Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Being a Guildmaster Isn't Enough With Just the Game
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BAM!!
“Gasp?!”
Her eyes snapped open against her will.
Her body, tense to the extreme, was drenched in cold sweat.
[External impact detected. Connection temporarily suspended. Restarting after confirmation—]
Rip!
With the sound of the cord being yanked out, all the machine's lights went dark, and it shut down completely.
Whirrr—
“......”
After freezing in place and finally climbing out of the dome-shaped machine, she was confronted by a shocking sight.
Mom was holding a golf club.
“Mom, are you insane?!”
“The insane one is you! You! You!!”
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Every time the golf club smashed into the top-of-the-line gaming gear, her own heart pounded in sync.
The sandcastle inside her was crumbling.
Mom, who had driven her to the brink, was now smashing the very reason for her life.
“Stop it!”
Smack!
Unable to stand it any longer, she tried to intervene, but Mom shoved her away with all her strength.
The golf club turned toward her.
“How could you quit that company?! Do you have any idea what Grandpa was thinking when he sent you there?! You could’ve just coasted and everything would’ve been fine—why are you doing this?!”
“How am I supposed to just coast?! You’ve never even worked at a company yourself!!”
Giggling away while telling her to act cute and play the vixen. Mom had no clue how hard things had been for her all this time.
Mom froze.
She glared at her sharply.
“You...... Are you looking down on me?”
“That’s not—”
“I know that family’s situation better than you do! I told you to stick it out at the company! Do you even know what kind of guy Dowon is?! Dad picked him as the successor!”
“......”
“Even your uncles can’t stand up to him—and he cares about you that much? It’s a miracle! Pure luck!”
It was infuriating, enough to make her blood boil.
Pathetic begging to cling to some hotshot and grovel hard.
“Dowon’s going to pull you up with him! Grandpa sent you there thinking of you! When Dowon becomes chairman later, this was him specially looking out for you!”
“Please. Just stop.”
Her head throbbed like it was being squeezed.
Listening to that crazy voice was driving her mad too.
No point arguing logically—people had emotions. Trying to exclude them entirely was a failure of reason.
Mom’s plan had no room for her feelings.
Mom couldn’t understand how someone like her, who couldn’t even handle basic office life properly, couldn’t stand up straight on a single connection.
What Mom could never have.
A normal career and social recognition.
Pushing her into a high spot in the family to get that validation, filling the voids Mom never could.
She pleaded with Mom.
“I tried to tough it out, but I just can’t anymore. I get it, so let me rest a little. I don’t want to think about anything right now.”
“What’s so hard about working at a company run by a close relative?!”
“......”
Her breath caught in her throat.
That look in Mom’s eyes, like she was pathetic beyond endurance.
Mom shouldn’t be doing this to her, someone who’d given her whole life to satisfy Mom’s craving for approval.
‘Ga-hyun, your dad’s a loser, so’
There was too much to say, choking her.
‘He doesn’t deserve love. So don’t end up like Dad—succeed no matter what. Our Ga-hyun’s pretty and smart; she’ll definitely make it big and be happy.’
Dad’s drunken voice.
His crying face had been better.
If Mom cared that much about her life, she shouldn’t have married Dad. Shouldn’t have created a victim.
She and Dad were sacrifices for Mom’s drama.
Mom yelled again.
“You just need to endure a little longer—why can’t you?! Everyone adores you! I’ve told you a million times: ride this connection all the way up and snag a real position!”
“Stop watching so much drama.”
“......What?”
“I’m your daughter. You think your blood just vanishes somewhere? You couldn’t hack it in that family either and escaped by marrying Dad, dropping down the ladder just to live like a human—and now you’re doing this to me—”
SLAP!!
“......”
Everything whooshed away in a hollow daze, and she let out an involuntary laugh. At least it wasn’t the golf club.
Mom looked flustered after hitting her. She quickly mumbled something.
“I’m doing this because I know you can do so much better. How could you and I be the same? Grandpa and Dowon both adore you—where else are you gonna find that?! Ga-hyun!!”
She wanted to escape.
She’d gladly die if it meant breaking free from this suffocating reality.
* * *
Kim Je-hyun’s apartment wasn’t far from Ga-hyun’s house.
That’s because Je-hyun had always treated Ga-hyun like a convenience store, even moving his place nearby to exploit her thoroughly in daily life.
Je-hyun would drop by Ga-hyun’s house whenever he wanted, fawning over her mom—his aunt—for food and affection.
Karma for using and toying with Ga-hyun endlessly was finally catching up.
Crash!!
Whoosh, shatter!!
Everything in the living room was getting smashed.
Each swing of the golf club cost millions of won.
Fitting for the youngest son of a chaebol family’s bachelor pad—everything was expensive, but Je-hyun valued his life over money and knelt silently.
Thud! Crash!!
“......”
Je-hyun’s body trembled.
With Yu Ga-hyun going berserk and smashing everything, the thought of stopping her didn’t even cross his mind.
He was just terrified that even after the rampage, her anger wouldn’t subside.
The killing intent that hit him when she opened the front door.
That look in her eyes.
The moment Yu Ga-hyun stepped inside, Je-hyun felt a visceral terror, like a knife plunging into his gut without warning.
‘Sh-should I call the cops now?’
The second he saw Ga-hyun’s swollen red face, he knew what had happened.
She’d fought with his aunt, no doubt.
Deep down, Je-hyun was petrified she might not cool off after trashing the place and end up killing him.
But calling the cops would—
Drip.
As if reading his impudent thoughts, Ga-hyun suddenly stopped mid-swing and turned to him.
“......Got a problem?”
Flinch!
Startled and guilty, Je-hyun shook his head over ten times in a second, denying vehemently.
Her chilling voice continued.
“Why? Go ahead and tattle to my mom again.”
She’ll kill me!!
Je-hyun screamed internally.
Seizing the pause, words he’d been holding back poured out of him.
“Auntie!! She knows your situation—would she do it on purpose? You know I’m not like that. Right? Auntie called first, and it was a total accident, I swear—ah, really sorry, aaack!!”
Crash! Thud! Thud!!
Her anger not sated, Yu Ga-hyun resumed demolishing the living room.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!!
“Eek!”
Je-hyun prostrated himself flat, groveling desperately.
“My bad! I admit it! Sorry for tormenting you about the company stuff too! Smash it all you want—just cool off! I’ll do whatever you say!!”
Flinch.
The swings paused, and Je-hyun didn’t miss a beat—his head and mouth working overtime.
He jerked his head up and shouted.
“House, car, card!!”
“......”
Money’s power was immense.
For the first time, Yu Ga-hyun fully turned to face him.
“House, gaming setup, and phone.”
“I’ll give them all!!!”
And so, Yu Ga-hyun fully settled into Kim Je-hyun—no, Slave No. 1’s—apartment.
But it was a pouring rain that day.
Drenched from walking over, Ga-hyun took ill the very next day.
* * *
With server maintenance kicking off, the forums exploded with players’ curses, bringing the 99th siege to an abrupt end.
[“You think something really happened to the guildmaster? Like a heart attack or something.”]
“Don’t jinx it.”
Kali—Choi Beom-young—scolded Mino over the phone.
Of course, Beom-young wasn’t immune to worrying about what mess Kaisha was in.
“Sigh. What if that relative pulled some stunt.”
[“Who?”]
“There’s this guy.”
Too personal to get into, so Beom-young glossed over it.
[“Hyung, can I ask one thing?”]
“What?”
[“Is the guildmaster really a girl?”]
“You’re curious about that right now?!”
[“I can be! Everyone in Bipa’s dying to know!”]
“It’s a secret!”
[“Ugh, no fair!!”]
This punk trying to get himself killed?
Beom-young swallowed his curses.
Even guildmates didn’t know Kaisha’s true identity, fueling all sorts of rumors.
Like how Kaisha was actually a guy pretending to be a girl and refusing to reveal his gender.
Bipa being such a sausage fest, just “maybe a girl?” boosted in-game fame and goodwill automatically.
Beom-young said,
“Don’t ask me—see for yourself. She’ll pop up soon anyway.”
[“We’ll find out eventually, so spill now......”]
“No way. She’d beat me to death.”
[“Ah. So she is a guy.”]
She’s a girl!
The shout rose to the back of Beom-young’s throat.
Beom-young had once lost Kaisha’s trust by hiding his own gender.
Since then, his lips were sealed tight.
A real man has principles.
Especially after getting stuck between Kaisha and Maya—he’d been drilled on this repeatedly.
“Think what you want. Announce it in the group chat. First offline meetup.”
[“Got it! Will the guildmaster show?”]
“No clue.”
Logging out at such a suspicious moment, then radio silence.
Anyone could see it wasn’t normal.
Even without contact from guildmaster Kaisha, the members needed to meet ASAP.
“She has to show.”
Beom-young muttered, checking the Bipa community boards.
[What the hell is going on?](7)
[Drawing the bug](35)
[Let’s sort out the system features](58)
[About the gate alarms](15)
[Am I the only one finding this hilarious? Reality or fantasy lol](21)
[Get your heads straight, people](19)
Comments were chaos.
-Bipa’s been shady from the start, not just one or two things.
-Keep your mouths shut. If this leaks, we’re all getting locked in psych wards as a group. One news story and it’s over.
-This is a public board anyone can see—we’re done for already?
-Freaking terrifyingㄷㄷ;;
-Goldbunker, what are you doing? Use that money to make a verified-users-only community already.
-Crazy... why is my life like this.... Just gaming was my crime?ㅠㅠㅠ
Right after Kaisha slew the demon lord and vanished, sudden maintenance halted the siege.
The forums blew up over the absurdity.
Curses at the devs, endless questions and theories about Kaisha dipping early—but the real bomb dropped after.
The massive spread of “reality bugs.”
Virtually every player got hit.
Beom-young was no exception.
“Sigh. Historic crisis and the guildmaster’s MIA......”
[“Honestly, I’m loving this. Hehe. Wonder what Spaceking and Goldbunker are up to?”]
“Those guys are probably already in meetings—”
Bzzz.
Beom-young’s phone buzzed then.
“Maya’s calling. Hold on, lemme take this.”
[“Okay. Hit me up later.”]
“Sure.”
He picked up, and a panicked voice burst out.
[“What do I do? I’m so scared.”]
“Hey, don’t freak too much. You’re not alone.”
[“Still no word from Kaisha?”]
“Nope.”
[“What if something really happened? Like Midgard being another world and she dimension-shifted or whatever. Ugh. I’m scared to death.”]
Maya, usually so level-headed, had completely lost it once status windows started appearing for real.
Beom-young sighed deeply.
“Calm down a bit. Stay off the forums for a while. I’ll relay anything important.”
The boards’ wild speculations were stoking fears.
Imagination bred terror.
Right now, players’ mental panic over the unknown was worse than the reality bugs themselves.