Chapter 17: An Impulsive Invitation

[Guild][Ban-yeStorage] I don’t have a bicycle.

[Guild][Ban-yeStorage] My only mount is a rainbow pony…

[Guild][ImSoCute] I can help you pick out a bicycle too!

‘He’s serious….’

Bicycles were a field I had absolutely no interest in, but seeing how much ImSoCute loved them, I started to feel a flicker of curiosity.

“Hmm….”

However, I had a feeling that if I continued this conversation about bicycles, I might end up actually meeting ImSoCute in person.

‘Meeting up is a bit much….’

‘I wasn’t even planning on using Discord in the first place.’

‘If that’s the case, then Ban-ye is… huh?’

My thoughts unexpectedly drifted to Ban-ye again, and a sense of rebellion flared up at the audacity of him being out of contact for three whole days.

No matter how busy he was, would it kill him to send a single message to me, the person he shares an account with, saying something like [Ah-ang, I’m busy these days. I’ll be back in 3 days, so wait for me]?

[Guild][Ban-yeStorage] I think that might be difficult lol

[Guild][ImSoCute] Then how about just riding around your neighborhood instead of a long ride?

In the end, I ignored the shadow of Ban-ye in my mind and typed out a refusal to ImSoCute.

But ImSoCute was persistent.

I could feel his pure, intense desire to spread his hobby.

‘A bicycle….’

It certainly seemed like a better hobby to tell others about than gaming.

It’s good for your health, and for a person like me on the verge of becoming a shut-in, getting some sunlight and moving around outside would probably be helpful in some small way….

[Guild][Ban-yeStorage][In that case, could you help me pick a bicycl…]

Just as I was typing, a Discord notification suddenly chimed.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] What are you doing

Forgetting the game chat, I scrambled over to the Discord window.

[Ah-ang] Ban-ye ㅠㅜㅠ

[Ah-ang] What happened, you were gone for three days without a word

[Ah-ang] ㅜㅜㅜㅜ

Despite my fuss, Ban-ye replied simply.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I was meeting friends.

[Ah-ang] !!! Omg who

[Hwang Hyun-joong] Would you know them if I told you?

[Ah-ang] ㅡㅡ

[Hwang Hyun-joong] lol

“He’s being mean again.”

I realized Ban-ye’s foul-mouthed mode had been activated and decided not to say anything.

I knew he would just be sarcastic no matter what I said.

But it was hard to suppress the happy feeling of Ban-ye finally showing up after three days.

Besides, Ban-ye was being unusually talkative today.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] What have you been up to for 3 days?

[Ah-ang] Getting left on read by you every day

[Ah-ang] ㅡㅡ

I tried to sound blunt too, but I couldn’t spit out sharp words like Ban-ye could.

My curiosity was much stronger than my annoyance.

In the end, I caved and asked Ban-ye what he was doing now.

[Ah-ang] What are you doing now?

[Ah-ang] Are you going to log into the game?

[Hwang Hyun-joong] No

[Ah-ang] ㅠ Why not

[Ah-ang] Don’t tell me you’re quitting?

I was the one who asked if he was quitting, but as soon as I asked, my heart sank.

If Ban-ye said he was quitting because he was tired of the game, I had no way to stop him.

“Is he really tired of it….”

I had managed to hold onto him when he was about to quit right after his account was permanently banned, and he was playing again on the Ah-ang character, but maybe the game had become boring because it couldn’t compare to his original character.

As I thought that, I grew anxious and practically begged Ban-ye.

[Ah-ang] Don’t quit ㅜㅜ Where would you go, leaving me all alone ㅠㅠ

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I didn’t say I was quitting.

However, my guess must have been way off, as Ban-ye calmly denied it.

Then, he uncharacteristically took the initiative to explain why he hadn’t logged into the game for three days.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I didn’t have time to play because I was looking for a part-time job.

[Ah-ang] A part-time job?

[Hwang Hyun-joong] Yeah

[Ah-ang] Why a part-time job all of a sudden?

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I need a lump sum of money.

[Ah-ang] What for?

When I pressed him, Ban-ye hesitated for a long time.

I knew that Ban-ye didn’t like talking about himself.

He never brought up personal stories, so aside from his age and the fact that he was an only child, I didn’t even know about his family situation or where he lived.

So I figured he wouldn’t give me the details this time either.

But, for some reason, he opened up a little about his story today.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I have to move out of my house.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I need a security deposit.

“…Huh?”

I was flustered by the unexpected news.

I missed the timing to reply, and after saying that, Ban-ye added another sentence, almost like a warning.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] But I’m not asking you for money.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] So don’t even say you’ll give me money nn

[Ah-ang] ;; I wasn’t even thinking about it.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] ok

Of course, I said I wasn’t thinking about it, but I was actually in the middle of calculating how much I could give Ban-ye.

So when Ban-ye said he wouldn’t accept any money, I felt a slight pang of guilt.

So, I first asked Ban-ye how much he needed.

[Ah-ang] But how much do you need that you’re looking for a part-time job?

[Hwang Hyun-joong] It’s a security deposit so… about ten million won.

[Ah-ang] ;;

[Ah-ang] Can you save that up in one month of work?

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I’ll have to work for a year.

[Ah-ang] Then… if you move out right now, where will you stay?

Ban-ye didn’t answer my question for a long time.

It seemed he also knew that moving out of his house immediately and saving up ten million won didn’t make sense.

I didn’t know what had happened to Ban-ye, but I tried to suggest that it would be better to go back home for now.

[Ah-ang] Dude, but if you leave home now, you have nowhere to go.

[Ah-ang] How can you save up money?

[Ah-ang] Saving ten million won is not easy…

Ban-ye didn’t reply, but he seemed to agree with my words.

Soon, Ban-ye confessed why he couldn’t go back home.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] Right now, my mom and I are living at the house of the guy my mom is dating.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I left because I beat that guy up.

[Ah-ang] What? Why?

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I hit him because he deserved to be hit.

“Whoa….”

That one sentence went far beyond any image I had of Ban-ye until now.

I was shocked, and at the same time, I could clearly sense some dark backstory behind his words.

Calling him ‘that guy’ meant he probably wasn’t Ban-ye’s biological father….

So, have the three of them—his mom, a strange man, and Ban-ye—been living together all this time?

[Ah-ang] So you can’t go back home?

[Hwang Hyun-joong] They probably won’t let me in.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] And I have no intention of going back even if they tell me to.

Ban-ye’s attitude was as sharp as a knife.

I felt like I could understand his stance of absolutely never going back home.

Because I wouldn’t want to go back to my house now either….

Perhaps because I found a point of empathy with Ban-ye, I impulsively asked him.

[Ah-ang] Then do you want to come to my house?

“No, am I crazy…!”

A sigh escaped me as soon as the words were out.

Even if it was Ban-ye, why would I suddenly make such an offer to a stranger I’d never even seen?

It felt like my head and my fingers were moving separately.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] no

[Hwang Hyun-joong] Why would I go to your house?

Just then, as if to cut off my sigh of regret, Ban-ye refused as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I was relieved, but at the same time, something inside me welled up.

I thought we had gotten pretty close, but… Ban-ye’s tone sounded like he was saying, ‘You and I aren’t that close, are we?’

Thus, my fingers betrayed my brain once again and typed ahead.

[Ah-ang] Why not? You could come.

[Ah-ang] We’re a married couple, you know.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] Stop saying such creepy things.

[Ah-ang] ㅠㅠ We’re close, aren’t we?

[Hwang Hyun-joong] ?

[Ah-ang] No… I mean, close friends can help each other out at times like this.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I don’t need it.

Ban-ye’s attitude, rejecting me to the very end despite his difficult situation, provoked my stubbornness.

I began to type mindlessly.

[Ah-ang] No, it’s hard to find a room right away even if you have money, so is it so wrong to offer you a place to crash for a few days? We share an account, so we can share a house too… Anyway, my house has a spare room and a spare bed. I’ll just be in my room gaming anyway, so we won’t bother each other muchㅡㅡ It’s a sweet deal.

After typing it all out, I wondered if I had been too long-winded, but the more I looked at it, the more it made sense.

Ban-ye was silent for a moment before saying something out of the blue.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] I smoke.

[Ah-ang] I know.

[Ah-ang] Smoking inside the house would be a problem, but you can just smoke outside.

When I had typed that far, the sanity that had abandoned me belatedly returned.

Online, I acted all cool, but in reality, I slammed my clenched fist on my desk.

“Please, fingers, just stay still for a second!”

But my actions, whether they were bluff or deception, showed no signs of stopping.

[Hwang Hyun-joong] It’ll be uncomfortable.

I flinched for a moment at the message that arrived soon after, then I furiously typed out my home address to Ban-ye and hit enter.

[Ah-ang] 1136 Dong, 2203 Ho, XXXXXXX, XXbeon-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul

[Ah-ang] That’s my address, come over.

[Ah-ang] My number is XXX-XXXX-XXXX.

After that, Ban-ye just read it and was silent for a long, long time.