He asked just in case, and it really was ‘OurMomAMillion’. Bae Sinhyo looked Pyeonghwa up and down as if surprised. He wasn’t conventionally handsome, but he had looks that would make 100 out of 100 people agree he was handsome.
Pyeonghwa grinned and brazenly asked, ‘Surprised I’m handsome?’ Bae Sinhyo didn’t want to acknowledge ‘OurMomAMillion’, so he replied spitefully for no reason.
—Handsome my ass. You look like a fucking fox.
—You look like a commie.
—Wow… You really are ‘OurMomAMillion’.
—Thanks.
His chat and actual speech were identical, but hearing it in person wasn’t that irritating. He was smaller in stature than kids his age and resembled a baby fox, so even when he spoke provocatively, he was just cute. Though his pride wouldn’t allow him to acknowledge a boy his age as cute.
Bae Sinhyo deliberately poked at the chicken mayo rice bowl and hotdog Pyeonghwa gave him and sneered.
—You said you wanted to learn games from me? You pissed me off, and you think this is enough?
—Ah, sorry. I didn’t know you’d be such a pig.
—What?
—Do you need to eat like 5 servings to be full? Order it, order it. I’ve got lots of allowance.
—Hey, you just said to me…!
—Fuck it, it’s my treat! I’ll even pay for the PC room!
—Tha, okay, geez…
Bae Sinhyo lost his words and just gaped. There was no sense of intent to mess with him on Pyeonghwa’s innocent face.
Kim Subin placed a hand on Bae Sinhyo’s shoulder and nodded as if he understood everything.
—He’s not a bad kid.
The first impression was the worst, but the two quickly grew close thanks to their common ground of gaming.
When gaming, Bae Sinhyo moved trusting his instinctive sense. Perhaps because of that, until now there had been no one who properly understood when he explained how to play games. It was natural since all he did was roughly demonstrate and say ‘Easy, right?’
But Pyeonghwa understood perfectly even when Bae Sinhyo explained like crap. He even applied it in his own way. Surrounding friends couldn’t properly understand their conversation. People around them grouped the two together saying ‘Geniuses really do understand each other’.
The person who wanted to become friends first was Pyeonghwa, but after that, Bae Sinhyo was much more proactive.
—Hey, Noh Pyeonghwa! Let’s play games!
After school, Bae Sinhyo ran to the PC room where Pyeonghwa was every single day. Other friends gradually became scarce attending academies, but Bae Sinhyo who had no interest in studying and Pyeonghwa who had no one home even if he went camped at the PC room and only played games.
On weekends too, during vacations too, they naturally gathered and crossed between this game and that game.
—Who’s your best friend? For me, ahem, these days it’s you…
—Well. Is it Kim Subin?
—What? Fuck, why is it Kim Subin when you hang out with me every day?
—I see Kim Subin every day too since we’re in the same class.
—That guy only studies at school all the time!
—I study with him too though?
—What…? You study…? What’s your rank…?
—Last semester I was 10th in the whole school. Fuck, my grades dropped so much playing games with you.
—…
Pyeonghwa was smart enough to rank 10th in the whole school while only playing games after school. Bae Sinhyo looked at Pyeonghwa with a face like he’d been hit in the back of the head.
—You, then are you going to a regular high school?
—Kim Subin said let’s go to science high school together, so I’m registering for academy starting second year.
—Ha, Kim Subin again… So you won’t play games with me next year?
—I can’t do it like now. But don’t you have to prepare for Hunter High School or something and that’s tough?
—…I don’t want to go to Hunter High. I didn’t even want to contract with such a strong Constellation in the first place.
Bae Sinhyo’s family was a prestigious Hunter household. His paternal side operated one of the Big 5 Hunter guilds, and his maternal side were high-ranking public officials belonging to the Hunter Association.
Because of that, the family’s expectations for Bae Sinhyo, who contracted with a strong Constellation, were considerable. Right now they were letting him play freely since he was young, but from high school they planned to enter full-scale Hunter education.
But Bae Sinhyo had a major disqualification. When a situation arose where he had to fight someone, his vision went dark and cold sweat flowed. When he was little, he wet himself, and recently he’d even fainted.
It was a secret he’d hidden tightly because he didn’t want his weakness discovered, but… he confessed honestly to Pyeonghwa.
—Actually I… hate fighting. Not fighting in games, I mean actual violent stuff.
—Who likes that?
—My family likes it. Always sparring, sparring! Ha, I’m sick to death of it. But I’ve never properly sparred. Before starting, ahem… I faint.
—What a scaredy-cat.
—Then what can I do when it’s scary? If I go to Hunter High like this I’ll just become someone’s errand boy. If I could at least study well like you, I’d see a future, but I’m dead last in school and can’t do anything…
—What do you mean you can’t do anything? You’re good at games.
—Huh?
—Just become a pro gamer, dumbass. Then you only have to fight well when gaming, so what’s the problem?
—Pro… gamer?
—Hey, look at this. There’s even a place called Gaming High School. You go here. Stop whining.
Bae Sinhyo nodded with a dumbfounded face. Pro gamer. He’d thought about it, but it was a dream he’d quickly shaken off because he was scared of his parents. When Pyeonghwa pushed his back with a firm tone, it felt like he could really dream it.
But he didn’t want to be alone. Bae Sinhyo wanted to be with Pyeonghwa next year, the year after… and forever going forward.
—Noh Pyeonghwa, so… don’t go to science high school with Kim Subin… Can’t you go to gaming high school with me…?
—Hmm, at gaming high you only play games even during class?
—Probably…? Since it’s a school that cultivates pro gamers…
—Let me think.
—Until when?
—Done thinking. I’ll become a pro gamer too.
The two who came to face the same goal stuck together for all three years. They entered game competitions together and won awards, registered at esports academies and conquered academies nationwide.
For the genius middle school duo, high school admissions were a piece of cake.
Pyeonghwa thought of Bae Sinhyo as more than a friend. More than a friend… meaning like a brother.
But it didn’t take long to learn that friendship was as thin as paper.
Even before entering Gaming High School, the gaming industry was buzzing because of <Last On>, but no one predicted the existing game market would collapse that quickly.
In the rapidly changing society, Pyeonghwa, a non-Awakener, was weeded out.
And Bae Sinhyo…
“Argh! I’m going to die before that bastard!”
Pyeonghwa pounded his chest with a frustrated heart. With a short seventeen-year life, there wasn’t much to look back on and reminisce. Most of it was related to Bae Sinhyo, which only made him feel dirtier.
Pyeonghwa jumped up and grabbed a large rock that had been sucked in along with the dirt.
“I should at least leave a will.”
Pyeonghwa hadn’t told anyone he was going to receive Gate waves. No, he had no one to tell.
His father rarely came home, and most of his friends overlapped with Bae Sinhyo so he’d cut contact long ago. Being alone was a bit lonely, but he rationalized it was perfect for preparing for admissions.
As a result, a situation was about to unfold where no one would know even if he died.
‘Ah shit, I shouldn’t have blocked Kim Subin when he contacted me…’
Regretting it in this situation wouldn’t change anything, but he couldn’t stop thinking. Pyeonghwa sniffled and scratched the wall with the rock.
He hoped that Hunters who entered the Gate in the future would at least know that a person named Noh Pyeonghwa died here.
[Noh Pyeonghwa died at age 17 RIP]
[Seoul Jungnang-gu Myeonmok-dong xx-x]
[My dad Noh Baram<-010-xxxx-xxxx]
[Moms: Yuseon, Mija, Gyeonghun, Catherine, Hayeon, Saeyoung, Huina, Myeongju, Gangik, Ahmad…]
Writing the moms’ names one by one, his arm lost strength. They might have forgotten his existence by now, but still, he couldn’t leave out the people who raised him from his will.
Pyeonghwa shook his wrist and wrote crooked letters again.
[Bae Sinhyo that bastard die at 18]
[I’m wronged I did nothing wrong]
[Try living after dying]
When he drew the last stroke, tears poured from Pyeonghwa’s eyes in a rush. Pyeonghwa wiped his tears with his sleeve, moved to the side, and stood in front of an empty wall.
‘Light thoughts, light thoughts…’
He didn’t like being serious. Even if he died, he didn’t want to be stressed.
Pyeonghwa deliberately wrote ‘SEX’ in large letters. When he drew a penis and vulgar hair next to it, laughter burst out.
“Fuck, like I’m in middle school.”
Even though it hadn’t been a year since graduating middle school, Pyeonghwa giggled calling himself middle school-like.
Just then, he felt someone’s presence behind him.
Step, step.
The footsteps grew closer and closer. His heart sank, and strength drained as if all the blood in his body had left. The rock hanging from his fingertips dropped to the ground with a thud.
He didn’t have the courage to turn around. Pyeonghwa squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the pain to come. Hoping it would be painless and end in one blow.
Swoosh— Bang!
“Kyaah!”
A dagger that flew quickly precisely cut the penis Pyeonghwa drew in half and lodged in the wall. Pyeonghwa, who had been facing the wall, screamed and tumbled backward.
