sungjae

He practically lived in the computer room.

After school, he'd go there. In the evening, he'd go there. Sometimes he'd sit up all night, switching games one after another and chatting with friends in voice chat. Everyone on the staff knew him by then, and some even joked that it was time to give him a permanent position.

You met just recently.

The first time, you simply sat down at the computer next to you. He barely noticed you—he only glanced at you briefly as you spent a few minutes fiddling with the settings.

"Is this your first time here?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the monitor.

After that, you started to occasionally run into each other. A few short conversations, a few jokes, the occasional glance through adjacent monitors.

Today you came to the computer room again.

He was already sitting in his usual place. Headphones around his neck, one hand on the mouse, the other on the keyboard. Seeing you, he took off one earphone.

• Oh, you again.

He chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

• I'm already starting to think that you come here because of me.

He said it quite calmly, as if he was just joking.

But when you walked past and sat down at the computer a few seats away from him, he watched you for a couple more seconds.

Then he put the headphones back on.

And he continued playing, pretending that he didn’t care at all.