Chapter 186 – Side Story 6

It opened with Hyeon Cho-i standing there all casual and cocky. Hyeon Cho-i looked at the camera (Ganansu) and smiled. Her face practically glowed. The MyuTube viewers weren’t unhappy about it either.

[wow is she even human]
[i could stare at this face for an hour and not get bored]
└nah 6 hours for me
└then all day for me

Then the camera whipped around and started filming somewhere else. In the distance, men tall as beanpoles started appearing one by one. They all had one thing in common.
That thing everyone knows. The yellow X-jji T-shirt.
That’s right. The entrance of the GooX-men.
Whether they’d met up at the station or right out front, their pitiful efforts to walk as far apart from each other as possible were almost sad to watch. But thanks to the crowd giving them a wide berth, the men ended up looking like they were marching in formation no matter how you framed it, and every single one of them was hiding his face. Sa Taehyeok made a little roof out of his hand over his eyes like the sun was too bright, but everyone could tell. He was just embarrassed. A caption popped up beneath.

[Hyeon Cho-i’s Cho-ice: X-month’s Top Collection]
[If you spot a GooX, please contact us.]

[ahhh lmaoooo so it WAS Hyeon Cho-i’s gift after all]
[ah, welcome in, GooX-men]
└ah fk what is that
└LMAOOOOOOOOOO
└oof Paehyeok’s swagger is deceased
└hasn’t his swagger been dead for a while now?
└since when?
└since Paehyeok’s alpha got curbed by HCY

The four men standing in a row were each wearing their GooX T-shirts in wildly different ways. Their mismatched stylings were an eyesore. Hyeon Cho-i’s bark of laughter came through the audio.

-Ah, fk!

Park Gihyeon ripped off his T-shirt and flung it. The camera briefly zoomed in on Park Gihyeon’s body. Ganansu was only human, after all.

[damn fk look at that body]
└let me do just one load of laundry on there
└do people really say “a load” for laundry?
└you shut up

-Put it on.

But at Hyeon Cho-i’s flat glare, he sullenly fumbled the shirt back on. The audio of repeated “fk, fk” came through censored with beeps.

[ahhh LMAO he actually picked it up and put it back on]
└well he can’t walk around shirtless
└bro got scared of HCY didn’t he
└if it were me i’d just stay shirtless
└yeah ok, next up: exhibitionist
└if i had that body i’d live shirtless

Hyeon Cho-i took the lead. In light shorts, a T-shirt, and sneakers. Her step was so light she practically looked like she was floating. Her long hair swayed with her stride and got briefly caught on camera.

[she’s stupidly pretty tho…]
└i’d give anything to live one day with that face…
└i just want to see her up close, just once, just once.

And then behind her, five GooX-men appeared in all their glory. They were already a head taller than everyone else, and all five marching in a line should’ve been intimidating, but nope—they just looked like X-jji brand ambassadors. A caption appeared below them.

[A photoshoot in everyday life]

[ahh LMAO so it really IS a GooX lookbook]
└hey though, one by one they’re not bad
└what, that uggo GooX font?
└who uses a font like that, this is why brand X’s are like this

Soon the scene cut to all six of them walking into a restaurant and taking their seats. The people around them stared and pulled out their smartphones to snap pictures.

[Portrait rights basically don’t apply to them]

Kim Dongju waved his hand without thinking about it, and Kim Suui, looking mortified, just walked straight ahead without a word. The rest had faces that said they didn’t even care anymore. Once the group settled at the long table, all six were framed in the shot.

[dude they really do look like a lookbook like this]
└are they actually gonna get scouted by GooX at this rate?
└my bet is 5,000 won that only HCY—the one not wearing a single GooX piece—gets cast
└50,000 won from me
└this guy is going HARD

As they started the meal, the camera zoomed in on Hyeon Cho-i’s plate.

[no but the girl who slices up monsters in one clean strike, why is she so bad at cutting steak]
[oh Kim Suui is so damn sweet]
[ah, the other bastards are glaring daggers. shoulda done it first yourselves]
└they’re taking TURNS doing it, fk LMAOOOO
└how many pieces is that steak, lolol
└52 pieces
└this guy actually counted it
└with a knife? does it slice like sashimi?
└once you hit S-Rank you could probably slice sashimi with a pencil

-Do these bastards think I don’t have teeth….

Hyeon Cho-i scooped up the steak with a spoon.

[Still, our Cho-i is eating without complaint]

[she LITERALLY just complained fk LMAOOOOOO]
└who edited this, an HCY stan?
└makes sense there’s an HCY stan at Paehyeok by now
└our CH is eating the meat-mush for them, our CH is so damn sweet right now
└sweet?
└is?
└🖕

The meal wrapped up with Park Gihyeon smashing the table. And the screen caught Cho-i shoving the bill onto Sa Taehyeok. Meanwhile the captions were busy singing Cho-i’s praises.

[Thrifty, penny-pinching Cho-i]

[she’s literally just shaking him down]
└whoever did the captions clearly has nothing but HCY in their head
└dude look at her face
└wow, so thrifty
└PaeHyeok’s alpha should be paying
└BGH broke it himself, why isn’t he paying
└that bastard is broke these days
└how is a Guild Master broke
└he’s buying up dungeons like crazy hunting for hidden dungeons

The screen then cut over to a smartphone message window. The conversation between Hyeon Cho-i and Han Yeonwoo was displayed as-is.

[HYW opened a cafe?]
└how didn’t i know
└HYW stans, reflect on yourselves
└a cafe’s the easy route
└if he bought a whole building for it, that’s damn huge isn’t it?

But the screen flipped again.

[Puzzle EscaXe]
[Escape Room]

[fk LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO are they insane]
└went in expecting a cafe, got an escape room
└blind date told you a prosecutor would show—turns out he came with a sword, AND he’s a prosecutor?
└dude they still went in tho

A cheerful part-timer’s explanation followed, and an image of the escape room Cho-i’s group would be entering came up.

[19+][I Can See Your Libido]

[?]
[what is that]
[fk they’re actually going thereLMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO]
└is a 19+ escape room a thing?
└idk first i’m hearing of it too
└why would hunters even go to an escape room in the first place
└are they just gonna smash everything and leave

When three of them went in first, the commenters who already knew what the escape room was like left devastated screams in the replies.

[the others can all go get fked but KSU is kinda pitiable]
└22222
└333333
└he’s the most normal one there.

Next, the camera went into the room with Cho-i, and the audio suddenly cut out and a caption popped up.

[Muting audio due to moaning sounds]

[ah what, why do you guys get to hear it]
└they’d get demonetized
└wait why is the screen so red what even IS going on in there

The screen showed two men rummaging around the room, leaving Cho-i—who’d collapsed laughing—to fend for herself. To be fair, it wasn’t the kind of place you wanted to go touching things carelessly.

-Hey, there’s something over here.

Just then, Cho-i, having collected herself, pointed at the bed. And immediately afterward, what the two men….

[wow… I never thought I’d live to see something like this]
└i’m insane i’m stanning them from today on
└stan what fk
└you’re gonna get sued
└wait they ship STH and HCY to hell and back but you can’t ship KTY too?
└no as in, the former two are ok with it, but the latter two are both NOT ok with it, so you’d get sued

Having shown off the two men’s compromising scene, the camera then panned to Hyeon Cho-i, now wearing something labeled “maid outfit” but pronounced “swimsuit” over her T-shirt and denim shorts.

[excuse me, will i get arrested for watching this]
└who’s gonna arrest you, she’s an adult
└HCY might come for you
└HCY might gouge your eyes out
└ma’am please spare me just this once

But the moment was short-lived as the screen started shaking like an earthquake had hit. Cho-i was seen lunging at the camera and snatching it (and Ganansu).

[ahh this is that thing—dungeonification]
[a dungeon opened where that building was so the whole building itself got dungeonified right?]
[first case like this so the news has been going nuts all day]
[ah HYW’s gonna make bank]
[the government would buy it for peanuts
[as if he’d sell it to the country lol]

Once the dungeonification wrapped up and Cho-i kicked down the door, a bold caption immediately hit the screen.

[H O T   B O Y]

It was Kim Suui, kneeling with both hands bound.

[“hot boy” is KILLING me LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO]
└ah, he was a good hunter.
└wait is this video even allowed? it’s not getting struck?
└LOLOLOLOLOLOL idk

The camera showed the group deliberating on how to free Kim Suui, but the instant Hyeon Cho-i went “Ah!” and raised one finger, the screen immediately cut to black.

[what]
└what is it
└after a 19+ escape room it’s a 19+ dungeon?

The video continued on the black screen with audio only.

-Ah…….
-Cho-i. No. Cho-i.
-Just—don’t….
-Why? This is the easiest way, isn’t it? It’s a bit gross though. Ugh, my hand is sticky. But it’s already broken, will it be okay?
-No, I said I’ll just handle it myself…!

CRUNCH!
The sound of something breaking.

-Ah. So it really was this method!
-……Whether that was actually the right method, or whether Kim Suui’s hidden strength kicked in, who knows.

The screen came back on. The men looked ghostly pale. Sa Taehyeok was wiping Hyeon Cho-i’s hand clean, Kang Taeyang was staring off into the distance, and Kim Suui just, just looked drained.

[bro even I’m getting my life force sucked out just watching]
└same
└being around HCY would absolutely drain the fk out of you

The video then moved on uneventfully, showing the group rescuing civilians and escaping. Hyeon Cho-i waved at the camera one last time.

-Ah, that was fun.

And just like that, the video cut off abruptly.

[something f*king massive just happened]
└my brain is blank
└what did i even watch
└what remains: the GooX T-shirt. Maid-outfit Hyeon Cho-i. Kim Suui’s innocence.
└the last one didn’t remain tho
└fk

Tap. Having watched the whole video, Hyeon Cho-i flipped her smartphone face-down. She rolled around on the bed, thinking. It had been more fun than she’d expected. The video had gone up an hour ago, and the subscriber count was already clearing one million.
SLAM!

“Hey! You already passed a million!”
“So you were watching it the whole time pretending not to?”
“Hey, let me be on your MyuTube just once.”
“Whatever.”
“Now.”
“Now?”
“Yeah, you hit a million, so you gotta post a thank-you video.”
“You have to do that too?”
“Obviously! You gonna stop your sub count right here? You’re gonna grow more, right!”

Shim Nara snatched Hyeon Cho-i’s smartphone and hit the record button. Then she plopped down beside Hyeon Cho-i and rested her head on her shoulder.

“Don’t act like we’re close.”
“We live together, of course we’re close, damn.”
“Weren’t you the one saying we weren’t friends not long ago.”

Ignoring Hyeon Cho-i, Shim Nara spoke up.

“Hey, hey. Say something. Anything.”
“Anything?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm.”

Hyeon Cho-i thought for a beat, tilted her head, then spread her palm wide open.

* * *

[yo the next video’s already up?]
└but it’s only 10 seconds
└isn’t it the 1M thank-you video?
└but it’s 10 SECONDS i’m saying
└does she just say thanks and end it?
└Hyeon Cho-i? saying? thanks? her?

When people pressed play, the screen was filled entirely with Hyeon Cho-i’s face. Clean skin, dark round eyes with no light in them. Her small lips soon curved into a grin as she spoke.

-Next video’s whenever I feel like it! Make it 5 million by then. Anyway, bye.

A voice was heard cutting in from the side. Presumed to be Shim Nara, the one who lived with her.

-Hey, you shi—! Who records a 1M thank-you video like that!
-Whatever. No next video if you don’t make it happen.

Hyeon Cho-i reached her hand toward the camera. The camera shook a few times as Shim Nara apparently resisted, then settled back on Cho-i’s face.

-See you in the next video. Bye!

Click. The video cut off with those last words.

The people who’d played the video stared blankly at the screen that had ended way too quickly, then thought, “Well, Hyeon Cho-i did a Hyeon Cho-i,” and moved on to other videos.

Even the ones who hopped between videos chasing stimulation would eventually find themselves searching for a person called Hyeon Cho-i, naturally, if she resurfaced in another video.

Because once you start watching, it’s fun.

Right?

『The Returned C-Rank Tank Won’t Die!』 Side Story Complete