Real Recognize Real
It had been two days since I’d heard Red say he wanted us to enter the tournament as a team.
During that time, I’d been playing the game using the posture he’d taught me, but it was harder than I’d expected.
At first, it had gone fine. My rank tier was apparently lower than I’d thought, so there weren’t any especially gifted players in the lobbies I was matched with. That meant I kept pulling off plays that other people would have called impressive.
But as I kept placing higher and my rank tier climbed, I started running into better and better players. I’d try to make the same plays in the same situations, only to die over and over again.
When that happened, I’d reached out to Red separately, and he’d told me not to worry. Then he said the meeting date had been set, and sent me the time and location.
That was today.
"Wow, what the—"
The address Red had sent me was for an apartment famous in Korea for being expensive. There had even been rumors that he was a second-generation chaebol, and it looked like those rumors had been true.
I still didn’t know exactly where to go, so I sent a message saying I’d arrived at the apartment, and almost immediately got a reply telling me to wait a moment because he was coming out right away.
He’d said we were going to do a collab stream today, play games, and also introduce the final member. I spent a moment wondering who it could be.
YuCon’s going out with Control, so those two are out. Elix, maybe? No, Red said Elix turned down the offer because he wasn’t joining the tournament this time.
Then who on earth could it be? It would have to be someone Red and KillerS knew well enough to be on the team.
As I was mulling it over, I saw Red come out in a hoodie. Since he wouldn’t know my face, I waved at him to let him know who I was. He seemed unsure for a second, then caught on when he saw me waving back.
"Hello, I’m Hazy."
"Ah! Hello. You must’ve had a long trip getting here."
"Not at all. I’m just grateful you invited me. It’s a small thing, but I brought this…"
"Wait, you brought alcohol?"
"It’s yuzu sake. I didn’t want to show up empty-handed. I remembered you saying you liked fruit soju last time."
Back when I’d first started Battle Sky, I’d gone into Red’s YouTube channel and watched some of his videos, including one where he was talking with other streamers. That was where I’d heard him mention it.
Luckily, after the meeting date was set, I contacted a store that handled imported liquor and found out they had one last bottle in stock, so I hurried and paid for it right away for today.
"Wow, I’ll really enjoy this."
"I’m glad you like it."
"Come on, let’s go in. KillerS is waiting inside too."
I nodded at that and followed after him. After we’d walked a bit, I remembered the theory I’d been thinking about earlier and asked Red about it.
"Has the other person not arrived yet?"
"Traffic’s a little bad. The time of day is…"
"Could you tell me who it is, just a little?"
"Nope."
Geez. Seeing Red be so firm for once, I decided to stop prying. He said I’d be able to meet them soon enough, so I might as well just wait.
While we were talking, Red went through the main entrance of Building 116. After he tapped his card key and the door opened, we took the elevator up to the 16th floor.
"I know this is probably rude, but can I ask you just one thing?"
"Sure."
"Are you really a second-generation chaebol?"
"Yes."
A chaebol second-generation heir? The kind of person I’d only ever seen in dramas or comics was standing right in front of me. At the thought, I suddenly felt like a halo was shining behind Red… no, wait, that was just light reflecting off a mirror.
"How many people our age can afford to live in a place like this?"
"Couldn’t you live here just from pro salary and what you made streaming?"
"Well, I suppose that money’s just sleeping soundly in my bank account."
"Wow, if it’s not too rude, could I get a loan from you?"
At that, Red paused for a second, then snorted with laughter.
"People have asked me to buy them a Melona bar, but this is the first time someone’s asked me for a loan."
"That was KillerS, right?"
"Huh? How did you know?"
One of KillerS’s YouTube videos was just him chatting, and he’d said something there.
I know this one guy who’s ridiculously rich, and when I asked him, if it wasn’t too much trouble, to buy me a Melona bar, he sent me a hundred Melona gift cards one by one.
"It’s nothing difficult."
"Then a loan isn’t difficult either!"
"Then I guess I’ll have to do it. But only if you take a mission."
Do you know I’m a toxic marriage-stream shipper? Hearing Red grin as he said that, I immediately took my words back.
*
Once I got inside, the first thing I saw was a pantry and a shoe cabinet. Wow, wasn’t that pantry bigger than our bathroom?
Several pairs of shoes were lined up neatly in the cabinet.
"Hazy, you can wear these slippers."
"Got it!"
I took off my shoes, lined them up neatly beside the others, and slipped on the house slippers Red had given me before heading inside. After passing a bathroom and two bedrooms, I came to a huge living room, and the kitchen connected to it was even more overwhelming in size. This was what real rich people lived like.
"Hey, they’re here."
"You made it? The person behind you is Hazy?"
"Yep. This is Hazy, KillerS."
KillerS, who had been setting out food at the island table that separated the living room from the kitchen, greeted us when he saw us.
"Hello, I’m KillerS."
"Ah, hello. I’m Hazy. Thanks for carrying us in that event match last time."
"That should be my line. Why are you thanking me when you’re the one who dealt with the hacker?"
"Hazy! You didn’t even thank me, though!"
"I did it over Discord last time, Red."
"…Did you?"
Honestly, I had no idea. At that, the three of us burst out laughing at once. There wasn’t even a particular joke; we just all laughed together. And somehow that made it funnier, so we kept laughing at each other.
"Oh, and if you’re okay with it, could we drop the honorifics? Think of it as practicing our in-game calls a little in advance."
"…Is that okay?"
"Were you planning to use honorifics in-game too?"
"Were you?"
"Oh, you adapt fast."
Good, good. Saying that, Red placed the bottle of liquor I’d brought as a gift on the table. Then he started to head toward a room deeper inside the living room… only to suddenly turn back and look at me.
"Ah! And I’m going to start the stream soon. You see that camera fixed at an angle in front of the table? And the small portable monitor next to it?"
"This one?"
"Yeah. I’ll be streaming with that, so if you’d rather not have your face on camera, sit opposite the hallway side instead of this side. I just wanted to tell you that."
"Ah, it’s fine. I don’t really mind showing my face today."
"Really? Then that works."
With that, Red went inside. The fact that he disappeared into the room and then into somewhere else beyond it made it seem like there must be a streaming booth in there.
Still, hearing that the stream was going live soon made my nerves suddenly kick in. What if I revealed my face and the viewers reacted badly?
While I was thinking that, KillerS suddenly spoke up beside me.
"Oh, can I ask you something?"
"Of course, anything."
"Why don’t you do cam streams?"
Well… there wasn’t really a reason, exactly. At my answer, he tilted his head. It wasn’t that I had some deep reason for not doing cam streams. If I had to say, it was just like I’d said before: I was afraid my personal information might get exposed.
"You’re handsome enough that if you turned on a cam, you’d pull in another two hundred regular viewers."
"…Me? Handsome?"
"You should never say that to my face."
If I ever turned on a cam today, I definitely shouldn’t say something like that. The chat would go insane. He said that and took a swig of cola from his glass.
"The stream’s live. It’s still on the waiting screen, so the cam won’t be on yet."
"The last person’s here in front of the apartment. I’m going out for a second and coming back."
"All right. I’ll switch the screen in a bit."
"See you in a bit, hyung."
Red waved at me and went outside. It was kind of surreal.
Not that long ago I’d just started to get noticed at all, and now I was in the same room with people this famous. I still wasn’t used to the change, but I knew I had to adapt if I wanted to keep moving forward.
As I thought that, one person suddenly came to mind.
Come to think of it, Si-a took yesterday off from streaming too.
And she’d brushed off the reason for her break so casually, too.
Was something going on?
*
By the time I checked my phone, I was already ten minutes late.
No matter how bad the traffic was, being late was being late. I couldn’t really make any excuses.
Still, I had reserved a gift as soon as we set the meeting date, so I hadn’t come empty-handed. Luckily, there were still two left in stock. If anything, that might count as lucky.
After getting out of the car, I checked the address again. Just from the name alone, I could tell this was the right place. It was one of those apartments famous in Korea for being expensive.
Since I hadn’t been given the building and unit number after getting out of the car, I had no choice but to send a message.
Less than ten seconds after I sent it, a reply came back. It said he’d come down right away and asked me to wait at the apartment’s front gate for a moment.
If you’d just give me the building and unit, I could go up already.
I could see Red in a hoodie from far away. Waving at him, I walked slowly in his direction, and he greeted me first.
"Luccia, thank you for coming all this way."
"Not at all. I’m the one who should be thanking you for inviting me. Oh, this is a gift."
"No, what kind of gift did you bring… huh?"
Huh? Why was he reacting like that? I thought he’d said he liked fruit soju before. Had I remembered wrong?
"Do you not like fruit liquor?"
"No, it’s not that… Wait. This is yuzu sake, right?"
"Yes. If you don’t like it, then I—"
"No! Seriously, thank you so much. It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just that Hazy brought the exact same thing as a gift earlier."
Hazy, too? I was so startled that my eyes widened before I could stop myself.
"You two are truly a match made in heaven."
Come on in. Oh, and the stream should already be on by the time we get there. With that, I slowly followed after Red.
We went into the apartment marked Building 116, took the elevator, and arrived on the 16th floor.
When I opened the door and stepped inside, familiar voices drifted out from within.
"You can’t trust search-traps either. How are you supposed to trust a toy like that?"
"So I suffered that much just because of a stupid toy?"
"Who’s going to believe you’ve never dated just from that face?"
"Argh! This is so frustrating!"
Apparently they’d already started the stream and were talking, because the conversation had turned to dating.
"All right! Here he is! Our final guest!"
"Hyung! They say Hazy here’s never had a girlfriend. Do you believe it?"
"As if."
"Hey, why are you doing this too?"
Red went in first. Seeing the slippers laid out at the front, I figured I was supposed to put them on, so I took off my shoes and slipped into them.
"I’m really telling you, I’ve never had a girlfriend."
"That’s exactly why we invited this guest."
"Huh?"
Please come in! It wasn’t intentional, but the moment those words ended, I stepped forward in my slippers.
"Our last member! Luccia!"
"Whoa."
"……?"
"Hello. I’m Luccia."
It was nothing much, really,
I came to take care of Hazy for him!