The Last Day of the Server
The final day of the Minecraft server arrived after a stretch of ordinary days spent continuing to play. Yeowu, Giseong, Kei, and the Haram & Yeon-a duo all joined in, and we tackled raids with real dedication. Once the guild system was introduced, I threw myself into the game even harder. And today marked the very last day of that server.
As usual, I woke up around eleven, washed up, and sat down at my computer desk. The muscle pain in my legs had eased a little, and they felt slightly better, as if some strength had returned. “…It’s probably just my imagination, but still.” This much was enough, wasn’t it? It was good news that I was slowly improving, so I smiled. “Time to stream… It’s the last day, so I should wrap things up properly.”
So many things had happened. I’d built a house, and even if the circle was small, I’d made three streamer acquaintances. I’d wanted to expand it a bit more, but everyone treated me like the server mascot, the village chief’s pet, or the party’s monster and barely spoke to me. It wasn’t outright bullying. Still, the feeling that they found getting close to me too burdensome was strong. Even so, making three new friends was something.
Yawning, I started the stream.
Reading the incoming chat, I smiled. ‘I’m glad everyone enjoyed it.’ It wasn’t even my server, yet I felt strangely proud.
“Ahem…! Hellooooo……” I turned on the mic and greeted everyone a little shyly.
The chat flooded with “vamha.” I nodded to myself. It was my own made-up greeting, and a lot of people seemed to like it.
“Shall we work hard on today’s stream too……”
With that, I started the broadcast, smiling brightly as I wandered alone across the map. I entered the dungeon we’d first cleared and took screenshots, looked up at the sky from the house I’d built, and cleared out all the reinforced wheat fields. For the finale, I even did a performance where I poured lava and threw away my items.
“This is fun. What should I do with the time left?”
Even after playing so hard, plenty of time remained. When I asked what to do, one chat message flew in.
Thinking it would be nice to chat a bit about my leg, I answered with a bright smile. “Yes, the muscle pain has mostly gone away now.”
A kind viewer worrying about me. Starting with that person, a flood of questions followed.
* * *
In a dark room, a man watched Suhyun’s stream with a smile on his face. He compared the captured text and avatar on his phone. As expected, it was her. It was that child he knew. The very child who had dragged his life into the abyss.
—Crash!!!!
In an instant, his fist flew, breaking the desk leg and scattering trash across the floor. The memory of that day was still vivid in his mind.
‘Don’t move!!’ ‘Kids, this way!’ ‘What are you people doing! I’m their father!’
Police officers aiming tasers. And behind them, a female officer preparing her own taser while evacuating his two daughters and son. The man had charged forward, but two taser shots had brought him down helplessly.
‘The defendant, Yu Takhon, directly and continuously assaulted minors, causing serious injury to the eldest daughter, Yoo Suhyun, and is therefore sentenced to three years in prison for child grievous bodily harm. Furthermore, he is prohibited from approaching his children for one year after release.’
—Bang, bang, bang!
He could still hear the judge’s merciless gavel. Everything had collapsed. The only silver lining was that Sujin had run away, so the rape and kidnapping charges hadn’t stuck. Takhon felt like he was going insane.
“I fed them, housed them, did everything for them… and this is how those pathetic brats repay me……”
They had betrayed everything and driven him to this point. In Takhon’s eyes, Suhyun was nothing more than endlessly weak prey, nothing but his slave. What master would be pleased that his slave had thrown him into prison? Rage surged through him.
At least he had been paroled after becoming a model prisoner thanks to the skills he’d honed while wearing a mask for eighteen years. Even with that damn electronic anklet, it wasn’t a big deal to him.
“…I will definitely, definitely kill her.”
His burning desire for revenge was already aimed at Suhyun. He had never dreamed he would find the thread of his revenge in an internet post he happened to see. He began preparing thoroughly. It turned out she had quite a few fans, so he roughly figured out which direction she had gone. Recently, he had even been camping in Suhyun’s stream, observing her. Of course, that included Giseong, Yeowu, Kei, Haram, and Jiu, who were close to her.
Takhon began monitoring their streams countless times. He confirmed that Giseong ran a gukbap restaurant and that Suhyun had recently eaten gukbap there. The connections in his notebook were already coming together.
“…All I need to find out is where she lives.”
Unable to go out freely, Takhon surfed the web diligently, gathering every possible clue. Without anyone noticing, he mingled among the Jireongi and asked various questions. For example:
And Suhyun had answered brightly that it was fine. Of course, the more Suhyun smiled, the deeper the wrinkles on Takhon’s face grew. He mainly asked questions that let him check on the other person’s physical condition while pretending to worry. Human madness slowly consumed him, making him even more absorbed. And today, Takhon obtained the clue that would complete his perfect plan.
“…Tch, guess I shouldn’t donate too much like this either.”
Clicking his tongue, Takhon still stared at the screen.
“……”
Staring at the screen with dead eyes, Takhon added another clue to his notebook with one hand. Perfect darkness had settled in his room.
* * *
Before I knew it, I had arrived at the plaza and looked around. I was searching for the guild members who were supposed to be gathered without me.
Following their suggestions, I nodded and headed toward the guild building. “It’s a bit far, but… I-I guess I should go anyway.” I didn’t even send any whispers as I said that. After walking a little farther, I arrived at the guild building.
“Ah, there they are…!”
Only then did I see the guild members. Smiling brightly at the sight of them gathered together without me, I bounced over to them.
“E-Everyone…!!”
“Yeowu…! I’m sorry for being late.”
Yeowu answered with a gentle smile, and I felt relieved as I quickly apologized to Giseong and Kei as well.
“I-I’m sorry……”
Both Giseong and Kei told me it was fine. Smiling brightly, I thanked them and looked at Haram.
“M-Mom… I’m sorry.”
“…I’m sorry……”
Haram really said it was okay. Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked at the only empty spot—Yeon-a’s seat. I’d heard everyone was gathered, but apparently not.
“Huh…? Where did Kits go?”
I asked without thinking, but the chat’s reaction was strange.
“Eh…? R-Really? She’s singing?”
“Ah……”
Yeowu and Kei teased me with giggles. Watching them, I felt so embarrassed I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole.
‘Aaaah… Someone hide me……’
Please, someone hide me. I’m dying of embarrassment.