Your Commander-in-Chief – Chapter 7

I quickly left the room and headed straight for the living room. A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead. I should have taken a shower right away, but right now, I was starving. My hungry belly needed some attention.

As I opened the door and stepped into the living room, I locked eyes with a boy who was wolfing down pizza with both hands.

Harang, Hayun’s only older brother. That guy was devouring pizza without even saying a word to his sister.

Suddenly, a bubbling rage welled up deep inside my stomach.

“Hey.”

“Mmm…”

“Why are you eating alone?”

Is his mouth the only one that counts? With his mouth stuffed full of pizza, Harang looked flustered, rolling his eyes around.

I casually walked over and sat down next to him. There was still about half of the pizza left, so I wouldn’t be met with any complaints for taking my share.

As I reached for the pizza, Harang flinched beside me.

Even though we were in different worlds, he was still the same Harang. That meant we both liked the same food.

The pizza he ordered was my favorite, potato pizza. Its simple flavor was top-notch.

As I munched on the pizza, one thought crossed my mind. Harang was 18 now; he could easily solve middle school textbook problems.

“Hey.”

“Uh…?”

“Teach me some studying, okay?”

Harang’s mouth, which had just been holding a cup of cola, dropped open in shock.

It seemed my request had hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Studying. I said teach me.”

I wasn’t embarrassed. I was learning from myself. That meant there was no reason to feel shy.

If I kept going like this, my grades would slip, and Mom would be sad. I needed to play the perfect daughter.

“Studying? You’re seriously out of your mind.”

“Are you going to teach me or not?”

When I glared at Harang, furrowing my brow, he had no choice but to nod his head weakly.

He was caught in my trap. He had to help me. That was the right decision.

“Fine.”

“Ah… but I need to play the game…”

“I can’t do it, so you can’t either.”

I shot Harang a glare to prevent him from entering his capsule, then hurried off to get my textbook from my room.

The biggest problem was math. I could handle the others somewhat smoothly.

“Sigh…”

Was I genuinely feeling sorry for myself for having to teach my younger brother math?

I sat down close to Harang, who sighed heavily.

*

While Harang and Hayun wrestled over the math textbook, a video popped up in the [Singsing] guild chat.

[Jimin20/Lunaris Healer] Is this hacking or what?

[Jimin20/Lunaris Healer] [Video file] Please check this out.

[Jimin20/Lunaris Healer] This is unreal – how can you kill three people in less than a minute?

Yerin, watching the phone screen, let out a deep sigh.

As the friendly guild evolved and grew, they received many guild members.

Those who came through friends of friends were all equally unlikable.

They carried with them a lack of skill while acting confidently, boosted by the guild’s reputation. Yerin despised such behavior.

Despite giving several warnings, they only listened once or twice. Did they think of me as nothing more than a titular guild master? As real-life circumstances led to longer periods of interference in the game world, the guild had begun to divide internally.

It wasn’t the first time a user named Jimin had acted this way. It would just fade away soon enough.

Yerin, brushing her hair back irritably, hit play on the attached video file.

The video began, showcasing a conflict initiated by her guild members. The sight of them deliberately provoking a solo player seemed oddly familiar.

[2 minutes]

The video’s runtime was just over a minute. Two minutes? What did that even mean?

A small question emerged in Yerin’s mind as she focused on the video.

By the way, the character customization was excellent. The small and cute girl looked more suited to being a wizard or healer than a melee warrior.

Yet, the massive Highlander slung over her shoulder strangely suited her. The annoying expression on her face combined with her unusual charm.

A banner dropped over the video. A user named [Yeo] had issued a penalty and requested a duel.

Then the user spoke again.

[1 minute]

No other party members were visible. It was definitely a solo player.

Her guild immediately accepted the duel request.

Then something strange happened.

The girl shot forward rapidly, severing the healer’s head in an instant.

The person filming was the healer. However, they could still move the camera until the duel ended.

The camera shot from the healer’s first-person perspective shifted.

It began with a viewpoint looking down from above.

The girl didn’t stop. She parried the incoming attacks and swung her sword again.

At this point, just four seconds had passed since the duel began. It took two seconds to create distance, one second to kill the healer with a charge, and one second more to slay the attacking warrior from the side.

The reaction speed was unrealistically fast. A small voice slipped from Yerin’s lips.

‘Impossible.’

It was unreal. The speed defied comprehension. It was a game that had transcended the realm of senses. But this user’s reaction time was close to psychic.

The video continued. The user wielding a large shield was someone Yerin remembered. Skilled, yet carried the demeanor of a water buffalo. It was unpleasant the way they hit on female users. They could sniff out a female presence even without revealing their gender.

There wasn’t much time left in the video. That meant the duel had been decided quickly.

The girl moved, twisting her body as if to swipe at the attacking warrior’s trajectory.

Thud!

With a crisp effect, the girl’s sword was sent soaring into the air, blocked by the shield.

It looked just like a horn. The horn of a water buffalo.

The girl appeared unbothered, as if she had been waiting for that exact moment, and drove her sword down.

The sharp tip of the sword pierced the tank user’s helmet.

And then it ended.

The girl swished the sword in the air and slung it over her shoulder. It seemed like she was shaking off dirt from the blade.

Was Yerin the only one watching? The chat was heating up quickly.

Many had downloaded the video. There were 300 members in the [Singsing] guild.

Someone uploaded that video to the Deron Gallery.

[Deron Online Gallery]

[Is this hacking?] [56]

(Video)

I saw it labeled as hacking in the guild chat, but it seemed strange, so I posted it. Isn’t that reaction speed insane?

[Comments]

[Is it Singsing again?]


ㄴ [Singsing is a no-go.]


[What the hell, Singsing got wrecked LOL]


[With that reaction time, it looks like hacking?]


ㄴ [Where’s the hacking in Deron, dude?]


[Singsing is a no-go.]


[Singsing is a no-go.]


[Singsing virus again? Have you all already forgotten that incident???]


ㄴ [These guys forget as soon as they turn around.]


[Where did you get that character customization? I want to get it too.]


[That looks cute.]


[Those Singsing losers getting wrecked and then being called hackers is just a given LOL]


[Wow, but they’re really good.]


ㄴ [That must be scripted; normally, no one can do that.]


ㄴ [Based on their reaction time, they don’t seem normal, right?]


ㄴ [So that means they can’t do it. Idiot.]


ㄴ [No, they don’t seem normal; they seem professional, you idiot.]

If, just maybe, this video had been posted by someone not affiliated with the Singsing guild, the atmosphere in the gallery would have been different.

But it’s Singsing. Due to their notorious reputation in the game and within the gallery, the post failed to garner any real interest.

The image built from repeated misconduct led many users to block them.

Gradually, interest in the user [Yeo] began to diminish.

As always, things flowed like water, and the gallery’s discussion topics began to shift.

But one thing remained.

A screenshot of [Yeo] using the [Charge] skill on the healer had begun to be used as profile pictures by a few users.

*

As daily life flowed, gym class approached.

Inside the vast gymnasium, the gym teacher, uninterested in the lesson, tossed balls to the boys and then plopped down on a couch in the corner.

The students seemed accustomed to this situation and didn’t voice any complaints.

As if it had always been this way, the boys grouped together and started playing soccer, dodgeball, or basketball while those uninterested simply gathered in small groups to waste time.

I, too, found myself stuck with Sohee, sitting quietly.

It was frustrating. The conversations of middle school girls passing by gnawed away at my sanity.

Cosmetics, clothes, and occasional critiques of the boys. Favorite celebrities.

All topics I couldn’t relate to in the slightest.

All I could do was awkwardly smile and fidget with my phone.

“Hayun!”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Why are your replies so short these days?”

Sohee’s sharp question shot at me.

I needed to reply to the messages from my friends but found it impossible to respond like the old Seohayun.

“Um, it’s just…”

“Just?”

“Just… trying to change my settings…”

“Settings…?”

After answering, I glanced around nervously.

The kids gathered around burst into laughter.

What was so funny?

“Oh my gosh, Hayun is changing her settings!”

The words came out in an attempt to suppress their laughter, causing their shoulders to shake uncontrollably.

I didn’t feel great about that. I needed to change my settings to keep using this body. It was the truth.

“Yeah, I changed my settings, so… just know that.”

But thankfully, Hayun’s friends nodded in understanding.

Though it seemed more like a cute joke, they would no longer press the issue.

It was at that moment that something seized my sensitive instincts. My mind buzzed with heat.

It was a sensation I always felt while gaming. A feeling like foresight, helping me sense danger and avoid it.

Something was flying at me at high speed.

The body in reality was different from the game. Actions I thought were possible in the game were impossible in real life.

But I moved. I instinctively understood that I could still manage to stop it with this body.

A ball was headed my way.

A hard soccer ball. Turning my gaze past the ball, I caught sight of the boys’ horrified faces.

I couldn’t catch it with my hands. My palms were small enough that I’d likely hurt myself.

I couldn’t use both hands either; one had my phone in it.

So, I used my fist. My palm opened wide as my fist tightened, drawing the muscles in my arm back.

Like someone standing before a punching machine, I transferred rotation from my ankle up through my calves and thighs.

That rotation gained more power from my waist. My sharply moving waist transmitted all that force to my upper body.

Bang!

My fist connected with the ball. A sharp tingling sensation coursed through me. My hand must’ve turned a bit red.

Immediately after, I kicked the bouncing soccer ball towards the boys.

Everything unfolded smoothly.

My friends sitting behind me were left wide-eyed.

“What, what was that…”

“Did Hayun… just change her settings to prince mode?”

No way did I think something like this was possible in reality.

I laughed heartily and stuffed my hands in my pockets.

In front of my friends, there was no point in showing that I was hurt.

“Hayun is so cool…”

The gazes directed at me grew warmer.

As I coughed to clear my throat, I turned my head. Being admired by girls in middle school at over 40 years old was pretty daunting.

“Hand.”

It was Sohee.

She had silently watched me from the side, quickly approaching to grab my arm and pull out the hand I had shoved into my pocket.

My red hand was revealed. Only a slight scrape, and nothing seemed seriously injured.

“Stop overreacting.”

It felt a bit awkward.

As I hurried to retract my hand, Sohee had quickly pulled out some ointment and a band-aid.

Do middle school girls always carry these things around?

As I blankly watched her, she gently applied the ointment to my hand.

The sensation of her cold fingers against my skin was oddly sticky.

“Thanks for watching out for me.”

As her fingers slipped away from my hand, she placed a cute cat band-aid over the scrape.

I felt my heart race. Don’t get flustered. She’s just a middle school girl.

“Whoa, Hayun’s face is all red.”

I quickly turned my head. It’s just that I was hot.

“I’m going to the restroom!”

I hastily bolted from my seat.

A soft laugh followed me from behind.