# Chapter 45
“All men’s faces look the same.”
“No, it strangely resembles Director Jin…”
D.S raised her head sharply. Her fish-eye-like gaze steadily pressured Iyeon. It was a clear signal to stop babbling.
However, Iyeon’s mouth, having grown bolder from living with Je Sano, was not easily subdued.
“What? What is it?”
D.S tried to stall as long as possible, appearing reluctant to speak, but she couldn’t keep her mouth shut forever. Eventually, with a visibly unwilling face, she confessed.
“I made it during a period when I was very angry.”
It was a somewhat suspicious statement.
“…What for?”
“Well, to prepare for various situations…”
“What situations? Situations where you kill the Director?”
“Not that extreme. I was just thinking of a light disappearance.”
How is that any different?
“I’ve given up on it now, so don’t worry about it.”
“You know that the phrase ‘given up’ sounds really ominous, right?”
“Why, would you prefer I hadn’t given up? Want to be an accomplice?”
“Let’s just continue with the hobby.”
Iyeon quickly changed the subject. Only then did D.S begin to focus on her work.
D.S’s hobby time was uneventful. Compared to previous hobby experiences, it was an overwhelmingly peaceful moment. The completed machine didn’t look much different from before on the outside, but since D.S made it, there was no need to doubt its performance.
However, this hobby had a fatal flaw: it required specialized knowledge.
All Iyeon did beside D.S was hand over various tools and parts as requested. It was essentially an activity where Iyeon and FT-0 were interchangeable.
“This one is FT-4.”
“4? Are there 1, 2, and 3 as well?”
“They have separate owners.”
Although he wasn’t much help, watching the machine assembly from beginning to end had somehow made him attached to it. As he looked at what had been a black robot vacuum cleaner with newfound appreciation, D.S abruptly said:
“You take it.”
“Pardon?”
Iyeon looked down at today’s creation. Of course, it must be incredibly good, but hadn’t he just experienced FT-0’s misdeeds firsthand? It wasn’t Iyeon’s fault that he viewed another machine from the same series with suspicion. Moreover, its number was 4. It couldn’t be more ominous.
“…For disposal?”
“As a gift.”
With her resolute face, Iyeon glumly picked up FT-4.
“Thank you…”
“Sure.”
Caught up in a mental tug-of-war with FT-4, Iyeon only belatedly registered the small follow-up comment D.S made after her response.
“…What?”
Whether Iyeon’s eyes widened into circles or squares, D.S didn’t even glance at him. Staring absently at her characteristically gruff back, Iyeon smirked.
“You’re welcome.”
“Je Sano!”
“So the cleaning deserter finally returns.”
“Hey, I didn’t run away; I went to get a vacuum cleaner. You said I’m on cleaning duty today, right? Look. FT-4 is an amazing machine that…”
[Entering from outdoors to indoors. Starting clothing care mode. Please hang up your clothes.]
“Huh?”
Before he could react, something like a mechanical arm shot out from FT-4 and snatched Iyeon’s outer garment.
[Clothing secured. Checking material. Proceeding with standard sterilization process. Estimated time: 120 minutes.]
“…Huh?”
“Seems your amazing machine is busy.”
“No…”
It was truly mind-boggling.
“Get it done before the day ends.”
Iyeon ultimately had to clean the entire house himself.
*
“Life is hard…”
Iyeon whined, slumping face-down on the sofa. Hyegang, sprawled on the opposite sofa, turned his head slightly. The two were fully stretched out, taking advantage of Sano’s temporary absence.
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to create a hobby, but it’s not working out well.”
With only stalkers, malicious commenters, and mechanical geniuses as examples around him, there was little harvest.
“Ah. Can’t you teach me what you do?”
Iyeon sat up abruptly. He had just thought of Hyegang’s hobby.
“What? Hacking?”
“No, gaming. You play a lot of games, don’t you?”
Hyegang loved games. Beyond merely liking them, he was an avid gamer who invested at least five hours daily.
The reason he arrived at work later than Iyeon was because he often stayed up all night gaming. It was an arrangement agreed upon with Iyeon, as Chageum’s morning business wasn’t particularly busy.
When discussing this, Iyeon had asked why he couldn’t just play games in the evening and sleep on time. Hyegang gave the incomprehensible answer that he didn’t stay up by choice, but because all the fun things happened at dawn. How could fun things happen at dawn when everyone was asleep? Iyeon didn’t understand, but since timing seemed important, he just nodded along and let it be.
“Games? Sure, I’d love to.”
Hyegang’s eyes sparkled as he rose from the sofa. Unbeknownst to Iyeon, those were unmistakably the eyes of a veteran player searching for a newbie.
“I’ve got a godly game.”
“God…?”
When he next regained awareness, they were in an internet cafe.
Strangely, his memory of moving from the office to here was hazy. Iyeon looked around in confusion. The spacious, dimly lit area was bustling with various loud sound effects and cursing. It was an unfamiliar atmosphere.
“First, register as a member here and try running the game.”
While Iyeon was still adapting to this new environment, Hyegang was clearly excited. Leaning toward Iyeon’s seat to explain various things, Hyegang gave a brief introduction while the game was loading.
“It’s called ‘Night Saga,’ an RPG where you level up characters, run dungeons, and collect equipment. It’s a bit past its prime, so it’s not as prestigious as before, but it’s still worth playing.”
He only said two sentences, but half of it was incomprehensible. As Iyeon nodded without understanding, Hyegang clicked something on the loaded game screen. A character creation screen appeared.
“I’m really good at taking care of newbies. I’ll help you level up well. First, create your character.”
Creating a character required a nickname, job class, and appearance customization. After scanning the job list, Iyeon selected mage. Fighting up close looked painful, so something that could attack from a distance seemed better. It was a simple thought.
Not knowing how to set the appearance, he clicked randomize, but wasn’t entirely satisfied with the result. Thinking he could fix it a little… he spent quite some time adjusting values in the detailed settings window. Growing tired of waiting, Hyegang leaned over slightly to look at Iyeon’s monitor and his eyes widened.
“What? Why is it so pretty?”
“Hm?”
“Wow, hyung, you’re really good at character customization.”
“Really?”
Iyeon responded shyly. The completed character was a delicate and flamboyant blonde man with a beautiful appearance that seemed to sparkle from his eyelashes. If one had to define it, rather than having clear, strong lines like Sano, it was more of a soft style like Hyegang. Since Hyegang, who must have encountered various characters while gaming, was impressed, it seemed Iyeon had done well. He had discovered an unexpected talent.
The only thing left was the nickname. Nickname… what should I choose? Iyeon tried typing various words that came to mind, but they all showed as already taken. Growing frustrated quickly, Iyeon typed whatever came to his stream of consciousness. Surprisingly, it was accepted.
“You done? What’s your nickname, hey…”
Hyegang’s voice faded as he glanced at Iyeon’s monitor and saw ‘FamilyPrideDriedYellowCroaker’ standing alone in the middle of the field.
“What do I do now?”
“Uh… You need to go through the tutorial until level 5. Do that for now.”
With that, Hyegang turned back to his own screen. He was also logged into the same game, but he appeared to be in some dazzling place, typing earnestly, suggesting something serious was happening.
Iyeon diligently followed the guide to learn the controls. The initially awkward movements of FamilyPrideDriedYellowCroaker gradually became smoother.
The game had beautiful backgrounds and cool character actions. The tutorial wasn’t complicated either. It was enough to interest a first-time player. As simple quests relayed one after another, FamilyPrideDriedYellowCroaker had already reached level 3.
The tutorial will end soon. With a somewhat excited feeling, Iyeon accepted a new quest. It was to kill a monster called Leaf, found in the field right in front of the village. Just as FamilyPrideDriedYellowCroaker, who had left the village, was targeting a small plant monster <Leaf> nearby and beginning to cast a spell—
Suddenly, the Leaf collapsed and the casting was canceled.
“Huh.”
Someone else had killed it first. FamilyPrideDriedYellowCroaker, looking puzzledly at the dead Leaf, moved a bit and targeted another Leaf. However, just like before, the Leaf died before FamilyPrideDriedYellowCroaker could finish casting.
After trying the same thing a few more times, Iyeon became certain. This was intentional. There was someone who was obsessively attacking only the monsters that Iyeon’s character targeted, without touching any other monsters in the field.
