Chapter 67

Jung Yunseul, looking for me.

I told her I was fine inside her head, so she could rest easy, and only then did she let out a sigh of relief.

“Then are you still in Sensory Sharing, Oppa?”

<That’s right.>

“Like this…?”

<Hey, hey. Don’t do that!>

I urgently shouted at Yunseuli not to, as she pressed her own chest with her index finger.

Just as she giggled and said she understood, a knock echoed.

Even though she hadn’t opened the door yet, both I and Yunseuli knew who had come.

It was Seo Dami.

Ever since I started staying with Yunseul, Dami had come to the room every day, asking if she slept well and making small talk.

Yunseul complained that she was uncomfortable because she could see right through Dami’s daily visits, but Dami herself seemed to enjoy her conversations with me, not paying any mind to Yunseul.

But today, the roles were reversed.

The one greeting Dami now was not me, but Jung Yunseul.

And for whatever reason, Jung Yunseul grinned and opened the door.

“Oppa. Did you sleep well?”

Seo Dami, who had been smiling while offering her usual greeting, tilted her head when her eyes met Yunseuli’s.

Then her expression quickly turned blank, and she suddenly asked, “Did you switch places with Oppa?”

Her intuition was truly uncanny when it came to matters involving me.

“You’re something else, Unni. How did you know right away?”

“I can tell that much. We’ve spent time together, after all…”

“Must have been nice. Having Oppa all to yourself in secret.”

“I already said I was sorry about that…”

Yunseul pouted, showing that her feelings about that incident were still not good.

As Yunseuli’s eyes narrowed, Dami slightly averted her gaze.

As if to say she had no desire to clash with her over this issue.

“Can you pass on my greetings to Oppa?”

“He’s watching everything anyway, even if I don’t tell him.”

“If… if Oppa has something to say to me… let me know. Please.”

“I’ll see how you behave, Unni.”

Though Yunseul was being prickly, she didn’t completely ignore Dami’s words.

Over the past month, I had put in a great deal of effort to mediate between the two.

At the time, Yunseul had repeatedly suspected that Dami and I were dating, but thanks to my constant explanations and Dami’s skill, she had now shed most of that suspicion.

Seo Dami’s skill was simply too good for her to have been focused solely on romance.

And I could answer this with a clear conscience.

While I was with Dami, instead of thinking about dating anyone, I had done my best with the mindset of raising one player before I died.

The same went for Yunseul.

I always thought this kind of life could end at any moment, so I poured my passion only into developing the players’ skills.

In fact, that was the biggest reason.

The reason I couldn’t readily accept the girls’ affections.

How could I not know?

Seo Dami was at the level of openly shouting, “I like you, Oppa!”

But I was a vegetable, lying motionless in a hospital.

My fate was like the last leaf, which could fall at any moment.

The last time I tried to move my body, the doctors rushed in, and even I was about to lose my mind.

So I had no choice but to make a promise to myself.

If I were to ever enter a serious relationship with someone, to take the next step.

It would have to be after I got out of that hospital bed.

The only sad part was that it wasn’t a very likely possibility.

“We’re going down to eat breakfast together, right…?”

“Well—okay.”

Her feelings hadn’t completely subsided, but they weren’t terrible either, so Yunseul readily accepted Seo Dami’s suggestion.

“Let’s go. To eat.”

“This is how you tie your hair. Got it?”

Having returned to her own body, Yunseul hummed a tune as she stood before the mirror.

The clumsily tied hair was gone, replaced by a more stylish look.

Yunseul immediately adapted back to her original life.

There were no major troubles with Dami either.

After playing her first game since her return, their relationship became even more amicable.

It was thanks to her realizing that Dami’s skill wasn’t something she had gotten for free simply through my Possession.

“Unni must have put in a lot of effort…”

<That’s right. It’s not like I always played the game for her.>

Quite some time had passed since Dami had taken full Control of the game.

During that time, Seo Dami had shown a consistent Performance.

To the point where there was hardly any difference compared to when I played.

That wasn’t something that could be achieved just by me sharing my senses.

If it were, Yunseul would have maintained her skills as well.

But to be brutally honest, Yunseul’s skill after regaining Control was at about 60 to 70 percent of what it was when I played.

Of course, there was a big difference in the amount of time we had spent together.

However, one had to consider that when it comes to skill, the higher you go, the effort you have to pour in to improve even a little bit doubles.

Considering that, it had to be said that Seo Dami had put in every effort to review and internalize my plays.

Of course, that wasn’t to say Yunseul hadn’t tried at all.

“Putting aside the fact that Unni lied to me, I can see that she worked hard enough to be respected.”

Jung Yunseul said, watching Seo Dami who had started monopolizing the MVP awards again.

“Oppa. I want to do a bit more Stamina Training. Can I increase my training volume?”

<In the Off-Season?>

“Yes.”

You can’t do high-intensity Stamina Training during the Season.

It would interfere with playing in the League.

So, to properly build Stamina, you had no choice but to go all-in during the Off-Season, and Yunseul was already burning with fighting spirit.

This winter.

She would catch up to Seo Dami and push her skills to their limit.

“You’ll help me, right?”

<Of course.>

After thanking me, Yunseul said that since the Season wasn’t over yet, she wanted to make good use of the remaining time.

Although it wouldn’t be as good as me moving her body for her, if I coached her from a first-person perspective, I could provide sufficiently effective teaching.

Early October.

Although there was still a month left in the League, Super Sylph had already secured first place and was celebrating.

CEO Oh Sooho congratulated them through a video call with the team members, and for the splendid achievement of a direct promotion to the First Division League, the company paid out a bonus of ten million Won per player.

Direct promotion to the upper League.

It was a leap so great it was hard to believe this was the team that had placed 8th last year.

The smiles never left the faces of any staff members they met, and Coach Lee Gangseon was practically dancing with joy every day.

It was a huge mark on his career, so how could he not be thrilled?

“Today’s on the Coach! Eat whatever you want! Late-night snacks are fine too!”

“Wow!”

“Lobster too?”

“Of course, you can!”

It was an autumn where it seemed everything would end smoothly like this and we would head into the Off-Season.

From a completely unexpected place…

A massive incident erupted.

“Oppa. Let’s go visit you at the hospital.”

On the evening of the Friday match in the first week.

Yunseul said to me.

That we should go visit me at the hospital together.

She said she had been so busy she hadn’t been able to think about it, but she wanted to go to the hospital to check on Oppa’s condition and also greet my mother.

I sensed something ominous at that moment.

The hospital?

The intention was good… but was it okay to go? The thought flashed through my mind.

It was because of Seo Dami.

Dami still went to the hospital every Sunday without fail to greet my mom.

At this point, you could say she was better than a real son, but of all things, Yunseul had to bring up visiting the hospital too.

What if the two of them run into each other at the hospital?

A fear that their recently improved relationship would explode again washed over me.

The problem was, I had no justification to stop her.

“I’ve received so much from you, Oppa, that I can’t just sit still. I really want to greet your mother, hehe…”

<Hey, Yunseul…? It’s still the middle of the Season, so maybe we can go after everything is finished.>

“We’ve already secured first place. The Coach said he’d give me some free time since I’m doing so well lately. He said it would motivate the other unnis to see me.”

Pro Gamers are people who normally can’t just leave the Team House as they please, even on weekends.

This was because if they pushed themselves with Stamina Training on a Friday evening, any muscle soreness would mostly be gone by Monday.

Besides that, going out to play during the busy hours of In-Game Training?

It might be possible in an overseas League like in the US, but in Korea, where they dedicate themselves to training from day to night, it was out of the question.

But thanks to me greatly improving her skills, Jung Yunseul had earned her freedom.

It was Coach Lee Gangseon’s philosophy to give that much freedom to players who managed themselves.

And so, the very next day.

On Saturday, Yunseul visited the hospital with her arms full of juice, fruit, and gifts.

I kept trying to dissuade her, saying we should go next time, but it was no use.

The most I could do was barely stop her from suggesting we tell my mom our secret.

“It would be nice to tell your mother, ‘I’m taking responsibility for Oppa.’”

<Please, Yunseul…>

“Okay, okay. We’ll save that for next time~.”

The clean and tidy university hospital Lobby.

As far as I knew, this was the first time since she had come with Dami.

A fairly long time ago.

At least it wasn’t Sunday, so there was no chance of running into Dami, but a sense of unease still lingered in my heart.

Since we had called ahead, we were able to meet my mom without any problems.

“Hello, Mother!”

“What brings you here? Thank you so much for visiting. I’ve actually been watching every Super Sylph match lately.”

“Really?”

Yunseul jumped up and down with joy.

Thanks to Seo Dami, my mom had been watching Super Sylph’s matches every week without fail.

So there was no way she wouldn’t know about Jung Yunseul’s recent performance.

It would be stranger if she didn’t know the player who was taking turns with Seo Dami for MVP and was being written about in articles day after day.

“Watching you play, Yunseul, reminded me of when my son used to play.”

“Mother…”

As if deeply moved by those words, Yunseul blinked her eyes and hugged my mom tightly.

I could feel my mom was a little flustered, but Yunseul, whose spirits were already soaring, started unpacking the gifts she brought, telling her to have some fruit.

“Oh my, you really didn’t have to…”

“It’s because I’ve received so much from Oppa.”

“From my Youngin?”

“Yes!”

When Yunseul answered energetically, my mom chuckled and said, “What a coincidence.”

It was only natural that I flinched at that moment.

“Pardon?”

“Dami often said the same thing. That she received a lot of help from my Youngin.”

“Dami? No, no, Unni… said that?”

“Of course. She’s been bringing fruit every time she’s come since then, I don’t know if it’s okay for me to keep accepting it…”

“Every time… she comes?”

My mom, touching her cheek, looked genuinely worried.

In that instant, Jung Yunseul’s mind went into overdrive.

Her thoughts became so numerous that the countless stray ideas were transmitted to me.

‘Dami—? Why is Mother calling Unni so familiarly? Something’s weird. And what’s with the gifts?’

I couldn’t say a word.

I felt that one wrong step here would be like throwing myself off a cliff.

And a moment later, something sharp sprouted in Jung Yunseul’s mind.

It was something sharp that I could clearly feel.

“Mother~.”

“Yes?”

“It seems Dami Unni has been visiting often.”

“Ah, she comes every weekend. Every Sunday.”

“Heeh… Since when?”

“Let’s see. It’s been quite a while…”

Watching my mom bend her fingers to count the months, Yunseul’s heart froze solid.

“Ah. Oppa must have known, then.”

<……>

“My Youngin?”

“No. I meant since she came to visit often, Oppa must have known.”

“I suppose so. If he knew there were so many friends waiting for him to recover, he should hurry up and wake up.”

With that, my mom looked at my peacefully sleeping face.

Yunseul’s gaze followed.

She could see me, thin but with a peaceful face, as if free from pain.

‘Our Dami Unni has so many secrets, doesn’t she—? I can’t hate Oppa, so what should I do—.’

Like the lead in a thriller movie.

Yunseul sent a terrifying tremor through her mind.

After that, Yunseul talked with my mom for about an hour more before returning.

Even while maintaining a smile for my mom, a blizzard was raging in her heart, so I couldn’t say a word and had to just curl up quietly.

‘Still just a teacher and student? Still? Isn’t this basically her trying to win points as a future daughter-in-law?’

<……>

I became a mute who’d eaten honey. On the way back to the Team House, the first person we happened to run into was Dami.

Jung Yunseul, who had gotten permission to go out for the weekend.

Dami smiled and asked if she had a good time, but what was this?

Yunseul glared and walked past her without a word.

Dami, clueless about her cold reaction, could only blink her eyes.

However, this was only the beginning of the coming storm…

That evening.

At the dinner table where everyone was gathered, the Bomb finally went off.

“Why is the weekend training so intense…”

While Hwang Jua was grumbling and massaging her shoulders.

Yunseul, who had brought ice cream for dessert, slammed the bowl down on the table with a loud thud, as if for all to see.

It was a sound clearly meant for Dami sitting in front of her, so Dami had no choice but to stop lifting her spoon and look at Yunseul. What came out of Yunseul’s mouth next was a real spectacle.

“One bite for Oppa, say ah~.”

“……?”

Ang— a spoonful of vanilla ice cream went into her mouth.

“One bite for who?”

It was a phrase that would never be heard at a team dinner, so Hwang Jua didn’t catch it and asked what she said, but Yunseul continued as if she didn’t care.

“And one bite for me, ah~. Mmm~ delicious! Right?”

“What’s with her? Are you sick?”

The clueless Hwang Jua’s reaction was, “What’s wrong with her?” but Seo Dami was different.

The eyes of the girl who had been hit with a sudden, massive Provocation were trembling.