I looked back on the Banye I knew.
Certainly…… he did have a side that flared up. Like quitting his part-time job just because he got scolded once, and in the first place, he left home because he hit the ahjussi he was living with.
Had something similar happened in the guild too?
I couldn’t contain my curiosity and asked.
“Did something happen?”
“Ah, well…… If you’re asking if something happened, something did.”
Anaki chuckled.
“In the first place, the fact that Banye is rank 3 is because he fucking couldn’t control his temper. Anyway, his mental……”
“Right. He could’ve been rank 1……”
“Why? Why couldn’t he be rank 1?”
It was too interesting a story to just let pass.
Surely…… Banye had said that rankings weren’t in order of who’s strongest, but in order of who reached max level. What reason would there be for temper to come into play there?
“There was someone who used to run dungeons with Banye back then.”
“Ah, Gangnam Hanlyang-nim……”
Haeyam said as if sighing.
“Hanlyang-nim was much older than Banye, but he accommodated him a lot……”
“Right. Hanlyang was probably twice Banye’s age, no?”
“In the end, he left the guild and quit the game. After fighting with Banye……”
“Can you even call that a fight? Banye-nim unilaterally drove him out.”
“That’s true too. Anyway, that bastard Banye……”
Anaki clicked his tongue as if to say what could you do.
“Why did they fight?”
“It’s hard to call it a fight…… No, originally Hanlyang-nim accommodated everything for Banye.”
“Like Aang does now.”
“Right.”
“I don’t accommodate everything though?”
“When the main account promptly gives up their spot to a sub account lackey, that’s accommodating everything, what more do you need to accommodate?”
……That was true too. It wasn’t that Banye didn’t listen to my requests, but it was only within the scope of what he felt like doing.
“Hanlyang-nim was so devoted too. Doing everything Banye wanted.”
“Thanks to that, he grew quickly……”
“What happened after he grew was the problem. I mean, how do you accommodate everything he wants? Even Hanlyang-nim couldn’t stand it when it got too excessive, so he gave up.”
“Right, so…… ‘I’m not your nagging wife, your nagging is fucking excessive. That young punk’s nose is so high in the air I can’t work with him anymore!’ he said……”
Haeyam reenacted that moment, finishing with laughter spilling out. Anaki heard the reenactment and giggled, saying it was exactly right.
“He was an old guy who usually spoke very politely.”
“Right, he always used smiling emoticons and called out people’s full nicknames like ‘Nanneomukeoeyeowo-nim.'”
“But he cursed like crazy when he left…… That was the first time I saw Hanlyang-nim curse.”
Unless you were directly involved, you couldn’t know the details, but just from hearing them talk about it, it sounded 100 percent like Banye’s fault.
Thinking about the Banye I’d seen so far, it wasn’t something that seemed impossible, so it sounded more like an actual fact rather than an exaggerated story made up from nothing.
‘Banye…… you’re something else.’
It’s not even easy to do that to someone much older than me.
“What exactly happened back then?”
“I don’t really remember well anymore. It wasn’t just once or twice, it kept building up and exploded…… He kept saying he couldn’t accommodate him anymore?”
“Right. So back then…… It took three days to reform the party, and in the end he ran it solo.”
“In the meantime, Haneul caught up and hit rank 1 first.”
“I would’ve endured it a bit.”
“Most people would’ve endured it at that point.”
Hearing that, I asked in surprise.
“Then originally Banye was rank 1?”
“Yes.”
“He was rank 1 by a wide margin.”
“Though he got caught up to.”
“……Wow.”
I recalled what Banye had curtly said to me when we first met, when I asked about rankings.
[Party][Banye] Rankings aren’t in order of who’s strongest
[Party][Aang] Oh really?
[Party][Banye] Why are you asking lol just deal damage
[Party][Aang] Please tell me ㅠㅠㅠ
[Party][Banye] It’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd in order of reaching max level, I don’t know about damage output
“What about Banye…… He must’ve been so pissed.”
I muttered, feeling so sorry thinking about what Banye’s feelings must have been like when he was pushed down to not even 2nd but 3rd place.
But hearing my words, Anaki immediately retorted sarcastically.
“Hah…… Even there, you’re worried about Banye? Rather than that, how bad must it have been for the party member who’d been helping make him rank 1 until then to quit?”
Haeyam also agreed with Anaki’s words.
“Aang-nim is Banye’s akgae.”
“What’s akgae?”
“Malicious individual fan.”
“Oh, what are you saying!”
And even Nanneokeo, whom I trusted, wasn’t on my side this time.
“Back then, if only Banye-nim had been a bit more considerate of Gangnam-nim……”
I felt a bit annoyed and upset that everyone was unanimously criticizing Banye. I mean, even so, ganging up is a bit much. Besides, Banye wasn’t even here.
“But still…… From experience, Banye probably didn’t demand anything unreasonable.”
“Gangnam Hanlyang, this hyung was probably forty. Over twice Banye’s age, you know?”
“……Still…… In games, you should listen to the stronger person.”
“Crazy bastard. You’re starting to resemble Banye in personality, not just skill.”
“……”
I had nothing to say to this criticism. Even I thought it was a bit much to order around someone over twice my age…….
Still, the thought that Banye wouldn’t have said something completely out of line wouldn’t leave my head. The Banye I knew had a prickly personality, but he still wasn’t someone completely thoughtless.
In the end, I spoke to the three of them as if throwing a tantrum.
“……Fine, I get it, so stop criticizing Banye.”
“What are you saying. What does Banye getting criticized have to do with you?”
“It does matter…… My heart is tearing.”
“Puhaha!”
“You’re really seriously ill.”
“Oh my……”
Still, the three of them didn’t say anything more about Banye after that. Since I was defending Banye so much, from their perspective it must’ve been awkward to say more.
I wondered if I’d stepped in unnecessarily, but really, like I’d told them, I felt bad when Banye was being criticized.
Actually, these days too, when Banye was being criticized on the game board, I’d report it or fight with the post’s author in the comments, so I felt even worse.
If they were people close to Banye, I wished they’d take his side…….
‘Is this really seriously ill……’
Thinking that, I unconsciously turned around.
“Eek!”
I don’t know since when, but the door was open and Banye had come in and was standing behind me.
I was so startled I retreated toward the desk as if running away, and Banye looked at me indifferently.
“……Whe, when did you come in?”
“Just now. I knocked.”
“I, I didn’t hear it……!”
“I did knock.”
After saying that, Banye unconsciously unplugged the wire my headphone jack was plugged into.
I was startled, but what was more embarrassing happened next.
“But what is Banye doing? Hey, Aang! Are you playing with him again?”
The voice chat with the guild members switched from the headphones to the laptop and started echoing loudly through the room.
I hurriedly tried to turn off the chat, but Banye stopped me. Then he spoke clearly into the laptop.
“Yeah. He’s playing with me.”
“……!”
“What, are you two together again?”
“Were you next to him?”
“You were together?”
“I knew it, he couldn’t sit still because he was criticizing Banye.”
“Traitor……”
“N, no……”
I felt wronged, but the guild members seemed to misunderstand that I’d defended Banye because I was together with him. That’s not it……!
However, Banye seemed somehow pleased. Rarely raising the corners of his mouth, he lightly restrained me by slightly pushing my shoulder as I reached out trying to somehow turn off the voice chat, and then spouted this nonsense.
“Hyung, why are you clinging to me like this……”
“Wha, what?”
“……Huh.”
“……What are you two doing?”
“When did I cling to you!”
Moreover, when I protested, he even spread absurd fabrications.
“You kept rubbing your chest against my hand.”
“No, why are you saying it like that!”
“What?”
“What the fuck are you two doing?”
“What…… What is it?”
Thanks to that, the temperature in the voice chat room became utterly cold. The only one holding back laughter was Banye.
Banye looked at me, startled and having quickly retreated to avoid his hand, and added a final blow as if driving in a wedge.
“I’m not in the mood for that today, so just stay still, okay?”
It was a statement that could be interpreted strangely, as if something had happened before.
With a face turned bright red, I glared at Banye’s smirking expression, then quickly reached for the laptop.
Ding.
And finally, I was able to press X and leave the voice chat.
