With another frustrated sigh, Yena leaned back in her gaming chair as the words - DEFEAT - flashed on the screen. She peeked at the chat which was quickly filling up with toxic comments about her skill level. Yena’s lips twitched and she quickly shot straight back up, her hands in position and typing away a nasty response. Huffing, she quickly reported the toxic player. 

It wasn’t Yena’s fault that the others weren’t as good as she was. They just needed to get on her level first. Another defeated sigh left her lips. Another losing record for the day. Her rank was dropping rapidly and if she wasn’t careful, there was a chance she could end up dropping out of Overwatch’s Top 500. She loathed having to call on Hyewon to boost her rank, but if Yena had to, she would. 

A beep startled Yena out of her reverie. 

It was a Discord message from Sakura. A frown formed on Yena’s face as the numerous emojis danced on the screen.

What’s popping little ducky? Another loss? LOLOLOL! Get on my level ducky. 10-0 today! Undefeated! Going for number 1 Widowmaker spot! How does it feel being on the cusp of dropping out of Top 500 you Tracer 1-trick? 

Yena gritted her teeth and quickly typed back a response. Like you do any of the work. I wonder, do you pay for Hyewon’s back massages? Or do you do them yourself? And I’ll have you know, I have more playtime on Sombra and Pharah than I do Tracer. It wasn’t fair at all! Sakura was roommates with the world’s number 5 ranked player. And all Sakura played was...Okay, she played a variety of heroes, but that didn’t mean that Sakura wasn’t getting hard carried. 

LMAO. Salty. 1v1, me bro. Won’t even die once. All headshots no cap. U should also stick to Tracer. Your Sombra gives me cancer and you always throw when you play Pharah. 

Come back to me when you get more than a 5% scoped accuracy on Widowmaker and get more kills than deaths for once.

Despite the tempting offer to stomp Sakura into the ground, Yena had other things to do. Her eyes flitted over to the digital clock on the bedside desk. It read 11:46. Yena’s eyes then shot to the plethora of physics textbooks and test papers spilling out of her bag and onto the ground. Then her eyes shot over to the review sheets lying on top of her work desk in the corner of her room. Yena then looked at the calendar just beside the door. And finally, Yena’s gaze landed on the numerous debate trophies on the shelf just to the right of her dresser. Beside them was a framed picture of four girls. She was in the center. To her right was Sakura. Next to Sakura was Hyewon and to Yena’s left was Minjoo. 

A small smile formed on Yena’s face as she stood up and walked over to the picture. In the picture, Sakura had Yena in a grapple and was giving her a nuggie all the while flashing a smile to the camera. Hyewon stood at attention a small smile on her stoic face. Minjoo had most of her body hidden behind Yena. Only her head and arm stuck out. That, and the shiny blue ribbon in her hand. All of their medals were shining brightly in the camera flash. 

Their smiles, however, were as fake as the stamp that read 5th place on their ribbons. 

That was the last National Debate they participated in. Despite their best efforts, they only won 5th place. A bitter smile appeared on Yena’s face as she grabbed the frame and flopped backward onto her back. Despite all their success in cities and regionals, this was the closest got to first place. She remembered the distraught expressions on Minju and Hyewon after their hard work went to waste. And Yena hated it. 

She couldn’t face her childhood friends after what happened. So she went to Canada to live with her older brother. At least for a year. She needed time to think. Time to reflect. At first, she was pissed off that their school’s top-ranked student Kim Chaewon left the team. They sorely missed that girl’s swagger. But Yena realized that not even Chaewon would’ve been able to help them in those Nationals. After months of moping and self-loathing, Yena and her brother built a gaming PC together and she got Overwatch as a gift. 

The first person that Yena contacted was Hyewon. If there was anyone that played Overwatch it was her. Sakura too, but she was more into Battle Royales than MOBAs and games with MOBA influences. At first, Yena was worried that Hyewon would be angry at her for basically running out on them. It was more the opposite. Then the next thing she knew, Sakura had gotten the game and three of them were constantly three-stacking and climbing the ranks. Yena didn’t know where the other two were getting time. After all, Sakura was a full-time student in medical school and Hyewon was majoring in both law and psychology. Of the four of them, however, Minjoo was the hardest to reach. But Yena made contact with her a few days before Christmas. Yena was not at all surprised that by the end of their conversation Minjoo was a crying mess. The youngest of the four was still in high school and as such didn’t have much time to even interact with Sakura or Hyewon. 

With a sigh, Yena set the photo beside her digital clock. She sat up in her bed and organized the textbooks and papers. Tomorrow was the final exam of her first year at University. And she couldn’t afford to mess up. After her gap year, Yena went back to Seoul and reunited with her friends. Yena didn’t know what she wanted to do, but she knew she was interested in the science of the universe. So she took several physics courses. But after a year of constant gaming and staying awake for days on end, Yena had a hard time adjusting. Even though she was, by rank, their school’s 3rd smartest student, she was struggling in her classes. 

Another sigh. Yena went back to her gaming chair and looked through her Steam library, looking for something to take her mind off of the past. One title, in particular, caught Yena’s eye. Oroboros Online. It was a Japanese MMORPG that Hyewon had introduced them to back when they first began high school. Despite their work on the debate team, most of their nights were spent grinding away at the game. Minjoo included. Despite Minjoo’s lack of aptitude with games, she was always eager to join the gaming trio. 

Yena went back on to Discord. Both Sakura and Hyewon were still online. Sakura was playing Overwatch by herself for once. Rather than being the hard carry as usual, Hyewon was playing Rainbow Six: Siege. Minjoo was offline, but apparently, she had been online 2 hours earlier. The duckling gamer sent all of them, even Minjoo a message gauging their interest in picking up Oroboros Online one last time.

Yo, I was wondering if you dudettes would be down to play this sometime.

Sakura instantly messaged her. Hell yeah, I’m down! You can’t see her, but Hyewon just nodded her head btw. A light shock went through Yena’s body when she noticed Minjoo suddenly go from offline to online. Yah! Kim Minjoo go back to sleep! You need to go to school tmrw! Didn’t you say you have a test?

Unnie! Even in text form, Yena could tell that Minjoo was pouting. I’m in the top 5 in rankings at school. I don’t need to study.

Not even in the top 3 anymore. Feelsbadman. Don’t care. Step your game up Minguri. Hyewon responded. Yena chuckled. But if you’re down Minjoo feel free to join us. 

LMAO. Hyewon just killed all of her team members as soon as the round started so she could get kicked from the match. LOLOLOL. Sakura typed fast. Anyways, are we gonna be using the older server? Because I’m not gonna grind to the max level again.

Look at this mans. Yena typed back. Doesn’t even know about the max level exploit lololol. 

Look at this