Side Story 38 – A Month Later - Kwon Ki-Cheol

When Woo Yeon-Hee woke up, she felt heavier than usual. The time was just past 9 AM. She let out a small chuckle as she looked at the empty spot next to her, which was nothing out of the ordinary. She was certain that Seon-Hu had been up since dawn, probably playing a game.

Even though they hadn’t greeted the morning together, she wasn’t upset. He still spent quality time with her even if he was deeply engrossed in a game. He never showed any signs that he wanted to play games when he was with her. She felt content with just that.

After all, she couldn’t monopolize all of Seon-Hu’s time.

"Let's keep breakfast simple today. I don't have much of an appetite," Woo Yeon-Hee said as she left her cabin.

She was speaking to Amanda, who was checking the day's travel itinerary. Their yacht was about to be anchored. From the stairs Yeon-Hee was descending, a dock in Rome was seen in the distance.

Beyond that, restaurants and travel courses they had marked out were waiting for them. However, she thought it would probably be best to postpone those pleasures until tomorrow.

Yeon-Hee continued, "I’m sorry for the sudden change, but I plan to spend today on the yacht. Give our crew some personal time too."

"Okay."

"Also, could you prepare some cold medicine for me after the meal?"

For the first time in a while, Amanda's eyes wavered. Knowing the true identities of Seon-Hu and Yeon-Hee, Amanda found Yeon-Hee's request to be surreal.

"It's no big deal. I guess I’ve been in the cold wind too much lately."

Memories of their past travels and nights spent with Seon-Hu flooded back to Yeon-Hee. Whether day or night, she was always with Seon-Hu. They spent such passionate moments for a while, so it was natural for fatigue to accumulate.

With slightly flushed cheeks, Yeon-Hee told Amanda, "It's just a slight fever. Nothing to worry about."

She then went to find Seon-Hu, knowing where he’d be without even asking. Yeon-Hee headed to one of the cabins where a satellite network was set up. As expected, she found Seon-Hu there, immersed in a game. He was leaning towards the monitor with headphones on. The loud clicks of his mouse indicated that things weren’t going well.

He’s probably losing again. Yeon-Hee thought to herself as she began to watch him from where she stood.

Seon-Hu's deeply concentrated face was so captivating that any woman would be drawn to him. He had looked down at her with the same expression the previous night, whispering words of love and sweating. She remembered how beautiful he looked and how she couldn’t let him go, hugging him tightly. Truly, Seon-Hu was a man anyone would fall in love with.

Then, Seon-Hu took his hand off the mouse. The clicking noise was replaced by the rapid tapping of the keyboard.

[IWillWinForSure: Leaving me alone and just blaming the jungle, what are you trying to achieve?]

"Having a tough time?"

When Woo Yeon-Hee spoke with a laugh, Seon-Hu's shoulders flinched. The time he looked at Woo Yeon-Hee with an embarrassed gaze was extremely short. He then focused back on the monitor and said, "I was going to turn it off after this round."

"No, continue. I'm not going out today. I've also told the crew."

There was no response from Seon-Hu, but it was clear from his eyes that it wasn't because he was focused on the game.

"Play as much as you want today. I won't disturb you."

Only after hearing this clearly did Seon-Hu's expression stiffen even more. He was trying to hide his joy.

Just before turning away, Woo Yeon-Hee seemed to remember something and asked, "But you're not playing with Osiris?"

However, the complexity of emotions on Seon-Hu's face at that moment confirmed it was a needless question.

***

「 Today's gamer_butler compilation shatters the mentality of challengers.

GameReadingManTV · Views: 510K · 1 day ago」

Ki-Cheol couldn't hide his pride whenever a montage of [gamer_butler]'s highlights, which were his mad movies, was uploaded. Just as his father had said, it seemed everyone had hidden talents.

Who would have thought that gamer_butler, who was initially so clumsy, would stand out among gamers in just a month?

"Wow. Unreal. Is that even human-level skill? That's a month's worth of play?"

Yong-Joo was visiting.

"Really, I've trained one apprentice well, haven't I?"

「 └ Insane. From passive skills to personal skills, there's nothing lacking. Thought he was using hacks.

└ Thanks for blessing my eyes

└ When gamer_butler debuts, our country will rise again. Why aren't they recruiting him?

└ You kidding? He's a foreigner.

└ Fuck off. That's just a concept.

└ 2:30 He tied up three dealers in an instant and killed two of them. His play gives me chills.

└ 4:21~6:00 A demonstration of what one can achieve with individual skills. I bet the pros had to change their underwear after watching this.

└ They must have not worn underwear in the beginning to prevent such a mess.

└ Where did this legend suddenly pop up from? This must be his second account.

└ No one can catch up to this. Seriously. He is on another level. 」

Lately, Ki-Cheol's hobby was reading the praise for gamer_butler and watching his videos. It was evident that gamer_butler was pouring all his time and passion into the game, excluding meal times. He had both talent and dedication. Becoming the talk of the town in just a month was to be expected.

"Did you reveal who you are?" Yong-Joo asked.

"I haven’t talked to this guy yet. Butler only speaks English, and he doesn’t speak much."

"Still, you can at least tell him, 'I am the Caliber’s son.' He'd be shocked."

Ki-Cheol was about to retort but stopped. Yong-Joo noticed Ki-Cheol's mood had soured, but he couldn't outright ask why Ki-Cheol always got irritated whenever his father was mentioned.

He had a hunch, and Ki-Cheol seemed to feel guilty towards his father.

"Anyway, about Butler. Does he really not accept friend requests from anyone? How did he debut then? To get scouted, you'd need to be friends."

This was another reason for Ki-Cheol's pride. Butler even rejected friend requests from famous players. Butler's solitary and stubborn nature became a well-known story after he rose to fame.

“He must be jobless. I am just worried about him. It is a waste. If someone like Butler doesn’t debut, then who will? Try talking to him. He must be online now.”

“Should I?”

Ki-Cheol logged into the game. Then, an event that had been repeatedly happening recently occurred again.

As soon as he logged into the game, countless friend requests awaited him, including from some world-famous players. And there were identical messages left by other players who had previously sent him friend requests.

「Hello. I'm sorry to keep contacting you, but I can't stop my coach. How can I get in touch with gamer_butler? Please help.」

「Hello InvincibleCaliber. We are Team S1. We desperately want to recruit gamer_butler, and you seem to be the only way to contact him. As you know, our S1 is......」

When gamer_butler's skills hadn’t yet matured, the fact that Ki-Cheol was the only one who had played duo with him for the past two weeks was evident from just looking at the game records. Ki-Cheol deleted those messages, declined all those friend requests, and then asked Yong-Joo.

Of course, at that time too, gamer_butler was logged in.

"How do you translate 'I am receiving a flood of requests to connect with you, what should I do?' into English? Translation tools make it sound weird."

Yong-Joo shrugged. "How would I know? Why don't you ask your father? He's good at it."

"He's with guests right now."

"So, are you going to ignore all of this? That doesn't seem right. It's not for you to decide."

Ki-Cheol hesitated for a moment but decided there was nothing he could do.

"...Yeah, you're right."

[InvincibleCaliber: If you finish your game, call me, okay? Please.]

[gamer_butler: ok.]

"Wow! Quick response!" Yong-Joo exclaimed excitedly.

"Did you see? That's how close we are. Don't ever doubt it."

Ki-Cheol moved in front of a mirror to check his appearance. He felt the need to ensure he looked presentable before heading to his father's guest room. While he didn't like that women other than his mother were visiting his father, one of them could potentially become his stepmother.

In front of the guest room, a man who had been standing as if guarding the place smiled at Ki-Cheol. It was Kim Ji-Hoon, who had come with Hera. And Kim Ji-Hoon accurately mentioned the name of the game that Ki-Cheol and Yong-Joo were playing.

"Is that game still popular? Brings back memories."

"Excuse me?"

"I heard you guys playing from here. Should I join for a round? I'm quite bored."

"Uh...excuse me?"

"I'll play a round first. Is that okay with you? But even if I want to play with my account, I can't remember the password."

"I'm waiting for an important call. I'll be right back... Oh! Hyung."

"Don't worry. I won't ruin your score. Just have to boost your rank, right?"

"That's not it... Hyung, you're good at English, right?"

"I'm killer in New York-style English. The brat I used to hang out with was from New York."

"Then can you help with some translation?"

"Translation?"

"A month ago, I became friends with a foreigner who's become huge now. But I can't speak English, and there's a lot I want to tell him."

"There should be something in return. If I do this favor, you'll do one for me. Deal?"

"Deal."

Kim Ji-Hoon and Ki-Cheol went into Ki-Cheol's room. Yong-Joo gave up his seat for Kim Ji-Hoon. Ki-Cheol proudly recounted his recent achievements over the past month.

"10th rank in just a month? Is that even possible?"

"If you had played, you'd know..."

"That was decades ago for me."

"Then let me put it this way. Butler is insanely good. It's impossible, but it's possible because it's Butler. When he debuts, it's going to be chaos in this field."

“Interesting. You raised him? You have a unique vision, probably because you're Hyung’s son."

"...Yes."

Then it happened.

There was a bit of static from the speaker. It was the sound of someone putting on headphones from the other side.

"He's here! Hyung, quick!"

"Who's this amazing person? You need to realize your place too..."

Kim Ji-Hoon's voice trailed off, cut off by the voice from the speaker.

<Hello, bro.>

Wait… What is Osiris doing here…?

Who could forget that terrifying voice!