"H-hey!!"
"Jungleeerrr!!!!"
"Missing in action!"
"The opponent's tower is still fine, so what's our jungler doing?!!!!"
Screaming and loud keyboard clicks resounded through the room, and the pungent odor of cigarettes intertwined with the aroma of all sorts of food.
A red-haired girl wearing a baseball cap and a young man with sharp eyes sat in the lower seats.
"Hey, the blue is mine."
Chae YeonJoo, the woman with red hair, said while frowning.
She was using a phoenix character made of ice.
KangWoo, sitting next to her, didn't seem like he could hear her. He attacked the blue golem with a character that shot small, poisonous needles.
A thick tendon appeared on Chae YeonJoo's forehead.
"Hey, you bastard! Don't eat the blue!!!"
"But my mana recovers faster when I eat it."
"Why would you need it?!"
"I need to throw out more mushrooms."
Chae YeonJoo gripped the back of her neck at his words.
"Ugh, I feel like I'm going to die. My blood pressure…"
She held back her tears and pressed the ‘tab’ key.
She looked at KangWoo's item.
"You went AD…?"
"Yes."
"You motherfucker! You suddenly asked me to come to a cyber cafe, yet you do something like this. What kind of shitty trolling is this?!"
Chae YeonJoo grabbed KangWoo's collar and shook him.
When she took her hands off the keyboard, an enemy hero ganked and killed her character.
"Agh!" She screamed.
Chae YeonJoo looked at the gray screen while holding back her tears.
"You… bastard…"
"Hey, this character seems terrible. Why is the mushroom damage so low?"
"It's your head that's bad!"
Suddenly, the enemy forces destroyed their base.
'Defeat' appeared on the screen in red letters.
"…"
Chae YeonJoo trembled.
KangWoo clicked his tongue.
"We lost again. Ah, I'm going to get one more order of ramyeon. I'll also order a coca cola, mandu, and a fish-cake bar. YeonJoo, do you want something?"
"Hey, why did you come here?!"
"Why did I come here?"
What nonsense was that?
"To eat ramyeon, obviously."
"Ah…"
Chae YeonJoo collapsed on the chair while grabbing the back of her neck.
Intense anger stimulated her.
"Y-you bastard… I missed a meeting for this…"
It had been 10 days since the war ended.
Although the world was going through an unprecedented peaceful time since the Cataclysmic Day, the situation of a large-scale guild like Red Rose was different.
She had to deal with the aftermath of the war, pay money to the family of the deceased, and help the wounded.
Of course, most of it was handled with the money that was sent to Guardian from all around the world.
Still, she was the leader of a guild.
She was busy moving and making sure the guild members that had taken part in the war were given the best possible reward and compensation.
All that and she'd taken time off to meet KangWoo.
KangWoo smirked and kept talking.
"It's been a while since I wanted to come here."
"What, an internet cafe…?"
"It's where we first met. Now that I think about it, it was a rough first meeting… but well, thanks to that, I received a lot of help, so I wanted to come here with you given the opportunity."
He'd received a lot of help from Chae YeonJoo.
In the first few months, when he'd become a lot weaker thanks to the Ten Thousand Demon Core having been sealed, she’d enabled him to get through the roughest moments fairly easily.
'We both were after something, but I can't deny that I've received a lot of help.'
The entrance permission to the S-rank gate, or giving him unique-rank equipment as support…
Lilith had been doing the necessary research he needed lately, but before he met her, it was Chae YeonJoo who did it.
"Agh, ugh, that…"
Chae YeonJoo was trembling with her mouth hanging open as if he’d said something unbelievable.
Her cheeks turned as red as her hair.
"I… I was trying to use you as well."
"As expected."
It was a textbook answer—it was a Chae YeonJoo-like answer.
KangWoo smirked and turned his eyes to the computer again.
"…"
Chae YeonJoo glared at KangWoo as if she found it upsetting.
For some reason, she looked like Han Seol-ah.
"Haa, what am I going to do with you?"
She sighed.
Surprisingly, she wasn't feeling annoyed.
No. Instead, her heart was beating faster, and the ends of her mouth were trying to go up.
'Have I lost my mind?'
Chae YeonJoo shook her head.
‘To think that my heart would beat faster at something that virgin said.’
'But still…'
* * *
A noisy internet cafe…
It was a place she often went to enjoy playing video games before she Awakened as a player.
In the end, going to such a place with KangWoo wasn’t that unpleasant.
‘We haven’t been talking much as of late either…’
He'd become too distant and gone up to a place she couldn't even dare to look.
When she first met him, she knew a day like that might come someday.
She realized he would go so far away that she wouldn't even dare to catch up, but she was feeling bittersweet because that day came sooner than expected.
She couldn't even call him whenever she was bored.
YeonJoo looked at KangWoo, who was eating another ramyeon.
'All because… he holds a heavy burden.'
He had to stop the world from being destroyed by the Demon of Prophecy.
The scale of the burden was so big that she couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.
She was the leader of a large-scale guild, so her baggage was also quite heavy, but still, it couldn't be compared to KangWoo's.
"I'm also going to order ramyeon…"
"Fuu. Fuu. Slurp! Right? One should eat ramyeon while in an internet-cafe!"
"Although people don't usually come to an internet-cafe to eat ramyeon."
Chae YeonJoo looked at the monitor while making a bittersweet smile.
The time she was spending with him made her feel excited.
She looked at the monitor while trying to hide her blushing cheeks.
There….
[Your rank has decreased to Bronze II.]
"You motherfucker!!!!"
Her voice spread through the internet cafe.
"You asshole!!"
* * *
Clack-
"I'm home."
He opened the door and entered his apartment.
Han Seol-ah, who was sitting in the living room, tilted her head.
"You're early. Didn't you say you were going to hang out with YeonJoo?"
"Ah… She suddenly got up and left," KangWoo said while scratching his head in confusion.
'She was looking at me as if I'd killed her parents.'
He couldn't understand what the point of rank in video games was. Wasn't the purpose to enjoy playing?
KangWoo smirked as he recalled what happened in the internet cafe.
'Still, it was fun.'
Especially the ramyeon—it was delicious.
The flavor of the ramyeon eaten while playing couldn't be compared to the flavor of ramyeon eaten at home.
'Is it similar to eating popcorn while watching a movie?'
He had never been to the cinema, but for some reason, he felt it should be similar.
"What did you say to YeonJoo…?"
Han Seol-ah looked at him suspiciously.
"I really don't know. She seemed angry because we lost a game."
"Hmm."
Han Seol-ah scratched her cheeks as if she found it confusing.
She had also never played video games before, so she couldn't understand Chae YeonJoo's attitude.
"KangWoo, does that mean you’re free today?"
"Yes. We were supposed to eat dinner together, but she just walked off."
Since his plans were canceled, he naturally gained some free time.
Echidna snorted in excitement.
"Hngh! Hgnh! Then let's watch some anime!"
She grabbed KangWoo's collar with shining eyes.
KangWoo smirked and patted her.
"Hmm?"
KangWoo tilted his head while patting Echidna.
"Did you grow?"
Echidna's body had grown quite a lot.
She nodded and continued talking.
"It's as if… after the war, my body was filled with strength, so my height and this place grew," Echidna said while pointing toward her chest.
Was it because she was standing next to Han Seol-ah?
'It's just a cliff.'
To be honest, he couldn't tell the difference.
‘Should I use the Authority of Insight?’
"KangWoo, do you prefer a younger look…?"
"No way."
He shook his head.
Although he'd become a demon, that didn't mean he'd lost the basic moral values of a human.
'Echidna…'
It was true that he couldn't see her as a member of the opposite gender.
He knew that her real age was a couple of hundred years old, but due to her mannerisms and appearance, he couldn't think of her as a member of the opposite gender.
That's why he hadn't reacted despite Echidna's constant tries to appeal to him.
"Hngh! I'm glad."
Echidna snorted, relieved, and nodded.
'Still…'
KangWoo looked at her.
'It's because of me, right?'
Her growth was probably related to him.
"Hmm…"
He fell into thought.
According to Echidna's explanation, it would take her a couple of hundred years to grow from a hatchling into a full-fledged dragon.
'Did the time get brought forward because of me?'
He wasn't sure whether that was good or bad news.
After all, he had never heard about dragons.
'I should ask Lilith to investigate a bit.'
KangWoo sat on the chair.
As always, Echidna sat on his lap.
Was it because she'd become taller? He couldn't see forward very well.
"I'm going to get as fat as Seol-ah soon!"
"F-fat…"
"Come on, Seol-ah isn't fat at all."
After Echidna said it while clenching her fists, Han Seol-ah's expression paled.
KangWoo smirked as if he thought it was nonsense.
"I… got… fat?" she mumbled in a soulless voice.
It seemed like she didn’t hear him.
"N-now that I think about it… I haven’t been going into gates as much recently…"
"Excuse me? Ms. Seol-ah?"
"Mr. KangWoo eats a lot, so I feel like I've been eating a lot too…"
"Can you hear me?
"Th-things can't stay like this! Mr. KangWoo, I'm going to diet! Tonight, there's no kimchi stew! From now on, Mr. KangWoo also won't eat dinner!"
"Cough!"
KangWoo's eyes widened at her lightning-like words.
KangWoo did his best to change her mind as he dripped in a cold sweat.
"…"
After the vortex-like incident passed, KangWoo sat quietly on the sofa and looked at the living room.
The life he'd always dreamt of was right in front of him.
'I hope the days like this continue from now on.’
KangWoo smiled and closed his eyes.
* * *
Clack. Clak. A low sound echoed out.
Tang. Lilith cut something with a knife.
A liquid similar to crimson blood dripped out.
"Fu. Fufu."
She smiled while looking at the dripping red liquid.
