I Unknowingly Rejected My Favorite

༺ Lukatansmine! ༻

Should I tell her?

About that little red spot on her white skin…

At first, I figured that she’d wipe it on her own as she ate, that was why I didn’t tell her about it… Guess I was wrong…

Even though I had been waiting for about three minutes, Doah didn’t show any sign of wiping her mouth, so I made up my mind.

“Doah.”

Wasn’t there a saying if you hate the heat, get out of the kitchen?

Since I was the only one bothered by something Doah found no trouble with, I should just deal with it.

It wasn’t like I was doing something bad or anything.

“Wait.”

After pulling out some tissues, I wiped her mouth with my hand.

Ah! That felt so fucking good!

I felt a thrill of excitement as I felt the urge go away.

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

Well, I apologized in case I offended her, but for some reason, she…

…Was glaring at me…? Why though…?

Doah pursed her cherry-like lips.

“…Are you angry?”

She wore such an intense frown that I thought I’d made an irreparable mistake.

However, as if to show that it wasn’t the case, Doah shook her head instead of answering.

Phew… That was great…

She picked up her glass of water and gulped it down before taking a deep breath.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah.”

“In the future, just tell me.”

I felt relieved for a moment, but then realized I actually made her upset.

“Sorry, sorry. Did that make you upset? You’re right though, I should have just told you about it.”

“No. I’m not upset. It’s just…”

She pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger, as if in distress.

“Just tell me next time.”

“Okay.”

Feeling like I’d been scolded, I figured I’d just eat and forked a piece of sundae offal.

“Oppa.”

Perhaps already full, Doah used her chopsticks to scrape the bowl of her tteokbokki, which now had nothing but seasoning on it.

“Do you like to play games?”

“I do.”

There wasn’t a game I hadn’t played, from the mainstream ones that everyone else played in PC Bangs to the gal games that otaku were obsessed with.

And, if we were talking about gacha games, I whaled on them.

“Which one do you play the most?”

“Um…”

To answer that, I had to consider the meaning of ‘playing a lot’ first.

Like, was it a game that I played for a long period of time, or the ones I usually play for a long time in one sitting?

Or it could be the gacha games I’d play every now and then so that I’d get some freebies.

While I was thinking about what to say for a moment.

I figured I didn’t need to reveal my tastes that deeply.

“I play League of Legends often.”

This was all I had to say.

This was because in general, mainstream picks tend to be easy as pie.

In fact, I often went to PC Bangs with my friends in high school to play it.

“Which lane do you play?”

“I’m either adc or top.”

“Then, do you want to duo bot with me later?”

Hearing her offer, my heart started to pound.

I’m… I’m going to duo bottom lane with Luka-tan…?

So many times… I had tried this… I watched her live, I donated to her, but I had never been selected…

I, who hadn’t been chosen for ladder climbing, roulette, or anything else, got a chance like this…!

The opportunity came so quickly and easily that I was dumbstruck.

“…You don’t want to?”

While I was crying out in joy in my heart, it seemed like Doah thought that I was about to reject her offer.

“No, no. Let’s do it! We can just play! I’ll carry you!”

“What rank are you?”

“I used to be Gold.”

“Does that mean you’re not gold now?”

There was no way that I could say I had deranked myself because I wanted to play with her, a Bronze player.

It was hard to purposely lose without getting banned.

“I may be Silver now, but I swear I’m better than your average gold players.”

“Oh. So you’re a little bit like me?”

A question mark was stamped in my head.

“You? As me?”

Hey, Luka. What were you on about?

Why were you putting me on the same level as you?

Yeah, Gold wasn’t a high rank or anything like that, but that was still rude of her.

“Why? You haven’t even seen me play.”

No. I’ve seen it. A lot of fucking times.

You suck at it.

Like, you keep flashing into a wall, why were you talking as if you were some big shot?

“Even if I look like this, I’m an all-arounder.”

  – Pfft.

Eventually, I failed to hold back my laughter.

To be fair, this was way too funny.

It was like she was trying to block the sun with her own palm.¹T/N: Idiom for trying to hide from the obvious truth

All the Pink Army knew she was shit at League.

Even though I was pretending to not know her identity, that was all I could do.

“…Why are you laughing?”

Doah pouted her lips as if she was offended.

“No, no. I wasn’t laughing.”

“You were clearly laughing. What do you mean no?”

Isn’t it unfair to tell me not to laugh when you made me laugh?

“But you are Bronze.”

I stabbed her with the fact, and her pupils shook as if she’d been struck by a fatal blow.

“…How do you know that?”

“You mentioned it to Junseok during our first meeting for the group project.”

“Oh. Right.”

It seemed that Doah had forgotten what she had said.

I stood up from my seat as we finished the food we had ordered.

“Aunty. I’d like to pay the bill, please.”

“Oppa, give me your account and I’ll—”

“No, no. Let’s just count in addition to the drinks.”

Considering that a coffee costed 5,000 won these days, it was no different than the portion of a meal.

“…Is that okay?”

“It’s only 1000 won extra, so just count it as tuition fee or something.”

When we walked out with our stomachs full, the sun had already set.

“Time passed quickly.”

“It did.”

In front of the slope leading up to her house.

Doah stopped in front of an unattended ice cream shop.

“Oppa, do you want some ice cream?”

“Are you treating me?”

“Oh. Sure.”

Maybe she felt bad for having me pay for her meal, so she readily answered my question.

“Hmmm…”

Unattended ice cream shops were all well and good, but this was the problem.

There were too many options.

While it was great that it was so much cheaper than convenience stores, too many options was practically poison to a person incapable of making decisions like me.

Worse was that I wasn’t the only one who had this dilemma.

Standing next to me, Doah only rolled her eyes, showing no sign of opening the freezer.

“Are you going to pick something?”

“What about you?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

“Same.”

Having watched Luka’s random facts segments over and over again, I was well aware of Doah’s ice cream tastes.

“How about that one with the milk flavor?”

Doah reached out her hand as I suggested, and I thought she would open the freezer.

“Sigh… It’s good, but… Hmmm…”

The extended hand returned without even reaching the destination.

“I’ll just eat this.”

I grabbed the melon-flavored ice cream and stood in front of the register.

“Oppa, why are you so quick? I haven’t made up my mind yet.”

What were you on about? You would just choose milk-flavor or cherry-flavor anyway.

「When it comes to popsicles, I like milk-flavored ones the best, but sometimes I get cherry.」

「Why, you ask? It’s just because I like them, chat!」

Since there were short clips of it as well, I had almost all of the lines memorized.

“What are the options?”

“The one you said earlier and the cherry-flavored one.”

“Then let’s just play rock, paper, scissors and if I win, milk. If you win, cherry.”

“Sounds good.”

Doah intertwined her hands and stretched.

“Rock paper scissors!”

Men should always pick rock.

I coolly thrust my fist forward.

“Alright!”

Doah, who showed paper, looked to be in a happy mood.

She was just choosing between two of her favorite flavors, so why would she be happy? 

“What was it if I won?”

Wow, she didn’t even remember that…

“Cherry.”

Upon hearing my answer, Doah pulled out a cherry-flavored ice cream and paid for mine as well at once.

“Soon, it’ll be too cold to eat ice cream.”

“Yeah.”

Also, since it was October, the midterms would soon begin.

The thought of having to take a test when I felt like I hadn’t got anything done was depressing.

As we walked up the alley, we found ourselves in front of Doah’s house.

“I had fun today.”

She grinned widely.

“Me too.”

Visiting the arcade with Luca.

It was a special experience you couldn’t get no matter how much money you donated to her.

“Do you want to go again sometime?”

“Sure, just call me.”

“Okay, then.”

Doah awkwardly raised her right hand.

“I’m going in now? See you at school?”

“Ah, uh, go ahead. Do your best on our group project. Tell me if you have any problems with it.”

Obviously I knew that she wouldn’t be having any problems. I just said it out of courtesy.

“Oh, right. By the way, Oppa.”

Doah, who pushed the door to get in, called and stopped me.

“What’s your League of Legends username?”

“My—”

Ah, wait. I’m screwed.

Doah tilted her head when I didn’t answer her question.

“I thought I’d add you as a friend since we’re going to play League of Legends together.”

A chill ran down my spine.

The thing was, I couldn’t tell her my username so nonchalantly like that.

Because my username was…

[Lukatansmine]

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  T/N: Idiom for trying to hide from the obvious truth

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