Chapter 24: A Humiliating Debut

I hovered the cursor over the weapon.

But I couldn’t bring myself to click, my hand trembling uncontrollably, and Ban-ye reached out to click it himself.

I panicked and dodged Ban-ye’s hand.

“W-wait a minute.”

This was nothing short of a gamble.

No, actually, if you calculated the probabilities, it was worse than a gamble.

I sighed, composed myself, and hovered the mouse cursor over it.

And then… I locked the weapon.

Once a weapon is locked, it cannot be enhanced or sold until it’s unlocked.

And once locked, it takes three days, or 72 hours, to unlock, making immediate enhancement impossible.

Watching me, Ban-ye clicked his tongue.

“Scared?”

I flinched at his openly provocative tone, but I put the mouse down and shouted.

“Yeah, I’m scared! It’s better than blowing up an innocent weapon, isn’t it?”

“Why do you think it’ll get blown up.”

“Because the probability of it breaking is high!”

“Get rid of that defeatist mindset.”

I snorted at Ban-ye’s words.

Whatever Ban-ye said, the weapon was already locked, and even if I unlocked it right away, it couldn’t be enhanced for the next 72 hours.

“Whatever, let’s just hurry up and record the video.”

“Hmm….”

Ban-ye’s attitude was reluctant, but he didn’t insist and nodded his head.

“Alright.”

“Great!”

In Ban-ye’s place, I personally turned on the laptop for him.

In my opinion, if Ban-ye continued to upload videos like this little by little, it was only a matter of time before he had more subscribers than Kwon Da-jung.

After all, Ban-ye was a much better player than the likes of Sisi.

Even if he’s being sullen like that now….

‘Once his YouTube subscribers or likes increase, Ban-ye will get a boost of motivation, right?’

“Hmph hmmm~”

Thinking about the flower-paved path of the future, I started humming to myself.

Ban-ye, who was staring at me, turned on my computer next to him.

“Huh? Why that one?”

“Should we do it together today?”

“Me?”

“It’s better to have one more person in the video, right?”

“Umm….”

I thought a solo play video would be better.

That’s what I thought, but since Ban-ye wanted it that way, there was no need to insist otherwise.

I nodded in agreement.

“Hyung, do you have two headsets?”

“Why?”

“I think I’ll be able to concentrate better if I wear one.”

“Ah, I do.”

It seems Ban-ye is finally going to try and make a proper video.

With a pounding heart, I quickly found a headset and handed it to Ban-ye.

Ban-ye logged into the Ah-ang character and asked me.

“Where should we run?”

“A place you’re confident in….”

“I’m confident everywhere.”

The casual way he said it was so f*cking cool that my heart skipped a beat for a moment.

Ah sh*t, next time someone asks me, ‘Which place are you best at?’, I should answer like that….

“Then, umm… Ah!”

But before that, I had to choose a dungeon to run first, so I took out my smartphone and searched for Sisi’s YouTube.

And I checked the most recent guide video he had uploaded.

“Let’s go to the Screaming Cave!”

“Screaming Cave?”

“Sisi uploaded a Screaming Cave guide video. Wouldn’t it be good if we cleared it faster than that?”

It seems like a really good idea….

At my words, Ban-ye stared at me with a strange gaze.

Then he sighed and shook his head.

“Hyung…. You’re really clinging to Sisi.”

“Wh-who’s clinging! He’s the one clinging!”

“The obsession….”

Ban-ye, who let his words trail off, shrugged and sat down without saying anything more.

I was a little annoyed at Ban-ye for saying I was obsessed with Sisi, but I knew I would only be at a disadvantage if I kept digging into the topic, so I kept my mouth shut.

And just as we were about to enter the Screaming Cave.

“Ah.”

“What?”

“Should we do a practice run first?”

Ban-ye is already good, but if we practice, we can get an even better video.

As expected, Ban-ye has decided to do it properly.

I nodded, feeling proud.

“Great.”

And I started running the dungeon with Ban-ye.

After Ban-ye went to the dining table to edit alone, saying he gets self-conscious when someone is watching, I logged into Ban-yeStorage and chatted with the guild members.

While we were chatting, Ban-ye suddenly appeared in the guild chat.

[Guild][Ah-ang] Uploaded

[Guild][Ah-ang] As Ah-ang2

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] The title is so sincere

[Guild][Male3] going to watch

I also quickly went to watch the video.

We ran the Screaming Cave a total of three times, and the first time, thinking of it as practice, I was relaxed and made a series of mistakes… but the second and third times, I did pretty well too.

So I was looking forward to seeing which take he uploaded….

“Wh-what is this.”

From the very beginning of the video, I could see myself getting hit by the monster’s first attack and flying away.

I hadn’t made such a st*pid mistake in the second and third runs, so it was definitely the first take.

“This, I think he uploaded the wrong one…!”

When I refreshed the page, the view count had gone up, as if someone had already watched it.

I played the video with a sour taste in my mouth.

And as the video progressed, my expression soured even more.

[Wow, amazing… he’s so good….]

[Insane… you’re a real genius.]

“….”

My voice, ceaselessly praising Ban-ye, was recorded and included as is.

Moreover, that wasn’t the only part where my voice came out.

[Ack! Ugh!]

[I-I’m dying. Ban-ye! Save me!]

[Uwaaah!]

…The parts where I screamed while messing up in the first round were recorded exactly as they were.

Furthermore, the screw-ups were quite embarrassing.

Ban-ye taking down the flying monsters in one go and immediately moving to the next section.

And me, watching him and trying to do the same, attempting to use a skill, only to get hit by a monster after jumping and falling straight down.

The difference in our skill levels was even more pronounced because it showed Ban-ye’s cool takedowns and my foolish actions alternately.

I huffed and puffed and ran to confront Ban-ye.

Ban-ye was looking at his monitor, regardless of whether I was coming or not.

His face, strangely holding back laughter, made me feel ominous, so I quickly approached… and there, the chat was already filled with [lmaoooooooooooo] from the guild members who had already seen the video.

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] lmaoooooo fck this is so fcking funny

[Guild][Neda] The funniest video I’ve seen this month

[Guild][Male3] Ah lmaoo so this is why Ban-ye takes his puppy around

[Guild][Bogak] lol

[Guild][Neda] I’ll have to join you in a dungeon next time

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] so d@mn loud

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] but it must be fun to take him around ㅇㅇ

Unlike Ban-ye, who at least pretended to hold back his laughter, the guild members had no restraint.

My face turned beet red, and I smacked Ban-ye on the shoulder and back.

“What is this, what did you upload!”

“You told me to upload it.”

“I said it was a practice video!”

No wonder he was unusually quiet when we were recording the first video!

I just thought he was concentrating, but he was planning something like this from the start!

I ground my teeth.

“Delete it now!”

“If I delete it, I’ll delete everything and not upload any more videos.”

Ban-ye smirked and played his trump card.

I was so angry my lips trembled.

No, but still, it’s too much of a waste to delete it….

As I couldn’t bring myself to say delete it, the guild members’ chat came into my view again.

[Guild][Male3] Ban-ye’s playing much better than usual

[Guild][Male3] maybe cuz he has his pet with him lol

[Guild][HugMeRaiseMe] That’s cuz there’s a scrub next to him for comparison lmaooooooo

I snatched Ban-ye’s laptop and slammed the keyboard in anger.

[Guild][Ah-ang] stop

[Guild][Ah-ang] stop making fun of me

[Guild][HeyYam] the account owner is here, yam

I tried to stop them while pretending to be Ban-ye, but I was found out immediately.

Laughter erupted once again.

[Guild][Neda] That was a good watch……

[Guild][Male3] lmaoooooooooo

[Guild][Bogak] lol

[Guild][ImSoCute] It’s fun lol

Even ImSoCute, whom I had trusted, said that.

I was upset and hit Ban-ye’s back again, smack!, but Ban-ye silently took the hit while snickering.

I was starting to suspect that he was getting paid every time I was humiliated.

As if that wasn’t enough, Ban-ye added fuel to the fire, asking teasingly.

“Why aren’t you writing on the forums today?”

“….”

“You always run off to write, but not today.”

“Would you write if you were me!”

In the end, Ban-ye earned himself another hit from me and chuckled.

The way his eyes crinkled was pretty, but it was also true that I was pissed off.

Even after getting hit by me, Ban-ye continued to piss me off with things like, “If you don’t write, I will.”

In the end, I sulked and went into my room, and only then did he follow me and pretend to comfort me.

But he absolutely refused to take down that d@mn video.

However….

On the third day after that video was uploaded.

I suddenly got a call from Sisi.