Chapter 7: The PC Café
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 7: The PC Café
“—So, that’s how you ended up doing the club trial?”
“Yeah.”
Lee Sol nodded as Ji Nuri summarized the situation.
For me, it was a bit of a predicament. All I had needed was her stamp, but her sudden appearance had threatened to bring all my hard work crashing down.
“What do you want to do?”
“Hmm…”
Lee Sol took a moment to consider Nuri’s question.
“I’ll join.”
That was her final answer.
“Really?”
I was honestly surprised. I hadn’t expected her to make a decision so quickly.
“Yeah. Honestly, I think I’ll be more comfortable here than in any other club.”
It was a very Lee Sol-like response.
“Are you okay with this? Weren’t you planning on doing club activities with her?” I asked Nuri.
Surprisingly, Ji Nuri didn’t have much of a reaction.
“I don’t care. She said she wants to join,” Ji Nuri shrugged. “I was just worried she’d be a nuisance to other people. As you can see—”
I followed her gaze.
Lee Sol was currently munching on jelly, clutching an armful of snack bags. When had she even grabbed all those?
“Am I a mem-ber too? So I can eat wha-ever I wan’?”
— “…Wait, do I even need to ask? I’m a member now, so I can eat whatever I want, right?”
She looked like a greedy hamster with its cheeks stuffed full of food.
“……Yeah, she’s just like that.”
Ji Nuri let out a deep sigh at the sight. Her gaze was less like a friend’s and more like an older sister’s.
“……Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
Ji Nuri looked seriously worried—not for Lee Sol, but for me.
But I didn’t have a choice. If I didn’t accept her, the club would be disbanded immediately.
“It can’t be helped.”
And so, Lee Sol officially joined the Counseling Club.
*
March. The month when spring truly begins.
Buds sprout on the trees, and a warm breeze slowly begins to blow. It was the perfect weather for a picnic.
On a day like this, where would a male student in Korea most likely go?
Nowhere else but the PC café.
And I was no exception.
“Uuuugh…! Phew~”
I stretched, loosening up my stiff muscles.
‘Those jerks, leaving early just because they had to go to their academies…’
I clicked my tongue, thinking of the two who had already bailed. They were the ones who had invited me to the PC café for the first time in a while, only to ditch me halfway through. Thanks to them, I’d spent the last few hours playing alone.
“It was fun since it’s been a while, but…”
I was starting to get bored. It’s always more fun to play with friends than solo.
Time to head home.
I turned off the computer and packed my things. Just as I was about to stand up—
— “Why is this shitty game always like this?! Ugh, fuuuck!”
“……”
A very familiar voice cursing caught my ear. I froze and looked around.
Not too far away, someone wearing a heavy hoodie was hunched over a monitor. No matter how I looked at it…
“…Shin A-young?”
“Eek?!”
When I called her name, she jumped, her entire body jolting in surprise.
“Y-you have the wrong person…!”
Shin A-young frantically yanked the drawstrings of her hoodie. The hood tightened instantly, completely obscuring her face. I definitely couldn’t see her now—if you ignored the fact that I already knew it was her.
“……What are you even doing?” I asked, staring at her with disbelief.
— “Huh? That voice…”
Shin A-young’s head slowly turned toward me. She peeked out from the tiny gap in her tightly cinched hood. Her eyes reflected my face through the small opening.
“……Oh, it’s just you. Whew, you scared me for a second.”
Shin A-young tossed her hood back, looking like she regretted hiding in the first place.
“……”
Ever since that last incident, it felt like her attitude toward me had worsened. Or was it just my imagination?
“What are you doing here?”
“…What, am I not allowed to play games?” she replied, her voice a bit sullen.
“No, I mean, why here? Your house is really far from this neighborhood.”
At those words, Shin A-young’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“…How do you know where I live?”
“I mean, it’s famous, isn’t it? Didn’t your place show up on a variety show once?”
I didn’t know her exact apartment number, of course, but I had a general idea of which complex it was. It was a notoriously expensive building. I remembered it because I’d once daydreamed about living in a place like that.
“Ah.”
Shin A-young let out a short exclamation and awkwardly looked away. It seemed she had forgotten about the TV appearance.
“I guess you really like games?”
Considering she came all the way here and even wrapped herself up to hide her identity, she had to be a hardcore fan.
“I do like them… but my parents don’t really like me going to PC cafés.”
“Ah…”
I see. There was a reason she traveled so far to play. If other kids from her neighborhood saw her, word would get back to her parents in no time.
“Being a celebrity’s daughter is tough.”
The thought slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“……”
Shin A-young didn’t reply. However, her expression softened slightly, as if she felt a rare moment of being understood.
“……”
That sentiment aside, though…
“…Wow, what was that just now?”
The words popped out of my mouth. And not in a positive way.
I couldn’t help it after seeing Shin A-young’s play. It wasn’t just bad; it was soul-crushing. I mean, using Flash directly into a wall and dying is just unacceptable.
“……”
Shin A-young’s eyebrow twitched. The corners of her mouth were turned up in a forced smile, but her eyes weren’t laughing at all.
“…I guess you must be a pro then, since you’re talking so much trash?”
“…I’m not terrible.”
The game she was playing was RUL. It’s the most popular game in Korea. I wasn’t exceptionally good, but I held my own. Compared to Shin A-young, however, I was basically a god.
“Then, sit down.”
Shin A-young pointed to the seat next to her, her voice sharp.
“…I don’t have any time left on my account.”
“I’ll pay for it, so just sit.”
I couldn’t resist the sheer intensity in her eyes and sat down. If I tried to run now, she looked like she’d hunt me down until tomorrow.
“What’s your nickname?”
Shin A-young looked at me while opening her friend request window.
“Jungler Who Doesn’t Gank.”
“Wow… you really put zero effort into that name.”
“……I don’t think you’re one to talk.”
Myunghwa High’s Double-Edged Axe.
It was a name I never would have imagined Shin A-young coming up with. Or did she choose it ironically? I leaned toward the latter.
“A bet on the number of kills in a winning game?”
Shin A-young made the proposal first. I saw no reason to refuse.
“Okay. Loser buys ice cream.”
It wasn’t a bad deal for me. I had zero doubt that I would win. My mouth was already watering.
“I’m getting Baskin Robbins, so get your wallet ready.”
“I’m having Haagen-Dazs, though?”
……
We were already on our third game.
If there was one thing we had overlooked…
“No, wait, wow…… how does it keep ending up like this?”
It was the fact that the bet only counted if we actually won the game. I couldn’t hide my hollow expression as the word ‘DEFEAT’ flashed across the monitor again. I wasn’t the only one suffering.
“Team-dependent trash game……”
— “Team-dependent trash game……”
Shin A-young’s head slumped. At least in my eyes, this was the first time her inner thoughts and outward expression were in perfect sync. In a way, games are truly a universal language.
“……Next game?”
I asked, my tone suggesting we should probably just give up.
“……What are you doing? Hurry up and queue.”
Shin A-young urged me. It looked like she intended to keep going until we saw a victory screen.
“……”
I hovered my mouse cursor over the start button, lost in a fundamental doubt. Could we really win if we kept going like this? No, we couldn't. This wasn’t working. We needed a change.
“This isn’t working. Let’s swap positions. You know how to play ADC, right? I’ll go Support.”
“…I’m not bad at it. But do you even know how to play Support?”
“I’m not bad at it either.”
I hadn’t intended to go this far. But we had to win, didn’t we? The bot lane is especially dependent on the synergy between two people. I planned to use my ability to its fullest here.
“……”
A new game started.
Click. Click-click-clack.
Shin A-young was so absorbed in the monitor she forgot to speak, her mouse moving frantically.
— “Oh, is this an opening?”
I heard Shin A-young’s thought. I acted before she could even move her character.
“It’s dangerous to go in now. Let’s pull the lane back a bit and call the Jungler.”
“Okay, okay.”
Since our opinions were perfectly aligned, the chance of making a mistake due to a lack of coordination dropped to zero. The laning phase began to tilt overwhelmingly in our favor.
Of course it did. Assuming equal skill levels, our synergy was bound to be superior to the opponents’. To them, it must have looked like we were moving as a single mind.
“…Let’s just finish this.”
The snowball rolled slowly until we reached a standoff in front of the Baron. I carefully watched for an opening in the enemy team.
Flash—!
A battle erupted, triggered by my lightning-fast initiation.
“They’re on the ADC! ADC! ADC!”
“Got him!”
Shin A-young didn’t miss the chance and succeeded in taking down the enemy carry. After that, it was a landslide. The enemy’s formation crumbled the moment their main damage dealer was gone. They scattered, each trying to save their own skin.
Before long, respawn timers appeared over all the enemy champions’ portraits. An Ace.
“Can we take the Nexus now?”
“Even if we fail, we’re going for it! Go!”
Shin A-young raised her voice and charged toward the enemy towers. She seemed a bit excited. I followed quickly behind her.
“Hit the tower! The tower!”
“End it! Nexus! Nexuuus!”
K-boom—!
[VICTORY!]
The Nexus exploded, and a brilliant blue light filled the screen. As soon as we saw it, Shin A-young and I jumped out of our seats.
“Carried—!”
“Wooooo!”
We high-fived, our palms meeting with a loud, satisfying smack. We were soaking in the joy of victory with our whole bodies…
Until I suddenly snapped back to reality.
We were a bit close. Physically.
“……”
“…Ahem.”
She looked awkward and stepped back slightly. I also leaned back into my chair, feeling a bit hesitant.
“Shall we go now?”
Since we’d finally won a game, there was no reason to stay any longer.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Shin A-young agreed.
Time to go home.
“To Baskin Robbins.”
“……?”
Where, sorry?
When I looked at her with a questioning gaze, Shin A-young pointed at the kill score on the monitor and smirked.
The ADC’s KDA was 10/1/3.
On the other hand, my KDA as the Support was 2/0/18.
“……”
This girl. She wasn’t letting the bet go.