Civil War (1)
Two weeks had passed since that scrim. In the meantime, I'd capped off my placement games with a win, landing right where I expected—in Platinum 5. After that, whenever I had time, I'd duo with Han-gil, racking up an 80% win rate. Thanks to that, I was already Platinum 1. Side note: Han-gil had duoed with me to climb, but then he went back to solo queue and dropped again, bouncing between Platinum 2 and 4.
And now, vacation was just one day away. Vacation—the word that tugs at every student's heartstrings. The ultimate stretch where you can stay up late, sleep in, and take it easy. Of course, I'd never actually stayed up late during breaks. Back in the day, with the Go dojo starting early in the morning, I'd been on what my asocial crew called a "New Country kid" schedule—bed by 10 p.m. That hadn't changed much; I just shifted it an hour later to 11 p.m. After academy, I'd shower, play one game of WoL, and crash.
If someone asked, "Why not stay up all night like other kids during break?" I'd say I was barely 14, and shutdown law meant no gaming past midnight anyway. Sure, kids my age dodged it by using parents' or older siblings' accounts. But I had no interest in that. I didn't want to break the law just to game, evil or not. Laws were laws. I got why others did it—curbs on freedom aren't good laws, and shutdown was straight-up oppressive. Still, it could cause issues later, and why not just sleep early, wake early, and game in the morning? That logic won out, so I stuck to my routine. Besides, I couldn't pull all-nighters if I tried. Early bed was habit; by midnight, I was nodding off, let alone dawn.
Side note: whenever I mention early sleep, someone trots out that nonsense about "early to bed makes you tall." Bull. Height's genetic. If sleeping early made you grow, I'd be over 180 cm like Hyun-su or Han-gil by now. I was past 170, but still salty. Wanted that 180...
Like every break, I drew up my schedule as a pie chart and slipped it under the glass on my desk. Damn, it looked pretty. Up at 6 a.m., WoL till noon—perfection. Noon to 3 p.m. for academy homework. Classes weren't longer, but the academy head warned homework would pile up, so three hours was safe. 3 to 5 p.m. free—mostly gaming, but open for friends, workouts, whatever. 5 to 10 p.m. academy, same as always. Our place was intense enough that they didn't ramp up break hours like others. Home, shower, one WoL game, bed.
"Mm, perfect!"
Flawless schedule. Meals? Squeeze 'em in when hungry. Tomorrow, post-ceremony, PC bang for a 5-stack with the crew. Somehow sweet-talked Mom into a grumpy "Fine, go then." Other parents? Who knows. But Mom's curt tone meant "Not thrilled, but I trust you."
11:10 p.m. Sleep hit hard. Crashed dreaming of the PC bang.
The same old spiel blared from the classroom TV for the umpteenth time.
Bored, I turned my head and caught Ju-ah staring from the next desk.
Why? I mouthed.
She got it somehow—her little mouth shaped Bored. You?
Me too.
Did she catch that? She flashed her classic dopey grin. I smirked back. Situation was kinda funny.
Honestly, at first, it was awkward as hell. We barely knew each other—just face and class prez title. But after our first chat, she kept talking casually, and now we were... friends? (Way better than that initial awkwardness.)
Didn't mean I swore at her like with the asocial idiots. XX and XY chromosomes? Treat 'em different. Even a friendless loser like me knew that.
Mid our silent chat, the TV cut out. Principal's drone probably wrapped. On teacher's cue, we stood for the school song. Ceremony over.
Kids swapped ritual "Have fun over break!" greetings. Old me? Slip out quiet, no hellos. New me? Had one friend! Grabbed my token bag, scanned for Ju-ah. Greet her, link with the crew, PC bang.
But ultra-extrovert Ju-ah was swarmed. "Meet up later~" "Lunch today~" Already plotting hangs. Greeting now? Buzzkill. My rep wasn't great—I knew that much, or no one approached. Slipped out the back door quiet.
Right before, eyes met Ju-ah's. She smiled, gave a tiny wave. Mood lifted. Just a friend hello, but felt special.
"Man, Jung Yunho's such a smug prick."
"Agreed."
"What?"
"That shit-eating grin. Fucking annoying."
"Agreed. But seats today?"
"Dunno, but better than post-exam rush, right?"
Post-exam? Pure bliss—kids flock everywhere in packs. Boys especially hit PC bangs. (Not me; I'd been shut out plenty.) The other four fretted seats.
Less chaos than exams, but vacation eve? Schools end early (1-2 periods), gamer boys swarm PC bangs. Lucky—our spot had room, snagged a corner row. Could skip, but crew sits together? National rule.
First time for Yunho: made account, topped up. Rest? Charged, game on while he fiddled.
Han-gil queued team rank screen. "Alright, team rank today..."
Team rank: 5-player premade ranked, vs solo queue. Fewer players—hard to assemble five consistently, plus culture downplayed it. Ranked pressure (play hard, win) clashes with friend-group "fun first." Solo for serious, normals for chill—team rank? Niche event. That "wanna 5-stack but grind hard" itch.
Han-gil making team, but Taek-jun stopped him. "Han-gil, stop stop."
"Huh? Why?"
"Wanna scrim? Just one."
"Scrim? Got people?"
"Yeah, five from my class. Up?"
Taek-jun ran into class crew buying drinks, pitched scrim on spot. Sounded fun.
"Don't care. Others?"
"...If they do?"
"Yeah, if others in."
Only Yunho blank—didn't know scrims.
"What's a scrim?"
"Ten friends, 5v5 custom."
Hyun-su's quick expl, Yunho nodded. "Your class five? Cool with me."
WoL was WoL—Yunho greenlit. Instant scrim formed.
But Taek-jun eyed Yunho sly. "Oh, but..."
"Yeah?"
"Tiers... gotta swap me and one from theirs?"
Brief, total silence hung over the five.