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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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“Wow… it’s really big.”
While she’d mentioned her family was well-off, seeing Yellow’s apartment, with its high ceilings and spacious living room, still impressed me.
“Come in. Are you just going to stand there?”
Yellow, putting the grocery bags on the living room table, gestured for me to enter, and I cautiously stepped inside.
So, I was at Yellow’s place. To explain how I ended up here, we need to go back a few hours.
“…”
I’d sat down and started playing, as she’d instructed, but my gameplay hadn’t improved at all. I hadn’t expected a dramatic transformation; watching videos wouldn’t magically make me a better player.
But Yellow, seeing my earlier questions, had assumed I’d watched a lot of videos and had been expecting some improvement.
“What’s the problem?”
I couldn’t answer her question. If I knew the problem, I would have fixed it already.
But her tone, unlike her usual sharpness, was genuinely inquisitive. She seemed to be trying to understand my struggles.
“Maybe you’re just not cut out for this.”
While I hadn’t expected a miraculous improvement, I’d hoped to at least surprise her with a few unexpected moves. I couldn’t beat her, and I couldn’t win online matches either. Maybe I was just destined to lose.
“All you need is interest.”
If interest was all it took, then it would be easy. I’d watched the videos and researched the game all weekend, as she’d instructed, but perhaps because my motivation wasn’t genuine interest but a desire to beat her, I wasn’t improving.
It wasn’t that I disliked the game. The constant losses made me want to quit, but having played the same game for a week, I held onto the hope of winning at least once. I wasn’t sure if that counted as interest.
To Yellow, I was probably someone who was interested in the game but lacked the skills. I’d followed her, asking her to teach me, had come to the arcade every day except for the days I couldn’t, and had watched all the videos she’d recommended.
“Let’s play another round.”
“Okay.”
I inserted my coins at her suggestion, and we started another game. I tried to use what I’d learned, blocking and dodging some of her attacks, but I still got hit more often than not, and my predictable moves were easily blocked.
I lost again, and I sighed, frustrated by my inability to improve.
“Sigh…”
“…Hey.”
A brief silence followed my sigh. Yellow stood up and called out to me.
She walked over to me, her golden eyes, usually so intense, now soft as she looked at me.
“W-what?”
“One more round.”
“Uh, okay.”
Her tone, a clear invitation to continue playing, made me agree, even though I hadn’t intended to stop.
I continued to lose. I was used to losing. I hadn’t won a single duel against a superhuman in the past decade. The initial sting of defeat had faded, replaced by a sense of resignation.
What frustrated me now was my inability to even land a decent hit, to make her react. As I’d said before, I hadn’t expected a dramatic improvement, but I’d hoped for at least some progress. Maybe I was expecting too much, having only watched a few videos over the weekend, but that was human nature; you always held onto a sliver of hope, even when you told yourself not to.
And I didn’t want to say, “It’s just a game,” to myself. While there were many types of games, competitive games, especially, evoked strong emotions, and it was natural to want to win, to feel frustrated by your inability to improve.
And yet, I didn’t want her to go easy on me. Winning against a handicapped opponent wouldn’t be satisfying. Thankfully, she showed no mercy.
“Is it because I’m playing against you?”
“There’s definitely a huge skill gap between us.”
“Should I try online matches? I might find someone at my level.”
“If you’re going to lose, you might as well lose to me.”
Losing to a complete stranger would be even more demoralizing. I hadn’t been this competitive or obsessed with winning until last week. The videos, showcasing impressive gameplay, had sparked a desire to achieve that level of mastery.
“Okay, let’s play again.”
Yellow’s voice, perhaps feeling slightly guilty about my constant losses, was calmer than usual as she said,
“No, you idiot!”
Just kidding.
“If you break their guard, you’re supposed to follow up, not just stand there!”
“My fingers got tangled.”
I’d seen an opening, a chance to land a combo, but my attack was too slow, blocked by her defense, and I lost again, the missed opportunity amplifying my frustration.
“One more round.”
I was the one who suggested it this time and reached for my wallet to insert more coins, but Yellow had come over and was standing next to me.
“It’s evening. Time to go.”
“Already?”
I’d lost track of time, engrossed in the game. I checked my phone; it was almost evening, and Yellow, who’d mentioned disliking the evening crowd at the arcade, was getting ready to leave.
She didn’t seem happy either, her expression glum, and we left the arcade.
“Another complete loss today.”
“…”
Should I just give up on the game and focus on observing her from a distance? Gaming hadn’t been my original objective, so continuing to waste time on it might be counterproductive.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
I called out to Yellow, just as she was about to suggest we stop, and she, also seeming to have reached a decision, called out to me at the same time. We stopped and looked at each other.
“You go first.”
I could tell her I wanted to stop later, when we parted ways.
“Are you free?”
“I am.”
I didn’t have any plans for the evening. Was she suggesting dinner after our grueling gaming session…? No way. Yellow wouldn’t do that.
“Let’s go to my place.”
Her unexpected, almost surreal suggestion left me speechless, and I just stared at her blankly.
“Forget it, if you don’t want to.”
“No, what are we doing at your place?”
“What else? Playing games.”
She probably had a game console at her place.
She’d said she disliked the evening crowd at the arcade and seemed to want to teach me how to play. The two conflicting desires had led to her inviting me over, but was this okay? Honestly, it wasn’t a bad proposition for me.
“Are you sure?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
We took the subway, stopped by a market to buy dinner, and now, here I was, at her apartment.
I’d thought she lived in a nice place when I saw her enter the building during my first attempt at tailing her, but it turned out to be a penthouse, occupying the entire top floor.
“Are you really sure about this?”
I asked as she unpacked the food, and Yellow, annoyed at my repeating the same question, straightened up and looked at me, her eyes narrowed.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“No, but your family…”
“I live alone.”
Alone in this huge apartment? There were so many rooms, most of them probably unused.
“Having a man over…”
“You know I’m a superhuman, right?”
“Yes, you told me.”
“I can just throw you out the window if you try anything.”
I gulped. Even with my enhanced durability, being thrown from this height would be fatal.
“Your place is… huge. How big is it?”
“About 330 square meters, I think.”
She replied casually and turned on the game console next to the large TV, unpacking the food.
Living in a small studio apartment, I was awestruck by the size of her penthouse, easily ten times bigger than my place. I’d never lived in such a large space.
“You live alone in this huge place?”
“Yes. I ran away from home after a fight.”
“It’s a pretty fancy place to ‘run away’ to.”
“Yeah, I won the lawsuit and got it as part of the settlement.”
The unexpected mention of a lawsuit made me pause. I’d assumed it was a minor argument, but it seemed much more serious. I didn’t want to pry into her family matters and kept quiet, but Yellow looked at me.
“…You don’t seem to dislike me… even though you know I’m a superhuman.”
Yellow, like the other members, must have experienced prejudice. After Green and Ha-yeong’s stories, I suspected her family issues also stemmed from her being a superhuman.
“You’re a strange one. Come here.”
She gestured for me to sit down on the sofa, and I cautiously approached and sat down, careful not to be disrespectful in someone else’s home, especially with such nice furniture.
“Here.”
“What’s wrong with the arcade at night?”
She handed me a game controller, and while I hadn’t intended to ask, I couldn’t contain my curiosity.
She’d invited a man she’d only known for a week into her home. Was she that eager to play games? Or was there something about the arcade in the evening that made her so uncomfortable? The question had been on my mind ever since she’d invited me.
Yellow, seemingly resigned to explaining, sighed and took a long gulp of her drink.
“There have been guys who asked me to teach them how to play before.”
So, I wasn’t the only one.
“But they were all trying to hit on me, and very few of them were actually interested in the game.”
She’d probably met those men at the arcade in the evening. They probably weren’t regulars.
Putting aside my prejudice against Yellow and being objective, she was tall, attractive, and had a strong presence. It wasn’t surprising that men would be interested in her. But being approached repeatedly, especially in the evening, must have been annoying and exhausting.
“Not many? So there were some?”
She’d said most of them were just trying to pick her up and that very few were genuinely interested in learning the game. That wasn’t a definitive no.
“There were a few. But… they all quit after a while.”
“Why?”
“Various reasons, I guess. Maybe they didn’t like my teaching style. But the ones who found out I was a superhuman, they all quit immediately.”
I suspected their inability to tolerate her teaching style had been the primary reason. And they probably weren’t completely uninterested in her romantically. But they couldn’t handle her abrasive personality, and finding out she was a superhuman had probably been the final straw.
“Did you meet them at the arcade in the evening?”
“No, they never came back after that.”
So, she wasn’t avoiding the arcade at night because of those encounters. She’d chosen to avoid the evening crowd and go home instead, which meant going to the arcade early in the morning and prioritizing gaming over her Hunter Killer duties.
I wasn’t certain, but it seemed like the most plausible explanation.
“That’s why I was a little surprised.”
Yellow, seeing me nod in agreement, smiled for the first time, and I was startled by the unexpected expression.
“Surprised about what?”
I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“You’re the first person who’s kept coming back to the arcade for over two days, a whole week, after asking me to teach you how to play.”
Did Yellow need a friend, someone to share her hobby with?
Had she become abrasive after being abandoned by others, or had her abrasive personality driven them away?
I didn’t know which came first, but Ha-yeong’s words, describing Yellow as someone who struggled with self-expression, made sense.
Even so, her way of speaking was still unacceptable.
“You’d be more likable if you’d just fix your language.”
“I haven’t even used half my vocabulary yet.”
“Good for you.”
The game loaded on the large TV screen, and as we waited, I realized we’d overlooked something crucial. We’d been playing games for a week without even knowing each other’s names.
“We don’t even know each other’s names.”
“…That’s true.”
Yellow also seemed to have just realized it. We hadn’t had any reason to use names while playing games at the arcade.
“Han Su-a. 26. Unemployed.”
It was a brief, almost perfunctory self-introduction, but it was probably her best effort.
“A. 25. Employed.”
I introduced myself in the same manner, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. Yellow let out a small laugh, too, and the game finally started.
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