Chapter 3

　　Wait. What?

　　Heejae logged in right after Heecat logged out?

　　Heecat was Heejae? Then what’s Tumble Rumble? Was Tumble Rumble… Malice?

　　My brain stopped working for a second.

　　None of the cheerful clan chat from seconds ago even registered. All I could see was that bastard Heejae’s obnoxious character walking into the clan room.

　　For a second, I wondered if maybe this was a different Heejae from the one I’d known a year ago, but my gut feeling was right. The bastard had even…

　　“This asshole’s still using the same character design.”

　　Heejae looked exactly the same as when he’d crushed me. Short black hair, plate armor that was obviously top-tier gear, and a Night Walker lance strapped to his back.

　　Then again, there was no way someone else on the same server could have the same username, the same class, and also be the master of a major clan.

　　The second I confirmed who he was, I hit R, my ult key. Right in the middle of the clan room, [Paranoma], the Elementalist’s ultimate, struck Heejae square in the back.

　　[Heejae]: ?

　　Of course, we were in the same clan and this wasn’t a PvP zone, so the skill did absolutely nothing besides trigger the visual effect.

　　Heejae looked baffled by the water bomb soaking his back, then shot toward me.

　　[Heejae]: o_o?

　　He pulled out his lance and swung it at my head. I reflexively used the [Duck] emote to dodge. It wouldn’t have done any damage even if I let him hit me, but for some reason, I just didn’t want to.

　　Apparently, the clan members thought the whole thing was just us messing around.

　　[Hoohaa]: Damn look whos adapting fast

　　[Lemonade]: besties already?

　　[Respect]: When I first joined, I was too scared to even say hi to the clan master… So much respect

　　“What the fuck are they talking about?!”

　　Their stupid reactions suddenly made everything feel pointless. I stopped moving my character, and that bastard Heejae pretended to stab me several times.

　　[Heejae]: u sure ur a newbie??

　　[Heejae]: u dodge so easily lol

　　Then Heejae started sizing me up in that cocky tone of his. I was furious enough to see red, so I shot back.

　　[Sesam]: U sure ur the clan master? lol

　　[Sesam]: U get picked off so easily lol

　　I’d only given him a taste of his own medicine, but the mood in the clan instantly went cold. The clan chat had been buzzing with conversation just a second ago, but now it had frozen over our exchange.

　　No. My messages, to be exact.

　　Of course, I couldn’t care less about anyone besides Heejae, so I simply ignored them. I was going to leave this trash clan on my own anyway, so until then, I had to needle the hell out of him and get under his skin somehow…

　　[Heejae]: lmaooooo

　　[Heejae]: sesam thats some massive ego you got there

　　But Heejae just laughed it off like it was nothing and tried to move on. I couldn’t hold back my anger anymore.

　　[Sesam]: Watch how u talk to me u f**ker

　　The moment I sent that, the lance Heejae had been lazily twirling in one hand came to a dead stop. The clan members watching us still didn’t say a word.

　　But his response wasn’t what I’d expected.

　　[Heejae]: wait how old are u o_o?

　　“What the… fuck.”

　　The fact that he actually asked my age without arguing made him seem like a completely different person from the Heejae I knew.

　　Could the vile bastard who’d slaughtered my clan members while taunting us until I was shaking with rage really be the same guy using this shitty little o_o emoticon right now?

　　A little thrown off, I crossed my arms and snapped back.

　　[Sesam]: U first

　　[Heejae]: 21 o.o

　　I already knew how old Shin Heejae was. Every now and then, the YouTube algorithm would drag me back to his channel, and I’d watched a few videos. Of course, I always made sure to hit [Report] and [Dislike] and leave a hate comment afterward…

　　Anyway, he’d occasionally go live and ramble about himself, so I’d picked up his age against my will.

　　[Heejae]: and how old are u o_o?

　　[Sesam]: Not telling

　　[Heejae]: ?

　　[Respect]: LOLOLOLOLLOLLLLL

　　[Respect]: Oh sorry, my little brother suddenly stole my keyboard…

　　As one forgotten memory after another came rushing back, all the hatred I’d tried so hard to bury suddenly exploded.

　　I actually wanted to rip this bastard apart. There was no way I was going to answer him nicely.

　　But instead of kicking me from the clan and cursing me out, Shin Heejae…

　　[Heejae has sent you a friend request — Accept / Decline]

　　[You have declined.]

　　[Sesam]: Tf?

　　Unbelievably, he sent me a friend request.

　　[Heejae]: sesam accept my friend request lol

　　[Sesam]: I told u not to talk to me like that

　　[Heejae]: but u never told me how old u are o_o

　　I was so pissed off by the bastard acting cheeky that I couldn’t take it anymore.

　　[Sesam]: I’m f1cking three years older than u happy?

　　[Heejae]: wow ur pretty old o_o but im still gonna talk to u like this Noona^[1] o.o

　　Heejae was clearly enjoying my reactions.

　　And the psycho must’ve had a friend-request macro or something, because every time I declined, he immediately spammed another one and made the request window pop right back up.

　　[Heejae has been added to your friends list.]

　　I hit Enter to swear at him to knock it off, only for another request to come in at that exact moment. And just like that, Heejae became the one stain on my pristine friends list.

　　Naturally, I went to block him right away. But as if he’d read my mind, Heejae started taunting me through the friends chat.

　　[Friend][Heejae]: if u block me ill follow u around every day o_o lol

　　[Friend][Heejae]: ill keep spamming party invites and if u leave the clan ill make sure u cant join another one

　　[Friend][Sesam]: Wanna d1e?

　　[Friend][Heejae]: u dont even have the skills for that Noona

　　I knew perfectly well he was deliberately trying to piss me off. But I still took the bait.

　　[Friend][Sesam]: If I kill u delete ur character heejae lol

　　[Friend][Heejae]: and what if heejae wins??

　　[Friend][Sesam]: I’ll keep u added lol

　　[Friend][Heejae]: aw cmon o_o thats kinda weak

　　[Friend][Heejae]: how bout being my healbot from now on o.o?

　　I clenched my trembling fingers into a fist, then forced myself to play it cool as I typed.

　　[Friend][Sesam]: Fine

　　[Friend][Sesam]: But I’m not max level and u are

　　[Friend][Sesam]: So u don’t get to use a weapon

　　[Friend][Heejae]: Noona u know thats kinda ridiculous right??

　　[Friend][Sesam]: F**k off wuss

　　[Friend][Heejae]: o_o… i was just worried ud cry if u still lost after all this Noona

　　Then Heejae unequipped the lance on his back. He was seriously going to PvP me without a weapon.

　　“Haha… so you’re looking down on me, huh?”

　　I immediately clicked Heejae’s username and hit [Duel]. A second later, both of us were transported to the PvP arena, [Bloody Rain].

　　[Traveling to Bloody Rain, where the souls of warriors reside.]

　　Bloody Rain was a map that looked a lot like the Roman Colosseum. Once we arrived, Heejae and I stood at opposite ends of the arena, glaring at each other.

　　And…

　　[Lemonade]: rooting for you Sesam!!

　　[Hoohaa]: If ur Korean u gotta root for Sesam…

　　[Respect]: Are we finally getting a new clan master?

　　The clan members were obviously trolling me, but they were watching the duel with plenty of interest. There was no way they were actually rooting for me. They were only this relaxed because they were completely sure Heejae would win.

　　“Fuck… them all.”

　　I bit down on my lip, trying to rein in my frustration, and checked my keybinds one more time. Then I went back over Heejae’s PvP playstyle, which I’d studied countless times.

　　A Night Walker’s signature skills like [Charge], [Ram], and [Ignore Defense] could only be used with a weapon equipped. With his lance off, those skills were off the table. In other words, I’d shut down his powerful frontal rushes for the moment.

　　Still, a Night Walker was no pushover even without a weapon. Its attack speed was insanely high.

　　Tense, I waited for him to make the first move.

　　[Heejae]: here i come o.o

　　Shin Heejae moved first. A red aura flashed around his character, and in the next instant, he closed the distance between us.

　　The skill he’d just used was [Rush], a Night Walker staple in PvP. It launched the user straight forward at high speed, but you couldn’t change direction until the skill ended.

　　I’d expected as much, so instead of backing away, I dropped a [Water Ball] directly in his path. Heejae flinched as he stepped into the puddle I’d created. Since he couldn’t change direction during [Rush], it was inevitable.

　　[Enemy movement speed greatly reduced.]

　　[Water Ball] was a trap skill that reduced movement speed by 120 percent the moment someone stepped on it. Naturally, Heejae’s movements became visibly sluggish, and I dodged his attack without much trouble.

　　Then I fired three [Water Arrow] shots at his back. I aimed one at his head, one at his stomach, and one at his thigh. No matter which way he dodged, at least one would hit.

　　In the end, Shin Heejae took one in the thigh.

　　Watching his HP drop by a tenth got me excited as hell.

　　I taunted him.

　　[Sesam]: u f**king suck lol did you buy ur account?

　　I’d wanted to throw that line back at him for so long. There was no way I could hold it in.

Translator’s Note

[1] Noona: Korean honorific term used exclusively by a younger male to address an older female.