Chapter 108: By fountain (6)

Part 9

“In short, you called just because you were bored and wanted to hang out?” Yoonseo asked.

“Ugh, do we need a reason to call each other? We’re not that formal, are we?” Bonfire replied.

I don’t mind, but my sibling was super uncomfortable. Probably because your stream’s so big it’s intimidating. He doesn’t seem like it, but growing up with two older brothers made him kinda weak to authority. Those thoughts almost slipped out, but Yoonseo held back with a quiet smile. No need to ramble and make things awkward—better to let Sanghyun deal with a bit of discomfort.

“Anyway, before you got here, Bonfire-nim and I were talking about what to do today and ended up playing LoL,” Sanghyun said.

“So you did play LoL,” Yoonseo noted.

“These days, when guys hang out, it’s LoL by default,” Bonfire said.

What’s with that overly simplistic worldview? Why’s no one arguing? What’s this ‘RealCrkra’ nonsense? I don’t know this logic. Yoonseo’s puzzled expression drew chat comments like, “Noona might not get it.” I was a guy two months ago, you know.

“So, what’s the deal?” Yoonseo pressed.

“We ended up deciding to get Jeokranun-nim to play a game—”

“Absolutely not,” Yoonseo cut in.

As expected, she shut down Bonfire’s suggestion instantly, her body shuddering. Something about being asked to “play a game” mid-stream screamed bad news.

Lolllll.

She hates it, haha.

Gotta clear the jar game~~~~.

Her obvious distaste reminded viewers of her recent jar monster game disaster, flooding the chat with laughter. She hadn’t cleared it, despite grinding for the gift’s worth, and swore never to play again. Viewers probably didn’t really want her to retry, but the awful memory twisted her face anyway.

“It’s not that kind of game today, trust me,” Sanghyun said.

“Trust you? You’re just scheming to mess with me. No way,” Yoonseo refused.

“Don’t be like that~ Just take a look. You know this game,” Sanghyun coaxed.

He casually switched the stream screen with a few clicks. A grand BGM filled Yoonseo’s ears—familiar, from a game she knew well, maybe second only to LoL in familiarity.

“…Star of Wars?” Yoonseo guessed.

See, folks? Told you even noona would know Star! Bonfire crowed.

Apparently, Bonfire’s stream had been betting on whether Yoonseo knew the game. Hearing “noona” from a big-name streamer still felt odd, but nitpicking seemed pointless, so she sighed and shut her mouth.

“You know it and kinda know how to play, right?” Sanghyun asked.

“…I know the basics,” Yoonseo admitted.

Star of Wars. Its name, evoking space warriors, hinted at heavy sci-fi movie influences. An RTS—real-time strategy simulation—where you control units from a top-down view, gather resources, fight enemy bases, and force surrenders through strategy and control. A classic wargame, possibly the genre’s pioneer.

Before AOS games like LoL took over, it dominated Korean PC bangs, defining an era.

“We’re thinking of playing this today,” Sanghyun said.

“Me?”

“Yup, you,” he confirmed.

“Why?”

A sly grin spread across Sanghyun’s face. Yoonseo braced for another dumb remark.

“Because it’ll be fun,” he said.

As predicted, a ridiculous answer. Glaring at him with narrowed eyes, his cheeky thumbs-up made her lose her words, and she let out another quiet sigh.

“…I’m probably bad at it,” she warned.

“‘Probably’ sounds vague,” Bonfire teased.

“You guys probably know, but my hands are kinda awful. When I played as a kid, I never won with control,” Yoonseo said.

“You played back then? I pictured you as the study-only type in school,” Bonfire said.

“I liked board games. Seeing it on TV felt like chess or baduk, so I tried it for a bit,” she explained.

Probably the only time she willingly hung out at PC bangs. Nostalgic, silly childhood memories surfaced, and the chat filled with question marks.

That many question marks is intimidating. Did I say something wrong?

Jeokun, we wanted to see clueless noona suffer!

Hey, Cheong, that’s not what you said.

“These people,” Yoonseo muttered.

The reactions clued her in on Sanghyun’s pitch for the game. Scowling at him, he let out an awkward “hehe” and looked away, feigning innocence.

“Sanghyun,” she growled.

“Don’t worry, everyone! I played with noona back then, and she was so bad even kid-me beat her!” Sanghyun announced.

His blatant topic dodge annoyed her, but since they were live, she held back, planning to chew him out later. His attempt to appease the rowdy chat gave her a perfect idea to mess with him.

“What kind of person tries to crush their little sibling? I was going easy on you,” she shot back.

“That’s what she says, Cheongjeokun-nim?” Bonfire prodded.

“Pfft. Going easy? I still see your super-focused side profile from back then,” Sanghyun countered.

“I was thinking about how to lose naturally,” Yoonseo said.

She laid the bait with a sulky, playful tone. As expected, the chat erupted in laughter, with comments like, “Her stubbornness is cute!” Her abysmal gaming skills from days ago set the expectation she’d flop here too.

“No one’s gonna believe that,” she said. “Fine, I’ll do it. Who’m I playing? First-come viewer?”

“Haha, no, I’ve got to draw later. Just a few games with me,” Bonfire said.

“With you, Bonfire-nim?”

Memories of old tactics and practice lingered. As the screen shifted to online play, they resurfaced one by one.

“Losing too badly might be embarrassing. Should I spot you a worker?” Bonfire offered.

“You’d better play seriously,” Yoonseo taunted.

Sanghyun logged in and set up the match. Facing Bonfire’s feigned nonchalance, Yoonseo provoked him. This chess-like game, where strategy trumped reflexes, was her forte, even if not pro-level.

“Wanna bet?” she asked.

“A bet? Hard to ask for anything from noona, but if you win, I’ll draw you a picture, Cheongjeokun-nim,” Bonfire said.

“Feeling confident?”

“I’m kind of a gaming pro, you know.”

Beep. Beep. Beep. The countdown’s distinct sound began. Checking Bonfire’s race, Yoonseo took the keyboard and mouse from Sanghyun, who stepped back with a sly grin.

Part 10

???? How’d she know about the drop?!

Didn’t she miss the robotics????

“Think about it logically, everyone. No robotics, but I saw the shuttle and their ground forces were weak. It’s either Dark Templar or Disruptor. No Templar, so obviously a drop. Their Zealot rush failed, so no time for slow Disruptor prep. With the base count difference, dragging it out means they can’t handle my rush timing. That was their only window to shake me,” Yoonseo explained.

“Still, how’d you predict they’d swing around to 6 o’clock from that angle…” Bonfire said.

“They were clearly giving up on power fights, so I skipped units and snuck a multi at 2 o’clock. If they didn’t come from the top, they’d likely swing from below,” she said.

Sanghyun’s stunned face. Bonfire’s hollow laugh. A silent chat. The retro “Victory” font on the result screen. Yoonseo’s composed expression started to crack.

“Hehe. You guys missed that? You must suck at this game,” she teased.

She tried to end coolly but couldn’t hold back a laugh.

Who cares? I landed a hit, and that’s enough.