128. Are You Insane?
128. Are You Insane?
***
- Now!
At head coach Jinwoo's signal, the waiting TSJ players set off their party poppers all at once.
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-bang!!
"...!"
Startled by the sudden burst of confetti, Eunha stepped back without knowing what was happening. As if they'd been waiting for exactly that reaction, the darkened dorm lit up brightly.
Pop!
At the same moment, Jinwoo stepped forward and raised his voice.
"Happy birthday!!"
Then the TSJ players and coaches who'd revealed themselves all shouted together.
"Happy birthday, Eunha!!"
"Happy birthday!!!"
"Happy birthday, Eunha!"
"Your return day... just happened to be your birthday? You should've said something and taken one more day off, seriously."
Eunha nodded slightly with a dazed expression.
No wonder the date had felt a little familiar.
August 16th.
'So it was my birthday.'
She hadn't been thinking much about it, and she didn't consider birthdays important, so she'd forgotten.
When she turned her gaze, the now-lit dorm was packed wall-to-wall with fan art covered in countless congratulatory messages, and in the center of the dorm sat a massive chocolate cake that hadn't even been visible in the dark.
"...Thank you."
Eunha nodded and spoke calmly.
Jinwoo smiled brightly and responded.
"We should've been paying more attention all along, but looking back, I think we were really too thoughtless. Still, I'm glad you took some rest and came back looking brighter. That's how a person's face should look. Seeing your complexion improve puts my mind at ease."
"...Coach, come on, you talk too much. You could've just asked if she rested well. Why say all that and make Eunha feel pressured?"
The man who'd led the team while Eunha was away—Jimin—looked at Jinwoo and scolded him lightly.
"If she rested, normally you'd just say 'welcome back' and leave it at that. But since her return day is her birthday, it's a bit awkward to just do that."
Another player, Suho, chuckled, and the woman next to him with bright red hair pouted as she spoke.
"Without you, Eunha, it was really so hard! Please don't suddenly take breaks like that again, okay? And if you're really struggling, please tell us!"
The youngest TSJ player, Seola, approached Eunha and impulsively clasped Eunha's hands with both of hers, speaking as if worried.
Slip.
Eunha, whose hands had been taken by Seola, pulled them away within seconds and nodded coldly.
"Got it."
Seola looked a little hurt by Eunha's reaction, but she didn't try to take her hands again.
Because no matter who it was, Eunha extremely disliked even light physical contact. Seola felt in that moment that she'd made a mistake.
"Alright, alright. Eunha, give me your bags! Let's get the birthday party started!"
Minchan reached out carefully as if to take Eunha's luggage and smiled brightly.
Since Eunha hadn't brought back the luggage she'd taken when she left the dorm for her break, there really wasn't much she'd come back with.
But even so, Eunha immediately shook her head and refused.
"I'll go put my things away in my room and come back out."
Because she didn't want to entrust what she'd brought to anyone else.
The luggage she'd brought could be considered nothing special. But on the contrary, it held important meaning to Eunha.
A gift from the first person Eunha had ever considered a friend.
Because they were clothes Serin had given her.
After Eunha put her things away and came back out, a splendid birthday party continued, and the players along with the coaches and even head coach Jinwoo each showered Eunha with gifts.
The gifts were all expensive items, the kind of luxury-brand goods that cost a fortune.
It was only then that Eunha realized something.
The emotion she'd felt receiving a gift from Serin at the department store and the emotion she felt now receiving gifts from her teammates and others... were fundamentally different.
The price and value of the gifts she was receiving now were certainly far higher.
Yet Eunha didn't feel the same sense of being touched as she had with Serin's gift.
Even as she interacted with them as familiarly as always, Eunha found that fact endlessly strange.
***
"Rin, seriously... have you ever thought about going pro?"
At the unexpected question, I looked at Minha for a moment, and she met my gaze with a somewhat serious look in her eyes.
Meeting those eyes, I slowly opened my mouth.
It was a question whose answer was already decided, with no need to hesitate.
"No. I haven't."
"But Rin... isn't it at least worth thinking about a little? I'm saying this because your skill is really too good to waste. I guarantee you'd receive treatment beyond anything you're imagining right now."
"I appreciate the words, but Minha? I'm completely satisfied with my life right now."
And though I didn't say it out loud, the decisive reason I had no intention of going pro was that I'd have to stand on offline stages, and if I went pro, I'd almost certainly have to live in team housing.
I had absolutely no desire to do that.
No matter how much they compromised, I didn't want to do it.
I liked streaming when I wanted to stream, playing games at my leisure while interacting with viewers... I enjoyed this comfortable life.
I did think there would certainly be many benefits to going pro, but even so, that life would never guarantee me the freedom I had now.
'...Though who knows.'
My feelings might change a little later. But right now, I strongly wanted to establish myself as a streamer.
Just working as both a NewTuber and streamer while slowly adapting to this world was already a big goal. It was something that needed time.
After that, Minha looked at me for a moment, her eyes complicated as if she were thinking through many things.
I simply gazed back at her eyes.
Sometimes intentions are conveyed through a look alone, so I figured she'd understand without me saying more here.
"Hoo..."
Then Minha let out a small sigh and spoke with a much lighter expression.
"...I understand. I won't push it anymore. I hope I didn't burden you during break time for nothing."
"It's fine. I'll take it as you thinking highly of me, and I'll accept the sentiment."
"Well, that's a relief."
After that, break time passed quickly as I chatted with Minha.
......
G1's captain.
G1's undisputed ace.
Kang Hyeok.
Wielding a buster-sword-type greatsword, he occupied a truly unique position.
The single fact that he used a buster-sword greatsword with such an absurdly massive bulk drew enormous attention to him.
Because from the moment you equipped a buster-sword greatsword, you received a slowdown penalty to all movement. In truth, the greatsword was a weapon every pro avoided.
—Slowdown penalty.
That one demerit alone was beyond imagination in every respect.
The pro world, where matches were decided in seconds.
And in that pro world, moving with a penalty on all actions was no different from carrying a disadvantage in both offense and defense.
That was why insisting on the greatsword alone in the pro world was exceptional—aside from Kang Hyeok, there was no other player like that.
The fact that he used only a greatsword while serving as captain of a top-tier team was itself a testament to Kang Hyeok's class as a player.
—The duel will begin shortly.
Along with the familiar message, the usual countdown began.
—10. 9.
I let the cord connected to my Crescent-Moon Weight hang long, suspending the weight in the air, while looking at the player positioned across the Colosseum.
A warrior with a greatsword slung over his shoulder, wearing a calm expression.
The sight of a warrior clad in jet-black armor, holding a massive blood-red buster sword, stirred considerable emotion on its own.
The blood-red greatsword, shaped as sharply as a dragon's fang, was imposing in itself,
and within the calmness visible on his exposed face, a kind of fighting spirit could even be felt.
—5.
And only then did I realize the reason for the sense of familiarity I'd felt while looking at Kang Hyeok.
It was only upon seeing his distinctive greatsword stance that someone came to mind.
A greatsword ranker.
—Gosu.
And Kang Hyeok's current natural stance was not the kind of thing achieved simply by practicing a particular posture.
Even when learning the same swordsmanship and practicing the exact same stance, each person inevitably differed in the smallest ways.
And the Kang Hyeok I was seeing now perfectly matched the Gosu I'd seen back then.
"Kang Hyeok... have we met somewhere before?"
Finding it absurd, I laughed and said it without much thought.
No wonder he'd treated me so familiarly at our first meeting.
Once I thought of Gosu as Kang Hyeok, everything fell into place.
But the words that followed from Kang Hyeok—
"Oh, what's this? Rin, is that a pickup line?"
—were more than enough to make Serin's expression go completely cold.
"Are you crazy?"