The PC Bang and the "Diamond Hater"
“This PC bang is bigger than I expected,” I said.
“Right? From the outside it looks kinda small.”
It was a decent-sized premium PC cafe that proudly wore that title. Yuna inspected the interior more thoroughly than I did. Since it was the weekend, the place was pretty crowded. The fragrant, oily smell of food wafted through the air, and I felt my mouth start to water without meaning to.
“Working here must be seriously tough,” Yuna said, watching the busy part-timer with a sympathetic expression. Her tone sounded like she genuinely understood.
“Isn’t PC bang work still better than most?” I’d never actually worked at one myself, so I didn’t really know. Honestly, it didn’t look that bad from where I was sitting. Maybe it was because all I could see was them sitting and fiddling with their phones.
“I’ve done it before, so I know. It depends a lot on the owner, of course. But a place this busy? Yeah, it’s really hard.”
She’d worked at a PC bang too. This was a huge store and it was already more than half full. Covering it alone definitely looked exhausting.
“Let’s sit somewhere a little quieter.”
“That corner looks like it has the fewest people.”
True to our introvert natures, we immediately zeroed in on the emptiest spot. We picked seats way in the back and sat side by side. Aside from the two people gaming right behind us, the entire row was empty.
“Oppa, do you have an ID here?”
Yuna was clearly used to PC cafes—she signed up in seconds. As expected from a pro streamer, her typing speed was insane. Was this what a real streamer looked like? Just how many characters per minute was she hitting?
“Yeah. I come here sometimes, so I should still have some time left.”
I usually just charged ten thousand won whenever it was annoying to check, so I always had hours remaining. That didn’t mean I came often, though. I mostly played alone at home, so there was no reason to leave.
> [4 HOURS 57 MINUTES] REMAINING
Yeah, plenty of time left.
“Then I’ll go charge mine real quick.”
“Okay.”
While Yuna was at the counter, I scrolled through the lunch menu trying to decide what to eat. Fried rice? Hot dog? Ramen? I was deep in thought about what would make people say I ate well when Yuna returned. She turned on her computer and leaned over to look at my screen.
“Oppa, what are you doing?”
“Trying to figure out what to eat. Want to order together?”
“Sure.”
Yuna rested her arm on her chair’s armrest and leaned her whole body toward my monitor. As her face got closer, a pleasant scent drifted over. Isn’t she a little too close…? Her hair kept brushing against my shoulder, then falling away again.
“Hmm… what should I get…”
“Want me to flip the page?”
“Yes. What are you getting, oppa?”
“Me? Probably jajang cheese.”
It was a black bean noodle base with egg and a light sprinkle of cheese on top. This ultimate combo had the power to make everyone in the PC bang order jajangmyeon just from the smell alone.
“Whoa. Oppa, you really know your food. That one’s insanely good.”
Of course you get it, Yuni.
Yuna stared at the menu, swallowing hard like her mouth was watering.
“Ah! I want that one. Takoyaki.”
It wasn’t the small kind you get at regular takoyaki stalls—the picture showed massive, oversized balls.
“Isn’t that kind usually pretty bland?”
“It’s because I’m lazy. That kind’s easiest to eat while gaming.”
I couldn’t argue with the laziness part. Especially with soupy ramen—if you don’t finish it, it gets all mushy and annoying. From my experience, the bigger takoyaki were usually pretty average in flavor.
“What about drinks? Pepsi Zero?”
“Huh? How did you know? I was just about to order that.”
“No reason. I was gonna order it too, so I just guessed.”
That was a lie. I’d just thrown it out there because I knew Pepsi Zero was Yuni’s absolute favorite drink.
Maybe the carbonation was too strong or something. She’d argued with her viewers about it for ages. Honestly, I wasn’t the type to care that much. Cola was cola. What was the huge difference? But after watching her drink it every day, I’d somehow picked up the habit too.
After we finished ordering, we both logged into Legend of League.
“We need to add each other. Oppa, what’s your username?”
“Uh, yeah.”
My heart was already starting to race. Friend request. What a beautiful phrase. I was actually about to send a friend request to the same ID I only ever saw on stream.
> [IWantToDoKorul]
A username that screamed “streamer who loves Korul.” Was I really about to make it into her friend list?
“But my username’s kind of complicated, so maybe it’s easier if I just call you by yours?”
My username was zxcvasd12. I’d just slapped it together because I was too lazy to think of anything good.
“Really? Mine’s IWantToDrinkPepsiZero.”
IWantToDrinkPepsiZero? What? I’d never seen this ID before. Surprised, I glanced at Yuna’s screen. Where had IWantToDoKorul gone? Had she changed her name yesterday? When I checked her profile, it wasn’t even a Master account.
“Yuna, didn’t you say you were Master?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
I’d wanted to add the glorious account that rejected viewer friend requests every single day.
“Ah, this is my smurf. You’re Diamond, right, oppa? We should play on matching ranks.”
She had a point. No matter how casual this was, she probably wouldn’t bring her main broadcast account. My excitement instantly cooled.
“So what’s your main role, oppa?”
“Me? ADC.”
I used to be a top main. But after watching Yuni’s streams, I naturally fell for the charm of bot lane. Somehow I’d ended up hitting Diamond as an ADC.
“Oh. I’m also ADC. Should I go support then?”
“No, I’ll support. My smurf is support.”
In truth, Yuna’s smurf was support too. People who played bot usually had good understanding of both roles, so they often played both ADC and support. But there was no way I was passing up the chance to get carried by a Master ADC. I’d practiced support like crazy. All so I could play with her.
“Ah, okay.”
We started queuing. Since it was Diamond queue, it didn’t take too long. Yuna picked Xayah after seeing the enemy Kai’Sa, and I naturally hovered over the husband champion.
“Oppa, what skins do you have?”
“Me? Just the Love Rakan one.”
“Then we should match. I can’t stand playing with no skin.”
As soon as the game started, I naturally fell into support mode. I knew every single support habit that Yuni loved—ward placements, positioning, item builds, everything.
> Everyone, support players, can you hear me? This is how you should play support. Got it?
She’d said it so many times on stream that I’d heard it until my ears nearly bled. I had it completely memorized.
“What the— Oppa, are you really an ADC main? Why is your sense so good?”
“I told you, I’m good at support too.”
My playstyle was perfectly tailored to Yuni’s taste. Getting praised like that made me feel ridiculously good.
Just like Xayah was strong against Kai’Sa, the bot lane balance was clearly in our favor. We pushed the wave and started pressuring the enemy. When the enemy jungler Sejuani tried to gank—
— Enemy has been slain!
— Double Kill!
Wow, that was insanely clean. Yuna kited perfectly, using her movement and ultimate at just the right moments. I drew all the aggro and slipped away with a sliver of health.
— Triple Kill!
With godlike teamwork, we even took down the Sejuani who had come for the gank.
Mid laner, you’ve suffered a lot too, huh.
Even the mid laner was impressed. Yuna and I were both riding high on adrenaline.
“Wow, what was that? Us? That was actually insane, right?”
“Yeah, your ultimate timing was crazy. It looked like you dodged three skills at once.”
“Well, this is just how I am.”
Look at her getting all cocky the second I compliment her. This was the real Yuna that came out when she played games.
“Master really does feel different.”
“Of course it does. Diamonds are easy mode, you know?”
Hey! We were having a good time until you said that!
Yuna’s casual Diamond-hating comment stabbed right into my heart. If this had been a stream, the chat would already be on fire. I sulked a little at her “diamond noob” remark.
“Oppa, let’s go mid.”
“Yeah.”
In the end, the game heavily favored us. It was the current bot-lane meta, and League had always been a bot-centric game anyway. There was no stopping a fed Yuna. We crushed the teamfight at Dragon with pure ADC difference, and the enemy surrendered.
I stared blankly at the enemy’s exploding red nexus.
“Ah, that was fun, wasn’t it?” Yuna finally turned to look at me.
“I basically got carried the whole time.”
“What? No way. You played really well too, oppa.”
“Nah. I’m just a Diamond support, after all.”
My tone had gone cold without me realizing. I knew it was childish, but being called a “diamond noob” tore at my gamer pride. Especially when it came from my favorite person. I worked so hard to prepare for games with you…
Yeah, what’s a Diamond supposed to do except ride the bus?
At my suddenly indifferent words, Yuna’s voice trembled slightly.
“...Oppa. Are you… mad at me?”