The Fourth Balance Game — Already Solved?
Ajeong had a date with Woohyun.
She planned to repay him for the help he'd given her today — and, more importantly, to finally figure out the soft, fluttery feeling that always rose up whenever she was with him.
As usual, she left early enough to arrive fifteen minutes before their meeting time, climbing the stairs up to street level — and for the first time, she found Woohyun already waiting.
"Woo—…"
She was about to call out to him in pure delight when a woman walked right up to him.
She couldn't catch every word, but it was pretty obvious the woman was trying to get his number. With a face like Woohyun's, it was no surprise any girl would feel more than a little interest.
Still… I'm here.
She assumed, almost without thinking, that he wouldn't hand his number over. At the same time, even if he did, she had no right to stop him. This wasn't The Gym — and even if it had been, she still wouldn't have had the standing to step in so aggressively.
So she decided to stay put and watch how he handled it.
After a few exchanged words, the woman held out her phone toward him.
I knew it…!
She really was interested in him. And the moment Woohyun's hand started moving toward that phone—
"Woohyun?"
All her resolve about having no right to interfere went out the window. The words just slipped out on their own.
"Woohyun, who is that?"
"Ah, uh… some stranger?"
Of course she was a stranger — but he carefully avoided explaining the actual situation.
"What, do you have a girlfriend?"
The woman, spotting Ajeong, asked if she was his girlfriend. Ajeong waited for Woohyun's answer.
"No, it's not like that—"
"Yes! I'm his girlfriend. Is there a problem?"
At Ajeong's words, the woman left.
She regretted it — and she didn't regret it at all.
"Woohyun, were you about to give her your number?"
"No way~"
Fortunately, he didn't seem upset. He claimed he'd been about to turn her down — but was that really true?
She'd planned to sort out her own feelings properly by the end of the day. Looking at it now, though, she already knew.
I like Woohyun.
Ajeong played better than I'd expected.
Honestly, this was my first time in Gold, so the gap between that and Platinum was impossible not to feel. We played three games total — and won every single one.
She was so good that the occasional compliments she tossed my way landed harder than all the playful teasing put together.
"Ugh… that was so fun!"
Stepping out of the underground PC bang felt like being released from captivity. I rolled my shoulders and straightened a back that had been hunched over the keyboard for hours.
"Should we head out?"
It was already almost eight.
"No! There's still one more place!"
"Where to this time?"
"Heh… someplace even better than a PC bang!"
I followed her again, trying to guess the destination — and failed completely.
"We're here!"
Somehow we'd arrived without me having the faintest idea where we were.
"What is this place…?"
It didn't look like much of a date spot. If I had to describe it, it felt like a studio-apartment neighborhood — the kind of area near the off-campus housing where my college friends used to live.
"Home!"
"Huh?"
"If you go in here, it's my place. Are you going to come with me…?"
She clearly hadn't planned on waiting for my answer. She just took my hand and pulled me inside. The one difference from the first time she'd grabbed my hand was that she kept her eyes locked straight ahead, looking almost shy about it.
"So? What do you think?"
"Oh… it's pretty normal."
"Heh… right?"
Exactly what you'd expect from a college student's studio. It was my first time setting foot in a girl's house — her room — and there was nothing particularly unusual about it. Except for one thing: the whole place was filled with Ajeong's scent.
"But… why your place?"
Being invited over was more than enough to make me happy, but it had come completely out of nowhere. There hadn't been any particular mood building up to this, and we hadn't planned on doing anything specific here.
"Woohyun, do you know what day it is today?"
"Today…?"
Suddenly she was setting a whole atmosphere. I thought about it for a second, but nothing came to mind.
"What's special about today?"
I gave up and just asked her.
"Ugh… you really don't know?"
"I really don't?"
"Idiot."
"Dummy."
So there really was something. She piled on the cute insults with a smile.
"Tool."
"Hyeji."
"Bronze-Silver-Gold."
I just stood there taking it, so she escalated all the way to words she clearly couldn't hold back. The moment I got up and stepped toward her, she jumped up too, trying to run — but it was only for show. She got caught way more easily than I expected.
"Hyaak—!"
"Uh…"
"Pervert!"
Somehow I'd ended up pinning her down on the bed. The second I grabbed her hands, it almost felt like she'd deliberately pulled me down with her — though I couldn't be sure.
"Let go of my hands so I can get up…"
I wanted to get off her, but she wouldn't release my hands.
…
I couldn't support myself on my hands anymore, so I had to plant my elbows on the mattress too. The slightest movement and our bodies would be pressed flush together. Ajeong was looking up at me again, her expression gone completely serious.
No way…
Was that what she'd meant by asking if I knew what day it was?
I still couldn't read her intentions, so I just waited — and started hoping for something.
Don't tell me this is a Balance Game reward?
No. That couldn't be it. When I'd re-read the KokoaTalk message, it had clearly stated that the rewards only kicked in starting from the next Balance Game.
Which meant this was her own will.
Everything Ajeong and I had built up to this point was more than enough to call a mutual crush. Finally — spring was coming for me too.
"Woohyun…"
"Yeah, Ajeong."
"There's a Tottenham vs. Arsenal match today."
"Huh?"
"It's the North London Derby today! It starts soon, so get off me already!"
At the same time, she let go of my hands. Completely blindsided, I just did as she said and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Isn't the season over?"
It was preseason. The league had wrapped up; nobody was playing competitive matches right now.
"You didn't know they were doing a Hong Kong tour with friendlies? Wow… you're a total plastic fan. I'm so disappointed…"
"I don't exactly keep up with friendlies… It's not like they're coming to Korea."
"Even if it's a friendly, you still have to watch the North London Derby!!"
"Yeah, fair…"
I hadn't seen that coming at all — but honestly, it was for the best. I had no intention of crossing that line with her while she held all the initiative. When it happened, I'd be the one leading. Manly, powerful sex. I forced the disappointment down and replaced it with a fresh resolution.
"I was worried you'd show up in an Arsenal jersey again today, so this is a relief."
"So you're switching to Tottenham like I told you to, right? You're wearing white today?"
Of all days, the T-shirt I'd put on was white. Before I knew it, Ajeong had pulled a Tottenham jersey out of her closet.
"Woohyun, next time we meet, I want you to show up with a Tottenham jersey of your own."
She was already talking like I'd fully converted. Truth be told, I hadn't completely dismissed her suggestion. If I had to pick a side, I was an Arsenal fan — but I hadn't been watching their matches that regularly lately, and my attachment wasn't exactly deep.
Still… defecting across North London is a bit much…
Switching to a rival team felt like going too far, no matter how you sliced it.
"Ajeong, what if you switched to Arsenal and we cheered together?"
"No way! …Please, if you're Korean, support Tottenham!!"
She clearly had zero intention of doing that. A girl who followed matches even more diligently than I did was never going to change teams.
"Alright then — if Tottenham finishes above Arsenal in the league next season, I'll switch."
"Whaaaat~? That's way too late! Just decide it with today's match!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah! Sonny's starting today. He's gonna curl in a hat trick for me. This is gonna be so fun!!"
"Alright, alright."
She was so excited about watching the match together that she started bouncing around setting everything up — two pillows propped against the wall at the head of the bed, her back settling against them, the tablet positioned just right. She even had a mount that clipped onto the bed frame.
"Done! Just lie down and watch from here! Nice, right?"
"Yeah, that looks ridiculously comfortable. Think it's okay if we eat something while we watch?"
"Hmm…"
Kickoff was at 8:30, so we had about twenty minutes left. Plenty of time for a convenience-store run — or we could just order delivery. I'd eaten earlier, then played hard and walked a fair distance, so I was getting a little hungry. More than anything, watching soccer without something to snack on just felt incomplete.
"How about we hit the convenience store? We can eat at the computer first, and once we're done, we lie down and watch."
Good food, then a soccer match lying next to Ajeong. Eating and immediately lying down was usually a forbidden move — but this once, it had to be allowed.
I'd planned to go alone, but she said she wanted to pick things out too, so we went together.
"Let's start with snacks."
"Okay!"
I grabbed a basket and we headed for the snack aisle. Ajeong went with a safe choice — potato chips. I picked a chicken-drumstick-shaped snack.
"Woohyun, did you pick that on purpose?"
"Huh?"
"Hehe… you didn't, right?"
For a split second her expression went ice-cold, then thawed again. Thankfully, she seemed to drop the misunderstanding almost immediately. I spent a moment trying to figure out what she'd even been upset about.
Don't tell me… because it was a 'chicken' leg?
Every soccer club has its mockery nicknames. Manchester United is "Blind Gu." Arsenal is the "Doghouse." And Tottenham is the "Chicken Coop."
If a single word like "chicken" got that kind of reaction out of her, her love for Tottenham was clearly on another level. I was almost looking forward to seeing how she'd react if they lost today.
"Wow… didn't we buy way too much?"
"Yeah, it just kind of snowballed while we were picking."
Three bags of snacks, three cup ramens, plus drinks. The thought of eating all of this and then immediately collapsing onto a bed was both terrifying and pure happiness.
"You planning to mix two of them?"
The cup ramens I'd grabbed were Gonghwachun and spicy jjamppong — the combo every Korean guy who'd done military service knew by heart.
"Have you tried it before?"
"Yeah, I saw it in a video once."
"Was it good?"
"Hmm… it was just okay, I think."
"I'll make it properly for you. It'll be different."
"Hehe… okay!"
There was no way the combination I'd loved most in the military could taste bad. First my LoL rank, and now she was poking at another one of my sacred treasures. This time I had to prove it beyond any doubt.
"Oh… it's starting! Hurry up!"
"Almost done~"
"Hehe… thanks!"
I'd timed the cup ramens to finish right at kickoff, and I carried hers over too. Ajeong had bought a plain regular broth ramen. I mixed my two cups together with serious dedication, then took a test bite to make sure it had come out right.
Huh?
The flavor itself was the same — but the emotional impact was completely different.
Why? What's missing?
I double-checked just in case, but I'd even added the flavor oil. Another taste — still something short of complete.
I used to tear up every time I ate this after coming off duty… ah.
Duty.
The taste was the taste, sure — but it had hit so hard because I'd eaten it after grinding through hell. Was this the kind of thing that made people actually miss the military?
The thought that I'd never taste that exact version again left me a little sad.
Ah!
An idea hit me at the same time. I could recreate that taste.
The perfect version — the one that includes every bit of the emotion I felt eating it in the military, and everything else that came with it…
I pulled up the environment, the situation, all of it in concrete detail inside my head. Then I took another bite.
"Ajeong, try this!"
If it was this, even she would have no choice but to admit it.
This was Challenger-tier Gonggachun.