Heukrangi

As the short opening track ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠faded out, a black animal character appeared at the center of the screen. The avatar tipped its head slightly and blinked.

"Aaaah, can you hear me?"

The character on screen twisted its face into a scowl.

"You think I went dark because I wanted to? Some absolute lunatic started cheating mid-scrim. That's a natural disaster, not a schedule conflict!"

The beast on screen shrugged.

"Until the results come out, finding a new teammate is messy, and a stand-in isn't exactly easy either — you all know that. Then the whole cheat scandal blew up and everything went full stop, and I was about to lose my mind. So since it was already like that, I just took the day."

She took a sip of milk and opened her mouth again.

"So, did the results drop? Peanut Man said if you ask him directly, you'd get an answer within twenty-four hours."

"One brain-dead idiot and this is the circus we get. How many people does she have to exhaust? That bitch. Hope I never see her again."

Heukrangi let out a long sigh and logged into NOVA Syndicate.

"I did take a day off, so. Let's hop into one ranked game — warm up the aim, get the hands moving. By the time we're done, the results should be out. Fair?"

While she was queuing for ranked, the chat exploded.

"Bullet? That girl is online right now? For real?"

Heukrangi's eyes spun. She checked her friends list — and sure enough, Bullet was mid-game in a custom lobby.

"No way."

Her voice went cold.

"Is she out of her mind? Everyone else is suffering because of her, and she's off playing customs?"

A sharp fang jutted out past the lips of the avatar on screen.

"She's completely lost it, huh?"

Heukrangi's brow twitched. She glared at the screen as if double-checking the friends list, then spoke again.

"But why hasn't she been banned yet? Didn't they say they'd take action right away?"

She tilted her head.

"Hey, you gotta actually talk to get close. During scrims she wouldn't even make the calls we needed — I was so fucking mad. Ugh, just thinking about it again is pissing me off."

"For real? Easy money."

Without a shred of hesitation, Heukrangi hovered her cursor over Bullet's profile.

"Done. Pay up the hundred thousand."

The animal character beamed and held out a paw.

"What? I'm a victim too. So I'm allowed this much."

Heukrangi shrugged shamelessly.

"And she's not gonna reply anyway. When I messaged her before, she just ignored me."

Contrary to her expectations, a reply came almost immediately.

"Huh?"

Heukrangi stared blankly at the message Bullet had sent.

"Hold on. She messaged me? And with something this bold?"

A low note of wonder slipped out of her. The avatar on screen hung its mouth open in the same dazed stupor — looking thoroughly dumb.

"Okay, that is actually kind of shocking."

"Is she running her mouth because she knows she's about to get banned? No. If that were it, she wouldn't say she's practicing for the tournament."

She snorted a laugh.

"And if that was the plan, she should've just cussed me out. Honestly, I've given Bullet a pretty hard time up till now. Nothing personal, but…"

"…Shut up."

Heukrangi barked it out, trying to bury the embarrassment. Because, well — she had gone a little hard.

But back then she really couldn't take it. Watching someone play with their mouth clamped shut made her feel like she was going to lose her mind from pure frustration.

"More than that, this girl — I knew it from the second she vanished claiming she was running a tofu errand, but she is shameless. Does she not know how much chaos she's caused?"

Heukrangi was not the type to sit on a question, so she fired off another message at once.

"…What kind of nonsense is that?"

She frowned at the completely out-of-nowhere message.

"Hey. Did any of you see it?"

Heukrangi bristled.

"Did any of you hop on a rocket, go to space, and personally confirm the Earth is round? I only believe what I've seen with my own two eyes."

While she was still arguing with her viewers, another reply arrived.

"Hmm."

Heukrangi shut her mouth.

"No reply. Did I hit a nerve?"

"Aah, fuck. Chat's losing it again."

She was starting to think Bullet had just bailed on the conversation.

Ding—

Then, out of nowhere, a That's Code notification chimed.

"What. Who is it."

Heukrangi checked the alert without much thought — and her pupils blew wide.

The sender was none other than Bullet. That alone mattered, but what was even more shocking was the content of the message.

"…Account investigation results?"

After reading through every image Bullet had sent, Heukrangi went blank for a moment. Even dumber-looking than before.

"She really didn't use cheats? That was actually her skill? No way. What the hell…"

Heukrangi muttered it under her breath. Soft enough that someone sitting next to her might not have caught it — but it carried crystal clear to the viewers.

A beat late, another message from Bullet came through.

"Ah."

With that single short syllable, Heukrangi's eyes wavered. She had just realized her mistake.

"Ah, that is, I mean, uh… fuck…"

She hurriedly cut her mic and flipped the stream to a waiting screen.

"Ugh, why did I make a mistake like that. I'm going to lose it."

Heukrangi slapped her own mouth with her palm.

It wasn't the first or second time she'd kicked up controversy with something she'd said or done without thinking. She'd been trying to be careful — and then she went and did it again.

A short reply came back from Bullet. At that single syllable, Heukrangi's shoulders hunched.

"No, but…"

The brief flash of shame passed, and she immediately stuck her lip out.

"Honestly, shouldn't you have told the team first? You just drop it in an evening stream and expect us to process and accept it how, exactly."

She was definitely in the wrong — but she still felt a little wronged.

"Isn't that a little short on consideration for the rest of us?"

"What?"

Heukrangi scrambled to open her messenger. A bright red notification count floated over the group chat.

The moment she saw that number, her expression locked solid. She hadn't even checked the contents, but she already knew. It had to be about Bullet.

"Ah… so she did say something…"

Heukrangi exhaled a long breath and closed the messenger. The second she leaned back into her chair, a question suddenly flickered through her head.

"Wait a second… how did she even answer what I just said?"

Right then, a That's Code notification chimed.

"HUH!?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

As if the message had overheard her muttering, Heukrangi reflexively shoved herself away from the desk.

"EEEK!?"

At the rapid-fire messages, Heukrangi scrambled to check her stream. And sure enough, the black animal character was still sitting there, fully present.

"Ah, fuck…"

At the same time, the chat was already filthy with chaos. People must have flooded in the second they heard Bullet's name.

"Ah, I'm so fucking cooked."

Heukrangi felt cold sweat slide down her back.

"What do I do… how the hell do I clean this up…"

Then another message arrived from Bullet.

"Help you?"

She tilted her head and typed back.

"Yeah, true."

Heukrangi found herself nodding without meaning to.

"Clear your name?"

She still had questions, but she answered for now.

"I have no idea what she's even planning to do. Still, I'm glad. Glad she said it was fine…"

Given how much she'd piled on Bullet over time, she'd fully expected leftover bad blood. But looking at today's attitude, it didn't seem like there was any — which was a relief.

Kind of weird, but she's a good person…

The moment the notification that Bullet had started streaming came through, Heukrangi flipped her mic back on.

"Uh… Bullet's about to do an explanation stream, so… I'll send you all over there. I'll be talking with her over there too. Alright then."

That was all she said before she immediately hosted her viewers over to Bullet.

True to form, Bullet's chat was already gutted before the stream even properly began.

"How the hell is she planning to salvage this?"

Heukrangi tilted her head and pulled a cola out of the fridge. Her throat felt dry for no good reason.

Soon a track finished playing, and by the time the viewer count broke twelve thousand, the waiting screen switched.

"PFFFUUUH—!"

The second she checked the screen, Heukrangi sprayed the cola she'd been holding in her mouth.

"Hack—! Cough, cough…!"

Even as she choked, she lifted her head and stared at the monitor. She was sure she must have seen it wrong.

Floating dead center on the screen was a line she knew far too well. Of course she did. The person who wrote it was Heukrangi herself!

"Ah— cough… fuck…"

She should've just watched her damn mouth….