Chapter 70

“No, you idiot. That’s not it.”

It was Friday afternoon. Perhaps because it was just before the weekend, there were quite a few people in the arcade even in the afternoon, and I was learning about the game from Yellow, the one-shot teacher, amidst a crowd of people.

Her words were mostly curses or sighs except when she was explaining things, and I had considered interrupting her in the middle, but since this was how it was going to be, I decided to stop considering hitting her and instead aimed to win against her at least once and gather information about her.

I no longer know what kind of information gathering this is.

“How annoying. Is it so difficult to block after avoiding an attack?”

“How can I block everything without missing anything when I don’t know what will fly at me?”

“What if I do it?”

“Can you compare our skills?”

The atmosphere wasn’t entirely good due to her nagging and my complaints. People around us didn’t approach us. As for myself, I didn’t feel that the current tense atmosphere between us was bad.

But I didn’t feel good about it either. It was just that I felt that this is right for Yellow. Since I didn’t particularly have any goodwill towards her, I didn’t feel the need to adjust my words according to the atmosphere.

“Look at your opponent’s movements, not just your character’s. Just narrow the gap and go in, why can’t you do that?”

“You really nag a lot.”

After losing another game, I let go of the joystick I was holding tightly and stretched my hand.

Feeling annoyed, Yellow who was playing on the opposite side stood up and came over to me, sat down next to me, and showed me her smartphone screen.

“Look at this.”

“What is it?”

The video she showed me was from a recent fighting game tournament. I stared at it as if trying to memorize it as reference material, but I couldn’t muster the courage to try to follow it.

“She’s good.”

“This person won the tournament she participated in this time.”

“Is she better than you?”

“I don’t know. I used to win.”

From the fact that she won in the past, it seems like she played enough games to compete with the recent tournament winner. At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange for her to participate in game tournaments.

“Don’t you participate in tournaments?”

“I don’t.”

She firmly answered my question about not participating, then showed me another video.

“Why don’t you participate?”

“Do I have to tell you everything?”

While it’s not necessary to tell, it does seem strange to react this much to a single question. Is it such a big mistake? If it is, shouldn’t I at least be told the reason?

“I’ll show you some channels. Come tomorrow after watching them.”

“I can’t come tomorrow.”

“Why not?”

Fixated on the video, Yellow looked at me when I said I couldn’t make it. I was startled by her sharp gaze.

“Work.”

“You work?”

“Then I will.”

Looking back, I’m working now, and my main job for tomorrow is not the part-time job I would go to, but observing Yellow. Of course, leading Yura to talk about HunterKiller at the part-time job is also work, but since Yura is tight-lipped about important matters, I’ve given up on half of it.

“Don’t you work?”

Yubin and Yura work, while Hayang and Green can’t work due to household issues, but Hayang is currently looking into jobs.

At first, when I heard that Yellow’s meeting participation rate was low, I thought she might be doing other things besides HunterKiller, but that wasn’t the case.

“Never.”

Then, what could be the reason for Yellow to keep apart from the team members and wander outside? The only answer that comes to mind is that it’s a voluntary choice. If it is a voluntary choice, then what could be the reason for making such a choice?

If she just felt it was too troublesome, she wouldn’t have been involved in HunterKiller for a long time. Most importantly, having been in the position of directly fighting, I never felt that she handled the battles carelessly. Of course, it’s not possible to handle battles casually when facing an opponent, but overall, she doesn’t seem like someone who lacks responsibility.

This is just my personal opinion, and actually, she might think that she’s doing the job because it’s necessary, even though she doesn’t feel any sense of responsibility.

“Why?”

“We live well at home.”

Unlike the other members, it seems she has a wealthy family background.

“Try matching. You should try with someone else besides me.”

At her suggestion to play a network battle, I moved the joystick to set up a match. I wondered if I could win, but it wasn’t the time to think about that. Yellow, who was nagging while playing across from me, sat beside me, and I immediately received feedback during the battle.

“Down! Don’t you know the down key?”

“Do you see that at that moment?”

Every time, I was amazed by Yellow’s dynamic vision. She predicted attacks flying after seeing the first reaction of the opponent’s character and told me what to do next. Even more astonishingly, she would say, “Do this because they’re going to move like this,” before the opponent even moved, and it often turned out to be correct.

Of course, since I’m slow-handed, even if she told me this, I couldn’t track the opponent’s movements with my eyes and ultimately lost.

“You really can’t play games.”

I admit that I can’t play games. Even though I know that the more I play, the more I realize that I need to think and act more, I feel overwhelmed. Am I thinking too complicatedly? Whether I think this way or not, when a match is set, I can’t lighten my thoughts or make my movements easier.

I wonder if all players of fighting games experience this, or is it just me?

“I’m getting frustrated.”

Anyone would get frustrated with consecutive losses and nagging from the side.

“What are you going to do if you get frustrated? You should aim to win by doing well.”

Hearing correct statements one after another is even more frustrating.

“Are you sick if you don’t speak like that?”

“What’s wrong with speaking?”

Yellow flinched for a moment and spoke in a slightly aggressive tone. I hinted softly to speak more gently, but as expected, this wasn’t the kind of response she would accept.

“Alright. I might come late after finishing work. What will you do?”

With high probability, I’ll end up drinking with Yura after work, but I can still eat dinner and come to the arcade later. I don’t feel like I need to come here just for this. Spending time with Yura is much better for me than being with the irritating Yellow.

However, before the training coming up soon, it would be good to gather as much information as possible and have a chance to observe her briefly, so I brought it up.

“I don’t like dinner.”

It’s not that I can’t; I just don’t like it. Yellow comes to the arcade early in the day even on weekdays, plays games, and goes home around sunset. This hasn’t changed recently; it seems she’s been following this pattern for quite a while.

“Why? What do you have in the evening?”

I asked lightly, but Yellow didn’t respond. It seems there’s some story behind her not coming to the arcade in the evenings. I did consider that maybe I should come in the evening, but that doesn’t seem right either. I can’t waste time in an arcade full of strangers whose stories I don’t know.

“The match is set.”

Silent until the match was set, Yellow finally opened her mouth, and I refocused on the game.

The match being set meant another series of consecutive losses, and after the dinner conversation, Yellow became noticeably quieter, not nagging at all while I was on a losing streak.

As the sun began to set, we left the arcade, and Yellow showed me several video channels on her smartphone.

“These and these. They’re good for familiarizing yourself with players who are good. This one explains easy combos for beginners, so watch this.”

Since she offered to show me, I saved the channels to watch the videos immediately. Despite still being annoyed by her harsh words, I felt sure that she was genuinely teaching me how to play.

“Will you come on Monday?”

“Yeah, I’ll come.”

I nodded confidently in response to her question. Now that I knew for sure she’d be at the arcade, there was no reason for me not to come.

“Alright. Then watch these videos until then.”

Yellow started explaining again, and seeing it might take a while, she settled at a nearby convenience store table and told me to look at various things.

Although she spoke harshly while playing, her tone was different and somewhat softer while explaining.

“Play half of what you’re doing now in the game.”

“What? You have a complaint?”

I earned a glare from Yellow for saying something unnecessary. I wonder if I’m also bad at reading the situation, but thinking about it, the root cause might be Yellow’s habit of speaking harshly.

“Yes, I have a complaint.”

This is how it is, and that is how it is. She’s the type to clearly state her opinions and move on, so I made it clear that her harsh manner was a complaint. I expected another curse to come, but surprisingly, Yellow didn’t add any nagging.

“It’s fine. Watching videos when you can’t play will help. Watch them whenever you can.”

“I’m not sure I’ll have time with work.”

“Three minutes, five minutes isn’t even an excuse.”

“That’s true.”

The videos are usually less than ten minutes long, and even shorter ones exist. Saying you don’t have time at all is just an excuse, as Yellow pointed out. There’s plenty of time during commutes or short breaks to watch a few videos.

“Come after watching?”

“Okay.”

“I said come after watching.”

“Okay.”

I responded appropriately to Yellow’s repeated confirmations. For now, since I have the goal of winning, I don’t plan on not watching.

Yellow continued to look at me, then got up from her seat to disperse.

“Go. I’ll go too.”

“Okay.”

I watched her leave without looking back and then returned home.

There was no significant change from Saturday to Monday. On Saturday, I went to a cafe and worked with Yura, then went to her house for dinner. On Sunday, after work, I stopped by Hayang’s house, and on Monday morning, I went to work and met Green briefly.

Following the agreement with Yellow, I watched the videos intermittently and thought about how to beat her. Finally, on the much-anticipated Monday afternoon, I entered the arcade and saw Yellow already there. Having played together for nearly a week and having watched her every day during the week, I approached her confidently.

“I’m here.”

“You’re here.”

Yellow’s eyes and mine were both fixed on the screen, but the casual greeting was directed at each other.

“Did you watch the videos?”

“Yeah, but among the ones you showed…”

As I watched the videos, I gradually noticed things and naturally developed questions. Realizing that simply watching wasn’t enough to solve everything, I organized the questions I wanted to ask Yellow and immediately bombarded her with questions after exchanging greetings.

While playing the game, Yellow answered all my questions in detail and explained the gameplay style of the users featured in the videos she introduced, along with the characters they mainly use and how they operate. Although I wasn’t particularly interested in the game anymore, there was a certain enjoyment in learning one thing at a time from her.

“Oh, and regarding counterattacks…”

Just as I was about to continue asking questions, Yellow won the ongoing game, put down the joystick, and looked at me standing there. For some reason, there was no hostility in her eyes.

“You really watched a lot of videos?”

“I tried to watch them whenever I had free time.”

When I decided to watch them whenever I could, I found that there were many opportunities to watch them unexpectedly. Of course, I couldn’t watch them while working or meeting others, but I spent most of my free time watching the videos.

Not knowing what she was thinking, Yellow stared at me intently, then lowered her head and fell into deep thought.

“Really?”

While I don’t know much about Yellow, one thing I learned in the past week is that although she has a volatile personality, her emotional changes are also very noticeable. Of course, I felt this emotional change within the context of her explosive reactions, but now she seemed to be lost in thought with an unreadable expression and raised her head again.

“Go sit over there. Let’s play one round.”

Although her expression was inscrutable, I felt a hint of understanding when I looked into her eyes. While I wasn’t sure, her gaze seemed to hold a hint of interest.

Since her gaze didn’t change anything instantly, I followed her instruction and sat opposite her, inserting a coin.