The children swallowed nervously as they watched Yoon Gyeom enter through the breeding pen door. Contrary to their expectation that he’d attack as soon as he entered, Yoon Gyeom sat down on the artificial turf floor of the breeding pen and spoke.
“How old are you guys?”
“Twelve years old. How about you, ahjussi?”
“Thirty-seven.”
“Wow, you’re even older than my dad! But you look younger!”
“Haha, if you don’t attack, ahjussi won’t either.”
“Huh, really? Why?”
“Um… just because.”
<Last On> had no age restrictions, but there were separately designated maps that players under 16 could play. The amusement park map was one of them.
Though it might feel hardcore because zombies appeared, to children’s eyes, zombies looked like wooden dolls in Halloween costumes. Even the red blood looked like colorful paint spilled, and they barely felt pain even when hurt.
Even so, controversy about harmful media was unavoidable. Voices consistently called for age restrictions, but <Last On>’s developer ‘Next Generation’ responded by adding several child protection settings instead.
Yoon Gyeom agreed with the opinion that age restrictions should be imposed. No matter how much it was a game, killing such small children didn’t sit well with him.
“Yay! We can go to Phase 3!”
“Nice, I hope the Phase 3 safe zone is close!”
“Tsk, I feel like I’m going to die soon…”
Kkukru muttered gloomily. Perhaps because he’d been bitten by a zombie, animals peculiarly didn’t approach his vicinity. Kkukru looked enviously at his friends petting rabbits and guinea pigs.
“Here, this.”
Yoon Gyeom, who had rummaged through his pockets, extended his hand to Kkukru. Kkukru, who had flinched in surprise, soon brightened up seeing the item he handed over.
<Serum Syringe: Slows zombie virus infection speed by 80%.>
“It’s serum! Jackpot, it’s 80 percent!”
“The ones we farmed were 30 percent and 50 percent!”
“Wow, thank you…!”
Kkukru excitedly injected the serum. His purplish complexion seemed to improve considerably. The children let down their guard and gradually approached, then stuck right next to Yoon Gyeom and started chattering.
Ahjussi, can we take screenshots? What about videos? Can we brag to our friends that we’re close with you? Follow us back on SNS! Why don’t you have SNS? The rabbits are cute, right? What are their names? Guess! Ding! In order, Toil, Toi, Tosam, Tosa, no wait, that one’s Tosa and this one’s Tooh… The guinea pigs are Giil, Gii, Gisam, Gisa, Gioh…
Yoon Gyeom, who had smiled and responded at first because the children were cute, gradually lost his expression. Then he made eye contact with the zookeeper resting leaning against a corner. The haggard-faced zookeeper clenched both fists tightly in encouragement. Before Yoon Gyeom came, he had been thoroughly tormented by the children.
“Ugh… Kids, quiet! Ahjussi has something he’s curious about. Can you tell me what kind of person Pax was from your perspective?”
“Pax hyung? That hyung is funny because he’s like a kiddo.”
“Don’t disparage elementary schoolers. Kiddo is a derogatory term, you know?”
“Yesterday my mom was worried I was playing games with a weird ahjussi, right? So I let her talk briefly on the phone with Pax hyung, and when mom hung up, she asked if he was a 6th grader! Hilarious, right?”
“Hey! Take back calling him a kiddo!”
“Are you a try-hard? I take it back, I take it back! Happy now?”
He’d only thrown out one comment but a hundred came back. Yoon Gyeom calmed the children down and threw out the next question.
“Okay okay, I got it so quiet! Then Pax didn’t seem like a bad person?”
“Ah, honestly the malicious comments were too much. I did a compliment-writing campaign in 3rd and 4th grade.”
“But I like Pax hyung…”
“Me too! He’s different from other adults who look down on children.”
“When making strategies, he accepted our ideas without ignoring them…!”
“Then I’ll take back saying it was too much too!”
Considering what he did to Bae Sinhyo and Golden Ball in the past, and seeing the seriously severe level of malicious comments toward Dohae, it seemed like there’d be a big problem with his character… but the children’s evaluation was more positive than expected. Yoon Gyeom narrowed his brow suspiciously.
<Yoon Gyeom Team Player, Nam Cheolsu has died.>
Just then, a notification appeared that Nam Cheolsu had died. Wooaah! The children saw the notification and cheered.
<Yoon Gyeom Team Player, CardCaptorChanmi has died.>
<Pax Team Player, TralalaleroTralala has died.>
Following that, even CardCaptorChanmi and TralalaleroTralala died. Among the players at the Viking, the only one who survived was Pax.
Yoon Gyeom was once again impressed by Pax’s skills in crushing the former pro Nam Cheolsu and CardCaptorChanmi with her fraudulent skill and ultimately gaining the upper hand.
He’d have to train him to know the details, but he looked forward to seeing how much more Pax, who had given Bae Sinhyo a sense of defeat, could grow in such a short time.
‘It’s fortunate that no one knows Pax’s face. Lucky S’s image is already rock bottom, so it can’t be known that Noh Pyeonghwa is Pax.’
Yoon Gyeom didn’t think for a moment that Pax would refuse a recruitment offer from a pro team.
Stepping on the stage of the Last On Korea Championship (LOCK) was every gamer’s dream, and participation qualifications were only given to first-tier teams.
Even if Lucky S was in chaos due to the team owner problem, first-tier was still first-tier. Having even heard the story that he had aspired to be a pro gamer together with Bae Sinhyo during the PC game era, Pax felt even more like a fish already caught.
“Eh? I don’t want to though?”
And a short while later, Yoon Gyeom realized he’d been counting his chickens before they hatched.
*
“Honey! You’re really not watching?”
“Not watching.”
“Pax and Yoon Gyeom just met, even so?”
“Ha!”
Bang! Dohae roughly closed the bathroom door, leaving behind the noisily fussing Byun Taehui. His insides were boiling so much he absolutely couldn’t stand looking at the broadcast.
Dohae, who irritably threw off his clothes, stood under the showerhead. Swoosh-. Water cold enough to sting poured over his golden hair slicked up with pomade.
‘This bastard, how dare he deceive me?’
Actually, no one had deceived him. He’d just mistaken Pax for an incompetent fool on his own. That’s why he was angrier. He was someone even hacking companies couldn’t track. Naturally he wouldn’t be an ordinary guy, yet he’d been momentarily fooled by his act of playing dumb.
Dohae didn’t like seeing the guy who had crawled on his belly begging him now strutting around like a fish in water. The chat window that had been filled with curses gradually changed to a praising tone.
As chats saying ‘Great Pax’ lined up continuously, Pax’s shoulders rose sky-high. Dohae wanted to press those shoulders down firmly and smash them into the ground.
“Achoo!”
Was it because he’d doused himself with cold water for too long in winter? A sneeze came out. Damn it! Dohae huffed and adjusted the water temperature. Shit! Water hotter than expected poured out. Dohae irritably adjusted the temperature again. When moderately warm water enveloped his whole body, he finally felt somewhat calmer.
“Phew…”
Dohae swept back his wet hair. His heavily furrowed brow softened considerably.
Really, neither this guy nor that guy was to his liking. Why were there only people in this world who made him angry…
Dohae’s nature itself was prickly and sensitive enough to get on edge even if someone just brushed past his collar. Because of the curse that his life depended on, he had to act perfectly kind outside, but the rage he couldn’t release and pressed down hard always lay at his foundation.
‘…He seemed better than our team’s new recruit.’
Every time he dodged attacks, he made bizarre sounds like ‘Eek! Eugh! Kyaah! Heuk!’ which pissed off the viewers, but the fact that he had better sense than the new Hunter who’d walked the elite course couldn’t be denied.
His physical condition wasn’t bad either. He had build and long reach. He didn’t know which Constellation he’d contracted with, but if it was even mid-tier, it might not be bad to raise him as a Hunter…
Slam!
“Honey! Yoon Gyeom… oh my, you’ve grown so well.”
Byun Taehui, who opened the door and strode into the bathroom, hesitated seeing Dohae’s body, his pretty face full of anger. As the same gender, his eyes particularly went to the part where his gaze couldn’t help but be drawn.
“Get out.”
Dohae ground out in a low voice filled with killing intent. As golden energy rippled from his fingertips, Byun Taehui stepped back and urgently shouted.
“Wait, Yoon Gyeom! That hyung seems to know, honey!”
“Know what.”
“Who Pax is!”
“…What?”
Dohae roughly finished showering and came out, snatching the tablet PC from Byun Taehui. He tried to rewind the live broadcast video to 5 minutes ago, but it wouldn’t operate. Instead, a window appeared saying ‘Live Rewind is a paid membership feature. Would you like to subscribe?’
“Huh?”
The membership price was 12,345,678 won. It was a number Pax had randomly entered when starting his broadcast, but Dohae, who had no way of knowing that fact, thought he was a guy with greed that had really gone up properly and distorted his face.
The money was precious, but there was no other way. Dohae reluctantly pressed the subscribe button and rewound the video.
