“Ah, fuck. This feels so dirty. I hope that bastard at least washed his face.”

Tossing the used handkerchief carelessly into a trash can on the street, Won shook his hand.

Slowly making his way toward the lecture hall, Won found himself thinking.

Why had he stepped forward to this extent? Normally, he would have just ignored it.

“This is why affection is scary.”

Won muttered to himself as he brought his other hand to his nose.

The tips of the fingers that had stroked Dohwa’s hair still carried the sweet scent of peach.

***

Dohwa, who had been sleeping soundly, snapped his eyes open at the sound of the alarm.

Usually, he wouldn’t have woken up until the alarms he set at five minute intervals had gone off at least twice more, but today, his eyes flew open immediately.

Actually, it couldn’t be helped. Normally, he set alarms because he had to go to college, but today…

“The meetup!”

He set the alarm because of the offline meeting!

Dohwa tended to toss and turn in his sleep. Because of that, he rolled around on the bed with his hair completely disheveled.

“What should I do? What should I do? I’m already so excited!”

Just thinking about it made his heart thumping loudly.

Meeting Won on a weekend instead of a weekday was great, but he could also meet the people who, despite teasing him often, were kind to him.

For those reasons, Dohwa was incredibly thrilled right now.

He rolled left and right several times before he finally managed to calm down. Too excited, with his forehead flushed red, he bolted upright from the bed.

With a face that made it obvious to anyone that he was excited, Dohwa moved busily. He washed up meticulously, put on the pretty outfit he had laid out the night before, ate breakfast, brushed his teeth, and checked his phone.

Exactly one minute ago, Won had sent a text saying he had arrived to pick him up and to come down.

Dohwa replied that he understood and hurried into his shoes and stepped into the elevator.

“That’s strange. Why is the elevator so slow today?”

He tapped the floor, complaining about the elevator descending at a speed that was no different from usual.

After a wait that felt exceptionally long today, he arrived at the first floor.

Dohwa practically flew outside and looked around to find Won.

He was standing outside the car so that Dohwa could find him easily. Seeing this, Dohwa ran toward him with a clear, bright face.

“Hyung!”

At the desperate cry that sounded as if they hadn’t met in years, Won burst into laughter and opened the passenger door for him.

“My Peach, we saw each other just yesterday, so why are you welcoming me so enthusiastically?”

“Yesterday was yesterday, and today is today, gasp, who are you?”

Climbing into the car through the door Won opened, Dohwa froze with his eyes wide in surprise upon seeing the people in the backseat.

Won chuckled at the sight, closed the door, and spoke from the driver’s seat.

“On the right is ‘FastAndPissedOff.’ His name is Park Seobin. On the left is ‘The Wife.’ His name is Lee Jinha.”

“Hi, you’re Peach, right? Just call me Seobin hyung.”

“Yes, Seobin hyung. Hello…”

“He really looks exactly like his character customization,” Seobin said with a gentle smile. Like Won, Seobin had tattoos in various places on his body.

He didn’t look particularly delinquent or prickly, but he was a man with an impressively languid face.

And Jinha. Jinha was, how should he put it, exactly like his game persona. Both the way he smiled and the way he talked nonsense.

While Seobin and Dohwa were chatting, Won was bickering with Jinha.

“Ahhh! I told you to include ‘Nana’s’ before ‘TheWife’!”

“Yeah, sure. Wife.”

“Ah, seriously!”

Won gave a smug smile as he watched Jinha jump up and down. Dohwa, who was staring at that face as if possessed by habit, unconsciously shifted his gaze when he saw Seobin looking at him through the rearview mirror.

For some reason, he felt like other people shouldn’t know the way he looked at Won. He just felt that way.

The car carrying the four of them was noisy the entire way to the meeting spot. Dohwa and Jinha did most of the talking, while Won and Seobin occasionally chimed in.

Dohwa and Jinha chattered away as if that alone was enough.

They talked so much that for a moment, Won instinctively checked if his ears were still properly attached.

Normally, one would tell them to be quiet, but Won simply drove in silence.

It was unclear whether it was because he enjoyed the sound of Dohwa’s chattering voice or because he had become more generous after seeing people he hadn’t seen in a while.

As soon as they arrived at the meeting spot, Seobin and Jinha rushed out in excitement. Dohwa waited for Won to park and come out leisurely before moving together.

Guild members were waiting in front of the cafe. Since there were many faces he was seeing for the first time, Dohwa hid slightly behind Won.

Seeing this, Chaei laughed while repeatedly hitting the tall, thin man standing next to her.

“Look at Peach! Does he think he can hide behind Won with that build? Ah, seriously, he’s so cute I could die!”

“Ow, it hurts… it hurts! I said it hurts!”

Beside the man getting hit, another man casually rubbed the spots where he’d been smacked before jerking his chin toward the cafe.

“The cafe is open. Let’s go inside and talk.”

As soon as those words were spoken, Won nodded. The eight of them crowded into the cafe.

As if it were natural, everyone ordered the menu items and desserts that were collaborations with the game. Then, they giggled while looking at the cosmetic item tickets they received.

After being immersed in that sense of achievement for a while, a man wearing sunglasses snapped out of it and raised his hand.

“Ah, let’s introduce ourselves. This is the first time Peach is meeting us.”

“True. Let’s… introduce ourselves.”

As soon as Won nodded, Chaei bolted up from her seat.

“Me! Me first! I’m Cherry Coke! My name is Chaei! Gender: female! Class: Paladin! Main tank!”

“I’m FastAndPissedOff, like I said in the car. My name is Park Seobin. Just call me comfortably.”

“I’m Nana’s True Wife! Jinha!”

The faces Dohwa already knew stepped forward first and finished their introductions quickly. Then, the tall man, who had been relatively taciturn compared to the others, slightly raised a hand.

“I’ll go next. My game nickname is Non-Tanking Tank, and my name is Park Eunso.”

Following him, the tall, thin man who had been repeatedly hit by Chaei introduced himself.

“I’m Professor Execution, Hwang Bohyun. You can comfortably call me hyung. Just don’t call me by my nickname.”

Indeed, calling someone ‘Professor Execution-hyung’ in public would be a bit… awkward.

Bohyun grinned when he saw the look on Dohwa’s face as he understood the reason.

And the last was the man in sunglasses leaning on Bohyun’s shoulder.

“I’m 21st Century Slave. Name is Soheon. I’m fine with anything as long as you don’t call me by my nickname. You can even call me ‘hey.’ As long as it’s not the nickname…”

At the somewhat bitter tone, Dohwa unconsciously pressed his lips together. If he didn’t, he felt like he might burst out laughing.

Just then, Won, who had been resting his chin on his hand, let out a long yawn and muttered.

“That’s why I told you not to make your nickname something like that.”

“It’s the truth. 21st Century Slave. Just thinking about it makes me annoyed. I worked overtime yesterday too.”

Soheon growled, saying he got more pissed the more he thought about it. Then, as if accustomed to such a reaction, Bohyun stroked his chin.

“Calm down. I want to hang the ‘Professor’ title around my neck too, but I’m enduring it.”

“Sigh… I don’t want to go to work.”

“Me too.”

Eunso agreed with the gloomy-faced Soheon.

‘Non-Tanking Tank,’ who used cute emoticons, was tall and had a low voice.

Dohwa, thinking that he had cute tastes compared to his appearance, fidgeted with his fingers and spoke cautiously.

“I’m Dohwa. My nickname is Peach.”

At those words, the people who had been sipping their drinks all burst into laughter.

Dohwa blinked, wondering why they were laughing, and Seobin said while scratching his neck.

“Both your name and nickname are just like you. Both suit you really well. You probably picked the nickname, but who gave you your name?”

“My parents… the conception dream was about a huge peach falling…”

Dohwa answered quietly with a face that wondered why they were asking such a thing.

Another round of laughter followed that answer.