The Soju Shower

A few photos had been uploaded to the chat.

A picture of Beta noona giving OneHitForTheLord-nim a headlock and chugging from a bottle, PotteryMaster singing with a spoon stuck in an empty bottle.

Up to this point, it was ordinary.

However, the moment a photo of OneHitForTheLord-nim pouring alcohol over his head, holding a bottle in each hand, appeared, my head began to throb.

He was… not metaphorically, but literally showering with alcohol.

The last photo, connected to it, showed OneHitForTheLord-nim shaking his alcohol-soaked hair, like a scene from a photoshoot.

[Guild/DontOrderMe: What? Is? Happening? Right? Now?]

[Guild/OneHitForTheLord: Excuse me? What do you mean?]

[Guild/Beta: LOLOLOLOL. Yep, I already sent the pictures in private chat, hehe.]

[Guild/OneHitForTheLord: Are you crazy, human?]

[Guild/Beta: That’s right, I’m crazy. Crazy for you.]

‘She really must be crazy.’

I laughed like a maniac, alternating between the endlessly scrolling chat and the still-present photos.

‘These people could go out and perform a comedy act.’

I was laughing so hard my cheeks ached. I accidentally knocked over the water cup next to me with my elbow, and as I frantically cleaned it, I continued to laugh.

It was such a shocking scene that it seemed unlikely to fade easily from my memory.

[Guild/Beta: Unsolicited TMI, Part 1, to prevent SoonToDie from misunderstanding ^^]

[Guild/Beta: The second round was at none other than OneHitForTheLord’s house! So OneHitForTheLord cleaned up ^^]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: How did it end up like that?]

[Guild/Beta: Bunny Bunny Carrot Carrot ^^]

[Guild/Beta: OneHitTheLord’s favorite random~~~game~~~~~~!!!^^]

‘So it was because he lost a drinking game.’

The person who came up with the penalty was one thing, but OneHitForTheLord-nim, who actually followed through with it after losing, was also incredible.

In a different way.

[Guild/OneHitForTheLord: Do not make eye-smiles.]

[Guild/OneHitForTheLord: Before I PK you.]

[Guild/Beta: The time has come to determine the strongest in this area. Bring it on anytime.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Who uses the term ‘strongest in this area’ these days? Sounds old-fashioned.]

[Guild/Beta: Ah; that hit a nerve;]

I threw the wet tissue into the trash and chewed on some dried snacks.

‘I feel it again, I’m so glad I didn’t go to the second round.’

If I had gone, I would have been the one cleaning up, whether at my house or someone else’s, simply for being awake until the end.

Just chatting with nothing to do made me feel like Mr. Do Nothing.

‘This damned dead game is too lacking in content.’

Still feeling tired, I yawned widely and rolled my eyes, checking the scrolling chat.

Most of it was useless chatter.

Then, talk about PatchNote came up.

[Guild/Beta: Speaking of which, Patch-nim is streaming.]

[Guild/Beta: He’s doing Arena right now?]

PatchNote and the Arena.

‘What a frightening combination of words.’

I quietly opened my internet browser and connected to PatchNote’s stream, narrowing my eyes at the scene of him effortlessly crushing his opponent with flashy control.

I usually wasn’t a fan of PvP, even though I went around PK-ing due to my rage over my favorite character’s death.

I was a veteran player with nothing else to do, and I only went to the Arena because the rankings were updated. If not for that, I wouldn’t have touched it.

‘Should I go to the Arena too?’

My current ranking was around the early 300s.
It wouldn’t be bad to get into the top 100, if possible.

I entered the Arena to raise my PvP ranking, and as soon as the matching ended, I saw my opponent’s nickname and clutched my forehead.

‘Why, out of so many people, do I have to be matched with this guy?’

It wasn’t just once or twice; how many times had this happened?

‘Conscientiously, shouldn’t I be meeting someone I’ve never seen before?’

[All/Transparency: Isit youagainiamsoannoyed.]

[All/DontOrderMe: Why is it you again?]

In the past, I would have started with various forms of sarcastic trash talk, but now that I knew Transparency was Moon Young-yoon, I couldn’t freely run my mouth at him.

More importantly, seeing him make so many typos, when he usually didn’t, it seemed he had gone drinking again before logging in.

‘Where the hell does he keep drinking all that stuff?’

As I said before… if Moon Young-yoon and I were to have a serious real-life fight, I would lose nine times out of ten.

My extremely frail body couldn’t defeat Moon Young-yoon’s kickboxing-honed physique.

Even if I started exercising with a new mindset right now, it would be impossible to beat someone who had been training for over 10 years.

Instinctively, I unleashed combos, while a deep sigh involuntarily escaped my heavily sinking heart.

Looking solely at the PvP result, I was the winner.

No matter how much he flailed, he was drunk, and my control was inherently better than his, so victory was practically guaranteed.

The problem wasn’t the PvP.

The problem was what Transparency said before the game ended.

[All/Transparency: Myfriendssayshe’llbeatyouup? Be prepared.]

[All/DontOrderMe: Uh… okay…]

The problem was that the friend he mentioned was me.

‘I don’t have two bodies, and because of that damn classmate’s whining, I have to PvP myself?’
‘What kind of ridiculous situation is this?’

I smiled a rotten smile, looking at Moon Young-yoon, who was still drunk and spamming typos in the chat window.

‘First, it would be better than getting caught and having a real-life fight, so should I create a new alt?’

‘Or I do have another alt that I haven’t revealed to others…’

‘Should I try leveling that one instead?’

Either way, it was extremely unsettling.

[Whisper/PatchNote>DontOrderMe: SoonToDie-nim.]

[Whisper/DontOrderMe>PatchNote: What?]

[Whisper/PatchNote>DontOrderMe: Um… there’s something I’d like to ask you, would that be alright…?]

‘What is it?’

My head involuntarily tilted at PatchNote’s sudden message.

‘Was there anything this person would ask me for?’

Nothing immediately came to mind, so when I asked what it was, a reply came back immediately.

[Whisper/PatchNote>DontOrderMe: Can I call you hyung in-game… too…?]

[Whisper/DontOrderMe>PatchNote: What’s the big deal about that…?]

[Whisper/DontOrderMe>PatchNote: Go ahead….]

This guy and that guy, they all beat around the bush for trivial things.

‘Is this a new trend that emerged while I was obsessed with games?’

‘If not, then whatever.’

[Whisper/PatchNote>DontOrderMe: Then… hyung, if you have time, would you like to go to a dungeon with me?]

‘Wasn’t he streaming earlier?’

I scrolled up the browser to check, and his stream was already off.

So he had contacted me after turning it off.

‘I didn’t know that.’

[Whisper/DontOrderMe>PatchNote: Today is a bit difficult… let’s go all together with the guild members another time.]

[Whisper/PatchNote>DontOrderMe: Ah… are you busy?]

[Whisper/DontOrderMe>PatchNote: No, I’m going to sleep.]

‘Honestly, isn’t it about time to sleep?’

‘You can’t play games without sleeping.’

I said goodbye to PatchNote and the other guild members, then drifted off to sleep.

‘What should I do tomorrow?’

(2)

Thus, a few days passed after the meetup incident.

No particular incidents had occurred since then.

Perhaps the only notable thing was that RetirementWish, who had quit his job, joined the raid team, making our damage sufficient.

“What am I doing today?”

I leisurely yawned and moved my character around when my phone vibrated.

I glanced, rolling my eyes, at the content displayed on the screen, and saw Moon Young-yoon’s name.

“What’s up with him now?”

I scratched my head furiously and checked the private message.

The content was simple.

The guy, who didn’t know I was SoonToDie, was asking when I would start playing Frisia.

[ToughGuy]

[Moon Young-Nom: Together!!!]

[Moon Young-Nom: Friiiiiiisiaaaaa!!!!!!]

[Moon Young-Nom: Shall we not?!!!!]

[Alright, alright.]

‘Argh, how do I actually handle this?’
‘Starting from scratch is annoying.’
‘Deciding on a nickname is also a headache.’
‘Honestly, wasn’t the hardest part of playing a game deciding on the initial nickname?’

I contemplated, rubbing my chin with my fingertip, and eventually logged out of the DontOrderMe character, then logged into my alternate account, which I hadn’t told anyone about.

The nickname was, of all things, ‘InappropriateNickname.’

It was an account I had created because I wanted to try a ranged class.

As soon as loading finished and the village appeared, I sent a whisper to Moon Young-yoon.

[Whisper/InappropriateNickname>Transparency: Hey.]

[Whisper/InappropriateNickname>Transparency: Moon Young.]

[Whisper/Transparency>InappropriateNickname: ?]

[Whisper/Transparency>InappropriateNickname: Ah, what the heck, look at that nickname LOL.]

As soon as I sent the whisper, Transparency’s character appeared before my eyes.

‘I shouldn’t, but why do I want to PvP him so badly?’

‘I’m low-level anyway, so I’d lose even if I fought.’

Even knowing that Transparency was Moon Young-yoon, the urge to beat him up wouldn’t disappear.

‘Is it some kind of instinct?’

[Transparency has sent a friend request to InappropriateNickname.]

[You are now friends with Transparency.]

‘To think I’m friends with Transparency.’

No one in the guild would believe me if I told them this fact.

Transparency circled me, bouncing around excitedly.

‘Couldn’t he just go run a dungeon in that time?’
‘What a waste of time.’