A wish?
Judging by his reaction, he seemed to find my proposal to play a game rather odd.
It was surprising that he readily accepted.
But suggesting a wish was also unexpected.
Moreover, we hadn’t even decided on a game yet.
I didn’t really care whether we made a wish or not.
But I suspected there must be a reason why Beomwoo, of all people, suddenly suggested this.
“If you win, what do you want me to do?”
“That’s a secret.”
I asked, thinking he might ask for something big, but Beomwoo wouldn’t tell me.
As if that was part of the game’s charm.
Hmm, is there anything else he could possibly ask of me?
Haejin thought curiously, then remembered something Beomwoo might want.
He narrowed his eyes and cautiously spoke.
“Um… Even if it’s a bet, you know we… we can’t get married, right?”
“Even I have enough conscience not to propose something like that over a mere game.”
“……”
I knew proposing such a thing over a game bet wasn’t normal.
But since he kept bringing up marriage like a parrot, I just wanted to check…
He seemed to think I viewed him as a shameless person who would drag reality into a game.
That was a bit embarrassing.
As Haejin’s face flushed slightly, Beomwoo, who had become somewhat firm, relaxed his expression.
He spoke to him.
“Instead, please don’t say things like ‘never appear before me again’ or ‘give up’ if you win the game.”
“…I won’t.”
Beomwoo’s words mirrored his own earlier ones.
Haejin answered a bit curtly.
He hadn’t even considered saying such things over a mere game.
Although he was mindful of Beomwoo due to his past life, Beomwoo in this life wasn’t that detestable.
Pushing him away over something like this would be cheap.
Ah, is this how he felt when he heard my words…?
Haejin briefly contemplated the feeling Beomwoo might have had.
But Beomwoo asked him again.
“So, shall we make the bet?”
“……”
At the repeated question, Haejin thought again about whether it would be okay to make a wish.
Since Beomwoo said he had a conscience, he probably wouldn’t wish for something Haejin would find difficult to grant.
But if it wasn’t marriage, he couldn’t predict what Beomwoo might want from him.
Even if he didn’t explicitly wish for marriage, it could be something like continuing to meet.
Or creating an opportunity to win his favor…
Such thoughts crossed his mind briefly.
But after all, it was just a game.
Having a bit of a stimulus might be good.
He wavered.
And although he wasn’t good at games either, Beomwoo didn’t seem particularly skilled at them either.
Beomwoo didn’t seem to like games much.
He had never seen him play while living together.
Haejin pondered for a moment if this was becoming a dangerous gamble.
Then he remembered there was something he himself could wish for.
He cautiously nodded.
“Then… shall we try…?”
“Just… just one round…”
Since we’re playing a game anyway, having some motivating factor might be good.
Also, he didn’t think Beomwoo would propose anything too difficult.
If he won, there was something he wanted to propose as well.
As Haejin accepted the proposal, a faint smile formed on Beomwoo’s face.
Though sudden, the game with a wish at stake began.
****
The game Beomwoo and Haejin carefully chose was a racing game.
Characters wearing hats rode karts and raced quickly.
The first to cross the finish line won.
There were many other games, but this one seemed most suitable for a competition.
It was good for two people who didn’t usually play games.
Pressing the 2-player mode brought up a character selection screen.
Since this game chose characters based on its story, there was no need for customization.
They just had to pick from existing characters.
The choice wasn’t permanent.
They could always change it later, so they could pick anything.
But to Haejin, who had rarely played such games, even the simple character screen looked fresh.
Haejin forgot about starting the game and operated the controller.
He looked at this character and that.
As he took a long time choosing, looking at each one with interest, Beomwoo, who had been watching and waiting beside him, recommended one.
“That character seems to suit you.”
“Huh?”
“Which one?”
“The bottom row.”
“The yellow character on the right.”
Curious about what he was recommending, Haejin listened and scrolled down.
The character Beomwoo said suited him had a different art style.
It was as if from a collaboration with another game.
It was a cute-looking yellow dog character.
The dog, with its hair tied up like an apple bun, had a chubby, smiling face.
It was very cute and to his taste.
But Haejin didn’t understand why Beomwoo said this character suited him.
What does he mean it suits me?
Neither its appearance nor its cheerful, smiling face seemed to resemble me at all…
Though he didn’t understand the intention, it felt awkward to choose a different character after Beomwoo recommended this one.
It was also cute, so he liked it.
“Then I’ll go with this one.”
“Now you choose, Beomwoo-ssi.”
“Hmm…”
“I’ll just pick anything.”
After Haejin chose his character and passed the turn, Beomwoo, without even looking at the characters, selected the first one.
He tried to move on quickly.
The stats were all similar anyway.
Although he had read the game description, he didn’t know which stats to prioritize or what was good.
As he thought earlier, there was no reason to choose carefully.
He could just pick without wasting time.
So it wasn’t that strange.
But Haejin felt a bit embarrassed.
He had been the only one enthusiastically choosing a character earlier.
He hastily spoke up.
“Uh, I’ll choose a character for you too, Beomwoo-ssi.”
“…Will you?”
As Haejin intervened, Beomwoo seemed not to understand why he needed to choose a character carefully.
But he didn’t refuse the offer.
Haejin took Beomwoo’s controller and looked around at the characters while operating the screen.
But when he actually tried to choose, there was no character that seemed to suit him.
To begin with, there were no characters you could call handsome.
They were almost all comical or cute.
Since Beomwoo had chosen a character he said suited Haejin, he felt he should also choose one.
He wanted to choose one that seemed similar to Beomwoo in his eyes…
But he couldn’t very well back out after offering to choose first.
Haejin carefully looked at the characters and found one.
It was a dragon-like species.
It was wearing a spiked turtle shell on its back—a menacing-looking character.
In Haejin’s eyes, Beomwoo looked cold, not evil.
So there was no resemblance in the face.
But at least in terms of being large and sturdy, they had a common point.
It was really just ‘at least’…
Haejin showed the character to Beomwoo and asked.
“How about this one?”
“……”
He had chosen and shown the character after some thought.
But Beomwoo remained quiet without a reaction.
It was his usual expressionless face, but Haejin could tell.
He looked somewhat displeased.
…Why?
It’s just a character…
Does he dislike it because it’s ugly?
Does he think I’m insulting him indirectly?
He didn’t seem like the type to attach great meaning to a character.
But his lack of a positive reaction made Haejin a bit wary.
Beomwoo finally opened his tightly shut mouth.
“…I saw earlier that it’s a villain.”
“…Huh?”
Haejin had been trying to read the situation, imagining all sorts of reasons why he might dislike it.
But Beomwoo’s issue was in an area he hadn’t even considered.
He didn’t like the character Haejin chose because it was a villain.
An intro video played when they first started the game.
Neither of them knew how to skip it, so they watched the whole thing.
In that intro, this character played the role of a troublemaker.
He bullied the main character and placed obstacles.
He hadn’t thought that far…
In this situation, it seemed as if he had said a villain suited Beomwoo.
But that was absolutely not his intention.
He had even forgotten this character was a villain.
He chose it purely because it was a tall, large character.
Flustered, Haejin blinked, then rolled his eyes as if lost.
“Ah, I-I didn’t choose it because it’s a villain…”
“Th-then, shall we pick a different character?”
“…No.”
“Let’s go with this one.”
Haejin, watching his reaction, hurriedly tried to recommend another character.
But Beomwoo said it was fine and confirmed the character.
Well, then he shouldn’t have said anything…
Though he thought that, before he could feel more uneasy, the game officially began.
It was just a simple racing game.
But with a wish at stake, Haejin found himself getting nervous without realizing it.
They had learned roughly how to play through the tutorial.
They knew each other’s skills were lacking.
But Haejin inexplicably felt Beomwoo would be better than him.
From his past life until now, Haejin had never seen Beomwoo be worse at anything than him.
It was true for everything.
He had an inferiority complex about his education.
But even things like cooking or setting up game consoles, which he thought Beomwoo wouldn’t be able to do or had never tried, Beomwoo did easily and well.
He was good at even the fields you wouldn’t expect him to be interested in.
Games were probably the same.
When they pressed start, the screen first showed the grassy map they had chosen.
Then, it showed the characters they had just chosen lined up in their karts at the starting line.
The dog character Beomwoo chose and the turtle character Haejin chose were side by side.
There was a big size difference.
The difference in appearance was stark.
Remembering Beomwoo’s comment about it being a villain made it seem even more so.
The red signal lights lit up one by one.
– Beep, beep, beep!
3, 2, 1!
A countdown appeared.
As soon as the numbers ended, the word ‘GO!’ appeared.
It signaled the official start of the racing game.
The tutorial said you could do a ‘start dash’ by pressing the button well at the start.
But neither of them was skilled at the game.
So no one managed to dash.
The game started slowly.
But both players were as enthusiastic as if something momentous was at stake.
Both seemed to prioritize safe, honest driving over speed.
That made them slow.
Even that was so clumsy that they frequently crashed into walls and had traffic accidents.
If someone else had been watching, they would have spontaneously said, ‘What are you doing?’
It was that absurd of a game.
But even in such a clumsy contest, there was a winner and a loser.
“…Oh dear.”
As the game ended, Beomwoo let out a small sigh.
Surprisingly, the winner was Haejin.
At first, Beomwoo clearly took the lead quickly.
But after hitting a guardrail and causing an accident, he got caught up in all sorts of nonsensical mishaps.
Obstacles suddenly popped out.
He got caught in bugs…
In the end, he didn’t even make it to the finish line.
Although Haejin won, he felt a bit sorry.
It was clear Beomwoo would have been ahead if he hadn’t gotten caught up in all those strange incidents.
“Uh… Are you okay?”
“Shall we play one more round?”
“…It’s fine.”
“A win is a win.”
He offered another round, feeling that winning like this wasn’t right, even if he was glad to win.
But Beomwoo was coldly rational even about his own matters.
Even though something as significant as a wish was at stake, perhaps because he didn’t get overly immersed in the game, he had sighed.
But he quickly shook off the stress.
“So, what’s your wish?”
“……”
Beomwoo declined a rematch.
Now he asked Haejin to state his wish as per the bet.
Just as Haejin had wondered earlier, ‘What wish does he have to propose a wish bet?’
Beomwoo also seemed curious about what wish Haejin had in mind.
Since he had forbidden boundary-drawing wishes like ‘never appear before me again,’ if it wasn’t that, then what did he want from him?
Beomwoo’s face also showed he couldn’t predict it.
Haejin, too, didn’t really have anything grand to wish for from him.
But when Beomwoo actually proposed the wish bet, there was exactly one thing.
Something he wanted to ask of him.
“Um… It’s about how you address me.”
“……”
“Instead of calling me ‘that person’ or ‘you’…”
“I wish you’d call me by my name.”