98.
The blood in my entire body turned cold. The anticipation that had been swelling without knowing any limits exploded and disappeared without leaving a trace.
“And it was so noisy in here that I couldn’t hear what you just said.”
His blushing cheeks instantly turned pale. Before Chae Yoo-jeong, who was frozen in shock, could say anything, an unfamiliar voice came between them.
“Yoo Ji-han!”
He was one of the teammates who played with Yoo Ji-han. He was a far distant dealer.
“What are you doing if you’re not coming? They say the interview will start right away.”
“Crazy. I’m going, I’m going.”
When a teammate urged Yoo Ji-han by putting his arm around his shoulder, he slightly bowed in response to the other person. Then he glanced at Chae Yoo-jeong one last time and immediately turned his back.
“You said you didn’t sleep last night, but you seem really tired.”
“A little?”
“Hey, you still have to eat dinner. Didn’t you say you’d eat beef if you won?”
The sound of Yoo Ji-han and his teammate chatting gradually became more distant. Chae Yoo-jeong, who had been watching Yoo Ji-han’s back as he entered the interview booth, lowered his head only after the booth door was closed.
‘How.......’
How can you not remember a thing? It’s only been 4 years. Just 4 years.
‘I’ve had dreams a few times. I have been waiting for this day. But why don’t you remember me? I told you my name too…’
“-Unn, I’ll remember.”
‘Four years ago, when I told him my name, Yoo Ji-han’s answer lingered in my ear. The lips that gently turned up when looking at me and the friendly hand that stroked my head.’
‘It’s unfair and sad. I felt like I had been betrayed.’
Chae Yoo-jeong bit his lip and barely swallowed the sad feeling that rose up to the end of his throat. Only the corners of his eyes turned red on his white face.
The face of Yoo Ji-han, who jokingly asked him to call him Oppa the next time he saw him, overlapped with the face of Yoo Ji-han, who did not recognize him and smiled shyly.
Then his immense sense of helplessness hit him like a tidal wave. Chae Yoo-jeong let out a long, exhausted breath.
Actually... I know it well. This wasn’t a bad thing about Yoo Ji-han. Originally, he was not a particularly memorable person, not only to Yoo Ji-han but also to everyone.
It wasn’t that Yoo Ji-han maliciously ignored him, so there was no way he could truly hold a grudge.
A splitting headache came over his head. Chae Yoo-jeong closed his eyes tightly and soon left the place, leading his tired body away.
Suddenly the surrounding air was very cool. Chae Yoo-jeong walked away helplessly, with his shoulders drooping like a wounded animal.
***
When he returned to Seoul, Chae Yoo-jeong suffered from body aches for a full week. Nevertheless, his image of Yoo Ji-han never left his mind and appeared every moment.
At this point, Chae Yoo-jeong declared his surrender to Yoo Ji-han. He felt like he wanted to forget Yoo Ji-han and live his life free of him. But now it was close to impossible.
‘Just meeting Yoo Ji-han, who had forgotten me, shocked me, and left me sick for a week. How can I completely forget someone like that? No matter how resentful or unfair it was, I couldn’t do anything.’
‘It’s hard.......’
Chae Yoo-jeong became uncomfortable with his own broken head for the first time. If he had lived like everyone else, he wouldn’t have had to go through this pain. He found his abnormal obsession too much.
So Chae Yoo-jeong started playing the ‘Hero of Legends’ game that Yoo Ji-han played. At least he was able to forget the feeling that was squeezing his heart when he played that game.
Three months passed by in an instant as he focused on the game, looking up the game guide and copying Yoo Ji-han’s play. Around that time, the woman asked Chae Yoo-jeong to move out of the mansion and live elsewhere. It was the spring of the year Chae Yoo-jeong turned 19.
He lived alone in a large apartment. Chae Yoo-jeong only goes to and from school, he doesn’t see anyone, and he puts a lot of effort into Hero. Chae Yoo-jeong was originally better at games than others, but when he decided to put in the time and effort, his skills improved at an incredible rate.
“No, what about aunt… really…”
Later, Yoo Gyeong-seok came to his house after hearing that Chae Yoo-jeong had moved into another apartment and that he was living alone. Yoo Gyeong-seok asked, patting himself on the chest with an upset expression on his face.
“Hey, Yoo-jeong. Are you really okay living alone?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He lives alone, but he didn’t have any inconveniences because the woman took care of his living expenses and even sent someone to clean the house. He wasn’t much different from how he was now when he lived in the mansion anyway.
“Are you taking your medicine well?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Okay. Be sure to take your medicine. And if anything happens, call me right away…”
It was at that time when Yoo Gyeong-seok sighed at Chae Yoo-jeong’s calm attitude and started nagging him like he always did. Yoo Gyeong-seok was surprised when he checked the monitor that Chae Yoo-jeong used, and he could see beyond the chair where he was sitting.
“What, that’s Hero. Do you play Hero?”
Yoo Gyeong-seok came to see him right before the Solo Rank queue started, so he left the game window open. It wasn’t something he had to hide, so Chae Yoo-jeong nodded his head earnestly.
“Since when did you start playing this?”
“4 months ago.”
“Four months ago? Four months later, you’ve reached Diamond Tier 1? Wow, your solo queue win rate is over 70%, right?”
If you were Diamond Tier 1, you could advance to Master Tier by winning a few more games.
Above all, being able to reach that high of a tier in just 4 months while maintaining a 70%-win rate was a truly genius talent.
‘He was hooked with Hero after seeing the competition at the Busan Game Show!’
Yoo Gyeong-seok, who had been a gaming otaku since birth and also worked as a professional player, misunderstood that Chae Yoo-jeong was into gaming like he was.
“Yoo-jeong, would you like to take a test to join our team? If you practice for about a year, you can become a talented player.”
“Not interested.”
“No! Why aren’t you interested? Are you afraid you’ll lose? Have confidence!”
“I said I’m not interested.”
“It would really be okay if you came back to the dorm instead of staying at home alone, right? I’ll contact the director right away and set up a test date, so just give it a try, okay?”
“…….”
Chae Yoo-jeong frowned, annoyed by Yoo Gyeong-seok who didn’t even pretend to listen to him. He was about to refuse again, but before he could, Yoo Kyung-seok persuaded him with an excited look.
“If you become a professional gamer, you will have many friends with similar interests. A lot of Hero players love it when they meet a professional player while playing solo queue. You can play the game to your heart’s content without worrying about what’s going on around you.”
Yoo Gyeong-seok recited a series of stories that could be tempting to Chae Yoo-jeong, who was much younger than him. And among them, what caught Chae Yoo-jeong’s heart was none other than the part that said, ‘Players like professional players.’
“Really?”
“Unn?”
“Will they really like me? Of normal players... meet professional players?”
Yoo Gyeong-seok, who was momentarily taken aback by Chae Yoo-jeong’s question with twinkling eyes, nodded his head willingly.
“Of course. I know because I tried it. Even the enemy team said they were fans in the entire chat.”
“...I’ll just do a test.”
“Really? What’s going on? You really won’t change your mind? I’ll contact the director now and set up a schedule.”
Yoo Gyeong-seok took out his cell phone with excitement. Chae Yoo-jeong, who was watching Yoo Gyeong-seok talking on the phone with the director, thought of Yoo Ji-han out of habit.
Upon the recommendation of Yoo Gyeong-seok, Yoo-jeong took a test to join the LVS team and, of course, passed. First, a plan was made to train as a trainee for a year and debut at the spring competition in March of next year.
Chae Yoo-jeong, who moved out of his apartment and lived in a dormitory, began to learn the game more systematically among managers, coaches, and professional players. He had already reached the end of Master and was about to be promoted to Challenger.
In the fall of his 19th year, Chae Yoo-jeong, who had finished practicing for scrimmages as usual and was queuing up the early morning solo queue, noticed that the enemy team’s Jungler username was remarkably familiar.
Unknowingly, Chae Yoo-jeong took a deep breath and covered his mouth with his hand, glaring at the loading window. No matter how many times he rubbed his eyes and checked, his opponent Jungler’s username did not change.
“Oh, the other team has ‘I’m Sleepy’?”
At that moment, the team’s mid laner Seo Tae-young, who was passing behind Chae Yoo-jeong, looked at Chae Yoo-jeong’s screen and pretended not to notice. Chae Yoo-jeong, who had been staring blankly at the monitor, finally came to his senses after hearing those words.
“You know him? I’m sleepy... this guy?”
“Ji-han? He’s really close to me. He’s grown a lot. Previously, I also met Ji-han in the solo queue. Does a really excellent job as a jungler.”
Chae Yoo-jeong became irritated for no reason at the explanation that Seo Tae-young gave as if he was bragging. Seo Tae-young confidently called Yoo Ji-han ‘Ji-han’ and proudly said that he was close to him, which was extremely annoying.
He knows very well that Yoo Ji-han is good at being a Jungler!
However, there was no way that Chae Yoo-jeong, who had no relationship with Yoo Ji-han, could tell Seo Tae-young such feelings. He pursed his lips in exasperation and focused his mind on the monitor where the game started.
This is the game he played when he first met Yoo Ji-han. He will concentrate unconditionally and remember everything from one to ten. Chae Yoo-jeong even turned on his screen recording program just in case.
HM: And this is where CYJ’s strange obsession started…..
GX: The seeds of obsession that were sown, finally grew. Oh how they have bloomed.
---
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor: Meimei, Ghostx
Support on Kofi:
HM: I feel a bit sad for YC.
GX: 4 years of dreaming, and hoping. Yet the person who he dreams of doesn’t remember him.
We made a Discord Server! please join us!
Comments