He Is That Guy

“Alright, that’s it for today’s lecture.”
The second it ended, a yawn ripped out of me like it’d been waiting. After hunching over a drafting board forever, my whole body ached.

“Hey, Yu Ji-han.”
Kim Daeseok walked up while I was stretching with both arms long overhead, dropped into the seat beside me, and mimed knocking back soju.
“No more classes, right? Dinner and a drink?”

“Again? You’ve got stamina.”
“I didn’t ask first, okay? Haeseong said we should go.”
“And that changes what?”

Right then Eun Haeseong, bag slung over his shoulder, strode to my desk all bright and chirpy.
“Let’s go get wrecked!”
Is everyone here obsessed with booze? I sighed and packed my bag.
“No.”

“Why! It’s Friday!”
“Right. Don’t you know if you don’t drink on Friday the cops drag you off?”
“I’ve gotta walk my dog. I haven’t played with him in five days.”

“Dog? You have a dog?”
“Whoa, show us pics.”
“Since when?”

“Recently. I don’t have photos.”
“What? You keep a dog and don’t take pictures?”
Pictures my ass—he doesn’t even have my phone number. Still pisses me off when I think about it.

Ignoring Daeseok, I slung my bag over one shoulder and stood.
“Anyway, I’m busy. You two go.”
“What, you’re really not coming? Yu Ji-han!”

I left the lecture hall to the sound of Daeseok squawking. My phone had been buzzing nonstop for a while—didn’t feel normal.
Knew it.
New messages were piled up in the guild group chat.

Even with group notifications off, the phone was vibrating. Yu Chae must’ve @-spammed me again.
[ㅇㅇ: @Jeo Jolryeoyo]
[ㅇㅇ: Hyung, did class end?]

[ㅇㅇ: You’re logging in today, right? T_T]
[ㅇㅇ: @Jeo Jolryeoyo]
[Drink Some Water: Ugh, tone it down.]
[Haereun: Take it to DMs.]

[I’m Lagginggg: obsessed boyfriend lmao]
[It’s Staeric: this is getting kinda scary]
[TheHunter: dude aren’t you at work?]

[TheHunter: how are you even messaging]
[It’s Staeric: office workers always chat at work]
[It’s Staeric: then vanish after clock-out]

[TheHunter: lol ok;]
[ㅇㅇ: @Jeo Jolryeoyo]
[ㅇㅇ: @Jeo Jolryeoyo]

[Mocha Bread Bread Bread: extra noisy today]
[Drink Some Water: all day in [Guild] chat yesterday]
[Drink Some Water: bragging he’s hanging with Jolrye today tsk]

[Haereun: Jolry-nim, maybe share your number with the guildmaster now?]
[Haereun: I get that you don’t want to, but for the public good]
[Park Seungcon-ssi: if he had the number]

[Park Seungcon-ssi: imagine the flood of messages]
[Park Seungcon-ssi: Jolrye would get PTSD]
[Haereun: I think I’m getting it right now (sticker)]

I’m not the one refusing to share a phone number. I swallowed the pride-scraping comeback and gave them a situational brief instead.
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: Class just ended]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: Cut it out]

[ㅇㅇ: o_o!]
[ㅇㅇ: When do you get home?]
[Mocha Bread Bread Bread: thank god]

[Drink Some Water: whew..]
[Haereun: can’t even kick the guildmaster smh]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: I live close]

[Jeo Jolryeoyo: gotta wash and eat anyway]
[ㅇㅇ: okay.. T_T]
[TheHunter: do you live alone, Jolrye?]

[Jeo Jolryeoyo: Near campus, yeah]
[Drink Some Water: Architecture, right?]
[Drink Some Water: Is it rude to ask which school?]

[Jeo Jolryeoyo: lol Korea University]
[Drink Some Water: ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) ohhh]
[Haereun: whoa, Korea U?]

[Park Seungcon-ssi: what the hell.. suddenly feels so far away..]
[Mocha Bread Bread Bread: same lol]
[TheHunter: Korea U architecture? yikes]

[TheHunter: he’s elite..]
[Hwa So-un: (sticker)]
[Hwa So-un: Jolrye just flexed]

[Drink Some Water: for real, when I asked]
[Drink Some Water: he smiled and answered so fast, the confidence was nuts]
[Monster Born of Capitalism: style overload yikes]

[Jeo Jolryeoyo: stop roasting me — —]
[Haereun: ah, busted lol]
[TheHunter: I live near there too]

[TheHunter: let’s grab food sometime!]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: ok ok]
[ㅇㅇ: ?]

[ㅇㅇ: Why are you eating with Jolry hyung?]
[TheHunter: because we live close?]
At that blithe answer, apparently out of things to say, Yu Chae latched onto me again.

[ㅇㅇ: Hyuung]
[ㅇㅇ: Meeting random people like that is dangerous!! ;_;]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: yeah yeah sure]

[Drink Some Water: lolololololol]
[Haereun: how are you two exactly the same even after getting married?]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: please put “game” in front of marriage ffs..]

[Hwa So-un: lolololololol]
[TheHunter: lolololololol]
 

Buried under classes, assignments, and the game, a month blew by in a blink.
A week before Seo Tae-young’s wedding, I broke the sad news to the puppy in advance.
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: next Sat I’ll be late logging in

[Party] Yu Chae: Huh?
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: gotta attend a friend’s wedding
[Party] Yu Chae: Ah..

Riding ahead, Yu Chae saw my chat and stopped.
We were combing the map for the Hero’s Scroll, one of Xenorise’s adventure quest items.
The scrolls are hidden so they’re hard to spot, scattered across the entire map, and their locations reroll every week—one of those annoying-to-collect items.

[Party] Yu Chae: When will you be back? T_T
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: no idea
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: ceremony starts at 1

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: I’ll probably be back by 5 at the latest
[Party] Yu Chae: Is the venue far?
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: not really

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: about an hour by subway?
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: I won’t stay to the very end, I’ll slip out at a good time
[Party] Yu Chae: Mm

[Party] Yu Chae: I’ve got no plans
[Party] Yu Chae: so I’ll just wait like usual
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: go outside and live a little

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: do you not have friends?
He’d been spending every weekend in-game with me.
Even if you’re unemployed, it’s the weekend—you could go out. How does he just keep gaming like that? Guess he really loves the game.

Not that I’m in any position to judge…
During break I no-lifed Xenorise to hit level 200 without sleeping.
After that I joined Twilight… and thinking that far, it struck me how weirdly close I’d gotten to Yu Chae.

[Party] Yu Chae: Wow, hyung...
[Party] Yu Chae: What if I really didn’t have friends—how could you say that?
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: then what

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: I become trash for mocking a friendless guy
[Party] Yu Chae: lololol
[Party] Yu Chae: It’s fine

[Party] Yu Chae: I like even trashy you
[Party] Yu Chae: you’re sexy lol
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: you try being sexy for once

[Party] Yu Chae: Huh?
[Party] Yu Chae: You’ll regret saying that
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: talking nonsense again

[Party] Yu Chae: lolol
Even when I insulted him, he laughed like it was great, and—perfect timing—found the fifth scroll tucked in a corner of the map.
[Party] Yu Chae: that makes half

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: rough
We needed ten total. After searching since last week, we’d finally hit five.
Between the rare materials reward and bonus stat points, it was too good to skip.

[Party] Yu Chae: This one took me a while too
[Party] Yu Chae: since the location changes weekly, you can’t rush it
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: yeah

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: and with that wedding next week
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: we’ll probably finish the week after
Ideally I wanted it done before midterms. If I had like nine scrolls and then tried to study, I’d be too itchy to think straight.

[Party] Yu Chae: While you’re at the wedding
[Party] Yu Chae: want me to scout the locations in advance?
Hmm. If he mapped the spawns ahead of time, it would save a ton of hours.

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: don’t overdo it
[Party] Yu Chae: it’ll make life easier
[Party] Yu Chae: and without you I don’t really have plans..

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: in that case sure
I’ve only been in Xenorise two months—still a newbie. This much help is fine.
The second I accepted with a shameless heart, he showed his pitch-black insides.

[Party] Yu Chae: I gotta do things like this if I want hyung to dote on me ;_;
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: that phrasing sounds kinda gross
[Party] Yu Chae: sigh… married life is hard

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: lol
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: quit if you don’t like it
[Party] Yu Chae: lol

[Party] Yu Chae: when you’re back, give me a kiss for doing well
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: if they add that feature I’ll consider it k
He wants everything out of a game. Not that I’d kiss him in real life either.

Guess I should leave the wedding earlier.
I’d planned to stay through the end and eat, but better to dip mid-way.
Can’t dump homework on the kid and then waltz back full of food. Leaning on the chair back, I sketched out next week in my head, straightened up, and typed.

[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: I’ll be back quick
[Party] Jeo Jolryeoyo: don’t cause trouble and wait...