Chapter 81: I Missed You So Much!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 81: I Missed You So Much!
Early December.
For university students, the time they'd been dreading had finally arrived.
With the end of the semester just two weeks away, it meant there was one final nemesis to defeat.
Final exams and the slew of final projects were more than enough to completely drain a person.
-Vzzzzzt
At the vibration of my phone, I quickly reached out, swiped the screen, and answered the call.
[Hello?]
[Hello.]
It was the call from Doah I'd been waiting for.
Since she'd been busy, we hadn't been able to talk properly, so I'd been waiting the whole time. I greeted her with an excited voice.
[Oh! Are you done now?]
[...Oppa.]
Contrary to my expectations, her voice sounded utterly exhausted.
A sense of unease began to creep over me.
[...Yeah?]
[I'm sorry, but I don't think we'll be able to see each other until next week.]
Why? How come?
Can't we at least go to school together?
I had so many things I wanted to say that my brain overloaded. I took a breath to compose myself and asked her a question.
[When you say we can't see each other, you just mean for dates, right?]
[...Yes.]
[So going to and from school is still okay?]
[Ah. Of course, we can still do that together.]
I was relieved, but it was hard to hide my disappointment.
[So, does 'not seeing each other' include today?]
[I'm not done studying yet... so... yes...]
As Doah's voice faded into a whisper, I shed a tear inwardly.
[I see...]
[Yeah... I'm sorry...]
[Will you still be able to stream?]
I wondered if she could even stream when her real life was that busy, but Doah's mindset was incredibly professional.
[Well, I have to stream. I've already talked to the company, so I might take a break next week, but I don't know if I'll be able to make separate time to see you, Oppa.]
[No, no. I'll probably be busy next week too. So, whatever.]
Of course, it wasn't like I had more to do than Doah, but I also tended to work hard during the last week.
Getting terrible grades would just make the following break depressing.
I don't know if it's the same for everyone else, but I always felt down when the break started right after I'd bombed my finals.
[I see... Anyway, let's both work hard, and then let's have lots of fun during the break!]
Her words sounded like she was setting up a jinx, so I immediately shot back.
[We're going to have fun even before the break.]
[I know, I know. You should go study too, Oppa. You're going to fail your exams at this rate.]
[I was studying, you know?]
[Good job. I have to get back to what I was doing, so I'll call you again after my stream!]
“Huh...? Wait a minute!”
Doah hung up as soon as she'd said her piece.
I checked again, but the phone screen was red.
Ah... I was waiting just for you...
I had even worked my butt off on my assignments, thinking I'd get to see Doah. Feeling empty, I slumped down in my chair.
Right... I can just watch her stream later... I can see her there.
I tried to console myself, but with this sudden block of free time, I felt like I was about to have a mental breakdown.
Kim Doah...
And to think you were the one crying for my attention.
Is it okay to just neglect your boyfriend like this because you're busy?
I felt grumpy and wondered if there was some way to protest, but sadly, no brilliant ideas came to mind.
Besides, whining seemed too childish.
In the end, I crawled back into bed and, just as I always had before meeting Doah, started rewatching Luka's clips.
It was true that since she'd started her activities with CLOSER in earnest, Luka's content had become much richer.
She had always preferred to stream alone, so two-player or group games were never an option, but that wasn't the case anymore.
CLOSER had a whopping five members, and every weekend they would bring out some awesome, trendy new multiplayer game or a consistent fan favorite.
Seen it.
Seen it.
Seen it again.
I usually enjoyed rewatching things, but today... something was off.
It just didn't feel the same as before.
I couldn't even last thirty minutes before turning off YouTube and starting to wonder what the problem was.
I turned over and faced the wall.
Is it because Doah told me to stop liking Luka so much? Is that still affecting me?
But we agreed that I was free to like her, and I'd just tone it down a bit when we talked. That was it.
In fact, I thought Doah might even be disappointed if my interest faded.
Then why on earth am I so dissatisfied...
Hmm...
The answer came to me very...
late that night.
*
“Aaaah!!! Why, why! Aaaaargh! Why did that have to pop out there?!”
Ugh. I'm so pissed.
I was already annoyed from doing assignments all day, so why is this game being such a pain?
Which one of you Pink Army members recommended this!
After the Q&A session, I'd asked them to pick a game for the second half of the stream. Now, I was seized by the urge to kill my past self for choosing this.
It was too hard.
It might be partly because I'm bad at games, but the difficulty itself was just ridiculous.
[YOU DIED.]
The polite font grated on my nerves even more.
[Luka-nim! You have to dodge to the right there...]
“Hey! You think I don't know that?”
“You think I don't know that?! Come on, people!”
I snapped and yelled at the chat, but I knew I shouldn't do that.
I wasn't a small-time streamer anymore, so I knew a lot of people would look down on me if I genuinely got angry like this.
“Ughhhhh, I can't do it anymore....”
No, but what am I supposed to do? This is torture...
I've died in the same spot over thirty times now...
If I really had to beat this game before ending the stream, I could kiss my sleep goodbye for tonight.
I might not even be able to finish it in the next twenty-four hours.
[Let's go for try 37~ Let's go for try 37~ Let's go for try 37~ Let's go for try 37~ Let's go for try 37~ Let's go for try 37~ Let's go for try 37~ Let's go for try 37~ Let's go for try 37~]
My eyes landed on a viewer who was counting my deaths, and I slyly hovered my mouse over the temporary ban button before pulling it away.
“My dear Pink Army. May I make a suggestion?”
Public opinion was split.
Half seemed willing to hear me out. The other half insisted that I absolutely had to beat the game tonight.
“Just hear me out first. I'm not just trying to ditch. Just listen, and then we can talk.”
Having dramatically calmed the mood, the card I played was...
“I have my final exams next week, and I haven't studied at all...”
I tried to sound as pitiful as possible.
You guys all like me, right? Right?
You can let me off the hook just this once.
I have a real life to live, too.
“So, I really want to stay up all night and beat this, but...”
The jeers were already pouring in.
In times like these, the right thing to do was to stand my ground and finish what I had to say.
“How about... we try this again at the end of December... and for today... just stream until 2 AM...?”
I spammed the key to make my avatar cry.
Tears streamed endlessly from its pink eyes.
It seemed the Pink Army didn't hate my whining that much, as a consensus began to form around a compromise.
In the midst of it all, a familiar username caught my eye.
[Lucario: You can do it, Luka-nim!!]
I told him not to be a troll, and he's actually being nice.
His chat made me feel a little better, and I cleared my throat in embarrassment.
“Ahem...! Ahem...! So, for today, how about I just play my usual rhythm games for another hour and then sign off...?”
I could still see comments telling me to keep playing that god-awful game, so I cautiously snuck my cursor over to the exit button and clicked it.
The moment I launched the rhythm game, a sense of stability washed over me.
Ahh... this feels like coming home.
It seems it's true that people find healing in games they can play without thinking.
And so, I excitedly hammered away at my keyboard to relieve some stress, apologized one more time, and ended the stream.
“Ugh... I'm wiped...”
I couldn't find a better word to describe it than 'wiped'.
My body and mind were so exhausted.
I picked up my phone, thinking of contacting Oppa, but then I figured he must be tired too, so maybe I should just send a message saying I was going to bed...
-Knock, knock, knock
There's no one who would come looking for me...
Besides, it's 2:15 in the morning.
It was not a time for visitors.
I was a little scared and thought about ignoring it, but then I decided to call Oppa and quickly pressed the call button.
[Hello.]
[Could you open the door for me?]
[...What?]
[I'm right outside your place. Open the door.]
At his completely unexpected words, I went to the front door, unlocked it, and there he was...
“Ah. I missed you so much, Kim Doah!”
“Huh...?”
Even now, I couldn't comprehend why he was here at this hour.
But I liked the feeling of him holding me tight and the bright smile on his face, so I just stood there.
As soon as he let me go, Oppa fumbled around in a bag, pulled something out, and handed it to me.
“I figured you had a rough day.”
He offered me a sweet, peach-flavored ice cream.