"Mario Kart is an American pastime, Yong Soo," Alfred said as he set up the game. " You can't possibly think you're gonna beat me."
"Isn't it Japanese though?" Yong Soo reminded him, taking a controller and waiting for Alfred to join him on the couch. "I doubt you've ever beaten Kiku at it."
"I have!" Alfred insisted, starting the game and scrolling through the character select screen. He chose Mario. No surprise there, since it seemed like Alfred almost always chose the title character, or at least the most heroic one.
"He probably let you win," Yong Soo replied, choosing Yoshi. "Like I'm sure I'll have to after beating you fourteen times straight."
"Nuh uh!" Alfred cried in protest as he scrolled through the courses. "You know I'm a beast at video games. You're only good at Starcraft."
"Not true!"
"Is this course okay?" Alfred interrupted their argument to get Yong Soo's approval on their chosen course, to which Yong Soo simply nodded.
"Just hurry up so I can kick your ass already," the Korean said, growing impatient.
"As you wish, princess," Alfred sneered, selecting the course and growing still with anticipation as the clock counted down to the start.
3…2…1…Go!
The race started off with Yong Soo in the lead, taking the first turn on the inside to get in front of Alfred, who made a noise of frustration as he tried to maneuver Mario get in front on the next turn. However, Yong Soo managed to get Yoshi on the inside again, which kept him in first for the moment.
"You're gonna be sorry later," Alfred assured him, obviously trying hard to keep his cool as Yong Soo managed to avoid all the hazards on the track for the entire first lap. By the second lap, Alfred was visibly frustrated, as he had been watching Yoshi's back for the entire race so far.
Yong Soo just cackled as he ran Yoshi through a line of surprise boxes and got triple banana peels, which he proceeded to drop all over the track in front of Mario, who only just managed to avoid them. When Mario's turn came to grab a box, he got a shell, which Yoshi easily dodged.
"For it being such an American pastime, you really aren't that great at Mario Kart, are you?" Yong Soo taunted as they approached the checkpoint to begin the final lap. He was still a decent length in front of Mario. All he had to do was dodge the track's hazard's one last time and avoid anything Alfred might try to throw at him. He was confident though. So far, Alfred didn't seem to have any hope of beating him.
For the last lap, he just focused on Yoshi. If he just concentrated and played the track exactly as he had for the last two laps, he'd be crowned the winner. Then he'd have the sweet satisfaction of listening to Alfred cry in agony at once again getting schooled in a game by his best Asian bud.
He took each turn with ease, coasting effortlessly around the curves, hitting every speed booster, and picking up more items, which he found he sadly wouldn't be able to use since he was in front at the moment. But it didn't matter. The finish line was in sight. Victory was his.
Then Alfred starting cackling.
"What are you laughing at?" Yong Soo asked, taking his eyes off the screen for a moment to glance at Alfred. "How badly you just lost?"
A second later, when he looked back to the screen, the worst possible thing he could have imagined was heading right for him.
The dreaded blue shell.
Which—proceeded to smash down on poor Yoshi, who flailed about as Mario sailed right past him for a last minute victory.
Yong Soo was in shock. He had been concentrating so hard, he hadn't even noticed that Alfred got the blue shell.
"NOOOOO!" he wailed, standing up from the couch in disbelief. "NOOOO! NO! NO! You fucker! You used the fucking blue shell on me!"
Alfred, meanwhile, was rolling around on the couch, gasping with laughter at Yong Soo's reaction as well as the hilarity of his come-from-behind victory.
"I win!" he managed to say between gasps. "I win!"
"NO!" Yong Soo continued to whine, falling forward on top of Alfred, where he hid his face in shame. "Noooooo!"
"Aw, it's okay, buddy," Alfred said, patting the Korean's head. "I can teach you how to win. Maybe I'll let you win next time."
"Shut up!" Yong Soo cried, sitting up again and grabbing his controller. "I let you win. I let you stay close the whole time so you could come from behind all heroically like that!"
"Riiiight."
"I did! Now hurry up. Let's play again, and this time I'm not holding back."