Episode 203
“Your brother. all right. That’s about it.”
– Oh yes. thanks.
Hyeeun skipped Minjun’s words and hung up the phone. It was a phone call asking to confirm the life or death of Jinseong, who had not heard from for several days.
What on earth would happen to that muscle mass that was crazy about fitness, but since he had already collapsed once and ended up in the emergency room, it was something that could not be ignored.
“Come to think of it, I didn’t even know how you were doing…? What the hell are you doing, you’re stuck in the house and can’t come out…”
So, Hye-eun was lost in thought in the cafe storage and lounge, then turned her head to the manager’s question, who came to take out the flat lead.
“Hyeeun? what phone is it? Your expression looks serious. Is something going on?”
“Oh no. It’s no big deal, manager.”
“Anything else, there’s no way Hye-eun in the world would be so bruised like this. What is it? A boyfriend by any chance?”
“What about a boyfriend? Just someone you know. Someone you know.”
“Because Hye-eun knows someone… This is suspicious. Whoops.”
“Anyway, ah. you. la. you. Kahn. yo. this? Manager?”
It was absurd to say that he was a boyfriend.
After saying goodbye to the next part-time job, Hye-eun left the cafe. It was time for work and I was getting ready to go home.
A part-time job has always been a necessity for her, as she pays for her living expenses on her own, such as rent, food, and mobile phone bills, in addition to college tuition, and these days, she has more money to go out, so she was thinking about extending her time.
At the same time, being unable to play games naturally wasn’t something special for Hyeeun, so she hadn’t thought about connecting to AC for a while.
No, to be precise, the play time was a little less than before.
Compared to the three or four hours a day where she always logged on and played the game, now it was her daily routine to just do the minimum homework—reading “daily quests”—and going out for about an hour or so a day.
It was something Hye-eun could not help, even if she was a Chevalier of the Earthraia family, a family with a long history in the Kingdom of Terra.
It was said that games can be done without any hindrance to earning money right away.
No matter how long the status in the virtual world is, it is not real, and the person named ‘Seo Hye-eun’ inside the body of the character is just one of the many female college students in Korea.
Of course, among her college friends, there were some friends who started O-Tube by recording and editing things like live streaming, or doing business using AC’s exchange to see profit.
Considering that there are many cases where people who usually try to eat rice (= buy rice through games) lose time in games or do not generate a very stable income.
It could be said that she still has too many things on her shoulders to make AC her main income.
Someone could point to her and say that the story is too consequential, but since she had to play the role of the head of household after graduating from middle school, her thinking was naturally biased.
At least, the capsule rental fee, which was paid in monthly installments, was an investment for herself.
But to Hye-eun, Min-joon contacted her out of the blue, as well as her boyfriend and whatnot—she herself thought dating was a luxury.
For Hye-eun, who hadn’t spent much time and thought on AC, the news of Jin-seong was unfamiliar and even unfamiliar.
In fact, it was a car that I thought I wouldn’t be able to meet very often.
From Hye-eun’s point of view, Jin-seong was already a person who seemed busy with construction just by streaming on Otube and Switch.
Of course, even if you are next door, it is difficult to meet people if their patterns are different.
It was because it was natural that it would be difficult to even see the face if there was no point of contact.
“I don’t know why a nobleman who makes good money lives like that. If it were me, I would get out of this villa village right away.”
Hyeeun went uphill past the cafe. It was not too far from where she worked.
If the cafe is located along the main street under the road, the villa where she lives is located on one side of the uphill road along the mountain.
Until she moved to Seoul, she also thought that the land of Seoul would be a forest of buildings, but when it came to the fact that most people my age lived there, it was all about villas under the mountains.
Except for the fact that it was teeming with people during the day and at night, it was a scene that made it hard to know whether this place was Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon, or Cheonan.
Well, even though it’s like this, you and I want to come up, so maybe the rent for the semi-basement is 600,000 won each.
Maybe Jinseong couldn’t easily get out of the house next door—a two-room semi-basement room that was hard to find in the Seoul station area—due to the room prices in Seoul.
“Come to think of it for a second… You said you were going to buy me coffee, but you haven’t contacted me yet? I was promised to go crazy right now…?”
As Hye-eun climbed the uphill road, she pushed her thumb up on the screen of her cellphone. It was the address book I opened because I wanted to make a call before entering.
Come to think of it, when Jinseong was taken to 119 and ended up in the emergency room, he said that he had picked up the number because he had no choice but to pay him back as he was on his way to his part-time job.
Of course, she wasn’t the kind of narrow-minded person who was nervous about getting a few pennies for rescuing someone who had fallen.
The person who said he would do that, and the person living next door didn’t even find time to buy a cup of coffee and took a dive (?).
Hye-eun, who decided to visit the party now, actually had no regrets.
So, to put it simply, it felt like I was watching a senior in a club room playing a prank on me.
When I’m next to you, I always want to joke around and kick the joint.
“I can’t be this person, really.”
Ding-dong—
So Hye-eun stood in front of Jin-seong’s house, rang the doorbell, and crossed her arms, not hiding her dissatisfaction.
The reason I got involved with him while playing the game AC so far was because I couldn’t erase the thought that I was getting hurt every time even now that I knew him.
“What are you doing not getting it…? If you are still playing games…”
Beep-beep-beep!
When there was no response beyond the door, Hye-eun pressed the password. She had nothing to be afraid of, having asked Min-Jun’s permission (?) in advance to attack if there was no response.
In the first place, what Min-jun asked her to do was to confirm whether she was alive or dead.
There is also a debt to be paid. Hye-eun decided to execute an unauthorized house invasion by leaving all the behind-the-scenes work to Min-jun, who said she would follow.
He also forgot to leave the door of his house slightly open.
Judging by the disposition of that ignorant human being, who had nothing but muscles, he could have followed him if he had to.
“Mr. Jinseong! hey? Am I going in?!”
Tiri-ri-ring!
And the door opened.
***
“…Ah.”
Damian opened his eyes. It was a clear sky without a single cloud.
A strange, earthy smell emanated from the ground. It was as if the moist earth covered her body, which had not even a handful of energy left.
Where are you? and who am i
In this space filled only with the sound of the passing clouds quietly, Damian blankly looked up at the sky.
“Ouch.”
What followed was such a terrible pain that it didn’t matter at all.
‘Heart…my heart…!’
Thump thump thump!
Damian curled up, clutching his chest. Shortly after I regained consciousness, my heart started beating like it would explode.
The sound of your heart beating fills your ears. The rapidly flowing blood circulates through the blood vessels with terrifying pressure, as if it would tear the skin and spurt out at any moment.
Every muscle in my body screams, and warm bloody water wells up from the depths of my intestines, within my eyes and nose, and vomits out through my throat.
It was as if someone’s heart had been squeezed.
“φως.”
And the voice of a stranger covered his body.
Damian’s seizures subsided after a ray of warm light began to surround his body. As if hot water was wrapped around a chilling body, an unknown energy radiated from his danjeon.
It was a little later that the intense pain that seemed like the whole body would be torn apart and the fragments of the fragmented consciousness returned.
“Heh-eok… heck… heck…!”
Damian’s face turned dark red as if it were going to explode at any moment, but it started to regain its color little by little from the moment a stranger’s hand was placed on his back.
“You managed to get through it. It’s very rare.”
“…”
Eventually, Damian’s bloodshot eyes turned to his back.
“Ah…Krasia… Yu…”
“Yes, fly. This is my friend.”
Akrasia Yu smiled whitely at Damian. His appearance was so messed up that it wouldn’t be strange even if he compared it to Damian.
As if he had passed through a battlefield bare-body, blood dripped down between his hands that had turned red and his torn skin.
Contrary to his appearance, which made it difficult even to stand still, Akrasia Yu was looking down at him with her hands on her waist as if she were having fun.
It was a face that seemed to be somewhat relieved.
“I really thought you were dead. It is said that adventurers from the other world will come back to life… but if you get out of here, you never know when you will be able to meet again.”
“Besides, since Brunak has already woken up once… It will only be a matter of time before those who want to obtain this power find this place.”
“Even if my best friend created this world of images for me, I know. How much of a burden it is for him just to maintain this.”
“Moreover, after I turned this place into a mess with you…”
“I can’t be bothered by that friend forever.”
Akrasia Yu repeated the meaningless words. Until then, Damian had been staring up blankly at his face.
Exciting, throbbing, just passing through the normally pulsating heartbeat as if it never happened.
“Be mindful. The strength of the body comes only from the heart, so controlling the heart will be the only way to protect your body. Of course I will help too.”
And at the same time as Akrasia Yu’s words continued, Damian felt the illusion that his new type was gradually fading.
“…It looks like it’s looking for you.”
Before long, the dark soma pressed down on Damian’s eyelids.
