MAX 33

Watching the chat with a frown, Han Jiho rubbed his solar plexus. For a while now, he had been feeling a sharp, pricking pain as if he were being jabbed with an ice pick. It felt as though his gastritis was acting up again.

[Server] HanJiHo98: Stop swearing.

[Server] [MT]Hepari: Fck off, btch lol

[Server] [MT]Hepari: No, seriously, what do these hackers think they’re doing acting all high and mighty? lol

[Server] HanJiHo98: ???

[Server] HanJiHo98: I’m acting like this because I know I didn’t use hacks.

[Server] 1Jiho: Bewildered-jam (funny) lol

[Server] EchoThief: Ah, this is so f*cking funny lol

EchoThief ▶ swingStrikeout

cocogus2 ▶ Olleh

cocogus2 ▶ Kku-kku-kka-kka

cocogus2 ▶ uroboros

cocogus2 ▶ Jjanttobaegi

In the midst of the heated argument, a flood of kill logs from his allies went up. It was a clean sweep by Chaehyun, who had taken advantage of a gap in the enemies’ defenses.

The current score was also 87 to 67. The victory was still heavily tilted in his team’s favor, but no one cared about winning or losing the game anymore because they were too busy having a keyboard battle in the chat.

[Server] [MT]Hepari: Bullsh*t lol

[Server] uroboros: Yep, report complete lol

[Server] [MT]Hepari: I’ve already recorded the video too, good luck.

[Server] HanJiHo98: Ah, okay.

[Server] 1Jiho: Go ahead and do it then;

[Server] EchoThief: Who asked?

[Server] [MT]Hepari: I’ll make sure you guys have to quit this game lol

[Server] [MT]Hepari: You vermin-like b*stards lol

[Server] cocogus2: Reflection.

[Server] 1Jiho: lol

[Server] swingStrikeout: F*cking elementary schooler.

[Server] cocogus2: Rainbow Reflection.

[Server] JunkCollectionMaster: lol

[Server] WrigglingDdorak: lol

From then on, the nonsensical stubbornness and pathetic threats continued. It was a waste of time to even keep the chat going.

Han Jiho quietly watched Hepari’s chat—who was running wild, claiming he would “educate” and “archive” him—and offered an apology to the party members who had to hear insults they didn’t deserve because of him. The people he cared about most right now weren’t the raging Hepari, but his teammates.

[Party] HanJiHo98: Sigh

[Party] HanJiHo98: I’m sorry, because of me

[Party] HanJiHo98: ㅠㅠㅠ

He just wanted to have fun playing the game. So why did things like this keep happening?

With the label of “hacker” clinging to him and refusing to drop off, Han Jiho was reaching a point where he was experiencing a total reality check (hyunta).

【Chaehyun】 [Just ignore it. You don’t need to pay attention to stuff like that.]

Han Jiho, who had been wiping his dry face, let out a slight laugh without realizing it at the intense tone woven into the low voice. For some reason, the pain seemed to subside when he thought of that pale face smiling at him.

【1Jiho】 [That’s right. It’s just because you’re so good that he’s exploding with inferiority complex (yeol-pok).]

【WrigglingDdorak】 [Agreed.]

【EchoThief】 [That guy is a total psycho, so ignoring him is the only answer.]

[Party] HanJiHo98: Still.. ㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: It’s okay, it’s okay!

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: Let’s finish this quickly and start a new game gogogo.

【EchoThief】 [Eh, do we really need to finish it? Let’s just leave. It’s not even a ranked match, whatever.]

【1Jiho】 [That’s true. It’s probably better to just leave.]

At the words of EchoThief and 1Jiho, Han Jiho nodded while looking at the chat.

The game had long since become an afterthought. From the moment the excuse of a “hacker” appeared, the outcome was no longer important to the players on the enemy team. It was a waste of time to deal with people who just hid in the respawn area and poured out raw insults.

【Chaehyun】 [98-nim. Shall we leave?]

【EchoThief】 [Sigh…]

EchoThief let out a sigh at Chaehyun’s voice, which unerringly sought out Han Jiho again. The rest of the party members burst into laughter, but Chaehyun, as expected, didn’t even react. He simply remained silent, as if waiting only for Han Jiho’s answer.

Han Jiho rubbed his chin for a moment and typed on his keyboard.

[Party] HanJiHo98: Yes.

[Party] HanJiHo98: Let’s go again lol

The screen changed as soon as he typed. It was because Chaehyun had left the game as if he had been waiting for it.

【WrigglingDdorak】 [We won’t meet him this time, right?]

【1Jiho】 [Probably? If we get matched again, it would be legendary.]

Back on the main screen, a “Matching” message appeared, and the party members began to talk while cursing Hepari. The top of the chat window was plastered with the insults Hepari and his friends had spewed.

Han Jiho scrolled up to glance at the content and frowned slightly. It was irritating that he hadn’t been able to play a single decent game for over 30 minutes because of guys like that.

The party members felt the same.

【WrigglingDdorak】 [No, but do you realize we haven’t played a single game properly yet? It’s so ridiculous.]

【EchoThief】 [Sigh, that dog-like dung-fly b*stard. Junk, try to make some cyber insecticide.]

While Han Jiho was feeling deep empathy for EchoThief’s words, a window suddenly popped up on the screen along with a familiar notification sound.

[[MT]Hepari] has sent you a friend request.

Accept | Decline

It was a friend request from Hepari.

No, he’s sending a friend request after acting like such a d*ck?

“Crazy…”

Han Jiho let out a hollow laugh when he saw it. It was absurd. It was obvious without even looking that if he accepted, a stream of insults would come flying through whispers. He had clearly been underestimated—properly underestimated.

[Party] HanJiHo98: lol Wow

[Party] HanJiHo98: Hepari sent a friend request.

When he informed the party members, insults began to pour out as if they had been waiting.

【1Jiho】 [Eh? A friend request? Is he insane?]

【Chaehyun】 [Seriously?]

【WrigglingDdorak】 [Wow, his cyber-bully behavior is off the charts.]

【EchoThief】 [He really is a madman.]

[Party] HanJiHo98: Yeah.. lol

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: Wow lol

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: Look at him sending a friend request just to swear;

[Party] JunkCollectionMaster: Truly Tier 1 mental illness lol

【WrigglingDdorak】 [Exactly. 98-nim, hurry up and decline and block him. If you don’t block him, he’ll keep doing that sh*t, right?]

[Party] HanJiHo98: Yes, I should do that lol

[Party] HanJiHo98: Ah, this is so baffling lol

[Party] 1Jiho: pat pat

[Party] 1Jiho: ㅠㅠ

【EchoThief】 [Seriously, what is all this over one mental case?]

【WrigglingDdorak】 [I’m telling you, it’s right to avoid Metubers. There are so many weird people.]

【1Jiho】 [At this point, isn’t Metube just a massive gathering place for the mentally ill?]

In the first place, there was no reason or need to accept it. Han Jiho clicked the decline button while listening to their conversation.

And after thoroughly completing the block, he let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. Even though he hadn’t even played properly, he felt exhausted. It felt like he had seen some kind of abyss he shouldn’t have during that short time he encountered Hepari.

While he was waiting for the matching to progress with such a weary mind, a whisper arrived. The sender was none other than Chaehyun.

[Whisper] cocogus2: 98-nim

[Whisper] cocogus2: By any chance, could you let me know the replay code for the game we just played?

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: Replay code?

A replay code. Was there such a thing?

Han Jiho tilted his head at the fact he hadn’t known and typed on his keyboard.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: Where do you see that?

[Whisper] cocogus2: Ah, if you go into your profile, there’s a tab on the right called ‘Records.’

[Whisper] cocogus2: You can see the replay records of previous games there.

[Whisper] cocogus2: If you press the share button next to it, a 7-digit code appears. You just need to tell me that.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: Ah, hold on a second.

Han Jiho checked his profile.

Just as Chaehyun had explained, the records of games he had recently played remained in the ‘Records’ tab. Unlike Xenoforce, it seemed EoE kept play records even if one left in the middle of a game.

“Oh…”

To think EoE had a feature like this too.

After checking the share code for the very last game played, Han Jiho told it to Chaehyun.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: NR16YC3

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: There it is lol

[Whisper] cocogus2: Thank you ㅎㅎ

But thinking about it, Chaehyun should also have the replay record. Not understanding why he was specifically trying to see Han Jiho’s, he tilted his head and typed again.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: But can’t Chaehyun-nim see this too???

Then, just as he was about to add an explanation in case his chat seemed confrontational, Chaehyun’s chat came up.

[Whisper] cocogus2: Ah

[Whisper] cocogus2: This is so crappy that you can only see it from the player’s own perspective.

[Whisper] cocogus2: So if you want to see it from someone else’s perspective, you have to get their code.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: Oh, really???

As it turned out, the feature was very limited. It was almost a shame to compare it to Xenoforce’s replay feature, which allowed one to look around every corner of the map in a free camera mode, as well as the perspectives of other players including oneself.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: That’s crappy.. lol

[Whisper] cocogus2: lol Compared to Xenfo

[Whisper] cocogus2: the feature is a bit trash.

[Whisper] cocogus2: Still, it’s better than nothing lol

[Whisper] cocogus2: It’s more useful than you’d think.

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: That’s true lol

[Whisper] HanJiHo98: But why do you want to see it from my perspective???

Wait, it’s not because he thinks I actually used hacks, is it?

Han Jiho bit his lip at the situation that felt strangely familiar. It was because he recalled Chaehyun’s past behavior when he had tried to personally verify whether a user on an enemy team had used a hack.