Hidden Talents and Sweet Inspiration
It suddenly hit him. Eunbyul buried her face in both hands, head dropping low. Despite her cheeks burning bright red, her screen glowed with golden scores. First place in kills, assists, damage dealt, and tanking. She even took the game MVP. It was an utterly dominating performance.
“Sunbae?”
“Don’t say anything! I already know, so just stay quiet!”
If it had been between guys, he would have been puffing out his chest, practically begging her to queue for ranked games together. But for Eunbyul, the fact seemed deeply embarrassing.
In truth, Jinwoo was just as flustered. That Eunbyul possessed incredible gaming skills? That wasn’t surprising in itself. In an era with female pro gamers, plenty of women were exceptional at games.
What truly shocked him was that she had hidden this level of skill the entire time.
“You’re really good at games, sunbae.”
“Y-yeah. I play a bit.”
It didn’t look like “a bit.” At least, Jinwoo had never seen anyone in his circle play at this level. She had casually said she would try seriously, then proceeded to crush everything.
Even by ordinary standards, her skill was easily good enough to hold its own in the upper ranks.
“Then why is your in-game level so low?”
“Ah… this is a borrowed account from someone I know. They said they stopped playing.”
That explained the strangely low level. Even while hiding her ability, she had played far too well for the account’s stats. After all, true skill always showed through in subtle ways no matter how hard you tried to suppress it.
“So what’s the level on your real account?”
“…387.”
Whoa. She was a true veteran. Jinwoo, who played regularly with friends, sat at 127. The game was structured so that leveling became exponentially harder the higher you climbed. Reaching nearly 400 was proof of an enormous amount of playtime. With that kind of dedication, her skill made perfect sense.
“…But why did you hide it?”
He wasn’t trying to criticize her. The question came from pure curiosity. If Jinwoo had that kind of talent, he would have been showing it off to everyone.
Eunbyul lifted her still-flushed face slightly and murmured, “Because… guys supposedly hate girls who are good at games…”
“Huh?”
Jinwoo’s expression openly asked what on earth she was talking about. Sure, there might be men with that preference somewhere. For people who tied their pride to gaming, it was possible. But Jinwoo couldn’t agree with it at all. If anything, it would be a huge plus—there was no reason to dislike it.
A girlfriend you could actually game with. Wouldn’t that be the best?
The sudden thought made his chest tighten. Saying it out loud made it sound like he was claiming to be her boyfriend.
“And it’s not just that I’m good. I play a lot of games, too. I felt embarrassed about that side of myself.”
“Hmm.”
Sometimes Eunbyul worried about the strangest things. Jinwoo saw it as no big deal, but for her it must have been a serious concern—serious enough to deliberately hide her gaming ability.
Oh no.
Every little action, every shift in her attitude was unbearably cute. The way she had hidden her skills on purpose. The way she borrowed someone else’s account because she didn’t want people knowing how much she played. The way she had instantly transformed and delivered a thorough lesson the moment she saw herself getting flamed. Even the way she kept sneaking glances at him now, face red, checking his reaction.
All of it felt both precious and adorable.
“I don’t mind at all.”
Eunbyul stared at him with suspicious eyes. “…Really? You’re not just saying that to be nice?”
“Really. I swear on the sky.”
Jinwoo deliberately shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated manner, as if his whole body were declaring it was no big deal.
“I actually prefer girls who are good at games. We can enjoy them together.”
“G-good…!”
Eunbyul’s face turned red in an entirely different way than before.
“Ah, of course it wouldn’t matter if you were bad at games or good at them. None of that changes the fact that I think very highly of you, sunbae.”
“I-I see.”
Eunbyul mumbled, face still flushed. Then her eyes suddenly widened and she jerked her head up.
“Ah, it just came to me.”
“Hm?”
“P-pen—where’s my pen? And my notebook!”
She pulled a pen and the familiar pink notebook from her bag.
“A story idea suddenly came to me.”
“What? Uh… just now?”
He had heard that artists sometimes received inspiration without warning, but this seemed far too abrupt. What exactly had triggered it here?
“I have to write it down before I forget! If I lose this, I won’t be able to write the piece!”
“Then you’d better write quickly.”
Nothing was more important than Silverstar’s next work. On that point, Jinwoo could speak with absolute certainty.
But Eunbyul looked around and frowned. “It’s too noisy and cramped here. Isn’t there somewhere better?”
“I think there’s a café right downstairs.”
“Then let’s go right now!”
She gathered her things and dashed off. It seemed that once inspiration struck, she became blind to her surroundings. Jinwoo followed with a small smile, thinking that side of her was cute too.
****
Jinwoo sat at a café table, quietly watching Eunbyul. She was diligently scribbling something in the pink notebook she had taken out.
She’s beautiful.
Her face was serious, completely absorbed in her task. Eunbyul in moments like this felt different from her usual self. Normally she gave off an adorable vibe that made you want to protect her. Right now, she radiated a genuinely professional atmosphere. This must be what Eunbyul looked like as a writer.
Her eyes, her fingers, her expression—everything about her felt captivating.
Do all writers have this kind of aura?
Probably not. But perhaps it was because she could fall this deeply that she could create such powerful stories.
In any case, Jinwoo sipped his iced chocolate and simply watched her. He didn’t want to disturb her any more than necessary.
She finally lifted her head after scribbling away for a long time.
“Whew.”
Her expression was refreshingly clear, as if she had finished what she needed to do. But then her face turned red again. She seemed oddly embarrassed about having suddenly shown him this side of herself.
“Are you finished?”
At Jinwoo’s casual question, Eunbyul gave an awkward laugh, suddenly feeling shy.
“Y-yeah. Thanks to you, it turned out well.”
“Inspiration really can strike out of nowhere.”
“I-it’s not grand enough to call it inspiration!”
Realizing she had done something embarrassing, Eunbyul quickly took a sip of her coffee.
“It’s just a story idea that popped into my head. The situation, the dialogue, how to handle the highlight—things like that.”
“That’s what you were writing down?”
“Yeah. If I wait too long, even good ideas can slip away and be forgotten.”
Her slightly pouty face suggested she had experienced that frustration many times. That was probably why she had rushed to a café to take notes.
“Still, I got a really good idea out of it! Hehe! I think this one’s going to turn out nicely.”
“Better than The Princess’s Temptation?”
“Who knows? You never know what kind of story will come out or how it’ll be received until you actually serialize it. Just because I think I wrote it well doesn’t guarantee it’ll be a good piece.”
It seemed that even popular authors didn’t automatically produce hits. That made sense. Jinwoo recalled that Silverstar had written several previous works. Not all of them had succeeded like The Princess’s Temptation. She must have poured tremendous effort into her craft before producing something at that level.
“Ah, my brain’s tired from thinking. Should we order something?”
Eunbyul ordered a honey toast. When the sweetly fragrant dish arrived, she smiled brightly.
“Wow, it’s been so long since I’ve had this.”
“Do you like sweet things, sunbae?”
“Not usually. But when I’m writing at a café, sometimes I crave it. The delicious smells everywhere, or maybe my brain just wants sugar.”
She skillfully sliced the honey toast and offered a perfectly bite-sized piece to Jinwoo.
“…Why are you giving it to me?”
“Eating alone feels too lonely.”
“Even so, in a place like this…”
It wasn’t their first time sharing food, and they had even fed each other last time. But that had been when no one was watching. Doing something like this in a busy café full of customers was a bit embarrassing.
“So you’re not going to eat it?”
“I’ll just eat it myself.”
“Aaaah~ My arm is falling off. Someone please eat this quickly before the writer’s arm starts hurting.”
Jinwoo let out a deep sigh. Once Eunbyul dug her heels in like this, she wouldn’t back down easily. Since he had been the one to suggest the PC bang, maybe he should just go along with the mood.
“Ah~”
In the end, he swallowed his embarrassment and ate the neatly cut piece in one bite. The warmth of the bread, its sweetness, and the cool fresh cream spread through his mouth.
“Oh, this is pretty good.”
“Right? I order it all the time.”
Eunbyul looked at his impressed reaction with a proud expression, then stuffed a large piece into her own mouth.
“Sunbae, you’ve got cream on the corner of your mouth.”
“Aren’t you supposed to silently wipe it away in moments like this?”
“You want me to go that far?”
Even after he spoke, Eunbyul simply stared at him. The silent pressure was unmistakable. With another sigh, Jinwoo reached out and gently wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“Hehe, thank you.”
“You’ve suddenly gotten quite spoiled.”
“It’s all because my brain needs more sugar.”
Was she planning to use that excuse for everything? Eunbyul smiled brightly, her face still flushed crimson.
…Even though she gets this embarrassed.
Still, if she liked it, he could do at least this much.
They were basking in that strange, warm atmosphere when—
“Ahem! Excuse me… I’m very sorry, but could you please refrain from such excessive public displays of affection? We have other customers.”
“Ah, yes. We’re sorry.”
A petite female employee approached with a bright red face. She must have been waiting for the right moment to speak. Both Jinwoo and Eunbyul turned scarlet as they realized, now that they had cooled down, just how embarrassing their behavior had been.
“Um.”
“Yes?”
Eunbyul’s face was still slightly pink as she asked, “Will you listen to the new story idea that came to me later?”
“Of course.”
Jinwoo nodded without hesitation.