Chapter 34 : Adventure Level 25 (1)

Yu Mina was playing a game at the PC Bang.
Beside her were Cha Haneul and Do Yugeon.
A message popped up on the game screen stating that three players had voted to surrender.
If Yu Mina voted yes, the game would end.
Seriously, as the ADC in the bot lane, I got kills, farmed CS well, took Dragon, roamed a few times, did everything I was supposed to, but we lost.
Why exactly did we lose?

Cha Haneul, in the seat next to her, grumbled.
“The jungler was bad. If you’re going to gank, do it properly. What’s the point of coming just to die? Just feeding them kills. Useless.”

The reason for the loss was obvious and not hard to grasp.
The enemy mid laner got too fed, and every time a team fight broke out, the enemy mid laner focused only on her, leaving her unable to do anything.
Do Yugeon, who had played top lane, spoke to Cha Haneul.
“He ganked top pretty well, though.”
“Guess the jungler was suited for top lane. He was really bad at ganking mid.”
“You think so?”

Cha Haneul had been blaming the jungler ever since the tide turned against them.
Cha Haneul’s gaming style was politicking, and her skill level was around the top 50%.
Cha Haneul nodded firmly.
“I’m telling you. Did you see the jungler’s pathing? It wasn’t optimized—totally messy.”
“I guess it seemed that way.”

Do Yugeon agreed with a doubtful expression.
Seeing that made Yu Mina flare up.
She grabbed Cha Haneul’s shoulders and shook her back and forth.
“It’s because of you! The jungler suffered because mid lane was ruined!”

Cha Haneul replied shamelessly.
“How is that my fault? It’s the jungler’s problem. I died a bit at the start, but if the jungler had played properly, it wouldn’t have gotten this bad. If the jungler hadn’t come to gank and died mid-game, mid lane wouldn’t have ended up like this. I can’t guarantee we would’ve won, but it wouldn’t have gotten worse. After dying initially, I played super safe. The ADC was scaling well—do you think I would overextend? The jungler came to gank and overextended, so I tried to follow up and died along with him.”

She wore a confident expression, utterly unpricked by guilt.
Just hearing her explanation made it sound plausible, tempting one to believe it.
Cha Haneul nudged Do Yugeon’s side repeatedly, as if asking, “Isn’t that right?”
Do Yugeon, likely unsure of the mid-lane situation because he was focused on top lane, looked hesitant but eventually nodded as Cha Haneul kept nudging him.
“See? He agrees.”

Cha Haneul’s gaming style was politicking, so her words shouldn’t be taken at face value.
Because just listening to her made it sound plausible.
Yu Mina had fallen for it the first few times they played together, but not anymore.
“I saw our little lady die attempting a dive earlier, and the jungler died trying to follow up.”

The jungler hadn’t overextended—Cha Haneul had, and the jungler was an innocent victim who died trying to help.
In the first place, Cha Haneul disliked playing passively during the laning phase.
Cha Haneul looked startled, as if surprised Yu Mina had seen that.
Then she blinked briefly, thought for a moment, and moved closer to Yu Mina.
Her face was so close Yu Mina could feel her breath.
Flustered, Yu Mina trembled slightly.
She looked pretty and cute, so acting like this suddenly was extremely disconcerting.

“Wh-what?”
“Aren’t you going to surrender? We need to start the next game.”

Cha Haneul turned her head away, moved Yu Mina’s mouse, and clicked surrender.
The Nexus exploded, and the word “Defeat” appeared.
Cha Haneul clicked again to move to the results screen.
Stunned by the sudden change of events, Yu Mina stared blankly at the monitor before realizing.
Just now, Cha Haneul had changed the subject because her politicking failed.
Yu Mina stopped Cha Haneul, who was about to queue up again.

“Wait a minute.”
“Hm? Why?”
“I’ll play mid. I can’t carry as ADC. Right?”

Pressing her with a suggestive look, Cha Haneul hesitated with a clearly guilty expression before bluntly saying, “No.”
Figured as much.

Yu Mina parted ways with the other two and walked down the main street.
She could have had dinner with them, but she told them to eat by themselves and left.
She had suddenly run out of the house today with no specific plans to pass the time, so she had crashed their outing, but eating together felt like pushing her conscience too far.
Not that Cha Haneul would care much.

Perhaps because the sun was still up, the streets were crowded.
This bustle would disappear once the sun set.
Because public safety wasn’t good.
The fantasy phenomenon hadn’t brought about drastic changes.
Various excitements arose with the System’s appearance—alien invasion, the end of the world, the appearance of gods, even seemingly credible talk of scientific revolutions and overwhelming technology overturning everything now that an unknown realm was discovered.
There was much talk like that, but none of it happened.
Somewhere, subtle yet significant changes were likely occurring.
But as if all the negative forecasts and anxieties were false, she was living an unchanged daily life.
One year since the fantasy phenomenon.
Perhaps a year was too short a time to feel the changes subjectively.

Still, there was one thing she could feel.
The public safety issue.
When night falls, people disappear from the streets.
Busy areas remain bustling, but other streets have few people.
It wasn’t that people didn’t walk around at all, but it was common to suddenly look around while walking and find no one, resulting in an eerie quietness.
Recently, some shops started closing as soon as night fell, making it even more so.
In truth, public safety hadn’t completely collapsed or anything.
Speaking as someone with experience running away from home and wandering around at night, she hadn’t experienced any crime wandering at night.
Not yet, anyway.
The problem was simply that there would be no one around to help if she did encounter crime.

She didn’t know why it became like this.
Was it when the media reported conspiracy theories about the System enhancing explorer violence alongside reports of serial killings by explorers?
Or was it when a criminal interrupted a live broadcast, shouting recruitment messages?
She wasn’t sure.
She entered a convenience store and bought a lunchbox.
She put it in the microwave to heat it up.
Whatever the cause of the worsening public safety, she hoped it wouldn’t get any worse.
She had no intention of staying home just because the night streets became dangerous.

Do Yugeon was searching for restaurants on his phone and asked, “What should we eat?”
Why are you asking me? You’re the one searching.
I’d decided to eat dinner, but couldn’t choose a menu.
It felt like only a few minutes had passed, but I was hungry.
Where was a decent place to eat right near here? Hmm. Ah, I remembered one place.
It wasn’t close, but if we walked a bit, there was a place nearby I went to with my parents.
“How about sashimi? I know a Japanese place.”

He glanced at me, then went back to searching.
What is it—just say something. Does he not want it? He probably doesn’t, but he needs to say so. I’m hungry. Ah. My thoughts jumped randomly.
The situation continued with him searching and me watching, until suddenly his phone rang.
He answered the call.
“– Yes. I’m doing well. I was just hanging out.”

I couldn’t hear the other side, but judging by his words, it seemed like a casual check-in call.
But using polite language meant it was someone older. Who could it be?
The call continued, then Do Yugeon glanced my way. Huh?
“– I’d love it if you bought me dinner, but… I’m not sure if Cha Haneul would like it—let me ask her.”
He paused the call.
“Someone’s offering to buy us dinner right now—what do you think?”
“Who?”
“You know, the Flame Mage from the Explorer Federation offline meeting way back then.”

Flame Mage? Racking my memory, there was indeed such a person.
The Flame Mage I met at the first Explorer Federation offline meeting.
They must have exchanged contact info back then and kept in touch occasionally.
Even if he offered to buy dinner, I had no intention of meeting him, but Do Yugeon seemed keen, so maybe I should just get a free meal.
“Okay, fine.”

Upon my acceptance, Do Yugeon’s expression turned disgruntled.
What now? He was the one who seemed happy about it—why this reaction?
So hard to please.
Soon after, the Flame Mage arrived, and we moved to a chicken place.
Chicken is good. Delicious, cheap, and the recipes are standardized, so there are no weird-tasting places.

As we sat down, the Flame Mage kindly placed a fork and knife at my spot.
A knife? I glanced at the Flame Mage, but couldn’t understand his intention.
“I’m preparing an Explorer Business.”
Do Yugeon asked, “System distribution?”
“What else is there? I haven’t heard of anything else. Ah, magic research?”
“Not magic research either. You can’t commercialize something that hasn’t even been properly theorized. Hmm, how should I explain this?”

The chicken arrived.
I took a bite of a drumstick.
Chicken is indeed delicious.
Boneless is convenient to eat, but bone-in has its own unique taste.
Feeling a gaze, I looked up and saw the Flame Mage staring at me.
“Young lady, you’re not using the knife?”
What is it with him? He has a talent for making people uncomfortable. I shot him a glare and continued eating my chicken.

The Flame Mage cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Anyway, I’m preparing an Explorer Business, but it’s not like I’ve decided exactly what to do. There are fields I’m investigating, but I haven’t committed to them. Literally in a preparation state. Ready to run, just haven’t started. Because I haven’t decided where to start.”
“Why?”
“The Explorer Business is a newly started field with many variables. In other words, you could say there are many opportunities. Possibilities increase or decrease depending on System updates; the line between legal and illegal changes with National Assembly legislation. The one furthest ahead gets the most opportunities, but I don’t want to plant my flag in a weird place, so I’m waiting for a bit.”
“So if mobs appear in the city, you’ll venture into mob hunting?”
“Hahaha! Right. That’s it. If a dungeon appears today, I’ll tackle dungeon raiding.”
He lives diligently.

I swallowed the chicken I was chewing and drank some cola.
The carbonation stung my throat. Ugh, I don’t really like it.
I question whether cola and chicken really go well together.
It feels like because it’s greasy, you need a carbonated drink, and because it’s a carbonated drink, you eat it with the representative one, cola.
I’m not sure if it’s a good combination.
Not that any other suitable combination comes to mind.

The conversation paused, and a brief period of eating ensued.
Then, the Flame Mage spoke as if suddenly remembering something.
“I remember your leveling speed was fast, so are you Level 25 now?”
“Yes, that’s right. Haven’t been 25 for long, though.”
“Wow, practically max level then.”
“Hahaha.”
What’s he laughing about?
“Level 25 means you’re the same level as me, so we should have a match.”
“A match of what?”
“Dueling.”
“Oh, that. If we fight, I’ll win though.”

Hearing something embarrassingly boastful, I stopped eating and looked at Do Yugeon.
He had a confident expression.
Being confident is good, but I wish he wouldn’t say things that make me embarrassed to be next to him.
The two engaged in a battle of wills and eventually agreed to duel.
Right now, even though dinner wasn’t finished.
Aren’t these people hungry?

“Young lady, aren’t you playing?”
I shook my head.
I’m not the type to get competitive with someone I’ve only met twice.
Since it turned out this way, watching them while eating chicken might be entertaining.