Behind Her Sister's Back (5)

The days that had been turning like a hamster wheel, sunk in a dull rut, had finally picked up a new piece of content.

Raising a cute newbie.

And not just any newbie — an SSS-rank newbie, etching into his very bones even the most elementary fundamentals a senior might offhandedly pass down.

In a dying game where newbies were already hard to come by, how could this be anything but a joy? Thanks to it, Lee Jiyoon — blank-faced through all eight hours of her cafe shift — had started letting a faint smile slip.

She felt more eyes on her than usual, and as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she scrubbed at the dishes a bell jingled behind her.

"Welcome."

"Um, an iced Americano, venti..."

Shaggy hair. Pitch-black horn-rimmed glasses. A black-and-white scarf he seemed to wear every single day, as if washing it had never occurred to him, and something shaped like a laptop bag besides. One of the regulars who showed up around this hour. She remembered him because all he ever did was take an Americano to go.

Figuring there was nothing more worth hearing, Jiyoon kept beaming while her thoughts ran on — I want to game already — and the face of the man standing in front of her grew redder and redder. She wasn't sure why.

"...V-venti size. One, please..."

Change of clothes. A wash of her face. Into the chair.

The moment her shift ended, Lee Jiyoon flew home and, shoving everything else aside, logged straight into the game. The blazing-red 1k+ notification on the left side of Discord looked deeply suspicious, but she ignored it for now. It would only be talk about the regular meetup anyway. For Jiyoon, who meant to spend her hours on a part-time job, a fresh newbie mattered far more than that.

Judging by when her sister usually got back from the academy, Seo Woojin ought to have clocked out ages ago and sent a friend request. Let's see...

"...Ah."

There he was. The cute newbie. seowoojin123 — the name was thrown together so carelessly it was almost funny, though on second thought her own was just Jiyoon. She accepted the request and immediately went to send a game invite.

...And failed, because Seo Woojin was offline.

Well, staying logged in all day — using a game not merely as a game but as a community — that was a lifestyle reserved for shut-in gamers. Normal people did it the normal way. Yeah, yeah.

Jiyoon hit alt-tab at once and tapped at the keyboard.

Might as well pour a glass of water or milk while she waited. The moment she hooked the headset around her neck, a reply came back.

Was it because he was a newbie she was fond of? It was an utterly ordinary reply, and yet something warm rose from deep in her chest — like watching a high schooler study on his own without a word of complaint, previewing and reviewing in silence. Still half out of her chair, Jiyoon fired a reply back.

She headed for the kitchen, oddly delighted by the flutter in her chest, and tipped a plastic bottle of barley tea. Come to think of it, this was the first time she had ever played a game with someone she actually knew. Someone she knew in real life, that is. She had always spent the hours she might have used making friends on one more match instead, and the few people she could barely call friends in middle and high school had had no interest in games at all. They watched TikTok or YouTube Shorts; games, to them, were a waste of time. Never mind that they were throwing their own hours on the ground just the same.

Anyway, that was probably why she was this worked up. Even a shit game gets fun when you play it with a friend — she was starting to understand that saying a little. And those posts she sometimes saw on community sites were starting to make sense too. What was it again? A girl with a gloomy hobby she couldn't tell anyone about, who got so excited just from hearing a guy say I like that too that she dragged him all the way back to her place, and then...

"......"

Mm. Just play the game. What kind of garbage was she imagining about her sister's boyfriend? He was a kind person, and if he'd really had that sort of intention he would have been trying to play with her since yesterday. In reality he'd even said he was busy and hadn't come online, hadn't he?

Glass in hand, Jiyoon returned to her room, cleared her throat for no reason, and sat down in front of the computer. If it was just the two of them, it would be better to be on Discord while they played. He only gamed sometimes, so he might not even know what Discord was. A guy and a girl on in-game voice together was a perfect way to get branded a queen bee. Dirty thoughts kept poking their heads up, and she had been letting her mind wander on purpose — until the moment she opened the friends list.

"...Ah."

seowoojin123. And beneath it, Kor_CZ. One extremely uncomfortable name was glowing green. It had definitely been gray earlier. When she quietly opened Discord, several DMs from him were already waiting.

She sighed, ignored them, and invited only Woojin, with the party closed so no one could wedge their way in. Not long after, a default character she felt she hadn't seen in ages appeared beside her.

...Something about it was sexy. Was this that newbie-pheromone thing, or whatever people called it?

Even that stubby little hello, all of five characters, was somehow quietly sexy. The sense that she was turning into a pervert lasted only a moment. Jiyoon snapped out of it and carefully tapped the keys.

As expected. My disciple. Smiling in satisfaction, Jiyoon fiddled with her headset mic and answered.

Come to think of it, this was also the first time she had asked someone for their ID first. The incomprehensible tickle of it lasted only a moment before Woojin sent his account over. Once the friend request was done, Jiyoon called him and waited.

And then a pleasant, heavy baritone tapped against her eardrums.

"...Ah, ah. Can you hear me all right?"

"Yeah. It's fine, Woojin. You can hear me too, right?"

"Hang on. Maybe because it's my first time, it's a little quiet. The settings..."

The voice she had heard last night in the alley, under people's stinging looks. The voice she had heard while pretending to embrace like lovers, while he treated her headache. Her sister's boyfriend's voice. The voice she was hearing now, talking to him while her sister wasn't here. A very strange-feeling voice.

"Okay. So then, uh... do I just follow you around?"

"For now we'll do it with me teaching you. And let's try for first place today too, okay?"

"...I don't think I can."

"You can. I'm here."

Jiyoon scraped that strange feeling out of her chest as hard as she could and queued a normal match. From the moment they had talked alone at the cafe, she hadn't been able to shake the sense that she was doing something bad, but when she really thought about it, it wasn't anything. She had only talked with her sister's boyfriend, just the two of them. She had only been treated by her sister's boyfriend. She was only playing a game with her sister's boyfriend. Her sister simply hadn't been there.

It wasn't like anything weird had happened.

"Also, briefings are better kept short, and it's more comfortable that way.... During the game I might accidentally drop the polite speech with you."

"I don't mind. Casual is more comfortable for me too."

"Then.... ...Should we just drop the formalities while we're at it?"

It wasn't like anything weird had happened.

"You said formal speech was more comfortable for you."

"That's true, but we're both twenty.... And once March is over we'll be seeing each other all the time in the infirmary, so...?"

"Sure, then. Whatever."

"You go first, Woojin."

"Jiyoon."

It wasn't like anything weird had happened.

"...Seo Woojin."

"Doesn't tacking the surname on make it kind of stiff? That's how you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠address a girl you're not even close with."

"...Ah, but 'doesn't it' is still formal, you know?"

"Quit nitpicking. You're slipping back into formal speech yourself."

"...Fine. Seo Woojin. Happy?"

"Nothing's changed from a second ago."

"How am I supposed to just flip a name that's stuck to my tongue. Give me a second."

Jiyoon shifted in her seat without realizing it. ...Hadn't his air changed quite a bit from the Seo Woojin she knew? From a plain, kindly impression to just a liiittle bit playful. Maybe this was what conversations between friends were like. Honestly, she wasn't sure. Right up through graduating high school, the only talks she'd ever had with boys were one-sided confessions. Conversation that felt like friends was difficult. Conversation that felt like friends was unfamiliar. In the end she just fiddled endlessly with her hair, then yanked her chair in close.

"...Anyway. Pick the fat one, like I told you before."

"You mean this?"

"Yeah. That one. The character with the weird thing stuck on its arm."

"I feel like I should read the skills first..."

"You'll get it once you go in and use it. It's a hard skill to use properly, but the effect is simple."

"Got it. I'll try."

The skill of the randoms they'd matched with was a complete unknown, and one of them was a newbie who couldn't land more than a few bullets. For the first few games, even if their teammates cussed them out twice over, it would be better to teach him what he needed, one thing at a time. Steeling herself, Jiyoon picked a character that was easy to disengage with and took a sip of water.

...Except for one thing. There was a fact she didn't know.

Games, or anything else — Lee Jiyoon was the type who was rather obsessed with winning.

Humming, mouse in hand, CZ — Han Chaejun — accepted Lee Jiyoon's party invite with a broad grin. There was no way a bitch who grinded ranked like a demon in every FPS she touched could stomach a newbie's frustrating play. He hadn't exactly seen this coming, but with the result in front of him, even a dumbass like himself could roughly sketch how it had gone. She'd figured that if they kept at it they'd win at least one, then ate dirt match after match, got fed up, and sent an SOS. Obvious, wasn't it?

If this went well, he'd get a few more conversations out of her as payment for helping last time, use that as a pretext to keep stringing things along, and then somehow, somehow, in real life...

Hoo...

He spent a moment eyeing the blank-faced, no-skin character beside Jiyoon, then clicked the Discord channel link that had come through DM and stepped in. It looked like a channel she had made just now.

"Hello! Uh, Woojin? Is that your real name?"

"Yes."

"Nice to meet you. Just call me whatever's easy. Jiyoon called me in to shut my mouth and drive the bus."

"Ah... yeah, well. Got it."

This fucker. Just because a girl's here, he's dropping his voice for no goddamn reason. The thought lasted only a moment. Into Han Chaejun's ears, his face already crumpling, wedged a soft voice that belonged to Lee Jiyoon.

"Don't mind that guy. Let's focus on learning how to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fight from the back first, yeah?"

Soft. And Lee Jiyoon. A combination he could hardly believe, and then—

"Yeah. Sorry I'm so bad. You probably saw all of it from spectating."

"No. Can't be helped."

And in casual speech, even. The bitch who clung to formal speech no matter what, even when casual slipped out in the heat of a match — casual speech. Was this really that ill-mannered bitch who threw a fit over every single thing she didn't like? She'd said he was her sister's friend. Was she acting like this because it was someone she actually knew?

Hmmmm......

"I'm gonna grab one more glass of water real quick. Maybe 'cause I've been talking so much..."

Right on cue, Jiyoon rustled and left her seat. Han Chaejun didn't miss the opening. Scratching at his lip, he spoke up.

"Hey, is that Jiyoon's usual image? You know — kind?"

"Huh?"

"She's pretty snappy in-game. Not that I mind that, but she seems different in front of someone she actually knows."

"......"

"So she's going around cosplaying the quiet girl. Doesn't suit her at all."

"......"

Muttering with a smirk, Han Chaejun shut his mouth before Jiyoon could come back. Laid out flat, it could pass for meaningless small talk, but in truth the exchange was thick with his gloomy little power play. I know a Lee Jiyoon you don't. Guess that's as close as the two of you get. Well, it was only natural. Not even a regular friend — her sister's friend. How close could they really be? He'd just been picked up because he was a newbie; they weren't that close. So-called acquaintance number one, probably. I'm closer than a bastard like that.

Han Chaejun picked up the potato chips beside him with his chopsticks and smiled.

"She's usually prickly. That one."

"......"

"But in front of me she gets kind of quiet. You could say she gets docile."

"......"

The corner of Han Chaejun's mouth sank just a little.

"Not sure why."

"......"

"It was the same yesterday, when I went on a walk alone with Jiyoon."

"......"

The crisp crunch of potato chips settled low across the Discord call. As it began to fade, the rustle of a headset filled the quiet.

"Ah, still not matched. There's really nobody."

"......"

"......"

Fucking bastard.

While Han Chaejun was cursing him like that on the inside, Seo Woojin was wearing an easy smile.

Poor bastard. If he ever had to listen to something like Jiyoon moaning over Discord, he'd bawl his eyes out.

Thinking that.