Episode 113: A Month of Time (Reality)

Father's permission was already in hand, so there was nothing left for me to hesitate over.

I sent mail to the Rioat side that had brought me the sponsorship offer, and to the Kwitch manager who would stand between me and Rioat. There was no point putting it off. With Mother's help, I pushed the withdrawal through just as fast.

We decided I would drop out the very next day. I found my homeroom teacher and held out the form, and the look on his face was pure disbelief. The reason was none other than Han Seongun, standing right beside me. Two students from the same class withdrawing on the same day could hardly be a common thing.

"...What are you?"

"Me? I'm dropping out too."

He stared at me like he was asking what the hell kind of girl I even was, and watching that was, honestly, kind of fun. One way or another, I ended up withdrawing on the same day as Han Seongun, and we left high school together.

Strange rumors were already circling the two of us. Dropping out side by side only set weirder ones spinning. Kids that age always need gossip, and there was no point taking their nonsense seriously, so I decided to ignore it.

On the way home after we turned the forms in, the day was brutally hot, as if to announce that summer had arrived in full. Fortunately I'd told Driver Kwon I was dropping out today, and he was already waiting at the main gate.

"You're heading to the practice room, right? Want a ride?"

"Ah— no. I'm fine."

"Come on, don't be like that. I'll drive you, so let's go together."

What was he even saying, in heat like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this? I decided to give him a ride, before a little sunstroke went and ruined his form. Appreciate the friend you made, Han Seongun.

"Driver Kwon, that's all right, isn't it?"

From the last time we'd talked, Driver Kwon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seemed to like Han Seongun quite a bit. Quick on the uptake, he'd said, and sharp besides.

"If the young lady says it's fine, I have no objection."

He nodded without a second thought. Since he was fine with it too, I caught the boy mid-escape and hauled him into the car.

"H-hey, I can get there on my own! Don't drag me...!"

"What, am I going to eat you? All right, all right."

He startled like I'd turned into some monster the moment my hand touched him, so I simply let go.

"Where should I take you?"

"...XX-dong, please. XXXX Street."

"Hoh. So the SC practice room is over there."

"Yeah. If you're curious, want a look around? The season hasn't started yet, and outsiders aren't allowed in, but you're a streamer. A little tour ought to be fine."

Asked whether he wanted to see the practice room, Han Seongun found the offer honestly tempting — and turned it down anyway. Even before the season started, an outsider walking into someone else's practice room uninvited might make them uncomfortable.

"If I do go on a tour, I'd rather have official permission from SC first."

"Yeah? All right."

Of course, the chairman of H Group — the company that runs SC — is my father, so permission was his the moment he asked for it.

"More than that. The kids in class. What do you think they'll make of us?"

"Make of what?"

"You and me. You're debuting soon, so your face goes public, and I'll show mine someday too. I'm curious what they'll think."

We hadn't been especially close with them, but I wanted the class's reaction. A boy and a girl who had each kept to themselves, turning out to be a popular streamer and a pro gamer — that wasn't the sort of thing that happened every day.

"True. A few of them did look at you and wonder if you were Eunha. Me being Nebula, though? Not a chance they'd guess."

There were kids who suspected me? That, I hadn't known.

"Really? And here I thought I was hiding it."

"Well. The name's exactly the same."

We talked about this and that, and before long we were there. After we let Han Seongun out, the rest of us headed home.

"You seem quite close with young Seongun."

Close with Han Seongun... If I was honest with myself, I didn't think we were. It had been a month since we became friends, and not even a week since I'd learned his face. All we'd ever done together was play Project A. Set beside Spax, who used to be my closest friend, we came up a little short of best friends. Even so.

"Mm... I guess? He's my only friend, too."

The only person I could call a friend right now was Han Seongun, so that was all I said. He was the only one I had. Admit we weren't close, and I'd look like some pathetic loner who couldn't manage a single friend.

"I see..."

Driver Kwon looked at me with a strange, pitying softness. As I'd noticed before, he treated me, in his quiet way, like a daughter. Most likely he felt sorry for a girl without a single female friend her own age.

The mood had gone solemn. Partly to turn it around, and partly to take the opening while I had it, I tried one request.

"Um... if we could stop by a cafe today..."

"No."

It didn't land. Not even a little.

"Tch..."

Driver Kwon is an iron wall. Say anything more and he still would not budge. Knowing that, I gave up early, set my chin on my hand, and watched the window.

Still. Back when I was a man, I'd at least finished my first year. This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time I was dropping out before the first semester had even run its course. Then and now, I had never managed a real high school life. It was funny enough that a laugh slipped out of me before I knew it.

"...Miss? If you're hot, I can turn up the air conditioning—"

"I'm not!"

It was a sweltering summer, the sun fierce enough to warm you through just by standing in it. Walking outside was more than enough to start the sweat. I didn't feel any of that heat. I never left the house.

From the day I dropped out, my life collapsed into a single extreme pattern. Wake up, eat breakfast, stream. Eat lunch, stream. Eat dinner, stream. End the broadcast, sleep. A month still remained until the season closed, but quitting school had handed me a great deal of free time, so alongside Project A I also went live for Just Chatting on a regular schedule.

I lived like that, day after day, turning like a hamster wheel, and before I knew it a month had slipped clean past. Quite a lot happened in the meantime.

First, the abusers long counted as vermin on the Project A Korea server. Unlike the Rioat of the past, which had stayed silent, this time they actually moved, and the numbers began to thin. In the end you could hardly find the pests at all. Posts barely even went up on the sites that took abusing commissions, and for a few of the worst offenders, Rioat pushed criminal charges and brought the law down like a hammer. I don't know what became of the ones who took shots at me, but I hope they got exactly what they had coming.

The PCK first division finished its regular season as well. Playoffs and the final were still ahead, but most viewers weren't really expecting a dramatic reversal.

There was simply too monstrous a favorite sitting on the bracket. Nine matches, nine wins. Aside from the series against P1 and Gen, they shut out every match 2–0, and KZ proved exactly why they were called the Domestic No. 1.

Once the PCK first division's regular season ended, the second division finished preparing to open. The opener was only a few days off, and one of the teams playing it was none other than SC, the team Han Seongun and Pola belonged to. No wonder I hadn't heard a word from Nebula. He was clearly grinding through the run-up to that first match. He seemed confident enough in his own way, and since the ranked season would be ending around the time the second division began, I'd promised to host a watch party for SC.

And the Rank-1 Race, the thing I'd poured that whole month into...

"The eight hundreds... whoa. I finally made it up."

Ten minutes before the season ended, I won a game, opened a gap of more than a hundred points over second place, and took first. I had set the three characters of my name down in the 800s — a height no one on the Project A Korea server had ever reached.