Chapter 2: I'm About to Get Sued
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 2: I'm About to Get Sued
Hongdae Station, Exit 8.
I stood there, blankly watching the passersby.
It was the middle of lunchtime, so I saw plenty of couples and students who looked like they were out on dates.
Watching them, my thoughts were simple.
‘I want to rip them apart.’
Fighting the urge to flip them both off, I tore my eyes away.
The old saying that you can get a girlfriend once you go to college was, at least for me, complete bullshit.
My life got screwed over by some crazy rich girl before I ever got the chance.
Deciding to just look at the sky, I was watching the clouds drift by when I heard the sound of hurried footsteps.
My gaze followed the sound down to a girl wearing a hoodie and a black mask that covered more than half her face, despite the weather slowly getting warmer.
Just how small was her face for that mask to cover half of it?
As I was marveling at this, my eyes met hers.
She was a little under 160 cm tall, but maybe because of her long legs and exceptionally small face, her proportions looked incredible.
Furthermore, her eyes were so large and beautiful that any suspicion that the mask was doing all the work vanished instantly.
They had a faint violet hue, making them look as if they were carved from amethyst.
‘I think I know why she’s wearing a mask.’
If her eyes alone looked like that, wouldn't she draw a ton of attention if she showed her whole face?
While I was thinking this, the girl, who had been staring at me, raised her phone.
Shit, don't tell me I'm about to get reported to the police just for looking at her?
Having been burned badly once before, I was extremely paranoid. I quickly looked away.
‘Ahyu, what’s taking this bastard so long?’
Breaking out in a cold sweat, I whipped my head around and pulled out my phone.
Just as I was about to text Ahyu, my phone buzzed.
Buuuzz.
It was a message from him.
[ Ahyu: Hyung, are you the one with the black glasses and white shirt? ]
It seemed he’d found me.
I replied that he was right, and I soon sensed someone approaching.
I had a gut feeling it was Ahyu. Putting my phone away, I raised my head, wondering what the little brother I’d known for five years looked like.
And then I blinked.
I couldn’t comprehend the situation in front of me.
A young woman was staring at me, clutching her phone tightly in a small, pale hand that peeked out from her hoodie sleeve.
She was none other than the girl I had just made eye contact with.
For a moment, my brain shut down.
Why was she in front of me?
The reason was simple.
She must have come to drag me to the police station for staring at her.
“Uh, excuse me.”
“I have a boyfriend.”
The boyfriend in question was arriving soon, so it wasn't a lie.
But I knew full well how she would interpret my words.
Behold, the crisis-aversion skills I’ve honed over the years.
Hearing my nonchalant reply, the woman’s eyes darted around in confusion.
Well, of course.
Anyone would be confused if they came to confront someone for staring, only to be told, “I have a boyfriend.”
I turned my head away sharply.
I’d planted enough of a misunderstanding. Now I just hoped she would leave quickly.
“...Hyung, are you into guys?”
At that moment, the voice that came from the girl’s lips made my shoulders flinch.
She was silently holding up her phone to me, and on the screen, I saw my own number.
Why did she have my number?
She couldn’t have gotten it in that short amount of time.
Without a word, I took out my phone and made a call.
Across from me, a phone started ringing, the screen displaying the name ‘Domi-hyung’.
Shit.
The little brother I’d known for five years was actually a little sister.
And a ridiculously pretty one at that.
* * *
Even after we entered the tonkatsu restaurant Ahyu had offered to treat me to, we didn’t say a word.
Ahyu still looked somewhat shocked by my earlier question about liking men.
And I was shocked by the fact that the little brother I’d known all this time was actually a little sister.
I’d known her since she was in middle school, and she was a girl this whole time?
No, but honestly, this wasn't my fault, was it?
From the very beginning, Ahyu had called me ‘hyung’.
In the game, our voices were filtered through our characters, so I never knew her real voice.
And it’s not like two guys would ever call each other, so we always just texted things like ‘let’s queue ranked,’ meaning I’d never once heard her actual voice.
Both of our messenger profile pictures were the default background, so we didn't know what the other looked like.
I mean, come on.
Why would I want to know what my male gaming friend’s face looks like?
And that brought us to the present.
One might think that finding out the person you thought was your little brother for five years is actually a very pretty little sister is a good thing.
But as two guys, there wasn't a single topic we hadn't discussed.
That’s right. I’d had R-rated conversations with a kid six years younger than me without a second thought.
And with that realization, I arrived at a certain truth.
“Ahyu.”
“Y-Yeah?”
Startled by my call, Ahyu looked up, and her violet eyes appeared over her mask once more.
“Please don’t sue me.”
We have five years of friendship between us, right?
“...Why would I sue you?”
Seeing her confused expression, it seemed she thankfully had no intention of suing me.
If Ahyu had still been a minor, I would have been dragged to the police station for sure.
But thank God, she was an adult now.
“Alright, then. Why’d you hide your gender?”
Feeling a bit relieved, I decided to ask the question that needed answering.
I had thought she was a guy this whole time.
Naturally, my misunderstanding was quite reasonable; not just me, but all our guild members treated her like a guy.
Hearing my question, Ahyu looked a little troubled and scratched her cheek above her mask.
“It was just easier.”
“I get what you mean.”
“Right? I figured you’d understand, hyung. We’ve talked about it openly before. Female gamers are always surrounded by simps.”
She shook her head, her expression weary just thinking about it.
And I could easily understand why she’d say that.
This was Ahyu, who had lived with a face like that.
She might have benefited from her looks, but men are creatures who are unconditionally drawn to pretty women, so she must have suffered a lot because of it, too.
She probably didn't want to deal with that in a game.
“So, you being a fan of Blackstar Yua is...”
“That’s real. Are you trying to deny my true feelings?”
“Nope, not denying it.”
It’s extremely rare for a guy to be a fan of a male idol, but it’s quite common for a girl to be a fan of a female idol.
Just then, as she mentioned simps, I recalled a few things I’d said before.
“...But that one time, I said...”
“You mean when you said, ‘Still, it’d be a huge win if you just acted like a queen bee and scammed all the simps for their items’?”
“Damn it.”
Ahyu repeated my words without missing a single syllable and started giggling from behind her mask.
“So, hyung? How about it? I could be a queen bee.”
“Stop it. Forget it. No, let me make you forget.”
A memory-erasing punch to the head should do the trick.
As I was thinking that, Ahyu laughed as if she was having the time of her life.
“You’re just like you are in the game, hyung.”
“The game was my life.”
For the past five years, I had poured everything into the game to forget reality.
So the game was me, and I was the game.
There was no difference between my in-game self and my real self.
“But now that we’ve met like this, I wonder if you’ll start treating me differently?”
At that moment, Ahyu looked at me with a hint of disappointment in her eyes.
Resting her chin on the table, she looked up at me, and her gaze was not one I could easily forget.
“No.”
But I remember the Ahyu from the game.
The fun times we had, playing and talking every day, speaking bluntly as two guys.
I like those times.
She would listen whenever I had a problem, and I would listen to hers.
Our relationship as siblings, where she could readily offer to buy me a meal like today, had no reason to change, regardless of what she looked like in real life.
“I’ll treat you the same.”
I didn’t ask for Ahyu’s real name.
Because before seeing her as the girl in front of me, I was treating her as the Ahyu I remembered.
And that wouldn't change.
As if sensing this, Ahyu’s eyes widened before she broke into a gentle smile.
“Just don’t sue me.”
“I won’t. What do you take me for?”
“A potential queen bee who could turn on me at any moment.”
“Are you trying to pick a fight?”
Ahyu raised her hands and threw a few playful punches in my direction.
The movements were surprisingly precise and fast, making me tilt my head.
“Ahyu, are you by any chance...”
“Your food is here.”
Just as I was about to ask, the waiter placed our tonkatsu in front of us.
The spicy tonkatsu was fried to a mouth-watering golden brown and looked delicious at a glance.
“Hm? Hyung, what did you say?”
As she pulled down her mask to eat, her face was, as I expected, pretty enough to make the waiter flinch in surprise for a moment.
Seeing her face, I just shook my head and picked up my knife.
“Nothing. Let’s just eat.”
The tonkatsu was incredibly delicious.
3
After finishing the tonkatsu, I was lightly patting my full stomach.
Ahyu was still munching away on the last of her food, her small mouth working diligently before she took a sip of water.
She ate so well it was a joy to watch. I thought she’d make a killing if she started a mukbang YouTube channel.
Just then, our eyes met. Ahyu put down her water glass and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“Oh, right. Hyung, there’s something I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Hyung, are you really into guys?”
She asked with such a serious expression, I wondered what it could be.
I gave her a dumbfounded look and replied.
“That’s right. I like men.”
“W-W-Wait, no, you can’t.”
“I’m kidding.”
She punched me.
It actually hurt.
Left with no choice, I explained why I had lied.
“It was just a quick improvisation. I was afraid you were going to sue me for staring.”
“Can you even get sued for something like that?”
“We live in a world where people can invent crimes that don’t exist. And it was a fact that I was staring.”
After the college experience I had, this kind of paranoia was inevitable.
Until the laws change, what can I do but be careful?
“So you like girls, then?”
“Have you forgotten all the conversations we’ve had until now?”
Hearing that, Ahyu cleared her throat with a cough.
“...That’s a relief.”
I wasn’t sure what was so relieving, but whatever.
“Then why were you staring at me earlier?”
“I thought you were a lost child.”
“Hyung, you want another punch?”
“Okay, I saw a pretty girl standing there, so I looked for a bit.”
When I confessed honestly, Ahyu flinched and then broke into a grin.
Did she really want to hear me call her pretty that badly?
Acting all sly.
“We’re done eating, so what now? Want to go to a VR cafe?”
“Oh, that sounds great! Let’s go. We should queue for duo ranked.”
Ahyu beamed and put her mask back on.
It seemed she always wore a mask when she was outside.
I stood up with an understanding look, and Ahyu scurried over to the counter to pay with her card.
I had come here expecting to be treated, but seeing my younger friend pay like that made me feel a little bad.
Indeed, the cashier who took her card glanced back and forth between me and Ahyu with a look that said, ‘A girl this pretty is paying?’
And though I wanted to tell him, ‘Sir, that’s prejudice,’ I couldn’t help but understand his expression.
The restaurant was on the second floor. As we walked out, the lunch rush had just ended, and the now slightly less crowded street was visible through the window.
Looking into the distance, I spotted a VR cafe.
Perfect.
We can go there.
It was at that moment.
Ahyu, who was following me, suddenly whipped her head to the side and pulled me down.
Caught off guard by the sudden force, I was sent tumbling to the floor with her. Thud! I let out a groan.
The force with which she had pulled was so much stronger than my own, a grown man’s, that I couldn’t even react.
“Ahyu?”
As I was about to ask what she was doing, Ahyu cupped the back of my head with her hand and shushed me.
The feeling of something very soft pressing against my chin was distracting, but Ahyu’s eyes were so serious that I couldn’t bring myself to comment.
While I was silently trying to understand the situation, I realized our surroundings had suddenly grown dark.
I shifted my gaze slightly and saw the restaurant staff staring out the window with dazed expressions.
What’s going on?
We’re on the second floor.
Filled with confusion, I carefully turned my head to look behind me, and my body froze.
Something massive was passing by.
Pitch-black scales, with shimmering blue feathers swaying beneath them.
A monster that looked like it couldn't possibly exist on Earth, a creature as tall as a two-story building, was walking past.