Chapter 54
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 54
I knew it instantly.
That woman is a forum addict.
Judging by what Eun-seol had said, this personality hadn't been out in months. And the first thing a person does after months of being locked away is check the online forums?
And then there were her words.
“‘Sup, Honeybee-bro.”
That sealed it. A wave of tension washed over me.
This is the real deal.
This woman was the realest of the real.
Suddenly, I remembered what Eun-seol had told me the day before.
“You two will get along great.”
A bitter laugh escaped my lips.
She was wrong. There was no way in hell I would ever get along with this woman.
I could sort of understand her thinking. We both used the same forums, so she must have figured we’d have a lot in common.
Bullshit.
That place was a warzone. Everyone on the forums was an enemy.
I myself was on a first-name basis with the mothers of all the trolls who swarmed my reviews.
Besides, there was an unwritten rule on the forums.
Only a lunatic uses forum-speak in the real world.
So what if she was a nice person? What good was that when, with a single sentence, she was advertising to the world, ‘I’m a crazy bitch’?
If I had to describe how I felt right now…
Ah, I’m fucked.
That one phrase said it all.
My body trembled with despair.
A moment of silence passed as I clutched my throbbing forehead. Then, she spoke again.
“Dude? You sick or somethin’?”
I flinched.
There it was again—that toxic forum-speak.
When I cautiously opened my eyes to look at her, our gazes met. The lazy, half-lidded expression on her face deepened as she continued.
“Yo, yo! Looks like my dude needs a good meal to get his strength back today!”
Ugh, my stomach churned.
Go on, keep setting new records for cringe.
I wanted to ignore her. I wanted nothing to do with her.
Preferably, forever.
But I wasn't in a position to do that.
This woman was another of Eun-ah’s personalities. I desperately didn't want to admit it, wanted to deny reality, but it was the truth.
On top of that…
A car enthusiast…
The two things didn't match at all, but this woman was a car nut.
A forum addict and a gearhead. The absolute worst of the worst.
If I got on her bad side, there was no telling what might happen.
Realizing this was an opponent I couldn't let my guard down with for even a second, I did my best to calm my roiling insides, steeled my heart, and forced a smile onto my face.
Then, I lowered the hand from my forehead, extended it in front of my chest, and gave a little wave as a greeting.
“Ni-nice to meet…”
I started to speak formally.
But in that instant, I saw a shadow pass over her face and quickly changed my words.
“Nice to meet ya…!”
My voice trembled.
A wave of self-loathing washed over my entire body.
Whether she knew what I was feeling or not, the woman’s smile returned at my greeting.
“Yeah, yeah! The name’s Eun-sam, bro!”
For fuck’s sake.
A curse rose to the tip of my tongue, but I clenched my jaw and forced it down. I plastered on another smile and spoke.
“Right… N-nice to meet you, Eun-sam-bro…!”
Just saying the words sent a shiver down my spine.
My hands, which I’d kept hidden behind my back, clenched into tight fists, betraying my wretched state.
After a moment, she got up from the sofa, walked over, and clapped me on the shoulder, speaking with vibrant energy.
“Man, I’m always checkin’ out your reviews, dude! You gotta review my novel sometime, ya hear!”
My breath caught in my throat.
The shameless way she spouted that forum-speak, as if it were something to be proud of.
From the way she was talking, she didn't mean Eun-ah's novel, but one this personality was writing separately.
This woman was asking me to shill her novel on a reader community.
It was a declaration of being a troll, delivered as smoothly as flowing water.
As my body swayed slightly from the relentless verbal assault, her voice rang out again.
“Whoa there, what’s wrong with this guy?”
What the hell was going on in her head? Even in her surprise, she was still spewing that garbage.
Ah.
I wanted to cry.
Unable to take this situation any longer, I fought back the tears and opened my mouth.
“D-does Eun-seol-ssi kn-know about this…?”
It was a plea for her to watch her words, at least for Eun-seol’s sake. She blinked a couple of times, then grinned.
“The mod-bro doesn’t give a shit about stuff like this!”
Mod-bro.
A term for a community moderator.
She must have called Eun-seol that because she was the one in control.
It was as if every word in her brain had been replaced with forum slang. Each and every phrase she uttered stabbed into me.
Why wasn’t Eun-seol stopping this?
I silently lamented, a mixture of sorrow, hatred, and shame welling up inside me, but the Eun-seol who could hear me wasn't here.
All I could do was choke back a sob and reply.
“I-I see…”
As I matched her tone, she let out a loud, swaggering laugh.
“Man, it feels good to be out after so long and meet a ‘comrade’ like this!”
My eyes squeezed shut.
This was the end.
She even felt a sense of belonging to the community.
My assumption that things would be manageable as long as another Go Eun-chae didn't appear was completely shattered.
For me, this woman was even harder to deal with than Go Eun-chae.
As I trembled in despair, she squatted down on the floor and started talking to me again.
“Alright, now that you’re up, dude, how ‘bout we grab some grub?”
I had met the one type of person I never wanted to encounter in my entire life, and in the most unexpected of places. Like a small boat caught in a tidal wave, I could only answer helplessly.
“S-sure… So what’re we, uh, eating…?”
The words wouldn't come out right.
As I forced a smile and stammered, she replied in a flippant tone.
“My dude here looks a little worn out… How ‘bout a ‘tender’ and ‘juicy’ ‘young chick’…?”
Her half-lidded eyes curved into a sly, lecherous grin.
The strange emphasis she put on her words filled me with a creepy sense of revulsion.
Unsure what kind of expression I was making, I covered my face with my hands and mumbled a reply.
“S-sounds good…”
Today was going to be a very, very long day.
*
Physically, I wasn't tired.
The woman spent the entire day glued to her smartphone, pouring all her energy into browsing the forums, so there wasn't much for me to suffer through.
But the occasional comments she threw out steadily chipped away at my sanity, tormenting me.
Even while we were eating.
“Look at this ‘young chick’! The meat is so tender and juicy, just oozing with temptation!”
Even when I came out of the shower.
“Ahh, nothin’ like a good, clean shower to make your skin feel all fresh and smooth!”
Even while she was lying on the sofa, staring at her phone.
“Look at this motherfucker. The way he talks, you can tell he wasn't raised right!”
All day, all damn day, she spewed words that tormented me.
Ah…
The little kid was a gentleman by comparison. No, an angel.
At least her antics were cute. She didn't torture me every single moment like this one did.
Once again, I found myself missing Eun-ah.
I closed my eyes and saw her, smiling brightly as she ran into my arms.
She runs toward me. She embraces me with a radiant smile.
And with a cheerful expression, she greets me warmly.
“Hey, bro.”
My eyes flew open, a cold sweat trickling down my back.
Fuck…
My mind felt like it had been completely eroded, leaving my head empty and numb.
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
Was today harder than the first day I was kidnapped? Was this woman the actual final boss?
As my body trembled, I let out a deep sigh. Just then, she finally looked up from her smartphone and spoke.
“Hey, bro.”
Hearing her voice, I squeezed my eyes shut again and responded.
“What… what is it…?”
I wondered if I really needed to imitate her speech pattern, but the memory of that dark expression she’d made at the beginning was too terrifying to risk it. I answered in her forum-speak, feeling a wave of self-loathing wash over me.
As my hands trembled at the thought of this dialect becoming a habit, she spoke again.
“It’s about dinnertime. How ‘bout we grab a bite?”
Even the suggestion of a meal made my head spin.
Feeling her gaze on me, I turned my head toward her and replied to her smiling face.
“S-sounds good…”
“Hell yeah, sounds good!”
Her energetic voice rang out. Immediately after, she shot up from the sofa, went to her room to throw on a coat, and came back out to the living room.
My eyes shifted to her outfit.
Over her T-shirt and shorts, she had thrown on a thick, long padded coat. A shabby look.
What is this supposed to imply?
As I pondered the question, filled with anxiety, she turned to me with a grin.
“It’s a momentous day! We gotta go out for a shot of soju to celebrate, don’t we!”
A bombshell.
My jaw dropped.
So, she means…
She wanted to go outside.
There hadn't been a single moment today that wasn't a crisis, but this was a crisis greater than any I had faced all day.
With this woman, this cyber-wraith, having a conversation in this dialect…
‘A drinking session outside?’
My mind went blank.
I felt a dizzying sensation, like stars were twinkling before my eyes.
A tremor that started in my fingertips soon spread through my entire body, shaking me.
Immediately, driven by the single-minded thought that I had to stop this at all costs, I began to persuade her in a desperate tone.
“H-how about we think this over? It’s cold outside… and there are a lot of people…”
I kept talking, not even sure what I was saying anymore.
No. Absolutely not.
I didn't have the confidence to survive an outing with her.
I couldn't bear the thought of having this dizzying conversation with her in a place full of people, so I continued to reason with her.
I dragged out every word I could think of until I had nothing left to say, then I finished, panting for breath.
“…So. How about we just eat at home…?”
I had talked too much.
My shoulders heaved as I gasped for air.
I steadied my breathing and looked at her.
She had a somewhat dazed expression. I could see her humming to herself, lost in thought.
“Hmm…”
She continued to ponder, her eyes closed, gently stroking her chin.
I watched her, tense with anticipation. After a long moment, she opened her eyes.
A grin spread across her lips. Her eyes crinkled into a half-lidded smile. She gave me a thumbs-up.
I knew at once.
It’s over.
She hadn't listened to a single word I'd said.
As my body trembled with rising despair, her mouth opened.
“Bro.”
“…Yes.”
I didn't even have the energy left to mimic her speech, so I replied formally. But she didn't seem to care, simply opening her mouth to ask a shocking question.
“Who are we?”
More forum-speak.
Again, my hands flew up to cover my face.
I didn't want to answer. I didn't want to play along. I just wanted to be a stranger. I wanted to live in my own world, with a clear boundary between us, so I remained silent.
When I stayed quiet, she leaped a step forward, stared at me intensely, and asked again.
“Who are we?”
I didn't have the courage to answer, so I remained silent again. But she paid me no mind and pressed on.
“Who. Are. We?!”
She even added emphasis to her words.
That formless pressure was crushing me again.
Realizing there was nowhere left to run, I answered in a tone thick with despair.
“…The… Jesters.”
The answer she wanted.
I hadn't wanted to say it, but I gave in to the pressure. She threw her hands above her head and let out a cheer, her voice more energetic than it had been all day.
“Let’s goooo!!!”
“L-let’s go…!”
Self-loathing consumed me. This hideous monster was determined to bury me in this society.
From deep within me, a sigh thick with despair escaped.
Ah.
I wanted to die.