Unfazed
But Tae-hyun stayed calm.
"I'm quitting."
"Why?!?!?!?!!?!?!"
"Because I've already done everything there is to do in Fantasy Online."
Only then did Lee Se-yeon remember what Tae-hyun had said before. He played games because he enjoyed beating strong characters with weak ones.
And every ranker besides her had already been taken down.
"Y-you never beat me, though?"
"What? A minute ago you said you lost. So it was charity after all?"
"No, that's not what I meant..."
"You're strong. You said I only won because you were unlucky, but that's skill too. And I'm never going to beat you again."
Tae-hyun pointed at his own character.
"I've got a death penalty."
"Ah..."
"I already used every trick I had. If my level drops on top of that, there's no way I can catch up to you. You'll grow faster than me anyway."
"Y-you can still challenge me! From now on, over and over!"
Se-yeon spoke in a rush.
She didn't even understand herself why she was trying to stop him.
"You challenge someone when there's a chance. If you keep challenging them even when there isn't, that's just stupidity."
And that's coming from the guy who picked a fight with a Necromancer as a Blacksmith?!
Se-yeon swallowed the words.
"It's over. Getting this far was luck too. Honestly, even I didn't think I'd make it this far as a Blacksmith."
"Wait! There are other ways to enjoy a game. If you joined my guild, I could show you..."
Kim Tae-hyun has logged out.
"Jerk...!"
"Ah. That was fun."
Tae-hyun stretched and rose from his seat.
Even an early-stage virtual reality game had been this much fun. He couldn't even imagine how incredible a full-scale release would be.
His phone rang.
"Hey! I heard you lost!"
"You called just to say that?"
"The community sites and message boards are exploding right now, okay? More people liked you than I expected. Everybody's saying it's a shame. That crit didn't proc at the end, right?"
"Nope."
"Damn. That was two percent, wasn't it?"
"No. I reinforced it again before the match, so it was actually 0.1%."
"That's insane..."
For a moment, Sang-yun was speechless.
"You lost the match of the century because of a 0.1% chance. Doesn't that piss you off?"
"It does, but what can you do? That's games for you. Some of the guys I beat lost because they were unlucky too."
"So when are you logging back in?"
"I'm quitting."
"What?"
"I've done everything I wanted to do, so I'm taking a break. I'm gonna try something else when a new game comes out. Fantasy Online 2 is next month, right?"
Fantasia, the company behind Fantasy Online, had loudly promised to create a true, full-scale virtual reality game.
A simultaneous global virtual world.
"Don't tell me you're gonna pull the same crap there too?"
"What crap?"
"You know exactly what I mean! Deliberately picking weak classes and leveling them!"
"Ah. It's so much fun, though."
"Only a pervert does that, you bastard!"
"Not something I want to hear from you."
"Then make a guild with me instead. Honestly, if you'd picked a proper class and started a guild with me, you would've hit rank one in Fantasy Online. Lee Se-yeon? What does she have on you?"
"Better looks."
"Hey..."
"I'm kidding. More importantly, I think I've heard that offer before."
"What? Who asked you to join their guild?"
"Well, makes sense. You've shown enough for that. But don't you dare team up with someone else! If you're doing it, you're doing it with me!"
"I'm not joining any guild."
Choi Sang-yun was Tae-hyun's longtime friend.
Like Tae-hyun, he loved games, and he was good at them too.
In fact, the reason Tae-hyun had started targeting the rankers around the top twenty was because of Sang-yun. He'd been a Warrior who floated around rank twenty-five.
He was Tae-hyun's friend, yes, but he was a ruthlessly practical friend.
"So when Fantasy Online 2 drops, we're sprinting from day one together?"
"No. I've been gaming for a while, so I'm gonna travel a bit and get in shape."
"Why the hell would getting in shape matter?"
"Stamina matters when you play games. Even more if you're going for harder content."
"You're out of your mind. Oh, right. Isn't your old man saying anything? When are you going back to school?"
"I should probably go back soon. It's getting risky. As for my father..."
"Son, get down here!"
A low voice boomed up from downstairs.
"Sounds like he's about to say something right now. Talk later."
"Son. I was truly proud of you."
"Thank you, Father."
"Until high school, that is."
"Please keep being proud of me now too."
"I still remember when you brought home a perfect score on the national mock exam. Up until middle school you'd never studied a day in your life. I remember thinking, This boy really is something. He's not like his uneducated father. He'll wash away the bitterness I carried from not being educated."
"My grades stayed high after that too, you know."
"They did. Even a perfect score on the college entrance exam! I was overwhelmed! I never said it out loud, but do you know your father secretly drank alone and cried?"
"Secretly? Father, you were bawling loud enough to embarrass the whole neighborhood. Everyone heard you except maybe old Mrs. Kang down the hill, and that's only because she's half deaf."
"At that moment, I thought this. I may not be educated, but my son will go to law school. He'll graduate top of his class. That's what I thought! And what's law school anyway? I may be uneducated, but I'm a man with more money than I know what to do with! I could've paved your entire path in gold!"
"Thank you, Father."
"But you little bastard!"
Kim Tae-hyun's father, Kim Tae-san, shot to his feet and grabbed Tae-hyun by the collar.
Both men were big enough that the room instantly turned ugly.
"Huh?! You get into Korean Literature?! Are you insane?!"
"What's wrong with Korean Literature? Are you disrespecting the soul and spirit of our people right now?"
"If you were going to major in Korean Literature, then why the hell did you get grades like that?!"
"So I was supposed to intentionally do badly?"
"And what are you planning to do with that degree? Become a writer? In this day and age? That's a perfect way to starve!"
"I doubt I'll starve when you're this rich, Father."
"Y-you little...! Fine. Korean Literature, let's say I somehow accept that. It's still Korea University! The best university in the country!"
Kim Tae-san nodded to himself, then kept going.
"But then this punk goes and wallpapers his transcript with F's. You've already maxed out your academic probation warnings, haven't you? After the army, instead of going back, you took a leave and played games! You little bastard, do you think Korean Literature is easy?"
"You're the one looking down on Korean Literature, not me."
"If you were stupid, I wouldn't say a damn thing! Since you're my son, I'd just make sure you lived well and comfortably. But you're not stupid! You're too damn capable, so why are you like this?!"
"Because I don't need perfect grades. I just need to graduate."
"You need to get a job!"
"You've already given me a bunch of buildings. Can't I just be a landlord?"
"A man has to work! He has to sweat honest, sacred labor! That's how you become a real man!"
Kim Tae-san was a man who had clawed his way up from the bottom.
There wasn't a job he hadn't done in his youth.
"Father... when a man who owns dozens of buildings and lives off rent says that, it really doesn't sound convincing at all. Everything I've ever seen you do is play golf, read books, and play baduk..."
"I-I worked when I was young!"
"All that stuff about suffering when you're young being worth it, or youth being painful by nature, that's all nonsense. The important thing in life is living comfortably and easily."
"You little... get out! Get out of my house!"
"Father. You do remember you already transferred several houses into my name, right? You also know I can just go there, right?"
"Y-you... give them back!"
"You put them in my name for tax reasons, and now you're telling me to give them back? Take me to court, then."
While the two men bickered like idiots, a woman stepped into the room.
Tak.
It was only the sound of a tray being placed on the table, but both men froze at once.
Then they quietly sat back down.
"Ahem. Ahem."
"Mother, you're here?"
"Yes. I could hear the two of you fighting from outside."
The absolute ruler of the household.
Jeong Yun-hee.
"You want Tae-hyun to suffer?"
"N-no, that's not what I meant... It's just that this kid has ability, but he lives so lazily and recklessly..."
"Tae-hyun may be lazy, but he is not reckless."
Go, Mom!
Tae-hyun lifted an arm in silent support, then lowered it at once when Jeong Yun-hee speared him with a glance.
"And I don't agree with making him suffer just because he's young. He's my child. We suffered so our child wouldn't have to, didn't we? If we suffered, and then made our child suffer too, what would be the point?"
"R-right? I just misspoke because I was angry... haha..."
Kim Tae-san's fists trembled.
He badly wanted to punch the smirking Tae-hyun sitting beside him.
He couldn't tell if that brat was his son or his mortal enemy.
"But Tae-hyun, it does seem to me that you've become too lazy lately."
"...!"
The fire had spread to him now.
"When you said you wanted to rest after being discharged, I let you. But shouldn't you be going back to school now?"
"Y-yes..."
"I don't necessarily think you need to get a job. I have no wish to see my son struggle in some difficult position. But I also don't want to see my son become a lazy, idle man. You understand what I mean, don't you?"
"Yes..."
"Live properly. Live in a way that doesn't shame you."
"You want me to manage my grades?"
"No. Your grades are your choice. What I mean is that you should become someone you can be proud of. Grades are fine. Writing, too, since you went into Korean Literature. Whatever it is, if it's something you can throw yourself into and then be proud of the result, that's enough. That's what I want you to do. Something. Instead of just playing around all the time."
Now it was Kim Tae-san's turn to sneer at Tae-hyun.
"I can trust my son, can't I?"
"Of course, Mother."
"Then I can look forward to results? Unlike your father, I can't threaten you with disinheritance or anything like that, but..."
Jeong Yun-hee's eyes flashed.
It was the same look that instantly cowed both Kim Tae-san and Kim Tae-hyun.
"If nothing changes, I'll take it to mean you don't love your mother."
"Mother! That's too much!"
"If you love me, you'll work hard."
So this was emotional blackmail. Threatening to cut off mother-son ties.
Clutching his chest, Tae-hyun spoke in protest.
"Give me another option! Your standards are way too high! If I try to meet those, I'll be suffering for years!"
"Really? In that case..."
Jeong Yun-hee pulled some papers from her handbag.
"Shall we start with blind dates? I picked out a few nice young women. Once you get married, you'll learn what responsibility means. You're a good boy, after all."
"I'll go back to school immediately. I'll get a full scholarship."
"So that's how it happened."
"Bwahahahahahaha! Bwahahahahahahaha!"
"I'm hanging up. I'm blocking you."
"No, wait! Don't hang up!"
Sang-yun hurriedly blurted that out after laughing himself breathless.
His friend was narrower-minded than people expected.
If he said he'd do it, he really would.
"So you really are going back?"
"Yeah. First I'm gonna study like hell, get a scholarship, satisfy my mother, and then go back to gaming. Looks like I'll be starting about three months late."
"You know if you're three months late to a game, you'll fall way behind, right? Rare classes and even Heroic classes might all get snatched up first. And you love that kind of stuff."