MAX 21

And that was exactly how he fell asleep.

Han Jiho opened his eyes with a disheveled face. What woke him from his escapist slumber was the phone he had left on the desk. The vibration—which he didn’t know when it had started—was ringing incessantly.

“Ugh…”

A groan escaped him automatically as he tried to lift his body. His face was puffy, and his neck felt stiff and sore. It was the result of falling asleep right in the position he had collapsed in.

He slowly got out of bed, thumping his stiff neck and shoulders. Then, staggering toward the desk, he checked his phone. A familiar name was on the screen. It was Seo Jaeyoon.

‘Is he back already?’

Seeing that name reminded him of the message he received yesterday morning, saying Jaeyoon was returning home early due to local circumstances. It seemed he had just arrived in Korea.

Just as he was about to answer the call, the vibration suddenly stopped. On the screen were 17 missed calls from Seo Jaeyoon.

Then, the phone started ringing again. Looking at the history, it seemed he had been calling continuously until Jiho picked up.

“Crazy bastard…”

Han Jiho made a face, fed up with his friend’s borderline obsession, and pressed the call button. After switching to speakerphone, he heard loud music and the faint sound of wind. He wasn’t sure where Jaeyoon was, but it sounded like he was calling from a car.

“Hello.”

— Hey, why aren’t you picking up? I thought my lungs were going to burst from frustration.

“It was on vibrate, so I didn’t hear it.”

— What? Don’t tell me you just woke up?

“Yeah…”

Seo Jaeyoon let out a hollow laugh, and Han Jiho let out a long yawn as he checked the time.

Current time: 1:37 PM.

He didn’t remember exactly what time he fell asleep, but he was certain it was before midnight. That meant he had slept for at least 12 hours; apparently, his escapist sleep had been even sweeter than expected.

— It’s not like you’d stay up all night playing GenPho at this point, so don’t tell me… EoE?

There was a hint of anticipation in Seo Jaeyoon’s trailing voice. Han Jiho wiped his tired face with one hand and replied.

“Yeah. I did play, but I didn’t stay up all night.”

— I knew it! So you did play. It’s fun, right? I told you it’s addictive as hell.

“It was fun, I guess.”

The problem was there was a slight issue.

Swallowing the words he couldn’t bring himself to say, Han Jiho habitually massaged his neck.

“Did you arrive today?”

— Yeah. Arrived on a morning flight and I’m on my way home now.

“Ah. You must be tired.”

— To your house.

“Huh?”

What is he talking about now?

Han Jiho frowned at the sudden words.

“You’re coming to my house right now?”

— Yeah.

“Why? Don’t you have a schedule?”

— What do you mean ‘why’? I’m going so we can have lunch together for the first time in a while. And I’m on vacation for three days starting today!

Han Jiho let out a snort at the brazen remark. He could see right through his one and only friend. It was obvious he was coming over to play EoE with him.

“Lunch, my foot…”

— JoJo. There is a wonderful word in this world called ‘killing two birds with one stone.’

“Wow. Aren’t you tired?”

— Not really. I slept plenty on the plane. Oh, what do you want for lunch? Anything you want to eat?

“No. I just woke up, so not really. Eat whatever you want.”

At that, Seo Jaeyoon, as if he had been waiting, began to rattle off a ‘list of foods he wanted to eat.’

— Right now, I’m thinking Kimchi-jjigae, Doenjang-jjigae, Samgyeopsal—oh, Bulgogi-deopbap sounds good too. Or should we have Yukhoe? Ah, damn, I want Yukhoe-bibimbap. No, wait, should we have Mulhoe? Since the weather is hot.

All sorts of dishes popped out randomly. The menu was so inconsistent that it was impossible to tell what he actually wanted to eat.

However, since they couldn’t eat everything, the final menu Han Jiho chose was Kimchi-jjigae and Samgyeopsal. It was because that’s what he wanted to eat.

“Just eat Kimchi-jjigae and Samgyeopsal. I’m ordering that.”

— Why did you even ask if you were going to order whatever you wanted?

“I was just curious.”

After grumbling in a sullen voice, the call ended with Seo Jaeyoon saying he’d arrive in about 10 minutes.

Han Jiho opened a delivery app, ordered from a place with decent reviews, and smartly made sure to get a Zero Coke size-up through a review event before heading to the bathroom to wash up.

When he finished washing and came out, Seo Jaeyoon was sprawled out on the sofa. The food hadn’t arrived yet.

“You’re here.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

After exchanging a greeting that could hardly be called a greeting, Han Jiho went into his room and applied lotion. Then he brought out the laundry basket to start a load and washed the cereal bowl he had left in the sink since last night.

Meanwhile, Seo Jaeyoon was dozing off on the sofa as if it were his own master bedroom.

Then the food arrived. As Jiho was bringing the food into the living room after pausing the vacuuming, he saw Seo Jaeyoon already sitting at the table. In that short time, he had even set out the utensils and bowls.

“Were you that hungry?”

“No. I just really missed Korean food.”

The way he sat there clutching his spoon made him look like a beggar living under a bridge.

“Eat up.”

Han Jiho said that as he ladled a generous portion of Kimchi-jjigae for Seo Jaeyoon.

“Uh, thanks…?”

Seo Jaeyoon tilted his head as if sensing something was off, but he soon lost his mind to the bowl full of Kimchi-jjigae in front of him. The way he hungrily mixed his rice into the soup and shoveled it in made him look like a total street beggar.

For a while, the two men focused on eating without any conversation.

Seo Jaeyoon was the first to speak. He had emptied his rice bowl and even finished half of the Zero Coke—a drink he usually despised, claiming he didn’t know why people even drank it.

That son of a…

Han Jiho swallowed a curse as he stared at the empty soda bottle.

“What level are you now? You’re not at the level cap yet, right?”

Without any pleasantries, he went straight to gaming talk.

“I think I’m around 40 now.”

He replied while reclaiming the half-full Coke bottle from Seo Jaeyoon. He couldn’t let this be taken away.

“Only 40? Did you not push the campaign?”

“Ah… yeah.”

Come to think of it, he didn’t remember touching the campaign after starting Dimensional Clash and Energy Spike. At most, he did some weekly quests? It was because the PVP content was more fun than expected.

“Then what have you been doing all this time?”

“I did modes. Energy Spike and Dimensional Clash. Did some weeklies, too.”

“With who? Doing modes alone must have been tough?”

Han Jiho briefly scanned Seo Jaeyoon’s reaction at the suspicious tone. It was because he remembered Jaeyoon repeatedly begging him to play together.

“Uhh, with clan members.”

“Clan members? What. You joined a clan?”

“Yeah, well. Somehow…”

“Wow, didn’t you tell me you were just going to test the waters?”

Han Jiho peeked at Seo Jaeyoon’s expression. Fortunately, his friend didn’t seem particularly hurt. On the contrary, he looked proud, like a salesman who had successfully closed a deal.

“I guess I did.”

Honestly, he had no intention of playing this seriously. He just planned to test it out briefly and then play a few times with Seo Jaeyoon once he returned to Korea.

“See? I knew you’d like it. Man, I’m glad you listened to me, right?”

“Listen to you, my ass.”

That is, if he hadn’t met Chaehyun.

“But how did you end up in a clan? You don’t usually like that kind of thing. You say it’s a hassle.”

Han Jiho, nodding at the question, thought of Chaehyun again.

Chaehyun played a huge role in him finding the game fun and getting attached to it when he had only meant to dip his toes in. Without him, Jiho surely would have just played the campaign halfway and quit once it got tedious.

Unlike GenPho, where you can easily play alone just by using matchmaking, Echo of Eternity is a game where party play is encouraged.

“I just got close to them while playing together.”

“Who? Don’t tell me it’s that alt account you met during the tutorial?”

“Yeah. I ended up playing with that person’s clan members as well.”

“Wow. The great Han Jiho actually made gaming friends. But those people wouldn’t know that you’re that Han Jiho.”

“They don’t. Of course not.”

If they knew, they wouldn’t have said those things in front of me.

WrigglingDdorak. 1Jiho. JunkCollectionMaster. EchoThief. Hansum. And Chaehyun.

Han Jiho shook his head as he recalled the conversations they had blabbered. He had even met Chaehyun in person and given him an autograph. Just thinking about that day made him break into a cold sweat from embarrassment and shame. He felt like he wanted to hit the back of his own head to erase the memory.

“How is it now that you’re in? Are the people nice?”

“Yeah, well. They’re all nice. They’re nice, but…”

When he trailed off, unsure of how to put it, Seo Jaeyoon gave him a puzzled look. His face asked what the problem was.

“They’re nice, so what? Are they your anti-fans or something? Do they badmouth you?”

Badmouth? Han Jiho let out a hollow laugh at the unexpected suggestion.

Honestly, badmouthing would be better. If that were the case, he would have just left the clan without any lingering regrets.

“No. It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“Turns out, a few of them are my fans.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah.”

“But what’s the problem with that? Isn’t it better if they’re your fans?”

“Right. But they all like me too much.”

“What?”

“The problem is they like me too much.”

“…What kind of bullshit is that? Did you get heatstroke?”

Seo Jaeyoon frowned. His gaze was like he was looking at a crazy person trapped in a fit of self-importance.