“Wow!”
I couldn’t help but marvel as I looked out the window. The pure white snow was falling heavily. It had snowed during Christmas last time, but not as heavily as it was now.
With my body heated up, I ran around the room. A lot of snow had piled up overnight. The world outside the building was a beautiful scene, completely covered in pure white snow.
I couldn’t just stay inside with such heavy snow falling. I dashed to the office with my short legs. In the office, only Bora was there, probably because it was early in the morning and she had been on night duty.
Bora’s eyes were still droopy today. Fortunately, she had managed to overcome her all-night shift by drinking Starlight Green Tea. I approached her from behind. Sensing my presence, Bora turned around.
“Hana…? Not sleeping more?”
It seemed a bit early for me to be up, so Bora asked curiously. I was full of energy. Seeing me like this, Bora patted my head. I said,
“Bora, let’s go play on the rooftop!”
“Should we? Let’s go play for a bit.”
Since it was before work hours, no one would have gone to the building’s rooftop yet. Imagining the pure white snowfield before my eyes, my excitement wouldn’t subside.
“Let’s go play! Let’s go play!”
I jumped around as I spoke. I was eager to get to the building’s rooftop. Should we have a snowball fight? Or maybe make a snowman uncle?
Happy thoughts filled my head. Bora grabbed my hand, and we left the office. Taking the building’s elevator, we headed to the rooftop.
The rooftop had impressed me last time with its wide, open floor like a playground. How had it changed now? Imagining the snowfield spread out on the rooftop, I went up with Bora.
And as we opened the rooftop door, the snowfield was exactly as I had imagined. No one had come up to the rooftop, so there were no footprints in the snow.
“Wow!!!”
I shouted and left my footprints in the snow. I was the first. I dove into the snow. The cold snow stuck to my face. I lay back, waving my arms and legs up and down.
When I got up, the place where I had been lying was a mess.
“Hana, if you play like that, you’ll catch a cold.”
Bora spoke from behind the rooftop door, not stepping out into the cold. I ignored Bora’s words. Right now, I was invincible.
I rolled a snowball to make a big snowman. If I had had carrots or other materials, I could have made the snowman’s face… but there were no such materials. Putting aside my disappointment, I showed the snowman to Bora.
“Hana, you’re amazing!”
Bora admired my impressive snowman. It was a bit makeshift, but it was good enough to pass. Bora’s face turned red from the cold. Maybe because of the snow, the icy wind blew fiercely, and I started to feel cold too.
“Let’s go eat, Bora.”
“Okay.”
Bora had only watched me play and hadn’t joined in, so she was fine. On the other hand, I had rolled around in the snow, so my whole body was covered in snow. Bora took off my coat and shook it vigorously like doing laundry.
The snow stuck to my coat scattered away each time Bora shook it. I watched it with regretful eyes. If only the weather hadn’t been so cold, I could have played more…
It was rare for such heavy snow to fall, so it was even more disappointing. Even when it snowed, it wasn’t common for it to fall so heavily.
——————————————
After eating to my heart’s content, I returned to my room. Holding my full stomach, I blankly looked outside. The snow was still falling heavily.
I checked the pot where I had planted my tooth. The growth rate was so fast that I couldn’t even remember when it had been a sprout.
I hummed as I watered the pot today. I hoped it would bear fruit soon. Surely, delicious fruits would hang in abundance.
After watering the pot, I felt bored just spacing out. I turned on my computer and started playing a game again.
I planned to skip studying this morning. After all, except for Korean, I was so good at the other subjects that getting perfect scores was basic.
When I turned on the stream, a few viewers entered my room. Today, I was determined to kill Icarus. I was going to finish it today.
[Unlimited Cube Rolling Stream]
I had already charged enough money. All I had to do was roll the cubes. Since I had already gotten the cloak last time, today I planned to roll for other equipment.
– Hi hi, let’s go
– Not playing LoL today, but Icarus huh
– Already charged ten million won lol, jealous of the golden spoon
Today, I planned to roll for about three parts…
I was planning to spin the cube to get a good option. Wouldn’t 10 million won be enough? It’s not like I’m aiming for the best option, just three lines.
But I paid the price for underestimating Icarus.
“Lies…”
I suffered an unbelievable defeat. Except for one part, I couldn’t even get two lines, let alone three, for the other two parts. I blew away a year’s worth of a part-timer’s salary in one go.
The world screwed me over. I tried to scream but quietly toned it down, afraid someone outside might hear.
Feeling down for no reason, I boldly turned off Icarus. I wanted to spend more, but today wasn’t the day. Spending would’ve been a disaster.
– LOLOLOLOLOL
– My luck today is so bad. If I just spent money, I could’ve bought all three parts.
– At least you got one part.
– Aren’t you going to hunt the boss?
[I’m going to parody the Ddakki guys.]
I wrote one sentence and then turned on League of Legends. I needed something to vent my anger. Today’s targets were the junglers in Diamond. They were going to bear the brunt of my rage.
[I’ll make them fear the wild.]
I picked Nidalee, a champion known for being easy to dominate with. She’s considered top-tier in both difficulty and skill precision, but that wasn’t a problem for me.
If it were a match with equally skilled players, I wouldn’t have picked her, but since I was up against weaker opponents, I went for it. Unless they were smurfs or alts, the jungle difference was clear. I just hoped the other lanes would hold their own.
No matter how skilled you are, if your team doesn’t back you up, you’re bound to lose. According to the so-called “log theory,” it’s scarier to have a bad teammate than a good opponent.
The game went as I wanted. After a successful invade, I shut down the enemy jungler and ganked the losing lanes. It was a predictable path, but the enemy team fell for it.
The standard strategy might be obvious, but nothing works better. There’s a reason it’s called the standard.
[Victory]
I carried the team to victory. My physical skills were so good it scared me. In terms of mechanics, I might even rival pro gamers. But my brain skills? They were way behind. My brain skills were probably worse than an amateur’s.
– Damn, you’re insane.
– Literally solving everything with mechanics is cool.
– Feels like you’re making a highlight reel every game.
– If only your brain skills were better, but you’re just too reckless.
“Hmm…”
It was clear my mechanics had improved compared to before. But my brain skills seemed to have gotten worse.
My current playstyle is like a hyper-aggressive samurai relying solely on mechanics. That’s probably why I couldn’t reach Challenger. I could make it to Grandmaster with my experience and mechanics, but to reach Challenger, you need both.
Reaching Challenger is no easy journey. Maybe as I get older, my brain will firm up a bit?
Right now, I’m being controlled by the hormones of youth. I’m enjoying animations I never would’ve before, and my tastes are shifting toward more childish things.
But with my adult experiences occasionally surfacing, I sometimes feel like I have a split personality.
“Haru!”
Haru came in through the door. Due to heavy snow, her work hours were delayed, so she came in around 11 AM instead of 9.
I got up from my chair and hugged Haru tightly. Streaming was important, but Haru’s cozy embrace was more important.
“Let’s go eat lunch.”
Still hugging Haru, I went down to the restaurant for a delicious lunch.
– Where’s the streamer?
– Sometimes he just disappears without warning.
– Damn, play more League.
The computer monitor, left on with no one around, was now just a screen abandoned by Hana, with only the viewers left behind.
