Chapter 18: Goodbye, Araman
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 18: Goodbye, Araman
Chapter 4 - Anywhere Door
1
Late at night.
No, it was almost morning.
Logged into Lord of Academy, I stood hesitating, hammer in hand.
In my grasp was the +17 Black Sword Araman.
I had gathered all the materials to enhance it to +18, but I’d been agonizing over whether to actually do it for the past hour.
[Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi: says to just hit it.]
“Juksim, why are you still talking in chat when you’re right in front of me?”
[Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi: says not to act like this is something new.]
Next to me was a character of a young girl wearing a black hood.
Her(?) nickname was Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi.
Though her avatar was female, I had no idea what her real gender was.
Juksim, who had only ever communicated through chat, had never once let me hear her voice.
Despite her peculiar nickname and concept, just as she’d said, I was used to it by now. There was nothing new about it.
After all, Juksim was the one who had taught me how to play Lord of Academy.
While I was closer to Ahyu, I had known Juksim for longer.
We had been gaming friends even before we started playing Lord of Academy.
“Hah, I’m really doing it.”
[Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi: says that’s the fifth time you’ve said that.]
“Ah, I don’t care anymore!”
It was almost time for work anyway.
Deciding to just close my eyes and go for it, I swung the hammer down.
Thump-thump-thump-thump—
My heart felt like it was about to explode.
As the drumroll sound effect for the enhancement played, I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Juksim! Juksim, what happened?!”
I muted the game audio and, with my eyes still closed, shouted toward Juksim.
But for some reason, there was no reply.
…Right, this person only talks through chat.
There was no way I could see the chat with my eyes closed, so I had no choice but to open them.
The moment I did, I saw a girl’s face filling my vision.
It was none other than Juksim’s character. I blinked, seeing her perfectly blocking my view.
Juksim was just staring at me in silence.
“What is it?”
Knowing what she was hiding, I looked at the silent Juksim.
Then, in a trembling voice, I said.
“Please tell me it’s not true.”
In this game, enhancement had a chance of failure, and with it, a chance of destruction.
Of course, the probability was incredibly low, but it still existed.
Even at my question, Juksim remained motionless, standing in the same spot.
No.
It can’t be.
As memories of my time with the Black Sword Araman flashed through my mind, I grabbed Juksim’s shoulders and swallowed back my tears.
“It’s not true, right?”
Juksim closed her eyes.
I closed my eyes, too.
“What the, you two were here! Let’s run the morning raid!”
Turning my head toward the voice that came from behind, I saw a character with the absurd taste of being a muscular man in a pink gothic dress.
Floating above his head was the Dangchan guild mark. I knew exactly who he was.
Ediknorjeba.
I had no idea why he played a character like that or chose a name so ridiculously hard to read and pronounce.
That’s why I just called him Eva, a contradiction in himself.
“Huh, ain’t that your Black Sword Araman, Domi? It shattered, didn’t it?”
And as soon as he arrived, he casually said the very thing I didn’t want to hear.
I already knew.
Because behind Juksim, who had thrown her body in front of me to shield my view, a fine powder was scattering in the air.
That powder…
was the kind that only appeared when an item was destroyed.
“This is just great.”
I muttered blankly.
Fuck, I’m quitting this goddamn game.
“So that’s why you’ve been moping all day?”
After a tearful farewell to my Black Sword Araman, I was at work.
I was sitting in front of a laptop with Ji-eun.
Seeing my dazed expression, Ji-eun had pestered me about what was wrong.
After I explained everything, she was now looking at me as if I were pathetic.
“You don’t understand the value of game items, Ji-eun. That one thing was worth…”
I barely managed to resist the urge to chew on a handkerchief.
My precious Black Sword Araman.
Even if it was destroyed, it could be restored, but I’d have to start the enhancement process all over again. The thought was daunting.
Just then, I felt a soft touch on my arm.
Startled, I turned my head. Unsurprisingly, Ji-eun was leaning against me, looking up.
“Is an item like that more important than your time with me?”
“If we’re talking about work versus personal life, work is obviously more important.”
“I’d rather it be personal life.”
“You should stop teasing adults.”
Perhaps because we had grown so close while working together.
Ji-eun would sometimes pull pranks like this that could make an adult uncomfortable.
For someone who would be turning twenty next year, playing such games with the opposite sex could get her in serious trouble, but no matter how many times I warned her, she showed no intention of stopping.
“Do you hate me, Ha-chan?”
“Why would I hate you, Ji-eun?”
“Well, you know. A girl is hitting on you like this, and all you do is push me away.”
She grumbled, resting her cheek on the cafe table.
Maybe because she was a similar type to Ahyu.
I didn’t get flustered and embarrassed by her actions.
Ahyu was the type to get embarrassed herself after pulling a prank, which in turn made me feel awkward, making her even more difficult to deal with.
“If you think about the age gap, isn’t the answer obvious as to why I don’t see you that way?”
First of all, she was a minor.
No matter how much she acted like an adult, in an adult’s eyes, she was still a kid.
Anyone who harbored those kinds of feelings for a minor deserved to be socially ostracized.
And probably.
Ji-eun didn’t have a good relationship with her friends at school.
Naturally, she must feel a great sense of alienation from that, and even if she tried not to show it, that feeling must have festered inside her.
In that situation, I was an adult who happened to listen to her problems and give her advice.
For her, I was the easiest person to lean on.
She would rather die than tell her parents she was lonely because she had no friends.
For Ji-eun, who was still young and had nowhere to turn, I was probably the perfect person.
I could ease her sense of isolation, I was easy to rely on, and most importantly, as her manager, I would put up with her complaints.
That’s why she has a crush on me and is mistaking her feelings.
I figured that anyone in my position would have been enough for her to mistake her emotions.
The misunderstandings of emotionally immature kids were always like that.
The adult by their side always seems bigger and cooler than they are.
It was just like when I was in elementary school, looking at the middle school kids with a mixture of fear and admiration.
It was a fleeting feeling.
Once you get older and reach that same position, those thoughts naturally fade away.
And I believed it would be the same for Ji-eun.
That’s why I was deliberately drawing a clear line with her.
I wanted to teach a child who couldn’t even get a handle on her own heart how not to be swayed by her circumstances when she became an adult.
Even though I’m not much of an adult myself.
I need to get my own act together first. Of course.
“I’m turning twenty soon.”
“Yes, but not yet.”
“I don’t think I’ll change that much in a year.”
“You’ll change a lot. For starters, the people around you will change.”
That was a common misconception among minors.
Even if you’ve just become an adult, once you’re there, your perspective and range of activities expand dramatically.
Ji-eun didn’t seem to realize that this part of her made her seem even more like a child.
Seeing my reaction, Ji-eun turned her head away with a pout.
I had forgotten that kids get most upset when you treat them like kids.
“Ji-eun?”
Knowing that asking “Are you pouting?” in this situation would get me an earful, I calmly recalled the proper way to handle a pouting woman.
For the record, I learned this on the internet.
“I was being too harsh, wasn’t I?”
Ji-eun glanced my way for a moment.
Thankfully, it seemed to be working.
“I only said that because I was worried about you. I wasn’t trying to treat you like a child.”
As I started to soothe her, Ji-eun, who had been looking away, turned her head back toward me.
Finally, she was looking at me.
“Fine. Then at least drop the formal speech with me! How long are you going to keep using honorifics with me?”
“Well…”
Ji-eun’s eyebrows started to furrow again.
Well, we’ve known each other for a while now. It was probably right to do at least that much.
“Alright. I’ll talk to you casually.”
“Nice!”
Was she just pretending to be upset to get me to do this?
I gave a bitter smile, thinking she probably wouldn’t go that far just to get me to drop the formal speech.
“More importantly, the video goes up today, so let’s focus on this first.”
“Okay!”
Ji-eun beamed, seemingly thrilled that I had dropped the formal speech.
In the meantime, the video was uploaded, and we checked it.
The video featured Ji-eun and her next-door neighbor’s dog.
The theme of the video was using her empathy ability to communicate with the dog, who hadn’t been eating well lately.
At first, the dog hilariously relayed through her that its owner had gotten fat, but the video ended with the news that the dog was pregnant.
Since the company had provided support, the video quality was naturally high.
Appropriate subtitles, fitting sound effects, and so on.
It had a quality comparable to that of famous YouTubers.
Most importantly, Ji-eun came out looking cute and pretty.
The power of a professional salon had enhanced her pretty face even further.
This will work.
I’d been watching YouTube for a long time.
This would definitely catch on.
The problem was, it had to get picked up by the algorithm before it could catch on or not.
The current view count was a mere 3.
Considering we were watching it, it meant practically no one else had seen it.
“The views aren’t really going up.”
I hadn’t expected it to be a huge success from the start, but Ji-eun looked a little disappointed.
“It’s okay. The company said they’d promote the video on their YouTube channel. We’ll get some traffic from that.”
Although the Rodri Company was newly established, it had quite a few well-known hunters under its wing.
As such, the company’s own YouTube channel had amassed 510,000 subscribers from the existing fanbases of its affiliated hunters.
If her video was posted there, it would surely be effective promotion.
“You can’t expect to be full after the first bite. Let’s think long-term.”
“Mhm, okay.”
Though she was a bit down, she soon replied with a bright smile.
She was a cheerful kid by nature.
I probably didn’t need to worry too much.
After discussing what to do for the next video, I returned to the company.
Since Ji-eun was still a student, I put her in a taxi first, planning to take care of the remaining chores myself.
“Mr. Ha-chan.”
Just then, I turned my head at the sound of my name being called.
My team leader was standing there, and I walked over to greet him.
“Hello, Team Leader.”
“Are you on your way back from a meeting?”
“Yes, I just had a meeting with Ji-eun.”
“Keep up the good work. I saw the video, by the way. It looked like it would take off with the right promotion.”
As expected of the team leader, he has a good eye.
I was feeling a little hopeful myself, so I cleared my throat. The team leader smiled and then let out an “Ah.”
“Look at me, getting sidetracked. This isn’t the time for that. I was actually just about to call you, Mr. Ha-chan.”
“Oh? Is something wrong?”
He grinned at my puzzled expression.
“We can’t fill a hunter team with just Ji-eun, can we? A new team member has joined. She’s the same age as Ji-eun.”
Were they deliberately matching their ages since Ji-eun hadn’t made her hunter debut yet?
It seemed the hunter team I would be managing was going to be composed of kids who were about to become adults.
Well, it’s good for them to get to know each other before they start working as hunters.
Getting used to each other before heading into real combat was a necessary step, so it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Above all, being the same age would make it easier for them to become friends.
“What kind of kid is she?”
“For starters, she’s a female student. If the hunter team has mixed genders…”
“It usually causes problems.”
It was common for love to blossom between colleagues who cross the line between life and death together.
The problem was that if a couple’s conflict led to a breakup, the team could fall apart. Not to mention, prioritizing one’s lover could lead to dangerous situations. This aspect was unavoidable.
In fact, unless it was a private hunter team, most company-run teams were organized by gender.
“I expected as much, so that’s fine.”
“Then let’s start by looking at the file, just like last time.”
After that, I followed the team leader back to my desk in the department.
He immediately pulled up the file, and upon seeing it, I couldn’t help but look surprised.
“An A-rank at nineteen?”