Netkama Punch!!!

Missed messages.
Heejae
Why did you leave the clan, noona?
Are you quitting the game??
Did I do something wrong?

I flinched and my hand trembled as I read that far. About five minutes later, Shin Heejae’s real nature started to show through his next messages.
Heejae
I didn’t do anything wrong though… ㅇ_ㅇ??
Heejae
This is seriously pissing me off, what are you doing??
Why aren’t you answering my calls?

Heejae
Is something wrong?
When I still didn’t respond to his messages—each ending with a question mark like some kind of interrogation—about ten minutes later, just as I expected, the threats began.
Heejae
Noona lol
Unless you got into an accident,
you’re seriously dead to me

Heejae
Are you messing with me?
Heejae
I’m coming to find you, you know?
Of course, I knew Shin Heejae couldn’t actually show up in person. I had never given him my address. I knew everything he was saying was pure bluff… but even so, my knees went a little weak.

Because of his completely insane personality. That irrational dread—like one day he really might show up at my door and ring the bell—gripped me out of nowhere.
Heejae
Noona, message me by tomorrow
Or I’m seriously coming over
You’re not seriously thinking you’re safe just because you didn’t give me your address, right?
I felt my breath catch reading that message. But I forced myself to calm down.

It’s all just bluff.
I hadn’t even spent two full months playing with Shin Heejae in-game. I’d never even spoken to him on the phone for fear he’d recognize my voice… So even after reading that final message, I still didn’t respond.
But it was like he’d been staring at the messenger all day, because as soon as the “read” receipt appeared, he replied instantly.

Heejae
?
Noona, can we talk?
I was trying to think carefully about what to say, but Heejae couldn’t even wait those few seconds and immediately called me. Naturally, I declined. Again. And again. Until I got so fed up I finally opened the block menu.
Would you like to block ‘Shin Heejae’?

“……”
And in the end, I blocked him.
I knew that telling him I was a guy would make things cleaner. But judging by how persistent he was, even if I did, he wouldn’t believe it without seeing my face.
But I had no intention of meeting Shin Heejae. I didn’t want to explain anything. So I decided this was the right way to end it.

“So it’s really over now…”
Looking at my now-silent phone gave me a strange mix of emotions. It felt like I’d finally dropped a heavy burden, but also like I wanted to unblock him and send one last message.
But I didn’t.

Instead, I deleted our entire chat history and closed the app.
“This is for the best…”
Heejae would probably be pissed for a couple of weeks, but once he realized I’d deleted my character and left the game entirely, he’d eventually cool down.

“He’s not exactly short on people. He’ll get distracted chatting with clan members and forget about me soon enough.”
Trying to stay positive, I did my best to quiet the rising unease.
To stop thinking about Shin Heejae, I threw myself into work during the weekdays and slept through the weekends whenever my head got too full. And honestly, the strategy worked pretty well.

Right up until… exactly two weeks later.
When Shin Heejae showed up in front of me in real life.
* * *

“Nothing worth watching…”
I was riding the subway home from work, browsing YouTube. Now that I’d quit gaming, I figured it was time to get my life together—start saving money, pay off my debts—so I’d been watching videos about getting out of debt.
Then, completely unrelated to anything I’d searched, a thumbnail from Shin Heejae’s channel popped up below the video I was watching.

First Clear of Frozen Flame Claymore – What Happens When Heejae Really Grinds LOL
Views: 3,248
It had been uploaded just four hours ago—fresh content.
No one was watching me, but I still glanced around guiltily before tapping on the video. A few days ago, [Arcadia] had sent a notification about a new dungeon update, but I’d ignored it. This was my first time actually seeing it.

The thumbnail showed a chibi version of Heejae’s character standing next to a massive snow yeti boss laid out with [x_x] eyes. That must’ve been the new boss.
In the video, Heejae, as always, didn’t break aggro even once and beat the boss with such precision and calm that you’d never guess it was his first attempt. Not even the large-scale freeze spells slowed him down.
“….”

And somehow… it annoyed me.
I didn’t really believe he’d show up at my place when he said he would, but still, seeing him act like nothing ever happened—like he hadn’t been affected at all—made something inside me churn.
Even the fact that he was uploading videos like clockwork surprised me. I guess I had secretly thought he’d take at least a month off? Not that anyone knew that. But now I just felt stupid for worrying.

“Of course… he’s doing fine.”
So I folded my arms and coldly watched the rest of the video.
But then something caught my eye. It didn’t show often—just a few cuts—but the healer backing him up felt familiar. Or rather… the staff that healer was holding did.

“No way…”
It couldn’t be. But I focused carefully on the direction the healer was casting from. And the moment their username appeared onscreen for a second, I froze in disbelief.
Yuna

Yuna—the one who bought the staff from me—was now running dungeons as Heejae’s support partner.
I couldn’t understand how Yuna, who was from another server, was now clearing new content with Shin Heejae. My mouth just hung open.
And when the video ended, the explanation hit me like lightning.

“…He knows I’m a guy now.”
He must’ve realized that I’d disappeared, and that all the gear he gave me ended up back in his hands.
Then he saw the ₩18 million deposit, realized I sold one of the weapons instead of returning it… and started asking around.

He probably found out who bought the staff. And since Yuna was famous for flaunting her gear and money, word would’ve spread quickly. There’s no way he didn’t figure out the staff she recently got was the one he gave me.
“Maybe he knew all along…”
Most top players knew each other. Even if they weren’t close, there were always mutual connections.

And Shin Heejae was the most famous ranker in [Arcadia]. It would’ve been weirder if he and Yuna didn’t know each other. If I’d delayed even a little, he might’ve found out before I even sold the staff.
Anyway…
They probably talked about the staff, and if Heejae told her it was stolen, Yuna would’ve gladly handed over the ID photo I gave her.

Since the trade involved a large amount of money, she asked for a full ID shot, and I gave it to her. Plus, the phone number I gave her—Shin Heejae already had it. So… he must’ve figured out I’m a guy.
“….”
He didn’t even need to suffer. Probably just muttered, “So it was a netkama after all… figures,” and dropped the chase.

“Did he bond with Yuna over their shared netkama-hunting, while talking shit about me on the side…?”
Seeing Yuna’s character with the [Degeuldegeul] clan mark in the video made my mood plummet.
A part of me had ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) hoped that Shin Heejae would move on and be okay. I gave the ₩18 million back out of guilt, after all.

But now that I’d come to this pretty convincing conclusion and seen them gleefully clearing new dungeons together… it made me sick.
I calmly hit [Dislike], [Report], and [Don’t Recommend Channel], then went through the comments and upvoted every one that insulted Shin Heejae before closing YouTube.
“Maybe I’ll get some chicken.”

I tried to soothe the emptiness with food and was about to open a delivery app when I suddenly remembered the gifticon Shin Heejae had sent me. I’d planned to refund it and transfer the money back to him, but after sending ₩18 million, I figured eating one chicken wasn’t too outrageous. Besides, seeing it sit in my gift box had been annoying me.
“Screw it.”
I made up my mind and went to a nearby location that accepted the gifticon. I was craving something spicy, so I ordered the spiciest thing on the list—some volcano-flavored whatever.

With a box of chicken in one hand and a 4-for-₩10,000 beer set from the convenience store in the other, I walked home. Right before my street, a sleek white Audi I didn’t recognize was parked.
“They say you can tell an expensive car by the wheels…”
I glanced at its shiny tires. As I got closer, I could tell just by the design—it wasn’t some average model. I wanted to know the exact name, but there was no way I could afford it anyway, so I just walked past with quiet envy.

As I passed the car, I heard a soft click as a door closed behind me, but I didn’t look back. I was too focused on the thought of devouring that chicken.
So even when I arrived at the entrance to my semi-basement unit and started punching in the door code, I had no idea someone was following me.
Just as I tapped in the final number—

“Hey, Seyoung noona.”
“…What?”
My body went cold as a familiar voice hit my ears. I turned my head slowly.

Standing at the foot of the stairs was a man with an off-kilter smirk on his lips, looking at me with an unreadable expression.
The moment I heard him say my name and saw his face, I knew exactly who he was. And the realization hit me like a slap, making my eyes go wide in shock.
In the old photos I’d seen of him, his face had still looked boyish. But now, standing in the backlight, there was nothing soft or cute about him. His features were sharper, and the scornful smile he wore gave off serious pressure.

Praying I was wrong, I stammered his name.
“...S-Shin Heejae?”
“So it really is you, noona?”

Of course, that was the worst possible answer.
I quickly shut my mouth, but Heejae had already started walking down the stairs. Now we were face to face. He was taller than me, so I had no choice but to look up.
With a smile I couldn’t decipher, Shin Heejae looked down at me. No—he was definitely pissed, but he was smiling, so I couldn’t read him at all.

He scanned me from head to toe… and his gaze stopped at the chicken box in my hand.
That was when I remembered: I had bought it using the gifticon he had sent me. My face turned beet red with shame.
“Ha…”

Heejae laughed like he couldn’t believe it, then asked:
“Noona, are you seriously insane?”