Countermeasure (1)
Ding. The sound of a customer pushing through the convenience store door reached his ears. Han Min-ki, who had been fully absorbed in a stream at the counter, offered his usual greeting.
“Welco— hup.”
Han Min-ki swallowed the rest of the words mid-sentence.
What’s going on?
The person who had just stepped inside was a familiar regular. Her outward appearance hadn’t changed, yet something about the air she carried was off. It was hard to put into words—an indescribable aura of utter exhaustion clung to her.
Is it because she only eats pyegi and is starving for nutrients? Or has the harshness of reality finally crushed her will to live?
Han Min-ki had zero desire to get dragged into anything troublesome, so he carefully avoided meeting her eyes. The regular customer shuffled toward the dairy section with a listless, swaying gait.
Chocomong again today?
That customer had a serious preference for Chocomong.
Is it really that good? I’m curious. Maybe I should try one myself sometime.
She wasn’t the only one. The streamer he had been following lately—BigRootADC—was also a massive Chocomong fan. Maybe the drink had a quiet cult following among certain maniacs.
“….”
Yet the regular walked straight past the Chocomong and picked something else instead. What she grabbed was an energy drink packed with an absurd amount of caffeine.
“Checkout…”
She set the cans on the counter. Four of them in total. Han Min-ki scanned the barcodes and asked without much interest,
“What’s the occasion? Skipping Chocomong for energy drinks today?”
“There’s one asshole in the game who pisses me off.”
“Ah, so you’re planning to all-nighter until you hunt him down.”
“Something like that.”
Gaming was fine and all, but health came first. Besides, this regular always seemed to be teetering on some invisible edge.
“Health comes first, so don’t push yourself too hard.”
Han Min-ki gave a small smile as he handed over the bag. The regular shook her head and replied,
“No. From where I’m standing, one of us has to die. See you again at dawn.”
With that she left. She was probably planning to come back for the pyegi in the early hours. Not that it mattered to him—he never ate the stuff himself.
Anyway, she’s really going hardcore on the game, huh.
One of them has to die, she said.
Honestly, she looked so precarious that a tiny bit of worry crept in.
Well… she’ll figure it out somehow. Still, it’d be better if she didn’t overdo it.
Han Min-ki set the worry aside, finished cleaning the store, and turned the stream back on.
The broadcasts he had been enjoying lately were hitting their stride, and it was hard to tear his eyes away.
Both BigRootADC and Heok-roro are live.
Han Min-ki split the screen.
The top half showed BigRootADC studying the game with the intensity of someone coughing up blood.
The bottom half belonged to Blackened Pororo—Heok-roro—who had dark, ominous BGM playing while he monitored BigRootADC’s stream.
And the suffocating back-and-forth between those two was currently Han Min-ki’s number-one interest.
On the lower half of the split screen, Pororo was reciting those deranged lines once in chat and then again out loud in that theatrical voice of his.
“…Oh.”
A sound of genuine admiration slipped out of Han Min-ki. He immediately sent a donation—first to BigRootADC.
The reaction was instant.
Han Min-ki watched BigRootADC’s stream and smiled in pure satisfaction.
“From this moment on, kill each other.”
Tonight’s dawn shift was not going to be boring at all.
The screen turned gray.
“Ah…”
Loss after loss. The will I had been burning through energy drinks finally snapped at four in the morning.
The viewers’ dazzling roasting session came flying in. But as the loser, all I could do was clamp my mouth shut.
“Ugh… urk.”
“What the hell was I supposed to do when he jumped out of the bush at that exact timing!?”
Grit. Grind.
“….”
KRAAAAAAH!
I can’t take it anymore!!!
“FUUUUUCK!!! TELL EVERYONE TO PISS OFF!!!!”
The next day, at a neighborhood café.
I had my cheek plastered flat against the table, staring blankly at the ice cubes floating in my americano.
“…It’s all pointless.”
“ADC-nim. Please cheer up.”
Sitting across from me, SolidSturdy fidgeted restlessly while trying to comfort me.
“Haa… Maybe I should just quit this fucking Asgard for good.”
Of course I would never actually quit. It was just something I said. Still, the emptiness of life had hit me for real.
“N-no you can’t! ADC-nim’s dazzling talent can’t be left to rot already.”
“What talent do I even have?”
“…Well, that is true.”
“Don’t give up so easily! Come up with a more convincing counterargument!”
….
“Haaaaaa…”
I sighed and pressed my cheek back against the table. That was me all day today. The fire inside my chest had completely burned out, leaving nothing but pure lethargy.
“ADC-nim. Please don’t take it too hard. They say a gentleman’s revenge is never too late even if it takes ten years, don’t they?”
“…So grind my skills and get revenge later?”
“Exactly. Your opponent was once a master who reached the golden realm. It’s only natural that he’s hard to beat at your current level. So build your foundations step by step and…”
“No. That won’t work.”
SolidSturdy tilted his head.
“Why not?”
If I actually took the time to build solid fundamentals and studied properly, maybe someday I could beat him easily. But…
“It’s because of image.”
“Image… you say?”
“Yeah. You know how it is. Once a pushover frame gets slapped on you in this deep sea, that image follows you for the rest of your life.”
I took a long slurp of the americano.
“Let me give you an example. Suppose I can’t overcome this situation. Then I become a permanent meme—‘BigRootADC under Pororo’ or something like that, right?”
“Yes… probably?”
“Then no matter how well I play afterward and climb the ranks, it’s useless. In everyone’s heads I’ll forever remain the scrub who got wrecked by Pororo. That kind of thing is impossible to overcome no matter what you do.”
At my explanation SolidSturdy grabbed his chin and made a grave face.
“That… is indeed rather horrifying…”
“Right? Horrifying, isn’t it? If I just accept it and go grind basics, what will people think? I’ll just be the guy who got smashed and ran away with his tail between his legs.”
That, at least, I had to prevent no matter what.
“My pride will never allow it. Hiding for ten years sharpening the blade of revenge is not an option. I have to punish him right now.”
Only then did SolidSturdy’s face light up with understanding and genuine admiration.
“Ohh…! As expected of ADC-nim. To think you held such deep resolve and fighting spirit.”
“Good that you understand.”
“Then do you already have a countermeasure prepared to defeat Heok-roro immediately?”
I could see the expectation sparkling in SolidSturdy’s eyes.
I quietly met those burdensome pupils for a long moment… then…
“….”
“…ADC-nim?”
I slapped my cheek back down onto the table.
“I don’t have one, which is exactly why I’m like this, you dense bastard…”
“Y-you mustn’t give up!”
“Shut up! The only thing I can do right now is sit here complaining about life while drinking a 1,500-won americano with a thuggish-looking guy!”
“That’s too harsh!”
I was in the middle of whining with SolidSturdy when my phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw it was the Asgard messenger.
“Is something serious? Why the solemn face all of a sudden…”
“No. Just a messenger. From DeepSeaCleaner.”
“Ah…. That person.”
I had zero energy to play along with his rhythm today.
Just as I was about to put the phone away and ignore it, another message arrived from DeepSeaCleaner.