"Tap. Tap. Tap."
"If I can't pass this level, a hundred push-ups for me." A soft voice echoed through the dimly lit room of a one-bedroom apartment.
The air was crisp and the sun shone brightly behind the curtains of the small bedroom.
Today, Park Beom-seok was in a good mood.
Yes, unlike other days when he would promise and swear to do push-ups or some other punishment if he failed a level and still find an excuse not to do it as if someone had forced him, today he was ready to fulfill it.
The Magic Academy's Genius Swordmaster, the most famous RPG game that people from all over the world played—and he, Park Beom-seok, "was not the best player".
No, he absolutely sucked at it. And he sucked at gaming too.
But hell, if his friends could do it, so could he.
Beom-seok, who was staring intently at the screen, turned his focus to the piece of paper that listed all the moves his character could perform and the keys that activated them.
Getting straight A's for his late grandma was already taking up most of the space in his head, and adding stupid key commands to the mix would only make it worse.
But this wasn't why Beom-seok was happy. Today, after 16 years of living on Earth, he was going to get his first kiss.
After years of his friends telling him what lips felt like, after years of practicing with his pillow, after months of learning how to be the perfect boyfriend and a playboy from social media, he had finally gotten a girlfriend.
And not just anyone: the nerdiest tech girl in class, with good looks and large round glasses.
Yes, today he was going to meet her for their first kiss. Maybe they might even take it a step further.
Beom-seok took a deep breath and entered his zone, slicing through monster after monster and making his way into the boss room.
Unlike other players of Magic Swordmaster who used high-level characters from the academy, Beom-seok prided himself on using the worst, most useless fan-service character in the game and his co-boyfriend.
The only guy who could steal his girlfriend away.
Arthur Arcain was fundamentally a weak and worthless character with a fragile physique, designed solely to bring in more female players to the game. That was the entire purpose of the character.
No one even expected anyone to play him, since his ability "Ultra Instinct" was worse than every other character's and was almost the same as "Zone" in the game, which was equally worthless.
But in an attempt to impress Lee Na-Ri, his girlfriend, Beom-seok restarted the game and began anew as the useless commoner character. And now, he was almost clearing the game on maximum difficulty.
After a long raid and an exhausting battle with the boss of the game.
The boss fell, and the screen lit up bright gold, like he had won some kind of lottery.
Beom-seok sighed and glanced at the time. Seeing that it was nearly time for their meeting, he stood from the gaming chair, left the computer on for reasons best known to him, grabbed his jacket, and left the room.
'I'm gonna get a kiss,' he smiled happily, ignoring everyone and everything on the street as he made his way toward his girlfriend's house.
It wasn't far from his street, so he was sure he'd get there in no time.
Nothing bad would happen, right?
Beom-seok shrugged off every unnecessary thought. Reading and watching too much nonsense had gotten to his head.
The streets were peaceful, and he was happy.
But just in case anything tried to ruin his happiness, Beom-seok looked left and right seven times before crossing the road.
Nothing was going to mess up his day. He was going to get a kiss.
He was surely going to get a ki...
And then it happened.
The signs. The premonition. It all came to pass at that moment.
A truck that had been on the road just moments ago. A truck with a license plate.
A massive white truck with a driver grinning widely, as if to tell him it was his time to go, slammed into him.
Beom-seok couldn't think. His entire body ached. His voice was hoarse and cracked. His words, bloody and slurred.
He didn't need anyone to tell him to understand that he was dying.
But not yet.
The young man with black hair and black eyes ran through the street with a bloodied body.
People were screaming, but at that point, Beom-seok didn't care. He couldn't care.
Even if it was staged. Even if he could see his killer's face, he didn't care about any of that.
Lee Na-Ri's house was just a few meters away. If he tried his best, he could make it before his blood gushed out, before he took his final breath.
He ran with relentless determination, as fast as his broken legs could carry him.
And as soon as he reached the house, he knocked as hard as he could.
Harder. Then harder.
And just as his mind was enveloped in a hazy fog.
The figure of Na-Ri appeared from the door.
He couldn't even recognize her at that point. But he could tell she was worried.
He stretched out his arm and spoke.
A few words he knew would be his last: "One... kiss!"
Just as he took another step forward, his entire body froze, and he stood in place, his lips stretched forward and his arms wide open.
He was dead.