CH 8

“Is it because it’s expensive?”

His tone was quite rude. It was a cheeky tone, as if he was asking, “No way, are your hands shaking with just this much holding something so expensive?”

Shin Heejae muttered to confirm it himself when I didn’t answer.

“How unexpected that you turned out to be bourgeois…” 

I was utterly offended by that rude way of speaking. I told him firmly.

[Sesam: lolol no, stop paying attention to my items]

[Sesam: yeah just get the right stuff]

[Sesam: who’s pointing fingers at who]

“Haa…”

Shin Heejae let out a deep sigh. Then I heard him typing something on the keyboard, and suddenly a notification went off that a new mail had arrived in my mailbox.

[High Elf’s Sacred Pendant +9]

Heejae sent me the pendant again. 

As soon as I saw it, I thought he wanted to go back and forth with me, so I raised my arms and approached the mailbox. Shin Hee-jae called out to me a beat faster.

“Noona.”

I wanted to ignore it, but I stopped the character and responded.

[Sesam: i told you i won’t accept it] 

“Why are you getting mad at me all of a sudden? I just gave you a present.”

It was a voice full of annoyance as if he didn’t really understand what was going on but from the subdued voice, it felt like he was suppressing his temper and asking calmly in his own way.

I really don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. This just sounded ridiculous to me.

[Sesam: since you are not skilled enough, if you wear this] 

“Oh, fuck that’s…”

Why is this fucking bastard swearing all of a sudden?

[Sesam: What? Did you say ☆☆ to me now?]

Yo mbegrf, P uba tfjafv eq. 

Lffpjf, atf yjrajgv, jirb rqjgfv cb alwf ab wjxf jc fzmerf lc j nblmf, ilxf klat tlr ajli vbkc, jr lo tf tjv wjvf j rilq bo atf abcuef ja atja alwf.

“Rbb… P vlvc’a rkfjg ja sbe… P kjr pera ogeragjafv. Ljj…”

Dea pera jr P kjr jybea ab rajga mtjaalcu, tf revvfcis mbeutfv jkjs ogbw atf wlmgbqtbcf. Pa kjrc’a j obgmfv mbeut, yea rffwfv wbgf ilxf tf kjr tbivlcu yjmx atf mbeut.

‘What, did he have a cold?’ 

I think his voice was a bit more hoarse than before…

I forgot what I was going to say for a moment and listened to the sound coming from the headset. Shin Heejae’s coughing noise continued a few more times, and soon there was a sound of clearing his throat.

And then…

“…I’ll go get some water.” 

After saying so in an indistinct voice, Shin Heejae turned off the microphone.

I was just looking at the game screen in a subtle state where I couldn’t really get angry or feel better.

However, while Shin Heejae was away, suddenly someone was boasting in the chat window with a high-performance ‘megaphone’.

[Trade: the person who bought the 9th grade pendant that didn’t sell for two months ㅠㅠ thank you so much lololololol] 

This person was a merchant who was often seen at auction houses.

As soon as I saw the ‘high-perphone’, I looked at the [High Elf’s Sacred Pendant +9], which made me feel uncomfortable again.

‘No way… You didn’t buy it and send it to me, did you?’

I was skeptical of the perfect condition, but I immediately shook my head. No, I didn’t wear 9th grade accessories so there’s no way he’ll buy me a pendant out of nowhere. 

‘No… right?’

But I really felt uncomfortable the entire time. And probably 10 minutes had passed. I felt even more uncomfortable after Shin Heejae said he was sorry in the chat, and that he needed to go to the hospital.

Shin Heejae said that he would take medicine and sleep for only two hours after coming back from the hospital, but eventually failed to come back online. I wondered if he had taken the medicines and stretched his nap. He didn’t even turn on the live broadcast he used to do almost every day.

“Honestly, he’s a bastard who just eats and plays games.” 

I clicked my tongue and laughed at Shin Heejae for having a weak body. Also, I went around the dungeon with the three clan members without Shin Heejae for the first time in a while.

But surprisingly… It was overwhelmingly faster to go around the dungeon with Shin Heejae than to do the same with these three. I didn’t want to compare, but because I was with other people, I came to acknowledge his skills a lot more.

[Huha: sesam-nim is really good at healing]

[Yewoo: i think you’re the best one] 

[Sesam: no lolol why are you being like this all of a sudden ㅠ]

[Lemonade: there must be a reason why clan master-nim kidnaps you every day…

[Yewoo: i respect you]

[Sesam: : ;;it’s not like that, it’s just that… Shin Heejae… -ssi is using me as a heal shuttle] 

No matter how many times I experienced the three-person dramatic dialogues I couldn’t get used to it. I tried to calm down the chat window, as I started to feel awkward for some reason.

However, they brought up the topic of Shin Heejae and I couldn’t tell if they were teasing or praising me as they chatted for a while.

[Yewoo: clan master-nim doesn’t even take a healer with him usually]

[Lemonade: what a real solo player ㅇㅇ] 

[Huha: right, looks like you don’t know the real purpose of a party]

Besides, because I joined the clan so quickly, they kept asking me about Shin Heejae. It turns out that Heejae was famous for his rugged ways of playing in the clan.

This felt something like… being a celebrity’s friend and you suddenly were thrust into the spotlight? Of course, such curiosity was a burden to me because Heejae and I were far from a friend-like relationship.

So I worked hard to prove that Heejae and I had a business relationship… 

[Sesam: no but it’s really like a solo play]

[Sesam: sometimes he acts like he’s a game pod who doesn’t even say a word lol]

[Huha: omg… didn’t you play together for almost 6 hours?]

[Sesam: lolol yeah right… what] 

[Sesam: there is nothing to say when you just walk around the dungeon]

[Yewoo: i see…]

[Yewoo: actually i… thought you two were doing great;]

[Sesam: sorry?] 

[Huha: ohlololol me too]

[Lemonade: lololololololololololol]

Yewoo suddenly spewed out some bullshit. He said something so terrible; that he thought Heejae and I were dating. I tried to curse with disgust, but suddenly I remembered my original purpose.

Actually, I gave up on the idea of dating Shin Heejae because it was going too slow, but if people around me misunderstand me and I don’t deny it… 

‘Isn’t this still an extremely beneficial revenge if I make the rumors go viral even if we’re not dating?’

Besides, Shin Heejae is sleeping right now and won’t be able to explain properly. Truly, a golden opportunity.

I swallowed my saliva and pondered over what to say to make the relationship between Shin Heejae and I seem plausible, and how to make the rumor fly as if from a million high-performance ‘megaphones’.

[Sesam: btw… about what hee… clan master-nim gave me] 

[Sesam: is it expensive?]

[Yewoo: what was it?]

[Sesam: the pendant i’m wearing right now]

[Huha: omg] 

[Lemonade: omg… did he really give it to you?]

[Sesam: yes ㅎㅎ… i said i’d give it back if it turned out to be expensive]

[Sesam: it’s expensive, isn’t it?]

In the meantime, I also changed [View Info] to public so that they can see it well. 

However, the party chat was silent for a while, and then Yewoo unnaturally denied my words.

[Yewoo: omg… it’s probably a 100 million lolol it’s not expensive so just use it]

[Huha: yep… just go for it lolol]

[Lemonade: ㅎㅎ; it’s a gift so don’t feel pressured ㅎㅎ] 

Of course, I had already checked the value of this item. So I immediately noticed that they were conspiring to help Heejae.

“Deceiving the person who’s trying to deceive…”

I snorted at such a small friendship, but based on their attitude, it was rather funny to think that rumors would spread when I or Shin Heejae wasn’t present. That was what I was aiming for in the first place.

“Rather than forcing myself to act cute to Shin Heejae…” 

It would be much easier this way, and it would be more advantageous to achieve this goal. I fanned the illusion of three people with a sinister smile.

“Ha…”

However, when I lay in bed after logging out, I felt a little embarrassed. After pretending to have something going on with Shin Heejae but acting innocent about it at the same time, I got goosebumps all over my body.

“Even if it’s being a netkama… It’s only possible if you put an iron plate on your face.” 

I was lying on the bed, stroking my aching neck, tossing around and turning on my phone as I started to read a webtoon that I had put on hold.

Then, I opened the messenger app, answered a few words to a message from Hyejin, and then pressed down on the message from Shin Heejae below it.

[Heejae: noona, i’ll only sleep for two hours]

It had already been 13 hours since he sent that. I wasn’t particularly worried, but thinking of the pendant made my fingers move for no reason.