” but why did he just wait quietly for him to return in Lifo? Without even leveling up, which he liked so much?

「Be honest. You came there to monitor me, right」

「To take screenshots and frame me like today;」

「Earth: ;;;;; That’s not it ㅡㅡ」

「ㅡㅡ Then why did you follow me!」

「And why are you like that in Illusion too?」

「When those people in cloaks came to say hello, you just drove them away like they were some sort of threatㅡㅡ」

It wasn’t just once or twice that Earth Star had chased away people approaching Yeo-woon. He acted as if he was his bodyguard.

「Are you getting revenge because you were made fun of in Lifo?」

「Earth: ? Why would I take revenge on low-level players, lol? That’s not it, it’s just so funny;;」

「You always say it’s funny when you have nothing to say」

「Earth: lolololololololololol」

It was clear. He was just laughing because he didn’t know what else to say.

“Seriously, why…”

Yeo-woon couldn’t just let it go; he really wanted to know the reason. The usually restless Earth Star had quietly waited for nearly 30 minutes in Little Forest, even taking screenshots. There had to be more to it.

「Earth: But it’s true…. I was curious about what the game the refugees played was like」

「Lie」

「Earth: lolol why don’t you believe me」

「Bet your wrist on it, is that really all?」

At the mention of betting their wrist, Earth Star hesitated for a long time.

「Earth: It’s not a big deal…」

「Earth: I wanted to get closer to you, hyung- _-」

「Earth: Aaargh」

「Earth: Do I have to say such embarrassing things with my own mouth?」

「Earth: ㅡㅡ」

“Huh…?”

It turned out that Earth Star’s reason really wasn’t a big deal, just like he said. He was curious about another game, but the added explanation made it much more convincing.

「We’re already close, what more do you want lololol」

「Earth: Idk I just feel it’s not enough」

「lolololololololololol」

「Earth: ㅡㅡ」

Yeo-woon chuckled unconsciously. His likability towards Earth Star increased slightly. Hearing someone express a desire to get closer to him, how could he not feel good about that?

So, he was curious about the game I was playing because he wanted to get closer to me.

Yeo-woon found himself convinced and nodded slightly without realizing it.

***

A few days later, on his way to the swimming pool, Yeo-woon noticed an unfamiliar advertisement on a bus. An illustration of four female characters and four male characters standing shoulder to shoulder covered the entire side of the bus. Normally, he wouldn’t have given such an image a second glance, but what caught his eye was the phrase “Beautiful Girl/Beautiful Boy Dating Simulation.”

“…Love Evolution?”

Yeo-woon unconsciously read out the game’s name. As the traffic light changed, the bus with the advertisement sped away. Nevertheless, the game advertisement kept flashing before his eyes. It looked like a new dating sim… Did Yoon Ji-gu see that ad too? He’d probably pre-register for it or something. But really, what’s so great about those games that he’d go to such lengths to hide that he’s playing them?

“……”

Before he knew it, Yeo-woon found himself searching for the game in the app store and installing it. Sharing the same interest as someone you want to get closer to… Suddenly, he could really relate to what Eart Star had said a few days ago, even though he found it so embarrassing.

***

Maybe because it was a genre he hadn’t tried before, Yeo-woon kept getting bad endings. While waiting for Yoon Ji-gu to come out of the swimming pool, Yeo-woon encountered yet another bad ending and, furrowing his brows in frustration, hit the ‘Restart’ button. He had even bought the ad removal package because the occasional ads were so annoying. It had been three days since he installed the game, and he hadn’t managed to get a single character’s true ending.

‘Do you want to skip the prologue?’

There was no need to watch the prologue again, which he had seen more than five times in the past three days. After pressing the skip button, the screen flickered black before the opening scene appeared. The setting of Love Evolution was a high school, and the characters to pursue included four female and four male characters, making a total of eight.

First attempt. Yeo-woon tried to balance his affection towards all the characters and ended up with the eight-friendship ending. It was a decent ending, but no dating sim player would be satisfied with such a normal ending. If he was going to play, he needed to properly pursue at least one character to the end.

Second attempt. He ignored the male characters and focused only on the four female ones. Thinking everything was going well, he got to the ending scene earlier than expected after all four confessed their feelings to him. The ending had him being ostracized at school and transferring to another school with a reputation as trash for trying to date all four girls at once.

Third attempt. He tried to focus on just one character but ended up with another love triangle ending. The fourth and fifth attempts went the same way. Despite not doing much, everyone’s affection levels were nearly maxed out.

Yeo-woon started to get competitive. While initially lying down and casually selecting options, he eventually found himself sitting up, clutching his head in frustration, and restarting the game with a solemn demeanor.

‘This is really difficult.’

It wasn’t a game to be taken lightly. Even the smallest variables could drastically change the affection levels and character relationships. And despite not being real people, the characters were unbelievably finicky; they would get upset out of nowhere and then randomly send a text the next day after getting over it on their own. When he went to the app store to leave a review saying, “Why are the character personalities so terrible?” there wasn’t a single person who shared his sentiment.

★★★★★ Full voice acting.ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ It’s so refreshing how the characters’ lines change slightly with each playthrough…. It even gave me chills. Most importantly, the characters are so multi-dimensional and fun.

★★★★★ Finally, a masterpiece from Korea^^ lol But I do think the text message package price being 50,000 won without a permanent option is a bit steep—my phone bill is around the same price OMG

★☆☆☆☆ The game is fun, but I can’t sync it with the market on my phone.ㅜㅜ And it keeps force closing at the end of chapters… Developers, if you fix the bugs, I’ll change my rating to five stars! Also, I hope there’s a Season 2!! ♥♥♥♥

★★★★★ It’s a bit frustrating that your choices are limited if you don’t spend money, but I think you can still play fine without paying. I love it! The story is deep, and there’s even an epilogue after the ending, which really got my heart racing lol. I can’t wait to pursue the other characters next…

★★☆☆☆ Wow, this isn’t right lol I changed my phone and reinstalled the game, but all my hearts have disappeared as if it’s been completely reset!!! I even synced my account but nothing is there. Please restore it. 🙁 I really worked hard to collect hearts while watching so many ads…

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