How Many Early Birds Are There Anyway?

The human body is truly mysterious.

Even if I lived in a dark room, my biological clock would still run for about twenty-four hours.

Someone once said someone else had done an experiment like that.

They locked people in a dark place and fed them just enough to keep them alive, and it turned out they lived on a strict schedule.

In short, if my daily routine isn’t completely messed up,

a person usually wakes up naturally after a decent night’s sleep and starts the day.

That’s why I’m telling you this story now.

I woke up at four in the morning.

Well, the fixed wake-up time used to be gone long ago.

Sometimes the sun is shining in at noon.

Sometimes it’s the dead of night just before midnight.

So even if an hour has passed since the best time to eat a burger, it’s hardly weird.

My day could start at any hour, so getting up now shouldn’t matter.

Still, when my eyes opened, a thought kept nagging me: isn’t this a bit too early?

If I apply my own earlier logic, there was nothing wrong with the time.

During the day, starting whenever is fine.

But this midnight-to-early-morning window is different.

After all, I’ve lived my whole life glued to games.

No matter which one, most players are active in the evening.

Students just got out of school, office workers just clocked out, so they can game comfortably.

Mobile games are more flexible with time and place, so I could play during class or work.

But in reality, most people still do it at night.

Some office workers might have completely different schedules.

There’s even me, who games anytime.

There are plenty of people who play at other hours too.

But honestly, the quieter it is, the better.

Even if someone stays up late after midnight, two or three in the morning is the practical limit.

Normal people have to go to work tomorrow, so that’s already the psychological cutoff.

By four or five in the morning,

people call it the real gamers’ hour.

Fake clock-punchers, go sleep.

If my shift doesn’t overlap with theirs, that’s when most serious players take over.

If everyone were really passionate about the game, I could have fun climbing high ranks.

But the time and effort you pour in don’t automatically match the rank.

The normal people are already asleep.

While they dream, the players who didn’t get their fill keep raging and queuing for “one more game.”

Then the ban-pick phase turns into a battlefield.

Only about four out of ten games actually run smoothly.

Doesn’t matter if it’s League of Champions or any ranked system—early morning is always like that.

Late morning would be better.

Night-owls at least have some stamina left.

Brand-new players…

well, compared to them there aren’t many, but still.

Today there are also office workers on break or university students with no classes, so it’s still a little middle ground.

That’s why I was just lying there sprawled out.

I was lying on a bed that smelled strongly of my own old sweat because I hadn’t showered in forever and just crashed after playing all night.

I never noticed the smell when I was living alone.

But now that I’m taking regular showers, the smell has become too obvious.

When I didn’t care, I didn’t think about it.

Now that I do, it keeps bothering me.

I didn’t mind when I was by myself.

But what if Gabi or Jaemin came over and caught the scent?

Thinking about that made me feel embarrassed and I decided I had to wash the sheets and blankets.

At the same time my body was aching to move…

and my Grandmaster rank still had one win left, so I was getting more restless by the second.

Yeah, that’s what had been keeping me from getting up.

Normally I would have just rolled out of bed and queued without thinking, cursing teammates or rage-quitting when they fed, grinding rank anyway.

I wouldn’t have cared about the score.

But now that I was standing right at the threshold of becoming a pro gamer,

with one win left and that last match feeling like everything depended on it,

I kept trying to dodge this early-morning slot.

At least by seven, or eight, or nine o’clock…

that way I wouldn’t have to meet some awkward person.

People who were already satisfied with ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the game would be asleep.

Those who got wrecked by bad team luck and their heart was already broken would be too drained to harass teammates.

So I kept lying there, dozing off, then gave up and grabbed my phone.

I had a few unread KakaoTalk messages.

About ten from Gabi.

A few from Kancho.

And several more from Jaemin.

…The ones from Gabi were probably replies about the health-check appointment.

Kancho’s were about the lawsuit.

But why did Jaemin send so many?

Curious, I opened his first.

- Celesty : Noeul, you awake?

- Celesty : Looks like you’re still one win away from Grandmaster… I contacted you to cheer you on!

- Celesty : Still in game…? Not like you can sleep now

- Celesty : Hehe, you went to bed, huh…

- Celesty : But… is everything okay?

- Celesty : If anything’s bothering you, call me anytime!

- Celesty : I might not be able to help much, but…

- Celesty : I can at least listen, though

- Celesty : If you vent to me, your heart might feel a little lighter?

It was obvious she had heard my broadcast and was worried.

I had thought I spilled everything during the stream, but seeing this, the viewers must have rushed to spill the beans to Jaemin.

I had said I was fine.

Well, apparently my past behavior hadn’t looked that trustworthy.

- Yoon Noeul : You’re worrying over nothing

- Yoon Noeul : Sorry…

I sent a quick apology, but rereading it made me feel strangely uneasy, so I added more.

- Celesty : Noeul, you don’t mean…

- Celesty : You’re not thinking about anything bad, are you?

- Yoon Noeul : That was when money was running out. I’m doing fine now, no need to worry

- Yoon Noeul : Ah… you’re awake?

Of course Jaemin was awake.

After writing the message trying to clear up any misunderstanding without causing offense, he panicked.

- Celesty : You said you wanted to die back then?

- Celesty : You’re okay now… right?

- Celesty : Noeul, wanna go to the hospital together?

- Celesty : You don’t have to feel embarrassed about this at all…

- Celesty : Twenty- and thirty-somethings do mental checks all the time these days

Do women always type so fast?

My typing isn’t slow, but writing full sentences still takes me longer.

How does Jaemin type out long, proper sentences that fast?

- Yoon Noeul : I’m fine. I’m going for the health check next week

- Yoon Noeul : There’s nothing depressing about it… I’m really okay

- Yoon Noeul : …Not because I woke you up for ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nothing, right?

- Celesty : The sun comes up earlier these days, so my eyes open naturally hehe

In the end, the fact that I had been lying there since dawn made me feel guilty for a second.

I hadn’t noticed because of the curtains, but when I peeked, the morning light was already pouring in through the gap.

Just as Jaemin said, the sun was up at six o’clock.

- Yoon Noeul : Yeah… thanks for worrying about me

- Celesty : Hehe, sure

- Celesty : Have a good day!

- Yoon Noeul : You too

The way she chatted so warmly with me made me smile.

Then I checked Gabi’s messages.

Exactly as I expected—about the health check.

Next week’s date was set, and since she had no classes that day she asked me to treat her to lunch.

She wasn’t asking to mooch off me; she was probably telling me not to refuse.

So this time I’d order delivery with my gift card and eat together at home.

Going out to eat is always annoying.

If she really wanted to go out, it would be fine, but anyway.

I left a message for Gabi and moved on.

Kancho’s message was all business—how the lawsuit was progressing and the sentence.

If the other party agreed, it would be ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a light sentence of community service.

For Bae Deuro and the rest, it was prison time, and because of the intimidation and other aggravating factors, he got ten years.

The judge apparently took public opinion into account.

I don’t really understand the legal side, so I’m not sure how it all played out.

Anyway, they got what they deserved.

But the money left by Bae Deuro’s mother was still bothering me.

I hadn’t touched it yet; it was sitting in the shoe cabinet.

I wondered if the aunt would feel wronged.

Honestly, if money could buy better lawyers or judges, I thought the sentence would be lighter.

Apparently not.

With those complicated feelings, I quietly got up and headed for the shoe cabinet.

A little dust had settled on the old business card I hadn’t bothered to look at.

…Calling this early in the morning would be rude.

I should send a text instead.

I messaged Kancho, thanking her for handling all the hassle on my behalf, and added one to the aunt.

I was sorry, but I didn’t want any leniency just because of what happened to me.

Surprisingly, both of them replied right away.

- Kancho : Thank you. Actually, we should be the ones thanking you for being able to continue with the content.

- Kancho : I hope we can all create a healthier chat culture together thanks to this incident.

Kancho’s reply was polite.

And Bae Deuro’s mother’s was simple: “It was the devil on her shoulder. I’ll send her to a monastery once she truly repents.”

…Even if I hadn’t gone ‍‍‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠‌‌‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to prison, a monastery would have been perfect. I’d never have to see her again.

While I was lost in that thought, someone knocked on the door.