Chapter 68: Hot and Warm Like the Sun (7)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 68: Hot and Warm Like the Sun (7)
Since Yellow had become more aware of my presence than I expected, I figured observing her from a close distance would be difficult from now on. However, I felt it would be too hasty to stop observing her without checking her reaction at least one more time. So, I decided to head to the arcade again to see how she’d behave.
Since there was a chance Yellow wouldn't show up in the morning, I didn't want to waste time in an empty arcade. Instead, I went to headquarters first to look over some training-related materials.
Just as I was debating what to do for lunch, I received a text from Green.
[Are you coming to the park today?]
There had been a Hunter Killer meeting this morning. Green usually returned from those meetings around lunchtime. Since it was about that time anyway, I sent her a short reply: "Yes," thinking I should head out for a bit.
I figured if I left right now, I’d make it just in time, so I stepped out of the headquarters.
*
The office, after A had left.
"What? Did A go home already?"
Luche, stepping out of her room, noticed that A—whom she had seen just a moment ago—was no longer at his desk. She asked another soldier about his whereabouts.
"Yes. He just left."
At the soldier's answer, Luche replied, "Really? Okay," and walked out of the office.
*
With the scorching heat continuing day after day, I wanted to keep my outdoor activities to a minimum. There was no reason I couldn't just meet Green at a nearby cafe, but for some reason, I felt like our first meeting spot always had to be the park.
Of course, that was just my own thought, and I hadn't discussed it with Green. Since I couldn't even explain the reasoning to myself, it felt awkward to bring it up to her.
When I arrived at the park, Green was nowhere to be seen. Thinking she hadn't arrived yet, I sat down on a bench.
Feeling the sweltering heat, the thought that we should meet at a nearby cafe next time naturally crossed my mind.
About five minutes passed. Then, I saw Green running toward me through the blazing sun, panting and drenched in sweat.
"Slow down. Take it easy."
"Hello. Have you been waiting long?"
"I just got here. It’s a hot day; you should have taken your time and grabbed something cold to drink on the way."
When I told her she could take it slow next time, she smiled, her face flushed from the exertion of running.
"It's okay. I have good stamina."
I knew the Hunter Killer members had great stamina, but that didn't mean they didn't feel the heat.
I just nodded without much of a reply to her reassurance that I didn't need to worry.
"You haven't had lunch yet, right? Shall we grab something to eat?"
"Huh?!"
My stomach had started growling, so I brought up food, and Green looked genuinely startled. Was talking about lunch really something to be that surprised about?
"Lunch. Oh, did you already eat?"
I wondered if she’d already eaten, but Green shook her head vigorously, her whole body signaling that she hadn't had lunch yet.
"No. I haven't eaten yet."
"Then let's eat together."
It was just a meal, nothing special, but Green couldn't seem to wipe the surprised expression off her face.
Regardless, I had things to ask her while we ate, so we moved to a different location.
*
I parted ways with Green after lunch. During the meal, I brought up the issue with Yellow that I’d heard about last week. I tried to ask Green more about Yellow, but since Green hadn't known Yellow as long as Hayoung had, nor had she clashed emotionally with her like Yura, she didn't know all that much.
I thought she might know something since they’d known each other for three years, but I realized for the first time that in an extremely disconnected group, members can know nothing about each other even after years.
However, she did offer one interesting observation.
"On the surface, she seems like a very complicated person, but if you look closely, I think she has a simple side too."
People are generally like that, but I focused on the fact that Green was the one who evaluated Yellow that way. I had a feeling that the "complexity" and "simplicity" Green was talking about weren't at a normal level.
I felt this way because I trusted that Green wasn't the type of person to speak carelessly about others.
For now, I got off at the station to stop by the arcade on my way back and see if she was there.
When I arrived at the arcade, I spotted Yellow playing a game by herself in a corner. There was no one else in the arcade besides her. After our encounter yesterday, I felt uneasy about getting too close, so I hid between some other machines at a distance to observe her.
The way she moved the joystick and mashed the buttons in a state of total zen was exactly the same as what I’d observed over the past two days.
Since I’d already created a suspicious situation yesterday, staying here and just watching her would likely lead to more misunderstandings. Besides, peeking at someone through the gaps in arcade machines would look suspicious to anyone. So, I sat down in front of the fighting game I’d failed to beat the boss of yesterday.
I’d tried to be as quiet as possible, so I hoped Yellow, sitting on the other side, hadn't noticed me. I could have played a different game, but since the reason I came to the arcade was Yellow, I ended up at this machine again.
More than anything, I needed to see how Yellow would react to me. Now that I knew her personality—the type who would actually hit me if she said she would—my first thought was that I’d be lucky just to avoid getting beaten up.
"You're seriously fucking terrible."
A little while after I started the game, just as I was getting pummeled and defeated by the boss, I heard Yellow's voice from the other side.
"I wondered what was up when you asked me to teach you, but you don't even know how to play at all."
I couldn't find a single word to refute her as she watched my play while doing her own thing. In the first place, the situation was so uncomfortable that I couldn't even bring myself to speak.
"Hey. Why are you even playing if you're just going to dump coins in without knowing anything?"
...The facts were the facts, but come to think of it, who the hell was she to keep talking down to me like this?
I could understand her using informal speech yesterday. A suspicious guy was following her, and she had no reason to be polite. If this was an extension of that feeling, I could accept it, but it didn't feel like that at all.
"I don't see any sign that you've watched videos. It doesn't look like you looked up the commands. I have no idea what you're even trying to do."
I was getting annoyed, but I was certain that no matter what I said, it wouldn't get through to her because of what happened yesterday.
And then I realized. Yellow remembered me following her yesterday to ask for lessons, but she seemed to have no intention of actually teaching me.
Since my goal in coming to the arcade wasn't actually the game, it didn't matter if she didn't teach me. It was a game I’d only played a few times, and I didn't care if she called me bad at it. But strangely enough, my pride was still getting stung.
"I can still want to play even if I don't know much. Man, you sure do nag a hell of a lot."
I realized why my pride was hurt. It wasn't the game; I just didn't have a very good impression of Yellow to begin with. Even while observing her, I’d had slightly aggressive thoughts, thinking she was incomprehensible. I viewed her negatively.
The reason, of course, was that Yellow had caused trouble for the Hunter Killer members, including Yubin. Saying she caused trouble for them makes me sound like a fan of Team Hunter Killer, but it was simply because my relationship with them had deepened.
To put it bluntly, how many people wouldn't feel bad if a stranger started badmouthing their friend?
In the end, the dissatisfaction I held toward her had been bottled up, and it came out as an outburst directed at her. Come to think of it, isn't the whole point of asking someone to teach you that you don't know how to do it? So, of course I’d feel bad if she just nagged me for it.
However, I hadn't intended to speak so aggressively, so I was surprised by my own words. The voice from the other side went silent, and for a moment, I felt tense, hearing only the sounds of the arcade machines.
"What did you watch?"
As I waited for her next words with a sense of tension, she said something I didn't quite understand, and I blurted out, "Huh?"
"I asked what you watched. Tournament footage, or individual play videos. You must have at least one character you want to play, right?"
"...I don't."
"And yet you hate being nagged? If you want to learn, you should at least bring something you're trying to learn, shouldn't you?"
I couldn't argue with that. She was right.
It was like saying I wanted to be taught by a master of a certain field, but when asked what I wanted to learn, I replied that I had nothing in mind. That was exactly my situation right now.
Of course, the reason I got annoyed at Yellow's nagging was something else entirely, but Yellow had no way of knowing that. To her, I must have looked like some absurd guy who just got cranky because he didn't want to hear the truth.
I had intentionally sat at the machine across from her, but Yellow, who had been playing at her own spot, suddenly got up, sat down directly across from me, and inserted a coin. I sat there dazed for a moment at her sudden, unannounced move, and then her voice came from the other side again.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you starting? Where'd the player go? Didn't you say you wanted me to teach you?"
"Oh? Uh, yeah."
In the end, I put a coin in and ended up playing against her. It was a stupid answer I’d given without thinking just to get through the moment, but it resulted in the ironic situation of actually playing a game with her.
"? You were at the arcade last week too, weren't you?"
Yellow asked after watching my character move for a bit. Last week, I’d played against her without letting her catch on to who I was, but it seemed she remembered.
"How did you know?"
"Some scrub who couldn't even use skills challenged me during peak hours. It was so absurd I remembered it."
Simply put, a scrub player had played like a scrub, and it was so pathetic that she remembered it. Of course, she only remembered that such an opponent existed; she seemed to have just realized it was me.
Still, it had been several days, and we’d only played once. To think she remembered that.
"That character is too hard for a beginner."
"Is it?"
After I lost a round cleanly, Yellow picked out a character that I might be able to use.
We played a few more rounds after that, and I tried to use skills as she instructed, but Yellow...
"No, you dumbass. Is it that hard to use a skill, land a normal hit, and then use the skill again?"
"You're dodging everything!"
"It's a match! Of course I'm going to block or dodge! What kind of idiot just stands there and takes it?"
I hadn't expected her to be a gentle teacher, but I didn't want to lose to someone who cursed so freely. I followed her instructions while constantly talking back to her nagging.
"Hit me now! Now!"
"How am I supposed to hit you when you're blocking while saying 'now'?!"
"You should have hit me before I said 'now,' moron!"
"What kind of bullshit is that?!"
Fortunately, there was still no one else in the arcade to hear us, but at her continuous nagging, I—who usually don't raise my voice—found myself reacting quite heatedly.
I’d brought this situation on myself, but I still disliked Yellow, and I didn't want to listen to her non-stop nagging. Since she wasn't the type to stop just because I told her to, I decided to talk back every time, which only served to ramp up her nagging even more.
"If I guard, use a throw! Break it like this!"
"..."
She spoke as if she were giving a demonstration, but the target of that demonstration was my character. Eventually, my HP bar hit zero, and I suffered my eighth defeat at her hands.
"You're seriously so bad at this."
For a moment, I felt a surge of irritation. I hadn't played many games, and I obviously knew Yellow was better than me.
Being told I was bad was just the truth, but it really stung my pride to hear nothing but that after trying so hard.
"Hey. One more round."
"Sure. Let's see if we can hit double digits."
We started the next game. Yellow continued to tell me what to do while moving her own character, but my hands, unaccustomed to the game, couldn't keep up with her words.
Later, when people started crowding into the arcade, we lowered our voices, but the nagging and talking back continued intermittently. On my first day learning the game from her, I managed to set a record of 30 consecutive losses.
"Hey."
"What?"
As the arcade got crowded, I stepped outside to head home and called out to Yellow, who had come out first. I was exhausted just from playing games all day, but I was too frustrated to just go home after losing like that.
"What time are you coming tomorrow?"
"Whenever. Why?"
"Fine. You're coming, right? Just you wait."
After making sure Yellow knew I’d see her at the arcade tomorrow, I headed home, grinding my teeth as I replayed today's defeats in my head.
It was only much later that I realized that although the game hadn't been my original purpose, I’d developed a new goal: to win at least once.