Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 263

Many users left Deron due to the incidents that occurred today.

But I can confidently say one thing.

They’re making a mistake right now.

The director even wrote a letter.

A direct message to the users.

He admitted his mistakes and said he would rectify the wrongs.

How can one not be moved by this?

Furthermore, as compensation, they provided three limited edition items available for purchase once a month.

As of today, I withdraw my support for Deron.

From a simple support relationship, Deron and I become one.

An attack on Deron is considered an attack on myself.

“Hayun, what are you working so hard on…?”

“I’m rebutting those who attack me…”

Now that lunch time is over.

With some spare time, I returned to the classroom and was intently tapping on my phone.

The reason? There was a keyboard battle happening in the Deron gallery.

“Attacking Hayun…?”

“To be precise, they’re attacking Deron. If they’ve given up, they should just disappear quietly; why are they trying to enlighten those who are enjoying the game?”

“Enlighten…?”

“I see it’s a difficult word for Sohee. Those who gave up on Deron seem to have developed a sort of elitist mentality, claiming they’re smarter because they quit early. But in my view, they are the foolish ones. Deron is a great game; I just can’t understand why they would quit it.”

“Ah…”

“So… I’m busy right now.”

I had a plan to go somewhere with Sohee after lunch, but now something more important has come up.

I’m sure Sohee will understand.

I became the defender of the Deron gallery, battling against the malicious users.

“Hey Hayun…”

“Yeah…?”

“We agreed to drop by the music room for a bit…”

“Shh. Sohee, this is a very important moment.”

“Hayun…”

Why is she acting like this today?

I looked up at Sohee, who had her hands on her waist.

Her precious friend was about to lose a pride battle.

Sohee looked down at me with a somewhat sullen expression.

But what’s done is done.

I shook my head firmly and said.

“After I finish this.”

“When will that be…?”

“Probably…”

I can’t be certain.

The number of enemies keeps growing even now.

Sohee sighed at my appearance and plopped down next to me.

Sorry, Sohee.

But I can’t help it if I want to protect the Deron gallery.

I silently tapped my phone while thinking.

How long has it been?

The once quiet classroom began to hum with activity, and someone walked purposefully toward me.

Tap-tap-tap—

Light and brisk footsteps.

But the breathing accompanying it was ragged.

“Hek… Hek…”

“Jupi… No. Ellie?”

“Hayun… The Deron gallery is under attack…”

I wondered why she came, but it seems she wanted to inform me of what she noticed.

I already knew this fact but nodded anyway.

“Yeah.”

“W-what should we do…?”

“Do you want to protect the Deron gallery?”

“… Yes!”

Just as I thought.

I knew Ellie would respond like that.

I pulled out a chair from the front and positioned it next to my desk.

I made a spot for Ellie to sit.

Ellie cautiously sat beside me, glancing around.

“I’m glad you came, Ellie. I need your help.”

“J-just tell me what to do. I’ll help as much as I can…”

“We need to turn the public opinion of the Deron gallery around.”

“Turn public opinion… You don’t mean…”

“Yeah. Ellie, it’s time to use everything I taught you.”

“I see… There was that method. If there are many attackers, we can create more defenders…”

I knew she’d understand right away.

She truly is my protégé.

I looked at Ellie with a proud gaze.

“B-but… I didn’t bring many phones to school…!”

“How many did you bring?”

“Three…”

“That’s enough.”

Ellie nodded at my words and started pulling out phones from her bag.

One, two, three—she produced exactly three phones.

Each phone had only two apps installed.

“Let’s get started…”

“Okay…”

With serious expressions, Ellie and I logged into the Deron gallery.

Now, I wouldn’t be fighting alone.

I had a very reliable ally.

“What should we do about the conceptual posts…?”

“First, let’s post some neutral opinions to push down the negative posts.”

“Got it…!”

“When you write, send me the link.”

“Understood…!”

“Are you using a VPN?”

“I’m using it now…!”

Ellie quickly began tapping on all three phones at once with practiced skill.

Tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap. With each tap of her small fingers, new posts appeared in the Deron gallery.

The nature of the posts varied.

Ellie was utilizing everything I had taught her.

“Hayun… Ellie…”

I completely ignored Sohee’s piercing gaze from the side.

Right now, we stood in the middle of the battlefield.

There was no time to look elsewhere.

With Ellie’s and my phones combined, we had four.

It didn’t take long to push all the negative posts down in the Deron gallery.

There were those who noticed the sudden influx of posts, but that was it.

Five minutes passed.

The number of conceptual posts Ellie and I had generated was ten.

The total comments beneath was 127.

The public opinion in the gallery began to shift.

Yes. It worked.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and looked at Ellie.

She seemed to be feeling something too as she looked at me.

Our gazes connected.

“Not bad.”

“You too.”

Somehow, it felt like I had grown a step closer to Ellie.

*

After lunch time ended and the afternoon classes began.

The urgent fires were all extinguished, so it was time to focus on Sohee.

But Sohee wouldn’t turn her head even when I called her.

She seemed to be pretty upset.

“Sohee…”

“….”

“Sohee…”

“…”

What should I do in this situation?

I knew the answer.

A little hand stretched across the desk.

Soft and milky-white, the little hand gently covered Sohee’s hand resting beside her.

At first, Sohee flinched, but soon she took my hand firmly.

“I’m sorry…”

“…”

“It was urgent… You know that…”

“Yeah…”

Finally, Sohee spoke up.

But her gaze remained fixed straight ahead.

I scooted my chair closer and leaned my head on her shoulder.

I silently smiled as I caught a whiff of her familiar scent.

Sohee liked it when I took the initiative like this, even if she had a brief sulk.

Just a little act of intimacy would appease her quickly.

“Umm…”

As expected.

Sohee glanced over and checked my reaction, then began to gently pat my head.

The corners of her previously expressionless mouth began to rise into a smile.

Success.

Sohee’s anger had melted away.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“… I wasn’t angry…”

“I see.”

If Sohee says she wasn’t angry, then she wasn’t.

I nodded and snuggled deeper into Sohee’s embrace.

Despite feeling the gazes of other students around us, who cares?

It’s just ordinary intimacy between friends.

It might be a bit of a problem to act like this during class, though.

“Hayun.”

“Yeah?”

“After class…”

“Do you want to go see the music room?”

“Yeah…”

I nodded at Sohee’s words.

What could possibly be in the music room that she desires so much?

But since it was her invitation, I couldn’t really refuse.

Time flew by quickly, and soon all afternoon classes ended.

Today was a day off for club activities, so everyone headed home.

Except for Sohee and me.

“Let’s go.”

Sohee said.

She wanted to go to the music room.

Sohee and I left the classroom.

As we passed through the corridor and approached the big stairs, I frowned.

I suddenly didn’t want to go to the music room.

I glanced at Sohee, trying to gauge her expression.

“Sohee, can’t we go another time…?”

“No… We agreed to go…”

It seemed that putting it off wasn’t an option.

I sighed quietly and trudged up the stairs, trying to hide it from Sohee.

Finally, we arrived at the music room door.

Sohee opened it with a familiar gesture.

“Oh…”

Breathing heavily, I looked around inside.

As expected from a large school, the music room was immense.

From drums, guitars, violins, trumpets, and pianos…

There were all the common instruments and many rare ones like flutes, harps, and clarinets.

This music room had an enormous collection of instruments.

Sohee confidently walked to the center of the room.

Then she turned to me and beckoned.

As if telling me to hurry up and come in.

I stepped inside and thought.

The atmosphere inside was slightly dark, but the softly lit ambiance gave a cozy feeling.

“What are we here for?”

“I need to find something for a moment…”

“What are you looking for?”

“… The teacher asked me to run an errand.”

“For you?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded at Sohee’s words and went to sit on a nearby sofa.

It looked luxurious, as if it was prepared just for me.

“Hmm…”

Sohee headed to the teacher’s desk and began rummaging through something.

It seemed she found something the teacher had asked her for.

Then, suddenly remembering something, Sohee shifted her steps sideways.

“Hayun.”

“What?”

“Do you like the sound of the piano?”

“Piano?”

“Yeah.”

I tilted my head at that question.

I don’t particularly dislike it.

But why was she asking me this?

“Want to listen for a sec?”

Sohee said as she sat down at the piano.

The sight of the busty girl casually tucking her hair behind her ear and placing her hands on the piano looked truly beautiful.

As if enchanted, I stared blankly at Sohee as she began to play.

Ding.

Dong.

Ding.

A gentle melody flowed out.

While I thought it sounded pretty nice, my phone screen suddenly lit up.

“Ah…”

I quickly checked my phone.

A new announcement was posted on Deron’s website.

The melody in my ears faded to the background.

I opened my eyes wide and began reading the announcement.

The content wasn’t much different from what the director posted.

The builds for the once-dead glass cannon and the duck quack build were resurrected.

Of course, the key skills in those builds had been slightly nerfed.

The total damage of [Elemental Cannon] was reduced by 30%, and the max summon count for Duck Quack Toy was limited to 120.

The nerf details were somewhat expected.

I could easily accept that.

Boom-!

At that moment, a harsh sound from the piano pierced my ears.

I jolted and lifted my head.

Sohee, who was playing the piano, was glaring at the keys with a twisted expression, as if something was wrong.

It seemed she hit the keys hard due to some issue.

I swallowed and opened my mouth.

“So, Sohee…?”

“Yeah…”

“Is something wrong?”

“No… problem…”

“I see…”

Well then…

I lowered my head and quickly checked the rest of the announcement.