135. Another Drinking Party
135. Another Drinking Party
***
After dinner ended, the light drinking session from before the meal soon resumed.
Glug-glug.
Serin, pouring wine into a glass, looked at Sua and spoke.
"You’re taking two bottles home with you to drink later, got it?"
Before dinner, the two of them had nearly finished one bottle, so the remaining count was four bottles.
Drinking just two—about half—seemed about right, but Sua looked a little dissatisfied at my words.
"Serin... so you're saying we only drink two bottles?"
"Yeah. If you get too drunk, I'll be worried when I send you home later, so I don't think I can let that happen."
Just thinking about sending Sua home completely wasted already made me uneasy. I felt like I finally understood the anxiety of leaving a child unattended by the water.
"Mmm... well, fine. Since you're worrying about me like this, it'd be wrong to refuse."
Contrary to my expectation that she might whine a little more, Sua agreed without much fuss.
Glug-glug.
This time, Sua poured wine into my glass, and soon we clinked glasses.
Clink!
I brought the glass to my lips and stared blankly at the night view visible through the living room window, out toward the terrace.
It wasn't as good as the night view from Sua's officetel, but the view from home still had its own charm. I usually ate in my room, so I rarely spent time in the living room, which made even this feel oddly new.
"Serin, what are you looking at like that?"
"Oh, just... the night view?"
"Hmm. You get sentimental sometimes, you know. When you came over to my place last time, you looked at the night view too, right?"
"Yeah. I guess I did? Wait, you remembered something like that?"
"Well... I look at the night view a lot too, so since we share the same interest, I naturally remembered it."
As she said that, Sua turned her head to look at the night view as well. The sight made me smile for no reason.
It was the terrace outside the living room window, so the space wasn't all that wide, but the night view below still drew my gaze.
As I looked at the terrace with its single small table, I suddenly felt like moving and spoke up.
"Sua, want to just drink out on the terrace?"
"We could, but wouldn't it be a bit hot?"
Sua glanced at the air conditioner on one side of the living room as she asked. It was still mid-August, so even the evening was muggy, not like night at all, but what did that matter?
"If we leave the AC on and open the living room door, wouldn't the terrace be decently cool too?"
"Wow... look at that mindset. Total bourgeoisie, seriously."
Sua probably earned more than me, so hearing her call me bourgeoisie made me laugh.
"If I'm bourgeoisie, then what are you, Sua? An oil tycoon or something?"
"Oh... well. Maybe? Anyway, let’s go to the terrace."
......
After that, we headed to the terrace with just the wine, glasses, and one small snack.
The terrace turned out to be cleaner than I expected.
I didn't remember tidying the terrace myself, so it seemed Seoyun had cleaned it up at some point.
The terrace wasn't spacious, but it had a certain feel to it.
Clean flooring in a light wood tone, a reddish small table, and two compact chairs.
Other than that, the terrace only had a small light and a relatively high railing.
Tap.
"...Whoa, what is this night view? Serin, isn't this place really expensive? How is the view this good?"
Sua, seated on the terrace, admired the night view and asked. She was right—it really did feel different.
I'd never paid attention to the terrace before, so I hadn't known the night view from here was this nice.
It was already 9 p.m.
The city, settled deep in darkness, sparkled in a riot of colors. The sight of the city at night from high above. People looked as small as ants, and cars of every color moved busily, each one scattering light and catching the eye.
Even though it was fully evening, everyone still looked busy, as if the day hadn't ended yet, which was a little fascinating.
The feeling that someone else's life—different from mine—was flowing by.
From inside the living room, the night view through the window had only shown the lights of various buildings shining in the darkness.
But stepping out of the living room and looking down directly from the terrace, the night view felt very different—you could sense the people held within the darkness and all the dynamic lights moving through it.
"Still, it can't compare to your officetel, right?"
The night view from the terrace was nice, but the one I'd seen from Sua's place last time was so spectacular it still came to mind sometimes, so I said that. Unexpectedly, Sua answered calmly.
"That officetel isn't even mine anyway. I'm just renting someone else's place."
Given Sua's fame as a streamer and NewTuber, I figured she could afford to buy an officetel outright. But thinking about it, Sua was still very young.
She was only twenty-three, so there was no way she owned her own place. No matter how much money she made, she wasn't at an age to buy an officetel.
When she said she was renting, I briefly wondered if it was a jeonse lease.
"So, are you living there on a jeonse?"
"Pfft... no, Serin. Who does jeonse these days? It's all monthly rent. And it's a pretty high-end officetel, so the monthly rent is quite high too."
"Oh, really? Well, when I visited last time, everything from the security to the building's exterior looked pretty expensive. Still, living alone, you probably don't have to worry about security."
The thing that stood out about Sua's officetel was how thorough the security and guard system were. The people who looked like security guards, all dressed in uniform and waiting in the first-floor lobby, were definitely a bit striking.
"Security... well, I did pick that place because of the security. Living alone, there are actually a lot of things you have to worry about."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Yes, and I also do cam streaming, so my face is somewhat known, right? Early on in my streaming career, I couldn't live in a place as nice as this, and honestly, it's a bit hard to tell you in detail, but a lot of things really did happen."
She spoke with a peculiar expression, as if recalling something. I figured Sua had her own circumstances, and I picked up the wine.
Then I filled Sua's now-empty glass with wine.
Glug-glug.
Sua, who had been staring blankly at the wine filling her glass, suddenly lifted her head.
"You know, Serin. Do you know that sometimes, really, you seem truly fascinating?"
"What's this all of a sudden?"
After pouring wine into Sua's glass, I had been about to take a sip from my own, but I paused and asked back.
Seeing me like that, Sua swirled her wine glass in a circle and suddenly burst out laughing.
"No, I just suddenly thought... our relationship has really changed a lot. Before you started streaming, you disliked me, didn't you? Right? I definitely felt that way."
...Suddenly asking if I hadn't disliked her? At that, I blinked blankly and searched my memory.
Before I started streaming, before I got close to Sua?
She probably meant the time when I was wary of her.
"Well, to be precise, it wasn't that I disliked you, Sua... I was just wary. Back then, I didn't know exactly what kind of person you were."
I said what I honestly felt in a calm tone.
I was generally indifferent to other people, so I didn't even feel strong dislike toward anyone.
Just one of the countless people passing by. That was all Sua had been to me back then.
"Hmm... was that it? Well, from your perspective, Serin, that makes sense. And actually, the really amazing thing is, I've never tried to approach someone first before. But you were an exception. Back then, there was a person in real life who was exactly the same as Rin, who had become a hot topic in Another World, you know?"
She said she'd been interested because I was Rin, and I let out a small laugh.
"Back then, saying I became a hot topic is a bit much, isn't it?"
As far as I knew, I'd only become a topic in the community, so the fact that Sua recognized me right away and followed me was a little funny.
"No. You were a huge topic back then too. Your unrealistically pretty looks were one thing, but your overwhelming skill—enough to make people suspect hacks—really made you stand out in every way. I still remember it, but do you know the first NewTube video that made you a hot topic got over two million views?"
"I remember the view count was high, but it passed two million?"
"Yes. Back then, the views went up incredibly fast in a short time. It was such a hot topic that even other streamers made comments about you. Oh, and thinking about that time, it's still funny... I said back then that you weren't hacking, but do you know most other streamers all said you were?"
Sua said she'd known even back then that I wasn't hacking. It felt like she was subtly showing off, which made me laugh.
"Well... honestly, I became famous unintentionally, so I understand now why streamers and other people suspected me of hacking. And isn't it true that people only see as much as they know?"
Back then, I'd been truly furious about being suspected of hacking while simultaneously being mocked in major communities, but thinking about it now, I realized I'd responded emotionally and gotten angry too easily.
It hadn't been long since I'd fallen into this world, so my emotions had been more volatile—it was a time when I myself was very unstable.
So I'd typed toxic chat messages in the stream of a streamer named Hana for no reason. Because of that, I'd ended up dueling that streamer Hana, and since I was already a hot topic, it was like pouring fuel on the fire. And so on...
If I'd spent my time a little more calmly, ignored the community reactions, and contacted the game company to prove I wasn't hacking, maybe it could have ended easily and quietly.
Thinking about that, I laughed without realizing it.
'No, thinking about it now, maybe it was actually a good thing?'
Because I became that much of a hot topic. That's how I ended up connected to Sua, and now we were having dinner and drinking together like this.
Sua, who had brought the wine to her lips as if savoring it, pulled the glass away and moved her lips slightly.
"People see as much as they know... well, unless someone was at a decent ranker level, your movements would have looked completely incomprehensible."
I looked at Sua, who was slightly tipsy, and laughed in disbelief.
"Sua. Is that any reason to stalk someone?"
When I asked if she hadn't done something wrong, Sua avoided my gaze, looking a little embarrassed.
"Ugh... at first, I really wasn't trying to stalk you—I was trying to talk to you. Thinking about it now, I must have been out of my mind. And do you know you were really scary back then, Serin?"
"I was scary?"
"Yes. Even when you were just walking quietly, there was something that made it hard to approach you, you know? I really don't get scared easily, even around big guys or people with bad attitudes, but strangely, you were hard to approach. It felt like you had some kind of aura, like something out of a novel or movie."
She said the last part a bit exaggeratedly, and the sight was so ridiculous I laughed.
"Pfft..."
And I could understand to some extent why Sua hadn't been able to approach me easily. Back then, I'd been pretty sharp-edged and treated everyone a bit prickly.
"After that, I tried really hard to make contact with you again, even doing baiting streams. And I could feel that you disliked me... so even though I wanted to get close to you, I felt really stuck. Seriously."
Sua said a lot of things, as if she was only now saying them. As we talked through the things we both already knew like this, I realized anew just how many things we'd each thought about differently.
"Ah, Sua, I really. It wasn't that I disliked you."
"Hmm. Even though you deliberately gave me a different Another World nickname?"
"That was just me keeping my distance from you. Back then, I didn't know what kind of person you were."
Now I knew Sua was a famous streamer and NewTuber. But back then, she'd just felt like a strange woman who was following me.
By the end, I'd thought she just really liked games. But I still hadn't wanted to get close to her.
Knowing someone versus not knowing them was a huge difference.
With that thought, I looked at Sua, and she smiled slightly, as if she understood too.
"...Yeah. I think if I'd just told you from the start what kind of person I was, maybe we could have gotten close more easily. Even now, I wonder why I hid it back then. I could have just said I was a NewTuber or a streamer—either one."
As I listened to Sua, I tilted my glass and found it empty before I knew it. I was about to pick up the wine.
Slide.
Just then, Sua smiled brightly and picked up the wine.
I naturally held out my glass, and Sua, as if she'd been waiting, began pouring wine into it.
"Thanks."
"No, it's nothing."
Glug-glug.
Watching the wine fill my glass, I blankly turned my gaze and took in the night view.
The night was still long.