Chapter 28: DOA#8721
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 28: DOA#8721
No matter how many comics or dramas I'd watched, I knew all too well that real-life romance wasn't like that.
[You can never let the conversation die. Luka. Got it?]
Hanbit unnie, a self-proclaimed dating expert, gave me a four-hour lecture on how to navigate the early flirting stage while we played duo queue.
[This is the perfect time, you know? The stage where you're slowly developing feelings for each other? You have to handle this part deliciously well to comfortably score a relationship.]
[If it feels like the conversation is about to die, you have to change the subject and ask something else. No matter what. Got it?]
[No. Luka. You said yourself he's super hot. You think he's just going to wait around for you all day?]
I told her I couldn't be too forward because it felt like too much pressure, but she insisted this was the only way to get what I wanted.
Still, the good thing was that I had an excuse to contact him.
Leaving the door open to play a game together had been a brilliant move on my part.
It would've been nice to wait a bit longer before playing duo, but I wasn't in a position to adjust my schedule.
I had a stream scheduled until dawn on Wednesday, and on Thursday, I had directing sessions and meetings to prepare for CLOSER’s album.
A stream on Friday, a collab on Saturday, and who knows what on Sunday—all of this was my problem, from start to finish.
My schedule was packed with things I couldn't even explain to Oppa, so I figured I had to seize the opportunity whenever I had a free moment.
If I kept putting it off, it would only get harder to bring it up later.
Before the night got any later, I had to execute my plan.
The moment my collab stream with Clover unnie ended, I started typing on my phone.
[Oppa. Could you tell me your game ID, by any chance?]
I remembered him saying it was just a string of alphabets, but he hadn't contacted me since.
Honestly, I was hoping he'd contact me first, but like Unnie said, the thirsty one has to dig the well.
He was the one who did the dumping.
I was the one who got dumped.
There was no question who was in the weaker position.
I sent the message and was so nervous I couldn't stop fidgeting with my mouse, but the unread marker disappeared in an instant.
Whoa. Why'd he read it so fast?
Was he just on his phone?
[Ah. One sec.]
It seemed like he was checking his ID, as if he'd completely forgotten what we talked about yesterday.
I was a little disappointed, but I figured it was understandable.
I wasn't going to get upset over something so small.
[It's RRRRRRR.]
[If you have time tonight, want to play together?]
Ugh... Couldn't I have come up with something less direct?
It felt way too blunt, but I couldn't think of anything better to say.
[Tonight's a bit tough, but I think I can do tomorrow night?]
I might have an assignment for my elective class, but thankfully, I didn't have a stream tomorrow.
[Then how about tomorrow around... 9 p.m.?]
[Sounds perfect. Let's do it then.]
[Okay haha. I'll message you tomorrow then?]
[Sure. G'night!]
Aah...! This isn't how it was supposed to go...!
I needed to say something more...!
But Oppa cut the conversation short, saying he was going to bed, so I couldn't continue.
[Okay! You have a good night too, Oppa!]
Having ended the conversation with such a business-like message, I grabbed my hair with both hands.
“Aah... Kim Doah... what are you doooing...”
Was it me being clueless, or was Oppa putting up a wall?
Right... This is actually for the best.
I still hadn't reached the level I needed to play comfortably anyway, so I logged into my alt account, thinking this was a good thing.
[cherriestastegood]
I'd made the username without a second thought, but ever since Hanbit unnie made a joke about it, it kept bothering me.
That pervert unnie.
The unnies were the type of people who wouldn't hesitate to make dirty jokes that would make others faint.
I decided to play a few normal games by myself before bed and queued up...
[RRRRRRR: adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc adc]
A user was vehemently calling for the marksman role in the champion select screen.
“One... two... three... four... five, six, seven...”
I thought it looked a lot like Taemin Oppa's ID, so I was counting the number of R's...
What is this.
After cross-referencing with my phone, I blinked with a dumbfounded expression.
Oppa. You definitely told me tonight would be tough, didn't you?
Even in my confusion, I had to pick a champion, so I quickly typed in chat to call my position.
[cherriestastegood: sup]
...Did Oppa lie to me?
But that felt strange, too.
If he really didn't want to play with me, I doubt he would've suggested playing tomorrow.
It was far from the attitude of someone trying to push me away, which only made me more confused.
[cherriestastegood: Are you Taemin O-]
I hesitated, wondering if I should ask in the game chat, but I just spammed the backspace key and deleted the sentence.
...If Taemin Oppa admitted it was him, it would definitely create an awkward situation.
I didn't want to ruin the budding romantic atmosphere with my own hands.
Besides, it wasn't like he'd actually done anything wrong to me.
Maybe he just wanted to play alone.
I feel like that sometimes, too.
And there was still a chance it wasn't him.
Plenty of people share accounts with their friends, right?
I knew I was just rationalizing, but I didn't want to confront the issue right now.
The character I chose was Yuumi, the cute cat support.
I was planning on playing her with Oppa tomorrow anyway, so I decided to treat this as practice.
Soon, the game started, and the mysterious ADC, Mr. RRRRRRR, locked in Ezreal, a classic partner for Yuumi.
I wonder what kind of player Oppa is when he plays alone.
Since I'd decided to pretend I didn't know him, this seemed like a good chance to check out his playstyle as a stranger.
Alright, let's start with this.
When I displayed the happy honeybee emote above my head, my host Ezreal responded with a thumbs-up emote.
Oh. So he's the type to play along.
I figured he was just a nice player, but...
-RRRRRRR has signaled that an enemy is missing
-RRRRRRR has signaled that an enemy is missing
-RRRRRRR has signaled that an enemy is missing
-RRRRRRR has signaled that an enemy is missing
I couldn't hide my awkwardness as question mark pings repeatedly appeared on the screen.
The enemy support was a grab-type champion, the kind that leads to a devastating trade if you get caught once.
I'd gotten cocky and tried to proc my passive, only to become easy prey for them.
It was my mistake, but it seemed our team's prince was very displeased.
So this guy's the type to spam 'missing' pings when you make a mistake.
[cherriestastegood: sry sryㅠ]
After a quick apology, we returned to the lane and continued the laning phase.
The ADC's skills were pretty decent.
Even in a pretty tough matchup, he farmed well and landed his skills when it counted.
We'd traded well and gotten the enemy down to half health.
The ADC seemed to be in a hurry, quickly spamming the 'On My Way' ping forward.
I quickly scanned the minimap.
The enemy jungler's position was still unknown.
If we just charged in blindly and it turned into a disaster, we'd all die and lose the lane for sure.
I pinged him to back off, but it was already too late.
My host's body teleported forward.
Just as I thought his skill would land a beautiful hit and smash the enemy's head...
A giant jelly-like jungler dropped on top of us.
The low-health enemy ADC flashed a thumbs-up emote and advanced on us, while their support followed up with a Flash forward, clearly thinking, 'I'll take you down with me.'
The result, of course, was annihilation.
Oh... how many minions are there...
On my gray screen, our tower was on the verge of collapsing.
Ah... seriously... That's why I pinged to fall back...
It's just a jungle diff. Oh well. Unfortunate.
I thought it was a play worth trying if their jungler hadn't been there, so I wasn't going to blame the ADC. But his arrows were aimed at me.
-RRRRRRR (Ezreal): cherriestastegood (Yuumi) Ignite - Ready
-RRRRRRR (Ezreal): cherriestastegood (Yuumi) Ignite - Ready
-RRRRRRR (Ezreal): cherriestastegood (Yuumi) Ignite - Ready
-RRRRRRR (Ezreal): cherriestastegood (Yuumi) Exhaust - Ready
-RRRRRRR (Ezreal): cherriestastegood (Yuumi) Exhaust - Ready
No way. This is just unfair blaming!
It wasn't a situation where we could've gotten a kill even if I'd used them.
He's pinging my summoner spells when I wasn't even in range?
Did he think I was a pushover because I apologized earlier?
[cherriestastegood: u died cuz u brainlessly E'd forward.]
[RRRRRRR: we would've killed them all if you'd exhausted and ignited.]
[cherriestastegood: no way. how could we kill them all with that little health.]
[RRRRRRR: ah. this is why i hate yuumi players.]
My hands and feet were trembling.
Ah. I'm so pissed.
I could feel the back of my neck getting tense.
[cherriestastegood: did u even look at the map? did u know where their jg was?]
[RRRRRRR: ah. we wouldve won even if he came. no reason to be scared when u have full spells.]
[cherriestastegood: stop with the unfair blaming.]
[RRRRRRR: how is that unfair blaming. if ure so confident then get on voicecord and say it.]
I, Kim Doah, am not one to back down from a fight.
Without hesitation, I dropped my Voicecord ID in the chat.
[cherriestastegood: DOA#8721 send me a friend request.]
That was the last message from the mysterious ADC, Mr. RRRRRRR.