Chapter 21
[Hidden Character no. 928]
Name: Theo, Taeo, TEO
Gender: M
Age: ??
Occupation: Prison guard, palanquin bearer, café worker, etc.
Traits:
Quiet personality; doesn’t want to get involved with others.
Frequently slips into stealth mode—easy to lose track of if you don’t focus.
Extremely shy; never makes the first move.
Very cute; startles easily when touched.
But once he opens up, his eyes change.
At night… quite passionate. Stamina LV999+.
In real life, he was the one who first suggested meeting in person.
After stepping out of the VR capsule, Seung-eon organized everything she had experienced in the world of Echo regarding the hidden character.
“Hmmm…”
So this man… is my boyfriend.
When she first launched the Replay feature, Seung-eon hadn’t really believed some of the phrases written in the game log.
“Sola.”
“My lady.”
“Wife.”
“Mak-rye.”
The gentle whispers, followed by the faint touch of lips—
It felt so real.
As if they were actually kissing. The warmth was intense, the sensation spreading between their touching lips.
Her heart thumped wildly.
Releasing the pen she had been holding, Seung-eon slowly raised her fingers and brushed them over her lips.
I was only that bold because I was sure it was a game.
Yes. Because she knew it wasn’t real, she had no problem touching that man.
But I can’t ignore my aversion…
Due to a series of incidents in her childhood, Seung-eon had developed a deep, instinctive aversion to men—especially those of a certain age group.
So it was no wonder that seeing herself in Echo laughing and touching Theo (or Taeo) without restraint felt strange and unsettling.
But…
If she could make physical contact like that even in reality—
If I’ve really… gotten over it…
If she could do more than a handshake or light hug… If she had somehow overcome it through the game…
If the emotional wall she had never been able to break down was gone because of that man—who hid behind a stoic face yet whispered sweet words at the last moment—
Then maybe she…
“How did it go?”
She had been deep in thought, replaying both her own in-game behavior and Theo’s expressions in her mind—still unable to believe it—when a low voice reached her ears.
It was her loyal assistant, Secretary Chu.
She hadn’t noticed when he came in or how long he had been standing there. He looked rather unimpressed as he asked, “What’s got you so surprised?”
“Secretary Chu.”
If she revealed the emotions starting to rise in her chest, Chu’s personality guaranteed he would be horrified.
Swallowing back her words, Seung-eon glanced at the memo pad on her desk, covered in notes about what she had felt during the Replay, and said,
“After experiencing it, I’m certain this man is my boyfriend. He was just… adorable.”
“Not an opinion I care to hear.”
Ignoring his curt reply, she went on.
“But why did he appear as a hidden character instead of a player?”
Chu explained,
“During the beta test, there weren’t enough staff to assign AI to certain NPCs. So, a few people directly logged in and acted as NPCs pretending to be AI. As it happened, when you were testing…”
“So Jung Hee-do, Yoo Hyun-joon, and Seo Yi-soo acted as NPCs pretending to be AI.”
Chu nodded without a word.
“Can’t we find out which one logged in as which NPC?”
“As I said before, due to privacy regulations—”
“The information can only be given to the person who logged in. So unless those three give permission, you won’t tell me.”
“…That’s correct.”
Her head throbbed.
Before playing Echo, Seung-eon had been skeptical about the idea of a “secret boyfriend” that Chu had mentioned.
It’s just not believable.
Her trauma wasn’t something one could easily overcome. She had gone to the hospital so often in the past in an effort to deal with it.
“Unless you face it yourself, it will be difficult to overcome.”
Doctors had told her much the same thing each time—they said she kept her heart closed, making recovery impossible.
Her condition, which caused hives to break out after more than a few seconds of physical contact with men, would not be easy to fix overnight.
And yet, with Theo (Taeo), the NPC she met in Echo, her reaction had been completely different from how she reacted to men in real life.
Surprisingly, she had been proactive—going so far as to try to catch his gaze when he kept looking away.
Maybe it was because he wasn’t a real person that she felt comfortable.
“President Kang, I’ll see you on the rooftop after work this Friday.”
The one she thought was just an NPC had said something completely unexpected.
Given Kang Seung-eon’s curious nature, it was only natural she’d want to meet someone who turned out to be a real person rather than AI.
“As you know, security footage is stored for up to 60 days by law. The rooftop garden data from that time…”
“Is already overwritten.”
“Exactly.”
“So we can’t find out who I met on that Friday after the beta test.”
She let out a sigh.
While Chu added a perfunctory That’s unfortunate, Seung-eon looked back down at her notes.
Hidden Character no. 928.
He had been based on a real, anonymous person, though his appearance varied slightly depending on the era.
“First of all… his eyes were beautiful, and he didn’t have double eyelids.”
Her voice grew quiet.
“But sometimes, when he was tired, they’d appear. I didn’t like it at first, but the more I saw it… it was kind of sexy.”
Chu didn’t comment, maybe because her smile seemed unexpected.
“He was tall… tall enough to wrap me in his arms easily when standing.”
“…”
“I didn’t think I’d be drawn to pretty hands, but I couldn’t stop looking at them. His fingers seemed slender, but maybe two or three centimeters longer than average. When he held my waist, he could wrap all the way around.”
“…”
“His expression didn’t change much, but when I stared at him, his face would turn red. He had this cold, indifferent look, but the way it changed only in front of me… it felt so good.”
Only for her.
Seeing that cold, stern face change just for her was delightful.
“So,” Chu cut in, probably to stop her before she went on about this all day.
“Which of the three do you think it was?”
She hesitated.
“Hmm…”
She couldn’t be sure.
“From his cold demeanor, I’d guess Director Jung… but when he smiled, he seemed like Team Leader Yoo… and when he was flustered, he was like Team Leader Seo…”
Did any of them have eyes that beautiful?
Frowning in thought, she heard Chu ask again,
“Other than saying he had ‘pretty eyes,’ was there any other feature?”
“Other feature?”
“Something only you would know about him.”
At his sharp question, Seung-eon dug through her memories again.
“His lips were so soft.”
“…Huh.”
“I thought I was eating soft-serve ice cream. And sweet, too! Oh, and his shoulders were broad, and his chest was really firm!”
“President, are you actually giving me clues?”
“And he never seemed to need sleep—he kept me up all ni—wait.”
“Yes?”
“His chest.”
She clapped her hands.
“That man had a mole on his chest.”
