Chapter 118: Foreign Healer (1)
Part 1
“Noona, you’re really bad at games.”
“…Be quiet.”
Yoonseo couldn’t count how many times she’d seen “Defeat” in red letters. AOS games demanded physical skill, and in that regard, she was practically the weakest link in humanity.
“You’re good at Star Wars, so why suck at AOS?” Sanghyun teased.
“…That’s just predicting builds, winning slowly, and holding the advantage,” she muttered.
—Noona’s APM barely hits 100 lololol
Even the viewers’ chats, not outright mocking, felt like jabs. Her face scrunched up before she could stop it. Realizing whining would only give them what they wanted, she clamped her mouth shut.
“Ugh, forget it. I’m done. What’s fun about fighting other players?”
“Ladies and gentlemen, three hours in, and we have another surrender!” Sanghyun announced.
“I’m quitting for real this time!”
Map awareness? Maybe support or jungle. Positioning’s decent—ADC? Mid? Top?
“Three days is enough effort. I give up,” she said.
“Folks, when our Noona says ‘give up,’ she means it. Roast her with donations!”
“Hey!”
—LOLOLOLOLOL
—Yo, 『Goldie』, need a carry?
—Noona, some days are rough, but that wall flash was… yikes. Keep it up, thanks!
The blatantly teasing donations poured in. Sanghyun’s barely-contained laughter, clearly meant for her to hear, grated alongside the donation alerts.
“…Hmph.”
Three days of “I’m done” and “I won’t” hadn’t changed a thing. The game just made her angry—no satisfaction, just lingering unease. Losing felt worse than winning. This isn’t a game anymore.
“…Noona?”
“I’m ending the stream. Good night, everyone.”
Her scowl made Sanghyun’s face harden, as if he just noticed her mood. Too late for apologies. I’m done with this game forever!
“Stay!” “Sorry!” “My bad!” “Scared?”—the chats came too late. Before Sanghyun could stand, she slammed the stream’s end button.
“…Hey, Noona?”
“I said Noona, didn’t I?”
“Not literally, just, like, a figure of speech… Anyway, you’re not actually mad, right?”
Instead of answering, she stomped to her bed, grabbed a pillow, and hurled it at his face.
“I’m sleeping. Get out.”
Part 2
For about 30 minutes, Yoonseo buried her face in her pillow, letting out muffled “Ughhh!” screams while rolling around. She must’ve fallen asleep, because when she opened her eyes, her phone was blaring its alarm.
“…Ugh, my neck…”
Sleeping in a weird position left her neck and shoulders aching. The game ended badly, the stream was a mess of mockery, and Sanghyun—
“…Three days of ridicule. That’s fair, right?”
Vowing not to apologize, she shuffled to the bathroom. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she noticed her hair sticking to her neck from sweat. With the weather warming, she washed it with lukewarm water.
“…Mmm.”
Feeling bad about using the hairdryer in the morning with family asleep, she towel-dried her hair vigorously. The damp stickiness wasn’t great, but she’d recently learned half-dried hair led to disaster, so she settled for combing it.
University was on summer break, but companies weren’t. This was the only time she, a student, could make breakfast for Junseok… Oppa, a working adult. Shaking off sleep, she headed to the kitchen.
She’d prepped cabbage, tomatoes, and sliced cheese yesterday. She planned to up the veggie ratio in her morning toast for a while.
Popping bread into the toaster and mixing pre-chopped cabbage with eggs, she heard a lazy “Haaah” yawn from afar. Junseok was up earlier than usual.
“…Toast today?” he asked.
“Yeah, good morning, Junseok…”
Why was it so hard to say it to him, when it was fine with others?
“…Oppa.”
His goofy grin appeared as she glanced at the kitchen entrance. It reminded her of his expression half a year ago, when she first called him “Oppa” after agreeing to change how she addressed him.
Was that consistency charming or creepy? Even after all this time, she couldn’t decide.
“Yup, yup. Can you put in two slices of ham?”
“…Sure.”
She tried to hide her awkwardness, but it probably showed. His knowing, carefree smile felt like something out of a horror movie.
He wasn’t trying to mess with her. She knew he wasn’t a bad guy, but…
“Hey, Oppa.”
“Yoonseo, by the way—”
Their words overlapped. Her hand, flipping the cabbage mixture, froze. She reflexively looked at him, and he seemed startled too.
“You can go first,” he said.
“No, it’s just… sugar or not?”
“Just ketchup.”
His awkward laugh tried to dispel the tension. She forced a faint smile, continuing in a low voice.
“So, what’s up, Oppa?”
“You probably heard, but…”
She grabbed two ham slices, frying them crispy on high heat. Let’s make them extra crunchy today.
“That game you cosplayed for and helped promote—it opened yesterday, I think.”
“What?”
She hadn’t heard anything about that.
Part 3
Come to think of it, she vaguely recalled hearing the game was set to launch around now. The past few days, she’d been so focused on learning that awful game from Sanghyun for stream content that she hadn’t paid attention. Neither the viewers nor Sanghyun had mentioned the launch, either.
Not that she was in any state to care.
“…Wait, this looks kinda good.”
On the game’s official website, a photo of her from two months ago linked to an event page. “Open Celebration Event!” it read, featuring a cute, permanent bunny fairy.
“Hmm…”
Having worked on it for a while, she knew the game’s story, briefly outlined on the site. Playable characters, job illustrations, and gameplay videos followed, boasting flashy, polished graphics.
The wretched game that drove her to shut off her computer in a rage last night came to mind. Why did games make her so mad? Maybe because they pitted people against each other. The structure, where players couldn’t unite against a common enemy, turned them into demons.
“…Still, a party-focused RPG? I’m not great at controls…”
Temptation clashed with hesitation. Flipping through job introduction videos, one caught her eye.
“Priest…”
It read: Restores teammates’ health and provides beneficial effects…
“…Isn’t this kinda easy?”
Scrolling down, an illustrated saintess smiled warmly, as if saying, “You can do it!” Entranced, Yoonseo completed the signup and hit the install button.
Summer break was about to get a bit wild.