Chapter 04…
“I’m home.”
“Oppa, you’re back? You’re late today, huh? Looks like you drank a lot?”
“You knew?”
“Suho oppa told me. Anyway, you’ve had a rough day. Did you sober up yet?”
When he got home, his younger sister, Lee Ji-hye, greeted Lee Ji-han warmly.
Unlike her curt older brother, Ji-hye was bright and sociable, and she worried about him since this was the first time he’d ever drunk so much.
“Ah, I think I’ll be fine. Just a little tired right now. I’m going to sleep a bit more.”
“You’ll wreck your stomach.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Ji-hye, did you eat?”
“Of course, I take care of myself.”
“You didn’t stay up all night again, right?”
“Mm, it’s okay. Most of the work I got is almost done. I can always catch up on sleep later.”
“Then…”
“You’re gonna say it’s bad for my health, right? Then you can sleep for me instead. Come on, stop nagging and just get some good rest.”
Ji-hye knew well that her brother was practically a workaholic, almost ascetic.
When she heard he’d been fired and, for the first time, wanted to go drinking with a friend, she’d been shocked.
“Rest well, oppa.”
His constant guilt toward his family usually weighed her down, but seeing Ji-han’s expression relax a little somehow made her own heart feel lighter.
“If your stomach hurts or you feel sick, just say so. Mom said to just order some delivery.”
“Got it, Ji-hye. You’ve been working hard too.”
With that, Ji-han closed the door and curled up on his bed.
He hadn’t joined in company politics, yet he was suddenly fired, then had his first drinking session with a friend, and now a full-dive VR game.
It all felt like a dream—strange and unreal.
‘…It was fun, though.’
But the capsule was expensive, and could he really justify playing games at home?
His thoughts kept drifting toward the negative.
‘Well, more than that, I should be looking for another job….’
A fool whose only real skill was gymnastics—a skill he could no longer even use.
Could he really return to society again?
With that unease weighing on him, Ji-han drifted into a deep sleep.
Rrring, rrrring.
About three hours later, the default ringtone—he hadn’t even bothered to change it—pulled him out of sleep.
Clutching his throbbing head, he answered.
“Hello.”
On the other end came a voice sharp and loud, totally at odds with Ji-han’s groggy tone.
“Hey, you crazy bastard!”
“…Kim Suho? What.”
“Where the hell are you right now?!”
“I came home and was sleeping, why?”
“Do you even know the mess you caused? Damn it! Even if I forgot to turn off the stream, still…!”
At Suho’s words, Ji-han’s mind snapped awake.
Did he make a mistake?
When he played Zero Ground that morning, nothing had seemed wrong.
“Uh, sorry. Whatever mistake I made, I didn’t realize…”
“I turned on my stream, and everyone’s screaming to bring you back! I checked the community, and it’s chaos because of you!”
“Stream? Suho, calm down for now.”
“Calm down? How the hell am I supposed to calm down, you lunatic?! You—!”
Suho’s voice was half-shouting, half-panicked. And then—
“You crazy bastard! You’re this good at games, and you never said a word to me? And you even took missions on my account? From a big-name streamer like Kim Ppongdda, no less?!”
It was half an insult, half praise.
“Huh?”
“Even the community’s exploding. You didn’t even customize your character—your real face is out there now. They’re saying a handsome guy who’s also good at games? Clips of you are spreading everywhere! Damn it, I’ve been sitting next to a goldmine this whole time!”
Still half-asleep, Ji-han’s feelings grew complicated.
“So… Suho, that’s a compliment, right?”
“Of course it is! Listen, I cut the stream right after—it was too much. The second I went live, people were demanding to see you. When I didn’t bring you, they started spamming me with donations! It went from small amounts to tens of thousands of won, I got scared and shut it down!”
Suho’s voice now carried genuine fear—extorted by money for the first time.
He used to brag, ‘If viewers throw money at me, I’ll happily take it and say thanks.’
But now, getting literally beaten with money, his voice was turning desperate.
“Ji-han, man, I’m scared. What do I do? Do I have to bring you?”
“So… this is a good thing? Right now?”
“Good? It’s the best! I’ve never gotten this much attention in my whole streaming career! Even Kim Ppongdda wants to collab with you—he’s already looking for you!”
Looking for me?
The phrasing gave Ji-han chills.
“Anyway, I’m coming to get you. People are spamming me with alerts to bring you. You’re at home, right? I’ll drive over. Just stay put, please—don’t go anywhere.”
“…Then I can play the game again?”
That pounding excitement—he wanted to feel it once more.
It was an innocent thought, but Suho responded in his usual money-minded way:
“Game? Screw that, you can make money! If this continues, you’re set for life! With this, you could pay back every debt—to your parents, your sister—with interest!”
Pay back his debts…
Those words alone were enough to shake Ji-han to his core.
“Suho… okay. I’ll wait.”
“Good. I’ll be right there. Just… wash up first, okay? Did you eat something for your hangover?”
“Huh? No.”
“I heard cheeseburgers are good for hangovers. You’re my golden goose now, so I’ll even bring you food. Just sit tight and wait, alright? Answer me.”
“…Okay.”
Click.
It felt like a storm had blown past.
Blankly staring at his phone, Ji-han finally got up and went to wash his face.
“Here you go, Ji-han. No—Ji-han nim. Please eat this. I’ll even buckle your seatbelt for you.”
“…I can do it myself.”
Suho’s sudden over-the-top kindness was unsettling.
For someone who’d always been more like a bad-influence buddy, this was unrecognizable behavior, and it left Ji-han conflicted.
“So what the hell happened?”
“Just watch this.”
Thud.
Suho tossed him his phone.
“Hm?”
“Kim Ppongdda’s live. Seriously, what the hell did you do this morning?”
“…Played the game?”
“I know that. I always knew you were a genius since back when you competed, but this… this is insane.”
On the screen was footage of Ji-han’s morning session in Zero Ground.
“Viewers, take a look. From my analysis, I think this newbie monster is probably a former athlete.”
[We already figured that out.]
[lol that’s your analysis?]
[Stop pretending you know stuff, Ppongdda 😂]
“I’m not pretending. Zero Ground is based on your real physical stats. Look at him—definitely ex-athlete. But the sport? Not sure.”
[What sport uses your body like that?]
[Well, not baseball.]
[lol yeah, scratch baseball 😂]
[Who brought up baseball? Now I’m mad 😂]
[Maybe MMA? He dodged pretty well.]
“I thought MMA too, but maybe not. He’s fast, though. Could be track sprinting. Watch this clip—Zero Ground maps are 1:1 with reality, right? That’s about 50 meters between us.”
He hit play.
Onscreen, Ji-han sprinted toward him like a bullet.
“See that?”
[5 seconds??]
[????]
[Looked under 50m, but still 5 seconds?]
[And with trees in the way—it’s longer than 50m effectively.]
[He ran it like a straight line lol]
[World record is 5.56 seconds for 50m!]
“If he were a sprinter, we’d have heard of him. No way to find someone like this.”
[Yeah, someone that crazy would be on the national team.]
“Exactly. So I thought again. With that explosive speed, and the combat skills he showed in the final zone…”
Ppongdda took a sip of water, then declared with a grave face:
“…He must be an American football player. NFL level.”
[lol are you serious 😂]
[Ppongdda, pack it up.]
[Those guys are busier than Olympians.]
[Like they’d have time for VR games.]
“Hey, you’d be surprised! Plenty of athletes train in VR!”
[They’d use training sims, not play a game 😂]
“Fine, fine! Then let’s just ask him directly.”
[??? You can reach him??]
[Didn’t you lose contact after the stream?]
[Yeah, saw the original owner on stream looking totally clueless 😂]
“True, I didn’t reach him. But I’ll put a bounty: anyone who finds the player ‘Lee Ji-han’ from Unlimited Tier, alive or dead, bring him to me. I’ll reward you with a rare skin and a gift card.”
[The age of Lee Ji-han has begun.]
[LEE JI-HAN! LEE JI-HAN!]
[lol bounty gift card better be over 100k won, Ppongdda.]
[I’m logging in full-time till I find him 😂]
“…NFL? Hah. Don’t you know gymnastics? My buddy Ji-han broke every unofficial national record. They don’t even know that.”
Suho gave a bitter laugh. Regret lingered in his face.
But Ji-han’s mind was elsewhere.
“So Suho… this means…”
“Yeah. You showed off insane physical ability, and now the whole community’s buzzing. Reactions are like, ‘Who is this guy? A cheater? No, impossible, I saw the stream—he’s a monster.’ Stuff like that.”
“…Then I can’t play anymore?”
Disappointment leaked through—longing for that thrilling world again.
“I rushed to bring you here so you could at least appear on my stream, but… yeah. You’ll probably get stream-sniped like crazy.”
“Stream-sniped?”
“Yeah, when we queue up, people will time it so they drop in with us. And with a bounty on your head? Yeah, brace yourself.”
“…Hmm. Wait a sec.”
Ji-han fell silent, thinking. Then he smiled at Suho.
“You said before—if more people watch, it’s better, right?”
“Yeah…?”
“Then let’s do something fun too.”
“…Like what?”
Somehow, Ji-han instinctively knew how to lead the stream from here.
“Wouldn’t a game of tag be fun?”
Seeing that smile, for the first time Suho felt genuinely afraid of his dumb childhood friend.
