Blackened Pororo (1)
I had started morning jogs to build up my streaming stamina.
But one thing had changed.
"ADC-nim! Your strides are way too long! Just swing your arms lightly front to back!"
Namely, I now had company on these runs.
"Huff, huff. I know, I know. What am I supposed to do when my body's not used to this yet?"
"Not used to moving your body…? Don't tell me, inside the house you—"
What is this guy on about? It was just that my body had suddenly changed, so I couldn't adapt. Anyone would feel off moving around after their height and limbs suddenly shrank.
What the hell am I even doing?
The whole situation was bizarre. Who would've thought I'd end up jogging with this guy of all people? They say you never know where life will take you, and this was proof.
"By the way, I watched yesterday's stream. You finally climbed to Iron 4. Congratulations."
"Well, of course. If it hadn't been for the team luck, I could've hit Gold already."
"As expected, you're amazing."
"Anyway, we're the same tier now. You're Iron 4 too."
Unlike me, who climbed on pure skill, this guy had just ridden good team luck.
"Hmm…"
Hard and Heavy carefully opened his mouth.
"Um… ADC-nim."
"What?"
"There's something I've been meaning to bring up. No matter how you look at it, I'm the older one, so the way you keep talking down to me is a bit…"
"Ah."
My conscience twinged for a second.
Come to think of it, Hard and Heavy had always used formal speech with me.
…Of course I greet elders properly and show manners to people I just met. The reason this dynamic stuck was probably that our first meeting had been so intense. I'm not some rude bastard who drops formality with just anyone.
"W-well, yeah, you've got a point."
"…"
"You're right."
I didn't know his exact age, but I switched to polite speech for now. How many years was Hard and Heavy older than me, anyway? At least ten, right? Even if I couldn't be perfectly respectful, basic manners were the least I could do.
—Grin.
Hard and Heavy's lips curled up in satisfaction. That was it.
"So why do you keep following me around, anyway?"
"As I mentioned, I've been worried about you for various reasons…"
Hard and Heavy mumbled vaguely.
"Well, setting that aside, I still can't believe you're actually a cop…"
Is this bastard really a police officer?
No matter how I looked at him, he looked more like a gangster.
"Haha, I figured you'd say that, so I brought this today."
While still running, Hard and Heavy rummaged through the pocket of his tracksuit.
"Take a look."
I stopped running and took the civil servant ID he handed over to check it.
"Why is this actually real…?"
The ID featured Hard and Heavy's intimidating face front and center, with a name written below. Park Eun-woo.
"Park Eun-woo…?"
"Yes. That's my name."
I looked back and forth between his face and the name.
"It doesn't suit you for shit…"
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, just hearing the name, you'd picture some pretty pretty-boy. How does a face like this…"
"G-give it back!"
Hard and Heavy swung his arm to snatch it. But I spun my body and dodged cleanly.
"Hold on. It might be fake, so let me check a bit more."
I flipped the ID over. Affiliation and rank name appeared.
Right below that was the date of birth…
"Whaaaaat!?"
I couldn't help but shout!
"Why are you so shocked!?"
I hurriedly compared the ID to Hard and Heavy's face. My expression right now was probably the same as if I'd just seen a ghost. Something that absolutely should never happen in reality was unfolding right here.
"You're… younger than me?"
With that face? This made no sense. Believing Hard and Heavy was a cop was way more convincing.
"I'm younger than you? That can't be."
Apparently Hard and Heavy shared the same opinion.
"Look at this…"
I pulled my own ID from my pocket and showed Hard and Heavy only the birthdate. He looked puzzled at first, then—
"…"
Hard and Heavy's expression transformed exactly like he'd seen a ghost. Yeah, my face had looked the same a second ago.
"…Whoa."
"Hmm."
We stared at each other's faces and spoke at the same time.
"With that face…?"
Same words, completely different meanings.
"You poor bastard… How rough must your life have been since you were a kid."
I didn't even need to see it; Hard and Heavy's tragic life story painted itself in my head.
And for reasons I couldn't fathom, Hard and Heavy covered his mouth with one massive palm and muttered something tearfully.
"Hup… So it really was malnutrition…"
After the jog ended.
"Um… Noona?"
"…Please don't."
Please, for the love of god, don't!!!!!
I covered my face with both hands and let out a pained groan.
Honestly, the rejection hit on two levels. First, my brain flat-out refused to accept that I was older than this battle-scarred-looking guy. If any passerby saw us, they'd think we were doing some weird concept play.
Second was the title itself. With my gender identity already a mess, I could maybe compromise on "hyung," but "noona" was way too hard. Even someone as dense as me found that one rough.
"Just call me the way you always have…"
"Ah, understood. Suddenly changing the title is hard to get used to, after all."
"Yeah, that. Anyway, let's head back. I'm getting cold as the sweat dries."
The moment I got home I needed a bath. And after the bath, probably…
"ADC-nim. Once you're in, are you going straight on stream?"
Yeah, stream time. Hard and Heavy seemed to have a rough idea of my schedule. Come to think of it, this guy was one of my viewers too. A wallet who tossed the occasional donation.
"Yeah. Eat and fire it right up."
"You're truly diligent. Watching you never miss that time slot every single day."
"Diligent my ass."
I let out a hollow laugh.
"I've got debt, so I'm forced to be diligent. If I don't earn right now, I'm dead."
Actually dead.
Not me—the Deep Sea Cleaner.
That guy was probably starving himself silly while waiting with bated breath for me to pay him back.
"What!?"
At my words, Hard and Heavy, walking beside me, stopped dead. When I turned my head, his face was deadly serious.
"D-debt? What on earth…"
"Debt is debt. I ended up borrowing some money. Couldn't go to my usual work, so I had living expenses problems."
"How much do you owe?"
"…"
I stopped walking too and quietly looked at Hard and Heavy.
"What are you going to do if you know? You gonna pay it off for me if I tell you?"
Drawing a line. Hard and Heavy was digging way too deep into my private life. Our relationship wasn't close enough for pure curiosity like that. We were still awkward acquaintances.
Or so I thought… but the answer that came next from Hard and Heavy was something I could not believe by any normal standard.
"Depending on the amount… if it's within what I can arrange, I'll help as much as possible. I can't just ignore someone I know being in trouble."
"You joking? We just met, what do you even get out of this?"
"It's not our first meeting. We've known each other in Asgard for years already. And I simply love helping people."
…I had underestimated this guy's insanity. That was the only explanation.
—Thud!
I low-kicked him right in the calf.
"You cocky bastard."
Damn it, somehow I felt like I was the one who got hurt more.
"I'll take care of my own shit."
I said it while forcing my face as blank as possible. Hard and Heavy, looking less than satisfied, nodded with a worried expression.
"…Yes. If anything happens, please be sure to tell me."
"Yeah. I'm heading in now."
Time to go home and start the stream. For the Deep Sea Cleaner, who might be stuck in god-knows-what miserable conditions. I might not be good at much else, but when it comes to loyalty, I'm the kind of person who burns hot enough to scorch.
"Ah, right. Do you remember a streamer named Pororo?"
Just as I was about to head home, he spoke as if something had just occurred to him.
"Who?"
"Pororo."
Pororo… I thought for a moment and then remembered.
"Ah, that support who failed his sniping attempt and solo-dived into the abyss?"
"Yes. It seems that person is seriously targeting you, ADC-nim. I thought you should be careful."
"Careful?"
What was I supposed to be careful about with a guy who self-destructed because he was dogshit at the game?
When I made a gesture like I couldn't understand, Hard and Heavy pulled out his smartphone, tapped around, then—
"Look at this."
He shoved the phone in my face. The screen was playing a recent VOD of Pororo's stream.
"Yeah, that's Pororo."
It was definitely the Pororo I knew.
"…But what the hell is this bastard doing?"
At the same time, it also wasn't the Pororo I knew at all.
The original Pororo had the typical clean-cut streamer look. But this current Pororo had a seriously distinctive appearance. First, his hair was slicked up into a sharp spike with a mountain of wax, and he had some half-assed goggles hanging around his neck.
If it had stopped there, I might've figured it was just stream cosplay. I'd seen streamers use little props for events before. But the truly shocking part was the tacky black leather coat flapping around him. And on his face was a smile absolutely overflowing with genuine confidence.
…What the hell.
This guy's meds must've run out.
Who hid Pororo's medicine?