Netkama Punch!!!

There was something about the smile on his face that left people speechless.
“…You.”
“How long was I waiting? Not that long.”

“….”
He even beat me to it with that smug grin.
In the end, I couldn’t push Shin Heejae away. I just clamped my mouth shut. We were near my office, and the thought crossed my mind—what if a coworker saw us with our arms linked like this? But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to shake him off.

So I ducked my head and muttered at him.
“Hurry up… let’s go.”
“That’s not the way.”

He let me pull him a few steps before teasingly correcting our direction, and after that, I basically ended up half-hugged, half-dragged along. Thankfully, the route to the private parking lot was quiet. Any more foot traffic and it would’ve been downright mortifying. Heejae drove me home from there.
The real problem started after that.
That was the day Shin Heejae’s full-blown madness officially kicked off. Every day he drove me to and from work. In the mornings, he insisted I eat—even if it was just a cup of instant noodles.

On top of that, he’d randomly buy all sorts of unnecessary “sets” of things and decorate my apartment however he pleased. I didn’t say much when he swapped out my toothbrush cup, and I guess he took that as permission to start buying more and more crap without asking.
Does he think I wouldn’t notice if he replaced the whole damn blanket?
I kept wondering whether I should just throw out all the stuff he brought, or keep pretending I didn’t care.

And it wasn’t just the house that was slowly changing, one item at a time.
“I told you if you crawl into bed one more time, I’ll kill you.”
“The bed’s huge. Why should only one person use it?”

“If you don’t like it, get out!”
At some point, Heejae started climbing into my bed in the middle of the night like it was his own. The worst part? He didn’t even flinch anymore when I smacked him—he just sassed me back. These days, waking up with his shameless face nuzzled into my chest had almost become routine.
He doesn’t do anything weird, per se…
Still, the way he just grabbed onto me whenever he felt like it was uncomfortable. And lately, it felt like even when I got angry, he didn’t understand—or maybe just pretended not to.

Well, to be honest… the real problem was me. Even when I got mad, I ended up giving up halfway. I’d hit him a couple times and then just let it go, pretending like nothing happened. Why? Because—aside from being annoying as hell—life had gotten really convenient lately.
I didn’t realize how much of a difference ten extra minutes in the morning would make…
Before, I always had to leave at least fifteen minutes early to account for subway schedules. But ever since he started driving me, I didn’t need to worry about that.

I’d use those extra minutes to catch a bit more sleep, or eat the breakfast Heejae practically force-fed me. I kept scolding him, but I couldn’t bring myself to reject the morning rides. And the worst part was—he knew it.
“Are you picking me up again today?”
“Yup. Oh, and we’re almost out of toilet paper. Let’s grab some on the way.”

After picking me up from work, he’d usually take me grocery shopping or to a restaurant or café—places we could drive to.
I had no idea there were so many hidden cafés and food spots on hillsides or along roads where even buses didn’t run. Before all this, I used to think, Why would anyone spend money on a car? Taxis and buses exist. But now? Even I was starting to want one. I didn’t dare say that out loud though—who knew what Heejae would do if I did?
So yeah. It felt like Heejae knew I was using him. And still, he kept sticking around. He paid for everything too—groceries, meals, cafés.

Is he an idiot?
That’s what I thought as I watched him wave goodbye after dropping me off in front of the center.
He didn’t even try to kiss me or anything these days. Aside from crawling into my bed at night, he’d stopped doing any of the creepy stuff altogether. At this point, I honestly had no idea what he even wanted from me. I was caught between feeling uneasy and selfishly enjoying how comfortable everything had become.

There’s no way he doesn’t want something eventually…
What happens when the day comes and Heejae finally asks for something? That thought would pop up now and then, but I never came to a conclusion. I’d just shove it aside.
Then, one day—

Urara
ㅇㅅㅇ Whoa... So our meetup is next week?
Bakibug
Wait, Urara, you got picked too? 😭😭
Urara
Yesss ㅇㅅㅇ

Bakibug
Hiiick 😭
Urara
What’s with that reaction ㅇㅅㅇ?
Bakibug
Sorry 😭 I’m just super honest by nature 😭😭😭...

Urara
You coming too, Baki? ㅇㅅㅇ
Bakibug
Only if you’re not going 😭
Urara
You're definitely going ㅇㅅㅇ!

Bakibug
😭😭😭😭😭😭
Yeou
lmao so many of our clan got picked whoa...
The clan Discord chat blew up like usual. But this time, the topic was different. I watched quietly and realized they were all talking about the upcoming user meetup scheduled for next week.

Shin Heejae’s probably going too, huh?
He’d left the clan now, but I still remembered how Yuna had begged him to take her with him back then.
The game company had postponed the event once due to internal issues, but now it looked like they were going all-out. Twice as many players were picked compared to before—half the clan was attending.

Not like I got picked anyway…
Not that I’d planned on going even if I had, so I wasn’t too disappointed. But reading all the excited messages did make me curious. I went to the homepage and clicked on the event page.
“Whoa, there’s even an idol group performing in Part 1?”

Turned out the scale was way bigger than I’d expected. There were idol performances, high-value in-game items for attendees, and the event package was honestly impressive—even for someone like me who usually didn’t care about this stuff.
A Yeti plush, ten consumable bundles, 10,000 won in cash shop credit… and raffles for iPads, laptops, weapon upgrades? Damn, that’s generous.
No wonder the forums were flooded with excited posts from winners and # Nоvеlight # salty complaints from those who weren’t.

Lucky bastards 😭😭😭
Dead game smh
Everyone else I know got picked except me...
Just sell the damn Yeti plush already ffs!!!
How to win the event draw…
Even I started feeling irrationally annoyed.
And just then—the front door swung open and Shin Heejae walked in.

“What’re you looking at?”
“The event…”
He brought in the cold air with him as he plopped down next to me. After glancing over the event page, he casually said:

“Wanna match outfits for that day?”
“…What?”
“It’s gonna be crowded, right? Big venue. What if you get lost?”

“?”
I squinted at him, completely failing to understand what the hell he was saying now. He saw my furrowed brows and continued without a hint of shame.
“If we match outfits, even if we get separated, we’ll spot each other right away.”

At that point, I knew I had to say something or he’d never stop.
“…Why the hell would I go to that thing?”
“I have an extra invite.”

“…What?”
“You said we’d go together.”
He looked at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I wasn’t just speechless—I was actually kind of scared. I could tell his delusions were flaring up again, so I asked, horrified:

“Are you insane? Two guys showing up in matching outfits?!”
“But you’re such a baby, you’ll totally get lost.”
Under normal circumstances, I would’ve cussed him out for that kind of crap. But instead, I just… went still. I realized it was better not to engage with this level of insanity.

I stayed silent and kept my eyes on the monitor. Heejae saw the look on my face and burst out laughing.
Urara
ㅇㅅㅇ Can’t wait~~
Meanwhile, the rest of the clueless clan members were excitedly talking about meeting up after the event for dinner and whatever else.

If they knew their clan master was a complete lunatic, they’d be just as depressed as me…
I sighed deeply… then slapped Heejae’s face away as he leaned his head onto my shoulder.