A Favor (Reality)
Once the talk of an exclusive streaming contract was finished, Driver Kwon and I decided to head straight home.
Manager Han had offered to let us stay through dinner and rest a little before we left, but even so, I had no desire to eat there.
"Ugh... I'm exhausted."
"It's about thirty minutes to the house. You ought to close your eyes for a bit."
"I think I will. I'm so tired... haahm."
I was halfway through the yawn and into a short nap when—
Bzzzzt— bzzzzt—
Some scoundrel arrived, determined to ruin a honey-sweet sleep.
"Nnngh..."
Who? Hardly anyone had a reason to contact me.
Unlike the old days, when I'd piled up all sorts of connections, I didn't really have many people I was close to now. Fewer than ten even knew my number. My phone almost never rang. Family, the housekeeper, Driver Kwon, and my teammates from the showmatch, at most.
Driver Kwon was right there in front of me, and I'd already told my family we were leaving, so they had no reason to call out of nowhere. That left the showmatch roster.
And the person calling was, just as I'd expected, one of them.
"...Han Seongun?"
What could he possibly want, calling me?
Up until a few days ago he'd ignored every single one of my texts. I'd even run into him by chance in a ranked game and snapped at him to answer his messages.
"Yes?"
"Ah, it's nothing."
Maybe the snapping had actually worked. He'd called first, which wasn't like him at all.
...Wait. Was this our first call?
Thinking about it, I'd never reached out to Han Seongun first either. Talking to him on the phone was a first. I'd thought of him as a friend, and yet we'd never once called. It left a bitter little taste.
Leaving my texts on read had definitely been galling. Still, since he'd gone to the trouble of calling first...
"Hello?"
...But the more I thought about it, the hotter my temper ran, and kind words were not about to make it out of my mouth.
"And who might this be? Surely not Nebula of SC, the one who's spent over a month leaving every text I send on read?"
"That... I'm sorry."
Part of me wanted to keep needling him and twist that guilt as hard as it would go, but his voice was so dark that the urge to be decent to him won out first.
"Haah... I'm kidding. I didn't actually care."
"So why the sudden call?"
"It's..."
...
...It's what?
"What? Why'd you stop halfway?"
There are two ways to make a person furious. One of them is stopping in the middle of a sentence—and tell me how this is any different, you jerk.
"I mean... ah, um..."
Ugh. Maddening.
I had no idea what he was trying to say with all this stalling, but if it went on like this I was going to burst first. I decided to play a hard card.
"If you don't say it properly, I'm hanging up."
"Ah—wait! Okay, I'll say it."
The threat of hanging up must have landed. Uncharacteristically hesitant, he dropped the tone that had been driving me up the wall.
Hmph. Should've been like this from the start.
"I've got the Promotion Series this Saturday. Right away."
SC, the team Han Seongun belonged to, had finished second in the Challengers League, and that ranking had earned them the right to compete in the 2023 PCK first-half Promotion Series. Depending on how they did, they could be promoted fair and square into the first division—the very chance every second-division team ached for, a real shot at the league above.
"Yeah. I know."
Of course I knew. I rooted for SC above anyone else. It wasn't only my friend's team. It was the E Sports squad my father owned.
"The day it was confirmed, I even sent you a message telling you to give the Promotion Series everything you had."
Oh. He'd left that one on read too.
"Oh, right. You left that on read as well, didn't you?"
Annoyance came flooding back, so I decided to jab him one more time. First offense, so I'd let it go this far. Next time, no mercy, Seongun.
"Ugh... I'm really sorry..."
Still, he was owning up to it. I'd let him off with this much.
"I'm joking. So why does that matter?"
"Doesn't sound like a joke... No, that's not the important part."
Ahem.
Before he got to the point, Han Seongun cleared his throat. Whatever he was working up to, he was taking his time. I was curious, and irritated, both at once.
"Can you come watch our match that day?"
Only after I heard how tight his voice was did I understand why he'd stalled so long.
"Come watch... in person?"
Asking someone whose messages he'd ignored for days to come cheer at his match. Unless your shamelessness had reached its absolute peak, that wasn't an easy thing to say.
"Yeah..."
He seemed to know just how absurd the favor was. The guilt in his voice was unmistakable.
"I mean... going to a friend's match isn't exactly a hard thing, but..."
That guilty voice didn't suit him at all, so I told him it wasn't difficult. Even so—
"Why me, of all people?"
I couldn't really see why he'd ask me. To me, Han Seongun was my only friend. To him, I wasn't his only one. It stung a little, but to him I was just one friend among many. There was no need to ask me specifically—
"I just... think I'll play better if you're watching."
?
??
???
"What?"
What had I just heard?
"W-wait, that came out wrong!"
It had better have. Right now I find you extremely suspicious.
"I—I mean... at the showmatch. When you were there, I think my play was the cleanest it's been. I'm trying to get that feel back, somehow..."
So, to boil that down: whenever he hit what he considered his peak, I was always somewhere nearby. And to hold that form through the Promotion Series, he wanted me in the arena?
That was pretty—
"So... you want me to be the lucky totem that lifts your performance?"
That actually made sense. And here I'd been worried he'd finally lost it.
"Y-yeah! You'll believe me?"
Would I not trust a friend?
"Of course. Obviously."
Like I'd said, the Promotion Series was the chance every second-division team dreamed of. Once you had it, of course you'd drag your level up however you could and fight for promotion. And if they made it this time, their results in the first division could open a path to PCT Champions in early winter—the most prestigious of the international events Rioat ran. A great deal was riding on this one.
For a tournament that important, clinging to a jinx, some scrap of superstition, the way a drowning person grabs at straw—that wasn't strange at all.
...This is awkward.
"..."
He didn't have much to say after that, either. One slip of the tongue, and he'd gone this quiet. The boy had gotten strange. Playing the noona, I decided I'd be the one to thaw the awkward air.
"And here I thought you were about to confess to me. You startled me."
"Pfft—! Cough, cough—!"
SCREEECH!
"Ack!"
...Driver Kwon, you can't drive like that all of a sudden!
"I—I'm sorry. The car ahead stopped without warning..."
"?? I don't see a car in front of us."
"...It seems to have fled at once. Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Good thing it wasn't an accident..."
It wasn't even a crash. I'd only bumped my forehead lightly against the seat in front. Nothing hurt. Lucky.
"Are you all right, Driver Kwon?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
The car had braked hard and knocked my phone to the floor. I picked it up and brushed the dust off with my hand. I'd wanted to hear his reaction. What cruel timing.
Once I'd mostly dusted it clean and put it back to my ear, the voice that came through was Han Seongun, desperately insisting that hadn't been what he meant.
"Eunha? Listen to me. It's not like that. It's really, absolutely not. It's a misunderstanding!"
Even as a joke, a reaction like that stung. I knew perfectly well he didn't see me that way, but hearing him scramble like that soured my mood anyway.
"Hey. Even if you hate the idea, what's with that reaction? You're embarrassing me..."
"S-sorry. It was so sudden..."
"Fine, fine. Anyway, you want me there in person that day, right?"
"...Yeah."
This weekend... there was still a little time. I'd been going out a lot more lately, but for the sake of our friendship, it wasn't something I couldn't put up with.
"All right."
"Really? Thanks. Do you need anything?"
Need anything... Nothing came to mind. If I needed something, I could get it myself.
"I don't need anything like that, so just win. If I show up in person and you still lose, I won't let it go."
The only thing he could give me was an SC victory. Watching a team you root for win from behind is a pretty electric feeling.
"Yeah. I'll win. I promise."
Only then did Han Seongun answer with a laugh. At last, the unpleasant, prim little square I remembered was back.
Yeah. This was how Han Seongun was supposed to be. Unpleasant, obnoxious, the kind of person who made anyone looking at him feel inferior without even trying. That was the Han Seongun I knew, the one I remembered. Put like that, it sounded as if I were only insulting him, but if you could call that charm, then it was a kind of charm.
"Right. I'm hanging up, then. Practice hard~"
"Yeah. You get some rest too."
Beep.
The sudden call with Han Seongun was over, and I was just about to drift off again when Driver Kwon spoke up out of nowhere.
"Miss, if it isn't an imposition, may I ask one question?"
"? It's not an imposition at all. Ask whatever you like."
Strange. I couldn't remember Driver Kwon ever speaking to me first. Tired as I was, I had no intention of brushing off a question from the man who watched over me every day.
"The person you were just speaking with... was that Han Seongun?"
Eh.
"Huh? How did you know? Yes, that's him."
How had he known? He shouldn't even have been able to hear the voice. Then again, Han Seongun was the only friend I kept in touch with, so it would have been easy to guess.
"...I see."
A short answer, and Driver Kwon turned his attention back to the road. In the rearview mirror, his mouth was curved in a small smile.
Well, he'd taken a liking to Seongun before, too. From their very first meeting, Driver Kwon had quietly approved of him. With his mouth he claimed he'd sweep aside every man who came near me, and yet Han Seongun got special treatment. He must like him an awful lot.
If I got the chance later, I ought to let the two of them meet again. Thinking that, I leaned back into the seat for another nap.
"Zzz..."
Carried along by Driver Kwon's steady driving, I was sleeping soundly when—
"Hmm..."
Having made sure Eunha was asleep, Driver Kwon murmured quietly to himself.
"I thought he'd understood well enough. Was it not enough...?"
Where Eunha could not see him, the face in the rearview mirror was not smiling at all. Only a face that was blank—endlessly, endlessly blank.