SIDE STORY 10

Terms used in this side story:

Boosting – a game term wherein a player plays another player’s account to help them rank up. In South Korea, boosting is a criminal offense.

Law of inertia – This is sometimes used as an idiomatic expression in Korea. It means that you continue to do something that you had done in the past even though it may not be the best to do at the present time.

Legend of Heroes 2 first and second place in the Korea Server.

With the final expansion pack of Legend of Heroes 3 being linked to episode 2, the two were still the first and second in rank despite the user data of episodes 2 and 3 being merged.

“Seriously, do they only eat and play games?”

“I know.”

The two, who had only been eating and playing games for over a month, murmured as they talked about their other selves before turning to each other.

Jude spoke first.

“But Cordelia, you said that you were the girl next door, right? Does that mean you were a high school student until recently?”

“Yes, yes. Why? Are you excited to hear that you’re going out with someone who wore a school uniform until last year? Or do you feel guilty?”

“Hey, it’s been 19 years since we were reincarnated, right?”

“So you’re saying that you’re not nervous now?”

“My heart is going bathump bathump.”

“Pfft.”

Cordelia snorted in satisfaction, and Jude unconsciously smiled before continuing.

“Anyway, that means the first time you became second place was when you were in 2nd year of high school.”

“You’re emphasizing the number 2 on purpose, huh?”

“No way. Anyway, what I meant was that you continued to be in second place while you were in your 2nd year and 3rd year of high school? And second place on the Korea server?”

“Why? It’s doable.”

When Cordelia grunted and replied, Jude narrowed his brows.

“Umm… I’ve never experienced high school in Korea since I lived abroad, but… aren’t students usually busy studying in their 2nd and 3rd years of high school?”

“I was busy. I thought I was going to die since I had to study, play Legend of Heroes 2, and so on.”

Cordelia replied, her face distorting as though she found it painful to just think about it.

She had strangely enough managed it.

‘What? You seriously studied?’

Come to think of it, she once said that she had quite a few certifications.

‘Was she unemployed or in a vocational high school? No. The school uniform she wore back then was from a nearby academic high school.’

Jude pondered for a moment before his eyes narrowed.

He said as he stared at Cordelia.

“Cordelia.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s be honest. Okay?”

“W-What?”

It was suspicious that she was already flustered.

“Did you use boosting?”

Though there was no way that she would entrust important battles or PVP to someone else.

Jude himself knew better than anyone how skilled Cordelia was at that time.

Perhaps she only used a booster to have them play those repetitive parts in the game.

The conscience of Cordelia was pricked as she struggled and was visibly embarrassed. Jude then pinched the cheek of Cordelia painfully.

“Au-au-ouch. It hurts.”

“It will hurt since I’m pinching you, right?”

The soft feel of her cheek made him feel good though, obviously.

In any case, the teary-eyed Cordelia began making excuses while holding her cheek.

“I mean, it was only when I was busy in my 2nd and 3rd years in high school…”

As Jude had guessed, there was a time when she asked a cousin or Romantic Cat to boost her in the repetitive parts of the game.

Legend of Heroes 2 had a daily play limit. In other words, it had adopted a so-called fatigue system. So it would be hard for high school sophomores and seniors who always suffered from fatigue in high school to fully play the game.

“Hoh… I was right.”

“Argh… Hey! If you think about it, isn’t this your fault?!”

I did that to beat you.

Who told you to make fun of me like that?

Huh?

Do you know how, how, how much I wanted to beat you!

Tears welled up in the eyes of Cordelia as her sadness burst, and Jude quickly let go of his hand in surprise.

“Uh, well… it’s fine if you only boosted the repetitive parts. There are even kids who completely write macros. Come to think of it, why did you use a booster instead of a macro?”

“Macros are recorded.”

If one got caught using macros for ranking, their account would be suspended.

When Cordelia replied with her shoulders drooping, Jude unknowingly felt apologetic.

“Did you want to be first place so much?”

“Rather than that…”

I just wanted to beat you once.

How should I say this?

I only need to win against one person, but that person is the best in the world?

In fact, Jude was not much different.

He just needed to do better than Yellow Storm, so that he could tease them. But to do that, he had to win first place on the server. Because Yellow Storm had to be second place.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for always being first place.”

Jude tightly hugged Cordelia and said, but Cordelia pinched his side in her anger.

“Are you seriously making fun of me!”

“Oh, I’m just teasing you.”

“F*ck!”

Ah, as expected.

Cordelia is fun to tease.

She responds quickly.

As Jude smiled again, the furious Cordelia punched the chest of Jude with her fist, but it did not do any damage.

“Argh. I’ll make your next avatar as a weak and beautiful girl.”

“No, that’s a bit…”

“Why? Is the combination of a lively, cheerful, and sexy muscular male Cordelia and a weak and beautiful female Jude not good?”

After thinking for a moment at her words, Jude unconsciously nodded but soon shook his head.

Because the weak and beautiful girl was going to be him.

“A-Anyway!”

“Anyway? Are you changing the topic?”

“Uh, yes. Let’s change it. Anyway, you planned to go to college, right?”

“Yes, I got accepted for early admissions, so I was able to play games till the end.”

“Where did you get in?”

“Why?”

“I mean, even after you became a college student, you only played games.”

Jude said as he pointed to the monitor, and Cordelia tilted her head with a puzzled look.

“Don’t college freshmen only play games?”

“No, they don’t. I’ve never been to college, but that’s not true, okay?”

In fact, he was not that confident.

As he had said, he had never been to college.

“No, I must have made new friends after going to college and played around… umm…”

Come to think of it, I didn’t have many friends in high school.

If you think about it, it’s strange for a gamer who spent her 2nd and 3rd years of high school playing games to suddenly stop playing games in college and become a popular person.

“It’s the law of inertia.”

As Cordelia nodded her head in response, Jude automatically pinched her cheek again.

“Hey, that’s now how you use those words, okay? And I don’t think it’s something to be proud of, okay?”

“Why! Aren’t you embarrassed of your shamelessness?”

When asked if he was embarrassed of what he did in Legend of Heroes, Jude furrowed his brows again.

“Anyway.”

“You’re changing it again.”

“Yeah, let’s change the topic. Anyway, you’re still playing games even after going to college.”

“And you?”

Cordelia pushed away the hand of Jude as she pressed her red cheek and pouted.

Jude took issue with the fact that Hong Yoo Hee was still in second place after entering college, but there was also Kang Jin-ho who remained first place.

“I thought the oppa next door was a really cool freelancer, but he was unemployed. He was unemployed and only played games at home.”

“No, I’m not. I’m retired, okay?”

“Then I am right. It means you only played games after retiring.”

Jude got angry at the point of Cordelia, but that was it. Because he had no excuses for it.

‘Because she is right.’

Still, I find it a bit unfair.

From my childhood up to my retirement.

I’ve never been to a proper school, and have only lived in battlefields and conflict zones, so isn’t it fine to retire early and play?

“By the way, where did you get the money to be able to play like that? Did you earn a lot before you retired?”

“There’s that, but… I also got an inheritance.”

The inheritance he got from Alexei.

In the first place, the death of his teacher Alexei was what caused him to retire.

As the expression of Jude darkened, Cordelia was surprised this time.

Looking into the eyes of Jude, she bit her lip several times before finally opening her mouth.

“Are you… okay?”

“Yes, it’s been over five years already.”

Considering the time of their reincarnation, it was well over 20 years, so just thinking about it did not make his heart feel broken, but still, thinking about the death of Alexei made him feel sad.

‘Should I say that he was like a… father?’

He was definitely different from a typical father figure.

Alexei loved Kang Jin-ho enough for him to leave an inheritance, but it was more of affection for a subordinate than affection for a child. If he really thought of Kang Jin-ho as a child in the first place, he would have emigrated to a safe country instead of teaching Jin-ho on how to live on the battlefield.

“It’s okay now. I got my revenge.”

“Huh?”

Re-revenge?

It’s not at the level of PVP that appears in games.

True revenge.

It’s also obvious that it’s the bloody kind of revenge.

‘But… I’m not surprised?’

Come to think of it, perhaps it’s because Jude and I have already overcome so much chaotic stuff in Pleiades.

“Umm, okay. Anyway, it’s good if you’ve recovered from it now.”

And since Jude is a good person, Alexei must be a good person too. His revenge targets must have been bad people then.

Reality obviously did not work that way, but Cordelia decided to think so for the sake of her mental health.

“Anyway, both of them are still playing games hard.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yoo Hee.

The Jude and Cordelia who were reincarnated on Earth.

Now that their souls were separated, they were like strangers, but the two still felt some attachment to them.

“A fateful encounter… I don’t think those two had that yet, right?”

“Perhaps?”

“She didn’t even notice that the oppa next door is Outbo?”

“He didn’t even know that the girl next door is Norfolk.”

Perhaps it was still a repetition of bickering, making fun, and getting angry at each other when they meet in the game.

“Eueueu… the oppa next door is an idiot.”

“Well, the same goes for the girl next door who doesn’t notice it, right?”

“Hey, is that important now? Huh? In a situation where a Golden Sun might take me away?”

She was probably talking about Hong Yoo Hee here.

But there was one word he did not understand.

“Golden Sun?”

“Blonde tanned thug. You don’t know that? Other than that, college seniors or college classmates…”

T/N: This explanation is going to be long. Bear with me. ‘Golden Sun’ is Geum-tae-yang in Korean. ‘Geum’ means gold, and ‘tae-yang’ means sun, but the word is actually an abbreviation of the Korean words geumbal (blonde) + tae-ning (tanned) + yang-achi (thug).

Next, ever heard of netorare (NTR)? It’s a genre of hentai where a person steals the romantic partner of someone in a relationship. In Korea, there’s a cliché that a thug who’s blonde and tanned is the one who usually steals the romantic partner.

So Cordelia is thinking that she did not want Hong Yoo Hee to be stolen from Kang Jin-ho by those blonde tanned thugs or the college seniors and classmates.

“No, wait. Lady Cordelia. Calm down and see this.”

“What? What about our rankings?”

Cordelia frowned and Jude explained in a gentle tone.

“You’re still in second place. Because you’re just playing games.”

So there’s no way that you’ll be able to do things like dating, right?

But Cordelia shook her head and said.

“Hey, it’s because you don’t know anything. You don’t know about me, I mean, Hong Yoo Hee. I’m the ideal woman for gamers, okay? Isn’t that right? I’m a pretty girl gamer who’s good at games and have a foul mouth. Don’t they go horny for those?”

What is she talking about?

Jude was speechless for a moment, but soon nodded.

Because the words of Cordelia were actually true to some extent.

“But what can we do? We can’t force them.”

Jude was definitely Kang Jin-ho and Cordelia was Hong Yoo Hee.

But now that their souls were separated, the four were completely strangers from each other.

“Eueue… let’s stop. Let’s discuss that later and see how they are doing first. Maybe she’s already flirting with someone.”

“No way.”

There’s no way that a flirtatious female college student will be second place on the server.

Jude straightforwardly spoke, but Cordelia did not give up.

“Anyway, let’s go see them. Okay?”

In fact, it was not only Hong Yoo Hee.

She wanted to see her parents too, and her dog, Tori, who was now five years old.

However, Cordelia did not speak that out loud.

‘Because Jude did not have that.’

Hong Yoo Hee had a family.

But Kang Jin-ho was alone. Although he never spoke of it properly, it was easy to guess that Kang Jin-ho was an orphan judging by the stories she occasionally heard.

So Cordelia did not say that she wanted to see her family.

But this was none other than Jude.

He knew the thinking of Cordelia better than Cordelia herself sometimes, so he quickly understood her thoughts.

“Okay, let’s go see them.”

How Hong Yoo Hee was doing.

How her family was living now.

“I wonder how the chat room gang are doing.”

At the words of Cordelia, Jude also remembered the chat room members who laughed and chatted with them, but then shook his head.

“But if we log in with our main accounts, Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yoo Hee will notice it. It’s also impossible to have a proper conversation with our new accounts.”

“Ugh…”

Unfortunately, it was true.

Therefore, Cordelia stood up instead of trembling with regret.

“Okay, then let’s go and see them.”

Actually, she was a bit embarrassed.

She and Jude would be able to observe Hong Yoo Hee together.

But on the contrary, she was fine because it was Jude.

Because she felt like she could show anything to Jude alone.

“Yes, let’s go.”

To see Hong Yoo Hee.

And two days later.

Cordelia shouted in anger.

“What is this! What is this!”

She knew that Hong Yoo Hee did not actually notice that the oppa next door was Outboxer009.

She could also guess that Hong Yoo Hee was not interested in dating.

But Hong Yoo Hee also graduated from high school and went to college!

“Nothing has changed!”

Home, school, home, school.

All she does in between are just gaming, gaming, and gaming!

The clothes she always wear are hoodies and jeans.

But when I was in high school, I wore a pretty school uniform!

“Umm, as expected of Norfolk.”

“You’re a problem too! Hong Yoo Hee goes to school at least. You only stay home and play games!”

The only times you go out are when you smoke or go to the supermarket to buy food, right?

“Hey, I work out too, okay?”

“You only do it at home!”

Kang Jin-ho was also fit, though not comparable to the current Jude.

So what should they do now?

The two were always at home every day.

‘No, isn’t this good in a way?’

Because she could not lose Kang Jin-ho to someone else.

While Cordelia was contemplating for a while, Jude looked back at the apartment where Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yoo Hee lived before saying.

“In any case, everyone seems to be doing well. Can’t we just leave them like that?”

He was not exactly wrong.

The two were living happily ever after.

But Cordelia was not satisfied.

“No, it can’t go on like this. Of course, they may end up dating each other through a real fateful encounter. But I can’t wait for that. It should be now.”

“Why?”

“You’ll be 30 soon!”

To be exact, it was Kang Jin-ho and not Jude.

“Hong Yoo Hee is 21 years old now! But Kang Jin-ho is soon turning 30! No, even if he’s a year younger, they should date sooner rather than later.”

She was concerned about that?

“No, uh… how should I say it? Why must the two be dating now…”

It was then.

Cordelia looked up at Jude with a scary expression, and Jude awkwardly smiled and immediately changed his words.

“Yes, the two should date. They must. It has to be.”

After all, they were the two people of destiny.

In fact, Jude himself could not stand the thought of Hong Yoo Hee, who was Cordelia now, dating someone else other than himself.

“But what are we going to do?”

Those two who always made fun of each other every day while playing the same game for 6 years were actually the cool oppa and pretty girl who were neighbors.

How do they get these two to get along?

Should they make a love potion and feed it to the two?

Cordelia crossed her arms and pondered at the question of Jude, and soon spoke with a firm expression.

“They need to see each other first.”

“In real life and not in the game?”

“Yes, let them meet each other. Know who the other is. We should do that. Then we’ll do it.”

“Uh, will that be enough?”

“Yes, it will be.”

“How sure are you?”

“Eh? W-Well…”

The words of Cordelia trailed off, and she suddenly closed her mouth. She then said with a red face.

“I-I liked you.”

“Eh?”

“I-I liked you!”

Hong Yoo Hee liked the oppa next door.

Of course, it’s not to the point where I had a passionate unrequited love, but how do I say this? Like a high school senior I admire? That kind of feeling?

At the confession of Cordelia, Jude blinked his eyes before he had a wicked and big smile. Or rather, he tried to smile, but could not.

“I’ll kill you if you laugh.”

The trembling and red-faced Cordelia was more adorable than threatening, but either way, it was enough to move the heart of Jude.

“That’s right. You shouldn’t laugh.”

Jude struggled to hold it in, which forced the corners of his mouth into twitching.

Cordelia looked at such a Jude in dissatisfaction and said.

“What about you?”

“Huh?”

“What about you?”

Hong Yoo Hee admired and liked the oppa next door.

So what about Kang Jin-ho?

What did he think of the girl next door?

“Well..”

“Well?”

“The girl next door is… pretty, cute, and lovely?”

She liked the adjectives he used.

But that did not satisfy her.

“What? Is that all?”

“Excuse me. First of all, the girl next door was in high school, right?”

When he first saw her, she was in middle school.

It would be stranger if he liked her.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. She’s all grown up now. She’s a college girl now.”

“No, well… that’s true.”

Because she was in high school when Kang Jin-ho first met her.

But frankly, Jude did not thought that Kang Jin-ho would change his mind even now.

“Still… Umm…. It’s you and me. We don’t know what will happen once we meet.”

As Cordelia had said, the two were adults now.

“Is that so? It will happen, right?”

Cordelia shook in excitement, and Jude agreed before saying.

“So how are we going to get them to meet?”

Would they expose the fact that the oppa next door was Outboxer009 under the guise of coincidence?

But they would not have a fateful encounter then.

Cordelia crossed her arms and said.

“Let’s have a meet-up. We’ve been playing games together for 6 years, so shouldn’t we meet offline once?”

“With everyone in the chat room?”

“No, not that. We just need the two to meet.”

“How?”

“Hey, it’s your job to think about these things. Come up with a sneaky scheme like you did to me!”

Cordelia now knew everything about the long-running ‘Operation Irreversible Fact’ that Jude had carried out.

She no longer wondered why he made her always say strange things back then.

Or write those letters.

Anyway, as Cordelia grumbled, Jude scratched his chin and came up with a solution.

“Let’s use dreams.”

“Dreams?”

“Yes, dreams. Let’s persuade them in their dreams.”

So that the two would have the courage to meet each other once.

At what Jude had said, Cordelia blinked her eyes and soon clapped her hands and laughed out loudly.

“Oh, as expected of my scammer. That’s a good way. If I speak to her as Cordelia, I’m sure she’ll be convinced.”

Because Hong Yoo Hee was a fan of Cordelia.

Frankly, Kang Jin-ho would not care much about what Jude would say, but if it was Hong Yoo Hee, they could make her accept it by aggressively persuading her.

“Okay, then let’s do it now.”

“Excuse me, it’s daytime.”

“Then let’s play until night. Bet again?”

“Okay, let’s bet.”

Jude and Cordelia sat down in front of the computers again after returning and had a fun time until nighttime.

And in the middle of the night.

Jude and Cordelia were lying next to each other on the bed, and exchanged glances one last time before closing their eyes.

“Let’s do well.”

“Yes, let’s do well.”

The two said before they habitually held hands and closed their eyes.

And a few minutes later.

Cordelia opened her eyes in the dream of Hong Yoo Hee.