My Jungler!

"Whoa~ That was so much fun~"

"It was great!"

The Spirit members gathered outside the theater. The satisfaction of Seoeun's group of three seemed to have hit maximum levels. It got to the point that even Juyeon was pleased; she didn't bother hiding her expression and kept grinning to herself.

"Sis."

Hana called out to Seoeun in front of the elevator and let out a heavy sigh.

"Yeah? What's up, Hana? Don't tell me the movie was bad?"

"No. It's not that. It's that we left without watching Lee Suhyun Part Three."

"What? Suhyun. For real?"

"Not only did he skip the third one—he hasn't watched any movie in the entire series."

Seoeun couldn't hide her astonishment.

"That's true, but it was still fun."

It was a lie. In reality, he hadn't been able to focus at all. He didn't know the story from the previous films, and the constant brush of his hand against Hana's had distracted him the whole time.

"Aigoo… If you'd told us beforehand, we could've picked something else."

"Exactly! Why didn't you say anything!"

The words were spoken with good intentions, yet the more Suhyun heard them, the more he wilted. Hana, who knew scolding him served no purpose, took one step closer and grabbed his wrist.

"I'll lend them to you, so you have to watch it. Got it!"

"But even if I take it, I can't play it on my laptop."

Suhyun's laptop was a model that couldn't handle DVDs. There wasn't much he used CDs for anyway.

"…Really?"

Suhyun had only meant it as a polite refusal, but the remark stirred Hana's heart even more. After all, she could watch it easily on her desktop. But lending her desktop was out of the question. That simply didn't make sense. So the most reasonable option was…

"…Then let's set aside some time later."

For Hana, who still hadn't sorted out her feelings, that was the best answer she could offer.

"Okay."

Suhyun didn't fully understand why they needed to make time, but he nodded with a bright smile.

They all spilled out of the theater together, swept along by the crowd. The Spirit members immediately launched into excited commentary about the film.

"I honestly thought killing the female lead was total bullshit."

Choi Kang delivered his opinion with a remarkably solemn face.

"Dude. But was there seriously anyone here who didn't see that death coming?"

Juyeon nodded in agreement with Hana's words.

Confusion flashed openly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠across Choi Kang's face.

"…So you all looked up spoilers beforehand."

"No. How could you miss it when they were dropping foreshadowing that obvious?"

"I did think this one felt a little predictable~"

When even Seoeun joined in, the furious Choi Kang whipped his head toward Suhyun.

"Lee Suhyun!"

"Y-yes?"

"Did you predict it too?"

"Ah. No."

He had lied again…

"Hey. Suhyun didn't watch the earlier movies anyway, so telling him is pointless~"

They laughed and bickered nonstop about the movie all the way home. Unlike the three walking ahead, Suhyun and Juyeon simply listened in silence. Yet for Suhyun, that was more than enough. He felt the first social outing had been quite enjoyable.

"Hwaaaam~"

It was Saturday again. Suhyun woke late to an alarm that had never rung and stretched out a massive yawn. Rubbing his eyes, he mentally listed the day's tasks. Guitar practice was non-negotiable… the piled-up laundry needed doing, and the trash had to go out. He resolved to finally tackle all the household chores he'd neglected while commuting to school. Yet the moment that resolution left his mind, he crawled straight back under the covers. Yep. This was exactly how weekends were supposed to be spent.

After lazing around for roughly an hour, the first thing he did upon rising was check his phone. He opened the messenger without thinking and nearly jumped out of his skin.

The first-years seemed to be recruiting members for a game. They wanted to play League of Legends but were perpetually short one person and couldn't queue. Suhyun's name had begun floating to the top of their conversation.

Being personally tagged instead of roped into a group activity was extremely rare, so the glowing blue text felt almost threatening.

He kept hesitating, phone in hand, when a sudden vibration startled him so badly he dropped the device. The caller was Choi Kang—one of the confirmed players.

The call ended with a click. Suhyun stared at the screen, slightly dazed. Wait. Was he officially on the roster now? He didn't have any strong reason to refuse, but this felt a little… Or maybe not. Getting closer to the juniors while playing together might be good. Still unsure, Suhyun decided to log in anyway. He quickly took the trash out first.

Sitting in front of his laptop, he couldn't believe how nervous simply launching the game client made him. The moment he logged in, an invitation popped up.

The nickname made the sender's identity obvious without any explanation. The instant Suhyun clicked accept, voices poured out of the speakers.

"Oh? Suhyun-oppa's here?"

"Whoa! Suhyun-hyung's Diamond? What tier is that?"

"Lee Suhyun. Head to your lane."

None of that was important to Suhyun right now. Headphones! Where had he put his headphones? After fumbling to plug them in, he took a short breath and joined the voice channel.

"Hello."

Despite being their senior, Suhyun greeted them like a complete beginner.

"Wow! Hyung! That's insane!"

"Huh? What is?"

"Why is your tier so high?"

"Just got lucky…?"

He didn't think he was particularly bad, but he wasn't at the level where he could proudly declare "This is the kind of player I am!" either.

"But only jungle is left. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah. I'll take jungle."

It wasn't his main role, but he'd played it often enough that Suhyun figured it wouldn't be a problem.

The roster for today was:

Top — Choi Kang

Jungle — Suhyun

Mid — Taeho

ADC — Gunwoo

Support — Sohye

Two second-years and three first-years. The only real surprise was Sohye's presence. Suhyun had vaguely assumed girls didn't enjoy these kinds of games.

Of course, his assumption wasn't entirely off-base. After all, Sohye was an absolute newbie who had only started playing because she wanted to stay glued to Choi Kang.

"Oh! Game found."

The match locked in.

"Suhyun-hyung, I want to pick later. Can we swap order?"

Taeho asked to yield his pick turn. Suhyun accepted without complaint. It wasn't difficult, and he understood that laners were heavily matchup-dependent.

But at that moment, Suhyun still didn't realize one crucial thing.

Playing online games with other people meant an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠endless stream of requests.

"Suhyun-hyung! You need to look at this spot right now!"

"Lee Suhyun! Clear that and rotate top immediately!"

"No, Sohye! Hey! Why the hell did you flash there!"

"But you told me to use it!"

Even though he had the highest rank, Suhyun had become Cinderella—nagged at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by his stepmother and stepsisters. Choi Kang and the juniors called for their jungler almost every ten seconds.

"C-can't I at least finish this camp first?"

A situation where he had to abandon the monster he was clearing. But he needed the gold and experience to keep influencing the game…

"No! This lane has to be pushed even if it kills you!!!"

Choi Kang's roar blasted through the headphones. Suhyun swallowed his tears and abandoned the camp.

After finally reaching Choi Kang's lane and successfully driving off the enemy, Suhyun caught his breath and turned back toward his monster. At that exact moment, urgent help pings ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exploded from mid lane.

"Suhyun hyuuuung!"

Sigh… Maybe it really was too much for someone like him to play games with a group.

The game ended in victory, but he had been a pitiful jungler, exploited from start to finish.