Sorim Grapes is Wronged

05.

BUM, a pro gamer of ‘Eltimos’, the world’s most popular MOBA game.

A player who won both team and individual trophies at the world championships two years ago and last year. Although his fan service wasn’t as outstanding as his skills due to his shy personality… Even those who criticize his lackluster fan service end up praising him when they see his overwhelming performance in world championships.

Last year, he even gained the right to be criticized when he utterly crushed a Japanese player who had stirred up controversy with an interview belittling Korea.

When rumors spread that Kwon Je-beom was entering Korea University’s e-sports department, many students flocked to the department’s room. Especially his seniors and peers in the department had high expectations. However, the shy Kwon Je-beom rarely visited the department room and didn’t take all the credits for his courses. He was substituting them with his professional gamer activities.

However, for some reason, he was attending one liberal arts course regularly, and no one knew why. Coincidentally, Ha Jin from the Business School, who became a topic of conversation for his handsome looks, was also taking that course, which led to jokes about telepathy between handsome guys.

“Let’s go play pool now.”

“You go first. I’ll talk with Je-beom for a bit and catch up.”

“Okay.”

After the friends left the smoking area, Yu Min-su asked Kwon Je-beom once they were sufficiently far:

“You’re streaming live today, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing?”

“Real Shooting Stage.”

“You’ve been doing that a lot lately. But your subscribers don’t really like joystick games, right? Aren’t you worried about losing subscribers?”

“If they leave, they leave. Those who want to keep watching will stay.”

“The arrogance of the haves.”

“…”

“Still, it’s good that you’re streaming consistently.”

Yu Min-su, who had been friends with Kwon Je-beom since childhood, knew one more fact about him.

The fact that Kwon Je-beom was ‘Beombiga’, a popular streamer on the video platform ‘GemTube’. He debuted as a streamer before becoming a pro gamer. Kwon Je-beom had been running a gaming broadcast for five years since middle school, wearing a tiger mask and using voice modulation.

Kwon Je-beom is known for being extremely introverted. Once he becomes close to someone, he talks well, but it takes a long time for him to get close. Some misunderstand him as rude and arrogant, while others consider him timid. However, ‘Beombiga’ with the tiger mask was far from timid. He jokes around a lot, makes many quips, and even acts cute. At first, Yu Min-su thought his close friend had a dual personality.

“How long do you plan to maintain this double life?”

“As long as I can.”

“I see. You’re saying you don’t have the courage to take off the mask yet.”

“…”

Kwon Je-beom closed his mouth. Yu Min-su sighed.

“Let’s go. The others are waiting. Oh, I’ll send the thumbnail from yesterday to the team leader at seven.”

Yu Min-su left the smoking area.

As Kwon Je-beom followed, he glanced at the vending machine that had been broken.

Although the spring sky was bright and the breeze was cool, a storm with rain was raging in Kwon Je-beom’s heart.

In fact, he knew the person who had easily fixed that vending machine.

Ha-un. Twenty-seven years old. Currently unemployed.

And… someone who greatly dislikes people.

Kwon Je-beom first learned about Ha-un in early March, inside this smoking area.

2)

Kwon Je-beom deliberately visited the smoking area when no one was around. His goal wasn’t to smoke but to use the vending machine. Looking inside, he saw only one person. Even though he would be noticed anyway due to his size, he entered with his head lowered.

Usually, when someone enters a place where a person is alone, they instinctively look, especially if it’s a large person like Kwon Je-beom. But that person didn’t even turn his gaze, let alone notice someone had entered, and just blew out cigarette smoke while staring into space.

Instead, Kwon Je-beom stared blankly at that person. Despite his personality that prevented him from looking directly at people, strangely, he found himself staring at that person’s face.

Why? He felt like he had seen him somewhere before. He wanted to look closer, but fearing their eyes might meet, he lowered his gaze.

Just as Kwon Je-beom was approaching the vending machine, that person stubbed out his cigarette and headed towards the vending machine. Kwon Je-beom quickly turned his back as if he had never been heading there and glanced sideways.

‘…’

The man inserted a bill and pressed a drink button, but no drink came out. The vending machine was broken. Only Kwon Je-beom, who was watching, was flustered, while that person unhesitatingly hit the vending machine with a bang, thud, and thump. A can dropped with a clunk.

It was a strange sight.

That person leisurely left the smoking area.

His slightly prim profile unfolded like slow motion.

The second encounter was also in the smoking area. This time, the situation was reversed. When Kwon Je-beom was inserting a bill into the vending machine, that person entered.

Kwon Je-beom recognized him immediately, but the person didn’t even glance at Kwon Je-beom. The extremely introverted Kwon Je-beom thought this was fortunate and pressed the button, waiting for the drink to come out, but although there was a clunk sound, nothing appeared in the dispenser.

Kwon Je-beom was flustered… and looked at that person.

That person seemed completely uninterested in what was happening here and smoked while staring into space.

When Kwon Je-beom tapped the vending machine to draw attention, the person glanced this way. He seemed to have recognized that the vending machine was broken but didn’t seem inclined to help. Kwon Je-beom also lacked the courage to ask a stranger for help.

After some time, that person discarded his finished cigarette butt and leisurely left the smoking area.

‘…’

Kwon Je-beom felt a bit dejected.

The third encounter was outside the school. Specifically, at the crosswalk in front of the main gate.

While waiting for the green light at the crosswalk, the person next to him was that very person. Once he realized this, for some reason, he kept glancing at him.

When the light turned green and they were about to cross, a sedan approached without slowing down. While Kwon Je-beom and others stopped in surprise, that person didn’t. Instead, he approached the car.

The car made an unpleasant screeching sound and stopped just before hitting him, and that person looked directly at the driver’s seat with a calm and indifferent face. As Kwon Je-beom was internally shocked by that person’s seemingly fearless behavior, the driver got out of the sedan.

The driver was a skinny young man with tattoos on both arms. As the tattooed man cursed at that person, he approached the tattooed man while rolling up his sleeves.

The tattooed man went quiet.

Surprisingly, that person’s arms were covered in tattoos. Even more densely than the tattooed man…

That person said one thing quietly to the tattooed man.

‘What. Want to hit me?’

The skinny tattooed man flinched and fled into his car. The man rolled his sleeves back down.

Thus, in Kwon Je-beom’s mind, the man’s image became ‘an indifferent, cool, and scary person’.

When Kwon Je-beom met the man for the fourth time, he learned that he was the older brother of ‘Ha Jin’, a famous figure on campus. Ha Jin and Ju Da-bin had been well-known figures mentioned on the school community since orientation. They were both good-looking, a long-time couple, and popular.

And Kwon Je-beom was taking the same liberal arts course as those two.

At first, Kwon Je-beom didn’t intend to attend the liberal arts course diligently, but after learning this fact, he attended without fail and made the seat behind the two his regular spot.

The two often talked about Ha-un. Although they spoke in hushed tones, Kwon Je-beom, with his sharp hearing, could hear everything. In fact, it wasn’t just often; Ha-un seemed to be their only topic of conversation.

After a week, Kwon Je-beom knew Ha-un’s age and the environment he had lived in until now. That he had been working since he was young, recently quit his job, and was suffering from severe burnout, not moving from his bed. That he was suffering from extreme misanthropy.

Ha-un dislikes people.

With that fact, everything made sense.

Kwon Je-beom had also disliked people at one point. When he was very young…

Disliking people is a very tiring thing.

He was concerned about Ha-un. It wasn’t just out of pity. Whenever he saw Ha-un, he kept remembering that boy from that day. It was really strange to be reminded of that boy while looking at the listless face that seemed to say he hated people and was sick of life.

While finding it strange, he diligently collected information about Ha-un. However, Kwon Je-beom had no intention of approaching him. More precisely, he lacked the courage to approach.

At least until then.

Anger

The days of being glued to the bed couldn’t continue. On Saturday, Da-bin and Jin’s friends came over. They had fun for hours with the karaoke machine and board games Jin had bought, and left late at night. I couldn’t lie in bed as I had to feed them when it was time, and provide drinks and snacks while monitoring their mood.

On Sunday, due to my brother’s persistence, I had to go mountain climbing at Mt. Gwanak early in the morning. After devouring a whole chicken soup at a restaurant at the foot of the mountain, Ha Jin made the terrifying statement, “Oh, climbing really does increase appetite. We should do this every weekend.” If he really forces me to climb next week, I might have to roll down the mountain.

Monday came again, and my brother went to school while I was left alone at home. Just as I was about to sink into lethargy, packages ordered by my brother arrived one after another in the afternoon.

I thought it might be more interior decorations. Because since we moved, my brother had been buying interior items as if to fulfill a long-held desire.

‘Hyung, I found fireplace items on interior design sites. It takes a week to arrive, so I ordered in advance. It’s supposed to arrive this afternoon, so please receive it.’

Starting with utterly useless LED fireplaces…

‘Wow. There are also home arcade machines. When I asked about shipping, they said it takes a week.’

‘Hyung, how many square meters is our living room? I’ve already ordered a carpet, but I didn’t measure the size.’

‘This is a plant that blooms once every 100 years. Let’s put it on the terrace.’

I was a bit surprised to see my brother buying things recklessly when he wouldn’t even manage them himself. Because he had been extremely frugal until now… He had never… well, almost never asked for things to be bought for him or for his allowance to be increased.

In fact, he must have wanted to buy everything he desired like this all along.

Thinking that way, my heart ached, and I couldn’t bring myself to stop him.