Chapter 21 - Pearls Before Swine
Chapter 21: Pearls Before Swine
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
From within the room, one could hear constant laughter, interspersed with a young woman frantically saying things like, “Get it off, hurry up and get it off of me!”
When her aunt burst into the room, and found that Charlene was only playing a video game, she was greatly relieved. However, to hear such suggestive sounds arising from time to time, she couldn’t help but wonder what was really going on between that young couple. She resolved to have that young man over for dinner, one way or another.
As the girl’s aunt, it was imperative that she gauge the man’s character for herself, the better to watch out for her!
***
Of the first three games they played together that morning, they won two, and lost one.
By afternoon, Logan had gotten accustomed to using Thresh, as well as working with Charlene, and their odds of victory skyrocketed. The only time they lost was when someone on their own team disconnected halfway through the game.
Charlene put her heart and soul into every game. It was easy to see that she was genuinely passionate about League of Legends.
Every girl has a secret darkness concealed somewhere in her heart—in much the same way that every guy has a hidden beast within.
When playing games, this darker side of a girl will be revealed in all its twisted malice. Several times, the enemy’s Bottom lane had been so badly ravaged that even Logan felt pity stay his hand—but Charlene would level her rifle at their opponents without hesitation, and slaughter them all!
That fancy new champion that had cost them 6,300 IP… you’ve killed them so much that they’re now worth about the same as a lowly cannon minion. Have you no pity at all?
(Translator’s Note: Influence Points (IP) are amassed through playing the game, and can be used to unlock more champions to play with. It was a revolutionary system back when ‘League of Legends’ was first introduced.
A ‘cannon minion’ is just another type of basic minion, fewer in number but worth more money, making them the priority in every minion wave.)
***
After practicing the whole day, Logan felt he understood the basics of playing Thresh. Over the next week, he’d sneak on late at night to get in a bit more practice with him. Hopefully, next weekend he’d get to resume playing Ranked with his usual partner.
In terms of skill, Logan’s partner was far superior to Charlene. Whether it concerned farming, tactical sense, control, teamwork… that player had a substantial advantage.
While he did enjoy playing with Charlene, Logan was a man of ambition, who lived to test himself against worthy foes. Fooling around with pretty young things was a fun way to pass the time, but he needed to keep honing his skills further by playing in Ranked games.
“I’m hungry.” Playing for a whole afternoon had tired Charlene out, and her voice sounded weary, like a starving kitten.
“Go eat something, then,” Logan suggested. He was feeling kind of peckish, himself.
“There’s no one home…” Charlene informed him.
No one home?
Was this meant to be some sort of hint?
Could it be, that in the span of a single day, this angelic beauty had completely fallen for his charms?
Could it be, when she said that she was ‘hungry’, what she really meant was…
Instantly, everything became clear to him!
“I’ll swing by, then,” Logan answered. “Heh, heh, heh…”
He would satisfy her cravings with every ounce of his youthful vigor!
“What could you be thinking about, you creep? What I meant was that no one cooked anything for me, here!” Charlene fumed.
“Uh…” Logan paused, and then recovered with superhuman alacrity. “What I meant was that I could come over and cook something for you.”
Hearing what he himself had just said, Logan heaved a sigh of relief. He’d nearly been found out for the pervert that he actually was.
“I’ll take care of it myself. Thanks for playing with me today. It’s been a long time since I had so much fun,” Charlene said politely.
“Hoo, hoo…” Not knowing what else to say, Logan just chuckled like a fool. Worried that this might be taken the wrong way, however, he hurried to add, “It was my pleasure to play with a babe like you.”
“I’ve got to do my homework later, so I won’t be playing later tonight. See you tomorrow.”
“See you.”
“I’m going off now.”
Logan had wanted to chat with her some more, but she’d already hung up.
***
If even Charlene Yang had to do her homework, what more Logan Yu?
When you were in your third year of high school, in the whole week, you could only have fun on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. The rest of the time was for solemn business.
Endless worksheets ate up the rest of Logan’s time, from the moment he finished dinner until the clock struck midnight—six whole hours in all. It was back-breaking hard labor.
Lying in bed, allowing his mind to slowly unwind, Logan suddenly found himself looking forward to university life.
He’d heard that in university, you could attend classes at your own leisure, flirt around as much as you pleased, and play to your heart’s content.
If that was true, he’d just sit through a couple of lectures every day, then return to his hostel for a bunch of Ranked games. When he’d had his fill of Ranked, he might follow Charlene through some Normal games, or perhaps their relationship might develop to the point of being able to go out for meals, movies… and once all those milestones had been reached, Logan would probably be quite satisfied with his life.
The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t wait to speed through these last one hundred days of high school. And then he would know the boundless freedom, the limitless opportunities of university life!
***
The truth was, no matter how pleasant the weather, or how good your mood, waking up to a Monday was a slap across the face.
As always, Logan was still half asleep when he wandered into his classroom. Looking around, he noticed that quite a few people were watching him with ardent fascination. This gave him a moment’s pause. Something was amiss.
The moment he set down his schoolbag, he was surrounded.
“I heard you slaughtered those Class 3 guys!” Yang Soon was the first to start things off.
“That’s right.” Logan nodded.
“Damn it, I didn’t go that night! I heard it was a complete massacre. You guys actually dove right into their base? That’s extreme!” some black dude sprayed words every which way.
“Logan, bro, teach me to play Blitzcrank. How about today? Dinner’s on me!” That was Tyler Zheng, who’d just started playing League of Legends.
The whole group continued to gabble away about the match against Class 3.
“Ah, move aside, move aside!” Jin came in swinging, and waved them all away.
All the attention had been making Logan uncomfortable, and he offered Jin a look of gratitude.
However, Jin rounded on him with a manic light in his eyes. “That night, you sent Charlene Yang home, huh?”
“Yup.” Logan nodded.
“And then?”
“And then, what?”
“Quit playing dumb with me. Hurry up and tell me her address!” Jin slapped a hand down upon the desktop.
A chill ran down Logan’s spine. Was this guy planning to stalk her?
There’s no brush outside her place. If you go lurking around there, you’ll get spotted right away!
Anyway, Logan hadn’t made note of the precise address. He gave Jin some rough directions to stave him off for the moment.
He was even in possession of Charlene’s phone number, but he naturally kept quiet about this, lest that halfwit Jin should use it to pester her.
As for the house he was helping Jin to find? Charlene had already informed him that it was her aunt’s house. If Jin wanted to go creeping around there, he could go right ahead.
As though Logan would actually betray such vital information to the likes of Jin Wong. One did not scatter pearls before swine!