Vol 1 Ch 8

<<Moving to ‘Howling Canyon’.>>

 

The screen changed to a desert terrain. Sandstorms whipped around, stinging my skin.

 

Following Moment, we reached a canyon.

 

As we passed through the canyon, small reptiles like scorpions started following us. Moment created flames on the ground he walked on, blocking the monsters from getting close. He also didn’t forget to check if I was following properly.

 

‘Yeah. This is what they call ‘power leveling’.’

 

We walked for a long time until we reached the end of the canyon, where a wide, dark area opened up. Moment briefly raised his hand, signaling me to stop.

 

“From here on, you need to stay a bit away from me.”

 

Then he leaned in and asked, “After I catch that, you’ll link it for me, right?”

 

Since he didn’t seem to be a higher level than ShutUp, giving him a little bit of the gauge should be enough. I nodded, and Moment gave a pleased smile.

 

With a whoosh, Moment’s body was engulfed in flames. Seeing him transform so close up, I was startled by the sudden intense heat. He seemed to be walking slowly, but Moment gradually rose into the air. It was like climbing invisible stairs.

 

As Moment, who looked like a ball of fire, walked into the darkness, a monster hidden within appeared. It was a knight in black armor, holding a long spear in one hand and a large venomous snake in the other. Above the monster’s head, it read [Eligor Lv.60].

 

As Eligor opened its eyes, before swinging its spear, the venomous snake first lunged forward, trying to bite the airborne Moment. The ring Moment held began to burn brighter, its size changing freely.

 

Moment, who had been assessing the angles, suddenly threw the ring towards the snake’s head. Just as the snake lunged again, the ring flew towards it, encircling its neck and then shrinking instantly with a snap! The head, severed cleanly enough to see the cross-section, dropped to the ground.

 

Thump!

 

The ring returned to Moment’s hand like a magnet. It flew freely as if attached by a string and, as always, returned to Moment.

 

As the snake died, it began to rot rapidly, spewing poisonous gas around. It didn’t reach me, who was relatively far away, but it wasn’t entirely without effect. I coughed and covered my nose. If it were real poison gas, it wouldn’t have ended with a sneeze. Now, it smelled slightly sour, like vinegar, and my nose itched.

 

I quickly cast a shield, blocking the smell. I didn’t want to just protect myself, so I cast a shield on Moment too.

 

But there was no need for it, as Moment’s flames seemed to act as a shield, just like ShutUp’s. As Eligor’s giant lance was about to strike, a pillar of fire erupted from Moment’s body, blocking the attack.

 

With a light wave of one hand, Moment sent a pillar of fire from his other arm to attack Eligor. The blow landed squarely, and Eligor suddenly roared.

 

“Kuaaaah—!”

 

The ground shook as if the entire area was experiencing an earthquake. Soon after, rocks from the surrounding canyon began to pour down. Something was falling from above where I stood too, and a giant rock fell with a crash!

 

“Ugh!”

 

I quickly looked up and saw a rather large rock falling towards me. I narrowly dodged to the left, like in a game of dodgeball. After a moment, more pebbles rained down from above, so I rolled my body. I rolled once, landed, and opened my eyes…

 

CRASH!!!

 

A rock was embedded right in front of me.

 

“Haa…”

 

If I had rolled just a little faster, that rock would have been my gravestone. But I didn’t have a moment to catch my breath. The ground vibrated again, and stones fell like hail.

 

“Seriously! Psychics never think about their guides!”

 

As if hearing my shout, Moment turned his head. Then, he instantly flew up, creating a trail of fire on the ground, and threw two fireballs at the wall next to me. The flat wall indented, creating a hole large enough for a person to fit through.

 

“Get in there. You’ll be able to avoid the falling rocks.”

 

Moment’s eyes turned red, making him look like a demon from hell, but his tone was as gentle as when we first met. After blinking twice, I saw him floating in front of Eligor again.

 

Without wasting any time, I entered the hole. As soon as I crouched down, the ground shook violently. Where I had been standing moments before, a rock the size of an elephant now lay with a thump.

 

Since I was being power-leveled, I felt I should do something, so I cast the Relax skill ShutUp had given me yesterday. I saw Moment’s hands, which were throwing fireballs while circling Eligor, stop.

 

“Our Gentle Touch is doing a pretty thing.”

 

Moment’s relaxed voice echoed in my ears. Being kind was good, but unlike ShutUp, he was effeminate. If they were mixed half and half, it would be perfect. ShutUp and Moment were truly polar opposites.

 

Moment enlarged the ring he held to its maximum size. It floated above Eligor like a halo. The ring, engulfed in flames, began to rotate at various angles.

 

From a distance, it looked like a burning circle was being created. The rapidly rotating ring descended onto Eligor’s position. As if using a binding skill, Eligor couldn’t move and let out a monstrous roar, while the ring spun faster, consuming Eligor’s head.

 

The sound of meat being sliced in a butcher shop echoed loudly. Eligor’s flesh flew everywhere, splattering against the canyon walls. A piece of flesh, perhaps Eligor’s ear, landed near me, who was far away. Since it had touched fire, it smelled faintly of burning.

 

Moment’s ring instantly swallowed its head, and without its head, the limp body was ground up without resistance. More flesh than before flew out in all directions. About half of its body was ground up, and the remaining body fell to the ground like a waterlogged cotton ball.

 

<<‘Eligor’ has been defeated.>>

 

Just then, like ShutUp, Moment touched something in the air. As he slowly emerged from the hole, the abundant flesh began to blur and disappear. The smell of burning and the sour, poisonous scent that had filled the air also vanished. It was as if nothing had happened in this canyon.

 

I saw Moment approaching with a joyful expression.

 

“Gentle Touch! Thanks to you, I was able to cast [Desperado]! Kyah, it’s been so long. I didn’t have a partner.”

 

Then he hugged me tightly. His body, which had been covered in flames earlier, had returned to normal.

 

As if from defeating the boss, my body flashed several times. Looking at the experience bar at the bottom, I was now level 42.

 

ShutUp’s skills were also massive and powerful, but the skill Moment used now looked even more terrifying. He initiated a trade and handed over the loot dropped from the boss.

 

“You didn’t have to give me everything.”

 

“No, I have plenty. Take it all, Gentle Touch.”

 

I thanked Moment and closed the trade window. Looking at the party window, his PG bar was filled up to 80 percent.

 

“Now, link it for me.”

 

Moment said cheerfully, removing his armor piece by piece.

 

“No, no. You don’t have to take it all off like that.”

 

Despite my protests, Moment grabbed my shoulder and pulled me down. The force was so immense that I momentarily wondered, ‘Huh? Is his level really high?’

 

The force of him pulling me down made one of my legs bend. As I sat down, Moment leaned in close.

 

“…….”

 

I don’t know when he took it all off, but his erect penis was visible before my eyes. Wondering what kind of situation this was, I looked up, and Moment was licking his lips.

 

“Suck it, quickly.”

 

“……What?”

 

Moment pressed his lower body even closer to me. I frantically grabbed his pelvis and tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t budge.

 

“Wait, wait. Holding hands or kissing, that’s not it, right?”

 

“It’s more effective to be caressed like this.”

 

“Ah, no. Still, this is a bit much!”

 

I turned my head as much as possible to refuse, and he said, “Hmm, is that so? Is this too one-sided?” and nodded.

 

‘Haa…’

 

At least he was someone I could talk to, which was a relief. Soon, he gently took my hand and helped me up, and I thought he would just link with me while holding hands.

 

However.

 

“Then, a kiss is okay, right?”

 

The moment he said that, Moment kissed me.

 

But what was this sense of foreignness…? Unlike with ShutUp, I couldn’t focus on the kiss. I just thought, ‘He’s linking,’ and counted the seconds in my head, waiting for it to end.

 

Barely opening my eyes, I looked at the party window and saw Moment’s PG value dropping from 80 to 50, while my GG shot up to 60 in an instant.

 

‘Why are the values like this? It’s filling up much faster than ShutUp’s.’

 

I felt like I was going to faint again like this, so I pounded on Moment’s chest.

 

“My, gauge! Gauge!!”

 

“Oh? It really is.”

 

Moment pulled away, checked the values, and nodded. I tried to step back a couple of paces, but he held my hand tightly, preventing me from doing so.

 

“Gentle. It seems your charm index is incredibly high? Usually, when I do this much, everyone faints? At your level, they should. But seeing that you still have GG left… you want to steal it from ShutUp.”

 

Moment lowered his head again and asked me how I thought of him as a partner.

 

In my eyes, ShutUp and this guy looked the same, but unlike kissing ShutUp, I didn’t feel much emotion towards Moment. Thinking I needed to escape, I broke free from his grasp and quickly opened the keyboard screen. However, Moment, who noticed this, grabbed both my wrists and bound them above my head.

 

“It’s not over yet, it would be troublesome if you left.”

 

“I, I have 20 percent left. If I do any more, I’ll faint!”

 

“You have 20 percent left, how much more until it’s gone? I’m curious.”

 

Moment lowered his head again and pressed his lips against mine. Even though I tried to refuse his tongue invading my mouth, it pushed in stubbornly, and I couldn’t stop it.

 

“Mmph, mmmph…!”

 

It was hard to keep my mouth shut because my head was turned. Seeing me accept his tongue with a groan, Moment laughed, saying it was incredibly arousing. Beep beep— With a sound, my mind became dizzy. Soon, the screen turned black, and the character selection screen appeared.

 

<<‘GentleTouch’s’ GG is full and entering faint mode. Approximately 23 hours required until recharge.>>

 

A message like that appeared, just as it had with ShutUp. I sat on the sofa, my mind in a daze.

 

Ding ding ding— Ding ding.

 

The alarm sound pulled my consciousness back to reality, and with a flushed face, I slowly got up from the sofa and stumbled to the bathroom on wobbly legs. While brushing my teeth, I gradually regained my senses, but the lingering feeling of the long kiss with Moment remained. Spitting out the foam, I ran my tongue around my mouth.

 

“…Ah, I’m going crazy. I finally understand why this game is so addictive.”

 

I still felt Moment’s tongue, which had entered like a living mollusk, lingering in my mouth. I sat on the toilet and covered my head.

 

‘No, why am I only kissing men…?’

 

I seriously considered whether I should give that game back to Sangcheol.

 

–

 

After arriving at work in the morning, I had a phone call with Hanwoo.

 

[There are plenty of female guides, so why are you with a guy? Are you crazy?]

 

When I asked him if he had ever linked with a man, Hanwoo replied with disgust.

 

Right. I don’t know why I only meet crazy guys. After waking up at 4 AM and going through that, I came to the office and started spacing out, and I’m still spaced out even now during lunch break.

 

I tried to log in early to avoid ShutUp, but it wasn’t a great method. And more importantly, since I was in faint mode, going home to log in was out of the question. I planned to go home early and just sleep.

 

“Hanwoo. I learned Relax.”

 

[Do you want to be my guide?]

 

“You just cursed at me for linking with a guy, did you get amnesia?”

 

I couldn’t bring myself to say that the link was a kiss. That would be truly embarrassing, even as a friend. Hanwoo would chuckle and laugh every time I asked about links. Just hearing the word ‘link’ made him burst into laughter, so a kiss was something I had to take to my grave.

 

Anyway. Moment didn’t seem like a high-level player, but he used incredibly flashy skills. I don’t know the exact probabilities since I haven’t matched with him, but it seemed to fit quite well. However, seeing the PG and GG values rise and fall, ShutUp was significantly more effective.

 

‘The feeling was different too.’

 

The kiss was better with ShutUp too… Probably the chemistry was even more…

 

“Ah! Snap out of it. Don’t imagine it.”

 

I chided myself and took a sip of coffee from my mug.

 

It was lunchtime, so there were many office workers walking around on the street. ‘I used to be like that too,’ I thought, looking at them enviously through the glass wall.

 

There were good points about working alone, but the loneliness was unbearable. Even if I wanted to hire a licensed real estate agent, I couldn’t afford the monthly rent comfortably yet, so it was impossible.

 

Just then, one woman from a group of women wearing employee IDs around their necks walked towards me. I quickly pretended to be busy, typing something on my PC. In the search bar, which I had opened meaninglessly, a string of unknown words was written.

 

“Excuse me, I came to look for a one-room apartment for rent.”

 

“Yes. Please come in.”

 

She looked fresh, like a recent graduate. Since she seemed to have just finished lunch, I made her a cup of coffee and asked about her budget. Fortunately, it seemed her parents had supported her, as she had a considerable deposit.

 

“I’d prefer a fully furnished one if possible. And a new building, if you can.”

 

“Is that so? Just a moment.”

 

There weren’t many fully furnished places in this area. Still, I found one remaining listing on the transaction network and called the responsible real estate agent.

 

Fortunately, it hadn’t been taken yet, so I left the office with her. The dark and gloomy black car was still parked in front of my office. As she left with me, she asked if it was the boss’s car.

 

“No. It’s from the building across the street.”

 

The car was certainly cool, as passersby glanced at it once before moving on. I felt a pang of regret seeing people only look at the car and not my office, but it really was cool.

 

“This way.”

 

We walked a short distance, chatting casually, and arrived in front of the building where the property was located.

 

However… while the exterior was decent, the interior showed signs of use. Honestly, it wasn’t great, but I couldn’t say that directly.

 

Normally, you’d slightly exaggerate even a not-so-good house and only mention its advantages, but as soon as we entered, the first thing I saw was a dead spider. While I was startled, she kindly cleaned it up for me. There wasn’t much sunlight either, and apart from being fully furnished, everything else was subpar. She seemed to feel the same way, looking bored, and after a cursory look, she said she had seen it well and left first.

 

“Boss. Excuse me, are there any rooms in that building over there?”

 

As we walked side-by-side on the way back, she suddenly pointed at a building.

 

It was clearly a new officetel building.

 

And I knew about this building.

 

I had made a mental note of it when a much younger guy at a real estate meeting mentioned he owned an officetel building. However, I didn’t know exactly how many rooms were available. Whether it had a managing real estate agency or not, transactions were ongoing, but it didn’t appear on the network.

 

“Hmm… I’ll have to look into that.”

 

“My acquaintance lives there, and they say the owner is quite cool and nice. So, are there no rooms?”

 

“The owner is cool?”

 

Cool, or rather, cold and chilling? If that’s cool, everyone would freeze to death.

 

Well, I suppose they might be nice to tenants who pay money. Hearing her talk, it seemed she had even been inside the building, and she looked disappointed as she looked at the officetel. For now, I handed her my business card and said I’d look into it and contact her, then saw her off.

 

As I saw her off at the office door, I saw Jun about to get into his car. She stopped walking and looked back and forth between him and the car.

 

“Hey, hey!”

 

Seeing my urgent call, Jun, who was about to get into the car, stood up again.

 

“Mr. Jun! Can we talk for a moment…”

 

He was dressed smartly in a jacket, unlike his usual tracksuit and hood. Jun closed the car door with a thump without a word and approached me. The scent of wood I had smelled in the car wafted strongly. I guided him into the office and sat opposite him demurely.

 

“What is it?”

 

Jun asked for my business as soon as he sat down casually on the sofa. I hesitated to offer him a drink and got straight to the point.

 

“Um… that officetel building at the intersection, that’s yours too, right?”

 

“And?”

 

“If you have any vacant rooms, would you consider renting them out? I have a customer looking.”

 

“Female, male?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

I assumed he was asking if the person looking for a place was female or male. Most landlords preferred women, citing their neatness and tidiness.

 

“She’s female.”

 

“No.”

 

So, I confidently answered that she was female, but he replied curtly and got up from his seat dismissively.

 

‘Huh? Why?’

 

It was absurd. Normally, they’d ask about move-in dates, deposit and rent amounts, or if there were pets. But this guy asked about gender and flatly refused upon hearing it was a woman.

 

“Why did you say no…”

 

“It’s my choice.”

 

Ah… Right. He was like this.

 

For some reason, I felt a surge of competitiveness and asked, “Would you show it to me if a male customer came?” He cut me off with a definitive answer:

 

“20s to 30s. I don’t want anyone older. And I don’t want anyone who isn’t good-looking.”

 

“What does that have to do with the rent…”

 

“I just don’t want to deal with other people.”

 

‘He’s not normal… This is confusing.’

 

Jun checked his watch, concluding the conversation, and stood up from the sofa.

 

As the sound of his jacket rubbing against the sofa leather was heard, I, whose mind was in chaos, also stood up. Following him towards the door, I quickly asked, “So, are men in their 20s and 30s okay?”, “How many floors are left?”, “Can I see them anytime?”

 

Then, as he opened the office door, he turned around and pointed at my mouth.

 

“Hey, shut your mouth. One at a time.”

 

‘Mouth?’

 

At a moment I should have been offended, my thoughts overlapped, and I wore a bewildered expression. The reason I fixated on that word was that I had saved ShutUp’s number as [Mouth].

 

Seeing my silence, he crossed his arms and gave me short, one-word answers before turning to leave. In case I forgot, I quickly went to my PC and took notes.

 

[Room 401, Room 508… Room 1302 vacant, password. Both 0223… Entrance door is…]

 

That was the extent of it. I could ask about the entrance door again later. Or ask the security guard. Still, I was happy to have a potential transaction. After all, the building looked really good from the outside.

 

But, separately from that, something tugged at the back of my head. It sent a strong, unidentifiable signal. I felt like I was missing something important. Pondering what it could be, I clapped my hand.

 

“Ah, right! This guy spoke to me informally!”

 

I had overlooked that fact because I didn’t have time to be offended. Yes, I concluded that this must be why I felt uneasy.

 

As Jun’s car disappeared, the area in front of the office became brighter. I could see passing people better, which was nice. Perhaps because of that, another customer walked in, and I finalized the contract for the one-room apartment that the previous female customer had found unsatisfactory after dealing with the spider.