The Shining Solo Queue Warrior (4)
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.
"…"
"What's wrong?"
"Huh?"
Park Jimin, who had been sitting there awkwardly, looked over at Yu Dahye.
"You've been fidgeting this whole time."
"…"
Jimin scratched the back of his head.
I'm so nervous.
Even the beef sizzling over the charcoal barely registered. For a restaurant this large to have a private room just for the two of them felt almost unreal.
"This place is really clean."
"Right? I looked it up and loved that they had rooms like this. It's quiet, and people aren't walking past you the whole time."
"Ah…"
Unlike the image she projected on stream—and the first impression he'd formed of her—she turned out to be a woman who preferred things quiet.
"Eat."
"Okay."
"With beef, even a rough sear is fine, so don't stress it."
Dahye used the tongs to drop a few pieces of meat onto Jimin's plate.
"…"
He popped a casually grilled strip into his mouth without much thought.
It's delicious.
The phrase melts in your mouth rose up on its own. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd eaten beef—and now he was eating it somewhere that looked this expensive.
"How is it?"
"It's incredible!"
"Eat a lot."
Only the corner of Dahye's mouth lifted as she kept grilling.
"I can do that, you know."
"It's fine. If I don't even do this much, I'll genuinely become a woman who can't cook at all."
"Okay…"
He wasn't sure what grilling beef had to do with cooking in general, but when Dahye refused something, Jimin tended not to push.
"It's just so good, though."
His chopsticks moved faster than before.
"Ah… pfft."
"Huh?"
Watching him eat, Dahye suddenly covered her mouth and laughed.
"No, sorry—eat, eat."
"Okay."
"You were all restless earlier, but once the food's in front of you, you just dig in. Pretty honest of you."
"Ah… haha."
Flustered, Jimin still put more meat in his mouth.
"…"
And then, mid-chew, a thought hit him.
Mom would love this too.
Something about eating something this good all by himself sat wrong. He'd already felt that way before, but it only hardened his resolve to earn more money.
Oh, right!
If he was thinking about money, the person right in front of him should have been the first thing on his mind.
"Nuna, I—"
"Yeah?"
Jimin paused a beat, then pushed on.
"I've been in tournaments lately, and a lot more people have been watching."
"That's great."
Dahye met his eyes and smiled lightly.
"Donations have been coming in a lot too, and ad rates seem to have gone up."
"Hmm?"
"…"
He still had more to say, but the moment she looked him in the eye, smiled, and nodded, the words snagged on a sudden spike of nerves.
"Ahem."
Still—once you start, you finish.
"Once I get the next payout, I think I can pay you back."
Jimin said it with a shy look. There was real confidence in his face, though.
"Just wait a little longer."
"Forget it."
"Huh?"
Dahye shook her head.
"Why?"
"Jimin-ah. What did nuna tell you back then?"
"Back then?"
"I said pay me back when you have the room. Pay me back once you've made it far enough that this kind of money doesn't even register."
"Ah…"
He remembered. Clearly.
"But—"
"Jimin-ah, nuna's doing fine right now, okay? So let's not talk money. I'm going to choke on my food."
"…"
Suddenly there was nothing left to say. His gaze dropped.
"Haa."
"Huh?"
He heard her sigh and worried for a second—but she was smiling, thankfully.
"If nuna ever needs the money that bad, I won't even ask—I'll just come collect it from you. So if you go thinking weird thoughts for no reason, you're getting scolded. Got it?"
"No, I just—"
Clap.
Dahye suddenly clapped her hands once.
"Alright. Money talk later. If it bothers you that much, just stream harder."
"Okay."
Of course it still bothered him. But he decided he would never show it in front of her.
If I don't pay it back right away…
With that money, he could buy his mom good food for a while, and it would ease his mind too. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was only ever receiving.
"…"
This is weird.
Complicated thoughts piled up. He wanted to pay her back as soon as possible—and yet, somewhere in a corner of his chest, there was a quiet wish that he wouldn't. It might have been getting ahead of himself, but he couldn't help wondering whether this debt was the thread still tying him to Dahye.
"Jimin-ah."
"Huh?"
Dahye pulled him out of his thoughts.
"What are you thinking about so hard, hmm?"
She smiled as she met his eyes.
"No, nothing."
"Has nuna been too boring? Barely talking?"
"No."
Jimin waved both hands in a hurry.
Idiot.
She was buying him meat and grilling it for him—shouldn't he at least say something entertaining? He still had zero confidence when it came to being fun, of course. But then… what was he even supposed to talk about? The more he racked his brain, the less anything came.
"Sold Cup starts pretty soon, right?"
"Huh?"
"Nuna, you don't watch?"
He'd agonized over what to say, and SOL was the only thing that surfaced. Ever since he'd started streaming, entered tournaments, and competed with players from the highest ranks, he'd been completely consumed by it.
"I don't think I'll really keep up with it? And I'm not about to cast it either."
"Ah…"
He'd thrown out the topic with high hopes, but it seemed like a miss.
"The fact that you're bringing it up when it's not even that season yet… you're looking forward to it pretty hard, huh?"
"Well, it'll be my first time seeing it."
Jimin truly loved SOL. So he wanted to try loving Sold Cup and Worlds the way his friends and viewers raved about them.
"No, but seriously—"
"Huh?"
Dahye set more meat on his plate, then suddenly laughed.
"You and me, coming all the way out here just to talk about SOL? That's ridiculous."
"…"
Heh.
At her words, a laugh slipped out of Jimin too. By now, he really couldn't separate himself from the game. After all, this grateful game was what had led him to Dahye in the first place.
"Tell your mother I'll eat well."
"Okay."
"Do a good job on the shoot. I'll watch when it goes up."
"Got it."
He was going to have to give it everything he had.
"…"
Dahye waved as she walked away. For all the happiness of the meeting actually happening, the regret of this moment was just as large.
This is weird.
Even after a happy stretch of time, his chest felt a little hollow, as if it hadn't quite been filled.
Jimin left a notice on his personal stream. The announcement that he would be appearing on Rising Sun, a famous SOL Nertuber's channel.
Gulp.
"Oh? Are you nervous?"
"No, sir."
"Hahaha."
Behind the mask, Jimin's face was full of tension. He'd gone with Dahye for a haircut and armed himself in clothes he actually cared about—and still it had come to this.
It's different from what I expected.
Before appearing, Jimin had watched a fair amount of Rising Sun's Finding the Master content. Of course he'd known it wouldn't just be the guest and the host alone like in the videos, but there were quite a few people watching.
"Alright, rolling."
The person who'd introduced himself as the PD called for the start.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Sunny from Rising Sun. Today we've brought on Jimin, a streamer who's been making waves lately. Welcome."
"Hello. I'm Park Jimin, and I stream on Jijijik."
Awkwardly, but all the way through, Jimin got the line out. Beside him sat Sunny, the operator of the Rising Sun channel—late thirties, but at a glance he could pass for late twenties, and he was quite the handsome guy.
"Do you know why you've been such a hot topic lately?"
"Um…"
They'd already gone over this beforehand.
"Somehow during a stream I ran into a user named Battleaxe, and because of that matchup… yeah, I think that's how it happened."
"Not only that—top Calister, full-damage Aetrox, plus Akeli, Fiona, and Yohone. Mad movies of you on flashy champions have been going around."
First there had been the merciless carry power he'd shown against Battleaxe. Then the suspension of a rising Western SOL prospect. After that, the flashy plays Jimin put on stream had drawn real attention across Nertube and a few other sites. Ever since solo rank's popularity had revived a few years back, the number of fans who paid close attention to the very top players had grown.
"Alright then, let's start with some solo rank."
The guest queues into solo rank, plays, and banters with the host—that was basically the entire show.
"What are you thinking of showing for your first champion?"
"Um… I'll pick after I see my team and the enemy champs."
"Oh, right, right, hahaha. The man who adapts! Let's watch."
Calister. Aetrox. Jason.
Calister and Aetrox were requests from the show. Jason was the one Jimin had said he wanted to show. Either way, the plan was that recording would wrap once he'd played those three.
"Runble, Sejuani."
Jimin watched with a thoroughly serious face. This was solo rank on his own account—the bracket where Grandmasters and Challengers clashed.
"Wow, I looked while I was booking you, but your match history is honestly insane. You're going to hit Challenger in no time, aren't you?"
"Yes. I want to show the viewers as soon as I can."
At the word Challenger, a quiet thrill slipped into Jimin's voice.
"Looking at their comp, I think Aetrox is good."
Jimin's pick was Aetrox.
"Oh? Runble and Sejuani might be a little rough, no?"
"I think it's doable."
Calister looked difficult. Jason didn't really care about matchups anyway, so he held that one in reserve. Jimin wanted to show Aetrox as soon as possible.
"Alright, game starting."
"Hoo."
"Hahaha, wow, seeing Jimin in person—you really do have that gentle eighteen-year-old look."
Sunny kept the show rolling at an easy pace.
"Your hair looks great. Did you get it cut for today's shoot?"
"Yes. I went down to Gangnam and got ready."
"Ooh, that level of prep! Excellent."
"…"
A compliment so fresh he couldn't remember ever hearing anything like it in his life. Thank goodness for the mask—even if he smiled, he wouldn't look completely ridiculous.
"Love it. Electrocute rune. Looking forward to some clean damage."
"Yes."
"Electrocute Aetrox—what's the important part?"
"Um… because you're so squishy, you have to avoid enemy skillshots as much as possible. But the damage is just as high for it."
"Aha! Right."
Sunny laughed a little awkwardly.
"Ohh."
Jimin kept dodging Rumble's harpoons.
"Yes—just like that, you want to use your skills every time Electrocute comes off cooldown."
Evading Rumble's overheated harpoons, Jimin landed an Aetrox Q combo and popped Electrocute.
"Wait, is the lane already this free? Oh—enemy jungle on the map?"
"Might as well bait it."
Jimin saw Sejuani and still didn't back off.
"Uh-oh."
Sejuani coming in for an ambitious gank.
"In that case—"
Jimin closed on Rumble and landed another skill.
"Ah, so close."
"Uh-uh! Ah!"
Unfortunately, the enemy Rumble burned Flash and got away.
"You're not dying to that."
Rumble couldn't follow up on the gank. Sejuani poked Aetrox a few times, but when no angle opened, she backed out.
"No, but you're actually cracked?"
"…"
Heh.
The mask truly was one of humanity's greatest inventions.