POV: Hae Na Ri
A large dark oak desk with three curved PCs faces three high back, charcoal leather upholstered gaming chairs with golden linings. There are gaming consoles in front of the PCs, but I don't know enough to tell if they are Xbox or Nintendo or if they even exist here. Mechanical keyboards lit up with backlights as Hajoon flicks on a switch near the LCDs. No wiring is in sight. On a shelf, gaming controllers and high end headsets are displayed.
I am no gaming expert but even I can tell they must cost an arm and a leg.
LED lights run a discreet line along the ceiling, casting an ambient glow in the room as the huge floor to ceiling windows are covered with light golden curtains.
I stare at his 'not serious' hobby as he adjusts temperature regulator and turns on the PCs. This whole room is worth more than what I have earned in my entire life.
"I don't really play much…" he says, running a finger along the top of a chair nonchalantly. Then he looks up. "Are you into gaming?"
The nonchalance fails to hide something hopeful behind his manner.
"Not really…" But then maybe I would have, if I had money for such an elaborate setup before. "Though I can try."
His face is passive, but his eyes gain some life. The former tiredness begins to fade.
He hands me a headset, followed by a controller.
I fiddle with them, pulling my chair closer to the screen and trying to figure out the functions while he settles in his seat. When I look up after a while, I am greeted by an interesting sight.
A pair of wide rimmed black glasses and a high end headset: the daunting regal king has transformed into an adorable geek.
I like him better like this.
He rolls up his sleeves halfway, displaying muscular arms and veins. "Have you heard about Legendary Heroes before?"
"...I doubt it exists in my world."
"Ah, I forgot. I can teach you." He uses the mouse to open a game, then turns to me. "There are three lanes, a few towers and a crystal. We play as a team of five members, destroy their towers and conquer their crystal."
"Like war?"
"Like war."
Unlike real war, this sounds childishly simple and easy.
He leans over me, grabbing my PC's mouse. "Let me login to my other account. If you play with a new account, we wouldn't be able to play together because of the rank difference."
I flatten my back against the chair. This feels oddly comfortable. Not the chair, I mean him. For no reason, I wonder if he likes being a king?
He probably does, right? Who wouldn't? Men are obsessed with power.
"What's your rank?" I ask instead of all those personal questions.
"Grandmaster."
"I thought you rarely played…"
He pauses, then clears his throat and leans back in his seat. "You should play a mage or support, since you are new."
"Alright." I crack my knuckles, pretending to take the gamer boy seriously. "Let's do this!"
Upon Hajoon's suggestion, I select a funny looking mage with spiky hair called Potionmaster and study its skills while others select their characters.
5 matches later and 6 minutes into a new match, I realise I have to take this seriously.
"This is the 11th time you have died in 5 minutes," Hajoon says, focused on the screen, his fingers battering the controller buttons as he kills their mage Feverdream with precision. "You will get reported."
The announcer goes into my headset, "An enemy has been slain." Followed by, "You have been slain!" She sounds so disappointed in me.
"Aish, that freaking assassin! Kill him!" Would Hajoon behead me if I threw this controller at the PC? It looks like a simple game, why is it so hard to play? "What do you mean reported?"
The timer is running at the top of the screen in a crimson banner. 25 seconds to go before I revive.
"Other players report you for feeding, dying multiple times. Then you get penalized and you can't pay ranked matches until you fix your behaviour," he explains. We are talking through the headset mics. The settings are set to the premade players only, which is just us two.
"That's ridiculous! What kind of rule is that? It's not like it's a national hockey match."
He shrugs his shoulders. His Prince Qiu on screen lunges forward and slays the enemy support and mage within three seconds. The announcer shouts out the double kill.
He has not died even once and has 7 kills after 14 minutes into the match.
"Stay away from the assassin, they are good at melee attacks. Mages are weak up close, but good at long ranged attacks. As a mage, you have to play from the back or the side. Never try to have a 1 vs 1, unless the enemy is a mage or marksman with a low health." His words come out in a flurry, gaze still on the screen. I see it reflected in his protective glasses.
My character has revived but my eyes are aching from focusing so hard at the screen. After dying twice again, I rub my watery, stinging eyes. There is a tissue box on Hajoon's other side. Feeling lazy–and in a hurry because my tower is under attack–I get up on my knees on my seat, place a hand on the top of Hajoon's chair for balance and lean over behind it.
Or more like I try to.
My hand gripping the chair is slightly sweaty from playing. It slips and I nearly fall over behind the chair. In an instant, without thinking, without intending, my body instinctively tries to save itself from landing face first on the floor.
By landing on the gamer boy.
But no, I save myself from that too! Just in time, my hand flies out and stops me from landing directly into his lap or having some accidental kiss scene from a Romcom, even as our faces come dangerously close.
It just so happens that the spot my hand choses–subconsiously, of course–happens to be a…umm certain spot it shouldn't have been. A spot on his leg over the thin silky fabric of his trouser. Such spot that if I were to move my palm just an inch…some other body part would begin.
The controller slips from his hands, clatters on the floor. The gaming voice announces in my ears, "An ally has been slain!"
Aiyo, jincha, Hae Na Ri!