*I know JenSoo play Overwatch, but forgive me, I play CS instead

JENNIE’S POV:

! As a bullet whizzed by my ear, only inches away from a lethal collision, I crouched instinctively, barely managing to find cover before a massive barrage of bullets sailed past the nondescript box I was pressed against. How had my position been compromised? I groaned inwardly as I realised the gun barrel of my trusty shotgun must have been showing.

20 seconds on the clock...I calculated my options. My minor blunder had changed the entire complexion of the battle. Whereas earlier I had tremendous positional advantage, I knew it was now a straight-up fight. As his footsteps drew closer and closer, I dropped a flashbang and peeked over the box instantly, hoping to catch him off guard. Indeed, he had looked away momentarily to avoid being blinded. I smirked as I took my time to aim directly for his head. One click. One kill. I was still queen of the hill.

As I exchanged a curt handshake with my deflated opponent, I basked in the glory of yet another triumph against a tremendously overrated opponent. I had struggled to counter his passive playstyle at the beginning, but after taking a leaf out of his book and patiently holding angles, it had been a straightforward victory. If he was good enough to compete at the professional level, I often wondered if the sky truly was the limit for me...

Not many people knew just how profitable the e-sports field in Korea was. Sure, many may have known about the large-scale DOTA or LOL competitions. Many probably knew about the glorious exploits of Faker. However, how many knew about Jennie Kim, winner of 6 consecutive 1 vs 1 CS:GO tournaments? Admittedly, the organising committee did come across as rather shady, but I had pocketed the promised winner's prize money every single time, and that was really all that mattered.

The first time I had won the tournament, picking up a stylish-looking trophy and a cool 1500 dollars, I had proudly shown my winnings off to my parents. Imagine my disappointment and rage when my father grabbed the trophy and hurled it to the ground violently. 

“Stop ruining your life playing these worthless games, Jennie! If you put equal amount of effort into your studies, you could be acing your exams....”

How wrong you were, Daddy...e-sports saved my life...I thought wistfully, feeling the same sense of longing every time I reminisced about my parents. Since that fateful night I lost both my parents at the hands of an irresponsible drunkard speeding along the streets without a care in the world, I had been left to fend for myself independently. Granted, I had been left in the care of my uncle. Fat lot of good that did for me. Even in my frazzled (to put it lightly) state of mind, I quickly figured that staying with an abusive ual fiend consuming narcotics as if they were as essential as water would do me more harm than good.

The immediate aftermath of the accident was arguably the darkest spell of my life. I had been trapped in a void I really couldn’t claim to have completely escaped from, where I shut out everybody from my life, while constantly contemplating if it wasn’t just better to end my misery once and for all. The couple days I spent with my uncle were borderline traumatic, the sleazy bastard repeatedly trying to make moves on me, and I rented a tiny apartment to live in alone in double-quick time.

My only refuge from the mental hell I was experiencing was the internet cafe I had always frequented. I didn't crave company, in fact I felt a strange sense of commitment towards my parents, that enjoying myself with others would be wrong. Instead, what I craved was a route for me to escape the harsh realities of life.

Computer games were by and large seen as taboos, programmes that ruined people and ruined lives. However, spending hours on end focusing on the computer screen did wonders for my mental state instead of causing it to deteriorate. It took my mind away from my misfortune and I managed to channel negative energy into motivation to improve in-game. Gradually, I began to come to terms with how things had panned out and decided to fulfil my parents’ wishes for me, to live a happy and fulfilling life.

My exploits in the CS:GO scene obviously didn’t go unnoticed, but in the perpetually meninist Korean society, how was a female gamer going to make a breakthrough? I had always thought I was the exception to the rule, that guys just had faster reflexes and better hand-eye coordination than girls in general, and my performances were merely anomalies.

Evidently not. I sized up the petite girl sitting beside me as she flicked her wrist nonchalantly while hitting headshot after headshot in her warm-up drill, my curiosity very much piqued. Truth be told, the girl looked like she belonged to the cover of Vogue magazine, not some musty, run-down internet cafe. I wondered if I had seen anyone prettier in my life, certain she cou