Chapter 21

“Here we go again…”

The woman who had received Arang’s inquiry email yesterday sighed, even though she had already responded, as Arang sent another inquiry email through Mom’s Touch.

‘Sigh… She should at least make some sense.’

Arang had written a long message about something called an [MDB] access device, which the woman had never even heard of before.

“This is annoying. So annoying. It’s kids like these that make this job unbearable. We have to deal with each and every one of these things. Ugh.”

The woman sent a canned response, just like last time.

—

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

“Ah, everyone’s still keeping up with that, right?”

The one who brought up the topic was the oldest woman, who had been working the longest.

“Yes. The director mentioned it, so we remember.”

As the work conversation flowed naturally, 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.

“Right. I didn’t expect the director to directly ask us. But it’s strange. He usually doesn’t manage specific users like that.”

“The director said it wasn’t about giving benefits or special treatment.”

“But still, it’s the first time the director has come to the customer service team for a single user, right?”

“That’s true.”

As the conversation continued, the woman remembered. The director of Leore had personally come to the customer service team and made a request.

The nickname of the specific user the director mentioned was definitely Arang.

‘Arang…? I feel like I’ve seen that name a lot… Why does it feel so familiar?’

The woman stopped moving her spoon and kept thinking. The name was definitely stuck in her head.

‘Is it because the director personally mentioned it?’

She thought it was just because the director, a high-ranking person, had personally come to the customer service team to make the request. But just as she was about to dismiss the thought…

*Clatter.*

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

The woman dropped her spoon, stood up abruptly, and all her colleagues turned to look at her.

“Ah, this is bad…!”

The woman finally realized where she had seen the name Arang before.

It was the nickname of the user who had sent the same inquiry twice, making her annoyed enough to send a canned response.

“What? What’s so bad? Why did you stand up so suddenly?”

“Well… that user the director asked about… I just sent a canned response to their inquiry…”

“…What? Is that true?”

“Yes, yes…”

—

A few days ago, the director of Leore had come and bowed his head, making a request.

He asked that if any inquiry emails or calls came in regarding a user named Arang, they should inform him.

He said they couldn’t give any special benefits or treatment to a specific user, but they should at least let him know what the inquiries were about.

But she had completely forgotten about it until now.

“Hey! Why are you only saying this now!? How could you not know!? Are you crazy!? Sigh… I’ll contact the team leader. Ugh…”

“Ah, well… you see…”

The woman could only bow her head under the gaze of her colleagues.

—

The customer service team leader had just finished his day and was happily having dinner with his wife when his company phone rang, making him sigh.

“It’s fine. Answer it.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. If they’re calling at this hour, it must be important.”

“You know I hate getting calls at this time. Ah, hello?”

The team leader’s eyes widened.

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

—

===

“I’m so annoyed.”

Living as Arang, I’ve never felt this kind of frustration and irritation before. It’s confusing.

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 compared it to the previous response I had sent.

It was the same.

Not a single word or special character was different. It was the same canned response.

“Sigh…”

I haven’t been living as Arang for long, but this is the first time my emotions have been this intense.

Is it because my body, mind, and spirit have become younger? Or is it because I’ve become a girl? It’s hard to control these negative emotions.

Normally, I would’ve just brushed it off, thinking, “Oh well, customer service is all the same.” But living as Arang, my emotions have naturally mixed with hers, and now I’m feeling things I can’t control.

Like how I naturally think of Anna as “Anna unnie” in reality, or how I struggle to speak properly.

“Phew… phew…”

As I tried to calm my turbulent emotions with deep breaths, Anna entered the hospital room.

[Arang, unnie’s here.]

“Okay. Come in, unnie.”

[Arang, is something wrong?]

As soon as Anna heard my voice, she came over, placed her hand on my stomach, and asked with concern if something was wrong.

“How did you know?”

[Of course I’d know. I’m your unnie.]

“Well, actually…”

I explained to Anna what had been going on.

First, I told her about the collaboration, and then how I sent an inquiry but got the same canned response twice, which hurt my feelings.

[I see…? Arang, don’t worry. Unnie will help you.]

“Really? But I’m not asking for any special treatment. I just want to participate in the collaboration event like any other normal user.”

[Okay. Got it. Oh, and I met a friend who knows you, Arang.]

“A friend?”

[Yes. That friend recommended Leore to you, so you could play it.]

I felt grateful to Anna’s friend.

I don’t know why I woke up in Arang’s body, but it’s clear that Leore was the trigger.

So Anna’s friend is my lifesaver.

[My friend wanted to be friends with you, so they gave me this.]

Anna showed me a note on the camera that lets her see my hospital room.

[They said it’s their in-game nickname. If you’re okay with it, they asked if you could send them a friend request.]

“Sunhangchugyeogi?”

I didn’t understand what the nickname meant, but since this person was someone I owed gratitude to, I immediately opened the friend list in Leore and sent a friend request.

*Ding.*

“What the…”

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

[Arang, don’t worry about this issue and just enjoy the game. And that Mom’s Touch collaboration? Do you want to go?]

“Yes. I want to.”

[Okay…? Got it. I’ll talk to the doctor about it. Is there anything else you need? Or anything you want unnie to do for you?]

“No, I’m fine now. Thank you, unnie.”

[Have fun playing today. Unnie will take care of things and come back later.]

As always, Anna gave me a light kiss on my stomach and left the room.

—

Since there’s nothing I can do right now, I logged back into Leore to shake off my frustration.

I opened the chat window to see a whisper waiting for me.

[Arang-nim! Hello! It’s Sunchoo! If it’s not too much trouble, would you like to go dungeon farming together next time!? I think we’ve finished farming the underground cave!]

Sunchoo? Ah, so they call Sunhangchugyeogi “Sunchoo.”

I immediately typed that it was fine.

—

Not long after, someone approached at an alarming speed.

A user riding a large tiger appeared, with the name “Sunhangchugyeogi” above their head.

“Huh?”

I was startled by Sunchoo’s character customization as they got off the tiger.

“Hello. We’ve met before, right?”

It was the woman who had been the tank when I first used the matching system to enter a dungeon with other users in the underground cave.

She was holding a huge axe, just like back then.

“Hello. I didn’t expect the tank to be unnie’s friend. I was surprised.”

“Right? Anna suddenly asked me about Leore, and I was like, ‘What’s this about?’ Then she said Arang-nim is her younger sister!? I was so surprised!”

Sunchoo-nim was talking at a rapid pace.

When I first saw her in the dungeon, she seemed calm, but now she seemed like the life of the party.

She seemed completely different from me, who had spent my whole life buried in games.

Pinkubelly felt similar to me, so I was comfortable with her, but Sunchoo-nim seemed too much like a social butterfly, so I felt a bit of distance.

“Ah, sorry. Did I talk too much? I’m just so excited. I’m friends with the legendary middle schooler Arang!”

“Middle schooler Arang?”

“That’s what everyone calls you on the Leore forums.”

“Middle schooler Arang? I’m not even in middle school.”

“…Huh?”

Middle school syndrome? What did I even do in middle school…

Honestly, I did have a strong case of middle school syndrome back then. But now, mentally, I’ve matured.

Plus, my current age is 15. I’m not in middle school. And Arang got sick before she could even develop middle school syndrome…

Wait, now that my mind has returned, is middle school syndrome finally hitting me…?

But I’m sure I don’t have middle school syndrome now.

—

“Uh… come to think of it, Arang-nim, aren’t you going to school today…?”

“Huh? Didn’t I just say I’m not in middle school? This isn’t relevant to the game, so let’s get ready for the dungeon!”

Being called “middle schooler Arang” isn’t important.

What’s important now is the next dungeon.

I hope I get the equipment quickly this time so I can graduate early.

---