Netkama Punch!!!

‘…Ah. Kim Seyoung—he did trade that staff with Yuna, didn’t he?’

Kim Seyoung was so distracted by the steady stream of whispers from Yuna on my screen that he wasn’t even accepting the items properly.
Come to think of it, it had been nearly a week since Yuna transferred to our server and joined the clan. I had added her like she asked, but since I was busy tailing Kim Seyoung, I barely logged in and had nearly forgotten. Now that I saw his frozen expression and clenched jaw at her appearance, I regretted it a little.
‘Should’ve made her change her nickname or something.’

And considering how openly hostile Yuna was toward Kim Seyoung, it was no surprise that the moment she spotted [Sesam] near my character, she sent me a whisper.
Whispers — Party, Clan, Friend, Direct
WYuna: What the fuck is that bastard doing here??

WYuna: Did you catch him?
I glanced at Kim Seyoung out of the corner of my eye. He had his eyes lowered, pretending not to see, but the faint flicker of shame on his pale face gave him away before quickly vanishing. His slow, lazy blinking kept drawing my gaze back.
‘Wait… is he actually hurt?’

But I didn’t get to stare for long. Maybe he felt me watching, because suddenly he turned to look at me.
I quickly pretended to focus on the auction house and clicked into the staff tab under the weapon category. Seeing that, Seyoung asked me in a slightly gloomy voice,
“Hey… Don’t tell me you’re trying to buy me a staff?”

He sounded more like he was trying to dissuade me than hoping I would.
But the way he stood there, staring at Yuna holding that staff, looking blank and empty… it overlapped too much with the old [Sesam], standing helplessly at the auction house with nothing to buy. That killed the mood.
And honestly, it pissed me off.

‘You only ever snap at me…’
But when it comes to people who actually hurt you, you just sit there and take it. That frustrated me to no end.
‘You swear just fine the rest of the time—why the hell can’t you say anything now?’

I gave him a sideways glare and said,
“Yeah. I’ll give it to you with zero trade count this time. You won’t be able to resell it.”
Kim Seyoung stuck his lip out like he wanted to argue but shut his mouth again. Then, without a word, he subtly moved closer and started openly watching my screen.
His round head hovering that close was annoying as hell, but I held back. If I pushed him away now, he’d probably sulk and avoid me for ten days straight.

Jing—Jing—
Right then, Yuna, who had been whisper-spamming me, finally decided to just call. For some reason, Kim Seyoung’s presence started getting under my skin—but I got stubborn.
‘Why should I be the one feeling awkward around Kim Seyoung?’

He should be the one nervous around me.
So I answered the call without hesitation.
“What.”

“Why the hell are you ignoring my whispers, you lunatic?!”
Yuna’s voice nearly shattered my eardrum. She was yelling, but it had a joking tone. I wasn’t exactly annoyed, but I was bothered by how obviously Kim Seyoung was eavesdropping. Instead of telling her to lower her voice, I just double-tapped my sound bar to reduce the volume.
Funny thing—when I first met Yuna, she spoke softly, gently. But I must’ve reacted too positively whenever she cursed or got rough, so now she leaned into that tone more. She even started sounding like Kim Seyoung sometimes, which used to make me laugh.

‘Lately, she’s been clinging harder because I’ve been pulling back…’
I only approached her for information. I never intended to get close, let alone start anything romantic. I’d been trying to create distance, but Yuna either hadn’t noticed or just didn’t care. She kept texting and checking in, and this call was more of the same.
“When are you coming? I’ve told you like five times to get on Discord.”

I kept my tone calm to avoid sounding irritated.
“Not now.”
“Why not? You can just listen with your mic muted.”

Before answering, I glanced at Kim Seyoung’s face—and seeing the thinly veiled curiosity there made my blood boil. Like he had any right to act like this was some juicy show.
“No.”
I said it much colder than usual, and Yuna’s voice wavered a little.

“Are you seriously gonna keep leaving me alone? I even moved servers because of you…”
This felt like a moment where I had to answer carefully. I was honestly exhausted, but I softened my tone with some light teasing.
“I never asked you to come.”

That seemed to do the trick. Her mood brightened and she went back to chatting away like nothing happened.
That’s one difference between her and Kim Seyoung. When Kim gets mad, he shuts down, goes silent, and wants to be alone. But Yuna always bounces back and starts talking first.
‘…The hell is this?’

The call dragged on, and eventually Kim Seyoung started messing around. He began tapping the keyboard, then slowly moved his character away. He didn’t even have a weapon—he couldn’t do anything without one—so the fact that he couldn’t just sit still pissed me off.
“You made your move, now take responsibility~.”
“……”

“You said you’d treat me right if I joined your clan~!”
“…Yeah.”
I gave half-hearted replies to Yuna as I glared daggers at Kim Seyoung.

‘He was all sheepish earlier, and now look at him…’
It always annoyed me when he acted like this—pretending to not care when he clearly did. I gave up on the auction house and barked at him instead.
“What are you doing?”

“…Huh?”
He looked genuinely startled, not expecting me to suddenly talk to him.
“I wasn’t doing anything…”

“Why aren’t you paying attention? I’m picking out your gear.”
“….”
“Don’t wander off. Stay and watch.”

Seyoung gave me a look like, This lunatic again, but he walked back over slowly.
Once he was standing quietly beside me, the irritation started to fade. Then Yuna asked me to go dungeon running with her. I deliberately said a name to provoke Seyoung.
“Go find a different party.”

“…Why can’t you go?”
“Gotta put Kim Seyoung back in his place.”
Just as I expected, he whipped around and stared at me, face bright red like he was about to curse me out. But Yuna’s voice still coming from my headset kept him quiet—he just glared.

‘And glaring’s gonna do what, exactly?’
At this point, even his angry face was just funny. I smirked and locked eyes with him.
* * *

That day, I spent the whole time gaming with Kim Seyoung. I finally started leveling the alt I’d been meaning to raise, and we took my new alt [Saenyang] around to some low-level dungeons. It was surprisingly fun.
But my sister’s older than me, so by 8 p.m., she was yawning every sixty seconds.
“Haaahm…”

At first I was pissed, thinking she was bored playing with me. But then I saw her face—she was playing with her eyes half-closed. That blank, drowsy look was kind of hilarious.
“Are you falling asleep again?”
“I’m sleepy, what do you want me to do…”

She rubbed her eyes and shot me a glare with her reddened eyes. That was my cue to log off and let her rest.
But when I looked over at my phone lying face-down, there was a message from Sim Woohyun.
Sim Woohyun
What’d Seyoung-hyung say? ㅇㅅㅇ
Is he gonna pay you back with his body or what? lmao

I rolled my eyes, remembering how Sim Woohyun handled the netkama who scammed him.
Do I look like someone who picks up random trash like you do? ㅇ.ㅇ
Sim Woohyun
What are you sayingggg ㅇ“ㅅㅇ!!

He kept pestering me, desperate to know how I got Kim Seyoung back in-game. Eventually he even called.
‘Go bug your girlfriend if you’re that bored…’
Annoyed, I stepped out the front door and took the call outside.

As soon as I answered, he hit me with,
“How’d you find him?”
I didn’t hesitate.

“With the help of your ex.”
“Oh my god, what kind of bullshit—why the hell would I date Yuna?!”
The way he instantly got defensive told me everything I needed to know. They must’ve dated for at least two months, which, in Sim Woohyun’s time scale, was like five years.

“Hurry up and say what you want. I’m hanging up.”
I wanted to keep teasing him, but talking to him for too long was exhausting. He shot back, sarcastic and annoyed.
“Oh~ so you two are back together?”

“What the hell are you on about.”
“Did seeing Seyoung’s face make you forgive him?”
“……”

“How pretty is he that you’re dragging him around everywhere?”
I didn’t respond. Thinking I was speechless, he chuckled and muttered,
“The netkama I tracked down turned out to be a sweaty fatty… sigh…”

I’d heard that story three times now—how he beat the crap out of the guy and had to go to the police. It was always so pathetic it made me laugh.
This time too, I burst out laughing and said what I really thought.
“You’re such a dumbass.”

“Yeah, but I’ve still got a long way to go before I’m on Heejae’s level.”
He finally hung up with a grumbled “just you wait.” I switched on Do Not Disturb and walked back inside.
“…What the—”

But Kim Seyoung wasn’t on the bed where I’d left him. Panicked, I ran to the bathroom door and flung it open without thinking.
Luckily, he was there. Butt naked, hair clinging to his face like seaweed, looking °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° completely pathetic—but at least he hadn’t vanished again. Maybe that’s why I didn’t even feel like laughing.