Drunkards and a Decision

Moon Young-yoon, swaying, slumped to the ground.

“From today, this is your home.”

“—Ehhh? No. My home is waaaay over there?”

“—But, sir. Do I have a reason to know that?”

‘Either his mouth would twist from a stroke out here, or he’d rely on his homing instinct to go home.’

In the first place, it was impossible for my strength to escort him all the way home.
Moon Young-yoon was at least half a head taller and heavier than me.

If both of us collapsed halfway, it would be the end.
Someone approached me as I seriously considered leaving Moon Young-yoon, who showed no sign of getting up.

“Hey, what are you guys doing here? Can I take a picture?”

“You were alive?”

“What are you talking about? You’re the hardest to reach.”

It was a fellow student from the same department.
Specifically, one who often hung around with Moon Young-yoon.
‘Come to think of it, he also said he lived nearby, I remember now.’

“Hey, perfect. Take him away.”

“—…You got Moon Young-nom drunk? Are you crazy?”

“—I didn’t give him much.”

“That bastard is an alcoholic lightweight. The one who gave an alcoholic lightweight alcohol is at fault.”

‘…Is this my fault?’
‘The two of us went through two bottles of soju?’
‘And I drank almost all of it?’

I looked at my fellow student with a wronged expression, and he chuckled, taking pictures of Moon Young-yoon and me.

Click, click.

The camera shutter sound was really annoying.

“If you’re going to take him, why don’t you take him? Why are you telling me to? He’s a pig, so he’s heavy.”

“Me? That?”

“Ah, well… you’re a bit… yeah…”

My fellow student gave me a pitiful look.
‘What’s with that look? I swear, I’ll stab you?’

“I didn’t come out alone, and there are two more friends over there, so you go home first. You might catch a cold.”

“—…I’m not that weak, you know?”

“Really? You look like you’re constantly struggling, so I thought you were weak.”

“Do I give off that impression?”

“Go ask everyone you know.”

I rubbed my face with my cold hands, having been exposed to the cold wind for a long time.

I’d never thought I was that weak in my life, but if others see me that way, I guess I really should start exercising.

‘Wouldn’t it be less noticeable if I built some muscle?’

“Young-yoon’s mom, go home safely! Don’t fall!”

“—No, damn it, why am I Moon Young-yoon’s mom? Are you crazy?”

“—Oh dear, Young-yoon’s mom cares a lot about Young-yoon, doesn’t she? Even took care of all the classes he missed because he was sleeping. That’s enough, go on in. Oh, right. Do a survival check-in!”

“—Ha… Alright.”

After saying goodbye to my fellow student, I headed home.

Having stood outside for too long because of Moon Young-yoon, my already cold body felt even colder.
Going home was a task in itself.

Thump, thump.

The road home felt incredibly long.

“‘Why is that bastard such a lightweight?’”

‘I barely even felt it in my liver.’

Since I had come out in the evening, I stared blankly at the now dark sky and stopped by a nearby convenience store.

Dried jerky for snacks, and for alcohol, was it really the red-capped one?

I sniffled, bought everything I wanted, then carried the black plastic bag and headed home again.

Perhaps because I had left the heating on, I took a deep breath, feeling the warm air inside the house.

‘Home is the best, after all.’

I casually hung my coat on the hanger and sat in my chair.

‘Gaming is best with drinks, of course.’

I poured soju into a paper cup, turned on my computer, and immediately logged into Frisia.

[Guild member DontOrderMe has logged in.]

[Guild/Beta: Hi hi.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Hi.]

[Guild/Beta: Iskaria?]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: No, going to Arena.]

[Guild/Beta: ㅠㅠ Okay, bye.]

I sipped my soju and finished chatting with Beta noona, then, realizing my paper cup was empty, refilled it with alcohol.

Since my sips were equivalent to someone else’s one-shot, the glass emptied quickly.

I was just raising the full paper cup again, about to queue for the Arena, when.

[All/Transparency: HEYYYYYOUCOMEHERE.]

‘Seriously, this bastard. If he’s drunk, why doesn’t he just go to sleep instead of turning on the game? Is he crazy?’

Or at least just play the game quietly.

A hollow breath involuntarily escaped my mouth in exasperation.

I set down the paper cup and immediately typed in chat.

[All/DontOrderMe: Just go to sleep.]

[All/Transparency: FOLLOWMEEETOTHEARENA.]

[All/DontOrderMe: Go to sleep;]

Perhaps it was because he insisted on squabbling in general chat.

Soon, users gathered in groups of three or five, looking at Transparency and me, and started chiming in.

[All/Cleopatra_Is_Pissed: LOLOLOL. Transparency and SoonToDie are fighting again!!!! LOLOLOL.]

[All/IsHeATruePlayer: Hey, fight me too;]

[All/IsHeATruePlayer: It looks fun, so let me join in;;]

It turned out these were the users who had meddled when I met Transparency as InappropriateNickname before.

I remembered them because their nicknames were so unusual.

It wasn’t that long ago, after all.

I pressed my forehead, sighing at a sudden headache.

‘I just wanted to drink alone, play some games, and then go to sleep, so how did it end up like this?’

[Guild/Beta: LOLOLOLOLOL. You’re fighting Transparency again? The rumor’s spreading, hehe.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: We’re not fighting.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: That bastard’s drunk, I need to send him to sleep.]

[Guild/Beta: Oh my, what? Why are you suddenly so nice to Transparency??]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: There’s a reason for that…]

I could explain, but I was a bit reluctant because I felt they would tease me about it.

While I scrolled through the guild chat, I also spammed Transparency in general chat ‘go to sleep’ five trillion, five billion times.

From when had he been watching? PatchNote threw a heavy fact into the guild chat window.

[Guild/PatchNote: ?]

[Guild/PatchNote: Why are you taking care of Transparency, hyung?]

[Guild/PatchNote: Weren’t you two on bad terms?]

‘We were on bad terms, yes.’

Perhaps because Transparency and I were on bad terms, the relationship between Transparency’s guild, Hollister, and RunawayTrain wasn’t very good either.

It was to the point where if we accidentally ran into each other in a public party, someone would inevitably leave, saying they didn’t want to play with ‘those guys.’

[Guild/DontOrderMe: He’s my friend.]

[Guild/OneHitForTheLord: Excuse me?]

[Guild/RetirementWish: ?????]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: I didn’t know either, but that bastard was a classmate from the same university.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: And he got drunk today drinking with me, so…]

‘If I hadn’t been drinking with him, I would have fled this place, why would I stay?’

Tsk, I clicked my tongue, pulled out my phone, and called Moon Young-yoon.

‘Please, please, answer the phone and go to sleep.’

However, Moon Young-yoon must have left his phone somewhere, because he kept spamming drunk messages in chat but wouldn’t answer the phone.

‘Isn’t this just a total bastard move?’

[All/Transparency: Nooo, whyyydo youuuu haveto fight?]

[Whisper/DontOrderMe>Transparency: Shut your mouth and go to sleep,,,.]

[Whisper/DontOrderMe>Transparency: Or answer the damn phone, you bastard,,,.]

[All/Transparency: Whaaatare youu doooing?]

[All/Transparency: I’ve lost myy formmm.]

[All/Transparency: Still not getting it?]

“‘I’m going crazy…’”

Clutching my forehead, I called the other classmate who had walked Moon Young-yoon home.

Thankfully, he answered my call on time.

“—Are you with Moon Young-yoon right now?”

“—No? I left him at his house entrance and went back home.”

“—…Is that so? Did he still have his phone properly?”

“—I don’t know. I’ll ask the others. Just a moment.”

I heard my classmate talking to someone else over the phone.

He came back and said they didn’t know, and I replied ‘understood’ before hanging up.

[All/Transparency: AhhhIgotacalll.]

[All/Transparency: Thattwasmeee.]

“‘Ha… I’m really going crazy.’”

My phone vibrated, indicating a call.

I looked at the name ‘Moon Young-nom’ displayed on the screen, buried my face in both hands, and just sighed.
‘I wish everyone would just die.’

“—Hey… you go to sleep now.”

“—Uh, uh, I’m not sleepy!”

“—What do you want me to do about it? Just go to sleep. Don’t do stupid things in-game and get immortalized.”

“—Nooo! I’m not going to sleeep!”

“—He’s making me want a drink…”

‘No, wait, should I say ‘making me want a cigarette’ in this situation?’
‘Making a non-smoker crave a cigarette with such idiotic behavior, he truly is always a new kind of special.’

Feeling my throat dry, I picked up the soju bottle whole and drank directly from it.

Since I was a non-smoker, I had to drink instead of smoking.

I smiled bitterly, seeing the now empty soju bottle.

‘I want to get drunk too.’

“Young-yoon.”

“—Hm?”

“If you make that baby talk sound one more time, I’ll kill you.”

“—Ooh-ooh…”

“Seriously, damn it, please, please, pleeease, go to sleep. Please…! I’ll PvP with you later! No, I’ll even let you win! Sleep! Please!”

“—Eh-ing…”

“Whoaaaah! Argh! Ugh! Keugh! I hate hearing that so much!”

I threw my phone onto the bed and covered my ears.

‘Don’t make baby talk sounds!’
‘It’s annoying!’

Writhing in pain, I searched for my phone.

‘I wish someone would save me.’

“—I… gurgle… retch…”

‘No, actually, I wish someone would just kill me instead of saving me.’

I squeezed my eyes shut and hung up.

‘I don’t care, he’ll figure it out himself.’

‘He’s not a one or two-year-old child, so I don’t need to worry about him anymore, right?’

Having finished my self-justification, I put down my phone with a bitter, cold expression and queued for PvP.

Since there was no place to unleash my anger, I would get kills in the legal confines of the game.