So, Where Am I Going?
Jung Yuna couldn't help but be flustered by her little brother's request. The reason she'd dragged him out today was to cheer him up a bit after he'd given up on Go and lost his drive. Sure, there was a selfish motive lurking underneath—"kidnapping a companion for live WCK finals viewing"—but that was secondary. Spending time with her brother had been the main point.
It was thrilling as a big sister to hear her brother, who'd only ever known Go his whole life, say he wanted to try something new. But of all things, a game? And WoL at that... She'd only been playing for a year herself, but honestly, WoL wasn't the easiest game to recommend to him. The difficulty was one thing, but for a second-year middle schooler who still had that pure innocence about him, the players' "spicy" chats would definitely hurt. And that wasn't all. Their parents generally respected their kids' opinions, but they weren't fans of gaming. If Yunho started playing, there'd definitely be a clash. She'd gone through it herself, so as she wrestled with whether to teach him or not, Jung Yuna looked at her rebellious little brother's face staring back at her.
His face was filled with an excitement she'd never seen before. One look at it, and her doubts vanished. Sure, he was an annoying punk who talked back to her all the time, but to her, Jung Yunho was her one and only precious little brother in the world. How could she say no when he was asking her like this?
Jung Yuna took a deep breath and said, "Alright, fine. I'll teach you."
"For real!? Thanks!!"
Yunho jumped for joy like a little kid at his sister's approval. To her hyper-excited brother, Jung Yuna added one more thing.
"But this counts as the wish you promised to grant me, got it?"
"Oh yeah, that was a thing? Sure, deal."
Jung Yunho had completely forgotten about that promise anyway, so he didn't care either way. But suddenly, Jung Yuna said in a firm voice,
"However! I'm teaching you starting next Friday!"
"Huh? Why??"
"Why? You've got midterms next week. If you game during exam period, Mom'll kill you."
Only then did Yunho remember that next week was exam week—and that his parents hated games. As mentioned before, the Jung siblings' parents were the type to actively respect their kids' opinions, but they were also typical Korean parents who believed "games ruin children," so they really despised gaming. In fact, last year—her senior year of high school, no less—when Jung Yuna started WoL, the house turned into a warzone overnight. The victor of that war? Jung Yuna, who'd aced her studies and college entrance prep while gaming. Her successful admissions had softened their hatred of games a bit, but it didn't mean they viewed them positively, so she gave Yunho one last warning.
"This exam's a lost cause anyway—you could study or not, doesn't matter—but at least no gaming during exams, okay?"
Maybe her earnest plea got through, because Yunho nodded and accepted the warning. Even if he'd neglected studies for Go, he still knew the basic common sense that gaming during exams was a no-go.
*
I got home with my sister around 9 p.m.—late if you call it late, reasonable if you don't. We'd already told Mom we were hanging out just the two of us, so she didn't grill us or anything. Instead, she asked, "Did you have fun?" checking up on our day.
If Mom found out we'd been to the WCK finals, the Jung family Civil War Season 2 would've erupted on the spot—a pretty dicey situation—but sis and I had our stories straight.
"Yeah, it was great. Movie was fun, and we sang our hearts out at karaoke."
Her face lit up at that.
"Feeling better now?"
"Huh? About what?"
"Your face looks brighter."
Seeing her red-rimmed eyes, I realized just how much worry I'd caused her. Feeling awkward, I scratched my head.
"Yeah... I'm good now. Sorry for stressing you out."
She beamed and opened her arms wide.
"Aigoo, come here, let Mama hug her boy!"
"Ack, get away!!"
Even at 15, hugging Mom was embarrassing on every level.
*
Back in my room, I flopped onto the bed and habitually turned on my phone. I was gonna watch some Nutube before sleep, but then I saw the KakaoTalk icon with "300+" on it. That had to be from the loser quintet group chat. I named it that— all five of us were losers. What the hell had they been talking about to rack up that many messages?
I opened KakaoTalk instead of Nutube, and sure enough, the loser quintet chat was sitting pretty at 300+ all by its lonesome. The convo had blown up since this afternoon. And I knew exactly what it was about.
Normally, I'd just scroll past this crap, but having watched the match live made it kinda fun. I scrolled slowly, reliving the game. Their reactions were spot-on, doubling the enjoyment. Or maybe it was just the notification count dropping. Anyway, they noticed I was lurking and started pinging me.
Instead of replying, I decided to show these WoL maniacs my spoils from today's outing. Click. I got up, snapped a pic of Classic's signed merch tossed on my desk, and sent it to the group chat.
The reaction was explosive, as expected.
I replied to Taek-jun's question.
My message was the last one for a brief, blissful moment. Very brief. It was the calm before the KakaoTalk storm that was about to hit the chat.
A few months back, before I'd quit Go, these guys had been like "Just start and we'll 5-queue!" trying to rope me in. I'd had zero interest, so I just flipped them the bird. If I'd known they'd freak this hard, I might've tried it sooner.
The touching(?) mood over our tearful 5-man queue formation lasted about as long as Han-gil's next message, which turned the chat into a battlefield.
The ensuing "discussion"—aka total chaos—was too ugly to watch with eyes open, so I just turned off my phone and went to bed. It'll work itself out somehow. Newbies don't know shit, right? Still, it'd be nice if I could snag mid.