“Pax hyung gave us ours too!”
Geum Hyeon-suk’s eyebrows twitched in displeasure. Lee Sol glanced at Geum Hyeon-suk and cleared her throat, “Ahem, ahem,” toward the kids. It meant to shut up and pass by quietly. But why else would elementary students be elementary students? The kids each held one ticket and loudly mentioned Pax.
“I’m betting my wrist that Pax hyung will beat Bae Sinhyo this time too!”
“I’m betting my newly bought top!”
“Me too, me too!”
“Bae Sinhyo is nothing. Pax hyung, fighting!”
Geum Hyeon-suk ground her teeth and swept past the children. Lee Sol followed behind her while quickly giving each child a rap on the head. Ow! Oww! Ugh! Ah! Short screams were heard, but they didn’t look back.
“Ha, there are quite a few people cheering for that guy. His image has really improved in just a few months.”
“He’s a streamer. He’s famous in that world. Has lots of fans too. Well, at the end of the day, he’s just a civilian.”
“The analysis team said there’s a 95.1% chance Sinhyo will win.”
“Of course, of course. I saw he’s the type who uses NPCs and terrain, but in an open arena like that, he’s no match for Sinhyo.”
“Sol! What I mean is there’s a 4.9% chance of losing, a whole 4.9%! Is there anyone on our team who can win even once in a one-on-one against Sinhyo?”
“……No, there isn’t.”
It hurt her pride, but she had to admit it. Lee Sol had been active during the same period as Bae Sinhyo in the past, but they’d never faced each other because they were on different teams. Watching his play videos, she thought he had genius but wasn’t at a level she couldn’t handle. That was until she competed against Bae Sinhyo, who’d transferred to Golden Ball and returned.
After Bae Sinhyo returned, Golden Ball was restructured centered around him. Only those who could support him could be selected as starters. The players’ resistance was severe, but everyone had no choice but to shut their mouths at Bae Sinhyo’s overwhelming skills.
Among the existing players, Bae Sinhyo chose only two. One was herself, and the other was Wang Geonwoo, the ringleader who had bullied Bae Sinhyo in the past.
He brought the other two from outside. The team was in an uproar again because they were civilians who’d never stepped foot in the pro scene, but time passed and now things had somewhat stabilized.
When championship registration closed, each team’s participant list would be revealed, and the plan was for Golden Ball to monopolize attention by revealing Bae Sinhyo’s comeback then.
‘But to cause such a sudden incident! He doesn’t even discuss with me or the coach anymore? That one-man-army bastard, does being big mean everything?’
Lee Sol fumed and clenched her fist. She felt like she needed to give him about a million raps on the head to feel satisfied. But on the other hand, she also felt sorry, wondering how much resentment had built up for him to go this far.
The analysis team said there was a 4.9% probability of losing, but Lee Sol was certain of Bae Sinhyo’s overwhelming victory. Since it had come to this anyway, she hoped he’d refreshingly shake off the past.
“Hyeon-suk! They said our oppa has entered! Let’s go in quickly, okay?”
In front of the VIP Free Pass line, a girl with a pure appearance stomped her feet with reddened cheeks. She was Golden Ball’s only minor player, Bae Sinhyo’s biological younger sister, Bae Jihyo.
Bae Jihyo had skipped grades to graduate from Hunter High School and was scheduled to work as an A-rank Hunter for Red Night Guild. Born into a Hunter family, she’d never thought of another path, but after receiving Bae Sinhyo’s request, she decided to work as a pro gamer for exactly one year.
‘Our oppa?’
Lee Sol narrowed her brow. She’d seen Bae Jihyo use titles like hey, you, ni, blood relative, mom’s son, bastard, and guy for Bae Sinhyo, but this was the first time she’d heard “our” attached to oppa. She wondered if she’d eaten something wrong.
“Jihyo, people are staring. Here are the tickets. Be quiet and go in.”
“Thanks, Hyeon-suk!”
At some point, Bae Jihyo started calling her ‘Hyeon-suk’, finding Geum Hyeon-suk’s speech patterns amusing. Everyone expected a reprimand to rain down, but surprisingly, Geum Hyeon-suk, who’d spent more than half her life abroad, didn’t mind being called by her name. Of course, no one other than nineteen-year-old Bae Jihyo dared to try it.
“Subin, let’s go in quickly. I want to see our oppa!”
“Haha… Jihyo, we saw him earlier though…”
“Not that bastard, my first love, mmph!”
“We’ll go in first and save seats!”
Kim Subin blocked Bae Jihyo’s mouth and rushed inside. People who’d been looking at Bae Jihyo fondly when she was bouncing around sent cold stares toward Kim Subin.
Among the coaches and substitute players, many looked unfavorably upon Kim Subin. Because Kim Subin didn’t fight as well as Bae Jihyo, nor did he have any special skills.
His game rank was only Diamond. He was decent among civilians, but in the pro world, his skills didn’t even reach second division. There was no way a parachute who’d become a starter just for being Bae Sinhyo’s friend would look good.
‘If you play matches together, you’ll understand why Kim Subin is a starter.’
Bae Sinhyo, who was already self-willed normally, was even more unpredictable during matches. He generally followed Coach Geum Hyeon-suk’s instructions, but once a match started, players were separated from the coach. During matches, the captain had to control teammates in place of the coach.
When Bae Sinhyo used his skills, he couldn’t hear not only Lee Sol the captain but even his biological younger sister Bae Jihyo. It was due to his constellation characteristics, so it wasn’t something that could be fixed through training. The person who could make such a Bae Sinhyo hesitate, even briefly, was Kim Subin.
‘He said he was the friend who stepped forward and explained everything when he was witch-hunted as a school violence perpetrator.’
Though he might lack skills, Kim Subin was a player helpful to the current Golden Ball. After two months of training, Lee Sol came to understand why Coach Geum Hyeon-suk had dismantled the team and restructured it as a Bae Sinhyo one-tool.
‘There’s absolutely no way he can handle Pax at that level. I wonder if it won’t end too quickly.’
Lee Sol entered the arena with the team members. She expected it to be noisy before the match started, but silence flowed through the spectator seats. What’s this? Lee Sol tilted her head and sat in the seat next to Bae Jihyo.
At that moment, Bae Sinhyo and Pax’s voices rang out clearly throughout the entire arena.
-Ha, a little kid who can’t even eat bell peppers acts so fucking smart.
-Huh? Rather than getting chubby-chubby fat like you, I won’t eat it.
-I told you a hundred times this is muscle, not fat.
-Yeah, can’t hear you with all that fat in your voice.
Lee Sol looked up at the large screen. High-quality video was being broadcast of Bae Sinhyo and Pax standing in waiting areas at opposite ends, pouring childish words and actions toward each other.
“Our oppa is so cute……”
Bae Jihyo clasped her hands together and muttered in a touched voice. Cute? Bae Sinhyo? Lee Sol placed her hand on Bae Jihyo’s forehead with a serious face. For a moment forgetting this was virtual reality, she checked to see if she had a fever.
Bae Sinhyo and Pax increasingly bickered over trivial topics. Stories came and went that couldn’t be brought up unless they knew each other well.
-When I ate one piece of pork cutlet, you gobbled down ten pieces, you pig bastard!
-Fuck, that’s why I said let’s order two. I said I’d pay!
-How was I supposed to know that pork cutlet, three rolls of kimbap, cheese ramen, rabokki, omurice, and squid rice bowl wouldn’t be enough!
-Ha, where’d the bastard who said it was nice like a buffet go? You’re so fucking different going into the bathroom versus coming out!
-So what. If it weren’t for you, I could’ve been over 190cm tall, you know?
-Don’t make me laugh. Your dad is 180cm too, how would you be over 190cm?
-My mom is 190cm.
-Bullshit. You don’t even know who your mom is.
“Wh, what is that……!”
“Coach-nim, get a hold of yourself!”
Shocked by Bae Sinhyo’s mom-diss, Geum Hyeon-suk felt momentarily dizzy and swayed. Her surroundings became briefly chaotic.
Lee Sol realized that the ‘our oppa’ Bae Jihyo had been talking about was Pax. Somehow she felt completely deflated. Looking around, other spectators were also watching the situation with dumbfounded faces. Lee Sol asked Bae Jihyo in the next seat with a helpless voice.
“Hey, are those two friends?”
“No? They ended their friendship!”
Bae Jihyo began explaining their relationship in a bright voice. They’d been best friends since first year of middle school, Pax was her first love, they ended their friendship in high school, and so on and so forth…….
-Oh shit, Bae Sinhyo. What we said seems to have been heard outside. I muted the broadcast sound but they heard everything in the audience.
-What? Ah fuck! I didn’t mess up, right?
-How would I know that? You remember. Are you a goldfish?
-Fuck, when this opens, I’m coming to rip your mouth first.
-Friday night, hot chili guy harboring rough desire for me.
-What bullshit is that?
-Title academy is awesome, right?
Golden Ball members glanced at Geum Hyeon-suk. Because they knew better than anyone how much she’d suffered because of Pax and how much she hated him.
Kim Subin poked Bae Jihyo with his elbow as if telling her to restrain herself. But Bae Jihyo wasn’t one to listen.
“Pax, fighting!”
When a voice cheering for Pax popped out from the seats where Golden Ball officials were gathered, surrounding gazes turned all at once.
Geum Hyeon-suk squeezed her eyes shut. She just hoped Bae Sinhyo wouldn’t cause an even bigger incident.
