Chapter Text
Hyeju hates Mondays. Cliché, she knows. But who in the world actually enjoys Mondays? It’s the first day of the week (well, most calendars set it as Sunday, but who are we kidding?) and for most people, it’s the start of an arduous and grueling cycle which marks the end of their two-day escape from reality and serves as a depressing reminder that their life is monotonous and repeats in a loop until they either go insane or die.
At least that’s what Hyeju thinks.
In fact, her absolute abhorrence for Mondays even outweighs her hatred for mint chocolate after that one drink that Yerim kept pestering her to try. Definitely, without a doubt, she can say for a fact that Mondays are the most despicable things in this world. Fuck Mondays.
Well, almost. It’s maybe tied with the god-awful Support player that League decided to pair her with for 3 consecutive games yesterday night. Just remembering that encounter brings a sour taste to Hyeju’s mouth. How could someone play like a blindfolded squirrel and have the AUDACITY to shittalk after? She couldn’t believe it.
If it wasn’t for that damn chat restriction, she would’ve cursed out that person’s entire family lineage in an Elven language that she Googled for that exact purpose.
Maybe it’s exactly because she couldn’t give that son-of-a-bitch a piece of her mind that her Monday was feeling extra-terrible today. Maybe she should spit in some rude customer’s drink at work today to relieve some stress. Or maybe she should log into her smurf later and terrorize some poor low elo players. Or maybe—
“HYEJU!!”
Hyeju swiftly turned her head towards a brunette who’s shouting her name a bit too loudly for Hyeju’s liking and now full-on sprinting towards her in the middle of the common outdoors area.
“Hyeju,” the brunette panted. “Didn’t you hear me calling you from across like the entire campus?”
“No, because unlike some people, I have things on my mind.” (like plotting to take her stress out on some innocent bystander).
“What’s that supposed to mean,” the girl scoffed as she straightened her dress. “Well, at least I don’t walk around campus wearing full black, looking like she’s plotting a coup to take over the government!”
“Yerim, what in the hell are you on about?”
“I don’t know. But... that’s not the reason I chased you around like a stalker,” Yerim rebutted. “Look.” She pulled out a crumpled letter-sized poster with a heading that says “I WANT YOU TO JOIN OUR TEAM” and a picture of a character depicted in an Uncle Sam outfit below. If it weren’t for the rest of the text being in Comic Sans and the only contact being a Twitter and a Discord tag, it would’ve been a professional-looking poster, Hyeju thought.
“What exactly am I looking at?” Hyeju finally asked after flipping the poster around a few times.
“Ugh I know your eyesight is crap but can’t you read a simple poster? It’s an ad for a team.”
Hyeju rolled her eyes. “Okay yes, I can see that. But team for what? And why’re you showing it to me? I’m like the least athletic person you know.”
“No, you’re the LAZIEST person I know. But it isn’t for a sports team. Well, at least a physical sports team…”
Hyeju raised an eyebrow at that. “You mean… esports?” she said apprehensively.
A pleased smirk grew on Yerim’s face. “Exactly, my friend. The school’s starting a League team this term and they’re starting to make flyers. And I happen to know a little birdie on the committee so I put in a good word for a special someone who I think is a good fit for the team.”
The brunette then raised both arms up in a hug position as if she was expecting something. “Feel free to thank your hard-working career manager.”
Hyeju just stared at her like a maniac. “Who’s this special someone because…”
“YOU! You’re the person for fuck’s sake!”
“And what makes you think I’d be interested, let alone apply?” the raven-haired girl chuckled.
Now it was Yerim’s turn to roll her eyes. “Well, for one, you’re like the only person I know who actually deserves to be high elo in League. And second, aren’t you always complaining that you don’t have any hobbies besides League? And that you don’t really have anyone else to talk about it with except your only friend coming into this place i.e. me?” The brunette raised both her eyebrows as if she were interrogating her friend.
“I just thought that it’d be a good chance for you to, y’know, meet new people and come out of your shell or whatever,” Yerim simmered down, realizing that her tone might’ve felt too confrontational.
Hyeju felt a shiver down her spine and it wasn’t only due to the new sense of September frigidity. Deep down, she knew her best friend meant no harm. But meeting new people? And worst, coming out of her geek closet? Memories of middle school kept her reserved on that front, so much so that now, she only had Yerim to share her gaming life with.
“I don’t know,” the raven-haired exhaled. “It sounds… intimidating, I guess. Plus joining a team takes a lot of commitment. How am I going to juggle studies AND work AND playing for a team AND… other stuff?”
Yerim pouted. “Oh c’mon. You? Miss ‘took computing courses before school’? Plus what else do you do in your free time besides playing League or playing with me?”
Touché, Yerim. Touché.
"I appreciate the offer, but..." Yerim’s pout turned into a frown. “Ugh, I’ll think about it, okay? No promises.” She crumpled the paper into her back pocket.
"Fine," her friend grumbled as she started walking in the direction Hyeju was initially going, prompting Hyeju to walk with her. She only took a few steps before the brunette asked “Where are we going by the way?”
“Well, actually I was heading over to our dorm to look over my plans to overthrow the government”.
“I knew it.”
Back at their shared dorm, Hyeju lay in her twin-sized bed, staring at the ceiling lost in thought. Having just finished her schedule for her first day while Yerim still had one more evening class (contextualising dance or something, she remembers), she had the entire two-person dormitory to herself. Nothing but the low humming of the AC, a soft piano playlist she put on and her overbearing thoughts.
Maybe Yerim was right. No, Hyeju was sure that Yerim was right.
It had taken a lot to convince both their parents to ship them off to a completely new state without any family or friends there. In fact, they were only sent on the condition that they both applied and went to the same school. Hyeju was lucky that BBCU offered such a wide range of degrees or she risked Yerim having to apply to one of those special, prestigious schools.
Like one of those fancy names in LA or something. She saw how her best friend dances. She remembers some of her covers that went viral on TikTok. PLUS she’s outgoing and has a bright and friendly personality. She’d surely fit right into that LA environment.
Hyeju grit her teeth. Am I keeping her down? Again, this invasive worry manifested in her mind. Hyeju reasoned that a main reason why Yerim’s settled here is because their families wanted to keep the two together. But Hyeju has a feeling that if it wasn’t for her ties to the girl, Yerim could’ve convinced her parents to send her off to LA by herself. Maybe Yerim feels pity for her. That she needs to stay with her or else she’ll be left alone and be too isolated to function.
Well, Yerim’s never outright said this or portrayed interest in those LA schools but Hyeju can’t stop having these intrusive thoughts.
Hyeju’s never actually had any close friends. Sure, she’s been acquainted with her classmates but that’s as far as it goes. She considers herself extremely lucky with Yerim. Extremely lucky that her mom signed her up for dance lessons one day because she was tired of her daughter sitting in front of the computer all day. Extremely lucky that this energetic, little ball of energy as a kid approached her and asked her to be friends. Extremely lucky that this girl turned out to be from the other class in her grade and that they became close friends later on.
But Yerim’s not like her. She’s always full of energy. Very true to her ENFP nature. She’s the kind of person that brightens up an entire room and makes friends with everyone there. Just like how she made friends with the new, introverted girl on the first day of her dance lessons. So Hyeju felt, in a way, that she was just tying her best friend down. Like a parasite on a host. An anchor to a ship. Making Yerim feel responsible for her.
Hyeju took a few deep breaths to clear her mind. She hated thinking like this. She knows Yerim probably doesn’t think of her in this way. But she couldn’t stop herself from worrying that maybe she shouldn’t be such a burden to her best friend of 7 years.
She kept staring at the ceiling until she heard the pitter-patter of raindrops begin to fall on her window. As the rain intensified, she sat up, digging in her pockets for the crumbled flyer from earlier. Sighing as she re-read the ad, “I mean, how bad can it be?”
She was already regretting it. She should’ve known something was fishy the moment she signed up.
- The team Twitter account retweeted a bunch of random scam bot accounts offering free money if they invested in some questionable crypto scheme
- When she messaged to apply, the person only asked for her IGN and thoughts on global warming?
Now, whatever scam artist she was contacting sent her an invite to a secluded place on campus for “tryouts”. Suffice to say, Hyeju thought this was a bad idea. However, she compromised to give these potential organ traffickers the benefit of the doubt. After all, Yerim said that she knew someone on the committee. A friend of Yerim’s couldn’t be that bad, right?
After stumbling around campus for about 10 minutes, she finally arrived at the location sent as a screenshot of Google Maps. The building looked no bigger than a small house, stark in contrast to the other impressive buildings of BBCU. It bore a rolling shutter door about 10 feet tall and plain solid grey walls, void of any eye-level openings so she couldn’t get a look inside. In hindsight, she should’ve expected something like this. Didn’t Yerim say that the team was just starting? It made sense that their facilities wouldn’t be as grand as the others. Still, the lack of windows and the scarce number of students she passed while getting here made it difficult for her to shake her initial meth house impression of the place. She has a bad feeling about this.
Despite sitting on it for a week, she thought, “Maybe, it wasn’t too late to turn back”. She could always find a new hobby, right? Something simple (and arguably safer) like volunteering at the animal shelter. That didn’t require lots of socialization, right?
Before Hyeju could turn tail, the humongous steel doors shimmied up, revealing a short, bobbed-haired woman.
“Ugh, if you’re looking for tennis equipment, don’t bother. They moved like two days ago, so stop coming here.”
“Tenni- what?” Last chance, she thought. “No, umm. Actually, I uh- came for a tryouts thing?”
“Oh. Oh! Wow, you actually came. I thought we were being pranked again.” Hyeju didn’t have time to comprehend the entire exchange before she was ushered into the shed. “The coach isn’t here yet so feel free to make yourself comfortable,” the bobbed-haired lady said as she gestured to a brown, leather couch in the corner of the room. She extended her hand in an offer to shake Hyeju’s. “Name’s Haseul, by the way. The team’s manager.”
“Hyeju,” the much taller girl cordially replied as she took in the facility.
Expecting an empty, dingy warehouse, Hyeju was surprised to find the space somewhat furnished. Two worn-out couches sat on either side of the sliding entrance doors. On her left, laid a lengthy wall-mounted counter, atop of which sat five modest-looking computer setups spread out evenly, and to her right, the beige wall hung multiple signs with cheesy Pinterest quotes like “Born to Game, Forced to School” and “Hang in There”. Directly ahead of her, a TV no larger than 50 inches wide stood above a black stand, playing Adele’s “Easy on Me” music video.
“Well, Hyeju, I know your real name but not what you registered as.” Haseul said, offering her guest a water bottle.
“It’s um...” Hyeju cleared her throat before shyly stating, “Olivia Hye.” It was the name she adopted when she moved to America with her family which she insisted on getting an “American” name so the other kids wouldn't make fun of her Korean name. She doesn’t use it in public anymore but ever since she set it as her League IGN, she felt a weird bond to it. Still, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get embarrassed when saying it out loud.
“Ah, the ABC player. Jinsol told me that you were promising.”
“Jinso–?”
“The coach. She’s reviewed some of your games. Said you have potential.”
Hyeju blushed at that. She knew she was good but to hear someone other than her best friend say it out loud… it was nice. Wait, did she say ABC?
Before she could ask the manager if she meant ADC, a soft but high-pitched voice interrupted her thoughts. “Hi, I came to try out for the team?”
Hyeju turned her head towards the enormous doors, now rolled up to above halfway, allowing a small blonde girl donned in a yellow wool sweater, bright-blue jeans and white velcro sneakers to peek through.
Haseul’s eyes brightened as a jubilant smile stretched across her face. “Oh, this is great! Two out of five return calls!”
Wait, does that mean only five people applied??
“I’m Haseul, the manager. Nice to meet you…” she greeted as a familiar hand outstretched to the blonde.
“Chaewon. But I registered as…”
There it was again. The shivers. Hyeju never believed those over-dramatic scenes in movies. The drawn-out time and intense music before the jaw-dropping plot twist gets revealed. She’d always roll her eyes at the director’s cheap choice to create suspense. But now, she realizes that maybe there was a bit of truth in those films.
“Gowon.”
.
.
.
GOWON??
THAT GOWON???