Chapter 107
Just chatting with them gave me such a comfortable feeling, but as expected, to really close the distance quickly, doing fun activities together is key.
The moment Yoo Seol-ah hit first place on the leaderboard on the left side of the screen, I pressed the button to fire a rocket item. While she was tumbling from the guided rocket, she plummeted straight to last place in an instant. She was focusing hard on the screen to claw her way back to first, but unlike her glued eyes, her lips were pouting.
"Why do you keep targeting only me!..."
"Because you're in first."
"You're deliberately aiming only at me with those items...!"
"What are you talking about? Don't misunderstand."
Of course, she was spot on. But I wasn't entirely innocent either. Sure, I'd targeted her a few times on purpose, but half the time it was just me using items to take first place myself. It just happened that Yoo Seol-ah was in the line of fire by coincidence. From her perspective, though, it must've felt like she was the only one getting sniped nonstop.
And it wasn't just me gunning for her. As she was charging up from dead last like a beast, her dad kept laying banana peels right behind her.
"Try dodging three bananas at once~"
"Aaaah! No, you two are totally doing this on purpose!!"
Yoo Seol-ah had solid control skills, so she could dodge one banana, but what about several scattered across the track at once? Her kart inevitably spun out in place, whirling helplessly.
In the end, the relentless item spam left her lagging behind alone, turning the first-place battle into a three-way fight among the rest of us.
"Looks like I won this one."
After Yoo Seol-ah fell behind, we went at it seriously, but her mom snagged the victory this round. Why were they both so good? Their skills screamed regular playtime—it wasn't something you picked up casually.
"You two must play a lot usually."
"Yeah. We both love games, so we played with the kids a ton, and even after they moved out, we've kept at it together."
"...We even have a channel. It's pretty popular."
"Really?"
"Once the kids left, things got quiet and boring, so we started it recently... Turns out folks overseas love it."
I looked it up right away after hearing that, and sure enough, there was Snowy Land, barreling toward 200,000 subscribers. The oldest videos were just a few months old, yet they had over a million views each. No faces on camera—just simple edited gameplay with their voices—and the comments were in all sorts of languages.
And so on. Subtitles had been added in over ten languages, probably by fans. Was this family just born with influencer genes...? Games are usually seen as a young person's thing, so a middle-aged couple having a blast with them is healing in itself. Plus, they were both great talkers with awesome voices—pure entertainment even without the gameplay.
I'd been thinking it all along, but they were such a loving, youthful couple. Nothing beats sharing hobbies like that. For a second, I wondered if Yoo Seol-ah and I should start a channel. Even if we went all out with magic or body enhancements for a match, it'd probably just get chalked up to killer editing skills. If I ever felt like quitting work after some years, it might be worth considering seriously...
"But Baek Sion, you're pretty good at games. In competitive stuff like this, there's no mercy for girlfriends."
"Exactly. Gotta be ruthless when gaming."
After several races, Yoo Seol-ah hadn't won once. Maybe because we'd bonded over teasing her, her dad naturally offered a high-five, which I slapped lightly.
Watching us, Yoo Seol-ah scoffed in disbelief.
"Hah, you're having a blast. Ruthless my ass... You totally targeted me out of favoritism."
"Alright, let's try something else now?"
"......"
The next game was a multiplayer brawler with famous characters duking it out—usually called a brawl. I'd played it a bit as a kid, though a much older version.
I wasn't confident in my skills, but luckily, it was teams this time: me and Yoo Seol-ah versus her parents.
Yoo Seol-ah was fired up for victory at last.
"I'm good at this."
"For real?"
"Just do 0.5 portions of effort."
She picked the mage character without hesitation.
...Had she always had a thing for mages? My old memories were fuzzy, so no mains for me. I went with something familiar: the dagger wielder.
But from what I remembered, mages in this game weren't pure ranged spammers, right? Sure enough, Yoo Seol-ah's character was bashing foes with her staff—launching them airborne, juggling combos, even dodging incoming hits while zipping around solo.
"Hey, Seol-ah. No matter how young I look, I'm still your dad."
"What're you on about now."
"Even if I targeted you earlier, isn't mercilessly whacking your dad with a staff a bit much?"
"Don't say weird stuff that makes it sound off...?"
Despite the mental jabs, she kept swinging. I mashed buttons hard but couldn't pull off her combo strings. Weirdly, our team's balance was perfect. She covered all my weak spots.
The game scored kills by knocking opponents off the map, not HP drain, so I started aiming strong attacks at the characters she'd softened up. Dagger pulled back, then a powerful thrust—her dad's character flew off-screen in one shot.
It was respawn central, but racking up points like this would do it.
"Nice, you've got talent."
"Yeah? Feels like you're carrying."
"That's true too."
High praise from Yoo Seol-ah. Trusting her obvious veteran skills, I swung my dagger like mad.
We'd come for lunch, but it was nearly 5 PM already.
"Wanna crash overnight? We can clear out if you want."
"W-Why clear out the house!... Anyway, he said he has to head to his parents' home tonight, so we gotta go soon. I'll grab stuff from my room quick."
I never imagined spending such a fun time not just with Yoo Seol-ah, but her parents too. As she headed upstairs, conversation flowed naturally.
"Thanks for hanging out so well today. Wasn't too tiring playing with a couple old fogeys?"
"Nah, I had a blast."
No polite BS for elders—this was genuine. It felt just like chilling with friends. Her dad smiled faintly and lowered his voice.
"She's deeper than she seems."
"...Yeah. Super mature."
"She's a precious daughter. Shy around strangers, but with you, Baek Sion, it's like that never existed."
Today was all gaming focus, but anyone who's watched her long knows.
"She's smart as hell, so no worries. If she chose you, you're good too."
"Don't worry."
"She has a soft side sometimes, but after college, she seemed way more stable. Must be meeting a good person."
Parents always notice personality shifts, even if she hides it. They chalked it up to me, but the real root was surviving a world where life and death blurred easily. They hadn't brought it up, but they'd probably sensed the hidden ruthlessness beyond her stability. In close bonds like this, you can't miss your kid's changes.
"We'll be happy."
"Take care of her."
Yoo Seol-ah trotted down soon after.
"Let's head out. Got my stuff."
"Come back anytime."
"You cook well, right? Let's make something together next time."
"Yeah, see you soon."
Outside, it wasn't tension relief but pure reluctance at how great it'd been. We headed near her studio apartment, and I reluctantly said goodbye to keep our schedule.
"...See you Tuesday?"
"Yeah, at school."
"......"
Her face screamed disappointment. Soft side, indeed. I stepped closer and pulled her into a light hug.
"...Hold me tighter."
"......"
First time apart in a day, and she was this honest? I squeezed harder, her breaths growing audible. After a deep inhale, she pulled away first.
"...Good now. Go."
Short parting, but I felt it too.
"I'll call."
"Yeah."
I kept gazing at Yoo Seol-ah as I slowly walked to the bus stop. Come Tuesday, the move-in was really happening.