[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Don’t have a fit and please follow some game manners
[Whisper] Enter: If it bothers you, go preserve it on the official forums
[Whisper] Enter: You f***ing petty thief b****rd
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Better than your foul-mouthed personality
[Whisper] Enter: What? You f***er *** *** where do you get off *****
[Whisper] Enter: ??** **** what are you *** kiddo****
[Whisper] Enter: *** hey ***?
The profanity filter symbols marked like Morse code made me even more intimidated.
“Ah… stop it. I don’t know what you’re saying but it’s scary!!!”
Honestly, I wanted to add ‘ㅠㅠ’ at the end of every sentence. The more I chatted with Seongheon hyung, the more my mental state was deteriorating.
I collected myself again and looked away from the monitor for a moment, thinking I shouldn’t get caught up with hyung. Since just looking at it was scary, I stared only at the keyboard and typed resolutely, pretending my mentality wasn’t shaken.
[Whisper] Enter: *****
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: If you keep cursing I’ll block you
[Whisper] Enter: I’ll give you one last chance
[Whisper] Enter: Trade with me
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: If you guys had played with manners from the start, this wouldn’t have happened
[Whisper] Enter: Shut up and name your price?
[Whisper] Enter: Just answer what I’m asking, don’t lecture me
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Looking down on lower-level people just because you’re high level is really pathetic
[Whisper] Enter: ?
[Whisper] Enter: Stop the bullshit
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: It’s a game for everyone to enjoy, so why should only you guys
[Whisper] Enter: ㅡㅡ
[Whisper] Enter: Are you crazy f*** ***
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: I can’t tolerate monopolizing field mobs and interfering with other people
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Like a mature adult
[Whisper] Enter: Did you turn off your monitor?
[Whisper] Enter: Hey
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Never bully people again
[Whisper] Enter: Heyyy
[Whisper] Enter: yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: They say people should be beautiful on the inside
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: It says that in the Dhammapada
[Whisper] Enter: Who are you talking to?
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Don’t speak harshly, those words will surely return to you
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: So become a well-mannered man who knows how to care for the weak
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Don’t live life like that
After writing the last message, I timidly looked at the monitor. Since I’d said more, I won.
Whether my strategy worked or not, Enter stopped cursing. Since there was no response for a while after I wrote my last message, I thought the conversation was over, but after a moment, words scarier than curses appeared in the chat window.
[Whisper] Enter: I’ll definitely find you
[Whisper] Enter: And really teach you a lesson?
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Just with words?
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Try it? Try it? Try it?
I must have lost my mind for a moment. Even though I know what kind of person Seongheon hyung is, I’d provoked him too much.
*Gulp.*
Should I apologize even now? Even though I knew what hyung said was just a simple threat, it felt so real that my blood ran cold. Anxious that he might burst into my room at any moment, I kept checking behind me and looking around.
“…Ah, I’m so nervous.”
Even though I’d provoked him, Enter said nothing after that. Seongheon hyung’s silence amplified my anxiety more and more. I was gripped by the fear that he really knew my identity and would burst through my door.
Speech bubbles popped up here and there with users saying something next to me on the full screen, but there was no way I could focus on them.
“Calm down, there’s no way he knows it’s me.”
If he’d known it was me from the start, hyung wouldn’t have given me his contact information and told me to call.
After some time passed, Alt came next to my character.
[Whisper] Alt: Trade locked? Accept
I pressed the accept button and brought up the trade window with Alt on screen. The reason I’d locked trade requests was because people kept coming to me asking to show them the Goldmess egg.
While waiting like that, I got a whisper from Ssapseonbi.
[Whisper] Ssapseonbi: The guild members are coming out of jail now. They said they’ll let the Bugilmas out last
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Okay. Then I’ll wait. Currently waiting to trade with Alt. By the way, is Enter there?
[Whisper] Ssapseonbi: Yes, he’s outside the hideout
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Let me know when you’re done there
[Whisper] Ssapseonbi: Okay
While waiting, I loosened my stiff neck when the red scarf hanging on the coat hanger caught my eye. It was the scarf Seongheon hyung had wrapped around my neck when he came yesterday. A subtle fragrance lingered in my room, as if hyung’s perfume scent had permeated the scarf.
“I should just get this revenge and stop. Hyung, please don’t hate me too much.”
I opened my inventory and placed the cursor over the Goldmess egg.
Why is this thing worth tens of millions of won? I didn’t feel good about having a good item—it felt like a huge burden. Maybe because I thought it wasn’t mine from the start.
Meanwhile, I saw speech bubbles of surrounding users murmuring [I heard Demolition Guild members are being released?]. They really are releasing them—a sigh of relief escaped me.
[Whisper] Ssapseonbi: Keyboard Cleaning-nim
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Yes!
[Whisper] Ssapseonbi: All the Bugilmas have been released now
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Really? I can really give the egg now?
[Whisper] Ssapseonbi: Yes, everyone’s been released
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: I’m really handing it over to Alt?
[Whisper] Ssapseonbi: Yes
As I was about to put the Goldmess egg in the trade window, I got a whisper from Enter too.
[Whisper] Enter: Hey
[Whisper] Enter: It’s all over so hand it to Alt
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Handing it over now
I clicked the mouse and carefully placed the Goldmess egg in the trade window. Even though the egg wouldn’t break if I dropped it, I was so nervous the mouse cursor moved on its own.
*Click.*
After confirming the egg placed in the trade window, I moved the cursor to the [Confirm Trade] button at the bottom.
“Goldmess. Farewell.”
If my future self were watching this moment right now, they might be screaming somewhere not to give it.
But if I converted this to real money and kept it, it would be the same as stealing from my hyungs, so I let go of my regrets and pressed the [Confirm Trade] button.
<<Trade with ‘Alt’ has been completed.>>
A system notification appeared in the center of the screen, and only then did all the strength leave my body. Thinking that the expensive egg had left my hands felt a bit deflating, but my heart felt light.
As soon as Gangjin hyung received the Goldmess egg, he teleported away without even a thank you or good job. Really so cool.
Now my work here was done, I thought, and was about to close the game when I got another whisper from Enter.
[Whisper] Enter: Hey
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Blocking you
[Whisper] Enter: You think this is the end?
[Whisper] Keyboard Cleaning: Don’t act like a regretful man
[Whisper] Enter: I won’t let you off easy
<<You have blocked whispers from ‘Enter’.>>
<<You have deleted ‘Enter’ from your friends list.>>
<<You have deleted ‘Alt’ from your friends list.>>
I quickly blocked him because I was scared Seongheon hyung might curse again.
Anyway, I hadn’t decided what to do with the remaining Vulcanus egg. When I talked with Dongwoo at school, we agreed not to return it because the acquirer ‘Control’ was my hyung. The Vulcanus egg, though not as much as Goldmess, was worth 2 million won in cash.
“Since it’s Daesu hyung’s, I don’t want to return it even more. Since I’ve suffered a lot so far, should I think of it as consolation money and split it half and half with Dongwoo?”
Dongwoo said we should go on a graduation trip abroad with the money from selling the Vulcanus egg.
I was tempted for a moment, but since I didn’t know how things would turn out, I put it on hold for now. If I go on a trip abroad right after graduation when I have no money, Daesu hyung would notice right away. He knows perfectly well I’m a penniless beggar, so what money would I have to go on a trip abroad?
Anyway, it was a happy dilemma, so I turned off the game and flopped onto my bed.
I thought about past events—asking Dongmi to pretend to be my girlfriend to figure out my hyungs’ game hideout, and getting one over on my hyungs with the Goldmess egg—when Seongheon hyung suddenly came to mind.
“Hyung must have calmed down now, right? Since he got the egg back too. He wouldn’t really look for me, would he?”
Still, having gotten some revenge like this, the disappointment I’d accumulated toward my hyungs disappeared to some degree. Though it was an indirect experience, I had a rather informative time experiencing Seongheon hyung’s profanity through Enter.
Even though I’d witnessed Seongheon hyung’s rough side once, actually being cursed at was a different dimension. Like the difference between riding a roller coaster through 4D immersive video versus riding an actual roller coaster? It was a moment when I resolved once again never to talk back to Seongheon hyung for the rest of my life.
In reality, I’m the younger brother and I follow him well, so Seongheon hyung only shows me his kind side. But I should always be careful—I hooked my left and right pinky fingers and promised my future self. Since I never know when he might turn on me like that, I’ll be careful.
“This is how you become an adult.”
Now the Demolition Guild would take care of the rest of the revenge. Whether they raid my hyungs’ hideout again or not, since I didn’t want to take any more risks after this incident, the rest was now their responsibility.
“Now that I’ve relaxed, I’m hungry.”
After lying there for about 30 minutes, I got hungry and was moving the boxes blocking the door one by one to go down to the kitchen. Since they contained books they were quite heavy, so I was struggling to carry them out when my phone on the desk started ringing.
♪♩♬─.
Could it be Seongheon hyung? With that anxiety, I carefully approached and checked the screen, but the person calling was Dongwoo.
“Hello.”
—Did you check the official site?
“Why? Did they upload a lot of screenshots of me?”
I recalled characters standing around me near the auction house earlier, posing. Since it wasn’t particularly important, I grabbed the doorknob to leave the room, when I heard Dongwoo’s urgent voice next.
—Demolition Guild got demolished again!
