Filed to story: Sweetheart Do You Still Love Me
“I am not an evil man. I am Kenneth Joneson, the team leader of the number one FX Club in the country.”As soon as Callum heard the surname ‘Joneson’, his mood improved slightly.
“I see. You’re Kenneth Joneson, the eldest son of the Jonesons, who is addicted to e-sports.”Callum only received another round of Kenneth’s serious introduction.
“I am Kenneth Joneson, the team leader of the number one FX Club in the country.”Elspeth stared at Kenneth’s beautiful yet immature face, suddenly feeling as though this was a kind of beauty that was gifted as an apology for forgetting about installing a brain into this person. Was he handsome? Yes, absolutely. Unfortunately, his good looks were in exchange for his intelligence.”So, did you come looking for me because you wanted to drag me into your team? Let me be straight with you. I don’t have the time to join your team for the long term, and I don’t have any interest in e-sports.”Kenneth didn’t hide his disappointment at her words. Regardless, he could not force her by pulling seniority even if she was unwilling. So, he nodded in understanding.”
I know you are reluctant to join the team. I came to invite you to participate in the team competition. One of our participating team members was involved in a car accident, so I…”She did not seem bothered.
“Can’t you use your reserve members as a replacement?”He frowned at her suggestion.
“The person you would be replacing is an ADC player. He is the only shooter with the best performance on the team. However, I think your skills are well- rounded, so I came to you.”When she saw the puppy dog eyes coupled with the expectant look on his face, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse him. At the end of the day, she agreed to follow him to the club.Callum immediately chimed in,
“I’m coming with you.”Elspeth looked back at him with a bewildered look.
“Why? It’s not like you play games.”He did not relent and insisted,
“I want to learn, can’t I?”Naturally, he had other things in mind when he said that.The entire club was filled with men. If any one of them harbored any ill intentions toward her, it was his duty as her official boyfriend to deal with them. So, it was better to find the root of the problem and nip them in the bud.”Okay. You can come with us.”The three of them left the house before they could even announce their return. This time Callum drove them to the FX Club.As soon as they stepped through the door, two or three men immediately crowded around them.”Ken, you’re back. This is…”The three people were initially laughing and joking, but they immediately composed themselves at the sight of a beautiful lady standing nearby and straightened themselves.As for Callum, who was standing nearby… He was very handsome, but his aura was too cold. Hence, they simply pretended not to see him.”This is my cousin, Elspeth.”One of the men stretched out his hand to shake hands with Elspeth.
“You’re so pretty. Can we be friends?”Elspeth was about to raise her hand when an arm stretched past her and grabbed the hand.
“She doesn’t lack friends. I’ll be your friend.”It was a typical over-protective provocation.Callum’s jealousy was practically drowning her. Still, she quickly suppressed a smile before he could notice her amusement.
“I’m sorry. He has always been like this. He craves the affection of others because he’s used to being ignored. You just need to be more friendly toward him.”That man originally thought that
Callum was her jealous lover. But, after he heard her misleading explanation, he immediately seemed to understand something.”Take it easy, and don’t take everything to heart. Buddy, you seem to be in a bad mood. Did something happen?”The man tried to become Callum’s buddy, but all that only resulted in Callum tightening his grip on the man’s hand instead.
In the next moment, the man felt a sharp pain coming from his wrist. It felt almost as though the bones in his wrist were being fractured. He began to wail in agony,
“Ow! It hurts! Buddy, I’m only trying to comfort you! Why are you being so hostile?”
Callum snarled coldly,
“Don’t touch me.”Once he liberated his hand from Callum’s grip, the man flicked his wrists and gritted his teeth in pain.
“Miss, your friend has such a strange personality. Who would want to be his friend? That would require great patience. Forget about finding a girlfriend! He has such good looks, but his personality is terrible. Those who love him probably have masochistic tendencies!”Callum turned to look at Elspeth and angrily demanded,
“Why don’t you just tell them that I’m your boyfriend?”Elspeth looked at the injuries covering his handsome face and the crystal-clear teardrops that seemed to hang from the eyelashes beneath his large European-style double eyelids… She couldn’t help feeling slightly distressed at the sight.Handsome men sure are good at manipulating your emotions.She cleared her throat.
“This is my boyfriend. I am that person who has masochistic tendencies.”While he wasn’t abusive, whenever he acted like a boyfriend who was easily wronged, it definitely made her seem like a terrible girlfriend.The three men loitering around were so shocked that their jaws practically fell to the floor. Afterward, they did not dare to tease her again. If they continued to tease her, their hands would probably be broken by Callum. Their hands were the most essential tools of their livelihood, after all.Kenneth was clearly not on the same wavelength as the others. So, when he saw that they were almost done talking, he quickly said,
“Let’s head to the training room.”Then, he saw the three men beside him shooting desperate looks at him. He couldn’t help feeling confused.
“What’s wrong? Do you have a cramp in your eyes?”The three felt themselves screaming inwardly as they collectively groaned at him being a dumb*ss.”Ken, isn’t the training room off-limits to people who are not part of the club? So, why did you bring your sister there?”Only then did he realize that he had forgotten to introduce them to Elspeth. He smiled apologetically.
“This is Birdy, Susy, and Carrot of the FX Club.”After that, he turned to the other three.
“This is my younger sister. She will be replacing Wolf in the team competition.””Her?”Birdy could hardly control the corners of his mouth from twitching.
“Ken, are you joking? Wolf plays the role of the shooter. How can you give such an important central position to any random person?”Even Susy was astonished.
“Ken, we’re going up against the AD Club, the newly-debuted dark horse! If we lose to them, we will never be able to hold our heads high in the esports industry again!”Carrot did not seem to mind.
“Miss is so pretty. When the time comes, we won’t even need to play seriously. If she smiles at the opposing party, all the men on the opposing team will definitely become distracted and flustered. We will definitely win!”Elspeth thought to herself, Has the competition bracket been drawn?Kenneth glanced at them coolly.
“I played against her in a one-on-one two days ago, and I lost.”Birdy frowned.
“Winning or losing one game is nothing. Who can guarantee that they won’t lose…””It was two games.””You’re amazing, Miss.”Aside from Kenneth at his peak condition, there was nobody else who could win two consecutive games against Kenneth.Elspeth was clearly outstanding if she had succeeded in beating him twice in a row.”But I still want to see Elspeth’s true strength for myself.”Birdy was a serious person when he was not fooling around. At the moment, he was studying Elspeth with a critical expression on his face.
“Can I play against you in a one-on-one battle? I’m considered the second-best player in the club. I will recognize your skills as long as you win against me.”Elspeth did not seem to mind and nodded in agreement.
“Sure. Where shall we compete?”He pointed with his right hand.
“Right here.”They took out their phones and entered the one-against-one mode.He mainly played in the top solo position and displayed great finesse with the character ‘Pocahontas’.She knew that his purpose was to defeat her soundly. After all, beating her was equivalent to defeating Kenneth. Who would let such an excellent opportunity to increase their fame slip through their fingers? Since she was meant to replace the shooter position, she decided to play as a shooter and chose the character, ‘Gongers’.Gongers was not only known for her flashy moves and generally recognized as the original character of the ADC world. However, Elspeth chose Gongers simply because the hero was beautiful.Gongers was incredibly agile and flexible; she could easily leap up and down the canyon. Comparatively, Pocahontas seemed clumsy and slow. So, it didn’t take long before Birdy’s screen went black.After several consecutive rounds, Elspeth’s Gongers flashed across the screen in a storm of dazzling moves. On the other hand, Birdy’s Pocahontas collapsed to the ground again and again.Elspeth did not try to destroy the towers and simply watched her minions working frantically to destroy them. Finally, when Birdy was on the verge of death, she tapped at the top right corner and pressed the ‘Surrender’ button.Elspeth had lost. No, the truth was that she won the game and humiliated Birdy at the same time.When Birdy stared at the word ‘Victory’ flashing across his screen, he felt his face turning as red as a tomato. He never expected her to choose to surrender at the last moment. Instead, her choice only made his loss even more humiliating.”Do you want to continue?”Be that as it may, he had no problem accepting the truth. Elspeth was somebody whom Kenneth couldn’t defeat. So, it was perfectly understandable if he could not defeat such a talented individual.”Miss, you truly are pretty and skillful. Why don’t you create an account and broadcast your playthrough live? With a beautiful voice and good skills like yours. you will easily rise to become one of the top streamers in no time!”
Carrot acted like a fan of Elspeth’s appearance. He held his face in his eyes and stared at her with hearts in his eyes.Elspeth couldn’t help laughing when she heard his suggestion.
“Your imagination sure is wild.””That’s not true! I have my own live stream account too. I have accumulated quite several fans these days.”
He dug out his phone and reverently showed her his account as though he was handling a precious treasure.When she saw the 5 million fans indicated on the screen, she smiled and encouraged him,
“You’re amazing! I believe you will break through 10 million soon!”Callum pointed out lightly,
“You have 30 million fans. Don’t you feel embarrassed making such a claim?”Her identity as Nancy Star certainly had many fans.It was just that she had been fading out of the entertainment industry for the past two years. She had not released any new songs recently. So, how could the men in the club, who were only interested in games, recognize her?”30 million fans? Who are you?”Carrot’s mouth fell open in shock, and he had a look of disbelief on his face.When she saw that Callum had let the cat out of the bag, she could only answer honestly,
“I have another identity that goes by the name of Nancy Star.”His eyes widened to the size of saucers.
“Nancy Star? I love your songs! I listen to your song ‘Good Night’ every single night before I sleep! It’s very nice!”The corners of her mouth twitched at his enthusiasm.
“Is there a possibility that my song is called ‘Good Good Night’?”Beside them, Birdy clutched at his stomach and howled with laughter.
“Hah! You fake fan!”Carrot scratched his head in embarrassment.
“I may have misremembered the name. My memory isn’t that good.””A man who can memorize the introduction and explanation of every skill in a game?
Can somebody like that forget the songs of his favorite singer? Carrot, how can you call yourself a fan? Don’t you feel embarrassed?”
Suzy snorted and teased him mercilessly.Kenneth’s head was filled with the team competition that would take place the day after tomorrow, so he wanted to rush them off to training.
“Alright, let’s enter the training room to do some training and get used to each other’s tactics. Stop fooling around. Chop chop.”The three professional players immediately schooled themselves and became solemn.
“Understood.”Elspeth glanced at Callum, who was standing behind her.
“Are you following us in?”Callum shook his head.
“I will wait here for you. After all, you will need a quiet environment to adjust to the new group. It would be bad if I distracted you.”She was secretly amazed by his unusually sensible, generous, and understanding attitude…”But… You have to give me a kiss before you go.”
Fine. I knew he would never be that good. The people surrounding them covered their eyes as though they were pained.
“Go ahead. We’ll pretend we didn’t see anything.”Elspeth looked sullen.
“Carrot, your entire face is practically showing between the gaps in your fingers.”Carrot chuckled in embarrassment and quickly covered his eyes.Callum raised his chin.
“Look. Hurry up and kiss me.”Elspeth looked annoyed and embarrassed, but she still leaned forward and kissed him.”Woohoo! They kissed!”
Carrot’s voice sounded exceedingly striking in the quiet environment.He was a Calysie fan, so witnessing their mutual affection was a bonus.”Alright, that’s enough. Let’s head inside.”Elspeth gave Carrot a fierce glare, frightening him so severely that he shrank back slightly. A wave of sadness suddenly filled his heart.My Goddess sure is fierce.They entered the training room. The environment inside the training room was extraordinarily bright, which was entirely out of Elspeth’s expectations.Still, she didn’t let her shock show as she calmly sat in front of the table, turned on the game, and donned a communication headset to chat with them.They had already chosen the lineup in advance. When she studied the opponent’s lineup, she realized that the opponent had an obvious advantage over them and couldn’t help frowning in response. However, the situation was reversed a few minutes later. The opposition seemed to encounter headwinds, causing them to be steadily pushed back and defeated.After she won the game, she took off her headset and asked suspiciously,
“Was the opposing party a machine? Why were they defeated when they had such a huge advantage?”Suzy laughed awkwardly.
“The opposing party comprises our club members, but their skills may be slightly lacking…””Slightly? They were practically sending their soldiers to death for no reason during the 5v5 earlier! We managed to enter their territory in seven minutes! What’s the difference between this situation and a six-point shot?”Although… what she said seemed to make sense, they finally gained a thorough understanding of her skills at this moment. Hence, they couldn’t help admiring and worshiping her.”Goddess Elspeth, are you sure you won’t consider joining our club? With your skills, you will have no problem winning every single battle with some training!”Elspeth scratched her cheek.
“The problem is… you can’t beat me. What skills will I learn here?”Her statement stopped them cold.She was right.
She had easily defeated the number one in their team and could already be considered victorious in every battle.”In that case, please prepare yourself for the team competition that will be held the day after tomorrow. By the way, Elspeth, do you have anything to say to them?”She glanced around. Then, she unceremoniously pointed out their weak points to their faces with a smile.
“Birdy, you don’t know how to adapt when you’re attacking. It’s like you’re stuck right in the middle of the warpath. Susy, you’re a solid mid-laner. However, your support abilities are too weak. Furthermore, you’re always thinking about how you can kill more enemies and don’t seem to know how to cooperate with your ADC. As for Carrot…”She observed the look of excitement on Carrot’s face. He was eagerly waiting for her to comment on his performance. Thus, she smiled.
“As for you… You walk too slowly. But that is not your fault. It’s simply because you have short legs.”He was a chubby man with a round body. After he heard those words, he immediately became unhappy.When he lowered his head in aggrieved silence, she slapped her palm against her forehead and added helplessly,
“I was talking about your hero, not you!”When Kenneth saw that she did not make any comments regarding his performance, he probed suspiciously,
“What about me?”She shook her head.
“I don’t know what to say. A wild suicide bomber?”Suicide bomber… Isn’t that part of the suicide squad?He compared his battle record with hers. He had died twice during the game. On the other hand, she was not only given the title of ‘Most Valuable Player’ but also held the record for zero deaths.She truly is a goddess.It had been a long time since he last met an opponent who was evenly matched or even more skillful than him, so his heart was filled with the excitement of meeting a challenger and a fanatical sense of worship. Alas, she was not willing to accompany them during their training. Besides, Callum was waiting outside. He was bound to become sulky if she stayed here for too long.As soon as that particular thought appeared in her mind, she immediately thought of leaving the training room.”Goddess Elspeth, why don’t you stay at the club for the next two days? We have everything you need at the club. I guarantee that you will be comfortable here.”
When Birdy saw that Elspeth intended to leave after one match, he was naturally reluctant for her to go since they had learned a lot from her after a single game.Elspeth shook her head.
“My boyfriend is waiting outside, so I need to go home…””Go home? We will also arrange for food, accommodation, and other basic necessities for your boyfriend. Will that be okay?She glanced at them and wondered,
“Why do you want me to stay here? Isn’t it enough if I show up during the team competition?””That’s not the same. Besides, there are many children in the club who are young and energetic. We need your help to teach them a shocking lesson.”Carrot snickered wickedly, clearly harboring ill intentions.The corners of her mouth twitched in response, and she couldn’t help thinking that their behavior was very childish.”Alright, I won’t tease you anymore. But I believe that we need to sort out certain aspects of our cooperation. We also wish to match your rhythm in order to increase our chances of success.”She nodded in resignation.
“Fine. But I’m leaving right after the team competition.”Kenneth breathed a sigh of relief when she finally gave in to their request.”Good. In that case, let’s resume practice.”The five of them continued their endless training again.When the lights came on at night, Elspeth noticed that the sky was getting dark and stretched lazily.
