68.
I was told to meet by 2 o’clock, so I went to the meeting place on time and saw Chae Yoo-jeong waiting for me on the other side of the crosswalk.
“Why is he dressed up like that?”
Chae Yoo-jeong was wearing a white T-shirt and a light beige cardigan. He was so radiant and pretty that he could be seen at a glance even from a distance.
He was very different from me, who just pulled out whatever I could get my hands on.
Are you going to go on a date with a girl after meeting me briefly? In that case, I understand why you put so much care into what you wore.
‘I should have worn a brighter top.’
I was already tired from thinking that while I’m wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans, I will be walking around with that pure white guy. If I had come wearing a black hat, I would have looked like a complete criminal.
Looking at Chae Yoo-jeong, who was quietly standing next to the building, waiting for the signal to turn blue, two women approached him.
I thought they were going to give their phone number to him, but what the other person held out was not a cell phone, but a sketchbook and pen. Chae Yoo-jeong received the sketchbook and started scribbling down something. He appears to be signing autographs.
The signal changed just in time, but if you interrupt for no reason, the atmosphere will only become awkward. I deliberately waited until the women passed by and then went to Chae Yoo-jeong’s side.
“You’re popular?”
“Hyung...!”
Chae Yoo-jeong, who was looking at his watch with excitement, looked behind in surprise when he heard my voice. Then, as soon as he made eye contact with me, the corners of his ears blushed.
“Uh, since when have you been standing there?”
“I was across the street over there. I just got here?”
“I see.”
I stood crookedly, looked the shy Chae Yoo-jeong up and down, and lifted my chin.
“Let’s go, to talk somewhere. It doesn’t matter if we go into any cafe, right?”
“What? Oh no. Hyung.”
Chae Yu-jeong, holding my arm, hesitated for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“Let’s go see a movie.”
“.......”
This guy must be really crazy. Otherwise, there’s no way he could be this shameless.
Chae Yoo-jeong, who saw my expression becoming cold in real time, instantly became glum.
“I already made a reservation...………….”
“Who told you to do that?”
“You said it’s okay to watch a movie………”
When did I?
I was so shocked that my head started pounding. I touched my forehead and pulled out the arm he was holding.
“Ah, I’m so annoyed… alright. Let’s stop.”
“What? Hyung, wait...”
“Let’s just cancel this. Why did I come to meet you? I’ll delete your number, so don’t contact me again.”
When I spoke firmly and turned around, Chae Yoo-jeong, who had been blinking blankly, hurriedly grabbed my wrist.
“No, no. sorry. Let’s talk. Don’t go!”
The face of the guy who hurriedly stopped me was flushed with a mixture of surprise and embarrassment.
“I don’t want to get involved in your playfulness anymore.”
“I-I wasn’t joking. I’m sorry. I’m serious. Let’s go to a cafe. Let’s go to a cafe and talk, okay?”
Chae Yoo-jung, perhaps afraid that I might shake him off again, held onto my hand with both hands and begged.
“...You’re not going to say anything else like last time, right?”
“No, I won’t.”
When I glared at him with suspicion, Chae Yoo-jeong let the corners of his eyes droop down and pursed his lips. The rim of his eyes, visible under his long eyelashes, seemed like he was going to burst into tears if he was left like this any longer, so I sighed and nodded.
“There’s a cafe on the second floor of the building. Let’s go over there.”
***
“It’s not a lie that I look up to you.”
We took a seat in the corner of the cafe. Chae Yoo-jeong, who was sitting across from me with the drink I ordered, carefully looked at me and spoke carefully.
“Actually, I-I, started following Hyung on Hero.”
“What? When did you start playing?”
“When I was 18……”
“As far as I know, I think you started playing professionally when you were 20. So you made your professional debut right after two years of Hero?”
“Yes.”
“Hu……”
You debuted as a professional after only two years of playing the Hero, which is known for its difficulty?
Even though I’m good at most games, I had a hard time getting used to Hero. He probably only reached the Master tier in about 2 years. I reached the Master tier in two years, but this guy made his professional debut after reaching the Challenger level.
‘That’s amazing.’
This is the difference in innate talent. In other words, it meant that you had to reach this to be able to work as a professional. It couldn’t even be compared to ordinary people who play games.
“Hyung, you participated in an offline competition when you were 19 years old. You also won.”
“I did.”
“I went to see that too. Well, to be exact, I happened to stop by the game show where the competition was being held and saw it.”
The place where the Hero offline competition I participated in when I was 19 was held in BEXCO, Busan– where professional gaming events are held every year.
Like Hero, it was a large-scale game show where offline competitions for various games were held and new games were introduced.
“My friend asked me to go with him, so I went, and he said there’s a big Hero competition being held at that time. I was curious and looked around...………….”
While explaining with a faint smile, Yoo-jeong slowly closed his eyes, opened them, and made eye contact with me.
“I saw Hyung entering the booth. I kept watching you after that.”
“……”
“The game lasted for three days. I attended and watched Hyung play every day. When you won, I was the first to stand up and applaud.”
“……”
“I’ve been admiring you ever since.”
As I listened with fascination, I felt heat rising to the back of my neck as the explanation gradually became more and more embarrassing.
Isn’t he embarrassed? How can a man say things like that to another man?
“You can admire someone you’ve never seen before, even if it’s just playing a game?”
“I have always played various games since the beginning. It wasn’t just Hero, it was an FPS game, and I still have eyes for it, so I know right away who is the best.”
Yoo-jeong’s cheeks turned bright red as he naturally praised my skills.
“Hyung, you were really cool back then. Even though it was the finals, you completely overwhelmed the opposing jungle team.”
“That······.”
It was like that. It was also easier because my opponent made a lot of mistakes, probably because he was nervous because it was the finals.
“After the competition, I watched you wherever you showed up. Even when you did interviews and appeared on ‘Inbang’.”
“Um……”
“The reason I chose the jungler team position is because I admired Hyung. When I first started Hero, I learned by watching Hyung play games every day on the record site.”
“...So that’s why your Jungler play style always overlapped with mine?”
I already felt that his play style was similar to mine, but since he was a professional player and not a regular user, I just thought I was overly self-conscious and ignored it. Was that true?
Chae Yoo-jeong, who heard my question, looked embarrassed and answered.
“I didn’t mean to do that… I learned from watching Hyung, and without realizing it, we overlapped. I’m sorry.”
“No.”
It’s not something to apologize for.
To sum up, did I unintentionally raise a future rival? I never thought Chae Yoo-jeong would have seen that competition. It’s definitely something unexpected.
‘However······’
There’s still something a bit that makes me feel uneasy about it.
The content that Chae Yoo-jeong explained was flawless because it was true that I participated in that competition and won and it was quite possible that Chae Yoo-jeong, who happened to visit the game show, saw it.
But is that really all there is to it? Even if the average person who participated in an amateur competition looked cool, would they still like him 5 years later?
“Chae Yoo-jeong.”
“Yes?”
In the end, I couldn’t fully understand Chae Yoo-jeong and asked honestly.
“Is that the end? No other reason?”
“……”
The guy who was looking at me with a strange expression soon laughed.
“Of course not. What more could there be?”
“Couldn’t you have at least pretended to know this a long time ago? You probably heard about me from Tae-young.”
“...I didn’t.”
Chae Yu-jeong spoke softly in a voice that was somewhat lacking in energy, unlike before.
“It’s not easy to suddenly become friends and talk about this. It was enough for me to often meet Hyung in ranked games.”
“Hmm.......”
If that’s the case for the parties. It would be difficult to be more suspicious in this situation.
‘If Chae Yoo-jeong is Yoo Chae, then he has known me for 5 years.’
While I gave up Hero and went to college, did Chae Yoo-jeong start Zenoris while playing Hero occasionally? Because he was busy playing professionally before that, he couldn’t play other games.
I was working hard to piece together the explanation he gave me, but Chae Yoo-jeong, who had been looking at me hesitantly, called out to me.
“Hyung, I told you everything………….”
“Ah, yeah. I heard you well.”
“Yeah… You’re not deleting my number anymore, are you?”
“Okay.”
Chae Yoo-jeong let out a small sigh of relief as I responded harshly.
When I saw that, I felt like I had somehow tormented a small animal. I’m the one who suffered, but why do I have to feel this way?
“Then… Is there nothing more to do?”
“That’s right.”
“……Are you just going home?”
“Do you have any plans after this?”
“No...”
You don’t? Since you came out dressed up, I thought you had some other appointment.
I checked Chae Yoo-jeong’s condition while drinking the iced Americano I ordered earlier. The guy with his shoulders down glanced at me as if he had something to say.
It’s obvious what he’s thinking. Even though I wanted to just ignore it, it wasn’t easy because what Chae Yoo-jeong said kept lingering in my head.
It wasn’t enough that he started Hero after me, but he liked me enough that it set him as a jungler professionally, so it was difficult for me to keep this calm.
“Get up.”
“Okay?”
Finally, I put down my glass and got up.
“Let’s go watch a movie.”
“...What?”
“Let’s go. You said you had no other plans.”
Chae Yoo-jeong looked up at me blankly, with his eyes wide as if he was surprised.
It was only after a while that Chae Yoo-jeong understood what I meant, and he smiled the brightest I had ever seen. His laughter, like a flower blooming, created an optical illusion as if the surroundings were brightening.
“You’re the best!”
Chae Yoo-jeong, who shouted brightly with his flushed cheeks, sat down and suddenly hugged my waist.
“What…………!”
Goosebumps appeared all over my body. Why is this crazy guy acting like this all of a sudden?
“Let go of me right now… Let go…….”
“Can’t I just hold you a little longer?”
“Did I agree with this?”
Even under my sharp gaze, Chae Yoo-jeong was groaning all day long.
“Hyung, I really like doing this…………….”
I think I’ve heard this before. Where did I hear that from?
“If you’re going to stop talking nonsense and want to go see it, get up quickly.”
“Yep.”
Chae Yoo-jeong quickly stood up and left the cafe. He followed me, clinging to me.
I felt like I was playing with my little brother and headed to the movie theater.
—----
Note:
[-1]
In-bang: Abbreviation for Internet broadcasting.
---
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor: Meimei
Support on KoFi
MM: No wonder YC could effortlessly defeat him before. Since YC learned from him, all his habits and actions could easily be foreseen.
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