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As soon as Han Jiho heard those words, a laugh burst out of him involuntarily.

Chaehyun and “elementary kid.”

They were words that didn’t suit each other at all. The others must have felt the same, as boisterous laughter continued without pause. The only one not laughing was Chaehyun, who alone was practically wearing a question mark.

Unfortunately, in this situation, no one was paying any attention to him.

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Damn, your memory is good. Wasn’t that video deleted? I only got to see it once because of that.]

【EchoThief】 [Yeah. Hepari probably deleted it because he got so much sh*t for it. It doesn’t even show up when you search Mitube.]

【WrigglingDdorak】 [Wow, but you remember that? That’s a bit suspicious.]

【1Jiho】 [Hehe. To be honest, I downloaded that video.]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Oh, you’re a genius.]

At 1Jiho’s words, laughter erupted once again. Again, the only one not laughing was Chaehyun.

EchoThief continued in a voice full of regret.

【EchoThief】 [Ah, I should’ve downloaded it too. Why didn’t I think of that?]

【1Jiho】 [Want me to send you the video? I downloaded it in high-def, so the quality is great. 98-nim, if you give me your email address, I’ll send it to you too. I even saved the post Hepari put up on Outven.]

[Party] HanJiHo98: Oh

[Party] HanJiHo98: Really?

This was a bit tempting.

Han Jiho fell into thought for a moment. He was curious about what on earth Chaehyun had done to be called an elementary kid.

【WrigglingDdorak】 [Hey, hey. Just upload it to E-code. So I can download it too. Everyone should see stuff like that together.]

【1Jiho】 [Ah, should I? Then I’ll upload it to E-code!]

【EchoThief】 [Okie-dokie.]

【ChaeChaehyun】 [Okay, you guys are kicked.]

【EchoThief】 [Ehh, don’t be so petty—]

But EchoThief’s words couldn’t reach the end. It was because Chaehyun actually kicked EchoThief, WrigglingDdorak, and 1Jiho from both the E-code voice channel and the party.

[EchoThief has been kicked from the party.]

[WrigglingDdorak has been kicked from the party.]

[1Jiho has been kicked from the party.]

“…”

In an instant, three people were swept away. Even though Han Jiho didn’t even have his mic on, he pointlessly covered his mouth and watched Chaehyun’s mood, while the sole survivor, JunkCollectionMaster, hurriedly began to defend himself.

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [I didn’t say anything. I was just listening. This is unfair.]

【ChaeChaehyun】 [Yes. You leave too.]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [No, you son of a—]

However, JunkCollectionMaster was also heartlessly kicked out.

Is it okay to abuse his authority like that?

Han Jiho suddenly wondered. No, first of all, he questioned whether the vice-clan leader even had such authority.

【ChaeChaehyun】 [98-nim, I’m sorry. It was hectic, right? Let’s leave for now and restart the matching.]

In the meantime, Chaehyun—apologizing in a soft voice as if he had never acted like a tyrant—left the game just before it started and began matching again. Regardless, it seemed he didn’t want to play a game with Hepari.

Since Han Jiho felt the same way, he waited for the matching without a word. Meanwhile, the E-code chat window was being flooded with messages of protest from those who had been kicked out.

[JunkCollectionMaster]

How did a guy like that become the vice-clan leader? tsk tsk

[JunkCollectionMaster]

What even is an “elementary kid”? I’m an old fart, so I don’t know stuff like that.

Han Jiho couldn’t stop laughing at the mess of a collaboration between the groveling Ggomjirak, the traitor EchoThief, and JunkCollectionMaster, who had suddenly become an old fart. He laughed so hard his cheekbones were starting to ache.

Then, Han Jiho suddenly remembered the chat Chaehyun had sent earlier.

‘First come, first served—one person stays, the rest are all kicked from the clan.’

It seemed the party members were misunderstanding something.

[Han Jiho]

Weren’t you going to kick everyone except for one person???

The atmosphere that had been ganging up on 1Jiho reversed in an instant.

[EchoThief]

I am sowy, from now on I will f*cking never mess around.

“Ah…”

I was curious, though.

Han Jiho looked at the chat window with a face of regret. Just as he was debating whether to try sending a whisper, a whisper flew in from 1Jiho as if they were sharing telepathy.

[Whisper] 1Jiho: 98-nim nim nim

[Whisper] 1Jiho: If you give me your email address, I’ll send you the video.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: Gasp

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: It’s hgh1111@kmail.com

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: lolol

Any concern about personal information had long since vanished. Han Jiho simply couldn’t stand not knowing.

[Whisper] 1Jiho: Yep yep lolol I’ll send it after the game is over.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: Thank you, I was really curious.. lol

[Whisper] 1Jiho: Hehe, it’s nothing.

[Whisper] 1Jiho: You just have to make sure you come to the meet-up. ][

Han Jiho, staring at the monitor with a slightly awkward smile, tapped on his keyboard.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: I will try

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: my best to attend.. lol

[Whisper] 1Jiho: Okay.

[Whisper] 1Jiho: For sure… ][

In the meantime, Chaehyun invited them back to the party, and matching was completed just in time, moving them to the lobby. However, the person waiting for them there was the same Hepari as before.

Seeing this, the party members grumbled in annoyed voices.

【1Jiho】 [Ah, it’s that bastard again.]

【EchoThief】 [Regame?]

【WrigglingDdorak】 [Yeah. I don’t want to do it with that guy.]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Me too.]

It was unanimous. Chaehyun left the room and started matching again.

The time it took to catch a new room was only about 10 seconds. However, the person waiting for them in that room was also Hepari.

[Server] [MT]Hepari: ?

[Server] [MT]Hepari: What’s this lol

Hepari also seemed to find the identical matching twice in a row ridiculous, as he typed that into the chat. But no one acknowledged him.

【EchoThief】 [Ah, this matching is fcking sht. Seriously.]

【1Jiho】 [Oh… at this point, isn’t it just that other users are avoiding him because they don’t want to play with him either?]

【WrigglingDdorak】 [Seems like it. Party leader. Let’s match again.]

【채Chaehyun】 [98-nim. Should we match again?]

【채Chaehyun】 [Yes. I’ll match again.]

【WrigglingDdorak】 [Phew…]

Only after Han Jiho replied did Chaehyun leave the room and start matching anew. Next to him, 1Jiho’s character was twerking, shaking its blocky mechanical buttocks.

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [Ah, when are we actually going to play the game?]

【EchoThief】 [Better than playing with that bastard.]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [I’ll give you that.]

【1Jiho】 [Ah, I wish someone would hack that guy’s ID and delete his account.]

【WrigglingDdorak】 [Isn’t there a skilled hacker somewhere? If I knew it’d be like this, I should’ve learned hacking.]

【EchoThief】 [Junk-ya. You said you’re in engineering. Don’t you know how to hack?]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [I’m in chemical engineering.]

【EchoThief】 [Chem-eng? Either way, it’s engineering.]

【JunkCollectionMaster】 [This is seriously ridiculous. From now on, if you’re sick, go to the vet.]

【EchoThief】 [Are you calling me a pig right now?]

【WrigglingDdorak】 [What kind of nonsense is this, seriously.]

Listening to the party members’ banter-like conversation, Han Jiho pulled out his phone and accessed the internet. Then, when he typed “Echo of Eternity Hepari” into the search bar, a long list of related search terms appeared below it.

Echo of Eternity Hepari│

Related Search Terms

Hepari manipulation

Hepari controversy

Hepari personality

Hepari hack

Hepari elementary kid

“…”

For some reason, every single one was negative. As the party members had said, it was clear he was a streamer with many problems in various ways.

Han Jiho first searched just “Hepari.” Dominating the top results were his profile on Sonamu-Wiki and his Mitube channel.

But among them, the one that caught his eye was a post titled:

‘[Summarizing the streamer Hepari Halloween event stream-sniping incident (feat. Ko-jwa).txt]’