CH 10

[Sesam: I don’t need that]

I stopped my fingers as I reflexively refused him.

I thought that his private daily account might contain a lot more information than I had right now. In particular, it could have his face that he kept a secret so far.

“He’s probably pretty ugly, but…” 

When I thought of the very ugly Shin Heejae, taking a selfie while holding up a pose, I subconsciously smiled. Thinking about being able to see the evidence of that guy’s ugly face made my mood brighten.

“I think his face will be chubby and he’ll wear glasses… and have a neck like a turtle.”

Even if I didn’t get to see it, I could get an estimate, but it will be the type of fun that could not be compared with the destructive power of seeing it in reality.

[Sesam: OK]

So, I accepted. Shin Heejae posted a link in the chat window. I hurriedly opened up SNS and applied to follow. A few seconds later an alarm sounded saying that I had been accepted.

I started to scroll through one by one the daily photos of the guy who had uploaded quite a bit.

And…

“Why doesn’t noona tell me what your account is?” 

“…”

“So thorough. Noona, are you a pig?”

“…”

“Just kidding. And I like the chubby type.” 

“…”

“Well, it’s fine… But noona, are you looking at my account? Why aren’t you talking?”

Fuck…

[Sesam: is that photo theft??] 

“Huh? Puhahaha! Why? Because I’m handsome?”

The smirking voice revealed a faint confidence in his own face.

I hated to admit it, but it was a face worthy of that.

I was about to get angry. 

[Sesam: No? u look ugly lol]

Of course, I had no intention of conveying my true impressions, so I naturally denied it.

However, Shin Heejae seemed to have already noticed my bewildered behaviour. He teased me with a tone that showed that he clearly was unbothered.

“Noona are you actually farsighted?” 

[Sesam: lol]

[Sesam: it’s not a lie, a face like yours is common on the street lol]

P gfqilfv atja lc mtja, yea P kjr rkfjglcu ab wsrfio jr P ibbxfv ja atf qlmaegf bo tlw rajcvlcu cfza ab jc ewygfiij bc atf yfjmt lc j yjatlcu rela.

Memx… Jbwqjglcu atf tfluta klat atf qjgjrbi, tlr tfluta rffwr ab yf bnfg 185. Dfrlvfr, ktja jybea atf rtbeivfg? Rb wjaafg tbk kfii xlvr ugbk atfrf vjsr, kf kfgf bcis atgff sfjgr jqjga… Pa kjr tbcfrais mgbrrlcu atf ilcf atja Vtlc Lffpjf kjr atja ajii klat remt j ojmf. 

It was Shin Heejae’s attitude that made me even more pissed. No matter how much I attacked him, he was steadfast without hesitation. It was evident that he knew very well what standard his face was.

“My face is common? Where does noona work?”

[Sesam: no. It’s not common, it’s just ugly ㅎ]

“Haa… I see. Then I’ll be noona’s ugly person, hm?” 

At the same time, he changed his nickname to [Ugly♥] and ran around my character noisily.

That refreshing attitude was something that only a really good-looking person could have, so I couldn’t bear it and fired a water bomb over the head of Heejae’s character. Of course, I couldn’t kill him because it wasn’t PVP.

Shin Heejae chased the water bomb and giggled as if he was in a water park.

Ah, fuck. I’m annoyed… 

* * *

[Me: hey Hyejin]

That day, as soon as I turned off the game, I spoke to Hyejin.

Looking at Shin Heejae’s face, the conclusion I came to was ‘I can’t quite understand it’. I started to suspect that he might have stolen the picture. 

However, since I was a person who only went back and forth between work and home, and I didn’t use social media, I have no confidence in recognizing photo theft. I didn’t know celebrities unless they were national idols or national MCs.

But Hyejin was different. She used social media quite a bit, listened to k-pop incessantly even when playing games, and she knew male idols and models well.

I believed that Hyejin would be able to tell whether Shin Heejae stole a photo or not. I downloaded one of the pictures of Shin Heejae and sent it to Hye-jin.

[Hyejin: oh my] 

[Hyejin: who is this??]

[Me: you don’t know?]

[Hyejin: hm? where did you find this?]

[Hyejin: I don’t know… but wow he’s handsome] 

“Driving me crazy…”

I chewed my lips and asked Hyejin again.

[Me: hey, isn’t this photoshop or something?]

[Me: like when you take a picture, all of a sudden it looks so damn pretty?] 

[Hyejin: a camera app? not really? the tone…]

[Hyejin: it’s like an Apple phone camera]

[Hyejin: really who is this?? a model??]

[Me: I asked because I thought it was a theft] 

[Hyejin: theft? I don’t know ㅠㅠ It’s not a face I know…]

[Hyejin: what’s his name?]

“… Damn it.”

I bowed my head in despair, but Hyejin kept asking if there were any other pictures, so I sent her some more pictures of him. Just in case. 

However, she ignored my words that it was theft and just admired it.

[Hyejin: wow]

[Hyejin: oppa where did you find this account? I want to see it too]

[Me: hey] 

[Hyejin: yes]

[Me: this is… Shin Heejae]

[Hyejin: huh?]

[Me: I said it’s Shin Heejae fck] 

[Me: he’s claiming that]

[Hyejin: eh??]

Hyejin was also embarrassed by my words, so she didn’t say anything for a while.

However… 

[Hyejin: ha… forgive me…]

[Me: are you kidding?]

[Hyejin: lolololololololololololololololololololololololololololol I’m serious]

Hyejin wasn’t angry, but she was just curious. She nailed the theft probability as zero, saying it didn’t come up with an image search on the web. In addition, she asserted that it was not altered with an application, and the possibility of it being photoshopped was low. 

[Hyejin: the angle is straight and front-facing…]

[Me: or is it a family photo? he could have stolen from his family]

[Hyejin: lolololololololololololololololololol]

[Hyejin: no, but so what if he’s handsome lololol he’s a handsome bastard] 

[Me: ha … this bastard looks like this that’s why his personality is so annoying…]

[Hyejin: he lives up to his looks tsk tsk]

Hyejin praised him, pretending to curse, and she said something more, but my motivation was gone and I ended the conversation without any profit. I didn’t feel good.

Why? Why on earth? 

Why was Shin Heejae tall and handsome and good at games? And this bastard has 300,000 subscribers to YouTube. That’s enough to make 10 million won a month ridiculously.

Originally, I hated him, but now I really trembled at everything about him. Because it was annoying. Why did I have to feel inferior to this?

[Heejae: noona are you sleeping ㅇ_ㅇ?]

Meanwhile, a message came from Shin Heejae. 

In fact, he started to send me this kind of message every night ever since he woke up in the hospital. Normally, I would have ignored it and slept, but today was different. I pressed the message notification, and soon after it was marked as read.

Shin Heejae would also have confirmed that I had read his message.

The guy continued chatting as if he had been waiting.

[Heejae: you’re not ignoring it for some reason lol] 

[Heejae: are you bored?]

[Heejae: If you are bored, call?]

I look at that message, and if it’s today, somehow… I felt like I could do something really netkama-like.

So, I answered. 

[Me: kk but I won’t talk]

[Me: do it if you don’t mind speaking by yourself]

As soon as I answered the text, within a second, I got a call from Shin Heejae. I declined the call once and then chatted in the chat window.

[Me: bastard you’re too easy] 

[Heejae: oh what ——]

[Me: do it again]

But this time, a video call request came.

In any case, this bastard seemed to have a more vicious personality than expected. I immediately hit [Reject]. 

[Heejae: you didn’t fall for it]

[Me: blocked]

[Heejae: oh wait a minute lololololol you wouldn’t have picked up anyway]

[Heejae: just one more time hm??] 

He asked with annoying aegyo emoticons pouring in from him. Tired, I just laid down on the bed with my phone down.

Soon, as expected, my ringtone rang. This time it was a proper call request.

“Hello?”

“…” 

I impulsively answered the call and activated the ‘mute’ function on my side. Even by a mistake, my voice shouldn’t leak out. I laid there lying on my back.

“Noona, you told me to call you. Why aren’t you talking?”

Shin Heejae’s voice, which was different from when I heard it on Discord, resounded heavily in my ear. It kind of tickled me, so I brushed my ears off and put my cheek to the phone again.

Shin Heejae was complaining in a troubled voice because I did not respond. 

“Are you doing this for fun?”

“…”

“Noona, are you really not going to talk?”

“…” 

About 10 seconds passed like that. A regular, small noise continued, and I opened my mouth involuntarily as I listened.

“Yawn…”

“Seyoung-ah.”

Then suddenly he called my name. I opened my eyes wide, feeling a sudden escape from sleep.