What Did I Do Wrong This Time? (Real Life)

Nebula — a Project A streamer through and through, the one people called the greatest prospect the game had ever seen.

To me, though, all those grand titles weighed less than a single plainer word. Friend.

We didn't even know each other's real names. All either of us had was the other's gender and age, and we had been friends for barely a month. Even so, he took up a real space inside me: the first friend I had made since becoming a girl. After my family, the housekeeper, and Driver Kwon, he came next.

And yet.

"You're... Nebula?"

The Han Seongun standing in front of me was that Nebula?

He didn't look like someone telling a lie. Not that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was any kind of psychologist who could catch a lie off a glance alone, but—

"Yeah."

His voice was identical to Nebula's.

"Ah... no, I mean..."

Han Seongun, a first-year at Seoyun High and the deskmate who sat right beside me, and Nebula, my friend. Chaos. My head was nothing but chaos.

At the same time, a handful of questions I had been curious about — never curious enough to chase — clicked into place. The ones I'd had about Nebula, and the ones I'd had about Han Seongun. Set down the premise that the two of them were the same person, and every last mystery resolved with ridiculous neatness.

Why did Nebula insist on streaming only at dawn? Because Han Seongun was a high school student. He had to go to school, and after school he still had cram school.

Why did Han Seongun sleep through every class? Because Nebula played until dawn, and there was never enough sleep left over.

And why, lately, had Han Seongun stopped sleeping at school? Because he had entered the tournament. Matching the scrim schedule had dragged his daily rhythm back into place.

"So... so you really are Nebula..."

It wasn't that I couldn't accept it. This was just confirmation — a check that Han Seongun and Nebula were one and the same person.

"Yeah."

A short answer, and a nod. Nebula. No — Han Seongun.

"Haa..."

After my sigh, silence settled between us. It was bound to. We had been friends only inside the internet, without so much as knowing each other's names. A first meeting would have been awkward enough, and it turned out we were deskmates at the same school? A coincidence so absurd I doubted life would ever hand me another.

"Should we head in? I think everyone's waiting."

Han Seongun was the one who broke the silence. Come to think of it, whenever I talked with Nebula, he was always the one steering the conversation.

Instead of answering, I asked him something else.

"Wait. Did you already know I was Eunha?"

Unlike me, he was far too calm, even in a situation this ridiculous. And what he had said a moment ago — so it really was you, Eunha — had been nagging at me.

"Yeah. More or less."

He nodded without hesitation. The answer, as expected, was yes. So he had known I was the streamer Eunha.

"How?"

That one short word held more than one feeling. How had he known — and, under that, a small sting that he had never told me.

"That..."

And when I heard what came next, the only thought I had was—

Yeah. There was no way not to know.

"A cold... now that I think about it, the timing lines up."

"Yeah. The day Choi Eunha didn't come to school was the same day word got out that you, Eunha, had come down with a fever."

"Honestly, I'm sorry. I thought you might be some kind of stalker. Like you were digging into me behind my back."

The first time Han Seongun approached me, I had wondered if he was a stalker. Plenty of streamers never showed their faces, and just as many people wanted to know who they really were. Stalking cases aimed at female Durahan streamers were endless, and it would not have been strange if I had been one of them. I at least had Driver Kwon, so I was all right.

"It's fine. More importantly, let's go in. We're already past the time."

"What?"

I checked the clock. Already 7:05. We were supposed to meet at seven, so we were five minutes late. I had left with time to spare, but talking to this guy had eaten more of it than I'd thought. Still, by Korean time that barely counted as late. If we went in now, there wouldn't be a problem. Probably.

"Hey, Nebu— ah, what am I supposed to call you?"

I usually called him Nebula, and he called me Eunha. We used each other's streamer names. Keep that up out here, though, and it might cause trouble. Nebula didn't show his face either.

"Just use my name. I call you by yours anyway."

"That's... fair."

My streamer name was Eunha, taken from my real name, Choi Eunha. I had thought about using Galaxy, my old pro tag, but that felt wrong, so I had just gone with Eunha.

"Then let's go in. Seungtaek-hyung's probably been waiting forever."

Seungtaek-hyung...

"Hey. Han Seong...un."

"Yeah?"

Calling him by name was still awkward. It would get familiar with time.

"Are you close with Spax?"

That was what I wanted to ask, awkwardness be damned. How close he actually was with Spax.

"Mm... I guess we're about as close as an older guy and a younger one who get along all right."

Spax had been my closest friend back when I was a man. Now we were nothing to each other. Maybe I was a little jealous of Han Seongun, getting along with Spax better than the me of now ever could.

"He gave me a bunch of tips on playing IGL. He even suggested I debut as a pro."

"A pro?"

"Yeah. He asked if I wanted to join a PCT first-division team. Said if it were me, I wouldn't just start — I could be the team's ace..."

Not even KZ. Just how about a first-division team. He still needed more proving, but if Han Seongun showed the skill people expected of him, all it would do was add another name to the list of rivals.

"Same as ever."

But that was what Spax and I had always wanted. A rival who could put KZ on edge. We had believed KZ would only grow if it had someone to chase.

"Hm? What'd you say?"

"Ah, nothing. Let's just get inside."

"Yeah."

We had been talking right in front of the meeting place, Wall-X Galbi, so we were there in a moment. Spax... The last time I had seen his face was the retirement ceremony KZ threw for me. It had been a while. Excited to meet the people I had come to know as the streamer Eunha, and to see an old friend again, I opened the door.

"Eep!"

The scene that hit me the moment the door opened dragged a thin, startled sound out of me before I could stop it. It was justified. The place was packed with men in suits — big men, with faces that looked anything but friendly.

What my mother had told me before I left the house.

The first time I heard it, I hadn't understood what she meant. Now I did.

Men in suits, filling the restaurant. If this had been an ordinary barbecue place, I would have thought some company was out for a team dinner. But this was Wall-X Galbi, a premium restaurant whose ruinous price ran nearly a hundred dollars a serving. A company dinner with that many people, at a place this expensive, was beyond anything I could imagine. Back in my pro days, even a team dinner at a normal beef restaurant had taken endless pleading with the coach.

"Um, Eunha."

And it wasn't only the price.

"Those guys are all staring at us, right? I'm not imagining it...?"

The moment Han Seongun and I walked in, the men looked straight at us, openly. Who would see that and think they were ordinary office workers out for a meal? His voice was tighter than usual. He was a normal seventeen-year-old, after all. Dozens of hard-faced men glaring at you all at once — if that didn't make you tense, something was wrong with you.

"Uh... yeah?"

Dad... this is nowhere near a few people!

I looked again. They weren't glaring at us.

"Hic—!"

More precisely, they were glaring at Han Seongun.

Han Seongun, uncharacteristically scared stiff. The contrast with the calm player I knew pulled a laugh out of me before I could help it.

"Hey, don't chicken out. What's going to happen?"

I gave his back a pat, meaning to tell him not to worry. And then—

"Tsk."

Uh. Why did it feel like the stares had gotten sharper?

If the looks before had been wary, these were openly hostile, fixed on Han Seongun.

Hmm.

Did I do something wrong?

"Hic—!"

"Welcome. Do you have a reservation?"

While Han Seongun floundered in a situation he clearly wasn't used to, a server approached.

"Ah, yes. Someone should already be here under Kim Seungtaek..."

"Of course. I'll show you to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠room seven."

The moment I gave the real name Spax had reserved under, the server reacted. We followed along toward a private room.

"Whew. Thank god..."

The second Han Seongun confirmed the room was indoors, he let out a sigh of relief. Fair enough. Who could swallow food under stares like that?

What I saw when I opened the door was—

"Oh, hey— welcome."

My old friend Kim Seungtaek, wearing a thoroughly stupid expression.

"Whoa, you're actually Eunha?"

"Yes."

"When the two of you walked in, I thought some celebrities had come to the wrong room. Your faces were just... glowing."

Spax had frozen for a second at how Nebula and I looked, then found himself again just as fast. Well, it wasn't only me. Nebula was good-looking too. A guy and a girl like that walking in together — it would have been stranger not to be thrown.

"Seungtaek-hyung, did you see the people outside?"

"Oh, them? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I heard some security company's here for a company dinner."

"Ah..."

A security company. So they really were the people Dad had sent. Now that I thought about it, a few of the faces had looked familiar.

"Should we order first? I heard pretty much everyone else is already here."

"Is that all right?"

"Eh, that's on whoever's late."

A bell chimed, and a server appeared at once — a different one from before.

"Yes... oh!"

"Boss, Seolhwa fresh galbi for six."

"Whoa, the price..."

"If it's not enough we'll order more later. Relax. It's not like I've got anything else to spend money on."

"R-right... six orders of fresh galbi..."

The server looked dazed the moment they saw Spax's face. Well, he was famous. More importantly, meat for six and nothing else felt like something was missing... Ah!

"Hey, everyone's drinking, right?"

"...What?"

A wrap-up dinner like this couldn't possibly go without alcohol. Back when I was a pro, the soju-and-beer I knocked back after a win was the best thing I had ever tasted.

"Boss, three bottles of soju and three beers, too."

"Um... Eunha?"

"Hm? What?"

What did I do wrong this time?