Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Category:
Fandom:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2025-09-20
Updated:
2025-09-27
Words:
6,249
Chapters:
2/?
Comments:
64
Kudos:
155
Bookmarks:
43
Hits:
1,239

Make it a Power Play (Ult me Baby, one more time)

, ,

Summary:

Top streamer TurtallyZoey is invited to participate in a gaming charity event, and she jumps at the chance, even while she hides her real skill level.
Top Idol Rumi doesn't know where to start, she's never done this before.
Top pro-gamer Mira may or may not even remember being offered the opportunity but she's already committed, so what the hell?

What was supposed to be a one off event ended up irrevocably changing the courses of their lives in ways they had been sure were impossible.

AKA

"In a few days I, your favourite streamer, TurtallyZoey, actually am getting to play with the real Mira! But get this, I just got it confirmed THE Rumi Ryu is going to be playing with us too!"
~
“What is this, Celine, a consolation prize?!”
~
“I’m gonna fucking eat you if you keep waking me up like that.”

AKA

Zoey is living a double life, Rumi is hiding herself, Mira is a mess. What's new?
~
Updates weekly on Saturdays!

Notes:

First chapter written by JabaWaki, edited by Crow and Tech.

There's a multilayered Minecraft reference in this chapter, 10 brownie points for every layer of the reference you point out.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Are we live? Can you hear me?

Chapter Text

Zoey nearly jumped when the End Time sound rang. Matches always went on for a pre-determined amount of time but it didn’t stop her from being surprised whenever she lost track.

 

She let out an overly dramatic sigh of defeat as the Loss Visual Card appeared. The red effects floated around the border of the screen as if it needed to make extra sure she knew her team had taken the L. 

 

“Okay chat, it was definitely not my fault this time.” She pulled her hands away from the RGB mechanical keyboard and mouse, stretching out the muscles in her arms. After an intense round of mashing buttons in an attempt to destroy her opponents, she definitely needed to. “I mean yes, I am unpracticed playing as Varent Tian, so I wasn’t exactly at peak performance. But listen! My teammate chose to play as Ergo. Of all the possible Hunters! And everyone knows not to play Tian and Ergo on the same team! But I’d already locked in and I couldn’t change it before the match started! It’s definitely MiraFangirlingsXx’s fault.”

 

Zoey scanned the chat as she leaned back in her chair, uncurling her back from the shrimp posture she naturally fell into when focusing at her computer.

 

YummYummOrangePeels: Nah your K/D ratio was so bad, you cant blame your teammate who legit did better than you.

 

ZartyAraAra: HAHA you flubbed so hard on the timing of that heal in the third quarter, def you fault

 

Zoey rolled her eyes. “Come on guys, you know when we lose it’s never my fault, but when I win it’s because actually I’m amazing and flawless.” She joked with a smile.

 

MiraWithAGun: Lmao main chat thinks you just played with the real Mira. If that was real Mira playing Ergo that badly then I’m the queen of england.

 

Zoey shifted her attention from the Patreon only chat to the public twitch chat that moved way too fast for her to ever be able to read or respond, but there were enough comments gushing about the fact she had random-matched into a team with the number one player.

 

“No, guys, that definitely wasn’t the real JustMira. I’ve seen the replays of the very few matches where she’s played as Ergo, she has a very different playstyle.”

Zoey’s phone vibrated with a text notification, which usually she would ignore while streaming, but the name at the top caused her to check.

 

[BobbyYoon on Messenger]
We got Rumi, she said yes!

 

“OH MY GOD YES!” She scooped her phone into her hand at mach-fuck speed and sent off a reply.

 

[ZoeyC]

OMG YAY
I’m on live right now can I tell them?

 

[BobbyYoon]

It’s already been announced officially, you can go ahead.

 

Zoey replied with a thumbs up.


“GUYS! Get excited because in a few days I, your favourite streamer, TurtallyZoey, actually am getting to play with the real Mira! But get this, I just got it confirmed THE Rumi Ryu is going to be playing with us too! The link to the event is in my bio, it’s a charity livestream event, we’re going to be playing a bunch of games, but guys listen, not only do I get to play with the number one player of all time, but also freakin- Rumi Ryu herself!”

 

Dirty20: Wait like the singer? Like the actual, honest to god idol?

 

“Yeah, DirtyTwenty, the real one.” She sighed dramatically, like a lovesick child. “I mean I said yes to the event because I’m gay as hell and it’s a fundraiser for queer youth, right? But it’s not like I knew they’d be teaming me with two of my favourite people of all time! It makes sense Mira’s gonna be there, she’s been a pillar of the AE Hunt community since Beta 3.0, but Rumi? I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she has never once played a video game. It’s going to be so much fun to see if me and Mira can carry her enough to win! But if we do lose, everyone has to blame Mira, okay? Because everyone knows: it’s not my fault when my team loses! But also! No one’s allowed to be mean to Rumi, so we all gotta be mean to Mira instead, okay?”

 

ZenIsNotZen: Wait why are we being mean to Mira?

 

MiraWithAGun: I am so down to bully Mira

 

“Actually, you know what? Mira does deserve to get bullied. Not you, MiraWithAGun, the real JustMira. I swear to god guys, she’s haunting me. I’ve played against so many accounts with different names, like ‘NotMira’, and ‘SometimesMira’, and I can’t prove it but I know for a fact they’re all her alt accounts and she keeps specifically targeting me! Like, even when I know it would be smarter for her to do something else, she risks getting less points by killing me specifically. I don’t even know how she’s stream-sniping me like that; the game portion of these streams is on like a twenty second delay.”

 

The muscles in her hand twitched as she reached back for her mouse — a signal that meant she had probably been ignoring her body for too long. “Okay guys, this next match will be the last one for the stream before I hop off for the night. I’ve somehow managed to keep up a healthy sleep schedule since I moved back to Korea, I’mma keep today’s stream short to keep that up.”

 

She played through the game with a smile; making jokes, responding to the audience, and managing to pull the win by the end of the short match. She disabled the stream delay to speak with the chat in real-time for a while before signing off and basically collapsed onto her keyboard once she was sure the stream had ended.

 

For a good five minutes, she only sat there and did nothing; letting the events of the last few hours settle into her without the pressure of anyone watching. She scrubbed her hand over her face, sighing with exhaustion. It had been a good stream — if relatively short at only three hours — but it’s not like anything bad happened, so she wasn’t sure why her body felt like crap.

 

There was the typical tension in her body after censoring herself, since it wasn’t an eighteen plus stream — which would be easy enough to work through like usual — but there was another almost painful strain to her body. One she did not currently have the mental wherewithal to place.

 

Had she hydrated enough? She checked her massive water bottle — it was full when she started and was about half empty by the end — so that wasn’t the issue. She’d had a meal before the stream and was snacking throughout; so the problem wasn’t that she was hungry. She didn’t have to go to the bathroom; wasn’t that either.

 

She stood with a grumble. She should probably start sorting out dinner anyway. Maybe the reason her body hated her right now would make itself clear if she stopped trying too hard. She ordered whatever was easiest from her phone and stretched out her body to maintain some semblance of postural health before dropping back into her seat.

 

She closed the instance of Aikon Ezera: The Hunt that she’d been streaming on, then re-opened the game. This time, in the launcher, she switched from TurtallyZoey to her ranked account, Zotle, and jumped immediately into a match.

 

Her posture was different when she played as Zotle. Not necessarily better for her spine, but lent itself better to competitive play. She never played as her main on stream because she couldn't modify her playstyle enough to keep her identity a secret; but when no eyes were on her, she almost always played as Exalus.

 

The usual entertainment she felt when she thought about having her own secret identity was dampened compared to usual. It’s not like it was serious, she just preferred it if her live audience didn’t know that her super secret alter-ego was the fifth highest global ranked player in 3v3 matchups. It would probably make her more popular, but she was already doing well enough for herself and she thought the pressure would make her worse at both the game and presenting herself on stream.

 

The two randoms she was matched with were decent[?] enough; and despite the mystery discomfort in her body, she won the match with relative ease. One of her teammates recognised her account as the highest ranked US player and sent her a friend request, which she ignored because she didn’t know them, and cringed that she still held that spot. 

 

She didn’t actually live in the US anymore, so was it fair to anyone else that her account was still set to that country? Was she stealing the number one spot from the next best player?

 

Zoey left her set up and stood waiting at the front door of her apartment, knowing her food would arrive in a few short minutes. It was a stupid thing to worry about, really, what country her account was set to. Did it really even matter in the grand scheme of things? She tried not to think about it, but the fact that it might affect someone, somehow, made it impossible to empty her mind of the thought.

 

There was a knock on her door, and she grabbed the food from the delivery driver, inhaling deeply the smell of greasy Hawaiian pizza. It was harder to find the right kinds of foods here in Korea than it was back in Burbank, but she lucked out with the pizza place not too far from her new apartment. 

 

She sat cross legged on her bed and opened the box, the heat radiating off in waves. She bit into the first slice and hummed contentedly at the flavor before finding she suddenly felt viscerally offended by the supposed ‘sustenance’ she had tried to consume. This was the fourth time in the last week she’d had the same exact pineapple pizza. It was fine before, why was it suddenly grossing her out so much now?

 

She supposed even she had to get tired of the same food after enough repeat consumptions. Even safe foods. Damnit.

 

She put the slice back in the box and closed it with a sad huff. This was probably why her body felt like shit too, wasn’t it? Eating pizza four times a week and basically nothing but snacks the rest of the time wasn’t exactly healthy. Of course she felt terrible.

 

She stored the pizza in the oven and sat on the floor of her kitchen. Wasn’t it supposed to be easier to eat healthy in Korea? Fucking hell, trust Zoey Choi of all people to find a way to fuck up the easiest things.

 

Zoey didn’t feel like standing up — and cooking healthy things required her to do that — so instead of using any of the ingredients in her fully stocked fridge, she decided to order more food. Something healthy this time.

 

A part of her hurt at having to spend money twice on the same meal; but she was long past the point of doing well enough for herself not to need to worry about that. Old habits and all that, though; there was nothing she could do about it. She still winced when she pressed the checkout button.

 

She opted to pass the time by scrolling through TikTok and a smile made its way onto her face when a promotional short came up on her feed. It was advertising that Rumi would appear on the livestream charity event.

 

Maybe Zoey sucked at basic self care needs, but she was at least competent enough in one skill to a competent enough degree that people considered her competent enough to share a platform with genuinely competent stars. She was good at presenting to a crowd. She was good at playing games in a way that others enjoyed. She was good at being entertaining. She was good.

 

Self affirming thoughts. Very helpful.

 

She kept repeating the positive thoughts in her head as meaningless videos scrolled past without making it into her mind. The positive thoughts helped, but it was still hard to get out of the long practiced mindset of negative self talk. Even when she was actively thinking positive things, her body didn't quite catch up to the memo and still lagged behind. When the knock at her door came, it was harder to get up; and she rose from the floor almost painfully slowly as she opened the door to take her food.

 

Standing at the counter, she found that the cucumber kimchi felt a lot less icky to eat than the pizza. She had been correct in her assumption that her body had been basically screaming at her to eat anything other than junk. Now that she had, she felt significantly better.

 

She tried for a while to fall asleep, but her mind was still jittery. After long enough of tossing and turning in bed she got back up and decided her sleep schedule could suck it, actually. She wanted to not be sad anymore and streaming made her feel better. Her viewers would get an extra treat today. 

 

She turned her setup back on, setting the stream to eighteen plus because she didn’t feel like filtering herself anymore. She greeted the viewers who flooded in; most were confused as to why she was streaming again after logging off barely two hours ago.

 

“Well,” she explained jokingly, “you know how I said it’s a good idea to have a healthy sleeping schedule? Yeah, you should do as I say, not as I do.”

 

MiraWithAGun: Lol sleep is for the weak

 

“Exactly what MiraWithAGun said, and everyone knows I’m the strongest human to ever walk the earth! Therefore, I have never once slept.”

 

She loaded into a new game and saw one of the other players had chosen to play as the half demon Hunter Usa. “Huh, haven’t played with an Usa in ages. They’re ranked copper five, probably new. Wait, how did I match with a copper five player?” She checked her own rank and groaned. “Guys, why did no one tell me when I dropped to silver three? Whatever, guess I’ll just have to lock in for the next few matches to get back to silver two. Man, remember the days I got up to gold four? How’d I even do that?”

 

KakashiRedstone: U washed up lol

 

Zoey gasped dramatically. “I am not washed!” Technically, on her other account, she was ranked platinum zero, reserved for literally only the top hundred players. “I keep telling you guys, whenever I lose it’s never my fault.”

 

ZenIsNotZen: Youll probs lose thanks to that Usa player, they always suck

 

“Hey, don’t be mean to the newbie, Zen. We all sucked at this game when we started,” she said, but Zen wasn’t wrong. Once they’d loaded into the match, Usa started walking awkwardly around the map like they still weren’t sure which buttons to press. 

 

A few players were mocking them for picking Usa. She rolled her eyes. Typical.

 

The account playing as Usa finally seemed to figure out how to access the chat function and sent a message.

 

[Team]RoyalRu: Apologies, this is my first time playing a game. Did I do something wrong?

 

Zoey cooed at how formal and innocent the new player's message was. “See guys? They’re new. Actually, chat, does anyone have any tips on how to play Usa? Cuz I have no idea, I think I’ve played her two times in my entire life, and once was because I lost a bet.”

 

She typed out a message as she waited to see if chat had any tips.

 

TurtallyZoey: don’t mind them! They’re just being toxic for no reason. You’re totally fine! Usa is definitely interesting though. You said you’re new. Would you like some help?

 

Back in her chat, someone did, in fact, have some tips.

 

MiraWithAGun: Actually, I did manage to get an Usa main account up to gold two. I know a few things

 

“Holy shit, MiraWithAGun, you can’t just casually drop that you’re at gold rank two with the worst character. What are you, GOD!?”

 

MiraWithAGun: HAHA yeah. Tell RoyalRu just not to stress, Usa is difficult to play effectively, so start them off with the universal basics

 

“Aight, if anything specific comes up though, I’ll ask you. But, if you say some shit like ‘Press Alt-F4’ again I’m banning you from chat for life.”

 

MiraWithAGun: ME? LIE? queen, I would never

 

ZartyAraAra: @MiraWithAGun Dude I spent like three hours trying to do that Ergo combo you suggested just to find out IT DOESN'T EXIST!?

 

MiraWithAGun: Yeah but I only did that cuz it was funny. I won’t be mean to the noob tho, it sucks being new in this game and I ain’t gonna make it worse

 

“Well, at least the noob has the wonderful and amazing me to guide them through their first steps. Worry not, RoyalRu, your first game is going to be great.”

 

Art by JabaWaki
Dissapointing Pizza

Chapter 2: Mic Check

Chapter by

Notes:

This chapter was written by Techkai beta'd by Jaba and Professor Crow (yes that's Crow's name now)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Rumi stepped out of the elevator, a stoic and practiced expression painted on her face as she passed by the assistant manning the desk. Celine had called her to her office early this afternoon for a PR event meeting. Something about a charity event that would be held in a few days. She knocked softly on the door.

 

“Come in.” She heard and slowly opened the door. She saw Celine at her desk and a man she hadn't seen before sitting across from her.

 

“Rumi, You’re finally here.” Rumi ignored the slight terse look on Celine's face and gave her most practiced smile.

 

“Apologies, there was a bit of traffic.” Rumi explained her voice calm as ever as she walked over.

 

“Right, well… have a seat. This is Robert Yoon from Polaris Games and he’s approached me for a potential PR event we could have you collaborate on.” 

 

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Ryu, You can just call me Bobby.” He said as he stood up and stuck his hand out to shake Rumi’s hand. He was shorter than Rumi, stout build but he had kind eyes and Rumi felt herself relax a little.

 

“Nice to meet you, Bobby, please call me Rumi. You said Polaris Games I’m not sure I follow exactly what's happening?” Rumi replied as she sat down on the second seat, Bobby sat back down as well. It was Celine who answered.

 

“Mr. Yoon, here has approached us for a possibility of you participating in an exhibition match of a video game that will broadcasted and live streamed. All proceeds will be going to a charity their company has set up.” She explained and Rumi could only nod. Her brow furrowed a tiny bit in confusion.

 

“A video game? I’m sorry, Bobby, but I’m afraid I’m not really well versed in that sphere. I’m not sure it would be very entertaining.” Rumi explained as Bobby suddenly became excitable.

 

“Oh you don’t need to worry about skill level! It’s just an exhibition match, winning or losing doesn’t matter. As we’re doing this for the sole purpose of charity. As Ms. Kang has mentioned we would like to hold this match as a way to raise money for a non profit charity our company has set up. It will all be for fun.” He explained with a grin.

 

“It’ll also be great exposure for you, Rumi, to an entirely new audie–” Celine started to say.

 

“What’s the charity?” Rumi cut her off. She’ll deal with Celine’s lecture about being rude later.

 

“Oh! It’s to raise money for Mental health and social services for at-risk LGBTQ youth. We've noticed a severe lack of these services for the young population and a significant portion of our player-base has identified themselves as LGBT, and who would we be if we didn’t show up for our players? Statistics show that people under the LGBTQ umbrella are at much higher risk of suffering from depression and anxiety and are especially vulnerable here in Korea, where public opinion often blocks their access to seeking help.” Bobby further explained. 

 

Rumi stiffened; it was almost imperceptible to the people around her. She looked at Celine with a slightly accusatory look, but steeled herself back. 

 

“I know you’ve mentioned you aren’t a gamer or even really aware of this sphere, but I think it would be a good opportunity to raise awareness–” Bobby tried to continue, but was cut off.

 

“I’ll do it.” Rumi replied with a smile. Bobby was caught off guard, but a giant grin bloomed on his face.

 

“That’s great! Really great! Ms. Rumi, I’m so glad!” Bobby said excitedly as he stood up and shook Rumi’s hand in excitement. “The event is in 3 days! Our team will email the exact details to your agency and we’ll also send you the materials you may need. Considering you don’t play games, am I right to assume you don’t have a set up?” Bobby asked. Rumi looked at him in confusion.

 

“A… set up?” She asked and Bobby laughed.

 

“I thought as much. We’ll also send you a gaming laptop to help ease you into the game. Don’t worry about the account. We can set that up for you too. We will be sending it to you later today. Consider it a gift.” Bobby said and Rumi could only nod, only understanding a bit of it. She had a laptop already, so didn't quite understand why she would need another one.

 

“Well it seems like everything has been agreed upon. Mr. Yoon, I’ll have my assistant escort you out and give you the necessary contact information.” Celine explained as Bobby shook her hand again as well as Rumi’s

 

“Thank you again, Ms. Rumi, you won’t regret it!” Bobby said with a grin as he walked out the door.

 

When the door finally closed with a soft click. Rumi turned to Celine.

 

“Are you kidding me?” She said, her tone hard as she held her frustration back.

 

“Rumi, don’t start–” Celine tried to reply.

 

“What is this, Celine, a consolation prize?!” Rumi stated, her voice tense as she tried her best to keep herself from yelling in anger.

 

“Do not use that tone with me, Rumi, I raised you better than this.” Celine replied, voice calm and even. Rumi bit her tongue before she could say anything else, feeling guilty for letting her emotions show like that.

 

“I have explained to you why we cannot let the world know about… this. Your image and reputation will get dragged through the mud, Rumi. Is that what you want?” Celine continued as she looked at the idol — her eyes cold and hard. Rumi felt herself shrink back a little as she looked away.

 

“We don’t know that… Celine, we haven’t even tried” Rumi said, her voice soft and unsure — almost pleading. Celine sighed as she stepped around her desk, and placed a hand on the young woman’s shoulder.

 

“Rumi, everything I do. I do it for you. To protect you. The world is cruel and I have shielded you from it all your life, because I promised your mother I would. What would she think, hmm? I need you to keep trusting me in this. You trust me right, Rumi?” Celine said. Her tone might have seemed soft to onlookers but Rumi knew better; she could still feel the sharpness. Rumi looked down at her hands and fiddled with the sleeves of her jacket. She felt the prickling on her shoulders and down to her arms as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

 

“Yes, Celine.” 

 

 

Rumi entered her penthouse. She felt exhausted with the meeting and just wanted to get out of her clothes and take a long shower. She peeled off her jacket and threw it against the back of the couch. She plopped down on it and let out a breath. She leaned back, putting pressure against her eyes and tried to stop the headache that was starting to form.

 

She could feel the weight sitting heavy in her chest as she remembered the meeting. Tears burned in the corners of her eyes, arms prickling with the ghost of a memory. She shook her head trying to get it to fade. The need to scratch at her arms pulsed like a dull ache at the back of her mind. 

 

She looked down at them. The discoloration of the scars permanently etched on her skin. The proof of her sin. She wanted to get rid of them... but she couldn't. She needed them as a reminder... a reminder that she didn't deserve to forget.

 

She let out a huff as she finally got up, grabbed some clothes from her bedroom dresser and took a shower.

 

Half an hour later, she finally stepped out of the bathroom as she was wrapping her hair in a towel. She checked her phone since she had heard it ding while in the shower. A message from Celine’s assistant was there, letting her know that the gaming company had sent over the package; and it should arrive within the next hour or two.

 

Rumi replied in the affirmative as she took the time to order some food. She knew she needed to at least make sure she wouldn’t utterly embarrass herself at the exhibition, so she wanted to familiarize herself even just a little bit with the game. She ordered some kimbap and ramen from the restaurant near her place. While she waited for that, she checked over her emails on her phone and double checked her schedule. The only thing slotted was a late night photoshoot, so that bought her a few hours. Her food arrived a few minutes later and she sat down at her kitchen island, turned on her TV, and watched something mindless as she ate. 

 

After she had finished and cleaned up the plates, her doorbell rang. It was another delivery man with a decently sized box in his hands. She signed for it and went straight to her home office. 

 

She carefully placed the box on her desk and opened it. There was a smaller, sleek, black box inside; accompanied by another pair of even smaller boxes. She took all of them out. There was a card inside as well and she opened it.

 

Thank you, Ms. Rumi for your support in our campaign to help the LGBTQ youth of Korea. Please take this equipment as a gift from us to you. I hope you don’t mind but I have already downloaded the game onto the laptop and set up your account:

 

Username: RoyalRu

Password: ******

Please let me know if you have any questions about the game or just in general and I’ll be happy to assist you! 

-Bobby

 

P.S. I hope it’s okay but here is my email for those questions :D 

[email protected]

P.P.S. Your teammates have already been chosen. To help you familiarize yourself; their Hunters will be Andromeda, and Exalus. Be sure to check them out, and let me know which Hunter you will be playing.

P.P.P.S. In the game, the characters are called Hunters!

P.P.P.P.S. Good luck! :D

 

Rumi couldn’t help but smile. Bobby seemed really nice and a bit silly; she was going to enjoy working with him. She stared at the card again, and a different feeling rose up in her chest, as she thought about Celine.

 

I guess it’s fine to be an ally in your eyes, but God forbid I’m one of them.

 

She bit her lip and tried to quell the frustration she was feeling.

 

She turned her attention to the black box again as she put the card to the side. She opened it carefully and found a matte purple laptop. She took it out slowly and made sure she didn’t drop it as she placed it on her desk.

 

She opened up the smaller boxes and found a pair of purple headphones lined with dark pink undertones. She looked curiously at the cat ears sticking out from the top; they were cute, she had to admit. There was also a dark purple and blue wireless mouse in the other box. Even with her little knowledge of the equipment, she could tell they were of high quality — given the material and weight to them.

 

She set the laptop on her desk and plugged in the charger. She also plugged in the usb for the mouse and the cable for the headphones. She pressed the power button on the side and was fairly surprised at how fast it booted up. 

 

She opened up the desktop with the default wallpaper and saw only one program installed. That must be it, she thought. Well... might as well see what she was in for. She clicked.



Aikon Ezera: The Hunt

Now Loading…    Did you know? You can earn XP to level up!



She was brought to the sign-in screen. She grabbed the card from earlier and typed in the information. She winced a little at the loud music and took off the headphones. The game finally loaded in and it was too much information all at once. 

 

She clicked around and tried to figure out what the buttons were for; she found the settings and was finally able to lower the volume enough that she could wear the headphones again. She continued to explore, and clicked the character list. It showed a lot of different characters — “Hunters” — and as she hovered over them, their names would pop up. She remembered the card again and found “Andromeda” she clicked and more information popped up. 

 

Andromeda

Andromeda was a scout soldier with the Chronom Empire who got stranded on Planet Ezera with all contact severed. She fought her way through hordes of demons until she discovered a hidden civilization fighting back. Without any ability to call for aid or extract, Andromeda embraced this new community and vowed to protect it.

 

She hadn’t expected a full backstory for each character. She was surprised at how poignant it was. Rumi had never really quite understood the appeal of fiction. Mostly, she just didn't have the time, and investing into stories about people who didn’t exist seemed superfluous. But for some reason she felt sad for Andromeda; thinking that she wouldn’t find home again.

 

She wondered if her new teammate had chosen her for a reason — a kinship perhaps? She waved the thought away; this was just a game. They probably didn’t even really care for the story of it.

 

She navigated to the next Hunter from the card. 

 

Exalus

Exalus was born to a political marriage between two rival houses. Exalus fights for the honour of each side of her family, but when The Demon War™️ comes to her corner of the galaxy, the terse peace between them crumbles and she's forced to choose a side. Instead of choosing either, she's branded as a traitor to both and abandons her high born duty in order to help the downtrodden across the war torn galaxy wherever she goes.

 

Rumi felt the sting of tears in her eyes as she read. A character torn between two sides of the same family. She did her best but fell short and now she would fight to help others to find her place. How was it that these characters were written so… human? Her thoughts drifted again to her other new teammate, she wondered if she felt the same strain as Exalus.

 

Rumi found herself doing this over and over. As she clicked on each Hunter, she would learn about them. She would end up mourning, laughing, or cheering for them. This was an entirely different world at her fingertips. Sometimes it was too much and she needed to step away from the laptop in contemplation. Other times she would huff in irritation when a character was egotistical and selfish.

 

And then she got to her. One of the final Hunters in the list.

 

“Usa.” She whispered as she clicked.

 

Usa

Usa was the child of an illicit affair between a noble elf and a demon deserter. Usa had never found a place to belong; she was forced to hide her demonic heritage. When The Demon War™️ broke out, she grappled with the inner turmoil of having to hide her demon patterns from the world that was only capable of seeing her one way, and having to protect the very system that would destroy her if the truth was revealed.

 

Her body froze as she read the description. Her throat constricted and she felt tears suddenly dampening her cheeks without her notice or permission. She put a hand up to touch her face and wiped them away as they continued to fall.

 

‘When did I start crying?’ She thought. She tried to focus on the screen through the stinging in her eyes even as her vision started to blur. She stared at the character art far too long. Definitely longer than she had the others. Her body tingled in a way she couldn’t quite place. She got up, feeling the need to move, walk around… something.

 

She placed a hand to her chest and tried to calm the fast beating of her heart. She took in deep breaths, her body buzzing. 

 

“It’s just a character.” She muttered, as she walked back to her desk.

 

“Just a character…” She repeated as she put the headphones back on.

 

She clicked away and continued reading the rest of the character descriptions, but she found the last few didn’t really register anymore in her head as her eyes kept flicking back to Usa. She sat there for who knows how long, the faint background music of the game playing in her ears. Her hand lazily tracing over the keys.

 

“Usa…” She whispered, the name rolled around her tongue like a memory long forgotten. A small smile found its way on her lips. “I like that.” She said as her chest seemed to fill with determination she didn’t know she had.

 

She grabbed her phone and opened up the email app. She typed in Bobby’s email.

 

Hello Bobby,

I have received the laptop, thank you for your care.

I also wanted to let you know that as long as it does not cause any problems with cohesion in the team, I was hoping to play as Usa.

I am still familiarizing myself with the game, though I am unsure of how much time I will be able to devote to learning. I apologize in advance for any embarrassment I may cause the company due to my inexperience.

 

With the warmest regards,

Ryu Rumi

Sunlight Entertainment

 

She sent the email out and not even a minute later heard the ding of a reply and opened it.

 

Hello Ms Rumi!

Absolutely that’s okay!

Again this is for charity but first and foremost we want everyone to have fun!

Usa is a very interesting pick for a character and I'm excited to see how it turns out!

Thank you again for accepting our invitation to participate in this event and we are glad to have you with us!

 

Warm regards,

Yoon Robert

Polaris Games

 

She smiled at the reply and put her phone away. Okay let’s figure this out, she thought as she clicked all around trying to figure out how to actually play the game.

 

A sudden and loud voice made her almost jump out of her chair as it said, “MATCH FOUND!” 

 

She was brought to the loading screen and not a second later to character select. The game waited for her to pick a ‘Hunter.’ She saw her two other teammates had already picked and so she scrolled down to find Usa and clicked to lock it. When she did, another loading screen popped up and the scene changed again. This time it seemed she was fully in the game, as when she clicked around she saw her character move from one place to another. She was looking around her screen, seeing a lot of different things she really had no idea how to even use.

 

A text box popped up in the bottom left of the screen and messages started coming in.

 

[Team]LucarioDice: OH COME ON! bro r u trolling????!

 

[Enemy]DominoUltra: daaamn an Usa. def a noob

 

[Enemy]RedLightGreenLight: LOL ez win

 

Rumi furrowed her brows in confusion. Did she do something wrong? More messages popped up seemingly making fun of her for picking Usa. She was clicking around again trying to figure out how to send her own message. It did nothing until she found the [press Enter to chat] prompt and so she did. The text box highlighted and she could finally type.

 

RoyalRu: Apologies, this is my first time playing a game. Did I do something wrong?

 

More messages came through; a mix of abbreviations and outright insults in differing colors of red and blue.

 

[Team]LucarioDice: im so sick of noobs playing the game before doing any research fml

 

Rumi was getting overwhelmed and honestly also scared over the hostility. Until another message. Her other teammate, she assumed, based on the message color.


[Team]TurtallyZoey: don’t mind them! They’re just being toxic for no reason. You’re totally fine! Usa is definitely interesting though. You said you’re new. Would you like some help?

 

Art by TechKai

Notes:

Hello! Techkai (Tech) here! Hope you like the chapter! Please leave some comments, as I live off of them, but please don't be mean, as I will cry, and Jaba said they'll beat you up. Crow will also cry and/or bite you. So be careful.

Notes:

Kudos are love, comments make us go brrrr