He Is That Guy

Even through the monitor screen, I could feel the awkward tension, and I found myself clenching and unclenching my mouse hand for no reason.
‘…What the hell is this?’

I didn’t even do anything wrong, so why do I feel like I’m walking on eggshells?
Apparently, Kim Daeseok picked up on the same freezing atmosphere and sent me a quick whisper.
[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: Yo ㄷㄷ

[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: What the hell’s going on right now??
[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: Am I fucked?
What do you mean fucked? I let out a hollow laugh and tapped my keyboard.

[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: Chill
[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: Shut it and stay quiet
All we were doing was messing around with a friend, what’s the big deal.

[Global] ImSoSleepy: Hey
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Wasn’t really doing anything
[Global] CottonCandyFox: Aha, gotchaㅎ.ㅎ~

[Global] CottonCandyFox: Who’s that next to you?
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Friend
[Global] WitchLetsGo: ㄷㄷ

[Global] HoneybeeBzzz: Friend ㄷㄷ he says friend.. ㄷㄷ
[Global] WatDoUCongDoU: What kinda friend chats like that..
[Global] SuwonSpecialCity: If that counts as friends, I got no friends..

[Global] WitchLetsGo: Fr
[Global] HoneybeeBzzz: ㄷㄷ guess I’m a loner then
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Ahㅋㅋ seriously, it’s just a friend;
I meant it, but no one bought it.
Why does everyone automatically believe girl characters mean girl players?

Nah, I need to clear this up.
Even if that idiot’s nickname and avatar look like that, inside, he’s just some beefy dude—
But before I could explain, CottonCandyFox’s character suddenly closed the distance and clung to me, asking:
[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅎㅎ Friend
[Global] CottonCandyFox: So they’re a friend~

[Global] CottonCandyFox: But your friend
[Global] CottonCandyFox: Why aren’t they chatting? ^.^
[Global] AchuGachuItchu: Ah ㅜㅜ

[Global] AchuGachuItchu: Sleepy told me to stay quiet..
[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅋㅋ?
[Global] AchuGachuItchu: ㄷㄷ..

[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: Dude, pretty sure that’s really Yoo Chae
[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: That’s terrifying
Well yeah, Kim Daeseok wasn’t a complete stranger to Yoo Chae.
EveningGlow and OneHeartOneWill were tight enough that they’d seen each other’s usernames floating around plenty.

‘Of all times to run into him on your alt… Seriously.’
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Knock it off
Being stuck between AchuGachuItchu and CottonCandyFox was pure hell.
What the hell are a bunch of grown men doing, running around as girl characters?
Pissing me off for real.

[Global] AchuGachuItchu: I didn’t do anythingㅠ
[Global] CottonCandyFox: You’re mean
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Mean how

[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅜㅡㅜ....
Then, CottonCandyFox suddenly whipped out a flashy lyre like they were showing off.
The way it sparkled gold, it was clearly a pricey weapon.
Kim Daeseok freaked out, whispering a barrage my way.

[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: See that, ffs
[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: He’s trying to assert dominance, right?
[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: Guy’s not playing around

[Whisper] ImSoSleepy: Daeseok, shut the hell up
[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: Mmkㅎ
[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: Raid’s starting soon anyway, right?

[Whisper] AchuGachuItchu: I’m outta here, I’m scared
Yeah, please leave.
If I could get just one idiot out of here, maybe I could clean up this shitshow.
[Global] AchuGachuItchu: Aight, I’m off now~

[Global] AchuGachuItchu: Sleepy, good luck with the raid ^3^~!
[Global] ImSoSleepy: ?
Is that bastard insane? What kind of goodbye was that?

Before I could even call him out, Kim Daeseok logged off in a flash.
AchuGachuItchu’s character vanished, and the raid party members, who had been loitering near the dungeon entrance, finally started creeping over.
‘They’ve been spamming party chat about this whole mess, bet on it.’
I didn’t even need to see it to know.
Screw loyalty—
Outing AchuGachuItchu as a guy to save my own rep was the better move.

[Global] ImSoSleepy: Ahㅋㅋ
[Global] ImSoSleepy: He was just messing around
[Global] CottonCandyFox: Sleepy-oppa..

[Global] CottonCandyFox: Don’t you like girls a little too much?
“……”
I was literally about to type out “he’s actually a guy,” but my hands froze.

That shameless bastard…
My lips curled into a crooked grin.
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Obviously I like girls, I’m a guy~^^
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Fox is a girl tooㅎㅎ

[Global] CottonCandyFox: But oppa, you seem kinda excessiveㅠ.ㅜ
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Excessive how
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Watch your words, huh ^^;

[Global] ImSoSleepy: ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) I’m not that easy, you know~
[Global] CottonCandyFox: You look super easy tho?ㅋㅋ
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Then why don’t you try seducing me

[Global] ImSoSleepy: I told you, hop on Discordㅎ
[Global] CottonCandyFox: Fox doesn’t have a mic! ㅜㅡㅜ
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Then wanna call me?

[Global] ImSoSleepy: Call me up^^
[Global] ImSoSleepy: 010
[Global] ImSoSleepy: 3256

The moment I dropped my actual phone number, CottonCandyFox freaked out and frantically scrolled my chat up.
[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅁ
[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅁ

[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅁ
[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅁ
[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅁ

[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅁ
[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅁ
[Global] CottonCandyFox: ㅁ

[Global] CottonCandyFox: Oppa, are you crazy?
[Global] CottonCandyFox: Why are you throwing your number around?
[Global] CottonCandyFox: It’s global chat;;

Chill, it’s my number, I’ll do what I want.
[Global] ImSoSleepy: You said no mic, so I gave my numberㅎㅎ
[Global] ImSoSleepy: You have a phone, right?

[Global] CottonCandyFox: Call you?
[Global] CottonCandyFox: Oppa, you wanna talk to me that bad?
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Obviously~

[Global] ImSoSleepy: This oppa’s dying to hear your voiceㅎㅎ
Stop asking when you got no intention of following through.
Fake ass.
Laughing inside, I waited for CottonCandyFox’s answer.
After a long pause, they finally hesitated and asked:

[Global] CottonCandyFox: But hey
[Global] CottonCandyFox: Is that really your number??
[Global] ImSoSleepy: Yeah

[Global] CottonCandyFox: I seeㅎ~ㅎ
[Global] CottonCandyFox: Then I’ll call you later! _
[Global] CottonCandyFox: Let’s raid now! >ㅡ<

‘…What’s this?’
Switching the subject to the raid was expected, but
The fact that CottonCandyFox’s mood seemed noticeably better now was bugging me.
Probably cause they’re a lunatic—
Keeps throwing me off balance, can’t read them at all.

[Global] SuwonSpecialCity: ㅎㅎ..
[Global] SuwonSpecialCity: If you’re done with the love talk
[Global] SuwonSpecialCity: How about joining the party now?

[Global] WatDoUCongDoU: That concludes this episode of Love and War
[Global] HoneybeeBzzz: This party’s fun as hell
[Global] ImSoSleepy: ?ㅋㅋ;

I clicked the party window floating above CottonCandyFox’s character and joined,
Immediately, CottonCandyFox typed like they’d been waiting for this.
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Sleepy-oppa
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Look what I gotㅎㅡㅎ

[Party] CottonCandyFox: o(≧∇≦o) (o≧∇≦)o
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Cute, right?ㅋㅋ
[Party] CottonCandyFox: o(≧∇≦o) (o≧∇≦)o

[Party] CottonCandyFox: o(≧∇≦o) (o≧∇≦)o
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Looks just like you, Fox^^
[Party] CottonCandyFox: ㅎ.ㅎ

[Party] CottonCandyFox: You mean I’m cute? ^ㅡ^
Cute, my ass…
But it looked like the “oppa” spam wasn’t hitting me as hard as yesterday.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
‘Already used to it? That’s not good.’

Might need to come up with new ways to mess with them.
I thought I’d last at least a week.
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Sleepy-oppa! o(≧∇≦o)
[Party] CottonCandyFox: (o≧∇≦)o Fighting!

[Party] ImSoSleepy: ㅋㅋ..
[Party] WitchLetsGo: Hey
[Party] WitchLetsGo: Sorry to interrupt your happy little relationship

[Party] WitchLetsGo: But can we go now?
[Party] ImSoSleepy: ㄱㄱ
WitchLetsGo, without needing an explanation,
Set the dungeon to Hell mode and hit the enter button.

The screen switched, short loading finished,
Inside, lava flowed, crimson flames burst up everywhere.
Final difficulty—
The dungeon layout was totally different.
Way rougher than Normal or Hard, but the overall mechanics stayed similar, so clearing it was doable.

Monsters hadn’t even spawned yet, and CottonCandyFox was already buffing me, prancing around.
The effects were stronger than last time—
Guess they really swapped out the lyre.
‘Who puts a weapon that expensive on an alt?’

Same with those items they threw at me when I was in EveningGlow.
Dude’s seriously loaded?
Dumping money into RPGs wasn’t rare,
But still—
Shoveling gear onto some random they met under a week ago, swapping out alt weapons?
Doesn’t it feel like a waste?
[Party] CottonCandyFox: Sleepy-oppa >ㅡ<

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Fox got a new weapon!
[Party] CottonCandyFox: To give oppa good buffs~>.<
Convenient timing—
They brought up the lyre first.
Congrats, you’re so cool.

I typed with a bored face.
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Wowㅎㅎㅎ
[Party] ImSoSleepy: Only my Fox thinks of oppa like that~^^

[Party] CottonCandyFox: Hehe
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: ㅋㅋ guys, mobs are comingㅡㅡ
[Party] WitchLetsGo: Cut the lovefest!

[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: Some of us are single, mind yourselves..
[Party] WitchLetsGo: Who, you?
[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Shut the hell up

[Party] WatDoUCongDoU: Ffsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] WitchLetsGo: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] HoneybeeBzzz: I didn’t even say anything yet why so pressed;;ㅠㅠ

[Party] SuwonSpecialCity: Fucker
[Party] WitchLetsGo: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Even the party members, not just CottonCandyFox,
Seemed to be adjusting to my banter—
The conversation flowed naturally again.

‘Guess I gotta come up with new methods.’
I schemed, unleashing skills on the oncoming monsters.