Voice

I swallowed hard.

I'd been bold enough to suggest a voice call—but the moment I thought about actually talking to a girl on the phone, my heart started hammering in my chest.

I'm so nervous…

I took one deep breath, then moved the mouse with a trembling hand and clicked the link.

First step complete—I was in the voice channel.

Suboma was already in.

All that was left was to click into that voice channel.

…Don't chicken out. You don't even know what she looks like.

I put on my headset, squeezed my eyes shut, and forced myself to click.

Ding—!

I was in.

My heart was thrashing like it wanted out of my ribs. I kept silent and waited for Suboma's voice to come through.

"……"

Ten seconds passed.

"……"

Thirty seconds passed.

And still, Suboma didn't say a word.

What? Was her mic broken?

I was still wondering when it finally came.

"…W-why aren't you saying anything? Hello?"

At last—Suboma's voice.

Definitely a girl. Her voice had a distinctly young, almost childlike quality to it. It didn't quite match the rough way she typed in chat, but I didn't feel any real disconnect. Including my previous world, there were plenty of girls who talked rough. If that was her personality, of course her chat style would be even harsher.

No matter how much of a loser I was, I never bought into nonsense like that chat looks like a girl or that chat looks like a guy—as if women were somehow obligated to type sweetly. That was why I hadn't been able to guess her gender from chat alone. You couldn't sort people by gender off a writing style, of all things. Not when it wasn't even a voice.

"Hello…?"

Suboma called out to me again. I hurriedly cleared my throat and answered.

"Ah—yes."

"W-what. Are you actually a guy?"

"I told you I am."

Contrary to my fears, I managed to speak reasonably normally. She was almost certainly a beautiful girl too, of course—but imagining her as someone with below-average looks from my old world seemed to have helped. A kind of self-hypnosis, maybe. Only possible because I had no idea what Suboma's face looked like.

Still. Speaking somewhat normally was one thing—

"Why is your voice so quiet, though?"

—I couldn't help the way it shrank, small and cowed.

"Speak up. For all I know you could just be a girl lowering her pitch, so let me check properly."

"Aaaah."

I put strength into my throat and projected louder.

"Okay, you're really a guy. You're not using a voice changer, right?"

"Why would I go that far?"

"Well—to get close to a guy somehow… No, wait. If that were it, you'd have left the room the second you found out I was a girl. Then maybe you're just using a voice changer to mess with me…"

"I'm not that free."

She was awfully suspicious. With a personality like that, how had she even lent money to a total stranger in the first place?

"You're not lying? You're really a guy?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I've confirmed it, so I'm gonna hop off. Later."

"Wait a second."

I hurriedly caught Suboma before she could leave the voice channel. Where did she think she was running off to? I hadn't even gotten to the main point yet.

"…What?"

"There's a favor I wanted to ask you…"

I held onto Suboma and slowly laid out my situation.

Why I'd asked about her gender. The favor I wanted from her. Even the fact that I struggled with women—I told her everything honestly, then asked for her help.

I wanted her to be my conversation practice partner.

"So basically, talking to girls is hard for you, and you want me to help you practice?"

"Yes."

"Hmm…"

"If it makes you uncomfortable, you can refuse."

"No. It's not that it's uncomfortable—it's just, I'm not great at talking to guys either…"

"You seem to be doing fine."

"Of course I am now—we're not face-to-face. In person I can't even make eye contact."

So she was the same type as me. A strange sense of kinship welled up.

"Then how about you use this as a chance to practice talking to guys too? While you're helping me."

"Huh? What did you just say? Your voice was too quiet—I couldn't hear you. I've got the volume maxed out and I still can't hear."

Hah. I'd finally worked up the courage to say something long…

I steadied my breathing, raised my voice, and repeated myself carefully, word by word. Only then did it reach her.

"Practice? I'm never going to talk to a guy in real life for the rest of my life anyway, so I don't really need practice."

"You never know."

"Mmm…"

Suboma hummed again. Maybe she was mulling it over. Her voice didn't come for a while.

Awkward silence stretched on. About a minute later—

"Fine. Asking to talk a bit isn't that hard a favor. I don't know if I'll actually be any help, but I'll help for now."

Suboma had decided to take me up on it.

"Thank you."

"In exchange—from now on, you carry my alt for free, no complaining. And don't act all magnanimous about it."

"When did I ever act magnanimous…"

"You did it all the time. Anyway, what do we even talk about?"

"I didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠prepare a topic."

"You didn't even think of that? What were you doing?"

She had a point. I really was hopelessly unprepared.

"…For starters, how about we drop the formal speech?"

"Why drop it?"

"We already mix formal and casual in-game anyway, and I think the conversation will flow more naturally if we talk casually."

"Hmm. Fair enough. Then sure, whatever."

Just like that, we'd dropped the formality. Now all that was left was to keep talking, naturally, like friends.

"Hey, can you keep your voice up? It keeps getting smaller."

"I'm nervous. Can't help it."

"You can't even see my face. What's there to be nervous about?"

"I get nervous ordering delivery over the phone too. Same feeling."

"Ah. When you put it that way, I get it."

Good. The conversation was flowing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠naturally. I wanted to keep this atmosphere going.

"Hey, can I ask you one thing?"

"What?"

"You're ugly, right?"

"Out of nowhere…?"

"No, like—looks matter a lot for guys, don't they? The better-looking you are, the better people treat you. If you were handsome, everyone around you would've been fawning over you, and then you wouldn't have trouble with girls in the first place."

"……"

"Surprised I figured it out? Don't worry. I don't care about guys' looks at all. Even if you're ugly, I won't judge you."

It wasn't because of my looks. There were circumstances. I almost said so, then stopped myself.

If I tell her it's because something bad happened to me with a woman… the mood might get weird. Better not.

I'd just let her think whatever she wanted about my face. We weren't going to see each other anyway.

"Have some confidence. Looks aren't everything for a guy."

"Yeah. Thanks…"

"For the record, I'm nothing like those trashy bitches you've dealt with. I hate girls who only like a guy for his face, and girls who discriminate against ugly guys, more than anything. What's so special about looks anyway?"

Apparently Suboma really didn't care about men's appearances. Well—girls like that had to exist ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠somewhere.

After that, the two of us gradually opened up and kept talking about all sorts of things.

I even asked what her nickname meant.

"Don't try to figure out what my nickname means. You'll get hurt."

I also asked what on earth had made her lend me money when I'd first started the game.

"Oh, that? I've got a way to get it back no matter what. You think I'd lend money to a total stranger with zero insurance?"

"Yeah, no one who's not a complete sucker would. So what's the method?"

"My specialty is curse magic. If someone borrows something from me and doesn't pay it back within a set period, I can put a curse on them. Once it activates, they feel extreme pain. Oh—I can't kill them with it, though."

"Hold on. So if I hadn't paid you back…"

"I'd have told you about the curse, then kept triggering it until you paid."

Good thing I hadn't taken the money and run. Not that I'd ever planned to.

Past midnight.

In a small studio apartment, a girl who'd been sitting at her computer took off her headset.

"Whew. We talked for a long time."

Game nickname: Suboma.

She was the girl who had just spent two hours on a voice call with Kang Hahwi.

She shut down the computer, scooped up the wallet lying on the floor, and headed out. When she came down to the first floor—

"Nabi."

The landlady, drinking on the wooden platform outside, called her name.

"Where are you going this late?"

"Convenience store. Gonna grab some drinks."

"Yeah? While you're at it, pick some up for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me too."

"You're drinking more? Haven't you been at it since lunch?"

"How would you know I've been drinking since lunch? You never even leave the house when the sun's up."

"I saw you through the window."

"Creepy little thing, spying on people."

"Spying? Please… Anyway, cut back a little. You'll die young."

"My body's tough. Don't worry about it."

"Says the person who retired because her body gave out…"

Nabi sighed, turned her back, and started walking.

"Ah—right."

She paused and glanced back at the landlady.

"Seolyu. Should I get Cheoeumcheoreom for you?"

"No. Saero."

"Saero? Ah, the one in the white bottle? Got it."

Confirmation received, Nabi set off again. On her way to the convenience store, she looked up at the night sky and thought back to the voice call she'd just had with a guy.

I thought it'd be stressful at first, but once we got talking, it was actually kind of fun…

The corner of Nabi's mouth lifted, just a little.

Is he going to ask for voice again tomorrow?

She hoped so.

With that quiet wish tucked away, Nabi found herself looking forward to tomorrow.