Chapter 70: Hot and Warm Like the Sun (9)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 70: Hot and Warm Like the Sun (9)
“No, you dumbass. That’s not it.”
It was Friday afternoon. Perhaps because the weekend was approaching, the arcade was quite crowded even for that time of day. Amidst the throngs of people, I was receiving a lesson from the "Star Tutor," Yellow.
Aside from the actual instructions, most of what came out of her mouth was either a curse or a sigh. I considered quitting halfway through, but I decided to stick it out. I wanted to beat her at least once, and I needed to keep gathering information on her.
Though at this point, I wasn't even sure what I was collecting information for anymore.
“You’re so damn frustrating. Is it really that hard to block and counter?”
“How am I supposed to block everything perfectly when I don’t know what’s coming at me?”
“And what if I can do it?”
“You and I are on completely different skill levels. How is that a fair comparison?”
The atmosphere between us wasn't exactly pleasant, likely due to her nagging and my grumbling, so people kept their distance. As for me, the one actually involved, I didn't feel like the current vibe—speaking to each other with sharp tones—was necessarily bad.
I wouldn't say I liked it, either. It just felt like... this was the 'correct' way to deal with Yellow. Since I didn't particularly hold any goodwill toward her, I didn't feel the need to watch my words or read the room.
“Stop looking at your own character and watch what the opponent is doing. You just have to close the gap and move in accordingly. Why can't you get that?”
“Man, you sure talk a lot.”
In the end, I lost another game. I let go of the joystick, which I’d been gripping so hard my palms were sweating, and stretched my hands.
Frustrated, Yellow, who had been playing from the opposite side, stood up and walked over to me. She sat in the seat next to mine and showed me her smartphone screen.
“Look at this.”
“What is it?”
The video she showed me was from a recent fighting game tournament. She seemed to be showing it to me as reference material, so I stared at it intently, but I couldn't even begin to imagine pulling off those moves.
“They’re good.”
“This person is the winner of the most recent tournament.”
“Are they better than you?”
“I don't know. I beat them before, though.”
The fact that she had beaten them in the past meant she was skilled enough to go toe-to-toe with a recent tournament champion. At this level, it wouldn't be strange at all for her to enter competitions herself.
“Don’t you enter tournaments?”
“I don’t.”
She answered firmly. Then, she pulled up another video for me.
“Why not?”
“Do I really have to tell you everything?”
It wasn't exactly something she had to tell me, but I wondered if that question really warranted such a defensive reaction. Was it that big of a deal? If it was a sensitive topic, I felt like she should at least give me a hint as to why.
“I’ll give you a few channel names. Watch them before you come back tomorrow.”
“I can’t come tomorrow.”
“Why?”
At my words, Yellow, who had been fixed on the screen, snapped her head toward me. Her sharp gaze startled me for a moment.
“I have to work.”
“You work?”
“Of course I do.”
Technically, I was working right now. My primary job tomorrow wasn't the part-time gig I was headed to, but the observation of Yellow I was doing at this very moment. Of course, trying to coax information about Hunter Killer out of Yura at the part-time job was also part of the work, but since Yura was tight-lipped about anything important, I had half-given up on that front.
“Don’t you work?”
Yubin and Yura had jobs, while Hayoung and Green couldn't work due to family issues—though I heard Hayoung was currently looking for a position.
When I first heard that Yellow’s participation rate in meetings was low, I wondered if she also had a job outside of Hunter Killer.
“I don’t.”
Apparently not.
Then why on earth did Yellow avoid the other members and wander around on her own? No matter how I looked at it, the only answer was that it was a voluntary choice. Fine, let's assume it was voluntary. What reason could she have for making such a choice?
If she just found it "annoying," she wouldn't have stayed with Hunter Killer for so long. Above all, having fought her myself, I never felt like she was half-assing it during a confrontation. Naturally, you can't really slack off when you're fighting an opponent, but overall, her movements didn't look like those of someone who felt no sense of responsibility.
Of course, that was just my personal opinion. In reality, Yellow might just be doing it because it’s a job that has to be done, without feeling any responsibility at all.
“Why not?”
“My family is rich.”
Unlike the other members, it seemed she came from a wealthy background.
“Just find a match. You need to play against other people, not just me.”
At her command to try a network battle, I moved the joystick and entered the matchmaking queue. I wondered if I could actually win, but I didn't have time to dwell on it. Yellow, who had been nagging me from the opposite seat, was now sitting right next to me, giving me real-time feedback the second the match started.
“Down! Down! Do you not know where the down key is?!”
“How am I supposed to see that in a split second?!”
Every time we did this, I was amazed by Yellow’s kinetic vision. She would see the very first frame of the opponent's movement, predict the incoming attack, and tell me what to do next. She would even say, “They’re going to move like this, so do that,” before the opponent even moved—and she was always right.
Of course, being slow-handed, I couldn't keep up with the opponent's movements even with her coaching, and I ended up losing.
“You are seriously dogshit at this game.”
I had to admit it. I wasn't used to the controls, and the more I played, the more I realized how much I had to think about and act upon simultaneously. It felt like my brain was overloading. Was I overthinking it? The problem was that even if I tried to simplify things, my thoughts didn't get any lighter, nor did my movements get any smoother once a match started.
I couldn't tell if everyone who played fighting games was like this, or if it was just her.
“This is getting on my nerves.”
No one could stay calm after a string of losses combined with a barrage of nagging from the side.
“So what if you're annoyed? You should be thinking about getting better so you can win.”
The fact that everything she said was technically correct made it even more irritating.
“Does it make you sick if you don't talk like that?”
“What’s wrong with how I talk?”
Yellow flinched for a second, then spoke in an even more aggressive tone than before. I had tried to hint that she should take it easy on me, but as expected, she wasn't the type of person that would work on.
“Forget it. I can come by late in the evening after work. What do you think?”
There was a high probability I’d end up drinking with Yura after work, but we didn't have to drink; we could just have a quick dinner. That would leave a window for me to stop by the arcade late at night. I didn't necessarily feel like I had to come that far, though. Spending time with Yura was much better for me than being with Yellow, who did nothing but irritate me.
However, it would be good to find out as much as possible before the upcoming training session. Having even a little more time to observe her was a plus, so I brought it up.
“I hate the evening.”
Hate? She didn't say she couldn't; she said she hated it. Even on weekdays, Yellow would show up at the arcade early in the afternoon and head home by sunset. This wasn't a recent development; it seemed she had followed this pattern for quite a long time.
“Why? Is there something going on in the evening?”
I asked casually, but Yellow didn't answer. It seemed there was some kind of story behind her avoidance of the arcade at night. I wondered if I should come by in the evening to investigate, but I decided against it. I couldn't afford to waste time in an arcade full of strangers without even knowing what I was looking for.
“Match found.”
Yellow, who had been maintaining a silent standoff, finally spoke once the match was made. I focused on the game again.
Ultimately, the matchmaking resulted in another string of consecutive losses. Yellow, who had become noticeably quieter after the talk about the evening, didn't nag me once during my losing streak.
As the sun began to set, we stepped out of the arcade. Yellow showed me a few more video channels on her phone.
“This one and this one. These players are good, so they’re easy to learn from. This person explains combos simply for beginners, so watch this.”
Since she was giving me advice, I checked the videos and saved the channels so I could watch them easily. Her foul mouth was still grating, but I could tell she was genuinely trying to teach me since I’d asked.
“Are you coming on Monday?”
“Yeah. I’ll be here.”
I nodded as if it were obvious. Now that I knew for sure Yellow would be at the arcade, there was no reason not to come.
“Fine. Then watch these videos before then.”
Yellow started explaining more, and when it seemed like she was going to be a while, she sat me down at a nearby convenience store table and pointed out various things for me to look at.
She had been so harsh while we were playing, but hearing her speak calmly while explaining things felt a bit different.
“I wish you were only half this calm when we’re actually playing.”
“What? You got a problem?”
I had said something unnecessary and earned a glare from Yellow. I wondered if I was just bad at reading the room, but then again, wasn't the root cause her terrible attitude?
“Yeah, I do.”
I’m the type of person who has to say what’s on my mind and address things clearly, so I told her straight out that I had a problem with her foul mouth. I expected another curse to fly my way immediately, but surprisingly, Yellow didn't add any further nagging.
“Whatever. This should be enough. Watching videos helps a lot when you’re bad at the game. Watch them whenever you have a spare moment.”
“I don’t know if I’ll have time while I’m working.”
“Saying you don't have three or five minutes is just an excuse.”
“I guess that’s true.”
The videos were mostly under ten minutes. Some were as short as five. As Yellow said, claiming I didn't have that much time was just an excuse. I could watch several just during my commute or during short breaks.
“You’re going to watch them, right?”
“I got it.”
“I said, watch them.”
“I said I got it.”
I gave a half-hearted answer to Yellow, who kept double-checking. Since I did want to win eventually, it wasn't like I had no intention of watching them.
Yellow stared at me for a moment longer before standing up to head home.
“Go on. I’m leaving too.”
“Sure.”
I watched her back for a moment as she walked away without looking back, then I stood up and headed home myself.
Nothing much changed from the weekend through Monday. On Saturday, I went to the cafe to work with Yura and went to her place in the evening. On Sunday, I stopped by Hayoung’s house on my way home from work. On Monday morning, I went to the office and met Green briefly.
As I’d promised Yellow, I watched the videos in my spare time and thought about how I could beat her. Finally, it was Monday afternoon. When I entered the arcade, I saw Yellow already there. Since we’d been playing together for nearly a week and I’d seen her every day, I felt more comfortable as I approached her from behind.
“I’m here.”
“You’re here.”
Yellow’s eyes were on the screen, and mine were too, but the casual greeting we exchanged was directed at each other.
“Did you watch the videos?”
“I did. But about what you told me...”
As I watched the videos, I started noticing things, which naturally led to questions. Since watching alone wasn't enough to solve everything, I had organized a list of things to ask her in my head. As soon as we greeted each other, I poured out my questions.
While playing her game, Yellow answered all my questions in detail. She explained the playstyles of the users in the videos, which characters they mained, and how they managed their matches. I still wasn't incredibly invested in the game itself, but there was a certain fun in learning things one by one from her.
“Oh, and about the counters...?”
Just as I was about to continue my questions, Yellow, who had just secured a victory in her game, let go of the joystick and looked up at me. For once, there was no edge in her eyes.
“You really did watch a lot of videos, didn't you?”
“I just watched them whenever I had a bit of time.”
Once I’d made up my mind to watch them whenever possible, I found there were surprisingly many pockets of time throughout the day. Of course, I couldn't watch them while working or meeting others, but I spent almost all my other free time on them.
I didn't know what she was thinking, but Yellow stared at me intently for a moment before lowering her head, lost in thought.
“Is that so?”
I didn't know much about Yellow, but one thing I’d learned over the past week was that while she had a prickly personality, her emotional shifts were quite visible on the surface. Of course, I’d mostly noticed those shifts while she was chewing me out.
But now, she was lost in thought with an expression I couldn't quite read. Then, she looked up again.
“Go sit down. Let’s go a round.”
Her expression was still unreadable, but the moment I looked into her eyes, I felt like I understood a little. I wasn't certain, but it was the look of someone seeing something interesting.
Knowing what was in her eyes didn't change anything for now, so I did as I was told, sat down across from her, and inserted a coin.