# Chapter 9
‘I should organize the information I’ve gathered so far.’
Since Kyung Taerim was gone and there was plenty of time, it was the perfect opportunity to think. At least for brain activity, this place was much better than Narae’s musty apartment.
Eventually, Wonyoung dismissed the System.
“I understand for now. You can go now.”
“Ehh…”
The System made a hurt sound, seemingly feeling betrayed by Wonyoung’s suddenly cold attitude, but Wonyoung just gestured for it to leave. The System bounced a few times as if to say “we’ll see about that” before disappearing.
Finally alone, Wonyoung got up from his seat and looked down at the cityscape spread below the window. The floating clouds, the roads tangled like threads, the dense forest of buildings—everything was extremely realistic.
After standing like that for quite some time, Wonyoung made a significant decision.
‘Now I need to prepare for the possibility that this isn’t a dream.’
He couldn’t ignore it any longer. The backgrounds, objects, and characters that went beyond his knowledge or experience, the overly vivid sensations, and the clear coherence that was unusual for a dream—there was too much evidence supporting the possibility that entering this game wasn’t a dream.
Above all, he realized it when he woke up just now. This… wasn’t some artificially created sensation. He had definitely fallen asleep. If this were a dream, could he really fall asleep within it?
Of course, it was absurd and he didn’t want to believe it, but if he had truly entered some shoddy game, he needed to find a way out of it.
And while there might be other indirect methods, the most intuitive way to exit a game was to reach its ending.
‘That would mean targeting a character, or in other words, seducing another man to have a romance.’
First, he decided to set aside the issue of same-sex romance, which he had never experienced. He also ignored the feeling that he wouldn’t like any of the target characters, even though he’d only met one so far.
It was just a game, after all. The fact that all of this was an artificial virtual reality made it no different from a dream. At least the goal of returning to Heo Wonyoung’s original life was the same, whether it was a game or a dream.
In that case, the biggest problem facing Wonyoung now was his lack of knowledge about BL. For a smooth return to reality, he needed to understand the general characteristics of BL games and common developments, or clichés.
Fortunately, Wonyoung preferred academic exploration. Although this might not be academic, it was similar in terms of learning something unknown.
‘Good. From now on, I’ll study BL.’
It would be perfect if he could also understand the character of Narae—this fragile, dull, cheerful… somewhat inhuman character.
Having set his policy for the future, Wonyoung immediately found a nearby phone and searched for “BL” on a portal site. In this era, there was nothing better than the internet for finding information.
Numerous search results appeared on the screen.
‘Comics, dramas, novels, animations… There really are various media. Drama CD? What’s that?’
While clicking on various links and carefully examining the content, Wonyoung thought the scope of information was too broad and changed his search term to “BL games.” This brought up reviews of more games than he expected. Most seemed to be Japanese games.
‘I only know business-level conversational Japanese… Can I understand by just getting the general feel?’
As he browsed through games featuring characters with designs that couldn’t exist in reality, Wonyoung saw something and turned pale.
‘Adults only…?’
Could this game also be for adults…?
“System-ssi!”
Suddenly alert, Wonyoung called for the System, but for some reason, the glowing orb didn’t appear. Wondering if there was a problem with the game world, Wonyoung called for the System several times before realizing that it was sulking and refusing to come out.
‘What, does a game system… have its own ego?’
He was certain this game would fail as soon as it was released. It was a certainty close to a curse.
He messed up his hair and tried to deny the possibility he had just thought of. Adults only? Adults only!
‘C-calm down. Calm down, Narae… no, Heo Wonyoung.’
Eventually, Wonyoung took deep, steady breaths and, after repeated rational thinking, came to a conclusion.
There’s no way they would make an adult game with this soft, excessively innocent Narae as the protagonist. With Narae’s level of thinking, he wouldn’t be able to think in that direction at all. And since he also had to follow the character’s personality, the unfortunate event of mixing bodies with a game character wouldn’t happen.
…This was Wonyoung’s foolish judgment, as he still didn’t know what the keyword “Abangsu” meant.
‘Anyway, it would be good to experience several BL media.’
By analyzing them, he could see commonalities, which could help navigate this game. Judging by the handsome rich man in this game, it might not be different from heterosexual content targeting women, but seeing is believing. He would understand once he experienced it.
Wonyoung added several comic books and novels with characters who seemed to have pure minds like Narae’s to his shopping cart. After taking out his card and ID card from his wallet to complete the purchase, Wonyoung finally got up from his seat.
It seemed about time to go home.
‘I should probably contact the hotel’s assistant manager at some point. I wonder if I’ve lost the job… If so, I’ll need to find another job.’
The thought of living as Narae in this game for a while gave him a headache, but he was determined to do his best to return home now that things had come to this.
‘Alright, game creators, just you wait. I’ll easily conquer this trash game you’ve made.’
And so Wonyoung was about to take the first step in his counterattack… but failed.
“Huh? Why won’t the door open?”
He had definitely unlocked the door. But the door wouldn’t open. The doorknob turned properly, so it wasn’t that the door was locked. It seemed like the door wasn’t opening for some other reason.
Wonyoung frantically tried to push the door open, but only his precious stamina was depleted.
Worried that he might faint again, Wonyoung moved away from the door. If Kyung Taerim returned to find him passed out in front of the door, he would definitely be reported to the authorities.
‘Wait a minute. Kyung Taerim? Could it be…’
Having guessed something, Wonyoung muttered “Mission” with half-belief. Then a mission window appeared.
[※Mission Alert※]
Objective: Get Taerim’s personal contact information.
Reward: Leave work and return home
“Don’t tell me… I can’t go home because I haven’t completed this mission?”
Wonyoung stared blankly at the mission window. After staying like that for a while, he quietly opened his mouth.
“System-ssi.”
“…”
“System-ssi… System-ssi, come out. I won’t hit you. I won’t kill you either.”
Of course, the System didn’t appear. Looking at Wonyoung’s expression right now, no one would come out.
“Ha.”
After messing up his fluffy hair, Wonyoung finally let out a sigh of resignation. There was no choice. He had to wait until Kyung Taerim returned.
‘And I put the business card he gave me in the pocket of my original clothes…’
Returning to the bed with a dejected face, Wonyoung felt overwhelmed at the prospect of how to get Kyung Taerim’s contact information. The man was already suspicious of him, so there was no way he would willingly give his contact information if asked.
‘Before falling asleep, I asked for his personal contact info for compensation, but he left without giving it to the end.’
Well, that was common sense, but Wonyoung decided to start disliking sensible humans from today.
“Hmm?”
But then, Wonyoung’s eye caught a small note and business card on the bedside table.
‘If the size doesn’t fit, please contact us.’
The note seemed to have been left by the person who brought the pants. And the business card had the title ‘HS Holdings Chief Secretary’ on it.
“!”
Wonyoung jumped up from his seat. It seemed the game was trying to maintain some minimum balance after all.
Feeling like he might cry with relief, Wonyoung quickly called the chief secretary. Whether waiting here for Kyung Taerim or extracting his number from the chief secretary, it was equally miserable anyway. The faster method was better.
After a brief dial tone, an unfamiliar voice answered the phone.
“Hello, this is Jang Hoseok from HS Holdings.”
“Hello, um… this is Narae. I received your help at the foundation anniversary…”
“Ah, Mr. Narae. Is there a problem? Does the outfit we prepared not fit properly?”
Holding a faint hope due to the secretary’s kind attitude, Wonyoung said:
“That’s not it, but if it’s not too much trouble, I was wondering if I could get Director Kyung Taerim’s personal contact information.”
“What? I’m sorry, but that’s the director’s private information, so it’s difficult for me to share…”
“I understand…”
The secretary’s response was sensible, as expected. Wonyoung really began to hate common sense. But then the secretary asked again:
“May I ask why you’re inquiring about this?”
“Ah, well, there’s the matter of compensation… and such.”
“Compensation, you say?”
Wonyoung belatedly thought it might be presumptuous to demand compensation after sprawling out and sleeping in someone else’s house, but the words had already been spoken. He hesitantly added:
“It’s true that I received help today, so I need to express my gratitude properly… and keep personal and business matters separate, shouldn’t I?”
Personal and business matters, my ass. As Wonyoung was wondering if his own speaking skills had also been “Narae-fied,” he heard a quiet laugh from the other end of the phone. Thinking the secretary found it ridiculous too, Wonyoung’s face heated up.
“I-I’m sorry. I said something strange…”
“Are you that curious about my number? You’re trying quite hard.”
