The One Destined to Succeed
The day had come for Red hyung to check the homework he’d assigned us. A day had passed, and it was time to go back to tournament practice.
I’d buried my head into the ground so many times yesterday, and I still hadn’t made it past the early game once. I honestly had no idea whether I could do any better.
"Hey, Hazy. You were going at it like crazy yesterday, weren’t you?"
"...You watched?"
"Of course I did. A teacher isn’t one who assigns homework and then starts yelling when it doesn’t go well."
"But I couldn’t get past the opening even once."
"It’s fine. From what I saw, you were starting to get the hang of it."
I couldn’t tell whether he was just trying to keep me from losing confidence or whether he really meant it.
But for some reason, that one line from Red hyung gave me confidence.
"But, Hazy."
"Yeah?"
"When’s Xia coming?"
"Why are you asking me that...?"
"If not you, then who would know?"
We were in the middle of a fake-marriage broadcast, sure, but we weren’t the kind of pair who shared every tiny detail like that....
Anyway, it wasn’t urgent. Killer Sniper hyung had said he’d be late too because of work, so it wasn’t really a big problem.
We were talking for a moment about the things we needed to fix from the early fights when the two of them came in together.
"Sorry we’re late!"
"Sorry!"
"Welcome back."
"Xia. Hazy didn’t know where you went, though. You’re not telling your husband where you’re going?"
"Uh...huh?"
At Red hyung’s sudden question, Xia stopped thinking altogether.
And while I was relieved that at least he knew when to separate public and private matters, every time he tossed out little jokes like this at me or Xia, it reminded me all over again what a menace he really was.
He’d even put us on the same team just so he could watch our fake-marriage broadcast in person. That said it all.
"I was just late!"
"Well, that’s something."
"I was out having dinner with my family...."
"My bad! Sorry!"
Once Xia said she’d been late because she’d had dinner with her family, Red hyung immediately dropped into apology mode.
Seeing that, Killer Sniper hyung, the viewers, and I all laughed our heads off. He’d started by making a fuss over why she was late, and then it turned out she’d only been delayed because she was eating out with her family. She’d had terrible luck.
Still, if you’re going to be a menace, shouldn’t you be ready to take that kind of thing on the chin? It was all your own responsibility, after all.
"Anyway, Hazy was waiting on you a lot, Xia."
"Huh? When was I?"
"Our Jadu was waiting for you? You should’ve called!"
"Why is Hazy Jadu?"
"We already settled on pet names. I’m Apricot, and Hazy’s Jadu!"
"Calling her Yeobo makes Xia short-circuit, too."
Using the nickname we’d settled on last time didn’t feel as strange as I’d expected.
Still, Red hyung had suddenly dragged me into it and used me as an excuse to Xia. No, I hadn’t done that at all, had I?
"But, Red hyung. When did I ever wait?"
"Then you didn’t wait? Your teammate was late to practice and you just planned to head out by yourself?"
"Our Jadu, defend yourself."
"Defend what! Red hyung is just turning his gun on me to cover up his own controversy!"
"That aside, I need to hear whether you were waiting for me first."
The arrows that had been aimed at Red hyung were suddenly turned around and pointed at me instead.
It felt a little like watching a married couple fight, so I had a feeling the right answer was already decided for me.
"I was waiting."
"Really?"
"Of course. How was I supposed to practice without you there?"
"Not that. The other thing."
"...How was I supposed to practice without our Apricot there?"
"Hah, I’ll let you off this once."
Since things moved on without any more friction, it seemed my answer had matched what Xia wanted to hear.
Xia, who said she’d let me off this once, was humming under her breath. Seeing her like that really made it feel like a real couple talking on the phone.
Wait a second. It wasn’t just the two of us here, was it?
"Red hyung, Killer Sniper hyung."
"Huh? You called?"
"Why aren’t you saying anything?"
"No, it was sweet."
"This is the kind of thing viewers live for."
"You two aren’t viewers, you’re squad members, you idiots...."
"I’m loading into the game! Jadu, invite me!"
This wasn’t the first time they’d switched into viewer mode and sat back to watch us. They’d done the same thing when we first practiced together last time. Seriously, was the whole “tournament squad” excuse just a front and they’d really put this team together for the fake-marriage broadcast?
Thinking that, I sent invites to Xia and Killer Sniper hyung. In an instant, two character icons joined the game lobby.
"Oh, are you and Hazy matching outfits?"
"Yeah! We’re wearing the same clothes, and I used the shoes as the accent."
"If you wanted to show it off that much, you could’ve just said so."
"Huh? What does that mean?"
"There are such things."
Let’s just start the game already.
Red hyung’s comment left me a little uneasy, but we still had to practice, so I hit the start button.
*
I knew it the moment we dropped in.
These guys had no intention of winning.
This team composition? They’d definitely only set it up so they could watch Xia and me in the first row like some kind of live screening.
Why?
"Let’s land at the school!"
"Hey, I mean the two of you should split off. Go on a cute little date and meet up later~"
"If Jadu and I land at the school, we’ll definitely die."
"Apricot...."
Red hyung had said we should land at the school, then immediately acted like Xia and I should go ahead on our own and meet up later after a nice, cozy date.
Meanwhile, Xia didn’t seem to trust me at all and clearly didn’t want the two of us going alone. Sure, I might not be good enough, but did she really have to react that strongly....
"There’ll definitely be snipers, right?"
"Probably."
"I don’t know. Let’s just try it."
As soon as we opened our parachutes, just as expected, a huge number of players were heading for the same destination as us.
Thinking of the countless games I’d repeated like a madman yesterday, I landed, then immediately picked up a gun.
Because more people had landed than there were guns on the rooftop, some of them were charging at others with their fists.
Of course, they couldn’t beat someone who had a gun.
"One person left on the roof."
"I’ve cleared the gym roof. I found a 2x scope. Want help?"
"It’s fine. But I think two people dropped lower just now. Can you see them?"
"Ah, found them. Wait a sec."
Xia said that, and a gunshot rang out right away. A kill log popped up saying one person had been knocked, and then almost immediately another gunshot came with a death log right after it.
It was that situation again. Not everyone who had landed at the school was down yet, but it was still a one-on-one situation, wasn’t it?
I’d lost yesterday after failing to survive countless one-on-one situations. Would today really be any different?
Was I going to fail to get the kill again and die anyway?
If that’s the case, then why did I even practice yesterday?
The second that thought crossed my mind, I felt a little pathetic.
That was right. If that was the case, why had I practiced yesterday at all? Wasn’t it so I could get used to moments like this, get a feel for them, and eventually overcome them?
Once I steadied myself and focused on the screen, I saw the enemy coming out from behind cover and running straight toward us.
It was the same situation as the last round yesterday. I’d panicked then, but today was different.
I switched my gun to burst fire, aimed at the opponent, and shifted slightly out from behind cover.
A peeking shot.
"Die!!"
The enemy stopped and fired back at me too, but no matter what, they were still slower than me.
The squad members were already dead, because instead of a knock log, a full kill log appeared.
I got him.
"Rooftop cleared."
"Seriously?"
"Oh, you’ve gotten better."
"Our Jadu’s the best!"
It was strange how satisfying something like this could feel. After looting the bodies for usable guns and ammo, I sharpened my focus on the footsteps.
From the heavy thumping, it was obvious there were still plenty of people left below.
"Gym cleared."
"Fast."
"That’s about right."
As expected from a ranked player, Xia had apparently cleared the gym while I handled the rooftop.
There hadn’t been that many people who dropped, but even so, she’d probably gotten about four kills on her own. Impressive.
"Want to push together?"
"Huh? Yeah, sure. But I think there are still people around."
"Then I’ll hold the entrance for now."
"Or we could just keep going like this...."
"BANG! RATATATATA!"
Before I could even finish, the sound of a grenade exploding was followed by gunfire. Watching the kill log stack up in an instant, I figured things had been thinned out pretty well.
"Xia. Can you tell me when they come out?"
"I’ll watch the entrance. When I tell you to shoot, you shoot."
Honestly, I wasn’t confident in this part. I was planning to shoot together with Xia when they came out of the entrance.
Xia must have thought the same, because she told me to fire when she gave the signal.
A little time passed, and I heard footsteps.
"They’re out. Going for the front door."
The enemy must not have seen Xia, because they kept moving straight toward the main entrance. There were two of them. Could we take them?
"Now!"
At Xia’s signal, I fired. The moment the other side took bullets and came to their senses, they looked my way, but since I wasn’t the only one shooting, they couldn’t even put up much resistance before dying.
"Yes! We got them!"
"School cleared!"
"Seriously?"
"So this is the result of Hazy smashing his head into the wall like crazy yesterday!"
I was so happy that I jumped straight off the rooftop and took fall damage, but I didn’t care. We’d cleared the school, so who cared?
"Jadu, let’s do that."
"Do what?"
"You know, what we did at the end of the event match."
On three, we say it?
At Xia’s words, I briefly remembered that moment. Back then, I never could’ve imagined things would turn out like this. Life really was impossible to predict.
"One, two, three!"
"Carry!"
Xia and I shouted at the same time, then burst into laughter without either of us backing down first.
"...Our game isn’t over yet?"
Right.