NOVEL NEXT Chapter 38
…It’s freakin’ cold.
Park Joon-soo squirmed and shivered as he exited his small apartment.
This was the season when he should have been leisurely enjoying his winter break.
Sure, lounging at a PC bang and grinding ranked games might not be the best idea, but it was definitely better than coming to school in this freezing weather.
Still, the reason why he showed up at school early in the morning today was—
Damn seasonal classes.
Despite having replenished his alcohol levels last night, he felt even colder, proving that breaks are actually a lovely thing.
‘…If I had known this would happen, I should’ve attended a few classes in advance. The seniors definitely said this professor doesn’t check attendance…’
The seniors weren’t totally wrong.
The professor was quite notorious for not checking attendance, and it was true in this instance.
He just happened to be unlucky.
Word had it that only three students showed up to the lecture.
Unsurprisingly, the professor marked the missing students as absent, and Joon-soo’s already shaky attendance record plummeted to an immediate F.
“Sigh.”
Who could he blame?
It was all his own fault.
‘Two-hour break after lunch. Guess I should hit the PC bang.’
Usually, seasonal classes featured just a couple of supplementary subjects, but not for Park Joon-soo.
He had complained so much about school that the supplementary lectures piled up like a mountain.
It felt more real than real semester.
Sigh.
Just as Joon-soo sighed and was about to leave the classroom—
“Hey, aren’t you on break this time?”
Maybe it was because he barely knew anyone during seasonal classes, but a classmate he usually only said casual hellos to suddenly struck up a conversation.
Kim Soo-hyun was his name.
Thanks to his outgoing personality, he was involved in various activities both inside and outside the department.
Seeing his usual passionate self made it a bit unusual for him to be at seasonal classes, but Joon-soo dismissed it.
Guess he was aiming for early graduation or something.
“Yeah.”
“Perfect! I need to work on an assignment, but how about we grab some food and then head to the PC bang?”
“Well, okay.”
There was no real reason or need to refuse, so Joon-soo agreed without hesitation.
Originally, he planned to head back to his apartment for a casual game or two, but a trip to the PC bang wasn’t a bad idea at all.
Above all, his apartment was freezing, with the heater completely off. Plus, given he’d only be there for two hours, turning on the heating seemed excessive.
That wasn’t the only reason.
‘Guess I won’t have to go to the convenience store today.’
Even in this era of solo dining and drinking, eating alone at college isn’t the easiest thing.
“What do you want to eat?”
Joon-soo gave a vague answer to Soo-hyun’s question.
“Anything.”
“If you say ‘anything’ one more time, I’m dragging you to eat tteokbokki.”
Oh no, not that.
While Joon-soo didn’t dislike tteokbokki, it wasn’t something he wanted for lunch… it felt just a bit off, for reasons he couldn’t articulate.
“Wanna get dak-galbi? They have a lunch special.”
At a nearby franchise dak-galbi place, you could get a serving of dak-galbi fried rice for 8,000 won.
Adding noodles or udon would make for a solid lunch, so that choice attracted Joon-soo.
“There it is.”
After having a hearty lunch, Joon-soo and Soo-hyun set off toward the PC bang.
“…Huh? Wait a sec.”
“Why?”
Soo-hyun abruptly stopped and went into a café they had just passed.
He had suggested ordering coffee at the PC bang earlier, so it seemed he spotted someone he recognized.
Joon-soo hesitated whether to follow Soo-hyun in, but he froze when he saw his reflection in the window.
‘…Yuri?’
Wasn’t she the one who dashed out earlier?
Yuri was quite famous within and outside their major.
Her sociable personality was one thing, but her striking looks made her stand out everywhere.
He had heard that her mother was a famous announcer or something?
Adding a bit of exaggeration, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that over half the boys in their department had a crush on Yuri.
In fact, a few bold classmates had bravely confessed only to awkwardly retreat after being shot down.
Even Joon-soo, who wasn’t particularly invested in school life, found himself paying attention to Yuri’s whereabouts.
‘Is she taking long?’
Ultimately, Joon-soo walked into the café.
Getting too close felt a bit awkward, so he maintained some distance.
Yuri was with someone.
And…
‘Huh?’
The moment Joon-soo caught sight of the girl next to Yuri, his reality wavered.
“…….”
What was this? What did I just see?
Thin, silver hair sticking out from under a cap.
Rosiness on her cheeks.
Her features radiating an exotic, no, mystical aura.
She wasn’t simply pretty.
She had something that transcended mere beauty, something indescribable.
Even more astonishing was that the girl who looked like she could barely be in high school was Yuri’s older sister.
“Unnie.”
“…What?”
“Shall we go too?”
Lost in thought, he ended up at the PC bang with them.
They awkwardly sat next to each other, but the distance felt strange to call them a group.
Of course, they weren’t going to play games together, so Joon-soo booted up Legends of League as per his original plan.
While he was engrossed in the game, a delicate voice resonated in his ear.
“You shouldn’t go to bot right now.”
…Huh?
What did I just hear?
“…Or not?”
At first, he thought he might’ve misheard it.
But the more he mulled it over, the more it became evident that this voice couldn’t just be a figment of his imagination.
‘What was that?’
He couldn’t focus on the game at all.
His brain felt overloaded with excessive information.
Given the unfavorable circumstances of the game, things didn’t bode well for the team since their key mid laner couldn’t even concentrate.
[Defeat]
Joon-soo lost.
‘Huh?’
After losing the game, Joon-soo glanced to the left.
It wasn’t so much that he was intentionally staring, but rather he just happened to stretch and ended up looking.
‘E-sports article? Legends of League?’
Joon-soo’s confusion deepened.
Based on the information he had, it seemed likely that the voice he had just heard belonged to Yuri’s sister.
As absurd as it sounded, he couldn’t shake off his suspicion.
“…Do you watch Legends of League tournaments?”
“Excuse me?”
Ultimately, he couldn’t hold back and blurted out his question.
He merely tried to make casual conversation, but his heart raced like crazy.
“Oh… yes. Occasionally.”
“Gotcha.”
Then silence ensued.
Joon-soo mustered his courage.
“I guess you don’t play games?”
“Oh, I used to, but not right now.”
“Which games do you play mainly?”
“Um… various ones.”
Despite trying to clarify his questions, the conversation only made Joon-soo’s head spin further.
‘What the heck?’
If he just gathered the information provided, it certainly seemed that the one with the earlier guidance was Yuri’s sister.
But did this person, who looked like they’d never cared about gaming, really give advice to someone like him who was in Dia 4?
There was a disconnect he couldn’t reconcile.
‘This won’t do. I need to find out.’
There weren’t many ways to do this.
He just needed to pretend to be a novice and awkwardly ask for help.
“Someone should share advice…”
Honestly, it was super embarrassing to do this.
As Joon-soo was building up feelings of self-loathing,
“Seems like Sylas would be a good choice.”
An unbelievable voice chimed in.
“Excuse me?”
“Um… from what I saw in the tournament, they often pick Sylas in this situation. Right?”
“…That does sound right.”
And then the game began.
-Welcome to the battlefield of Summoner’s Rift.
Perhaps feeling free of constraints, Yuri’s sister began to voice her thoughts, almost as if she was releasing pent-up words.
Of course, she wasn’t really speaking to Joon-soo; it felt more like she was talking to herself.
“I think I should manage a back timing now… gotta save that ult.”
Initially, Joon-soo wondered why he had to hear that. But as the game progressed, it became more challenging and convoluted, leading him to just go along with her suggestions.
“Our top is recalling. If we roam to bot now, we can get support from the top teleport, we’re bound to win…”
“The enemy jungler just backed. If we take the dragon now, it’s free… Oh dear, our jungler backed too.”
If she said to manage timings, he managed them. If she said to roam, he roamed.
“Steal Sett’s ult and engage; we could totally reverse the teamfight.”
“The enemy has no vision around Baron. If we burst it down, we can take it.”
They did what they were told.
[Victory]
And they won.
It was an astonishingly easy win.
‘What just happened?’
Joon-soo was left dumbfounded.
Had Legends of League become such an easy game?
It wasn’t even that he had good luck with the team. Their top laner picked up two solo kills, and even the bot lane had frequent major setbacks in 2v2 skirmishes.
Yet with the enchanting voice in his ear guiding him step by step, they somehow ended up victorious.
‘Can just watching tournaments make you this good?’
He was in Dia, one of the high tiers, reigning above countless others, statistically among the top 1%.
But judging by her appearance, this person looked like they had zero interest in games.
Joon-soo couldn’t contain his rising curiosity any longer.
“Uh… could I ask what your tier is?”
He knew better than anyone how rude it was to ask someone their rank right off the bat, especially when they just met, yet he couldn’t hold back.
“It’s a secret.”
“…What?”
“It’s a secret.”
The instant she flashed him a light smile, Joon-soo felt his heart literally skip a beat.
‘If I die now, I won’t have regrets.’
But then the divine voice pulled him back from his daydream.
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“Stop delaying the queue.”
“…….”
That day, Joon-soo became Dia 3—
And ended up being late for his supplementary lecture.
*
“Ugh.”
Stretching dramatically, I stepped out of the PC bang with my younger sister.
My sister’s friend and Male Peer 1 had left the PC bang before us.
They said they were late for their supplementary lecture… I felt a bit sorry since we held them back for too long.
In the end, we didn’t get to play a game at the PC bang, but we did get our fill of other things, so I wasn’t disappointed.
‘Games can be played later anyway.’
Of course, whether there would be an opportunity to do that was a different issue entirely.
‘Now that I think about it, I didn’t even catch their names.’
To be giving advice without even a basic introduction… I figured that didn’t leave a great impression.
On the way home, my younger sister looked at me and asked,
“Did you have fun?”
Even though the question felt like it was meant for a child, for some reason, I replied innocently.
“Yeah.”