chapter 57
The moment ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) those words—the kind you can't just laugh off—left his mouth, chills ran down my spine.
And yet, Shin Heejae, noticing the horror on my face, only got more excited.
“Especially when you punch me... that gets me reall—”
Thwack—!
“You fucking pervert, you trying to die today?!”
I kicked him in the shin hard enough to shut him up. And sure, I was the one who landed the blow—but somehow, it still felt like I lost.
‘Goddamn it. I should’ve just let it all go to hell and gone home alone…’
The only reason I stepped in at all was because I felt partially responsible for Yuna taking the others and bailing. I thought I could do something about it.
Now I knew: this was the price of sticking my nose where it didn’t belong.
And another thought crept in:
‘Is it because I keep letting it slide that he keeps going?’
But that wasn’t fair—I didn’t let it slide every time. I did fight back. Hell, there were still fresh scratch marks on the back of his neck from when I’d clawed him earlier.
Still, no matter how much I hit him, Shin Heejae never backed down.
‘…He probably likes it.’
I glanced at his grinning face, and panic started to creep in. At this rate, his behavior was only going to escalate.
‘I need to do something that’ll genuinely make him freak out and back off… but what?’
But I didn’t get to think long.
“Noona. I’m going live.”
Shin Heejae was already putting on his headset as he said it, like it was no big deal. It was time for the siege war.
‘…Let’s deal with the siege first.’
I didn’t respond. I just glared daggers at him and sat back in my seat. He chuckled behind me, but I didn’t turn around.
* * *
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CFlowerWall: Great work, everyone ^^
CYeou: Waaaah good job everyone!!
CBakibug: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ That was brutal ㅠㅠ
CApssal: gg
CGyeoksal: Good work!
CUrara: Haaaah......
CUrara: My brain is fried
“Haaah…”
Watching the clan chat blow up, I finally let out the sigh I’d been holding in. Then I leaned back against my chair for the first time in over an hour.
My back was damp with sweat.
I stayed like that for a few seconds, catching my breath, before glancing to the side.
“Today’s stream ends here.”
Unlike me—drained and slumped in my seat—Shin Heejae looked exactly the same as when he’d started. He took off his headset, glanced my way, and without a word, stood up and left the stream room.
From the half-closed door, I could hear him filling a glass at the water cooler.
The sound made me realize how parched I was, too, but I didn’t even have the energy to get up. I just sat there, limp.
While I stared blankly at the screen, the other clan members continued chatting. Naturally, they were talking about the siege we’d just survived.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CGyeoksal: That was legit the craziest siege ever
CApssal: I thought we were done for lmao
CYeou: Fr... I really thought we were gonna lose
CUrara: The way they rushed us in the beginning, holy shit
CFlowerWall: Can’t believe we won this one lolol
CYeou: I panicked so hard at the start LOLOLOLOLOLOL
CBakibug: I would’ve cried if we lost ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Yeah. We’d won—but it wasn’t easy.
‘Honestly… I thought we were screwed.’
Especially at the start, when the enemy guild’s push was so aggressive that within five minutes, they had stormed into the lord’s office where Shin Heejae was.
At that point, I really thought we’d lose.
But Heejae managed to dodge everything they threw at him for almost a whole minute, and watching that seemed to snap our members out of it. They rallied and fought back.
Not that it was a clean win or anything. Most of the clan practically threw their bodies on the line to hold the castle.
I died too—right near the end.
About ten minutes before the siege ended, I didn’t have the right skills to block an attack aimed at Heejae, so I threw myself in the way and took the hit.
It wasn’t some dramatic sacrifice—it was just that if the clan master died, we’d lose the castle. So it was the only choice I had.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CYeou: Honestly, we only won ‘cause of Sesam-nim
CApssal: Agreed
That actually made me feel a bit weird.
Not because of the praise—but because I was tense, waiting for Shin Heejae to jump in with some, “Noona, did you throw your life away for me~?” kind of bullshit.
But thankfully, he didn’t say a word. He seemed genuinely focused on the game. And the recognition from the clan members didn’t feel bad, either.
I hovered my fingertips awkwardly over the keyboard, unsure what to say. I hadn’t logged out yet, and my character was still near the others.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CSesam: Thanks, everyone. Good job today ha
I hesitated, but finally typed something.
Then, out of nowhere, Urara’s character came bounding toward me.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CUrara: Sesam-nim ㅇㅅㅇ
CSesam: Yes?
CUrara: Wanna be friends? ㅇㅅㅇ
Then she fired a [Heart Bullet] emote at me.
It was a little much, but after what we’d been through together, I figured there was some kind of camaraderie between us. So I didn’t overthink it—I clicked on her character and sent a friend request.
“You are now friends with ‘Urara’!”
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CUrara: Thanks~
CSesam: Sure he
It felt… awkward.
Honestly, when I got dragged back into this by Shin Heejae, I didn’t think I’d ever really get close to the other clan members. I mean, a guy pretending to be a girl? Of course they’d be weirded out.
‘There’s no way they don’t know I was a netkama…’
And yet, she still sent me a request. No weird intentions, right? I was just thinking that when—
“‘FlowerWall’ has sent you a friend request.”
Accept / Decline
“‘Apssal’ has sent you a friend request.”
Accept / Decline
“‘Gyeoksal’ has sent you a friend request.”
Accept / Decline
.
.
.
Suddenly, the rest of the clan started sending me friend requests, one after another.
While I fumbled and typed [??] in the chat, they started inching their characters closer to mine, tossing out random comments.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CFlowerWall: I usually play around dawn ^^
CDijimong: I’m on evening to late night
CsvMagicvs: Only use this toon for sieges. Main is svWarriorvs lolol
They were all just casually dropping their play hours while standing right in front of me, waiting. In the end, I awkwardly accepted all the requests.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CGyeoksal: I’m 22. How old are you?
CApssal: Same age as Gyeoksal
CSesam: I’m 24......
CApssal: ??
CGyeoksal: Whoa
CGyeoksal: Thought you were the same age as the clan master
CBakibug: Um... ㅠ Why didn’t you accept mine? ㅠㅠ Did I do something wrong? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
CSesam: No;; sorry, I’m going through them now;
I ended up accepting everyone, even though it was overwhelming. Still, despite how weird I felt, the clan just kept chatting like nothing was wrong.
And out of everyone, the one with the most questions for me was Urara.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CUrara: Sesam-nim lol
CSesam: Yes?
CUrara: Yuna totally left ‘cause Heejae brought you back, right? LOLOLOLOLOL
I’d noticed earlier—Urara didn’t mince words. But no one seemed surprised or offended. Everyone just rolled with it and kept joking along.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CYeou: lol why’re you asking Sesam
CYeou: PM Yuna<
CUrara: Already tried to interview her, got blocked ㅠ
CDijimong: LMAOOOOOOOOOO
I typed a stiff [hehe;] and stayed quiet.
Meanwhile, the chatter kept going.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CFlowerWall: Yuna was… honestly, kinda overwhelming
CFlowerWall: She probably watched today’s stream too ^^
CUrara: If not, I’ll just DM her the link ha
CDijimong: “That scene,” you mean?
CYeou: LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
CApssal: LOLOLOLOLOL
CGyeoksal: Yeah she’s gonna lose her mind lol
I had no idea what they were talking about and typed a [?] out of confusion.
Right on cue, Urara jumped in.
[Clan Friend Party Whisper]
CUrara: You saved Heejae-nim’s life, remember~ he