Support Calls and a Crushing Defeat
Tournament?! (9) It’s nothing special, really. But calling it a tournament makes me nervous. We’re just opening one private room and playing a game… Tournament. Just saying the word “tournament” makes my stomach flip. That means a ton of people are going to see how I play, right? A huge audience is going to be cheering, right? This is huge. If I do well here… will clips of me start popping up? Reaction videos and everything? People going “Waaah!!!” in the comments while they watch? I could watch those a hundred—no, a thousand times. They’ll really do that for me, won’t they? I’m going to give it everything today…!!
“Hoo… hoo…” I took several deep breaths. I’d already logged in early and warmed up my hands. Really warmed them up. The tournament starts at six. It’s only three o’clock right now… I still have way too much time. Should I keep stretching? But what if I overdo it and get tired…? I have to be careful. Ugh, I’m too nervous to even queue a solo game.
“Ah! Right.” I almost forgot. Our team name is “The Cheerful Kids,” so I have to change my nickname to “CheerfulSeon-a.” I’d completely spaced on it. We usually do that on the first or second day… but we only made the team yesterday. Once I finished changing my name…
“Ugh… ugh… scary.” I’m terrified. I’m actually scared. I wasn’t worried about anything until yesterday… I want to go back to yesterday. I want to talk to someone. I want to calm down.
Ring ring. Without even thinking, I unconsciously called Pyeongjipja.
“Hello~?”
“Pyeongjipja-nim, it’s Seon-a.”
“Yes~ That’s right, it’s Seon-a-nim.”
“I have the tournament today.”
“I’m cheering for you!”
“I’m so nervous.”
“Oh my… Fighting! You can do it.”
Getting cheered on feels nice. More! I want more!
“More… please say more! I want to hear more!”
“You’re going to do amazing! Carry the team! Aja aja!”
“Ehehehe.” This is great. I love this. I should go on a full encouragement tour. I don’t have that many contacts, but I’m going to call every single one of them. Hearing support really lifts my mood.
“I’ll definitely do well. I’ll make a YouTube video and upload it!!”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
“Okay…!”
“Then I’ll hang up~”
“Okay!”
Pyeongjipja-nim ended the call. Next, Maru-nim.
Ring ring ring.
“Hello~?” Her voice was hoarse, like she’d just woken up. My guess was spot-on.
“Yes… who is this?”
She definitely saved my number… but she’s asking who it is? She must’ve answered while half-asleep. One hundred percent. Which means I woke her up? Heh. Sorry about that. But since she’s already awake… nothing I can do, right? If she really wanted to sleep more, she shouldn’t have picked up!
“It’s Seon-a.”
“Mmm…”
“I have the tournament today, so I called because I wanted some cheering!”
“Eheheh… Fighting…”
“I’ll do well, right?”
I’m fishing for a specific answer. I want to hear “Of course you will!! Fighting!! You’re the best!!” Right now!! Hurry up and say it! She might not have pure feminine energy, but her acquired feminine energy is through the roof, so she’ll definitely get it. She’ll understand exactly what I’m after.
“You’ll do great. I’ll cheer for you… It’s at six, right?”
“Yes! Exactly. Please cheer for me!!”
“Mhm… Fighting.”
“Okay, I’ll hang up then. Bye-bye.”
“Bye-bye…”
Next… Moddeok. Moddeok-nim is the enemy. How do you ask your enemy for support? No, reverse psychology. I can just flip the request. Instead of asking for cheers, I’ll give her cheers first. I called Moddeok-nim too.
Ring ring ring ring.
She’s not picking up because I’m the enemy? Hmm… I’ll try one more time. If she doesn’t answer, I’ll move on to Raming. I called again.
Ring ring.
“Hello?”
“It’s Seon-a.”
“Huh?”
“Please cheer for me, Moddeok-nim… Fighting! You can win! I cheered for you first! Now it’s your turn!”
It’s only natural to introduce yourself first. I cheered for Moddeok-nim before she could say anything. It’d be nice if her team wins… well, as long as I get some screen time. Even just a tiny highlight would be great.
“Ah~ That kind of concept? Fighting, Jjanghyeong. You know we’re playing against your team today, right?”
“Huh… really?”
“What? Of course. We’re matched against you guys today.”
“Aha!”
Honestly, I had no idea. I only knew that Moddeok-nim was participating and that she was my enemy. Well, beating them would make the team feel more real. I was the weakest link on the weakest team, after all!!
“Quick, cheer for me… cheer.”
I’d already paid in advance, but the other side was taking forever to respond. This was making me really anxious. I’ve been scammed before, so I’m shaking just thinking about it.
“Ah~ Seon-a-nim, fighting! I’m cheering for you. Let’s meet in the finals, okay? You know we’re the favorites to win, right?”
“You’re the favorites?”
“Of course. We had an 85% win rate in scrims. I mean, we played together a lot, remember?”
“We did…?”
Ah!! Don’t tell me…
“Lotto Frequency. That’s your team?”
“Ahahaha. I’m Love Frequency~”
“Frequency team? That’s you guys?”
They’re the favorites. I didn’t recognize them because they changed their name. Honestly, only a genius or someone who watches that stream would connect “Love Frequency” with Moddeok-nim. I had no clue. No wonder they were in the same friend chat. I really didn’t know. Now I feel a little bad…
“Yeah. You didn’t actually not know, right? You were pretending to know this whole time…”
“Aha…!”
She was pretending to know? I never noticed anything. If she was doing it in some secret language only she understood… that’s a problem. She should use words everyone can understand.
“I’m hurt.”
“Ugh… no…”
When someone with high pure feminine energy says they’re hurt… it really lingers. Unlike fake girls… Ugh. What do I do?
“Don’t be hurt… I really didn’t know. If I had, I would’ve greeted you happily.”
“You really didn’t know…”
“Ugh… I’d rather be honest than lie to get out of trouble.”
I can’t lie. The lie would be exposed anyway!! I told her the truth.
“Eheheheheh. Ah? That concept again? Got it. Anyway, fighting~ See you later~”
“Okay! I’ll cheer for you too. Favorites… win it!!”
“No, we’re enemies. What happens to Seon-a-nim if I win?”
“Me…? I’ll be the top damage dealer on my team instead. The ace. The superstar.”
“Ugh…. *sniff*… Okay.”
I ended the call with Moddeok-nim. Talking to her was dangerous. Probably because we’re enemies right now. She didn’t leave any openings. If we weren’t enemies… she would’ve cheered only for me. That would’ve been nice. With that pure feminine energy of hers… if she’d cheered for me, we might’ve won. What a shame. Really a shame.
Next… my friend Raming. My friend Raming… but I still can’t call Raming. Everything has cause and effect, right? No… what am I saying with my level? It’s just a prerequisite quest. I haven’t cleared Raming’s prerequisite quest yet… so calling her doesn’t feel right.
“Discord… Discord…” I put my phone down and opened Discord. We haven’t even met face-to-face yet. Internet friends should stay on the internet. That’s my personal rule. Only real friends get to the point where you can call them on the phone. That’s normal, right…? They have their own boundaries too… If I just call because I got their number, they might hate it. I’ve spent enough time in cafes to know that much. I’m full of consideration.
“Ehehehe.” I called Raming on Discord. I tried three times, but she didn’t pick up. Is she asleep…? Probably. Most streamers are probably in the middle of the night right now. Zzz~ Zzz~ Time to sleep… Can’t be helped.
＊＊＊
5:55… The countdown to the tournament has begun. All my teammates had gathered and were getting ready. The organizers had already joined too. The matches would probably start around 6:30, and they told us to apply a five-minute delay beforehand… I applied it right after hearing the explanation. Since I’ve never done this before, I needed help, and being late would be a disaster. Thanks to that, I set it up fine.
But I’m really nervous. So nervous. What do I do?
“Hoo… I’m nervous… I’m actually shaking!!”
I said it to myself, but the others responded.
“Let’s do our best.”
“We practiced a lot. We can do it.”
“Let’s just grab two wins and head to the finals, yeah?”
“Sounds good? Let’s try manifesting that.”
While everyone was inflating our hopes, Discord suddenly rang.
Ring ring.
I quickly muted my mic and answered on my phone.
“Oh, what’s up?”
“You called me earlier, Seon-a. Why’d you call?”
It was my friend Raming.
“I have the tournament today.”
“I know~ My friend’s in a tournament. I even saved the stream~”
“Ehehehe. Cheer for me!!”
“Haha! We’re winning this!!”
“Heehee. *inhale* *inhale*. Absorbing all the energy.”
“I’m shooting more so you can’t absorb it.”
Pfft. This is why I love having friends! Friends are the best. I was so nervous just a second ago… but I feel so much better now.
“Kahahaha, absorbing everything!!”
“I’ll give you even more so you can win!!”
“Ehehehehe.”
“Hahahaha. My friend Seon-a~ Let’s win everything~!”
“Yeah! I’ll try my best.”
“Fighting… I’ll call you again later~”
Getting cheered on feels amazing. I’m going to work hard and get good results. I’ll definitely get them. I’ll seize it with my own hands…!
“Thanks!”
Since I received support, I have to live up to it, right? I’ll show my best. I’ll show the results of all my hard work. I made the resolution again and again. Aja aja. Yeah, I can do this.
… …The tournament never once went the way I wanted. Before I could even do anything, we lost helplessly because of the tank’s nerves on our first match. In the next game, Maem-nim collapsed under the pressure. The game after that… our momentum was already broken, and the team just played like idiots with their screws loose… We got completely eliminated with zero wins. The tournament ended without me ever getting a chance to shine. Maybe I actually played the best out of everyone? Either way, it felt like… the ending of that basketball manga… except in Slam Dunk they at least beat a favorite. We just… ended. We lost so pathetically that I can’t even remember a single game.
But maybe that’s for the best. No upsets happened in this tournament. The favorite, Frequency team, won, and just like that, seven days of practice and four days of the actual tournament flew by in an instant.
“Hmm…”
Maybe because it ended so emptily, I already want to join the next one. I didn’t get to show anything. I didn’t do anything at all. But I did get something out of it—the apologies from the tank and Maem-nim… them saying sorry they couldn’t do better. That was already three days ago. Anyway, we scheduled an afterparty game for today. Not just our team, but a few people from other teams too. We’re going to play Impostor (the Mafia-like game).