Disclaimer: League of Legends belongs to Riot
"This is so exciting!" I squealed as I ran up to my best friend with my luggage in tow.
"Yeah, two days of no school," Hurtle grinned. I rolled my eyes, of course Hurtle was excited about that. Our parents got us tickets for Worlds and so we're flying over to Korea to see it. It was a Thursday, but thanks to our flight, our parents said it would be alright to skip school that day. The finals would start on Saturday.
Unfortunately, an EU team didn't make it this year. However, a NA team did, so our parents thought it'd be alright to go and watch. 'Tch. Their NA pride,' I thought. I have a bias for EU teams since I grew up here all of my life, but my parents still maintained their NA pride deep in their hearts. I was so sad when 'History Written' lost during the semifinals. They were Europe's last hope, but unfortunately, they lost to China's 'Raging Dragons'. On another note, my parents' old rival team, Team Solo Mid, made it to Worlds. That's why Uncle Turtle insisted that we go watch it live, and without further deliberation my parents agreed.
"I forgot to ask everyone whether or not they're also going," I said as we walked towards the airport.
"Dad said that Hades would be coming with Hai and Dade," Hurtle answered me. I guess it made sense since Hai was on C9 and C9 was close with TSM. Plus, Dade was probably happy to visit home. "I don't think Adept and Cyan will be there, though," he added.
"That's unfortunate, I'm sure they would have enjoyed it," I stated.
"That's fine. It gives Adept some time to catch up to me," Hurtle smirked. A while ago, Adept found the motivation to try to knock Hurtle out of his first place spot. In fact, the two recently became really competitive with one another. They would compete at everything: who could get the most CS and the highest KDA in each game they played together. They've even raced for first blood. 'Boys…' I sighed at that thought.
"Is Hades on the same flight?"
"Nah, they'll be leaving later tonight. He had a test today that he didn't want to miss," Hurtle informed. My mouth formed a small 'o'.
"Hades knows Korean though, right?" I grinned, "That means he can probably take us around."
"Yeah! Korean street food here we come," Hurtle said excitedly.
Although travelling was fun, being inside the airports was a tedious process. It took us about an hour before we made it through security and we were now waiting in our gate area.
I glanced around and saw a few other League of Legends fans also waiting to go to Korea. The location of the World Championships rotated among the participating regions every year. Last year Worlds was held in China and the Chinese team won against the Korean team. Korea is still a very strong region, but the other regions had definitely caught up. This definitely made things a little harder for the International Wild Cards, but they still showed some improvement over the years.
Brazil was now considered a good region (they won their first World Championship about six years ago) along with Japan (the furthest they've reached was semifinals). The professional scene in Japan took a long time to develop because of how different their culture was, but after many attempts to break into the LCS scene, it was more accepted for them to become professional gamers. Australia had been hyped this year, but they didn't make it past the group stages. However, they would definitely be a region to look out for next year.
We waited another half an hour before we actually boarded the plane. I was relieved to finally move beyond the gate area. Our parents were identified by some of the older League fans and we all know how much I hate that kind of attention.
I sat besides Hurtle while Uncle Turtle sat next to Doublelift. This odd arrangement could be explained by the fact that Uncle Xpecial also came along and we didn't want to make things awkward for the divorced couple. The plane ride was going to be pretty long anyways, so Aphromoo sat with him.
"I wonder what Korea will be like," I wondered aloud. I've been to the States to visit family and to other parts of Europe too, but never have I been to Asia.
"You're going to love the food," Aphromoo responded. That alone was enough to keep me excited for the trip. Authentic Korean food. Our team was named after a Korean BBQ place after all… My stomach growled at the thought of our team name. 'Naming it after a Korean BBQ place? Whose idea was it anyways?' I thought sarcastically.
"Who do you think is going to win?" Doublelift asked.
"TSM of course," Uncle Turtle answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I think Raging Dragons will win 3-2," Doublelift retorted.
"You mean TSM will win 3-2," Uncle Turtle corrected him.
"Want to bet on it?" Doublelift challenged.
"Loser wears the other person's jersey the next time they appear on LCS," Uncle Turtle proclaimed.
"Deal."
"Deal." And our fathers shook on it.
"Dadddd. Doublelift is gambling!" I whined.
"Peter," Aphromoo said from the seat in front of me.
"It's harmless!" Doublelift reasoned from the seat behind me.
"Yeah, it'll be harmless. We all know how good Doublelift is at gambling," Uncle Xpecial smirked, peeking his head over his seat.
"Yeah, that's why it's harmless for Uncle Turtle," I said dryly. Everyone laughed at my father's objections. He was definitely the easiest to tease. After all, they did that for years on the analyst desk whether or not my father was present.
"HADES!" I shouted as soon as I saw Hades entering the hotel lobby. I was waving my arms frantically, ignoring the looks from the random bystanders. He looked over and waved before turning to say something to his parents. His parents gave me a glance before saying something to him. Hai had a big grin on his face while Dade was shaking his head at him. I rose an eyebrow before looking at Hurtle who shrugged. I looked back and saw Hai giving Hades a nudge. This resulted in Hades shaking his head. Hai laughed at his son and gave him a friendly slap on the back, pointed towards our direction and gave him a wink.
"What do you think they're talking about?" I asked Hurtle.
"His dad is probably teasing him," Hurtle responded. "You did put on quite a show just now," he added.
"All I did was let him know we're here," I crossed my arms.
"All you did was let everyone know we're here," Hurtle corrected, and I smacked his arm.
"Hey guys," Hades greeted with a sheepish grin.
"Interesting parents you got there," Hurtle smirked.
"Ah… you saw that…" Hades nervously scratched the back of his head. "Hai can be a little immature at times," he confessed, "Luckily Eo-jin, erm—you guys know him as Dade, keeps him in check."
"Sounds fun," I grinned and Hurtle nodded in agreement.
"You guys have strange definitions forfun," Hades sighed.
"Her father is Doublelift after all," Hurtle pointed out.
"True," Hades acknowledged.
"Yeah, your father can't be much more of a drama queen than Doublelift," I told him.
"Who can't be more of a drama queen than Doublelift?" I heard Aphromoo's voice come from behind us. I turned around and gave my dad a playful smile.
"What! I'm not a drama queen," Doublelift argued.
"It's okay Lift Lift, you don't have to try to hide it," Uncle Xpecial grinned, slapping a hand on Doublelift's back.
"They do say the first step to recovery is acceptance," I chimed in.
"My own daughter is bullying me," Doublelift cried out, looking at Aphromoo for help. Aphromoo shrugged his shoulders and gave him a 'Don't look at me' look.
"HAI!" Uncle Turtle called out, waving frantically like I did before. I gave Hurtle a meaningful look and he groaned. Hades's parents made their way on over after they finished checking-in. They exchanged a few pleasantries before Hai looked over at me.
"So this is your daughter," Hai grinned, asking my parents.
"No," Doublelift immediately said, drawing looks from everyone. "I mean yes she's our daughter, but no Hai," Doublelift quickly corrected himself when Aphromoo shot him a glare.
"Aww, you're no fun Lift Lift," Hai complained.
"Why does everyone still call me Lift Lift?!" Doublelift whined. I leaned over to Hurtle.
"What are they talking about?" I whispered.
"You don't want to know," Hurtle whispered back, but the smile on his face was very apparent.
"Dimitri, go hang out with your friends, we'll take your luggage into the room," Dade told him. Dimitri nodded and handed his luggage to his dad.
"Does that mean we can go exploring?" I asked Aphromoo.
"Dimitri knows his way around, right?" Aphromoo asked Hai and Dade. They both nodded.
"We've lived here for a while," Hai informed them.
"I don't know…" Doublelift said, crossing his arms.
"Don't worry Lift Lift, she has Jasper and Dimitri to take care of her," Uncle Xpecial grinned.
"Yeah! One for each arm," I giggled, putting my hands on my hips. Hurtle immediately looped his arm on one side and Hades hesitantly copied Hurtle's motion, though he looked a little embarrassed from this.
Doublelift didn't look satisfied, but after a nudge from Aphromoo, he reluctantly agreed.
"Alright! Let's go," I commanded and we left the hotel.
It was already late into the afternoon. Hurtle and I spent the last few hours exploring the hotel while we waited for Hades to arrive. This encompassed us piggy-back riding down the long hallways, racing up the stairs (never again), trying to find the pool area, pretending to be a bickering old couple, and pillow fighting (until a pillow went flying into Doublelift's or in his words: his "beautiful" face).
"So where should we go?" I asked Hades since Hurtle and I had no clue of our exact location.
"Are you guys hungry?" Hades asked us.
"Always down for food," Hurtle replied.
"Street food or restaurant food?" Hades gave us two options.
"STREET FOOD!" Hurtle answered. Hades laughed before he began directing us down a few streets. We took this time to catch up from the last time we hung out.
After seeing them at Café Perle, I found the motivation to keep on playing. Adept made sure we took breaks to do other team things like play other game modes , though Hurtle usually played solo queue during those times. We even tried playing other games (I'm still really bad at first person shooters). Adept also decided that we should meet up once every two weeks to hang out in real life. We weren't quite there yet, but we were beginning to act like a real team.
"Oh, oh! Let's go get some rice cakes!" I squealed, unlooping my arms from the guys and running over to one vendor.
"Someone's excited," Hurtle smirked, but he also looked interested. We both turned to Hades.
"Wah—oh right," he muttered, stepping up to the vendor. He said something in Korean that we obviously couldn't understand, but the lady gave us three bowls of Tteokbokki and wooden chopsticks. We handed her some money in return before leaving the stall.
"Thanks Hades!" I said before stuffing my mouth with a rice cake. "H-hot, hot, hot!" I said fanning my mouth. The guys laughed at me., but I just shrugged and continued eating. It was so hot and spicy, but so good.
"WHAT'S THAT?" Hurtle shouted, pointing at one particular food stall.
"Corndogs?" I guessed, as we walked over.
"It's basically a hot dog covered in french fries," Hades told us.
"That sounds AMAZING," Hurtle retorted, his eyes were lit up.
"You want one, Aph?" Hades asked me and I shook my head no.
"What! But Aph, it looks—"
"Like a heart attack on a stick," I cut him off.
"Your loss," Hurtle grinned as Hades ordered him one.
We continued walking around, checking out all of the stalls and sampling different foods.
"Oh, you guys might like this one," Hades exclaimed, walking up to another food booth. There was a brown-cookie-looking-thing on a stick. Koreans really liked putting food on skewers. "This is Dalgona," he started his explanation, "There's a shape on each cookie. If you can eat everything around it without breaking the shape, you get to have it for free," Hades grinned.
"Let's do it!" Hurtle said, as soon as the challenge was presented. I rolled my eyes, a game to get free food was definitely something Hurtle would be willing to participate in.
"Alright," Hades said before talking to the vendor. Soon we were all presented with one cookie each. I was given a heart, Hurtle a star, and Hades a teddy bear.
"It suits you," I said to Hades when I saw his cookie.
"She's right you know," Hurtle grinned, "she has first-hand experience," he teased, causing Hades to blush. I stepped on Hurtle's foot and he almost dropped his cookie.
"I almost lost!" Hurtle complained, shielding his cookie from me.
"It was an accident," I stated, not even trying to sound innocent.
We started to pick away at our cookies. I lost almost immediately because I didn't realize how fragile the cookie was. Hades completed the challenge with ease and Hurtle was close, but ended up breaking his shape in half.
"I almost did it," Hurtle frowned as we paid for our cookies.
"Don't worry, it takes time to perfect," Hades reassured us. "Is there anywhere else you guys would like to go?"
"Let's go to a PC bang!" Hurtle suggested. Internet cafes were really popular in Korea. I'm sure we could find people who also played League.
"Alright, sounds good," Hades said, as he took the lead. They looped arms with me once more so that we wouldn't lose each other in the crowd.
As we entered the PC bang, my eyes widened in amazement. I have never been in one before. There were a bunch of computers lined up and there were people playing various different games. However, the most popular was definitely League of Legends. We walked around and observed. Hurtle was trying to see if he could pick up new techniques.
I stopped to observe a player who had his monitor off. I could tell he was definitely playing League from the way his left hand was positioned on his keyboard. I heard him clicking intensely, but he was just staring at a dark screen. 'Am I missing something?' I asked myself as I continued to watch him.
"WHAT THE HELL MAN. HOW DID YOU GET A QUADRA?" yelled the person next to him. He was speaking in English. They didn't look like they were from here, but then again it wasn't uncommon for regions to have players from other regions. Were they on a team?
"This is the only way to play Lee Sin,"the guy said calmly. I stared at him with disbelief. Was Korea this advanced? Were they recruiting supernatural beings? I swear his monitor was completely off.
"Dammit Shy," his friend grumbled. I had saw the Quadra Kill appear on the other person's screen. 'Shy? Wasn't that a pro player?' I thought. The person didn't look Korean, that's for sure. 'The American Shy?'
"…" They had to be joking.
"But you had to take the penta from me, didn't you Ultima?" Shy complained.
"How was I supposed to know you were serious when you said you could play like this?" Ultima reasoned.
"You just got to believe, man, just got to believe," Shy told him. I started to walk away, still not believing what I just saw.
"Stupid bots," I heart Ultima mutter under his breath. My palm made contact with my forehead, making a loud noise.
"What's wrong with her?" Shy asked his friend.
Ultima shrugged his shoulders, "Go figure."
I quickly walked away to find Hurtle and Hades.
"Aph! Over here," Hurtle called out, beckoning me over. I quickly made my way to him. He was talking to someone who was sitting at one of the computers. When I arrived, he turned his head to look at me.
"Lust?" I questioned, recognizing the gamer.
"That's right. Stella, was it?" he asked and I nodded in confirmation. "I was just telling Jasper how surprised I was to see him here," he explained, "He was supposed to visit the gaming house after worlds." That was news to me. I looked at my best friend who tried to avoid my gaze.
"I'm supposed to make my decision after Worlds, remember Aph?" Hurtle said hesitantly.
"Ah, that's right," I acknowledged. In truth, I completely forgot about Hurtle's decision. We were getting along really well with the rest of the team that I had just assumed he already made his decision.
"He told me that he has another offer," Lust grinned, "Looks like we're going to have to really convince him when he comes to visit." I narrowed my eyes, wondering if Lust knew that I was part of the other offer, but it seemed like a harmless comment so I just shrugged it off.
"I'd introduce you to the rest of the team, but they left half an hour ago," Lust continued, not noticing the slight change in the atmosphere. "I stayed to play a few more ranked games."
"Lust is fifteenth in Challenger," Hurtle informed me.
"That's nothing compared to your first place spot," Lust said modestly.
"Well Korea is supposed to be harder," Hurtle smirked, "I'm sure I'd barely make it to Masters if I came here."
"Just give it a couple of months and I'm sure you'd catch up to me," Lust reassured.
"Sounds like a challenge," Hurtle declared. 'Oh no,' I thought. Hurtle was always up for a challenge.
"Does that mean you'll accept our offer?" Lust asked him.
"Still thinking about it," Hurtle said automatically. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. That meant Hurtle hadn't decided yet.
"Yeah, think about it and let us know on Sunday, okay?" Lust said.
"Sounds good," Hurtle agreed.
"Anyways Stella, you play League right?" Lust asked, bringing me into the conversation.
"Yeah, she's Diamond IV?" Hurtle guessed.
"Diamond II," I corrected him.
"That's pretty good," Lust complimented me.
"Thanks," I said dryly. They were both in Challenger, so Diamond was nothing to them. "I'm going to look for Hades," I told them. I walked away before hearing their replies. It was starting to become difficult for me to breathe in this stuffy room.
'I need some air.' I thought as I walked out of the PC bang.
11/30/14