268. [Deposit] 4,000,000 Won
268. [Deposit] 4,000,000 Won
***
"I realized scrims really aren't easy."
Sua answered Serin's question about how it had gone in a calm voice.
Serin, who had flung herself onto the bed, turned her head at that, wondering what she meant, and saw Sua wearing an odd expression.
At the sight of Sua's face, which seemed to hold a mix of complicated emotions, Serin suddenly burst out laughing.
"They're not easy, but you'd probably have fun if you actually played in one yourself, Sua."
When Serin responded lightly, Sua looked at her and let out a laugh.
"You know that's such a humblebrag, right? Seriously... it's only because you're at that level that pro teams even send you scrim offers. I've never even gotten a scrim offer before."
As Sua shared her impressions of the scrim, Seoyun silently and carefully sat herself down on one side of the bedroom where Serin was lying.
Then she took in Serin's face, which looked deeply exhausted, and let out a small sigh.
"More than anything else, I kept thinking maybe the scrim format needs to change. The more I watched, the more I wondered if this is really the best way to do it. Isn't the format just too unreasonable for you? You're already frail, and it seemed like it was pushing you even harder."
When she spoke as if she were deeply worried, Serin blinked blankly.
'Do I really look that bad?'
Seeing Seoyun raise doubts about the scrim format made her think they should change the approach next time.
What I'd felt was that it was fun, but just as exhausting.
From an outside perspective, though, the reaction was quite different.
"Was the scrim not fun?"
When Serin asked if it had been bad, the two of them shook their heads at the same time.
"The scrim itself was pretty fun. It's just that it seemed really exhausting. Especially since I was reminded again this time that dealing with people isn't easy."
"I liked getting to see you actually play too, but as it went on, the other team... was it the Knights of Charlemagne? Anyway, the female players were kind of a lot. I mean, you weren't even interested in them, and they were just trying to keep you in check among themselves. It was ridiculous."
At the two of them answering almost back-to-back, a laugh slipped out before she knew it.
"You two could tell they were jealous of me?"
"We were watching everything, so how could we not? You could see the two of them openly not liking you. It was just absurd, really... And what kind of attitude is that for players to have during a scrim?"
"Right. Don't scrim with players from that team again. I was getting angry just watching."
As Seoyun carefully smoothed Serin's disheveled hair and spoke, Serin simply gazed at the two of them.
Then a laugh escaped her for no particular reason.
'How strange.'
It felt good to see them worrying about her, and she also realized it had all been visible to them too.
Because things had ended well at the very end, she didn't have any strong feelings about it, but the two women's attitudes had definitely not looked good.
Bradamante and Angelica.
Maybe because she was tired, she couldn't even remember their real names, but it had been obvious on the surface that the two players were deliberately speaking and acting as if to keep her in check.
So much so that later on, the two players Roland and Astolfo had actually spoken up and told the two women to knock it off.
'It really was funny.'
Facing the two of them and their romantic drama, the situation itself had been entertaining, scrim aside.
Because the people involved didn't have any such intentions, but the others seemed to be checking her for no reason.
"I was a little angry at first, but later on the whole situation just became funny."
"That's because you're generous. Normally, it wouldn't have been strange to get really angry in a situation like that. They just misunderstood things on their own and blamed you. It was ridiculous."
"Right, why did you just let that go? Later on they even misunderstood you and said weird things."
"Well, I'm sure there were a lot of circumstances involved."
The two women had spoken with apologetic expressions at the end, so honestly, she could understand how it might have happened.
'No, if they apologized even belatedly, that makes them decent.'
Having gone through all sorts of situations in Black Ark, being blinded by jealousy honestly didn't bother her much.
In that world, she had encountered so many bizarre misunderstandings that she couldn't even count them, so this much could be seen as cute playfulness.
When Serin spoke as if it were nothing, Seoyun and Sua looked at her as if she were strange.
......
"Anyway, you look tired again. Are you really okay? You're not going to get seriously sick again like yesterday, are you?"
"I'm just tired, so don't worry so much."
After that, Sua glanced at the time and made a regretful expression.
"I think I need to go start my stream now. Thank you for letting me watch the scrim today."
"No, thank you for taking care of me yesterday."
When Serin tried to sit up, Sua hurriedly continued.
"Oh, you really don't need to see me out."
"You're leaving already?"
When Seoyun asked with a subtle expression, Sua nodded nonchalantly.
"I need to go start my stream. What about you, Seoyun? Are you staying at your sister's place again today?"
"I'm not sure. Seeing how she is right now, I feel like I should rest one more day before going."
When Seoyun looked at Serin with a gaze that asked, that's okay, right?, Serin nodded as if it didn't matter.
Sua smiled as she looked at them and got up.
"Then I'll pack up and head out first. Please don't push yourself too hard and get some proper rest. Oh, and Seoyun, it was nice seeing you after so long."
"Bye."
"Yeah, see you next time."
Click.
Once Sua left the room like that, Seoyun lay down next to Serin.
"So you two got a bit closer?"
When Serin asked casually, looking at her sister lying right beside her, Seoyun made an enigmatic expression.
"Does it look that way to you?"
"Compared to yesterday, at least?"
"I don't know. I still... don't really know how I feel about Sua."
At the way she seemed to be keeping a strange distance, Serin wondered what exactly the relationship between the two of them was.
"So why did you lie down?"
"No reason. I was watching your match the whole time, so I got kind of worn out too, you know?"
When Seoyun said it playfully and laughed, Serin nodded, thinking, well, if that's how it is.
After that, they chatted for a while as time passed.
—Ding!
At the sound, Serin blankly looked toward her smartphone on the desk, and Seoyun got up and brought it over.
"Here."
Even though she hadn't said anything, Seoyun brought it over on her own, and Serin took it, unlocked it, and checked.
*
————
[Deposit] 4,000,000 won Han Serin.
2031. 08. 27, 16:52 Charlemagne Front Co., Ltd.
————
*
It was none other than the deposit notification for the scrim amount from the Charlemagne team.
"..."
Serin stared at it for a moment, feeling strange.
It was a different feeling from receiving donations on stream.
With stream donations, there was a waiting period of about a week before the actual deposit, so it was fascinating that this had been deposited immediately.
A feeling like a kind of fulfillment rose up, and she felt satisfied.
It also felt like receiving compensation for labor.
'So if it's four million for three hours, how much did I earn per hour?'
She became newly aware of her current position.
It felt like only a few days had passed since she had fallen into this world and wondered how she was supposed to survive.
Now she was in a position to receive such a large sum from someone.
"Can I ask what it is?"
When Seoyun, lying right beside her, looked curious, Serin turned the phone screen and showed it to her.
"Payment for the scrim just now."
She showed the deposit details while speaking as if it were no big deal. Seoyun, looking at the screen, muttered blankly.
"...Four million won!?"
At the surprised reaction, Serin smiled and spoke in a proud voice.
"How's that?"
At the question asking for more of a reaction, Seoyun did not betray the expectation.
"Really... you got four million won for that match just now?"
When she asked again as if she couldn't believe it, Serin nodded nonchalantly.
"...Wow."
Seoyun let out a blank exclamation.
From the perspective of a university student, not even a new member of society, the amount was bound to be shocking.
Since Seoyun had earned money through part-time jobs herself, she could feel just how absurd the amount Serin had earned was.
'So there really was a reason her sense of money was so strange.'
She had thought the donation amounts that exploded during her actual streams were all unusual, but the money she earned from a scrim with pros was also on a bizarre scale.
It felt like the mystery behind the amounts of money her sister had been sending her had been solved.
"...So because you earn this well, that's why you sent me such big amounts?"
"Well, yeah? That's also why I told you to let me know if you needed anything."
"No, seriously, what kind of sister sends her younger sibling millions of won as allowance?"
When Seoyun laughed as if dumbfounded by the shameless answer, Serin blinked.
"What do you mean, what kind? She's right in front of you."
***
TSJ headquarters.
With the morning scrim followed by the afternoon scrim both over and personal break time beginning, the players started heading off to spend their own time.
And one of TSJ's starting players.
Seola approached Eunha and smiled brightly.
"Let's eat dinner together!"
At her lively voice, Eunha didn't refuse.
......
As the two women walked through the TSJ building, they drew people's eyes wherever they went.
Eunha, who was currently treated like a superstar, was like a special existence even to the people working in the building, and Seola's cute appearance as she walked beside her also drew plenty of attention.
However, even as she walked with Seola, Eunha's mood was not very good.
Just yesterday, Thursday, there had been an unexpected streaming hiatus from Serin.
And today, Friday, she had belatedly learned that there would be no stream because of the scrim.
Even with the complete victory in the scrim, Eunha's mood was not at all satisfied.
'Serin, you're not still sick, are you?'
On top of that, Serin still hadn't replied on BaTalk.
She even started worrying for nothing that maybe she was still sick.
"Waiting for someone to contact you?"
When Seola asked curiously at the sight of Eunha glancing at her smartphone, Eunha nodded.
"A little...?"
"Is it Rin?"
When Seola spoke with an odd expression, Eunha flinched for a moment.