Netkama Punch!!!

Yuna
Eighteen million?
Yuna asked again. Since she was just as much of an [Arcadia] junkie as I was, she had to know how absurd the price I named really was.
But somehow, I found her question oddly satisfying. My heart was pounding, sure—but strangely, I didn’t feel like negotiating. I didn’t want to back down.

So I answered, cool as a seasoned merchant.
There aren’t any others on the market… Ha
If that’s too much... we can just call the deal off ha...
Normally, saying something like that would get you labeled a scammer and kicked out, but the problem was—I hadn’t properly figured out what kind of person Yuna really was.

She paused for a moment after I intentionally sounded snippy, but when she replied, her tone had gone cold—like I’d wounded her pride.
Yuna
Lololol Okay
Give me your account info
But it didn’t feel like she’d completely calmed down.

“…She’s really buying it?”
I was stunned, but Yuna added one more thing, almost threateningly.
Yuna
If you try to raise the price again, it might be hard for both you and your middleman to stay in the trade chat, haha

Yuna
Also, send your account info along with your phone number and a photo of your ID with the last digits covered.
We’ll finalize the deal in-game on my alt, Yunayuna ha
Before I could even reply, she messaged again.
Yuna
I’m logged in. Where are you?

Her tone made it impossible to say I wasn’t going through with the deal.
* * *
Deposit: Lim Ji-hyuk / ₩18,000,000

I made a massive profit. For someone like me, who had never even seen ₩800,000 show up in a deposit, eighteen million was a dreamlike number. But the more I stared at the message, the more heavy and conflicted I felt.
Hyejin
Oppa, how much did you sell it for?
Eighteen million...
Hyejin
Whoa lolololololololol seriously?

I’m in awe…
That guy Yuna is a total pushover, huh lol this is nuts lol
Hyejin
How about Netkama: Part 2? lol
Let’s get even messier with Yuna this time...??
H...

Hyejin
Kidding~ lol Oppa’s mine lol
While she kept rattling off nonsense, I kept replying halfheartedly, mind in complete chaos. After sending her the promised ₩100,000, I told her I was tired and lay down on my bed.
“Well... I guess it’s done.”

I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Even as I tried to rationalize it—karma, revenge, a successful score—there was still something nagging at me, stuck in my chest like a lump.
My heart wouldn’t stop pounding anxiously. I didn’t know the reason behind this nervous feeling, but when a call came in not long after, I flinched and looked at the screen—unable to ignore it now.
Shin Heejae
010—XXXX—XXXX

That wretched name lit up.
“What are you doing, noona?”
“……”

“I saw Sesam just standing there. You AFK?”
His tone was the same as always, but hearing his voice made my heart thunder uncontrollably.
Truthfully, even when I sold the staff to Yuna, I’d still thought I was in control. That Shin Heejae meant nothing to me anymore, that this was just payback for everything he’d done to me.

I also wanted to settle the growing confusion I felt about him. I didn’t want to be the only one left stewing, never having gotten any sort of revenge.
But now, hearing him babble on, I finally realized what I’d been avoiding all this time.
“What? Can’t hear me?”

“……”
It wasn’t because I felt sorry for him. And it wasn’t because I was holding out for more money from him later.
The reason I hesitated to sell the staff was because…

I didn’t want to admit it, but... I’d come to like Shin Heejae quite a bit.
“Noona?”
Thinking back, I never had the chance to make friends in school because of how broke I was. Then when I started working, real life was already a mess, and I didn’t have the energy to form new relationships.

The only friendship I managed to keep alive was Hyejin, someone I met through the game. And even with her, there was always a distance that couldn’t be closed.
Then Shin Heejae showed up.
He liked me a lot—so much that he kept trying to cross the boundaries I’d set. Even when I did nothing, he was always the one making the effort.

No matter how much I insulted him, pushed him away, or cursed at him, he never got discouraged. He just kept coming closer with # Nоvеlight # that stubborn, persistent personality. And maybe that’s why I started to give in. I couldn’t hate him the way I used to.
It’s not that my sexual orientation changed and I suddenly started liking men. But like I’d decided before, I couldn’t bring myself to crush Shin Heejae. I didn’t want to admit how fickle I was, so I kept putting it off… and here we are.
“……”

I regretted it.
Selling the staff to Yuna.
And I only now realized just how deeply I regretted it. But how could I possibly get the item back now? I had no excuse left to give Shin Heejae.

Still, I understood why I kept denying how I felt.
If I hadn’t sold the staff this time, I would’ve just kept deceiving Shin Heejae. So maybe this impulsive decision was actually a way to save myself. If I’d kept leaning into the loneliness he chipped away at, I might’ve kept living in empty denial.
I hardened my resolve and set my lips into a firm line.

Normal Party Clan Friend Whisper
N-Sesam: I was asleep
“Good. Then let’s hang out now.”

Normal Party Clan Friend Whisper
N-Sesam: I want to sleep more
“You’re kidding? You’ve been afk since earlier—”

Normal Party Clan Friend Whisper
N-Sesam: Don’t call me
I cut him off like that and ended the call, ignoring his light teasing tone. Then I powered off my phone and exited the game.

Even though I caught a glimpse of Shin Heejae’s character standing nearby, I didn’t hesitate to log out.
* * *
As always, after something mentally exhausting, I passed out like I’d collapsed. When I woke up, I turned my phone back on and saw that I had quite a few messages from Shin Heejae. I read through them all.

The last message he sent was this:
Heejae
Noona, are you sick?
Even though I’d just disappeared on him, there was no anger in his messages. Every one of them, sent every minute or two, was full of confused worry. He must have sensed something was different about the mood between us.

“Haah…”
Reading the message he’d clearly typed with care left a bitter taste in my mouth. Just like someone who liked me more, all his words were soft and understanding—trying to excuse my rudeness.
But I thought, maybe cutting things off cleanly now was best for both of us. No—that was the last line I could draw to still treat Shin Heejae with a shred of decency. Without replying, I booted up my computer.

I logged into Discord first. Thankfully, Shin Heejae was offline. I felt relieved—I didn’t think I could handle another back-and-forth right now.
Judging from his last message, he must’ve stayed up until morning and just fallen asleep. I was glad our schedules were off. I didn’t want to keep hurting him with words I didn’t mean.
I entered the clan Discord room and checked the profile Shin Heejae had pinned as the announcement. I vaguely remembered seeing him post his bank account number before.

Sure enough, it was still there.
ChocoBank
Shin Heejae ××××―××―××××××
Clan festival participation fee is split evenly each month.
If you can’t pay in game currency, please send ₩2,000.

I transferred all ₩18,000,000 to that account. Seeing my now-empty bank account didn’t make me feel regret—only relief.
Then I logged in with my Sesam character and returned every item I’d received from the clan members. Some of them messaged me as soon as they saw the mail.
Normal Party Clan Friend Whisper

C-Yeou: Huh? Sesam, you can keep this if you want though
I didn’t respond.
I also unlocked all the gear Shin Heejae had given me. When I tried to send it to his character, the mailbox was full—so I sent it all to Heenyang instead. Every coin and item I had left, I dumped on Heenyang too.

“Would you like to divorce ‘Heejae’?”
Yes No
Divorce complete.

Once [Arcadia]’s convenient divorce system was finished, the only thing left was to leave the clan.
I knew that clan withdrawal announcements showed up in the clan chat, but since I had no intention of ever playing again, I didn’t hesitate.
I visited [Clan Manager Yuseong] and selected [Leave Clan].

Normal Party Clan Friend Whisper
W-Yeou: ??? Sesam, what’s going on
W-Lemonade: Sesam ;;

W-Yeou: Did something happen with the clan leader??
Messages from the few members I’d grown close to started flooding in, but I didn’t answer. No point in explaining when I wasn’t leaving on a good note. They might feel betrayed, but I didn’t have the energy to care.
I escaped to the character select screen, chose Sesam, and clicked the delete button. It said it would take a week due to being max level, but the deletion request went through.

“Haah…”
Only after that did I really feel it was over. A deep sigh escaped as the weight of everything I’d rushed through finally hit me.
But one last problem still remained. I didn’t know whether I should tell Shin Heejae the truth—that I was a guy.

Would it be kinder to let him keep thinking I was a girl? Or would it be better to tell him, so he couldn’t hold on to anything?
I kept typing out different messages, deleting and rewriting them as I debated what to say.
Apologizing briefly crossed my mind, but I didn’t like the idea. That was the last bit of pride I had left. Shin Heejae had been pretty awful to me too, and he probably didn’t even remember half of it.

That made me feel bitter—and the idea of apologizing after I’d already cleaned up everything just felt like leaving behind emotional crumbs.
Yeah. I’ll just block him.
“……”

But in the end, I couldn’t bring myself to press the block button.
Instead, I tossed my phone aside onto the bed.