Netkama Punch!!!

“Seyoung, you look tired today. Dark circles under your eyes?”

The voice of my team lead snapped me out of my daze just as I was about to take a sip of my warm latte during lunch break.
“Ah…”
“Did you have trouble sleeping? You look worn out.”

“I… went to bed late.”
“I figured. Young people these days spend all night watching YouTube, right?”
“Yeah…”

I bit my already scalded tongue lightly, pretending to agree.
Of course, I hadn’t been up all night watching YouTube or playing games.
‘I like you, Kim Seyoung.’
‘So tomorrow, don’t say it was just a drunken mistake.’
‘Do whatever you want. But I’m not like other guys. I mean it. Even if you run, I’ll just come find you again.’

No matter how much I tried to push those words out of my mind, they filled my head again. Not that I’d managed to forget them even once since yesterday.
I knew why my team lead had commented on my appearance—I’d been out of it all morning, reacting a beat too slow.
‘…I never answered him, in the end.’

But now it was lunch break, and I had escaped to the rooftop, where I often went to avoid people. The same spot where, back when I first started my netkama act, I used to listen to Shin Heejae’s one-sided phone calls.
‘Damn it. Thinking about Heejae again…’
But how could I not? It was the first time in my life anyone had confessed to me like that, and it hadn’t even been 24 hours yet.

I tried to distract myself by watching the tiny people moving below, but it was useless. My mind kept slipping back to that dark night.
“…”
Yesterday, Shin Heejae confessed to me.

And it was a confession I couldn’t run from.
Neither of us could pretend it was a joke, and we both knew this time, I was the one who had to give a serious answer.
But no words had come out. It was frustrating, even for me. I’d opened my mouth several times, but nothing came out—like something was clutching my throat.
I got anxious, sure he would eventually get frustrated and snap at me, or worse, take my silence as a yes.

But Heejae didn’t do any of that.
He didn’t push me, didn’t assume anything. He just looked at me—only me—like he meant every word about chasing me no matter what.
‘Hard to answer right now, isn’t it?’
‘…Yeah.’

And… Heejae gave me room to breathe.
I knew it might feel like humiliation to him, but I still nodded. If I were him, I doubted I could’ve even asked something like that.
He accepted my nod with a small, understanding smile and slowly let go of my hands, standing up. But he didn’t turn cold.

‘Seyoung, maybe I should stay at my place for a while?’
“…”
He held out his hand to help me up, speaking almost like he was talking to himself.
Even then, I couldn’t answer. But my heart sank when I heard it.

‘I’ve been the one pushing so far. Maybe… you should take some time to think alone.’
It was perfectly reasonable. The only alternative would’ve been to just agree to date him right then.
So I told myself the unease I felt was just because I’d gotten used to him. And it did feel strange—he’d just said he’d chase me anywhere, and now he was leaving. But he was right. We did need to sort things out.

We’d just been thrown into living together, crashing into each other without really… living together.
I didn’t hate Heejae, but I didn’t fully trust him either. And even though I knew he liked me, it wasn’t exactly comfortable.
So his suggestion was the logical choice. There was no reason to refuse.

‘…Okay.’
After a long silence, I nodded. He smiled faintly, as if expecting that, and added:
‘I’ll keep in touch. Every day. Answer me, okay?’
‘…Yeah.’

After that, he walked me home. He only turned back after watching me go inside, but for some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off him until the sensor light outside switched off.
Tak—
When I turned on the lights inside, the apartment felt strangely empty. A place I’d always thought was cramped now felt too big.

Even seeing Heejae’s leftover things or catching a faint whiff of his cologne made me restless. I rushed to take a shower, hoping it would clear my head like it usually did.
But even in the bathroom, the extra toothbrushes and things he’d brought stared back at me. And when I finally lay in bed, it felt too wide, like I was in a hotel instead of my own place.
‘Too cold…’

The temperature felt wrong too, so I ended up putting on another layer of clothes before trying to sleep. But I tossed and turned until dawn anyway.
In the empty space Heejae left behind, my mind wandered back to when I’d lived with my parents.
Getting a loan under my name or helping out during school breaks had been tolerable. Honestly, I wasn’t a total victim—I’d lied to my parents to get cash, ignored their calls, and spent days gaming in internet cafés.

But the real breaking point came when, after they’d taken out a student loan for me, I asked for just ₩200,000 to go on a trip with friends—and they exploded.
All at once, every sacrifice I’d made for them flashed through my mind, and I’d snapped. I grabbed my emergency savings account—the one I’d been so careful not to touch—and ran away to my friend’s house.
That friend had been my closest confidant since high school. He knew all about my fights with my parents and had always been on my side. He said I could stay as long as I wanted, and I’d been so grateful I nearly cried.

But that kindness lasted only two weeks.
After that, he started ordering takeout and making me pay, had me running errands for cigarettes, and snapped at me over little things.
Then one day, thinking I was asleep, I overheard him on the phone:

‘What if he just keeps clinging to me? Creeps me out.’
I left half my remaining money on his desk and ran to a tiny goshiwon that night.
Looking back, I was naïve. No matter what he said, I shouldn’t have stayed that long. But it made me jaded. A friend of three years turned on me in two weeks. Parents I’d lived with for 20 years had screamed at me over ₩200,000.

So yeah, I still had doubts about Heejae.
What if he got tired of me in weeks? What if he dropped the act and showed his real face?
Heejae
Noona, did you get to work okay? ㅇ.ㅇ

But seeing that message this morning made all my tension crumble at once. I didn’t know how to reply, but I finally sent:
Do well with your stream too.
I regretted it immediately—his streams were in the evening, so it felt too early. I typed and deleted a dozen follow-ups, but couldn’t send any.

‘…He hasn’t replied. Just read it.’
So here I was, staring at the silent chat. Usually, he’d annoy me with weird jokes, but now—after confessing—he’d gone quiet.
‘Is he doing this on purpose?’

Heejae had joked about turning gay for me, but he never said he hadn’t dated women. He’d even bragged about being popular. And with that face, he probably had.
‘…He’s dated before, right?’
So maybe this was all calculated. Maybe I was just falling for it.

“….”
I’d been about to send What are you doing? but my courage evaporated. I shoved my phone back into my pocket and finished my now-cold latte instead.
The latte wasn’t even good.

* * *
LIVE Chat
● 1 minute ago @@@@@@@
● What are we doing today? What are we doing today? What are we doing today?
● Heejae, can we try the Behemoth raid again today? On intermediate? Pleaseㅠㅠ
● Mission time!
● Let’s do missions! Missions missions missions!

After work, I grabbed some frozen dumplings and logged into YouTube just in time for Heejae’s stream.
His viewers were spamming the chat as usual, and I sat blowing on my hot dumplings, waiting for his voice.
I couldn’t bring myself to log into the game and act like nothing happened, but I still wanted to know what he was up to. Besides, he didn’t know I watched his streams.

Ding—
But before he even appeared, a notification popped up on my phone. And for the first time, Heejae was late starting his broadcast.
I dropped my dumpling and snatched up my phone, heart pounding.

Urara
Congrats on becoming a Lord again, Sebyeok Lord-nim ㅇㅅㅇ)>
“…What the hell?”
But it wasn’t from Heejae—it was from Sim Woohyun. I sent back a simple [?], and just then, a familiar voice filled the live stream.

“Hey, guys.”
It was maddeningly casual, like always.
I closed Woohyun’s chat and stared at the screen. Heejae’s character, [Heenyang], appeared, using the [Wave] emote.

And then, he dropped a bomb.
“Starting today, I’m no longer the guild master of Degeuldegeul. I just logged into Heenyang to hand it over.”