Chapter 82: Harem or Ruin
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 82: Harem or Ruin
Chapter 10 - The Twins
1
[ Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi : Says that you did well. ]
“You did well too, Juksim.”
After finishing a ranked game with Juksim, I let out a soft sigh.
One guy left, another was a whiner… I seriously thought we were going to lose that match.
“Why does it feel like ranked games just get more and more messed up?”
[ Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi : Says it’s because there are more kids playing. ]
“You know, if we say ‘kids these days,’ we’ll officially become old geezers.”
[ Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi : Says that considering our age, it can’t be helped. ]
Though I had no idea how old Juksim was.
The only thing I knew for sure was that she was at least an adult.
It had already been quite a long time since Juksim and I became gaming friends.
[ Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi : Asks if you want to play another game. ]
“I think I’ll pass. I can’t take any more today.”
[ Jugeumbitgwa Simjangnimi : Agrees. ]
Watching Juksim’s character sit on the floor and stretch, I opened the chat window.
Just then, a whisper popped up.
I always turn off whispers during ranked games, so the delayed message was only now appearing.
[ Naneun-extra : Domi, I’m heading to Seoul tomorrow. Drinks? ]
The message was from Naek.
It seemed she was talking about the drink she’d mentioned before.
‘Let’s see, the time…’
I checked my phone, and thankfully, my schedule looked clear.
I immediately opened the guild chat.
[ Doremi Fasol : Naek, you online? ]
[ Naneun-extra : Right here. So, what’s your answer? ]
[ Doremi Fasol : OK. What time do you think you’ll be here? ]
[ Naneun-extra : I think I’ll get there around 6. Just message me when you’re off work. I have to do homework anyway. ]
Right, she was still a college student.
I think she said her graduation was delayed because she took a leave of absence.
I figured she must be treated like a total fossil, attending school at 26, and told her that sounded good.
[ Edicnorgeba has logged in. ]
Just then, Eva’s ID came online for the first time in a while.
[ Naneun-extra : Whoa, Eva-bro? Or are you an eonni? ]
[ Edicnorgeba : I’m an eonni. Naek, it’s been a while. ]
[ Naneun-extra : Wow, eonni, it’s really been so long! ]
Watching Naek type excitedly, I chimed in as well.
[ Doremi Fasol : Nuna, are you back to playing the game now? ]
[ Edicnorgeba : I’m still a bit busy with work, but I logged in for a moment to catch my breath. ]
[ Doremi Fasol : What about Eva-hyeong-nim? ]
[ Edicnorgeba : Ah, my brother… seriously. There’s so much to say, I think I’m going to lose my mind. ]
Did something happen?
[ Naneun-extra : Eonni, Domi and I are meeting up tomorrow! If you have a lot to say, you wanna meet up and talk? ]
[ Edicnorgeba : Meet up? Like an offline gathering? ]
[ Naneun-extra : It’d be great if we could get more people to come! ]
This girl, Naek, must be really lonely.
‘If that’s the case, should I invite Ahyu and Seol-hyang too?’
Then it hit me. I still hadn’t told Ahyu about Ahing’s real identity.
She’d probably flip out if she found out.
‘Kkotbi is probably too busy.’
Kkotbi was in the middle of a world tour, so I didn’t want to burden her.
[ Edicnorgeba : …Should I? It might be good to talk to someone about it. ]
[ Naneun-extra : Awesome, then let’s meet around 6 tomorrow! I’ll text you the location! ]
In the end, Eva-noona decided to come too.
It didn’t matter much to me. We’d known each other for a long time in the game, and I’d been meeting a lot of new people lately anyway.
‘Tomorrow’s going to be busy, too.’
It seemed I was meeting more and more people these days.
* * *
The next day, I was on a bus.
Eva-noona said she’d be a little late, so I planned to meet up with Naek first.
‘Ahyu and Seol-hyang said they couldn’t make it.’
After the plans were made yesterday, I had called both of them right away.
Ahyu had recently started working with the World Returnee Association and was busy helping to root out the remnants of Girasung.
As a result, she was all the way down in Busan.
She wanted to come immediately, but she couldn’t leave because her work wasn’t finished.
It was the same for Seol-hyang, the chairperson of the World Returnee Association.
“And I’d rather only you know my real identity, Ha-chan.”
Her whispered voice from over the phone came to mind, and I shook my head for no reason.
It seemed I’d become far too conscious of Seol-hyang since her confession.
After hanging up, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘…All those little wars of nerves Ahyu and Seol-hyang always had in front of me.’
I had just assumed Ahyu and Seol-hyang didn’t get along.
But what if they had both realized each other’s feelings and were fighting over me?
And I, completely clueless, had just tried to invite them both to the same place?
‘Shit, was I out of my mind?’
I’d never been loved by multiple people in my life, so the fact that I hadn’t considered this for even a second made me feel pathetic.
How could I be so thoughtless?
“…Baeksan, do you think I should just hurry up and start dating someone?”
Thinking that if this continued, it would become harder and harder to see the people around me, I turned to Baeksan and asked.
Hearing my question, Baeksan let out a long yawn and spoke.
“I’ll give you one piece of advice.”
“I’m listening.”
“Not a single one of the people who like you will give up just because you start dating someone else.”
My body froze.
“It might be different for normal girls, but the ones who like you are monsters who somehow survived in another dimension and rose to become the strongest. You think they’re going to back down just because they lost the first fight?”
I thought of Ahyu and Seol-hyang.
What would happen if I told one of them that I was dating someone?
I couldn’t picture either of them giving up on me in the slightest.
Both of them were the type of people who had to have what they wanted, perhaps even more so than Kwak Sa-yeon.
“Do you see how pointless your worrying is now?”
“So if I tell them I have a girlfriend and turn them down…”
“Kang Ha-chan, these are the same people who accelerated the world’s destruction just because you died.”
I let out a hiccup.
“If you really want to shake them off, you’d have to at least delete all their contact info and disappear. You think they’d be okay after you pulled something like that?”
Baeksan raised a finger to his temple and twirled it.
“Why do you think returnees are so mentally broken? The moment they started depending on you, they became crazy women who see nothing but you. They’re the kind of people who would find no meaning in this world without you.”
“No, it’s not that serious…”
“That’s because you don’t know what they’re really like. You have no idea how much of an influence the existence of ‘you’ has on them.”
I quietly shut my mouth.
“You are a far more important person to them than you can possibly imagine.”
Hearing it put like that was a little embarrassing.
Baeksan clicked his tongue with an expression that said he was about to die of frustration.
“Besides, do you even like any of them?”
At his words, I stroked my chin thoughtfully.
“…What is love, anyway?”
Am I still too young to understand?
Baeksan stared at me blankly, then sighed as if something had occurred to him.
“I see why you can’t easily give your heart to any of them right now.”
“You do?”
“Those who have lost everything they love are hesitant to carelessly love something new.”
Hearing that, the first thing I thought of was losing my parents.
“Because they don’t want to lose it again. So they try not to have it in the first place.”
“Does that mean… I’m incapable of love?”
“Stop with the nauseating melodrama.”
Sob, so mean.
I must be the tragic hero of this story.
“Cut the crap and remember what I said before. If you’re going to date someone, either date all the people who like you at once, or don’t date anyone at all.”
The solution Baeksan offered was shocking.
What kind of nonsense was this guy spouting in the 21st century?
As I stared at Baeksan, who had so casually suggested polygamy, he sighed and continued.
“You could live just fine without them, but they can’t live without you. I’m telling you this because I’ve seen it happen, so listen carefully, you punk.”
Shaking his head, Baeksan turned his gaze outside, clearly done with the conversation.
If he was going to give me an answer, I wish he’d given me a proper one.
Staring at Baeksan with a mournful expression yielded no further answers, so I got off the bus with a bitter look on my face.
Then, I pulled up a map on my phone.
“Where was it again? Dalgeuneul Pub, I think.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t far.
Just as I thought I could head straight there, my phone started ringing.
The caller was Seol-hyang.
“Hello.”
[ Ah, Ha-chan, did you get there? ]
“Almost.”
[ I’m sorry I couldn’t go with you. ]
“It’s fine. You’re busy with work. It’s okay.”
Listening to Seol-hyang’s voice, I started walking along the path I’d seen on the map.
[ The ones coming today are Naek and Eva-eonni, right? ]
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s a meetup that happened because Naek was so insistent, but yeah.”
[ Hmmm, two women. ]
For some reason, I felt a chill in Seol-hyang’s hum.
[ I don’t think Naek will be an issue, but Eva-eonni… hmm, she probably won’t be a big problem either. ]
“…May I ask what you mean by that?”
[ I’m just worried that someone else might fall for my Ha-chan. ]
Her whispering voice made me blush for no reason.
“Hey, I’m not that popular.”
[ Really? I was thinking that by now, Ha-chan would have started to pick up on things. ]
“I’m sorry.”
[ Yes, it is about time you noticed, isn’t it? I was probably the final push. ]
Just how much did Seol-hyang see through me?
What a scary girl.
[ Though it’s my fault for confessing even though I knew that. But I couldn’t hold it in any longer. ]
“Um, hey.”
[ I like you. So please don’t make the person who likes you anxious by adding any more people to the list. Okay? ]
“Uh, y-yeah.”
Her confessions had only gotten bolder since she first told me, and her continuous onslaught left me frozen.
[ Fufufu, call me when you’re done. ]
With a voice full of laughter, Seol-hyang hung up.
Is it really okay for me to keep being so indecisive?
Even though Baeksan had said what he said, I still felt a sense of frustration as I started walking again.
A few moments later, I arrived at the pub called Dalgeuneul.
Glancing around inside, I took out my phone to call Naek. A moment later, someone on the other side of the room answered their phone and stood up.
Her eyes met mine, and she broke into a wide grin, waving her hand without a hint of hesitation.
“Domi, over here!”
“Hey, hey, your voice is too loud.”
As people’s gazes turned toward us, I calmed Naek down and went to the table.
Naek, who had already ordered two bottles of soju and a beer, smiled at me while munching on the complimentary snacks.
She had dyed her hair a light brown, but other than that, she had a somewhat faint impression.
That was because her bangs hung down like a curtain, almost completely covering her eyes and hiding most of her face.
“Huhu, it seems my bangs have caught your attention.”
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like I enjoy having my hair like this. I have a… situation with my eyes! So please understand.”
A situation with her eyes?
I wonder if she has a Black Flame Dragon sealed in there or something.