LS 9

When Dohee first started Sword of God, he put quite a bit of effort into creating his character.

When you begin, the game offers twelve basic presets. From there, you can customize body type, facial features, and more in detail. SoGod’s strength was its incredibly nuanced appearance editor, making it far easier than other games to craft a character in the style you wanted.

Add to that a steady monthly stream of new avatars, and the game’s famous dyeing system capable of rendering a wide range of colors, it was a dream come true for fashion-focused players.

One of the top reasons why players from other MMORPGs migrated to SoGod, according to surveys, was the high degree of freedom in character creation and avatar customization.

There were even streamers who became popular purely for their looks, nicknamed “char-devs” (character developers) or “look-devs.” That said everything.

So it goes without saying that Baek Dohee, a certified fashion addict, was completely immersed in SoGod’s customization system.

And being famously in love with his own face, he poured effort into making his character resemble himself as closely as possible.

Just the appearance setup alone took over two hours.

He matched the platinum blond hair to the exact shade he always maintained in real life, placed the beauty mark in the same position as the one on his actual face, and adjusted every possible detail, eye, nose, lips, proportions, until the final product looked remarkably like him.

The only real difference was probably the eye color.

Because honestly, what goes better with platinum blond than icy blue eyes?

Besides that lighthearted color choice, Dohee’s character was practically his twin, and he poured a lot of affection into it.

He wasn’t someone who cared much about others, but when it came to himself, Baek Dohee had plenty of interest.

There’s a saying: “What looks good, tastes good.” Dohee agreed with that more than anyone. If something’s the same quality, it might as well be pretty.

Based on years of collected data (i.e., compliments), Dohee knew he had a more-than-decent face. He didn’t necessarily exploit it, but he liked it well enough. So there was never any hesitation in making his character look like himself.

After he started streaming under the nickname GoingSupporter, he deliberately avoided showing his face to keep attention off his looks. He stuck to hand cams only.

But as GoingSupporter gained traction, more and more viewers began asking about his avatar and appearance setup. People begged him to share customization codes and dye formulas.

For a brief moment, he regretted making his avatar resemble himself so much.

But he quickly cut off that thought. Who in the world could possibly identify someone in real life just from a game character’s face? That would be absurd. Surely no lunatic like that existed.

And yet, here and now, one such lunatic did exist. Moonhyuk paused mid-page in his thick Russian novel and let out another sigh.

The book, a famous title by a Russian author he’d checked out from the central library, was incredibly immersive. The problem was that his focus was shot.

After a weekend packed with tutoring jobs, Monday mornings were his rare window of freedom. He used to pick up extra shifts even during this time, but after finishing his military service and returning to school, he changed his mind.

He realized he had a better shot at scholarships if he spent those hours reading books or papers relevant to his major and general ed.

In the long run, saving a few million won through scholarships was more valuable than part-time pay.

But on this Monday morning, arguably prime time for his future, Kwon Moonhyuk couldn’t stop thinking about the guy he’d seen at the internet café at dawn.

As GoingSupporter’s self-declared #1 fan, if there was one thing he could picture in perfect detail, it was the character’s face.

He didn’t always fully understand the in-game content shown on stream or catch everything GoingSupporter said, but he did know things like his favorite avatar was called Spring Day’s Dream and his preferred dye color was pale blue.

“He really looked like him…”

Moonhyuk’s muttering drifted in the quiet room. Was he possessed or something? How could a real person look so much like a game character? Was he even real? Maybe he was a celebrity. Celebrities really did look like they belonged in another dimension.

Still, maybe it wasn’t so strange for someone who looked like a perfectly customized game character to just… exist. Right? Or maybe not?

He wished that customer would come back to the café. Just so he could confirm whether the resemblance was real, or if he’d just lost his grip from playing too much lately.

He sighed again.

Am I actually becoming one of those game addicts?

If the true game addict Baek Dohee had heard that, he probably would’ve snorted with laughter.

💎

[Guild Chat]

Tando: Wow, what a refreshingly useless update today ^^

SiblingSpicyNoodle: Are you really laughing right now with a flower on your head?

SiblingSpicyNoodle: Fr, I’m this close to quitting

Tando: Oh? Quitting? Then I’ll hold your gold, ping me when you come crawling back ^^

SoftRiceCake: LMAO you’ll be gone when SpicyNoodle comes back

YeohooHae: lol leave it with me, trust your guild leader for once

SiblingSpicyNoodle: What is this, a pack of hyenas??

SiblingSpicyNoodle: Is that why our guild’s named “People”? ‘Cause we needed to remind ourselves??

SiblingSpicyNoodle: The irony writes itself

SoftRiceCake: …you know, that actually makes sense

Tando: Non-human #1: SiblingSpicy

SiblingSpicyNoodle: ???? You’re #0

Tando: So mature, aren’t we

SiblingSpicyNoodle: Forget this dumb patch, I’m out. Tando makes me want to uninstall

Tando: Who else is gonna heal-babysit you, though? ^^

SiblingSpicyNoodle: You barely heal me anyway??? Stop pretending???

Tando: Damn, sweating in the dead of winter huh

SiblingSpicyNoodle: Are you fucking for real ¹게같은 is a curse that sounds like crab (게 = crab), but is actually part of the swear “개같은”, meaning “fucking” or “like a dog.” They swapped 개 (dog) with 게 (crab) to censor it.

SoftRiceCake: Now I want crab stew

YeohooHae: There’s a good place in my neighborhood, come visit

SoftRiceCake: LOL no chill, where do you live, guild leader

AssaGo: Hanguk U Station

YeohooHae: ?

SoftRiceCake: ㅇ_ㅋ noted

PrettyHealerHyung: ㅠㅠ This patch is so dry… again this week…

Tando: Maybe next week’s the big one, winter season’s coming. Could be a preview at least?

SiblingSpicyNoodle: Demon Hunter preview maybe?? I’m getting excited

[System] Guild member ‘YeojinHae’ has logged in.

AssaGo: More likely we’ll get Winter Fest preview before Demon Hunter

PrettyHealerHyung: What’s Winter Fest?ㅠ

YeojinHae: Ta-da~ I have arrived

YeojinHae: “Winter Fest” = Winter Festival~

YeojinHae: Our sweet little healer still such a noob, aww smooch ><

YeojinHae: Missed me, didn’t you, Healer?

YeojinHae: The other day AssaGo called me for a raid, and you weren’t there! I was so sad ♥

PrettyHealerHyung: Noona!!!

PrettyHealerHyung: ㅠㅠ I only started in summer… Is it like Summer Festival?

AssaGo: Yeah, pretty much. Events and point trading

YeojinHae: My healer deserves a kiss!

PrettyHealerHyung: Yes noona! smooch ㅠ

YeohooHae: tf is wrong with you don’t bully our healer

YeojinHae: screw u lol the healer likes me

PrettyHealerOppa: haha I did miss you noona!

YeojinHae: SEE? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

YeojinHae: Didn’t AssaGo say he’s quitting in two days?

YeojinHae: Isn’t today the second day? lmao

SoftRiceCake: Wait what? AssaGo’s quitting?? What about Demon Hunter?? What about our first clear??

AssaGo: What first clear.

AssaGo: I’m really quitting. It’s boring.

SoftRiceCake: nooo what are you talking aboutㅠㅠㅠㅠ don’t do thisssss

Tando: If AssaGo quits, this guild is doomed ^^

SiblingSpicyNoodle: Okay this psychopath’s saying we’re doomed now lmfao

Tando: If the deputy guildmaster’s quitting, we can kiss the first clear goodbye lol

YeojinHae: Wait really? If you’re quitting, should I quit too? This game sucks

PrettyHealerHyung: Noona… you too?ㅠㅠ You haven’t been logging in much latelyㅠㅠ

YeojinHae: lol no wtf I’m not quitting. I’m not leaving my healer ♥

What a lively bunch…

Dohee minimized the chaotic guild chat and rested his chin on one hand.

It had been over a month of “no-pdates.”

They kept teasing Demon Hunter and Winter Festival updates, but nothing had actually dropped.

He’d thought about at least hanging on until Winter Fest, but with each passing day, his interest was fading fast.

This is so boring.

Listlessly roaming the map with his mouse, he let out a long yawn.

There wasn’t anything else he felt passionate about, nothing else he particularly wanted to do, which is why he’d stuck with SoGod this long.

But now even logging in felt like a waste of time.

Maybe I should study again… Go back to school?

As he drowned in that empty thought, he clicked through his daily quests one by one. Then a familiar, almost-forgotten notification popped up in the system chat.

[System] Your friend ‘GOingSupporter187’ has logged in.

The fake one… was back.

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  게같은 is a curse that sounds like crab (게 = crab), but is actually part of the swear “개같은”, meaning “fucking” or “like a dog.” They swapped 개 (dog) with 게 (crab) to censor it.