Thursday Evening, Week 12

Student Lounge Study Rooms

"Daebak…"

Chorong's mouth fell open as Changsub recounted what had happened with Sungjae the night before.

"I know right?" Changsub continued. "And then he just started crying and blubbering all over me and I didn't know what to do."

Chorong took a sip from her bubble tea.

"Poor thing. I figured there must be something going on with him but I wouldn't have guessed it was that."

She drummed her fingers contemplatively on the lid of her drink.

"I suppose it does explain a lot though." She said after some thought.

Changsub huffed and crossed his arms.

"But I'm still confused. Like why would he even tell me all that when I'm just a random guy who punched him in the face?" 

Chorong sighed and put down her drink.

"Changsub-ah…he's lonely. People like him will latch on to anybody who acknowledges them and you did take the time to say sorry and buy him that banana milk after all."

Changsub reached for his iced coffee and chewed agitatedly on his straw.

"I mean…I guess…" He said, still sounding uncertain.

Chorong gently patted his arm.

"See it's a good thing you apologized right? Now you understand him better." She smiled.

Changsub made a face and moodily sipped his coffee.

"I just hope he doesn't start following ME around like a lost puppy." He grumbled.

"Yah…don't be such a grouch." Chorong laughed.

Changsub cracked a smile but then he suddenly remembered something.

"Wait a minute…" He put down his coffee and turned to Chorong.

"Didn't Namjoo say she went to the same high school with Sungjae?" He asked.

Chorong's eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh. That's right, I forgot."

"Do you think she knows something?" Changsub asked.

"I wonder...Let's call her." Chorong said pulling out her phone.

Changsub scooted next to Chorong and rested his chin on her shoulder as she pulled up Namjoo's contact.

It rang for quite a long time before Namjoo finally picked up the video call. Judging from the background she appeared to be at the Esports Computer Lounge.

"Namjoo-ya." Said Chorong.

"Ah unnie, oppa…" Namjoo looked over her shoulder as there was a frustrated 'Aisshhh' sound behind her.

"Namjoo-ya, are you busy?" Chorong asked.

"Umm…not really. What is it?" Namjoo said looking back at the camera.

"We wanted to ask you something about Sungjae."

"Yook Sungjae?" Namjoo asked.

"Yeah, you went to the same high school right?"

Namjoo flinched as there was a loud clattering sound of a keyboard being flipped in the background.

"Ah…sorry." She said turning back to the camera. "Now's not really a good time."

"What's going on over there?" Chorong asked.

Namjoo leaned a bit closer to the screen and whispered loudly.

"It's Hayoungie…she's having a severe Overwatch slump right now."

"A slump?" Changsub asked.

Namjoo nodded nervously.

"She's been on a losing streak for a couple days now…it's really bad."

There was another curse behind her and she flinched again.

"Is everything okay? Should I come down?" Chorong asked worriedly.

Namjoo gave her a distressed look.

"Can you? I'm really scared she's going to break something this time."

"Okay we'll come over." Chorong said.

"Unnie please hurry."

Namjoo looked nervously over her shoulder again before ending the call.

"What the…" Changsub said giving Chorong a confused look.

Chorong slowly put down her phone.

"This could get messy." She said.

A few minutes later they arrived at the Esports lounge to find Hayoung having a tantrum on the floor with Namjoo, Heechul, and Hongbin all standing around looking dumbfounded and unsure of what to do.

Chorong immediately ran to Hayoung's side and knelt down next to her.

"Hayoung-ah…what's wrong?" She asked.

Hayoung looked up at Chorong from the floor then rolled over and covered her face.

"Unnie…I'm hopeless…the Overwatch tournament is next week already but I just can't win any games and my rank keeps slipping…AISHH."

Hayoung tousled her hair in frustration.

"Hayoung-ah. It's okay. You're probably just stressed with all the school work piling up right? Can't you take a break?" Chorong asked as she tried to pat Hayoung's back.

Heechul hesitantly came a bit closer next to Chorong.

"Hayoung-ah." He said nervously. He swallowed.

"We have other substitute players if you want to skip this tournament."

Hayoung glared at Heechul and Chorong.

"Take a break? Skip the tournament? YAH I'M THE TEAM CAPTAIN HERE YOU THINK I HAVE TIME TO TAKE A BREAK?" She screamed.

Heechul flinched and recoiled slightly while Chorong tried again to calm Hayoung.

"Hayoung-ah…just take a deep breath and calm down. Please?"

Hayoung shook her head.

"No. I need to practice more. I need to get my game back on and get my rank up before next week." She said with a scary hollow look on her face.

She got up from the floor and hurried back to her computer.

"If I can just win a few games today…" She muttered to herself.

Heechul and Hongbin looked at each other nervously then reluctantly followed Hayoung back to the computers.

Namjoo rushed over to Chorong.

"What do we do?" She hissed, wringing her hands.

Namjoo looked around the room desperately and her eyes fell on Changsub who was standing awkwardly at the door. She paused.

"Hey wait. Oppa you play Overwatch don't you?" She asked.

Changsub eyed Namjoo suspiciously.

"Umm yeah...but I'm trash compared to Hayoung." He replied.

Namjoo thought for a moment then her eyes lit up suddenly as if she'd just come up with a genius idea.

"Oppa get a computer."

She grabbed Changsub by the arm and began dragging him to the computers.

Changsub was confused at first but then he started to catch on to what Namjoo was thinking.

"No…no no no I'm not playing with Hayoung again, not after last time." He protested.

"Oh come on oppa just let her win a few games." Namjoo said shoving him down into a chair.

"Unnie you too!" She said marching up to Chorong.

"Me? But I don't even know how to play!" Chorong whined as Namjoo pulled her over and sat her down at the computer next to Changsub.

"Even better." Namjoo said grinning as she took the seat beside Chorong and pulled on her headset. She leaned over and logged in for Chorong.

"Here, you can borrow one of Hayoung's extra accounts."

Changsub sighed in resignation as he opened the game launcher. 

"I can't believe we're really going to sit here and let Hayoung rip us to shreds." He complained under his breath.

He glanced over at Chorong who was looking somewhat pale.

"Chorongie you okay?"

Chorong blinked at her screen.

"I have absolutely no clue how to play this game." She said nervously.

Changsub smiled at her.

"I'm not that great but I'll try to cover you okay?" He said.

Chorong nodded.

"Alright!" Namjoo yelled enthusiastically.

"Operation lose to Hayoung let's go!"

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A/N  Namjoo x Changsub interactions are so funny lmao 

Changsub-ahhh Namjoo deserves better after you did this to her lolol 

The entire reason why I've made Namjoo so annoying to Changsub in this story hehe