I Unknowingly Rejected My Favorite

༺ Are You Angry? ༻

I didn’t want to say bad words.

Just kindly show him around.

Not giving him tips, as if showing off I was a pro.

I thought that if the mood was good today, Oppa would make for a great arcade partner.

“Ah, do it yourself, then!”

I 100% told myself I wouldn’t say those things… but I could feel my teeth clenching as he ignored my advice.

When I showed him how to go through the part he was struggling with, he argued that his way of doing it was better.

Seriously, as a newbie you should just listen, don’t do anything unnecessary!

His big hand pressed all four buttons simultaneously easily, as if he didn’t need to use the gestures I had studied so intently.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Maybe he realized that my mood had worsened, so he suddenly called out to me, trying to lighten my mood.

Somehow, I did feel better when I saw his gentle smile, but that only made me feel more annoyed!

Ugh, what a scam.

That face was a scam!

But, then again… It wasn’t like he made a grave mistake or something.

In the first place, it was stupid of me to blame him for anything.

I was just angry that my advice ended up becoming unnecessary for him.

“…Do it again.”

“The same one?”

“I don’t care if you do it the way I told you, or the way you showed me, just do it again.”

“Okay.”

Inserting the coin again, Oppa stood in front of the machine and began to operate it exactly as I had shown him.

As the music began to play, I naturally hummed along behind him.

This song only had an easy difficulty, so when I came here by myself, I never played it, but that didn’t change the fact that the song itself was a masterpiece.

As the song got closer to its ending, the beatmap’s pattern became harder.

“Now here…”

I heard Oppa mutter to himself, and I looked intently at his hands.

  Bam, bam, bam, bam.

He pressed those buttons that I could only press by spreading my fingers as far apart as possible.

Proving that he wasn’t wrong.

“Oh! There we go!”

As I watched him rejoicing over his success in attempting his combo, I unconsciously smiled.

What a noob.

It was always cute to see a noob, especially the one who was just starting out, to be so happy about such a lame accomplishment.

When the song ended, Oppa looked down at me with a smug look on his face.

‘See?’ That was what he was trying to say to me with that look. I just clapped my hands in response.

“Good job.”

“I told you I could do it.”

“You just cleared a level 5 song and you’re already bragging.”

“If I can clear level 5 out of 10, then this game is nothing!”

I could only nod slowly at the newbie’s cocky remark.

“Right, right. So, while we’re at it, why don’t you try level 10 for once?”

“… Is it possible?”

He asked if he would be able to do it. Hah, this guy.

However, I felt the need to put a little pressure on those overly raised shoulders, so I arbitrarily chose a song and pressed play.

“Oppa, it’s about to start, so get ready.”

“Whew… Ah, can I even do it? It seems a bit hard.”

Taemin oppa couldn’t continue the conversation any further.

“Hey. Wait. Hey.”

Hearing his frantic voice, I felt giddy.

Hah… That was it.

His hands desperately struggled to press the buttons, but to no avail.

Levels 5 and 10 were a world apart.

Going to level 10 from 9 was already quite the hurdle, let alone 5 to 10.

Obviously, the result was a FAIL.

Oppa smacked his lips with quite a bitter look on his face.

“…That was hard.”

“Well, if you practice a little more, you should be able to clear at least level 8.”

I gave him some encouraging words, hoping he wouldn’t give up altogether, and he turned his head to look at the other machines.

“Doah, are you good at anything else here?”

“Um… I’ve tried everything, but I mostly play this one you just did, and that one over there at the end.”

“You don’t play anything other than rhythm games?”

“I do, but I’m not so hung up on setting records on the other games.”

“I see.”

It seemed that Oppa wasn’t the type to stick to one game, so we headed back up to the first floor.

“Let’s try this.”

What he was pointing to was a two-player reflex game.

The gameplay was simple.

A light would come on and the first person to press it would score more points.

“Are you serious?”

“Why? Are you good at this too?”

“Oppa, can’t you tell by the way I play rhythm games?”

“What I can tell is that you have short fingers.”

If I were a manwha character, I’d have an angry mark on my forehead.

“Fine, let’s do it. The loser buys drinks.”

I inserted the coin without hesitation.

“Ah. Alright. But you can’t back out.”

“A man should be decisive.”

“Doah, you aren’t a man, you know?”

That was all the taunting we did.

As the machine began to light up, we began to frantically press the buttons in front of us.

The heavy clicking sound echoed through the room.

“Haah… Haa…”

I collected my breath at the same time as the announcement that the round was over, and the scoreboard showed…

[240 : 210]

“Ha. Oppa, I told you you couldn’t beat me.”

See. What did I say, hm?

How dare a noob try to challenge me at a game like this.

“That was close.”

“What do you mean that was close when you’re 30 points behind?”

“Hey, it’s only a difference of six clicks. That’s close enough.”

It seemed like Taemin oppa bent some rules and came up with an entirely new scoring system.

“Well, that’s it, and you know you have to buy me a drink, right?”

“Fine. I’ll buy you one.”

He smirked at me.

It seemed like he was a more competitive person than I thought.

I felt he was a little bit like me in this regard.

One by one, information I previously didn’t know about Taemin oppa piled up in my head.

It was a strange feeling.

Before, he refused to even listen to me.

No matter what I said, all I got was apathetic responses, so I couldn’t get to know him at all.

As excited as I was for this moment with him, the shadow of doubt I had became even darker.

I wondered what was so different about Kim Doah then and Kim Doah now that made him react so differently.

At least outwardly, nothing had changed.

My hairstyle remained the same.

The way I wore makeup was the same.

And my personality had also stayed the same.

I was the same old Kim Doah.

“Doah.”

While I was lost in thought, Oppa tapped me on the shoulder.

“Oh. Yes?”

“Why don’t we play some more games and then go eat?”

“Eat?”

“Can’t you? Or will your assignment take too long?”

Of course not.

I couldn’t tell Taemin oppa, but the truth was, I didn’t even have to work on this week’s group assignment.

Junseok oppa kept asking about equipment models and telling me how to operate them, but for me, it was like he was asking a fish how to swim in water.

I mean, I am a virtual idol.

If I were to actually submit a VR world shoot as an assignment, I felt like I would unintentionally be the hard carry.

It was an advertisement plan, but there was probably no need to do those excessive ‘kawaii’ movements the viewers demanded, right?

“Let’s eat together. Is there anything you want to eat in mind?”

“How about a snack stand?”

I was swept up in his suggestion, feeling like we were a real couple.

We met during the day, played games together in the arcade, and then went to a snack stand.

We even wore the same clothes, doubling the immersion.

“…Okay.”

“But I can’t eat spicy food, so I’ll have mild tteokbokki, is that okay?”¹T/N: Tteokbokki = Stir-fried Rice cake

Before I could even get over my excitement, Oppa immediately shattered my delusion.

Who the hell ate tteokbokki mildly?

That was like eating a bland ramen because you poured more water than you should.

“Sure. Okay, then.”

But I didn’t want to turn down his invitation, so I accepted his offer.

After another hour or so of gaming, we sat down, nearly drained.

“Man, my arms hurt.”

“That’s because you’re hitting too hard.”

“I can’t help it when I get to the hard parts.”

“It’s because you haven’t practiced enough.”

Even in shounen manga, the masters always relaxed and effortlessly parried their opponents’ attacks.

Rhythm games were exactly the same.

The real masters would flick their fingers softly, but they’d hit every beat in perfect synchronization.

I thought that was really amazing and cool.

“Shall we go eat now?”

“Okay.”

Time passed quickly and it was now 5 pm.

Leaving the arcade and heading back towards the bus stop, we walked into the neighborhood snack stand right in front of us.

“What do you want to eat?”

“I just want some tteokbokki and tempura.”

“Excuse me, I’ll have one tteokbokki, one tempura, and one sundae here.”²T/N: Sundae is Korean blood sausage.

Not long after we placed our orders, the aunty immediately served us our food.

“Oh, young man, I see you got a girlfriend.”

“Ah. No, ma’am.”

From the way she recognized his face, it seemed like he was a regular here.

“Hey, why are you lying? You two are wearing the same clothes. You know, I’ve been doing business here for years, so I can tell! Well, I hope your relationship lasts~ This is on the house!”

When the aunty gave us potato croquettes that we didn’t order, Oppa just laughed and moved on, maybe he felt too awkward to refute her.

“…That’s embarrassing.”

“I know.”

As our eyes locked, he scratched his head and held out his fork.

“Here.”

“Thank you.”

I had passed by this stand a lot lately, but this was the first time I’d actually come here and tried it.

“…It’s good.”

“Right?”

The tteokbokki didn’t have that mass-produced flavor, rather it had the taste of your parent’s home cooking, giving me a warm feeling.

As I was eating it heartily…

“Doah.”

“Yes?”

Taemin Oppa called my name with a very serious face.

“Wait.”

What was going on? Did I do something weird…?

After pulling out a couple of tissues, Oppa leaned closer and closer to me.

“Sorry. It’s been bothering me since earlier.”

He wiped the tteokbokki sauce from the corner of my mouth.

W-What? When did it get there?

Why didn’t he tell me that I got sauce there?

I would have wiped it right away if he had told me!

My ears heated up in embarrassment.

I knew I should have thanked him, but I could only purse my lips without saying a word, as if I was under a silence spell.

“…Are you angry?”

Agh. Seriously!

Why were you doing this to me, Taemin oppa?

Instead of answering, I only shook my head from side to side.

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• 1

  T/N: Tteokbokki = Stir-fried Rice cake

• 2

  T/N: Sundae is Korean blood sausage.

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