PC Bang Date
“Woohyun, who was that?”
“Ah, um… just some stranger?”
It wasn’t exactly a lie, but I still felt a guilty little twinge.
“What, do you have a girlfriend?”
“No, it’s not like that—”
“Yes! I’m his girlfriend, so why?”
“Ah… okay…”
In the end, the first woman who’d ever come up to ask for my number hurried away.
“Woohyun, were you about to give her your number?”
“No way~”
“Liar. You were reaching for your phone.”
“…I was just going to push it away a little with my hand to turn her down.”
“After all that hesitation??”
Apparently she’d seen the whole thing from the start. I’d thought she’d only caught the last moment, but maybe she’d been waiting just to watch how I’d handle it.
“Woohyun, you can’t just hand your number out to strangers. You could get hacked or something—it’s personal info, so be careful.”
“So if I ask for their number instead, that’s fine?”
“Ugh! You were really going to give it to her?!”
“Heh, just kidding~ Come on, let’s go. It’s hot.”
Even for a second, the fact that I’d actually considered giving my number out felt stupid now. I got to go on a date with someone this pretty—there’d never been anything worth hesitating over.
I tried to nudge Ajeong forward by the back as she scolded me, but she twisted away.
“Not that way!”
I’d thought she was sulking, but luckily I’d just picked the wrong direction. Before I could even take a relieved step, she grabbed my hand and started pulling me along.
“Where are we going?”
“Food first!”
The place she dragged me to was an Indian restaurant.
“…”
“You’re having curry too, right, Woohyun? You love it.”
She must still remember how I’d refused to share even a little last time. Whether this was a protest about that or she really had brought me here because I liked it, I couldn’t tell.
“Let’s get tandoori chicken too and split it!”
After picking two kinds of Indian curry and the tandoori chicken, she asked if there was anything else I wanted.
“This should be plenty if we order it like this.”
“Hehe… I looked everything up carefully, so it’s gonna be good.”
The portions were more than enough, so we just went with the menu she’d prepared. We talked while we waited, and the food arrived before we knew it.
After that day I’d sworn I’d never eat curry again, yet here I was having it again after barely two weeks.
“Woohyun, you’re not eating?”
When I hesitated for a moment, Ajeong asked.
“You’re the one treating, so you go first.”
“Pfft, what’s that supposed to mean~ Fine!”
She took a bite of curry first, declared it delicious, and urged me to try it right away. Now there was no more putting it off.
I squeezed my eyes shut and put the curry in my mouth.
It was way too hot.
“Pffhehe… You gotta eat it slowly~”
She quickly handed me water as I struggled with the heat. I’d been worried I’d gag the second it hit my tongue, but it was so hot I didn’t even have time for that.
Once the burning eased a little, the flavors left in my mouth came through.
“It’s good, right?!”
“Yeah, it is.”
Thankfully I could enjoy the taste without any trouble. Since we’d ordered different curries, we shared them back and forth and finished the meal in a nice atmosphere.
The moment she said she was going to brush her teeth and headed to the restroom, I went straight to the counter and paid for everything.
This is the right thing for me to do.
It wasn’t some belief that the guy always has to cover the date. I just had way too much money.
The first billion I’d received, plus what I’d made investing after checking the future, had grown to 1.4 billion. And I still hadn’t spent even a million won.
When I first got the money I’d decided to be careful not to blow it all at once, but my spending was somehow even lower than when I’d been a soldier. Besides, Ajeong had covered more last date, so I figured it was my turn this time.
After finishing the payment I waited a bit, and Ajeong came back.
“Shall we go?”
She walked with me toward the counter, emphasizing once more that she was going to pay.
Ding-a-ling—
I walked right past the counter, opened the door, and stepped outside. A moment later Ajeong hurried out after me.
“I said I was paying!”
“You paid last time.”
“But still… this time I wanted to treat you because I was grateful.”
“We should go Dutch.”
“…Ugh.”
Understanding what I meant, Ajeong looked a little embarrassed for a second, then lightly bumped her body against mine.
“Let’s go!”
After that soft bump she casually linked arms with me and started leading me again. We had to walk down a crowded street, and the situation was getting embarrassingly physical for a guy.
“Hehe… This really feels like we’re dating, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
Ajeong had been talking nonstop for a while, but I was having trouble focusing. It was because of the sensation against my right arm where she’d linked hers.
Whether she didn’t notice or just didn’t care, I couldn’t tell.
Maybe…?
On the off chance, I shifted my other hand just a tiny bit toward the middle and thought a certain thought.
“Whoa.”
“Hm? What?”
“Ah, just… there’s a lot of people.”
“Yeah. Do you not come to places like this much, Woohyun?”
“Mm~ Pretty much? I came sometimes in college, but I don’t go out of my way to.”
“Ooh… I see.”
The reason I could finally relax and talk with Ajeong again was thanks to what I’d just done. In that split second I’d moved my hand the tiniest bit and decided I was going to jerk off right then and there. Immediately everything calmed down.
I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or sad about it, but at least it helped for now. I’d only moved my hand a little, so even if someone had been watching they wouldn’t have thought anything weird.
“So where are we going?”
“Heh.. Guess!”
“A café?”
“Wrong!”
After eating on a date with a girl, hearing that a café was the wrong answer left me with nothing else coming to mind.
“Um…”
“Want a hint?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a place guys usually like!”
A place guys like…
The moment I heard the hint, several spots popped into my head. Billiards hall, PC bang, bar?
A motel…? No way.
After thinking it over I picked the safest-sounding answer.
“A PC bang?”
“Hah, how’d you know?!”
“It was just the only place that came to mind. You like games too?”
“Yeah! I play LoL!”
“League of Legends??”
“Yeah! Do you play too, Woohyun?”
“I do… I just never thought you would.”
Most games had a low percentage of female players, and League was no different. I especially never imagined someone as social and popular as Ajeong would play.
“Hehe.. That’s a relief. What’s your rank?”
Apparently she’d been more worried that I might not play at all. When she asked for my rank I answered confidently.
“Gold.”
It was the result I’d finally scraped together after grinding to level 30. Before enlisting I’d been stuck in Silver the whole time, so this was a new personal best. Maybe my improved real-life physical stats had something to do with it.
“Pfft…”
I waited for her reaction full of confidence, but Ajeong gave me a response I never saw coming.
“Ah, sorry. Uh.. dust got in my mouth..”
She made an excuse that made zero sense. With a nervous heart I asked her.
“What rank are you…?”
“I’m Platinum.”
“Ah, you’re good…”
The cheerful mood between us died, and we didn’t talk again until we reached the PC bang.
“Alrighty~ Shall noona carry Woohyun a bit~? What’s your ID?”
“I… Ah. Tell me yours. I’ll send the friend request.”
My nickname came to me late, and I just couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.
“ToolDiff GG.”
“Huh?”
“The last part’s English. ToolDiff GG. Oh right, what position do you play?”
“Support.”
“Ah.. pe.. perfect! We can bot lane together!!”
“…I’ll send the request.”
The second I saw her nickname, anyone could tell she was an ADC main. “Tool” was a derogatory term for supports. It was more of a meme than real hate, so it didn’t make me feel bad… but it still stung a little.
No, this is an opportunity…
A chance to prove my skill to a Platinum ADC. I was only stuck in Gold because of bad team luck, and this was my chance to show that I was a support even a Platinum ADC like her had never seen before.
With that resolve I waited for her invite.
Ding-!
“Invite m—”
“181 75 20? Hmm… Ah! Height and weight! Oho… but what’s the 20?”
“M.. my age! I made a new account when I was twenty.”
The excuse I’d prepared while sending the friend request after hearing her nickname. Even I thought it sounded pretty convincing.
“Really? When did you start playing League?”
“Around second year of middle school? Why?”
“Is Woohyun a smurf?”
“…”
“Pffhihi.. Is Woohyun a smurf?”
“It’s not like that. I quit in senior year of high school and made a new one when I started again.”
“Ahh~…”
Every little teasing remark she threw out landed like a critical hit. It was probably because Ajeong was a higher rank than me. Without even playing a single game yet, rank was already proving skill.
I’ll prove it…
If I didn’t want to keep getting played by her, I had to prove it. That I had something beyond my rank. That I had that invisible something.
“Good thing we can still rank together.”
You could queue with someone up to one tier apart, so we started with a ranked game right from the first match. The champion Kang Ajeong picked was famous as one of the highest-difficulty ADCs. Her skills supposedly changed every time she switched weapons—she’d been out for a while, but I still had no idea how to play her.
The champion I picked afterward was a little utility mage who gave buffs and shields while protecting the ADC. Since we were partied up, I chose something that would let Ajeong have as much fun and carry as possible.
“Woohyun…”
Ajeong looked at me with a disappointed expression.
“I don’t usually play him, I just matched the comp. I wanted to feed you.”
“You even have a skin…?”
Ah.
“Ah, I got this one free from a chest.”
“Hehe… I see~ It’s not like playing that champ is bad! Thanks for picking him for me!”
She didn’t seem to believe me.
It’s true though…
But the more I made excuses here, the uglier it would look. Now that it had come to this, the only option was to support Ajeong perfectly and earn her praise.
Whoooosh— Boom-!
“Nice! Woohyun’s pretty good?”
“I keep telling you I’m not Gold-level skill.”
We won the game overwhelmingly. Ajeong definitely showed Platinum-level play and carried hard. Bot lane crushed so hard that the enemy team just gave up early.
In the end-of-game popularity vote, Ajeong got all four of her teammates’ votes.
“Hehe… It’s thanks to you, Woohyun!”
“No way, you were really good, Ajeong.”
With the win, the mood was cheerful. I hadn’t gotten the chance to prove my skill, but at least I hadn’t made any mistakes, so I could show her next game.
Ding-
Then the post-game chat started filling up.
Love calls pouring in for Ajeong. Surprisingly, there was even one person messaging me.
Even so, it wasn’t something to celebrate. I hadn’t shown skill good enough to deserve that, and more than anything the nickname made me certain they hadn’t been looking at my play.
“Woohyun, we’re doing another game, right?”
Thankfully Ajeong didn’t seem to care about the chat at all. I didn’t bother bringing it up either and just started the next match queue.
“Our Woohyun, noona will carry you, so you shouldn’t play with people like that, okay? Hehe…”
The really sad part was that I lightly nodded along to what Ajeong said.