episode_0063

Episode.63 Bond of Dreaming Eyes (2)

More than anyone else, as far as I know, Minseong was famous as the friend who played the longest games in schools around here.

For Minseong, did games not serve as a driving force in life?

So why did I endure playing a game I hated for so long, play it for so long, and achieve such a high rating?

I asked him as he sat looking out the window.

“… Did something happen?”

Min Seong-i, a friend of mine for many years, was wearing a patient gown and receiving IV treatment with a needle stuck in his right arm.

As I looked at that scene, I suddenly realized that a lot of time had passed since I met him.

“… I wish I had never started from the beginning…”

“But, you’re the best among us, right?”

“So!… That’s the problem. I already knew that I was the best among you all. And I know that fact better than anyone else. But what can you do with that gaming skill?”

Minseong, who was sitting on the bed, suddenly woke up.

Unable to keep his balance, I could only watch as he stood up, holding on to the wall with his left hand and the IV stand with his right hand.

The sight of him staggering around made him look very tired.

“Pro gamer? Yes, if you want to be a professional gamer, you have to be much better than this. Even if you somehow work hard to become a professional gamer, there are already too many top players in that field. Personal broadcast? Honestly, if you want to do a personal broadcast through a game, skill broadcasting is meaningless. Nowadays people value fun more. In the end, I can’t make a living with this in the future!… It would have been better if my tier was low or ordinary like other kids… It’s even harder because it’s vaguely high… I thought maybe I’d get a chance to become a pro… No, I thought I could become a pro.”

Min Seong-i moved his left hand from the wall to the IV stand and held the stand tightly with both hands to maintain his balance.

He seemed very excited now.

“Just calm down… But you’re pretty good at studying, right?”

“Ha…”

Minseong leaned against the wall and looked straight at me.

“What do you say you know about me? Have you ever lived as ‘me’ even for just one moment, even for one second?”

“Well, that’s…”

“Other kids probably think like you. You will always feel envious when you see my tier. I didn’t intend for it to end up like this from the beginning. The first time I played the game, it felt like I was wandering around a new world. Yes, to explain, it was like dreaming, allowing me to do things I couldn’t do in real life. So I played like I was obsessed with the game. In this never-ending dream, I kept looking forward and running… When other friends saw my skills and the tiers that proved them, they envied me, and when I watched their reactions and asked me how I did, I felt like all the stress I had felt was being rewarded. And Tier was everything to me, and it allowed me to make other friends even when I first entered middle school. It’s only one tier higher. I felt like I had the whole world. At least until middle school.”

He spoke loudly, emphasizing his time in middle school.

“I entered high school for the first time, entered the hunter department, and worked hard not to lose anywhere. To reach new heights. However, it is not for nothing that it is said to be the limit of the average person. I also hit that wall. I thought I would get over it quickly. But… the number of times you play the game increases, but the tiers stay the same… Did you see me studying when I was in middle school?”

“You… were a person who had nothing to do with studying.”

The sight of snow falling beyond the window and the morning sunlight came through the window and shined on Minseong’s eyes.

The combination of his deep dark circles and the sunlight gives the illusion that his eyes are red.

“That’s right. I know it well. I studied like crazy during the winter break of my first year in high school. The results were really good. I’m a 2nd grader in all subjects. But I didn’t like it. Whether in games or studies… I don’t know when I will experience the word victory in my life. Victory in one game at a time? If you count that as a victory… does it just mean admitting that you have become a loser, having only experienced victory in games? I’m not an idiot either, so I tried harder. For level 1. But, it didn’t work. Was it too greedy? Ju Jae-e, a game junkie… And you know why I’m aiming for 1st rank, right? Unless you get a job or become a hunter at our school… it’s hard to go to university unless you’re top 1.”

He started to lie down on the bed.

The hospital bed seemed quite soft.

When I was around him, I could sense that he was going through a lot of emotional distress, but I never imagined that it would be this severe.

“Studying… or playing games… If I had known in advance that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t become the best… I wouldn’t have even tried like a fool. Sorry for getting angry earlier.”

But I finally saw that Minseong had a bandage wrapped around his left leg when he was lying on the bed.

“Ha… I understand your situation well, but why were you hospitalized?”

I lightly glanced at his left leg.

“No big deal, I was in a minor car accident.”

“Really? I hope it’s okay with you. But what is that burn-like thing?”

“Ah… This is just a magic mark-”

“Don’t lie. If you have anything to keep secret, tell me now. We’ve been together for 11 years, right? It’s been 12 years now. Do you have something to hide?”

“I see. Yes, that would be the ‘last’ courtesy you can give to your friend.”

“What? Last?”

“Where should I explain it to make it easier to understand… Yes, from the moment I was born-”

**********

I have been unwell since birth.

The symptom is a lack of magical power.

In today’s Korean society, lack of magical power is a fatal problem.

When people become adults, they are evaluated as awakened by the Hunter Association from the time they turn 20 years old.

But to me, that review is meaningless.

I don’t have any magical powers.

The grades in descending order are S, A, B, C, D, E, and F.

E or F are ordinary people.

But I don’t belong to that general public either.

Because ordinary people also have some magical power, they are classified as E or F.

E usually has a lot of people who play physical sports.

In any case, if you place your hand on the glass bead that measures the magic power and calculates the grade, no results are obtained, meaning it is quiet.

If I were to live as a hunter… there would be no grade at all, or it would be G grade.

However, if you do not have magical power in the first place, you cannot become a hunter.

If you don’t become D-rank or higher… no party will let you join.

So, E and F belong to the general public.

Anyway, was it a coincidence?

Later, my parents said that sitting next to me was a boy who had the same magical power as me.

However, the child did not live past the age of 4 and died at a young age.

The reason was due to a lack of magical power.

When there is a lack of magical power, it is used to simply mean that all of it has been used up, or the word deficiency is used when something that should be there is missing or is below the normal level.

Literally.

As explained earlier, I lack magical power compared to others due to a lack of magical energy.

No, not at all.

In the first place, when I was born, I could not inherit mana from my mother because my body could not withstand magical power.

My mother and father did nothing wrong.

I’m just unlucky.

So why is magical energy deficiency a serious, life-threatening disease?

The reason is simple.

Now in our modern society, magic resides everywhere on this Earth.

This is because gates are created anywhere and magic flows through them.

Decades have passed since before I was born when the gate, created for reasons unknown in the world, began to release magical power.

The magic power that has flowed over those decades has now become part of the Earth, and a body that cannot accept magic power cannot withstand it.

To use an analogy, we must live with the feeling that all the air on Earth has been replaced with nicotine-filled cigarette smoke.

It’s a bit strange to say it this way, but I thought it would be better to say that it was a healthy cigarette that only had a strange smell.

Because people who accept magic well live long and healthy lives.

But it’s not cigarettes, right? It’s also bad for your lungs.

Anyway, maybe that’s why no matter what I did, my lifespan was completely cut short.

So my parents let me do whatever I wanted, but only indoors.

I have known since I was 5 that I was terminally ill.

Of course, my parents knew about it, and they made sure that I had fun spending the remaining time.

I was just happy to hear that I could do anything I wanted.

For the first and last time, I told my parents what I wanted to do and what I wanted to have.

– ‘I want to play games on a computer with good specifications!’

At that young age, it was the best wish concocted by the brain of a 5-year-old.

When I got a computer at home, I played games all day long.

I played a lot of games, this game and that game, but I couldn’t play any of them for long.

Are you sick of it?

Or is it because it wasn’t fun from the start?

Is it because you can’t satisfy your thirst for interest more than you thought?

No, the answer is because the other games were worse than the first game I played.

I restarted the game I started with the first time.

And as time passed, two years passed by.

My parents explained to me that being a student was a good thing.

So I said I also wanted to go to kindergarten.

At the age of 7, the name of the friend I spoke to for the first time after entering kindergarten was ‘Han Si-woo’.

It was a stupid name.

I felt like I had to take care of him from now on.

We were playing house with each other in that moment.

Not funny.

‘It’s much more fun to play games at home than to play games like this.’

‘Siwoo, does this guy find this fun?’

‘Mom said school life would definitely be fun.’

‘liar.’

The kindergarten teacher came in and smiled when she saw us meeting for the first time.

I still remember that smile.

And I also remember what the kindergarten teacher said.

– ‘Our little friends~ You may not understand this well when you are young, but please remember this even when you become an adult~?’

That’s right.

– ‘Always, always be humble.’

It’s been 6 years since I first met him and became close friends. A long time passes and I suddenly remember the time when Siwoo and I met and played at the playground when we were in the 6th grade of elementary school.

Yes, at that moment, it was snowing like it is now.

My eyes are sinking.

It was like the sky was whispering to all living creatures that it was time to sleep.

I heard good things from my dad.

My father often used poetic expressions, perhaps because he was a liberal arts major.

Even though I didn’t understand it when I was young.

So on snowy nights, I would fall asleep and dream comfortably.

…

– ‘Life? Are you whispering to someone like that?’

I heard good things about it.

I have to tell Siwoo too.

… I really wanted to let you know.