NOVEL NEXT chapter 132
"That was mean."
"I know."
I brushed it off with a half-hearted answer as I glanced around. Aside from the one across the street, there were three PC bangs on this side of the road, and the closest one was just two buildings down.
Aren’t all PC bangs basically the same these days? It had been about three years since I last went to one, but from what I’d heard from guildmates, the whole “hunt for the best specs” trend was old news now.
"I'm just gonna go there. Cool?"
"...Yeah."
Still sulking, Gang Jaegyung followed as I walked briskly toward the building with the PC bang.
Since it was located underground, we took the stairs down—but halfway there, I spotted something familiar and came to a stop. Following where my eyes had just passed, I scanned the wall covered in posters, and sure enough, there it was—newly released class illustrations for Abrea.
So they still put these up, huh. The PC bangs I used to go to only had faded, outdated posters—made it seem like no one bothered keeping things up. But tucked among all the worn-out ones, the fresh Abrea artwork stood out, and something about it made me weirdly pleased.
As I stood there staring blankly at the wall, Gang Jaegyung stepped in close beside me.
"What is it?"
His voice still carried a trace of annoyance from earlier, so I simply pointed to the Abrea poster.
"This."
Following my finger, Gang Jaegyung looked at the poster. “Ah,” he said, recognizing it right away. We’d seen that exact illustration together at the convention, after all.
"So PC bangs have these kinds of posters too, huh."
"Guess so."
Still looks good. That uniquely rebellious, heavy aura of Abrea really came through.
I kept scanning the image, eyes drifting over every detail, and just when I felt like I’d seen enough and stepped down the stairs, Gang Jaegyung tugged lightly at my sleeve.
Standing one step lower, I looked up at him without a word. Then he suddenly spoke.
“In the video you gave me last time, you filmed Abrea a lot too… Do you like Abrea?”
…He must mean the recording I gave him of the hidden story. Did I film Abrea a lot in that? I couldn’t remember clearly—but I probably did. Scratching the back of my neck awkwardly, I answered.
“Kind of? Out of all the characters in Dusk, I like her the most.”
“…Really?”
Jaegyung stared at the Abrea poster intently, like he was trying to burn a hole through it.
"Why do you like her?"
"She’s pretty."
If you went deeper, there were a lot of reasons—how she held firm to her beliefs even in a theocratic system, how she was great in combat, how she was self-sacrificing toward Hoa… Plenty of things. But listing all of that felt like a pain, so I just went with the most digestible reason.
Jaegyung seemed to mull over that answer as he kept staring at the Abrea poster. Then, slowly, he spoke.
“…What if Abrea ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) were a guy?”
…I had no idea where that question came from. Abrea is a woman—what’s the point in imagining her as a man?
But the way he was looking at me—so wide-eyed and expectant—made it hard to ignore. I sighed and gave in, letting my mind spin through the scenario.
Abrea as a man… So she’d be more handsome, maybe? But in Dusk, the character models don’t really differ much between genders, so even if Abrea were male, she’d look pretty much the same.
A guy with that kind of face and a dangling dick?
I stared down at my own lower half, deep in thought. Abrea as a man… Abrea as a man…
…Hmm.
“I’d still like the character, but not like… in a romantic way?”
If Abrea were male, the essence of the character wouldn’t change, so I’d still be a fan. But it would feel different. If Abrea were a real woman, I might want to date her once, just to try it—but if she were a man? Yeah, no.
"…Really?"
Jaegyung looked at me without any expression, then slowly turned his eyes back to the poster.
"I see. …I figured."
Whatever that means. But I guess he got the answer he wanted.
“Come on, let’s go down,” I said, tugging him along as we continued to the basement. Then, for some reason, I stopped just short of the PC bang entrance and left the awkward uncle behind before stepping inside.
That unmistakable faint stench of cigarettes hit me right away. Yup. Definitely a PC bang.
We looked around for seats. Neither of us smoked and we weren’t too fond of the smell, so we avoided the smoking area. Still, we didn’t want to be crammed into a corner either, so we picked a clean-looking middle section that was quiet and empty.
“We’re playing Dusk, right?”
While waiting for the computers to boot up, Jaegyung spoke to me. I adjusted the keyboard and mouse into a comfortable position as I replied.
“Yeah, but since we’re different factions, it’d be boring to just play Dusk the whole time. Let’s do an hour of Dusk and then switch to Lastones.”
Jaegyung mostly played FPS, while I wasn’t really into that genre, so we didn’t have many games in common. Sure, I’d tried some FPS games when friends dragged me in, but I wasn’t any good, and I figured he’d find it frustrating to play with a total newbie. I wanted to show him my strong side, if possible.
That’s when I remembered Lastones, a MOBA game. It fit my taste as an MMORPG fan, and Jaegyung also played it now and then when he felt like it. It didn’t have factions like Dusk, and its matchmaking system automatically assigned sides, so as long as we partied up, we’d be on the same team.
Perfect for us right now.
Jaegyung’s eyes went wide in surprise. Not unreasonable. The game was well made, but plagued by bugs, lag, and optimization issues. MOBA games also tend to have steep learning curves, so only long-time players stuck with it. It wasn’t easy to find fellow Lastones players.
“That hit feedback is insane.”
Once the computer was up, I quickly signed up, walked over to the kiosk, and paid. Then I returned to my seat, pulled up Dusk, and double-clicked the icon to launch the game. Jaegyung did the same and logged in while chattering away.
“Even with good hit feedback, the bugs and lag are brutal. I rarely see anyone playing it these days. It’s dropped in rankings too, so lots of people don’t even know what it is. But hearing that you play Lastones, Goyoung… makes me happy. I think it’ll be fun playing together.”
He looked more excited than I expected, and I couldn’t help feeling a little proud. Well, he had said he wanted to fight alongside me. Even if it’s just 5v5, being on the same team was something, at least. I got the hype.
Riding that mood, I clicked the login button on my Honeybread account and glanced over at Jaegyung’s screen. He didn’t have any alts aside from Retaking a Class, so there was just one character sitting there.
…Wait a sec. How did he even make the Gonyanyanya character? The 3rd slot server had locked character creation ages ago. If he didn’t already have a character there, he shouldn’t have been able to make one at all.
“How did you make Gonyanyanya?”
And since the guy who made that character was right next to me, I just asked directly.
Jaegyung was waiting for the game to load, but turned to answer.
“I borrowed an account from Hyuk-hyung. He made a Viajok on the 3rd server too.”
Hyuk-hyung… that was the famous streamer Jaegyung still talked to. The one who helped launch his streaming career. His username was Sinyuk, I think. Jaegyung once said they went to the same college, that he was his senior.
I hadn’t watched Sinyuk’s streams much, but I remembered from their collabs that he had a very different vibe—loud, intense, a bit rough around the edges.
Wait. Hold up. If Sinyuk exists, what did he mean when he said he had no friends?
“I thought you said you didn’t have any friends.”
“Huh? I don’t.”
“What about Sinyuk?”
Was this guy lying? But Jaegyung’s face looked totally normal.
“I wouldn’t call him a friend.”
“You’re not close? You stream together.”
Jaegyung was always relaxed around Sinyuk. Still used honorifics, but he joked around and acted totally at ease. Viewers even liked watching Retaking a Class specifically because of his collabs with Sinyuk.
“We just collab when our schedules line up. Some viewers like seeing us together.”
“So you’re not close?”
“Well, um… I wouldn’t say we’re not close, but…”
Jaegyung trailed off, frowning in thought, then finally spoke again—hesitantly.
“If I had to define it, he’s more like a mentor, a senior, a teacher. Someone who gives me advice when I need it?”
I mean… yeah, he is his college senior, and I think he said they were three or four years apart in age. Not a huge gap, but still enough to take on a guiding role. And Sinyuk did help him become a streamer.
Still… to not call that person a friend? If it were me, I’d have latched on tight and called him my bestie ages ago.
“Is he just a terrible friend material?”
Or maybe he’s really ugly and hard to get attached to… I whispered the last part so no one else would hear, and Jaegyung let out a quiet laugh.