Black Online-Chapter 211: Fang Name Curse
Swoosh~ the virtual reality pod opened.
"..."
Fang Raon stared silently at the ceiling.
After his talk with Rock, he decided to log off, as there were some things that he needed to ponder about, and... he had to pack his things.
He slowly climbed out of the pod, but then instead of moving, he was just standing silently like a statue.
The anger burned inside him like a raging volcano, but instead of letting himself get consumed by it, he started to control it.
’Maxima... Huh...’
He looked at his right hand—then he formed a fist—and he could feel his concentrated anger moving into his knuckles.
"RAGH!"
He suddenly swung his fist. It landed at the wall. The force of his blow left a sizable dent in the plaster.
Thump~ The sudden sound of "thump" made the neighbors on both the left and right sides flinch at the sudden noise.
"...What the hell is making this noise?!"
"...SHUT UP OVER THERE!"
’I didn’t do it correctly, as the feeling in Black Online was different, but I didn’t completely fail in it either.
’If I learn this... Since I can also do this in real life... Hmm...’
Fang Raon then turned his hand around and noticed that his knuckles were bloody, and he just let out a nonchalant, "Oh," and then went to wash off the blood from his hands.
He looked at himself through the mirror—his beautiful blue eyes stared back at him.
’The bodyguards should arrive here in a couple of days. I can finish the tournament in here, and then I’ll travel back home... and hopefully, I can start my training then.’
He stepped out of the bathroom, looked at his shabby little place, and rolled up his sleeves.
Since he didn’t want to start packing at the last minute, he started packing now and started with the computer.
He didn’t own much, so there wasn’t much to pack.
Only the necessities, and since he needed his computer back at home, he packed that in a cardboard box.
’I’ll leave the bed and the desk. I have those back at home.’
After also packing his microphone and stuff, there was only the Virtual Reality Pod remaining, but he was still going to use it.
Therefore, he was going to leave packing that for later.
’I’ll go for a drink.’
Fang Raon put on his jacket and shoes and then left the apartment with the house keys and wallet in his pocket.
Nasty-looking individuals were lounging around close to his apartment, and they looked at him with nasty looks.
However, since he ignored them, they also didn’t bother him.
’For some reason, they will only pick a fight if I look them in the eye. They find that disrespectful, for some reason.’
Fang Raon thought.
They were all about respect, and since they had been around nasty individuals all their lives, they believed that staring directly at the eyes was showing lack of respect.
He entered the elevator, looked at all those floor buttons, and then chose to press the button for the 98th floor.
The elevator quickly took him all the way up.
When the doors opened, he saw that family of four standing outside, as they had been waiting for this specific elevator to come up.
With a nod to the family’s father, Fang Raon stepped out of the elevator while the family stepped inside in return.
He came to this floor for a reason, and it was the amazing sports bar that he visited with Chaewon.
It was getting later in the day, so there were patrons who were starting to gather for happy hour.
"Welcome!"
The sports bar owner greeted Fang Raon, and he nodded in response and sat down in the corner booth.
The corner booth had a table and a U-shaped sofa. It gave a perfect view of the televisions mounted on the walls.
"...Come on!"
"...Stop defending all the time. Start attacking for once, holy shit. The ball has been on our side of the field for the past five minutes!"
The people in the sports bar were watching a match of Hard Football, and the fans of one of the teams didn’t seem all that happy.
The score was 1-0.
Their team was the one with zero goals so far, and the ball had stayed in their field for the majority of the game.
Therefore, they were already getting ready to consider this match a lost cause.
"What may I get you?"
In that moment, a waitress came over, and Fang Raon quickly checked the menu and ordered some fries with golden ale.
The waitress wrote it down, smiled, and walked back into the kitchen to give the order to the chef.
"...No, god damn it!"
The loud fan groaned and was ready to punch the television, but the sports bar owner gave him a nasty gaze as if he were saying, "Don’t you dare," and thus, the fan only threw his hat to the ground.
The score was now 2-0.
"Haha..."
Fang Raon just chuckled.
Then, he received his fries and the golden ale.
He just enjoyed them while watching the match.
It was an enjoyable watch—not for the fans of the losing team, though—as the score was soon 3-0, and before Fang Raon even finished his fries, it became 4-0.
"Raon...? Is that you?"
In that moment, a voice that he didn’t expect to hear found its way to his ears, and he turned around in surprise.
Standing at the doorsteps of the sports bar, Chaewon looked at him in surprise and disbelief, as she didn’t expect to see him there.
She looked pretty, like always, but she was without makeup, as she just finished her work shift for today.
"It really is you!"
Chaewon beamed with a smile.
"Chaewon... This is a surprise."
Fang Raon said with a smile, and she then entered the sports bar and sat across from him with a mix of curiosity and excitement in her eyes.
"How come you are in here?"
Chaewon asked with a smile.
"Last time I enjoyed being here, so I decided to come visit it again..."
Fang Raon said, but his voice trailed at the end, as if he had left something out, and that was that it might be his last time visiting the place.
So, that’s why he wanted to visit this sports bar one last time.
’I knew that Chaewon lived on this floor, but honestly, I still didn’t expect to come across her, but I am glad that I did...
’This might be the last time that I can see her in the flesh.’
Fang Raon thought with a sour look and stared at Chaewon, as if he were trying to engrave her features into his memory forever.
"What’s wrong? I can tell that something is wrong."
Chaewon said.
She had really scary instincts, as from the subtle facial expressions, she was able to tell that Fang Raon’s mood was low.
"I can’t hide anything from you, can I?"
Fang Raon let out a chuckle.
"No, you can’t."
Chaewon smiled.
"I am going back home."
Fang Raon said.
"...Home? You mean the 18th floor?"
Chaewon asked.
"...No. Home..."
Fang Raon said, tightness in his voice.
She looked stunned, and realization dawned on her face as she realized he was talking about the Fang Village.
Out of curiosity, she did some research on Fang Village after finding out that he was from there, and it was really far away.
It was a really secluded place.
"Do you have to?"
She asked.
"Unfortunately, yes. I don’t really have a choice."
Fang Raon said and took a sip of the golden ale.
"...You always have a choice."
"Not me. I don’t. I don’t have a choice as long as I carry the name of Fang."
He said.
"...When will you leave?"
She asked, looking sad, with her lips quivering.
"Two days. Maybe three."
Fang Raon said, dipped a fry into the ketchup, and took a bite.
She turned silent as she looked at the table, wishing time would stand still.
"...Will you keep playing Black Online?"
"Yes, why?"
Fang Raon asked curiously.
"No reason..."
She whispered with a serious look on her pretty face.
’I can still see you over there...’
She thought softly, full of emotions on her face, and she then stole one of Fang Raon’s fries and ate it.
"Shall we do something together now? With you leaving, I feel like we should make some memories. Until we meet next time."
Chawon said with a smile.
"...Until we meet next time?"
Fang Raon said curiously.
"Yes, we will definitely see each other again."
She said with a smile, and she then stood up, pulled him up to his feet, and dragged him out of the sports bar.
"And I know exactly what we should do!"
"Oh, what’s that?"
Fang Raon asked with a smile on his face.
"A secret~"
With a mysterious smile, Chaewon kept pulling Fang Raon along, their hands interlocked in a tight grip.
"...Yerin, isn’t that your daughter?"
A gray-haired woman asked. She was holding a book bag. She was walking alongside three other women.
And one of them was Song Yerin.
They were coming back from their book club meeting.
"...Yes."
Yerin said in surprise as she watched her daughter walk with a young man, looking very intimate, and she recognized him.
’Heeh~ You’ve been keeping secrets from me, Chaewon~?’
Yerin smiled.
She was going to tease her daughter about this later today.
