Chapter 17: Backgame(4)

[…Don’t come near me. Get away.]

Yu-ah spoke to me with such contempt. It must be because of what happened earlier.

[That’s too much. We’re on the team? But if we’re going to play, we have to win, right?]

[I don’t know. Don’t farm next to me. You sly bastard.]

I followed Yu-ah as she ran away from me and finally boarded the departing plane.

‘… As expected, there’s nothing more fun than harassing her.’

Teasing Yu-ah was the perfect way to kill time while waiting.

I opened the map to check the path the plane was taking and asked her.

[So where do you want to go? Us?]

[Hmm. But I don’t think we should go to the big city. It’s been a while since I’ve played a game. You and me?]

[I think I’ll die right away. If I go to the big city.]

What a joke… Based on the form I just saw of Rikyuel, I thought the big city would be okay. The problem wasn’t her; it was me. There’d be no point in playing together if I picked her and died right away.

Yu-ah made the first offer to me.

[If the goal is chicken, let’s just do some short-cut farming. Okay?]

[Okay. I’ll go where you mark.]

She pings a small area far from the center. I follow her with a yellow ping.

‘… I was planning on leisurely farming in such a quiet countryside and getting a bus from Yu-ah.’

[Dude. Get off with our team.]

[What? No. You’re coming here? To this remote place?]

I quickly turn the screen to check the surroundings at Yu-ah’s briefing. Yu-ah, who must have jumped ahead of me, is going down in front of me.

And two parachutes follow her and land on the ground.

‘… Ah.’

I’m late.

She’s a little far from Yu-ah, and the two of them have fallen near me.

I think about turning around now, but I think it’s too late, so I just land.

I check the building those two people went into and quickly go into a small house and start farming.

However, it’s not the main building; it’s a building that looks like a back warehouse.

No matter how much I look around, I can’t see a gun inside.

[Excuse me. Yu-ah. I’m screwed.]

[…Huh? Why?]

[I fell next to them, but I don’t have a gun. I’m going to die soon.]

[Ah. Wait a minute. You idiot.]

After roughly picking up what was on the ground, I turn the mouse to take a quick look outside the building. I see a guy with a gun running towards me after quickly finishing farming.

[Here he comes. Save me! yu-ah! Help me!]

[I’m going. Just wait a minute. Don’t die.]

Not dying isn’t as easy as it sounds.

“You b*tch.”

In order to buy as much time as possible, I wait without moving from the building.

It was obvious that if I showed myself now, I’d be shot and killed immediately.

Even though I knew it was a certain death, waiting here was better for buying time for Yu-ah to come.

[Hey. They’re really right in front of me. I’m going to die.]

My opponent opens the door and comes inside. I don’t know. Get behind him! Falcon Punch! I’m going to die anyway, so I try to resist by flying and punching, but… It’s not enough for an opponent wearing both a Gapparang and a Headgear.

[Eww!]

With a thud, he gets shot and passes out.

Goodbye, world. I was thinking of telling her to get some blue chips and bid farewell to the world when a gunshot rings out from somewhere, and the guy who was trying to make sure I passed out is lying on the ground.

It was obvious who it was without me having to say who it was.

[I caught one for now. The other one… Ah. There he is.]

I slowly crawl on the ground and head towards her. Yu-ah then takes down the guy who comes towards me next to the building I’m in to save his comrade in just a few shots.

[Cut both.]

Yu-ah says that in a cold voice. To be honest, she looks twice as cool in person than she does on TV.

I tell her in a moved voice.

[You came to save me… Damn it. I believed in you!]

[Stop making weird jokes and just come up with a plan.]

[Yeaa.]

Yu-ah is cold… Rikyuel is cold… After receiving Yu-ah’s CPR and waking up, I eat the first aid kit. While I was restoring my stamina, Yu-ah farms the corpses next to me.

[Hmm… There’s not much to eat. These guys.]

[Probably because they both came running to kill me?]

[Yeah. I guess so. More importantly, what did you get for saving me?]

[What do you want? A prince’s kiss?]

[Ugh. You should praise me instead. Praise me.]

As expected of Rikyuel, who is famous for her desire for recognition. The sight of a 7-year-old girl craving praise as if she were saying, “Mom. Did I do a good job?” was just cute.

[You’re awesome, unnie! You’re the best! You’re super cool! I’m in love!]

[Okay, okay. Keep doing that in the future.]

[Yeaa. Sister.]

The evil and wicked should be banned, but now she saved me, so I admit it. I feel cute seeing Yua, who I like, laughing innocently.

Here we go again. I’m going crazy. In the past, I didn’t really get this excited about Yu-ah’s actions. There were some points where I thought she was cute, but what should I say? I’ve never felt every single thing she did cute like this before.

Is it because I recognized her as Rikyuel? Because I kept thinking about Yu-ah-Rikyuel. Even the smallest things about her felt cute. Or maybe she was already cute, but I was forcing myself to think she wasn’t cute.

Now, I didn’t even know what was going on. I put my confusing thoughts aside and decided to focus on the game for now.

After raiding a few buildings with her, I walked down the street and found a car.

[Oh. There’s a car over there.]

[What should I do? I’m almost done farming. Do you have to farm more?]

Farming really goes by quickly. I farmed for the same amount of time as her, and I’m already done. I feel the overwhelming skill gap between her and me.

[Uh… no. I’m a little short on a few parts. It’s okay.]

[Then let’s just go inside quickly. The magnetic field is close.]

[Are we going for the zonber meta?]

[Yeah. If you’re going to eat chicken with someone who’s not good, zonber is the best.]

[…That person who’s not good right now isn’t me, right?]

[Huh? That’s right. I don’t know who it is…? Hehe.]

Miss, who are you? I feel a little sorry inside, but I accept the reality. Winning the game is more important than pride.

Thanks to finishing farming so quickly, we safely entered the inland. We chose a good building in the middle of the magnetic field and settled down.

[Okay, we’ll zonber from now on. We.]

[Yes. Captain Na. I will do as you say.]

We followed Captain Na’s words, determined not to take even one step. We waited while checking to see if anyone came around the building. However, as the waiting time grew longer, Yua soon got bored and started talking to me.

[But why did you turn on the PUBG? You don’t play PUBG very often.]

[Uh… I just felt like it? I was watching YouTube, and it just suddenly occurred to me.]

[Oh. Really?]

Actually, I can’t say that I turned on PUBG because I was watching your broadcast, so I made up an excuse. Even though I knew everything, I asked her in order to continue the conversation.

[You’re the one who hasn’t played PUBG lately, right?]

[Yeah. I didn’t play PUBG because I got sick of it after playing too much for a while.]

[But?]

[Today is a day you feel like… doing something? Something like that.]

Another reason why Yu-ah is good at PUBG is because of time. She gets so good at it that she finds it fun and has already spent thousands of hours playing. But both of our excuses are really flimsy. You got excited after eating chicken, indulged yourself, and turned the game back on… I held back the thoughts that I wanted to say.

After a brief pause, Yu-ah quickly filled in the sound like a broadcaster.

[By the way, do you have all the parts? You’re a Vector right now?]

[Huh? Yeah. How did you know?]

[You’re Vectorman. Since long time ago.]

Yu-ah said it as if it was nothing special. Vector is a good gun among SMGs. It has some weak points if you don’t collect the parts, but I preferred it because it’s strong in close combat.

[There’s an SMG quick, a compensator, and a buttstock. Do you need anything else?]

[…Did you bring all that? You don’t use an SMG.]

She said that and scattered the parts on the ground. I took them and stared at her character. …Those were parts that were completely for me. As expected of a skilled player of PUBG, she didn’t use the SMG, which had clear shortcomings, very often. She preferred to use an AR instead.

[Yeah…because you always whined that it was hard without parts?]

[You also have a good memory. It’s been almost a year since we played together.]

I remembered it to some extent because I often saw it on broadcasts, but Yu-ah didn’t. It’s not easy for someone to remember their favorite gun in a game they haven’t played together for over a year. Unless you’re deeply interested in the other person…

When I said that, Yu-ah muttered in a low voice.

[…Well…because I like it.]

For a moment, I froze at her words. There was a brief silence, and I wondered if I had misheard her.

[You like it? What?]

Yu-ah quickly answered my slightly flustered question.

[Bag! I mean, bag. Because I like it. I’ve always liked playing bag with you. Yeah.]

Ah. That’s what it was. For a moment, I felt embarrassed by my mistake. What was I thinking by myself? Right now. That’s right. Where else would you find someone who likes bags like this? Even among the boys around you, it was hard to find one.

Hearing that made me recall a nightmare from the past.

[Yeah. It was so annoying because you kept nagging me to do it every day.]

He contacted me several times a day to ask me to play a game. Yua, who had been listening to me, answered sullenly.

[…I see? You really found it annoying? Even though you said it was fun back then.]

[Hey. Don’t come, Manhera. It’s scary.]

Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? You’re getting emotional.

Yu-ah muttered as if she felt empty.

[…Idiot. A life-size replica of Yoon Ji-bin.]

[Why are you suddenly swearing?]

[There is something like that. You idiot.]

Her voice, muttering while swearing at me like that, seemed to tremble slightly. Was it because I was feeling that way?

[Still, you were good. Is it because it’s been a long time since you did it?]

[Really? Still, my instincts have really died down. Compared to when I was a freshman. Because I did it almost every day back then.]

I also recalled my freshman year of college when I was crazy about Yua’s bag.

And without realizing it, I let the tension release and spoke the words that were flowing out of my head.

[That’s true. For sure. I’ll—merge with Croa.]

At that moment, I unconsciously bit the words that were about to come out of my mouth.

I remembered when I merged with Croa a few months ago and said that.

Croa. A Virtuber, a third-generation Starlight student like Rikyuel.

Speaking of merging with her was like admitting that I knew she was Rikyuel.

My breathing suddenly became rapid. My heart pounded, and I was on edge waiting for her reaction.

“…Did you hear that? Please, you didn’t hear that.”

As I held my breath, berating myself for saying something stupid, Yu-ah asked me in a questioning tone.

[Croa…?]