Even though I was teased like that when I was young, the reason I kept contacting them was because the hyungs would treat me 10 times better than usual to lift my mood after deceiving me, giving me delicious things or game consoles. Lonely as I was, I must have liked getting attention from the hyungs each time, so I was fine even being treated like a mushy overripe persimmon.
‘Couldn’t they have just treated me well normally?’
My hurt feelings toward the hyungs were growing bigger and bigger.
“I don’t really know your situation, but be honest with Dongmi, confess and ask her to help you. Then maybe she’ll help.”
“You think so?”
“You have a reason for deceiving the hyungs, right? Try to evoke sympathy or provide motivation. Dongmi doesn’t really like those hyungs either, so you two might have the same goal.”
“Goal……”
“Right, if you’re going to ask someone for a favor, you need to show your hand somewhat too. That way the other person can look at that hand and decide whether to go or stop. Right?”
“Ah, you’re right.”
“Right. Think about the other person a bit too.”
“Dongwoo-ya, you’re just like a negotiator.”
“Originally, I go and break up couple fights whenever they happen at our house, next door, downstairs, across the street. If it weren’t for me, the senior citizens who got twilight divorces would have filled up the village hall, you know?”
“Cool, Gye Dongwoo!”
“I told you not to add the surname.”
Like Dongwoo said, rather than just asking for help out of the blue, I decided to explain the circumstances to some degree.
Wondering when would be good, I was watching for an opening with Dongmi, but I shouldn’t disturb her when she’s focused on fishing like now, so I planned to aim for an opportunity during the time we eat ramyeon with the adults.
I went to dad who was fishing a bit away, and as expected, there was nothing in the fishing basket. So I caught a few crabs with the fishing float Dongwoo made and put them in there for him.
I looked around at how much everyone had caught, and the person who caught the most was Dongwoo’s dad, then Dongmi, then Dongwoo. I don’t understand why dad can’t resist fishing even though he can’t catch a single one.
“Let’s eat ramyeon.”
While dad and Dongwoo’s dad were boiling ramyeon, Dongwoo, Dongmi, and I took the fish to use for sashimi. There was someone at one side of the fishing spot who sliced fish for 3,000 won, so I glanced at Dongmi as we headed that way.
‘She’s too quick-witted……’
Thinking there might be a chance to talk on the way, I tried to walk close to Dongmi’s side, but she slowly avoided me.
“Auntie, please slice these three fish.”
“Okay, wait a bit.”
“Yes.”
We went into the tent to give the fish to the auntie and came out, when Dongwoo lightly pushed my shoulder.
“Talk to Dongmi well. I’m going ahead.”
Dongwoo deliberately helped us be alone together and slipped behind the tent. Dongmi happened to get a phone call from someone and was talking, then approached my side.
“Where’s Dongwoo?”
“Huh? Did he go to the bathroom?”
“Is the sashimi not ready yet?”
“She said to wait a bit.”
“Hmm. Really? Then you wait and bring it.”
“W-wait a minute!!”
I timidly grabbed the end of Dongmi’s coat as she turned to leave. Then Dongmi held the fishing basket and pulled on the part of the clothes I was grabbing, making my hand drop off.
“What?”
“H-help me!”
“If it’s that nonsense about being my girlfriend again, forget it. I’m not doing it.”
“You’re the only person I can ask.”
“Why should I do such a bothersome thing?”
Since I’d gotten another precious chance for conversation, I decided to be honest with Dongmi as Dongwoo advised.
“To get revenge on the hyungs.”
“Revenge?”
“Actually……”
At first, Dongmi listened half-heartedly while picking her ear, but when I said ‘revenge,’ she crossed her arms and started listening seriously.
As for why I had to find out the hyungs’ game hideouts, I only said ‘I’ve been wronged a lot so I want to pay them back,’ but Dongmi seemed to understand and nodded. Once I let out the plans I’d been agonizing over alone, I got unexpectedly excited and my mouth wouldn’t stop.
Even when the auntie shouted “Sashimi’s ready!” in the middle of talking, I couldn’t stop my mouth and continued chattering while carrying the sashimi and walking side by side.
“So what you’re saying is, you want to raid the hideouts in the game and give the oppas a big ‘screw you’?”
“Yeah. I succeeded in finding out the locations, but I got caught by the hyungs that day. But to cover up that Sojin noona touched the computer, I brought up the girlfriend story……”
“Hmm…… I roughly understand the situation. But helping you blindly is quite a risk for me too.”
“If we get caught, I’ll take responsibility. Can’t you just pretend to be my girlfriend once? I’ll take over your chicken coop cleaning duty at school. Huh? You just need to eat one meal with Seongheon hyung and then we break up right away……”
“What? Wait a minute…… The person you’re deceiving is specifically Seongheon oppa?”
“Overall it’s the hyungs, but the person I’ll actually meet is Seongheon hyung. Why?”
When Seongheon hyung’s name came up, Dongmi let out a hollow laugh and cursed in her mouth. I could tell the reason Dongmi suddenly got excited was because of that quarrel incident she mentioned from art academy.
“He hit the oppa I liked, so I need to pay him back.”
Seongheon hyung even hit someone? If I hadn’t seen hyung’s rough side recently, I would have denied Dongmi’s words, but now I was just thinking about how to deceive Seongheon hyung and overcome this crisis.
“Okay. If it’s just eating a meal, well. But that oppa’s buying?”
“Yeah. What do you want to eat? I’ll set up the appointment wherever you want.”
“I’ll think about the meeting place and contact you. I need to pick a really expensive place.”
“Oh right, it’s next Saturday, is that okay?”
“I’ll keep that day free.”
“Thanks, Dongmi-ya. I’ll live sincerely so I don’t block your path. When you get a boyfriend later, tell me, I’ll hold a sketchbook or lay heart-shaped candles on the ground when you do a confession event.”
While I was at it, I also carried the fishing bag Dongmi was holding and tried hard to be good to her. As expected, doing as Dongwoo said solved it. To me, these siblings were no different from life saviors.
“Don’t overdo it. That’s enough.”
Now that my biggest worry was solved, the world looked so beautiful.
When we returned to where we were sitting, dad and Dongwoo’s dad were boiling ramyeon. I put the crabs I caught into the boiling water and looked at dad.
“Dad, at least I caught something for the broth. But what about you, dad?”
“This ramyeon, dad bought it.”
“Sorry, I’ll eat well.”
How is it that every time dad’s friends go fishing, he follows along but can’t catch a single one? I’d understand if his equipment was worse than others…… How can he catch less than Dongmi who rented a fishing rod?
Still, our dad is amazing at boiling ramyeon. That’s probably why the uncles always bring dad along when they go fishing. As expected, ramyeon eaten at a fishing spot is the best!
* * *
Ding.
[Ssapseonbi: Cleaning-nim, we failed to raid the hideout. Even though you told us…]
A message came from Seonbi-nim at lunchtime. I checked the capture he sent while drinking the yogurt that came out for lunch.
“Huh? This wasn’t here when I went……”
In the photo Seonbi-nim sent, turrets and mines were laid out all over from the hideout entrance to the interior. On the outside, they made it look sloppy with only mid-level raid monsters standing guard, but they made the interior into a trap and arranged it to cause a wipe.
[Keyboard Cleaning: Then is everyone safe?]
[Ssapseonbi: 3 sub-guild masters and 10 guild members are trapped in the hideout prison.]
[Keyboard Cleaning: Oh no… We need to get them out. Even if you reconnect, you stay trapped there.]
[Ssapseonbi: Right. I contacted them earlier and they said poisonous mushrooms were planted on the floor so they can’t even use teleport scrolls.]
In Earth, when using teleport scrolls or teleporting, you can’t be in ‘combat state’ or ‘poisoned state.’
They exploited that point by locking characters in the hideout prison, then planting poisonous mushrooms around so they couldn’t escape. Because of the poisonous mushroom spores, you get poisoned just by going near them, so you need to evacuate to a safe place, but being trapped with nowhere to run, the vicious cycle repeats.
[Keyboard Cleaning: Won’t purification skills or antidotes work?]
[Ssapseonbi: They can’t because they’re trapped. During the time it takes to cast teleport scrolls or teleport, they get poisoned again so it gets cancelled.]
[Keyboard Cleaning: The guild members who went there aren’t at a level to die from poisonous mushroom poisoning, right? It would be good if they died and returned to town…]
[Ssapseonbi: They’re all high level so their health regenerates faster. They can’t even die, so they have no choice but to stay trapped. To rescue them, we’d have to invade the hideout and face them head-on, but our current level is way behind, so I don’t know what to do.]
[Keyboard Cleaning: For now, I’ll also try to find a rescue method. There must be a way. I also have responsibility for not properly conveying the information, so I’ll definitely help.]
[Ssapseonbi: Then let’s contact each other again.]
[Keyboard Cleaning: Yes!]
When allies are trapped in an enemy hideout prison like this, you have to invade with the determination to completely destroy that place, but right now this situation was a dilemma where it was difficult to rescue users stronger than the hyungs. So I thought a head-on confrontation wouldn’t work.
Even while closing the message window, my heart was heavy.
If you’re trapped in a hideout prison, in severe cases, you absolutely can’t get that character out until this game shuts down.
There’s exactly one method, which is for the operators to make a mistake and do a server rollback, sending all users back near the return stones, that’s the only way. But such a thing was hard to happen even if the sky split in two.
