Chapter 462: Gap (4)

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That girl was one of Joo Soohyuk’s many fans, but she was given some attention in PMH since she attended the same middle school as him.

She was able to form a connection with Joo Soohyuk, who, suffice to say, was nothing short of someone from a completely different world.

She knew many stories about him.

Her status was high within Joo Soohyuk’s fandom in PMH, and she knew well how to get herself involved with him.

Joo Soohyuk only saw her as a ‘kind schoolmate’, but I see her differently.

‘Her personality is trash.’

Her qualities as a player are at the bottom, but she avoided failing in hopes that she can still fit in with Joo Soohyuk.

Passing grades in Korea’s most prestigious high school is a great thing, but I don’t see greatness in her.

Because the girl that I remember from PMH was the stereotypical character — one who’s weak against the strong yet strong against the weak.

For example, she can’t send as much as a hateful glance to Ahn Dain, the woman that Joo Soohyuk truly likes.

She took advantage of Ahn Dain’s fear of starting a more-than-friends relationship with Joo Soohyuk to paint herself as someone who respects Joo Soohyuk’s privacy.

‘I can’t believe what she did when Bang Yoonseob died and Joo Soohyuk was having a hard time.’

But just like most weak players, she failed to recognize a strong one, Goo Seulbi, who exposed and punished her.

Thinking that Goo Seulbi was a weak person, the female student tried to lure her out of school.

No one inside Eungwang High was as crazy as her, so it was almost impossible to corner Goo Seulbi with other people.

‘But my playable character Goo Seulbi’s not someone to mess with.’

The female student, who gathered her fellow crazy fans, grabbed Goo Seulbi by her collar and said harsh words.

As expected, Goo Seulbi easily turned the situation around.

She painted a victorious scene, almost having magnificent music and lights shining on her, which attracted everyone’s, including Joo Soohyuk’s, attention.

Although it wasn’t Goo Seulbi’s plan to make Joo Soohyuk aware of the girl’s true colors, things ended out that way and blew out of proportion.

In he wake of the Goo Seulbi incident, Joo Soohyuk learned more about the female student and found out about the actions of the malicious fan community that she had joined.

‘The true situation was exposed. The fan community board showed the female student swearing at the underdog around Joo Soohyuk.’

Members of that fan community cried and begged Joo Soohyuk to forgive them, but it made Joo Soohyuk angrier.

Joo Soohyuk shut down that fan community and personally visited those people that they bullied to apologize, even helping them take legal action if they wanted.

Since that incident, the female student lost her connection with Joo Soohyuk and never appeared in the game again.

I can’t figure out what kind of activities she did inside that fan community, but I think the ending was logical based on what she did to Goo Seulbi.

‘That malicious fan community must be non-existent in this world.’

The incident that triggered the creation of the malicious fan community has not occurred in this world.

The Gwanghwamun incident.

It was when Joo Soohyuk and Ahn Dain’s akgae fans gathered in Gwanghwamun to make a fuss.

That event occurred in October in the PMH game, but it didn’t break out in this world.

(T/N: Akgae is a rabid fan of an individual from a group. They usually throw hate on their bias’ groupmates.)

I always checked articles related to the two heroes, but I didn’t find anything.

‘Posts and comments going against the terms and conditions of sites are reported immediately. Several comments were already deleted before they could form a consensus, so those akgaes weren’t able to unite.’

The Joo Soohyuk akgaes that I remember from PMH weren’t powerful.

Embers would only create a big fire once they were gathered, but since they were extinguished in advance, they were essentially powerless.

For Ahn Dain’s fandom, it’s thanks to one fan of hers who works hard in making their community pure.

…Speaking of Ahn Dain’s fans, I remembered one of PMH’s haters who turned out to be her fan, managing to transmigrate here and become Jiikhoe’s chairman.

The title heroine and hero are too perfect for such trashy fans.

‘Her nametag says Choi Younghee… Wait a second, Choi Younghee?’

The name of Joo Soohyuk’s akgae and Bang Yoonseob’s failed love interest was Choi Younghee.

Her name gave me a headache.

The name was common among those born in the mid-20th century, but not anymore.

Few teenagers of this time had that name, and there’s only one Eungwang High freshman who has it.

I had seen that name in the document I obtained through Jeokho just before the first semester began.

‘She’s an illegal admittee…!’

There were four students who successfully passed Eungwang High’s special screening.

Except for Maeng Hyodon, the other three were illegal admittees who entered Eungwang High thanks to Choi Pyeondeuk falsifying their documents.

Two of the three were bribed to go against Choi Pyeondeuk, except for her.

Now she acts as a well-intentioned victim of the process.

She wasn’t really eligible for admission, but since she was seen as a victim of Choi Pyeondeuk’s corruption, she was given an opportunity to study at Eungwang High.

…A fraudulent student saying those things to Goo Seulbi!

‘I can’t believe Bang Yoonseob wasted his time on her!’

Bang Yoonseob is an idiot, but he entered Eungwang High through his own abilities, and now he’s a student of Tak Geosan.

Like Choi Younghee in PMH, Bang Yoonseob was weak against the strong and strong against the weak, but at least he didn’t do anything bad behind anyone’s back.

Choi Younghee is not part of that malicious fan community now, and she was recognized as a legitimate Eungwang High student since she keeps her grade at the median level.

Still, in terms of what she did in PMH, Bang Yoonseob most certainly dodged a bullet.

I don’t know why my Bbang Shuttle liked her.

Now he’s having a hard time.

…Though being someone who liked the failed game PMH, I’m not really one to talk.

“Okay, we’re gonna leave first, Yoonseob-ah. Go talk with Euishin.”

Seeing that Bang Yoonseob wasn’t calming down, Joo Soohyuk stepped back.

In terms of common sense, who should be angrier at me, the owner of Bbang Shuttle, but instead he was fuming at Joo Soohyuk and Choi Younghee.

‘Does he know Choi Younghee is Joo Soohyuk’s fan?’

Maybe he heard somewhere that the two of them are from the same middle school.

It’s possible that Bang Yoonseob figured it out himself, but I thought it was unlikely for his pea-brain.

“…”

“Let’s go, Younghee-ah.”

“…Okay.”

As she walked away with Joo Soohyuk, Choi Younghee glanced back at Bang Yoonseob several times.

Bang Yoonseob didn’t spare another moment to look at the two so he was oblivious to it.

‘I think she’s more concerned for Bang Yoonseob. Is it because Bang Yoonseob’s mad? Or….”

A lot of things had already changed in this world.

Perhaps she met different people and experienced different things.

But I won’t know if Choi Younghee’s thoughts and intentions could really differ much from what she showed in PMH.

It’s hard to conclude because I have little basis for judgment.

“…Are you gonna make me buy bread? Gimme the list and get lost like Joo Soohyuk.”

Bang Yoonseob only spoke after the two completely disappeared.

There was a deep sense of defeat and jealousy in his voice.

He must’ve been under tremendous stress all this time as he worked next to Joo Soohyuk and Naebg Hyodon.

A love interest appeared, and if he thought that she liked Joo Soohyuk, it would only intensify the jealousy and inferiority complex he worked so hard to suppress.

His feelings were valid.

The problem now is how he would manage and overcome it in a way that wouldn’t damage his surroundings… but this Bang Yoonseob is an idiot.

“Instead of bread, I think cookies would be better.”

“Gah!”

Bang Yoonseob choked and wriggled in pain at the mention of the word ‘cookie’.

I don’t know why he insists to smoke when his respiratory system is clearly suffering.

His face turned red as he shouted at me.

“You! You…! Ah, god! Did you know?”

“What?”

“…Aigoo!”

It’s clear that there was a problem between the two of them, but I couldn’t intervene seeing how intense Bang Yoonseob’s reactions were.

He’s already having a fit at the mere mention of a word, and any wrong word I say here would only backfire.

‘…I have no choice but to watch him for now.’

Among the mountain list of things that I have to do, keeping an eye on Bang Yoonseob was added.

I have little freedom to intervene, but I decided to say some things for now.

“I think Choi Younghee has something to say to you.”

“…What does it have to do with you.”

“Nothing, but talk to her.”

“Get lost!”

It was almost time for afternoon class, so I did get lost.

But before I left, I gave my Bbang Shuttle, no, Cookie Shuttle a mission.

“You have until tomorrow to deliver some MITRON goods to Choi Younghee. You know more about those, so I’ll leave it to you to choose which one to buy.”

“Yah!”

I heard him say “Jo Euishin you bastard!”, but I was already long on the way to the afternoon class.

Bang Yoonseob must’ve cursed at me all day, but I bet none of the Eungwang High students paid attention.

They must’ve thought that it was another bread delivery mission for him.

After class, I left to do some club activities.

“Jo Euishin, come with me.”

Hwang Jiho popped out of nowhere.

I kept walking to the central area, thinking that he wanted to walk together to the newspaper department, but Hwang Jiho blocked me.

Seeing the serious look on his face, it must be something else.

“What’s wrong?”

“Let’s take a break from extracurriculars today. We should save some time.”

Moon Saeron was finally back to school and I was thinking of hearing about Yeom Junyeol’s teacher from her though.

Is there something more important?

I decided to listen to him first, and Hwang Jiho lowered his voice.

“The couple allowed it. I thought you’d want to go too.”

His words made my ears perk up.

So far, there was only one couple that Hwang Jiho has mentioned.

It was the tiger couple who lost their descendant to the Bear Clan.

On April Fool’s Day, Baekho-gun, Hwang Jiho, and Jeokho captured alive a bear.

I hear the couple are taking their revenge in the garden of the Tiger Clan.

Although I do not wish to interfere with that couple’s revenge, that bear might have a clue related to the Black Screen.

“I’ll guide you to the Tiger Clan garden.”

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