“Yu-Min hyung, I think you should stop and get some rest.”

“Ng?”

Park Yu-Min looked away from his computer and at his teammate, Choi Jeong-Wu.

“Hyung, you’re gonna mess up your condition before the final.”

“I... Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”

“No, you don’t look fine at all.”

Park Yu-Min grinned wryly. Maybe he went overboard a bit this time?

It made sense for his teammate to say this, since Park Yu-Min had devoted all of his waking hours, outside mealtimes, into practicing, after all. He had always been diligent with his practice, but the amount of practice he had absorbed during the tournament easily surpassed the level of diligence and shot straight into the realm of obsession!

“I have to practice. Otherwise, this anxiety will eat me up.”

Choi Jeong-Wu didn’t give up. “Today’s the day of the final, you know? You gotta be more mindful of your condition, hyung. Hang on? Are you not feeling okay? Because your face is as pale as it can possibly get.”

Park Yu-Min shook his head. “Nah, it’s just a... case of a mild heartburn. That’s all.”

“Holy cow! Are you serious?!”

Choi Jeong-Wu stared worriedly at Park Yu-Min. The latter’s coarse skin and blurry, bloodshot eyes were all too clear to see.

“Hyung, you usually don’t get jittery like this, so what’s going on?”

It wasn’t the case of Park Yu-Min not getting jittery, no, but more like he tried everything in his power not to show it, despite anxiety choking the air out of him. However, his condition right now was too poor for him to hide his mental state.

Park Yu-Min smiled awkwardly. “It’s my first time competing in a global tournament, after all.”

“But you won all those Galaxy Craft tournaments with your eyes closed, didn’t you? What are you even talking about?”

“But those weren’t global tournaments, you know? They were local tournaments with local people.”

“Well, sure. That’s true, but still...”

Back in those days, the Galaxy Craft tournaments held in South Korea boasted a much higher profile than global tournaments. As if to prove that notion, the tournament prizes of the global tournaments were considerably lower in value than the ones held in Korea. But that story had changed these days.

Nowadays, winning the global tournament earned you several times greater prestige than winning a Korean tournament. That also meant the difficulty had gone up several notches, too. Knowing this, how could Park Yu-Min not get anxious?

Choi Jeong-Wu grimaced. “S-still, you gotta stop practicing, hyung. We need to get ready to leave soon.”

“Ng, got it.”

That was when the team director, Oh Jin-Hyeong, stepped into the room. “Hey, everyone! Get ready to depa... W-what the heck? Yu-Min, what’s wrong? Why are you so pale, dude! Are you sick?”

“N-no, I’m not sick, director. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine, dude! Did you get some shut-eye last night?”

“...”

When Park Yu-Min kept his silence, someone else in the room replied for him instead.

“No, director! Yu-Min hyung didn’t sleep a wink last night. In fact, he spent the entire night playing solo ranked matches!”

“What?! You idiot! This ain’t your first day as a pro, so how could you be so irresponsible?! You know how crucial it is to maintain your physical and mental condition!”

Park Yu-Min sheepishly replied, “But... I couldn’t sleep because of anxiety.”

“Oh, uh...”

Before Oh Jin-Hyeong could say something, Park Yu-Min hurriedly raised his head.

“You don’t have to worry about anything, director. Have you ever seen me show up at tournaments while under the weather? I’ll be back to my old self during the match.”

“Well, sure. But...”

Oh Jin-Hyeong studied Park Yu-Min’s face anxiously.

Park Yu-Min had never let him or the team down before, but something about this situation still worried him. Oh Jin-Hyeong had never seen Park Yu-Min with such a poor complexion before, after all.

Park Yu-Min got up stiffly. “I’m gonna pop into the bathroom real quick.”

“Sure. But don’t take too long. We need to go soon.”

“Yes, director.”

Oh Jin-Hyeong furrowed his brow while watching his top player slip inside the bathroom. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Will he be okay?

Oh Jin-Hyeong couldn’t get over this anxiety gnawing away at his heart.

***

“Fuu-woo...”

Park Yu-Min plopped down on the toilet bowl as soon as closing the bathroom door behind him.

I... I gotta get a hold of myself.

Of course, he wasn’t here to relieve himself. All he needed was a bit of time by himself. He knew others would follow him even if he went into his bedroom.

This has to be an illness of some kind.

This thing about him getting extremely nervous just before trying something new hadn’t gone away, it seemed. Back then, during his first major tournament victory in the other game, he calmed down after spotting his friends in the audience seats. However, in the upcoming final...

Heh. I’m thinking about Jin-Ho again.

Park Yu-Min helplessly chuckled. Now that he thought about it, Kang Jin-Ho was always there during the decisive moments in Park Yu-Min’s life, wasn’t he?

I gotta graduate from that mindset, though.

Of course, it wasn’t as if his pride got dented from receiving help from his friend. After all, Park Yu-Min never acted pridefully at Kang Jin-Ho. Not only was the latter responsible for transforming his life for the better, but being prideful between friends just felt wrong, too.

Kang Jin-Ho also didn’t want that, either. Probably.

What Park Yu-Min wanted was to be able to stand on his two feet without Kang Jin-Ho helping him out all the time.

He wanted to say to his friend that he had gotten this strong, that he now was someone who could lead the way, too.

“Yes, I can do this.”

Park Yu-Min closed his eyes and muttered quietly to himself.

“I can do this.”

***

“Your tickets! I’ve got them right here!”

Lee Hyeon-Su powerfully shook the stack of tickets in his hand around. They flapped around like a wad of cash. It was easy enough to see that he wanted to boast about successfully acquiring all those tickets in such a short time.

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow. “Did you actually buy them all?”

“Yes, sir! I’ve made the impossible possible!”

When he heard that, Kang Jin-Ho stared weirdly at Lee Hyeon-Su. “Couldn’t you have called Yu-Min’s team manager and gotten free tickets or something?”

“Eiii~! How could I ask for so many tickets, sir? We’re talking about forty tickets, after all. That’s not some pocket change, you know?”

“Well, I guess you have a point there.”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded. Even if it was possible to get so many tickets from the team, it’d place a lot of burden on Park Yu-Min’s shoulders. Since that was the case, Lee Hyeon-Su deserved some praise for pulling this feat off on such short notice.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at the tickets. “Looks like everyone will be sitting right next to each other?”

“Fufufufu~! Of course, sir! Although, we were in danger of missing one of the seats in the middle. This one dude swore he’d watch this final in person no matter what.”

“Really? What did you do?”

“No need to be concerned, sir! You know I’ve got ideas, and then some! I simply bought a ticket for an even better seating position and swapped it with him. He was overjoyed, of course.”

Indeed, this man was a genius. Without a doubt!

“Then... All we have to do now is go in?”

Kang Jin-Ho asked, while turning around to take in the sight of the tournament venue. The crowd entering it exceeded his expectations.

“Why are so many people showing up to watch a video game tournament?”

Lee Hyeon-Su replied in an unimpressed tone. “Sir, what’s with that boomer-like question? Video games have been a legitimate part of our culture for a while now, you know?”

Kang Jin-Ho obviously knew that. Even then, he still couldn’t help but think that this crowd was a bit too excessive. And the fact that such a huge arena would soon fill up with all these people left him a bit flabbergasted, too.

“Even so, don’t you think there are way too many people here?”

Lee Hyeon-Su glanced around before nodding. “It’s because this is America, sir. The situation here can’t be the same as back in Korea, after all. Since there are more people living here than in our country, the number of people enjoying a particular hobby would obviously be much higher, as well. That’s conducive toward the... development of various cultural activities, so to speak.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Also, Americans can be pretty generous toward hobbies they enjoy, sir. They usually don’t regret spending a lot of money if it’s for the sake of their enjoyment. But look at South Korea. We still have old-fashioned boomers who criticize you for even mentioning video games, even to this day.”

Kang Jin-Ho cautiously clamped his mouth shut, since he knew he was one of those boomers.

I better watch what I say.

It felt like he’d get labeled as a boomer regardless of what the topic of conversation was if he wasn’t being careful. Then again, maybe it was because Kang Jin-Ho was a wrinkly old man inside?

“Let’s go inside, sir.”

“Mm...”

Kang Jin-Ho grew a little tense just then.

He never let anxiousness get the better of him in a battle to the death, but when the battle involved his acquaintances? He’d tense up like this without even realizing it.

To think Park Yu-Min would soon throw himself into a fight for glory in front of so many people! How anxious must he be right now?

“Jin-Ho hyung, do you think Yu-Min hyung is holding up okay? You know how timid he is...”

Han Jin-Seong asked, while worriedly scanning the surroundings.

The foreignness of this environment certainly played a part in his anxiety, but the lion’s share of the blame lay with the massive size of this crowd. He had been to tournament venues back in Korea, but he never felt this way back then. Just standing here and looking around was enough to make him shiver in dread.

“It’s already this bad for us, so how much worse would it be for Yu-Min hyung?” Han Jin-Seong asked again while sounding even more worried. “H-he’s not gonna have a panic attack or something, right?”

Jo Mi-Hye finally couldn’t take it anymore and yelled at Han Jin-Seong. “Oppa, please just shut up! Please!”

Han Jin-Seong pouted unhappily. “I’m just worried about Yu-Min hyung, so why?!”

“Stop worrying! And stop talking, too! You know what, oppa? Don’t do anything from now on!”

Some people in this world could pay the world’s debt with their words, but some other people just couldn’t help themselves but invite disasters by opening their mouths!

“Nah, he’ll be fine,” said Kang Jin-Ho with an unhurried chuckle. “Yu-Min is tougher than you think, after all.”

***

“Holy cow. Look at the size of this audience.”

“I know, right?”

The massive circular tournament arena was jam-packed with eager audience members. The buzz of the crowd was reminiscent of a top idol’s concert. And as if to get the audience even more hyped up, the tournament organizers were firing dolls containing the code for the game’s downloadable content into the seating area.

Various parts of the audience repeatedly stood up and sat back down whenever a doll fell toward their general seating area.

The Seongsim kids chatted amongst themselves.

“Owww... I wanted that doll, too.”

“Why? You don’t even play this game, though.”

“But that doll was so cute, right?”

“You can buy one when we’re leaving. I saw them on sale by the exit.”

“Really? Yeah, I’m gonna do that.”

While listening to their chatter, Kang Jin-Ho scanned their seating area.

Just as Lee Hyeon-Su had proudly boasted earlier, this area offered a wonderful view of the arena below. There were better places to sit individually, of course, but for a group this big? Without a doubt, they had found the best-possible place.

Choi Yeon-Ha aimlessly muttered. “It feels like I’m traveling around often to watch Mister Yu-Min compete in tournaments, doesn’t it?”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded in agreement. “Yes, it feels that way.”

Indeed, didn’t he take Choi Yeon-Ha along to see that regional final taking place in the city of Busan the last time?

“In fact, I’ve been trying to catch the match broadcasts on TV as often as I can,” said Choi Yeon-Ha. “Having watched a few, I can now more or less follow what’s going on. And it’s been surprisingly fun, too.”

“Really?”

Kang Jin-Ho stared in slight shock at Choi Yeon-Ha.

As far as he knew, Choi Yeon-Ha was not a gamer. She didn’t even enjoy playing games, so for someone like her to actively seek out game broadcasts? Now that was an unexpected revelation, alright!

“Yup. Watching those characters trying their hardest to massacre each other does wonders for my stress level.”

“...”

Was this the issue of her inclinations? Or her personality that was questionable?

Rather wisely, Kang Jin-Ho chose not to dig deeper for an answer to this quandary. Staying ignorant would be better for his health, after all!

Choi Yeon-Ha nervously looked around. “Still, this is... Geez, even I’m getting anxious here. My heart’s been pounding like crazy for a while now, you know?”

“Mm...”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded while scanning the arena.

In Korea, the organizers tried to calm the audience down as a way to avoid stressing out the competitors, but it seemed America did things a bit differently. Even though the players hadn’t entered the venue yet, the audience was whooping and hollering enthusiastically. Some were raucously chanting their favorite team’s slogans and names, while some others were whistling loudly.

“It’s so hectic out here. Can they even compete like this? Won’t Mister Yu-Min be too tense to do his best?”

Kang Jin-Ho shook his head. “Don’t worry, you can’t hear anything once you enter the arena.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m not sure what kind of technology it is, but I heard that it somehow blocks out the external noises.”

Choi Yeon-Ha nodded. “Wow. I guess advances in technology wait for no one. Always leaving me behind and all...”

Kang Jin-Ho silently agreed with her.

By the way, it’d have been nice to see Yu-Min before the match...

He would’ve liked to speak to Park Yu-Min before the match began, since they were here to cheer him on. However, their tight itinerary meant the Seongsim group didn’t even have enough time to get to their hotel first.

What they had done instead was send the rented bus ahead to the lodging with their luggage so that they wouldn’t miss the tournament.

Kang Jin-Ho grew tense again as he scanned the arena. Park Yu-Min’s condition during the previous big tournament wasn’t great. The odds of the same thing happening this time were uncomfortably high.

The final match of any tournament was bound to stress out those who participated in it, after all!

Just as his thoughts reached that far, Kang Jin-Ho noticed the entrance of the competitors to the arena. The announcer’s booming voice came from the speakers to introduce each competitor walking up to the stage. And when Park Yu-Min’s ID was announced, a loud roar suddenly erupted in the venue.

The Seongsim kids jolted in their seats from pure shock and hurriedly looked around.

“W-what the heck?! Has Yu-Min hyung always been this popular?”

More importantly, in America, no less?

Even Park Yu-Min stumbled a little in panic and looked around at the audience.