MAX 11

After finishing a truly hellish workout, Han Jiho, who had headed to a salad shop with Lee Taeyoung, discovered a surprising fact.

It was the fact that his trainer, Lee Taeyoung, was also a user of Echo of Eternity.

Han Jiho found out while they were talking about why he had overslept.

When he mentioned he had stayed up all night playing a game for the first time in a while, the trainer showed curiosity. When asked what game it was, Jiho replied Echo of Eternity, and the trainer reacted with a start.

“You play EoE, Jiho?”

At that question, Han Jiho momentarily wondered if it was a game he wasn’t supposed to play. It was because Lee Taeyoung’s reaction was one of pure disbelief.

But that was only for a moment.

“You should have told me sooner!”

Lee Taeyoung said, his face lighting up with delight.

“Pardon?”

“I play EoE too. Since when did you start? If I’d known you played, we could’ve played together!”

“Ah…”

‘And here I thought it was a dead game.’

Han Jiho nodded while thinking that. It seemed the rumors that the game was being reborn as a “god-tier game” after the management changed weren’t entirely false.

“I started yesterday. A friend kept pestering me to try it.”

As he replied while picking at his salad with a fork, Lee Taeyoung asked in an even brighter voice.

“Really? I guess your friend plays EoE too?”

“Yes. He’s probably been playing since the early days.”

“Oh! Me too! I’ve played since the open beta. At first, I really thought it was a dead game, but as I kept playing, it got fun.”

“Ah, I see.”

It was fascinating. It was similar to what Seo Jaeyoon had said—that it was a dead game but strangely fun, so he couldn’t quit, or something like that.

At first, Jiho had ignored him, wondering what kind of nonsense that was. But having actually played the game, he felt like he understood what Seo Jaeyoon meant.

Even though it had only been a day since he started, unlike its reputation as a dead game, the content was diverse, and the number of users was higher than expected.

Above all, it was fun.

Han Jiho recalled the game he played last night while eating his salad.

He had been annoyed by the presence of cheaters that seem to exist everywhere, but after that, there weren’t any particular problems. The MVP was Han Jiho every time, and the POTG (Play Of The Game) selections were always his. It went so far that people even suspected he was a “fossil” pretending to be a newbie.

Furthermore, the party members he met through Chaehyun were very pleasant and fun, so playing a game for the first time in a while was extremely enjoyable. By the time he had played all night, four more users had been added to his friend list.

Ah, come to think of it, Chaehyun asked to play together in the evening.

The memory he had forgotten suddenly surfaced. They hadn’t set a specific time, but since he said yes, it was a promise nonetheless.

Maybe I should log on around 7 PM.

He was just about to answer Lee Taeyoung’s question about which class he chose while thinking that.

“Ah, I’m a Vitalis…”

Since it was past lunchtime, the sound of the door opening rang out in the shop, which had almost no customers coming or going. Reflexively, Han Jiho raised his head and looked at the person entering.

Wearing a black cardigan over a white T-shirt, an exceptionally handsome man—enough to elicit spontaneous admiration—was walking in like a model with a friend.

‘…He’s handsome.’

The moment he saw that small face, the impression of “handsome” occurred like a spinal reflex. He didn’t even have time for other thoughts. The features packed perfectly into that small face stole Han Jiho’s gaze and thoughts.

He looked a little bit taller than himself, so maybe around 187 centimeters?

His black pupils, contrasting with his clear, porcelain-white skin, sparkled like stars in the night sky. It was a face so fine it almost felt “pretty” at a glance, but his thick eyebrows and sculpted, straight bridge of his nose clearly revealed a solid masculine charm.

“…”

Then, feeling like he might have made eye contact with those pitch-black eyes, Han Jiho turned his head away involuntarily. He had only just looked, but his cheeks grew hot as if he had done something wrong, and his heart pounded wildly. He couldn’t even understand why he was acting like this.

“What is it?”

Lee Taeyoung, looking puzzled by Han Jiho’s behavior, turned his body to look behind him. Then, seeing the man as well, he let out an exclamation of “Wow.”

“Whoa, he’s really handsome. Tall, too. Truly, the world is unfair.”

Even though he wasn’t someone who lacked in looks himself, Lee Taeyoung grumbled like that. Han Jiho was a bit embarrassed by Lee Taeyoung, so he turned his head at an angle and pretended not to hear.

“Huh? He’s coming this way.”

But suddenly, Lee Taeyoung said something strange.

Coming this way?

Startled, Han Jiho whipped his head around to look at Lee Taeyoung.

“Why?”

“How should I know? Maybe he’s a fan of yours, Jiho?”

A fan? With that face? My fan…?

“No way. Probably not.”

It makes no sense.

Han Jiho muttered quietly, denying Lee Taeyoung’s words.

Unless it was a die-hard fan, there would hardly be anyone who would recognize him, given it had been over half a year since he retired and he hadn’t done any public activities.

So, Han Jiho bit his lip slightly while glancing at the man walking toward their table, just as Lee Taeyoung had said. The handsome face was frozen stiff as if he were angry. He seemed to be in a very bad mood.

Well, even if it was because he was handsome, wouldn’t it be natural to feel bad if another man was staring at you?

So, while he was deliberating for a moment whether he should apologize for staring, the man who had approached suddenly—

“Excuse me, are you perhaps the player Han Jiho?”

…He spoke, blowing Han Jiho’s worries away. All that came out from between Han Jiho’s lips, which had been biting down, was—

“Yes?”

…Just a stupid response like that.

Then, as if he had never frozen his face, the man scratched the back of his head with a beautiful, eye-curving smile. His smiling face was full of awkwardness, shyness, and sparkling anticipation.

Seeing that face, Han Jiho felt a momentary sense of déjà vu.

It was because he had the same expression as the fans he had met countless times at past fan signing events.

Though his appearance was exceptionally striking, of course.

“Ah, yes… I am, but…”

He had wondered, but for it to be real.

Feeling awkward in return, Han Jiho glanced at Lee Taeyoung sitting next to him. With his arms crossed, he was looking at Jiho and the man with a gratified face. That gaze was a bit burdensome, but the real problem was the man standing in front of him.

“I’m really a fan, so… would it be okay if you could give me an autograph just once?”

The man with the most handsome face he had ever seen among men claimed to be a fan and requested an autograph. And he did so while flashing an eye-smile that seemed like it would melt like cotton candy.

Momentarily staring blankly at the man’s face again without realizing it, Han Jiho snapped out of it when the man said he was sorry if he was being burdensome. No matter how handsome he was, acting like this in front of a fan was rude.

Quickly shaking his head, Han Jiho replied with his “public-service” smile.

“Ah, no. It’s fine. I’ll do it for you.”

“Ah…, yes. Thank you.”

The man’s expression seemed to stiffen for a second, but it was fleeting. In the blink of an eye, it returned to a face full of shyness and expectation.

“Ah, then could I perhaps get an autograph too?”

Once permission was given, the man who seemed to have come with him also cautiously requested an autograph, and Han Jiho, having regained his attitude as a veteran player, nodded skillfully.

“Yes, of course. Ah, but I don’t have any paper right now…”

The problem, however, was that he had no pen or paper to sign with.

So Han Jiho looked around just in case, but all he saw were napkins. It was unlikely that a shop selling salads would have pens and paper available.

Then, the man who had been standing shyly said, “Just a moment,” and ran to the counter. After talking with the staff standing there, he returned shortly after receiving something.

What was held in his hand was none other than a red permanent marker.