He Is That Guy

I scratched my forehead at the out-of-nowhere line.
“What are you talking about all of a sudden. What did you do wrong?”

“You asked for my number and I turned you down, so…”
“…”
Did this bastard call me just to screw with me?

“I thought maybe you felt uncomfortable and were avoiding logging in on purpose.”
Weirdly sharp read.
I’d noticed he was quick on the uptake in game, but I didn’t know he was this quick in real life too.

“…Why would I? Didn’t you see guild chat? The semester started. I was busy.”
“R-really?”
“Of course. You…”
I paused without thinking, then forced my voice flat and kept going.

“You turned me down. So what? That happens. I said I understood.”
“Ah…”
“Blaming that for me not logging in is a stretch. That’s some main-character syndrome.”

“So I misunderstood?”
No, you didn’t.
“Yeah.”

“Thank god.”
He sounded genuinely relieved; his voice loosened up.
“I was really worried you wouldn’t come back.”

“Yeah, sure. Says the guy who wouldn’t even give me his number…”
“Still.”
Only then did his tension ease; at my half-joking jab, he let out a soft laugh.

I rubbed the corner of my mouth and frowned.
“For someone who wants to get close like this…”
His words and actions were way too far apart. Is this all an act? Maybe, on the inside, he thinks I’m a smug asshole.

“Hyung, are you playing today?”
“That’s why I logged on.”
Right then, a message popped in from Drink Some Water.

[Drink Some Water: hihi]
[Drink Some Water: was gonna ping you anyway]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: hiyas lol]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: yeah I heard from SoeSoe]

[Drink Some Water: yeah you haven’t logged in forever]
[Drink Some Water: was gonna ask if you were super busy]
[Drink Some Water: perfect timing lol]

[Jeo Jolryeoyo: semester started and stuff piled up]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: sorry sorry]
[Drink Some Water: yeah it’s not to pressure you]

[Drink Some Water: I really was just checking in]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: I’ll bump my login rate lol]
[Drink Some Water: yeah]

[Drink Some Water: also with you gone]
[Drink Some Water: Yu Chae’s been a total menace]
[Drink Some Water: held out as long as I could then I finally asked you lol]

I snorted at the thread.
What the hell has he been doing? I’d been suspicious of him a minute ago, and it evaporated instantly.
[Drink Some Water: I’ll just save the number I got, cool?]

[Jeo Jolryeoyo: yup]
“Then play with me. Hyung, did you see the new event? There’s a new raid next month too. And…”
“Hold up.”

He was raring to go and rattling off content. I twisted off the cap on the water bottle I’d set aside and chugged.
The hangover wouldn’t lift. My head was still pounding and foggy.
“Give me a sec. I just got up and haven’t eaten. Also hungover…”

“Hungover? You drank yesterday?”
“There was a department meetup. Drank a bit and my body’s wrecked. I usually don’t get hangovers, but I mixed drinks yesterday… I’m dying.”
He listened silently, then his energy dropped; he sounded crestfallen.

“If you feel that bad, go rest. Please eat.”
“You’re telling me to just go?”
“You said you’re dying. Let’s play tomorrow. It’s Sunday.”

“And you think Sunday automatically means I’m free.”
“…Are you busy?”
He hesitated forever, then lobbed the question in—made me laugh despite myself.

What does he trust to think he can be this cute.
“No, not busy. We’ll play today and tomorrow. But I’m going to eat first, so wait a bit.”
“You don’t have to push yourself.”

“It’s a sit-down game. How hard can it be.”
At my lazy answer, he gave up trying to babysit me and perked up again.
“What are you going to eat? How long’ll it take?”

“I’ll just get delivery. About an hour.”
“I’ll wait.”
“Okay. We’re staying on Discord?”

“I-if you’re okay with it…”
Scrolling menus on my phone, I covered the upward pull of my mouth with my hand.
This is… exactly like a dog panting because I said “walk.”

“Wait nicely.”
“Okay!”
I muted my mic, took off the headset, and went back to choosing food.

Keep it quick and simple. The kid’s waiting; I’m not laying out a whole spread.
 
****

“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Huh? Hyung, did you just swear at me?”
Exactly two hours after I’d decided he was cute.

Flat on the dungeon floor, I yelled, and he popped an intensely wronged emote.
“How am I not supposed to swear, you little shit!”
“I’m not a little shit!”

“Then what are you?”
“A bride! It even says it on my Title!”
Right now, I’d caved to his whining and switched my Title to “JolryeOwner’s Groom.”

Fuck. I’m never wearing this Title again.
[Party] Hwa So-un: lmaooooooo
[Party] Hwa So-un: jeo’s a scrub lololol

[Party] TheHunter: ???
[Party] TheHunter: what you died?
[Party] Staeric: there was nothing there that could kill you..?

[Party] Haereun: don’t tell me you went green?
[Party] Mocha Bread: Jeo
[Party] Mocha Bread: feels like you forgot your touch after a break lol

[Party] Park Seungjin99: ??
[Party] Park Seungjin99: didn’t the guildmaster say he’d explain the pattern?
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: ha f*ck….

We’d queued the event dungeon with guildmates.
It’s an event dungeon and not a raid, so it wasn’t that hard, but there were mid-bosses with set-pattern gimmicks here and there.
Still, since Yu Chae had run it before, he was explaining in real time, so there shouldn’t have been any problems… or so I thought.

“Is the Title what matters right now?”
“…I mixed up the color for a sec.”
One mid-boss on floor 2 had a “pick the color” pattern. Magic circles sprawled across the floor, shifting colors on a timer; you had to stand on the correct color to survive.

While you were choosing, everything except your own character was swallowed in darkness, so you couldn’t just follow someone else. I did what he said and stepped onto the green circle.
And died miserably. Meanwhile, the one who’d fed me the wrong call—Kim Yu Chae—hopped to red right before it ended and lived; I ate it alone.
“I-I only ran it once before today…!”

Flustered by my chill tone, he rushed to tack on an excuse. But I’d already been branded hopeless by the guild, and the roasting didn’t stop until we finished the clear.
[Party] TheHunter: sigh jeo that’s kind of disappointing~ big time~
[Party] Mocha Bread: fr lol

[Party] Mocha Bread: how do you die to that tho
[Party] Haereun: I should’ve dropped a heal field
[Party] Park Seungjin99: even then it’s an insta if you’re wrong lol no point

[Party] Haereun: rip~
[Party] Hwa So-un: can jeo even handle the boss fight? T_T
[Party] Hwa So-un: boss has 3 colors to dodge.. o_o

[Party] Staeric: hey
[Party] Staeric: maybe he can’t tell red from green, you feel me?
[Party] TheHunter: feel ya~

[Party] Yu Chae: knock it off, you fuckers
[Party] Park Seungjin99: wow.. get married and now the bias is blatant..
[Party] Haereun: how’s a lifelong single supposed to live T_T

[Party] Park Seungjin99: ?
[Party] Hwa So-un: lolololololol
[Party] Staeric: is this the power of marriage?

[Party] Staeric: hunter u down?
[Party] TheHunter: no
[Party] Hwa So-un: rejected again?

He tried to mediate in a /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ hurry, but no one was buying it. The instant we zoned back to the field after the clear, I swung my staff at him.
Smack!
“Hyuuung… ow.”

Thwack! Thud!
[Party] Yu Chae: ;_;
[Party] Yu Chae: T_T!!!

[Party] TheHunter: they’re disgustingly cute lolololol
[Party] Hwa So-un: he deserved it
[Party] Haereun: if not the guildmaster, who else could get jeo killed by a gimmick like that lol

[Party] Haereun: think positive
[Party] Staeric: the logic omg
[Party] Hwa So-un: sounds convincing

[Party] Hwa So-un: mental victory
[Party] Park Seungjin99: I screenshotted jeo dying
[Party] Park Seungjin99: can I post it in the guild group chat? o_o

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: why the hell would you screenshot that
[Party] Park Seungjin99: you looked so comfy lying there hehe
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: delete it ——

[Party] Park Seungjin99: aw T_T
[Party] Hwa So-un: aw T_T
[Party] Haereun: aw T_T

“Aw,” my ass.
Between Yu Chae and the guild, both sides were driving me up the wall.