༺ An Awkward Reunion ༻
“Hey, Taemin. Can’t you go to the club with me just for today?”
“No.”
This was Seo Yoonje, my classmate.
Today as well, this guy had been tirelessly begging me to go to the club with him.
“Ah, seriously… It’s real exhausting to go alone. Having a guy like you around makes things easier, you know?”
It was a mistake going along with him when he begged me to come the last time.
As someone who prefers using earphones in a quiet room like me, I felt like my eardrums were going to burst from the loud music. That club also reeked with the smell of cigarettes.
“Ah, I don’t like clubs. You can go seducing women on your own. Didn’t I tell you to go with other guys? Huh? How many times have I said that already?”
I felt like a broken record.
“Damn it… Man, nobody in our class is as good-looking as you, you know? That’s why I’m sticking close to you, to have some of your good looks rub off on me~ So, Taemin, are you coming?”
He probably thought that I’d be happy to hear him praising my face and seeing him suck up to me.
And so, I decided to take drastic measures by telling him only half of the truth.
“Hey. I need to go on dates too.”
Yoonje’s eyes turned wide at my words.
“Huh, what? There’s a girl that caught your attention? Fuck me, why didn’t you tell me? Is she from our college? Don’t tell me she’s from our department?”
“You don’t need to know. Anyway, I have a class so I’ll go on ahead.”
After glossing it over, I gave Yoonje a few taps on the shoulder, got up with a tray in my hand, and headed to the tray return counter.
A hot-looking dude enjoying a woman’s company could definitely be considered a great blessing to have, right?
However, what could be more annoying than a dude like that who wasn’t even interested in women?
“Hello~”
“Oh? Taemin Oppa, hello~”
After passing through the hallway, while standing in front of the elevator, two juniors, probably from the same department as me, greeted me.
“Ah, hello.”
Right after I bowed my head a bit with a soulless greeting, I took out my phone just in case they’d ask me questions.
‘Don’t talk to me. Don’t talk to me. Don’t talk to me. Don’t talk to me.’
‘I don’t want to get close to you at all.’
After exiting the school building, I hurriedly ran to the bus stop.
I hastened my steps like this for a reason.
‘Seriously, Luka-tan… why do you start a stream at such an awkward time?’
[daytime live stream after a long time. community stream, playing with viewers~]
After seeing Luka’s stream title, I let out a curse.
A community stream, at that… a community stream….
Everytime she held a community stream like this, I always tried to join, but I never got picked even once.
Whether the game she played required two players or a hundred players, the results were the same.
There were times when I wondered if I should actually change my username, but that wasn’t possible.
[Lucario]
That was my Twitch name.
A few months ago, Luka read my donation and praised my name, so I couldn’t just get rid of the name that seemed to be cursed.
「Ohh~ Lucario-nim~ that’s a pretty good name? Ah, is this the name of that monster? Anyway, thank you for the 1,000 won donation~」
Of course, she didn’t even answer the content of my donation properly and just moved on. Even so, my heart was bursting with excitement over the fact that Luka liked my name. There was also the possibility that she might go, ‘Ah, there’s a subscriber with that name~’ in the future.
I jumped off the bus I was on, hurried to my studio, and quickly entered the password.
-Beep, beep. beep, beeeep.
Ah shit… I pressed it too fast and made a mistake.
I calmly entered the number again, flung the shoes I had already taken off, and pressed the computer power button.
After that, I tossed my bag, took off my coat, and grabbed my phone to unlock the lock screen.
“Ah… Please, make this game last longer…”
The game was nearing the end before I knew it.
Who won or lost depended on the outcome of this fight.
「Ah… Please…! Please…! Someone please save Luka-tan…! Aarrgh!」
The sound of Luka hitting the keyboard lodged in my ears like an ASMR.
Being the Attack Damage Carry (ADC), Luka was targeted by the enemy team.
If she had even the slightest game sense, she’d be able to dodge their abilities, but the problem here was her gaming skill was awful.
Thanks to the stun from the enemy’s ability, she ended up dying.
After losing their ADC, the rest of the viewers took off in all directions and started getting hunted down by the enemy team.
The result was obviously a total defeat.
「Ah… I’m really sorry… We could’ve won if I had reacted faster.」
Luka was sincerely apologizing but the chat was rather lackluster compared to her over-the-top reaction.
[Dang Luka-tan. I knew you wouldn’t dodge it~]
[if she dodged it, that means her boyfriend’s playing, LOL]
[so true kek]
[seeing luka lose makes me so happy]
Of course, I would’ve spammed ‘I knew it~ lol’ if I had turned on my computer.
「You guys are so mean… I could’ve dodged if I wanted to, you know? I’m only like this on streams. I’m good when I’m playing solo!」
Luka’s avatar turned sullen at the endless stream of lukewarm reaction.
[oh, so luka-tan’s inting?]1T/N: Inting/Intentionally feeding/Trolling on purpose
As one viewer began to clown her, the chat blew up with messages supporting Luka’s trolling accusation.
800 people were watching her even though it wasn’t the prime streaming time.
「Huu… at this rate, watashi has no choice but to prove it with my skills. Alright. Let’s pick the next viewers~」
I let out a satisfied smile watching Luka smoothly proceed with the stream without getting swept up in the moment.
It made me remember how she used to spend half an hour explaining herself whenever the chat brought up this topic.
Now she’s left her newbie phase and became a pro streamer.
By the way, how come I couldn’t hear the computer turning on?
I raised my head after spending the entire time seated in the chair staring at my phone.
[Updating 17%]
[Do not turn off]
Ugh, this fucking computer.
This thing cost a ton, but it always started an update at the worst possible times.
In the end, I could only watch Luka play a game with other viewers because I missed the timing.
It didn’t mean that being a spectator was any less fun.
Seeing her doing her best was fun even if she was kinda bad, so was watching some people who shared the same braincells at me joking around in the chat.
This was a long game, but it was still very exciting because both teams sucked.
[wow… they aren’t human…]
[Now this is a game.]
[luka-nim! i don’t think this is the time to do that…]
Luka was so busy moving her character around that she failed to notice the flood of feedback and tips.
During a downtime for both teams to gain more experience points without engaging in combat…
The enemy team’s assassin, who was probably a stream sniper, killed her champion with a single combo.
「Ah! Fuck!」
Luka let out an ear-piercing scream as she couldn’t hold back her anger.
-Tak
Then, a violent sound of her keyboard being slammed echoed.
「Ah, this isn’t right… Why were you hiding there? …Are you sniping me? Seriously, this is no fun…!」
Seeing Luka get upset, her viewers spammed axe emojis in the chat.
[What’s that bastard’s username?]
[pinkster call lets get him~~~]2T/N: Buster call from One Piece
[Kill him!]
Because she was on the death screen, Luka had the leniency to check the chat and quickly extinguish the fire.
「Everyone! You know that you shouldn’t go to that person’s profile and curse at him, right? That’s not how our Pink Army should behave, okay? You can only act rude in my chat, okay?」
Luka pleaded with them to hold back their anger with a soft voice since there had been numerous complaints from users who claimed to have suffered harm due to the terror directed at them in the name of avenging Luka.
In the end, her team naturally got picked off and lost the game because of that stream sniping bastard.
「Phew… Ah… That was a fun game… What a shame…」
There were a few times when they were close to winning even with a stream sniper around.
While I felt bad for Luka, I was secretly glad to see her lose.
I had thirty minutes until a group project meeting for one of my major courses.
Just enough time to play a single game if I got picked.
The game might take a while, but I could always just ask her to start ten minutes earlier.
「What time is it, everyone?」
Luka’s gaze went to the bottom of the monitor.
「Ah… I was going to play one more game, but I have something to do, too bad~ Alright, I’ll end the live stream here~ everyone, Lubyee~」
No, Luka-tan…! I even logged in to the game and waited…!
This can’t be happening…! No way…!
It felt like my soul was leaving my body.
[lubyelubye]
[Lubyee!!]
[Why are you leaving already! Why are you leaving already! Why are you leaving already! Why are you leaving already! Why are you leaving already!]
[lubyee~]
[Lubye]
[When are you coming backㅠ﹏ㅠWhen are you coming backㅠ﹏ㅠWhen are you coming backㅠ﹏ㅠ]
Oh well, it couldn’t be helped.
I logged on to Voicecord in a dejected mood shortly after the stream ended.
Well… At least I get to do this meeting at home instead of at school or somewhere else.
Ah… Right, this group project…
Hmmm…
I let out a deep sigh after scanning the group member’s name.
[Kim Doah]
I was in the same group as the girl I had rejected, until the end of this semester.
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