NOVEL NEXT chapter 75
At a proposal way past anything I’d expected, I just cocked an eyebrow without answering. Chae Yu-jeong instantly wilted.
“Do you not want to?”
“It’s not about wanting or not wanting…”
A headache pricked, and I pressed my forehead.
Why is the night ending like this? It felt fine up until a bit ago.
“You do know it’s barely been a month since you and I met, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you invite someone like that to your place? Is the world a joke to you?”
He’d been listening quietly, but Chae Yu-jeong bounced back with a smile.
“It’s not just anyone. It’s you, hyung.”
“What kind of bullshit is that? You barely know what kind of person I am and you just snap-invite me to your place?”
“You might’ve only known me for a short time, but I’ve liked you steadily since five years ago. So of course I trust you.”
“You trust someone just because you like them?”
Forget it. I exhaled a long sigh and waved him off.
“I’m not going. That’s too much.”
“It’s not too much!”
“It is for me.”
“Ah, hyung!”
At my flat refusal, Chae Yu-jeong’s face crumpled. He grabbed my arm and started whining.
“I’m not inviting you with no plan! Just help sort stuff for like two hours, light work. I’ll even send you photos of the inside first so it doesn’t feel like a lot.”
“Why are you packing up?”
“I have to move to the team housing now… If I go now I probably won’t be back until break. I wanted to at least get things in order before I go.”
Ah. Right. He’s a pro. I keep forgetting because of the way he acts.
“So… you want me to be your laborer?”
“N-No! You won’t have to ‘work’ at all! Just help me organize some things. I’ll take care of food.”
“If it’s just organizing, you can do it yourself or ask someone else. Why me?”
“I don’t have anyone to ask. I don’t have friends.”
“I saw in the interview the coach we met at the wedding is your {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} cousin. Ask your cousin. Or your parents.”
I shook his hand off. The corners of Chae Yu-jeong’s eyes turned a little red.
He couldn’t bring himself to grab me again. Shoulders drooping, he spoke in a small, dejected voice.
“My cousin’s busy with team practice. My parents… it’s a bit… to call them for this. I’ve been living separately for a long time.”
“…”
“I’ve had that experience of cleaning alone and going back to housing and feeling lonely… Sorry. I won’t push anymore.”
“…”
Standing under the streetlight, he looked like he might cry any second—pathetic in a way that made my conscience throb like hell. I don’t even know what I did wrong to feel guilty.
“Even so, your place is a bit…”
“Can you at least not reject it outright and think about it? I’m doing the sorting next weekend, so there’s still time.”
Big round eyes peered up at me from under long lashes. On that pale face, only the rims of his eyes were flushed as he pleaded again.
“Hyung…”
“…If it’s just thinking about it…”
Damn it. I caved to those tear-glossed eyes again.
Having wrung a “I’ll think about it” out of me, Chae Yu-jeong broke into a huge smile and hopped back into his car.
“Then I’ll get going. I’ll text you, hyung!”
And before I could gather my wits, he just sped off. I was left standing there, blank, only coming to once he was gone.
“That two-faced little shit.”
He was obviously playing weak on purpose. I’d fallen for the same trick after getting hit by it before.
“Ha…”
Am I really this weak to a pretty face? A wave of reality hit me, and I instinctively patted my pocket for a cigarette.
Yeah, I should smoke one before I go in. Just as I was about to take the pack out, my phone buzzed with a new message.
[Kim Ui-chan: Yu Ji-han]
[Kim Ui-chan: You still mad?]
“You fu…”
I barely swallowed the curse, tossed Kim Ui-chan straight onto my block list, and deleted the thread.
Should’ve done that back in the car. I spaced because I went from the call with Seo Tae-young to talking with Chae Yu-jeong, so I ended up seeing a useless text one more time.
Any desire to smoke evaporated. I slid the cigarette back and headed home. One way or another, it’d been a tiring day.
****
Starting Saturday at 2:00 p.m., our First Clear push finally ended at 1:00 a.m. on Sunday.
Just like everyone expected, the Trinity raid was way easier than last year’s Loremha. Even so, it took eleven hours—still a far cry from Loremha’s forty-eight.
[Guild] Drink Some Water: gz gz gz gz gz gz
[Guild] Hunting Madman: gz gz gz gz gz gz gz
[Guild] ManaOing-nam: ugh I almost died from motion sickness ;;
[Guild] DoraHeeImnida: gz gz gz gz gz~
[Guild] Mocha Bread: good work, everyone T_T
[Guild] Staeric: thank god today is Sunday..
[Guild] Monster Born of Capitalism: gz gz gz gz gz
[Guild] Marinated Crab, Slurp: gz gz gz gz
Maybe it was the long, high-focus grind for that First Clear, but everyone was visibly wiped.
We’d braced ourselves because Loremha took forty-eight hours, but I didn’t think it’d still be this rough… Still, I can’t say it felt bad to notch a First Clear.
I pressed my eyes with my palms against the heavy fatigue, and a messenger ping sounded.
[Yu Chae: hyung]
[Yu Chae: good work]
[Yu Chae: going to bed right away?]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: don’t think I can do more]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: focus bar’s empty]
[Yu Chae: ㅜㅡㅜ]
[Yu Chae: we playing next week too?]
Next week? Next weekend would be…
“That’s when Chae Yu-jeong invited me to his place.”
I hadn’t said I’d go yet, but there were a few things snagging on it, so it felt awkward to refuse.
Plus, after we split yesterday, he actually sent me a bunch of pictures of his place, so any sense of pressure had basically rocketed into the stratosphere.
I scratched my forehead, undecided, and typed anyway.
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: not sure yet]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: if I’m free I’ll log in]
[Yu Chae: ㅠㅅㅠ]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: you?]
With a teary emote, spaced-handle Yu Chae answered sounding reluctant.
[Yu Chae: me, well]
[Yu Chae: I’ll just play I guess]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: all weekend?]
[Yu Chae: unlike you I’m a loner so I’ve got no friends to meet ㅠ.ㅠ]
I narrowed my eyes at his shameless act. This is a lot like the wedding situation.
Yu Chae, late to log in because he went down to his family home. Chae Yu-jeong, who’s lived away from his parents and on his own for a long time.
On the Wednesday Chae did the team interview schedule, Yu Chae was on Xenorise. I don’t know the exact time of the interview, but the LVS team’s social account posted on Wednesday that he’d be interviewing. What Chae told me wasn’t a lie.
Are they actually the same person? Is it just coincidence overlapping and I’m the only one reading it wrong?
“…If I keep this up, it won’t end.”
Time to make a call. Up to now, I’d tried to get proof without tipping either Yu Chae or Chae Yu-jeong off that I was suspicious, but all that method got me was failure.
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: lmao]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: I don’t have friends either]
[Yu Chae: lie]
[Yu Chae: you ditch me and go out all the time ㅜㅡㅜ]
[Yu Chae: you haven’t forgotten the autumn bride, right?]
If I want solid proof, I have to pay for it. With my thoughts lined up, I made a plan to get evidence from both Chae Yu-jeong and Yu Chae.
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: bride my ass lmao]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: I’ll be busy next Sat but I’ll log in Sunday]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: and we can play today too]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: you’re not going to sleep and then skip playing with me, are you?]
[Yu Chae: o_o!]
[Yu Chae: let’s play!!! ㅜ.ㅜ]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: k]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: raid was sweaty so let’s chill later]
[Jeo Jolryeoyo: gotta do some personal farm quests for the first time in a while]
[Yu Chae: okay! ^▽^)/]
After setting the plan with Yu Chae and logging off Xenorise, I messaged Chae Yu-jeong separately.
[Yu Ji-han: You said next Saturday, right?]
[Yu Ji-han: I’ll go, so stop sending photos]
[Chae Yu-jeong: !!!]
[Chae Yu-jeong: (sticker)]
[Chae Yu-jeong: really?]
[Chae Yu-jeong: you’re not teasing me, right? if so you’re actually a bad person]
[Yu Ji-han: I said I’ll go]
It was almost 2:00 a.m., but the reply came right away. I stared at the dancing black-cat sticker and sighed.
This is the last time. Since I’ve decided to tackle it head-on, if I still can’t get proof now, I’m going to stop suspecting the two of them.
Yeah, what happened with Kim Ui-chan did make me extra sensitive to anyone lying to me and stressing me out. But even so, keeping a prejudice and doubting someone for over a month with no evidence wasn’t right.
It meant nothing and gained me nothing. So it’s time to stop.