Chapter 21 – First, the Dungeon

Ŕėａⅾ ө​ｎ КаţЯҽаɗɩոｇСɑｆė

“She’s back again…”

The woman who had received Arang’s inquiry email yesterday sighed. Even though she had already replied, Arang had sent another inquiry email through Moms Touch.

‘Ha… She needs to make sense.’

She had written a long, strange story about something called an [MDB] Connector that she had never even heard of.

“Annoying. So annoying. These are the kids who make this job shitty because I have to respond to each and every one of them. Ugh.”

The woman used the same macro reply as last time and sent the inquiry response.

The next day, after work, during dinner with her colleagues, the conversation turned to work.

“Ah, is everyone still keeping that in mind?”

The one who brought up work first was the oldest woman, who had been working there the longest.

“Yes. The General Director told us, so we remember.”

At the natural continuation of the work talk, the woman in charge of Arang’s inquiry frowned. The reason was that her memory of the topic that had just come up was hazy.

“That’s right. I never thought the Director would ask us directly. But it’s amazing. He’s not usually the type to manage specific users separately.”

“The Director said it himself; it’s not about giving benefits or privileges.”

“Still, isn’t it the first time the Director has come to the customer center because of one user?”

“That’s true.”

As the conversation progressed, the woman remembered. The LEORE General Director had come to the customer center team himself and told them directly.

The nickname of the specific user the Director mentioned was definitely Lee Arang.

‘Lee Arang…? That name looks familiar…? Why is it so familiar?’

The woman stopped moving her spoon and kept thinking. It was definitely a name that remained in her head.

‘Is it because the Director said it himself?’

She was about to conclude that it was just because a high-ranking person in the position of LEORE General Director had come all the way to the customer center and asked for it directly when—

Clatter.

“Huh? Are you okay? Why did you suddenly drop your spoon? Oh my? Did you forget something important?”

The woman dropped her spoon on the floor and jumped up, and all the surrounding coworkers looked at her.

“Th, this is a disaster…!”

The woman finally realized where she had seen the name, the nickname, Lee Arang.

It was the nickname of the user who had given the same inquiry twice, making her annoyed and sending macro replies.

“Why? What’s the disaster? Why did you suddenly get up like that?”

“Th… That is… The user the Director asked about… The inquiry… I just sent a macro reply…”

“…What? Is that true?”

“Yes, yes…”

A few days ago, the LEORE General Director had come and bowed his head as he asked.

If there were any inquiry emails or inquiry calls about a user named Lee Arang, could they let him know the contents of the inquiry.

He even said that he couldn’t give benefits or privileges to a specific user, so he wouldn’t manage them separately, but just wanted to know what the inquiries were about.

But she had been neglecting that until now.

“Hey! How can you say that now! No, before that, you didn’t even know that!? Are you crazy!? Ha… No, I’ll contact the team leader. Haa…”

“Ah, th… That is… That…”

The woman had no choice but to bow her head deeply at the gazes of those around her and her coworkers.

The customer center team leader had safely finished work for the day and returned home to enjoy dinner with his wife when he suddenly sighed at the ringing of his company phone.

“It’s okay. Answer it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Doesn’t a call at this time mean it’s important?”

“I know you hate me calling at this time. Ah, hello?”

The customer center team leader’s eyes widened more and more.

“Ah, I understand. I’ll contact them right away.”

==

I’m annoyed.

I’m confused by the frustration and annoyance rising from my chest, something I’ve never felt while living as Arang.

First, I logged out of LEORE and lay down on the bed in the virtual world room. I sighed and checked the inquiry response.

I read it carefully and reread the inquiry response I had sent before.

It’s the same.

There’s nothing different. Not a single word or special character is different. The same macro reply came.

“Haa…”

It hasn’t been long since I started living as Arang, but this is the first time my emotions have been so intense.

Is it because my body, mind, and spirit are younger? Or is it because I’ve become a woman? It was hard to control negative emotions.

Usually, game customer centers are all the same, so in the past, I would have just said, “Oh well.” But as I lived as Arang, I naturally mixed with Arang’s emotions, and emotions that I couldn’t control rose up.

Like how I naturally think of Anna as Anna Unnie in reality, or how I can’t speak well.

“Hoo… Hoo…”

While I was taking deep breaths to calm my fluctuating emotions, Anna came into the hospital room.

[Arang. Older Sister is here.]

“Yeah. Welcome, Older Sister.”

[Arang, what’s wrong?]

As soon as Anna heard my voice, she came to me, put her hand on my stomach, and asked her worriedly what was wrong.

“How did you know?”

[I’m your Older Sister, of course I know.]

“Actually…”

I explained to Anna what had happened to me now.

First, I talked about the collaboration, and then I said that I was upset because I had a problem and gave an inquiry, but I received macro replies twice.

[Really…? Arang, don’t worry. Older Sister will help you.]

“Really? But I’m not asking for any special treatment. I just want to do the collaboration event as an ordinary user like everyone else.”

[Yeah. I know. Ah!, and I met a friend, and my friend knew Arang.]

“Friend?”

[Yeah. That friend recommended LEORE to me, so I was able to let Arang play LEORE.]

At Anna’s words, I felt grateful to Anna’s friend.

I don’t know why I opened my eyes in Arang’s body, but it’s certain that the trigger was LEORE.

In other words, Anna’s friend is the savior of my life.

[My friend wanted to be friends with Arang, so she gave me this.]

Anna showed a note to the camera that allows me to see the hospital room.

[She said it’s her game nickname. She said if Arang doesn’t mind, please send a friend request here.]

“Pursuit Interceptor?”

I don’t know what the nickname means, but since she’s someone I’m grateful to, I immediately opened the LEORE friend window and sent a friend request.

Ding.

“Wh, what.”

As soon as I sent the friend request, it was accepted in less than a second.

[Arang, don’t worry about this problem and play the game comfortably. And that Moms Touch collaboration? Do you want to go?]

“Yeah. I want to go.”

[Really…? I see. I’ll talk to the doctor about this. Is there anything else you need? Or anything you want Older Sister to do for you?]

“No. I’m okay now. Thank you, Older Sister.”

[Have fun playing the game today too. Older Sister will go and solve this and that.]

Anna lightly kissed my stomach as always and left the hospital room.

Since there’s nothing I can do now, I logged into LEORE to erase my annoying feelings.

I opened the chat window at the whisper that had already arrived.

[Arangnim! Hello! This is Soonchu! If it’s not rude, would it be okay to go dungeon farming together from the next dungeon!? I know you’ve already finished farming the Underground Cave!]

Soonchu? Ah, so they call Pursuit Interceptor Soonchu.

I immediately typed that it was possible.

Not long after, someone came rushing in at a terrifying speed.

The user who appeared riding a huge tiger had Pursuit Interceptor written above their head.

“Huh?”

I was surprised by Soonchu’s Character Customization as she got off the tiger.

“Hello. We’ve met before, right?”

It was the woman who was the Tank when I first used the matching system to enter the dungeon with other users in the Underground Cave.

She was holding a huge axe just like back then.

“Hello. I’m surprised that the Tanknim was Older Sister’s friend. I was so surprised.”

“I know, right? Anna suddenly asked me to tell her about LEORE, so I was like, what’s going on, but then she suddenly said that Arangnim was her younger sibling!? So I was so surprised!?”

Soonchu-nim, who was spewing words at a rapid pace.

She seemed like a calm person when I first saw her in the dungeon, but now she’s just an Inssa herself.

She looks completely different from me, who has been addicted to games all my life.

Pink Berry felt comfortable because she felt the same way as me, but Soonchu-nim seems too Inssa, so I feel a little distant.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I only talked about myself, right? I was just so happy that I made friends with Middle School 2nd Year Arang!”

“Middle School 2nd Year Arang?”

“Everyone in Leore Gallery calls you that these days.”

“Middle School 2nd Year Arang, even though I don’t go to middle school.”

“…Yes?”

Middle School 2nd Year Syndrome Chuunibyou. What did I do when I was in middle school…

To be honest, I think I had a strong case of Middle School 2nd Year Syndrome Chuunibyou when I was in middle school. But now my mental age is old enough.

And now I’m 15 years old. I’m not in middle school. And Arang got sick before she even got Middle School 2nd Year Syndrome Chuunibyou…

Wait, now that my mind is back, is Middle School 2nd Year Syndrome Chuunibyou coming now…?

But I’m not Middle School 2nd Year Syndrome Chuunibyou now. That’s for sure.

“Th… By the way, Arangnim, aren’t you going to school today…?”

“Huh? Didn’t I just say? That I don’t go to middle school. This story is not necessary for playing the game. Let’s prepare for the dungeon!”

It’s not that important that I’m called Middle School 2nd Year Arang.

What’s important now is the next dungeon.

I hope that the equipment comes out quickly this time so I can graduate early.