[Aang: I’m just bored]
[Nanneomukeoeyeowo: Isn’t Banye-nim there?]
“Damn it…… It has nothing to do with Banye!”
But my heart sank because Banye’s name came up before we’d even exchanged a few words.
It was good that I became close with Banye, but maybe because we became too close, the guild members now naturally brought up Banye first whenever I talked to them.
That point used to make me secretly proud, but with my complicated feelings now, I felt resentful for no reason.
Because I didn’t answer, Nanneomukeoeyeowo stayed quiet for a moment, then soon brought up a topic unrelated to Banye.
[Nanneomukeoeyeowo: Have you tried Euro Truck?]
[Aang: No, first time hearing about it]
[Nanneomukeoeyeowo: Oh, it’s a driving game but it’s surprisingly fun lol]
[Aang: Driving?]
[Nanneomukeoeyeowo: Yeah lol]
However, Nanneomukeoeyeowo’s hobby didn’t interest me.
Honestly, I wanted to talk about something right now, not force myself to do a hobby I wasn’t interested in. So I thought about just ending the conversation with Nanneomukeoeyeowo and grinding in Card of Fantasy instead.
[Aang: Ha… I’m…… not even good at Kart Rider]
[Nanneomukeoeyeowo: lololol So you’re not interested in this kind of game]
[Nanneomukeoeyeowo: Then what do you want to do? Wanna do Card of Fantasy together?]
[Aang: ! You will?]
[Nanneomukeoeyeowo: ok]
And so I logged into the game and waited for Nanneomukeoeyeowo.
But then, Nanneomukeoeyeowo asked if I wanted to do Discord voice chat together.
[Aang: Why]
[Nanneomukeoeyeowo: I usually do voice chat more than text chat]
[Aang: Oh]
“Well……”
It’s true that voice chat is less bothersome than text chat when running dungeons. I accepted Nanneomukeoeyeowo’s suggestion with [okok].
“Hi there.”
“Hello.”
And so we started an awkward voice chat, and surprisingly, Nanneomukeoeyeowo also had a low and decent voice. But his tone was more gentle than when chatting, and there was a feeling like he was holding back laughter.
“Ah, ah. Can you hear me well? My mic sometimes makes weird mechanical sounds.”
“I can hear you fine?”
“Good, good. But Aang-nim, your voice sounds a bit quiet.”
“I, is that so?”
I forced my voice a bit louder. Only then did Nanneomukeoeyeowo say he could hear me well.
I was a bit worried that Banye, who was still in his room, might hear me, but still, I glanced back and trusted the soundproofing of the tightly closed door.
“How about now?”
“I can hear you well.”
“……Ahem. Nanneomukeoeyeowo-ssi, when are you coming?”
“I’m loading right now. Just a moment.”
After saying that, a notification popped up that Nanneomukeoeyeowo had logged in. I sent him a party invite and waited in front of the dungeon.
Nanneomukeoeyeowo came straight to the front of the dungeon. He used a [Greet] motion in front of me in a friendly way, so I also used a motion in response.
But then, Nanneomukeoeyeowo said something slightly shocking.
“Ah, but actually…… at first I thought Aang-nim might be…… a woman?”
“What? What? Why?”
“Maybe because you’re kind of cute.”
“What……?”
I wracked my brain, but I couldn’t remember any memories that would make Nanneomukeoeyeowo like me that much. My only memory with Nanneomukeoeyeowo was clearing a difficult dungeon with just two people.
‘W, was I cute then……?’
However, that was my misconception.
Nanneomukeoeyeowo soon giggled and told me why he saw me that way.
“You know, when you first joined the guild and were like ‘Wow, everyone’s max level~’ on the guild board…… Ah, I’m laughing again thinking about it. Keke……”
“……”
Only after he started like that did I remember the day I made a legendary embarrassment, and I almost jumped up from my seat.
“Ah! Aah! That……! Ah damn, I did that because I didn’t know……”
“You decorated the front and back of the sentence with ribbon emoticons and wrote stuff like ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Aang,’ so Haeyam-nim said that wasn’t a place to write introductions.”
“Aaah! Stop talking about it!”
“No, I thought it was cute. And actually, Haeyam-nim was going to leave it because it was cute too, but one of the guild members said something so he deleted it.”
“Stop……”
My face turned red, but Nanneomukeoeyeowo seemed to enjoy my embarrassment and brought up another story.
“The thing about making matching guild uniforms and sending crafted items by mail was also good.”
I resented Nanneomukeoeyeowo for saying that. I worked hard to make them and distributed them to the guild, but no one wore them.
I was really hurt back then…… Though Banye at least wore it sometimes.
“Ah, damn…… But in the end, no one wore them……”
“Everyone takes them out and wears them when Aang-nim logs out.”
“Wha, what?!”
“Everyone’s serious about teasing Aang-nim……”
“That’s really too much!”
“Haeyam-nim wears it too. It’s in the fashion window, so ask him about it.”
“Wh, why is everyone so mean……”
“Rather than mean…… I think they just want to tease you.”
“That’s really mean!”
“Anaki-nim even put it as the default clothes on his alt Kiwojo Anajo. Ask him later why he put it on his alt. He won’t be able to argue back.”
“Damn it. You’re dead, Aki!”
“Kekeke.”
After Nanneomukeoeyeowo tattled on what the guild members did to me like that, he told me that the guild members teasing wasn’t out of malice, but because of the guild culture of speaking harshly. But he was worried because it seemed like I was getting intimidated and talking less and less.
I was surprised by Nanneomukeoeyeowo’s observational skills. Because what he said was true.
I couldn’t really tell if the guild members were serious when they said those things or if it was a joke…… So at some point, I only chimed in when Banye was there, and when Banye wasn’t there, I kept my mouth tightly shut, but to think he noticed that…….
“It really hurts my feelings…… I mean, they’ve been friends since way back so they know it’s a joke even when they talk like that, but I can’t tell……”
“Right. They do act pretty mischievously.”
“Ah, damn…… I’m going to bully them too starting today. Give them lots of hurt feelings.”
“Haha.”
Nanneomukeoeyeowo laughed at my resolution and encouraged me.
“It’s probably fine to talk crudely. Everyone wants to get close with Aang-nim.”
“What? Who does?”
“The guild members.”
“Really…… I. No! But is that true? I talked to Aki earlier and got ignored!”
“Um…… Aki-nim is a bit of an exception. Aki-nim is more of an action person than a talker.”
Nanneomukeoeyeowo said that while showing me a screenshot.
It was a screenshot of Haeyam wearing the uniform I gave him and posing with a [V Sign] motion. Looking closely, he was even satisfied in the chat window, saying the clothes were cute.
And yet that person always snarks at me whenever he sees me…….
“Unbelievable…… I thought Haeyam hated me.”
“Haeyam-nim’s tone is like that, but he’s serious about the guild. He also thinks it’s important for guild members to get along harmoniously. When the uniform topic came up, he was the first to try it on.”
Come to think of it, Haeyam did collect the most guild points…… He seemed to have the most say among the sub-guild masters too.
“Hmm…… Is there really no guild member who hates me?”
I looked at the screenshot again and felt a bit relieved, so I asked Nanneomukeoeyeowo.
Nanneomukeoeyeowo answered with a laugh.
“I’m telling you there isn’t. So don’t be intimidated and just have fun.”
Touched by the kind words, I said to Nanneomukeoeyeowo.
“Nanneomukeoeyeowo-ssi, thank you so much…… If I were really a woman, I would’ve fallen for you……”
After hearing my words, Nanneomukeoeyeowo rejected me without even a second of hesitation.
“Haha, that’s troublesome.”
“What! That’s too much!”
“Things are going well with Banye-nim, aren’t they?”
“……”
It was just a joke, but I ended up with an unnatural silence here.
Nanneomukeoeyeowo seemed a bit flustered.
“Is something wrong? With Banye-nim?”
“……N, no, we absolutely didn’t fight or anything! And what do you mean things are going well with Banye, what are you talking about! Absolutely, we’re not that kind of relationship……”
I muttered, then my voice changed to something like crawling into a hole. Nanneomukeoeyeowo maintained silence without any particular prompting.
I was afraid Nanneomukeoeyeowo would see my relationship with Banye strangely for no reason. To be exact, I was afraid he’d see through how I thought about Banye.
So I said as if making excuses.
“Banye is just…… good at the game, and yet also has a good personality…… He’s fun, and plays with me, so we’re just in a relationship where we meet and hang out a few times, that kind of thing……”
“You’re totally best friends, aren’t you?”
“……Whether Banye thinks that way too…… I don’t know……”
“Aw…… I’ve never seen Banye-nim take care of anyone like that before.”
Nanneomukeoeyeowo said not to think about it so hard, but hearing those words made my heart even more complicated.
