The Heavenly Demon Plays a Shitty Game (1)
Watching Enri bask in the crowd's cheers, I took a step back. I'd put her through enough trouble already, so I figured I should let her enjoy this moment fully. Broadcasting didn't seem so bad when you looked at it that way. Sure, there were plenty of weirdos, but just as many people who genuinely liked her. The fact that thousands were cheering for her was all because she streamed. I wondered what that felt like. I couldn't say. I'd heard curses from thousands, but never cheers. I'd experienced something similar in the Divine Cult, but it wasn't cheering—it was worship. And the feeling it stirred in me wasn't joy. It was disgust.
Thinking back on those memories, my hand instinctively reached for my pipe. Was it my nature that unpleasant memories always surfaced before the good ones? As I watched the smoke curl into the air, my eyes met Enri's.
"What are you doing over there looking all gloomy?"
"Are you done?"
"Still a bit of chaos left."
So it seemed even to my eyes. The chat was scrolling so fast that most people probably couldn't follow it. What was even more surprising was that every single line was filled with goodwill toward Enri. For a brief moment, a twinge of envy passed through me, and I found myself smiling without realizing it.
"Come enjoy it with us, Hwaryeong-ssi."
"It's fine. I have no intention of intruding on the celebration of your success."
No matter how shameless I could be, I wasn't about to steal the glory from someone I'd personally taught.
"Why are you acting like some old geezer?"
What choice did I have? I was an old geezer. If she wanted proof, I'd be at a loss for words, but still.
Without replying, I put the pipe in my mouth, and Enri let out a sigh.
"More importantly, have you thought about how you're going to mess with me?"
"Oh. We had that bet, didn't we?"
A horror game wouldn't scare her at all, and if I picked something difficult, she'd just clear it with ease. Hmm...
Muttering to herself, Enri crossed her arms and kept thinking.
"No. This is when we should use collective intelligence."
Leaving me behind, she headed to a corner and started chatting animatedly with the viewers. The fact that she hadn't closed the chat window floating beside me was a bit clumsy, but I took care of that myself. If she was going to such lengths to tease me, the least I could do was play along.
After a long, heated discussion, Enri returned to me with a decision made.
"Have you decided?"
"Yes! Ara-ssi, you have to play a shitty game!"
A shitty game? What kind of game was that? I had a bad feeling about it. Judging by how confident Enri looked, it probably wasn't going to be easy. Still, no matter what came my way, I had confidence I could handle it.
"But! Not in VR—on a computer!"
*
Lately, I'd noticed how accustomed I'd become to modern life whenever I rode the bus and looked out the window. The first time I took a bus, even I thought I looked like an idiot. Forgetting to pay the fare and getting scolded, or being so mesmerized by the passing scenery that I missed my stop, or getting confused about transfers and riding the same route in circles. On top of that, my Korean wasn't fluent yet, so I couldn't even ask for directions. Especially when I had to use both the bus and subway, it was truly dreadful.
But now I didn't make mistakes on the bus. I paid the fare myself, checked the route multiple times after boarding, and made sure I knew where to get off. The outside scenery no longer captivated me either. Listening to the radio music the bus driver had on, I arrived at my destination before I knew it.
Stepping off at the stop, I saw an apartment complex. The map on the internet had clearly pointed here. Last night, when Enri asked me to play a game on a real computer, she'd suggested streaming from her place. She said everything was already set up there, so I just needed to bring myself and play. Curious about what her home looked like, I'd readily agreed to go.
Now that I'd arrived at her apartment, I tried calling to have her open the first-floor entrance, but she didn't answer. What could she be doing to be so silent? I called again, and she picked up just before it went to voicemail.
[...Hello?]
Her voice sounded submerged underwater. Like she'd just been asleep.
"Enri. I'm here."
[Y-Yes?! You're already here?! Why are you so fast?!]
Wasn't this strange? I'd only come because she'd invited me, yet she was acting like this. If my visit was such an inconvenience, she shouldn't have invited me in the first place.
"Should I wait nearby?"
[No! That's not it. I mean... Ugh. Just come up.]
She should've said that from the start.
When I took the elevator and reached her door, I heard a loud commotion from inside. She still needed quite a bit of time to clean up. If I went in now, she'd probably be flustered. Leaning against the door, I waited for the noise to die down and turned on my smartphone.
My recent hobby was browsing MyTube. More precisely, finding videos of animals playing. Watching fluffy things play with other fluffy things made time fly by so fast it was almost a problem. Really, cuteness was the ultimate truth.
As I passed the time that way, the commotion inside Enri's place eventually stopped. It should be fine to go in now.
The moment I pressed the bell, the door opened.
"Welcome!"
Enri looked like a mess. Her hair was drenched in sweat and plastered to her head, and the clothes she wore were so dusty that touching them would probably create a gray cloud. Her face looked like a living corpse, and her unsteady legs told me exactly how exhausting her time had been.
"Did you wait long? I'm sorry."
"It's fine, but you should probably take a shower first."
"Huh. Do I look that bad?"
"Very much so."
When I said it plainly, Enri's face flushed red. Just how messy had her room been that she'd forgotten even to tidy herself up while cleaning?
"Then take your time looking around! I'll go wash up real quick!"
"Is there anything I shouldn't touch?"
"Not really? Oh. Just don't touch the streaming equipment. It'd be a pain if it broke."
I wasn't great with machines, but that didn't mean a light touch would break them. When I pouted, Enri laughed and made excuses about how delicate everything was. That sounded more like she was admitting she wasn't delicate herself. I couldn't accept that. How many of the martial arts I practiced required delicacy?
But before I could respond to her excuse, Enri had already left, and my words swirled in my mouth before fading away.
I stepped into Enri's home. To be honest, it was a bit messy. Thanks to her hasty cleaning, it was somewhat tidy, but there were still things that stood out here and there. The dishes piled up and tangled with water still on them, or the snack bags scattered messily on the table. She didn't seem to live very neatly on a regular basis.
After hanging my coat on the rack, I sat on the living room sofa. Enri had said I could look around freely, but wandering through someone's home without permission wasn't polite. Her hair was quite long, so it would probably take her a while to come out looking presentable again.
Just as I was thinking of killing time on MyTube again, my gaze drifted toward the veranda. There were an unusual number of shadows there. What could possibly be piled up to make even the shadows look cluttered? Curiosity welled up. Enri would take time to come out anyway. I could sneak a quick look and return to my seat.
I stood up quietly and opened the veranda door.
It was chaos inside. She'd probably shoved all the messy things from the house in here. Piles of plastic and random trash, plants that had once been green but were now yellowed, clothes strewn across the floor like garbage. The variety of items was impressive, but for Enri's sake, I'd keep my comments to myself. Living with this much stuff piled up, of course she'd panic when a guest arrived.
"Ara-ssi! Why are you in there—"
Enri's urgent voice reached me. Wasn't it too soon for her to have finished washing? How had she come out already? One look at her explained it. She'd only washed her face and changed clothes. Instead of dealing with her long hair, she'd just tied it back and covered it with a hat. She looked much better than before. Though the exhausted look in her eyes remained.
"You told me to take my time looking around, didn't you?"
"No, but why the veranda instead of the rooms?"
"The shadows looked interesting."
"I should've drawn the curtains!"
What good would regretting it now do? If she wanted to blame someone, she should blame her own habit of living messily. Besides, what did it matter? I didn't care how dirty she lived. People could be a little filthy.
At my clumsy attempt at comfort, Enri blushed and hurriedly pulled me out of the veranda. Then she drew the curtains and smiled as if nothing had happened.
"Is coffee okay to drink?"
"Yes."
Understood. Let's leave this topic here.
Saying she'd make coffee, Enri went to the living room and took out a bag of coffee beans. Beans, not powder. Then she skillfully pulled several tools from a cabinet stuffed with various items and began grinding the beans.
"This is quite serious."
"I've been drinking it this way for so long that I can't stand the instant stuff anymore."
Grind, grind. The freshly ground beans gave off a fragrant aroma. When she placed the powder on a filter and poured water over it, the scent intensified. It was as if the entire living room had filled with coffee. How refined.
"By the way, Enri. You didn't sleep properly last night, did you?"
"Does it show that much?"
The dark circles under her eyes were so prominent that it would be strange if I hadn't noticed. When I answered firmly, Enri awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.
"Actually, I was asleep right until Ara-ssi arrived."
"What were you doing?"
"What else would I be doing? I was playing games."
After parting with me yesterday, Enri had tried to go to sleep. It was late, after all. But she couldn't fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, the moment she'd beaten the Sinchang Sniper, the time she'd sparred with me, and the sight of viewers cheering at the end kept replaying in her mind, making sleep impossible.
"So I logged back into Apis."
She'd thought that if she played until she collapsed from exhaustion, she'd finally be able to sleep. But it was different. The battles in Apis only woke her up even more. After sparring with me, facing the locals felt so easy. Once she learned how to handle situations even when she accidentally gave up distance, she could win with plenty of room to spare. Enri's words still carried heat.