"Tell me again why I'm here, getting abused by your brush?" Hye-jin slapped her friend's hand coming towards her cheek with yet another dab of powdered blush. Any more and she would look like someone slapped her.

Anette had the nerve to look scandalized. "It's a must! Those guys at the programming club should be enamored by us!"

"It's a programming club, Anette," Hye-jin leveled her gaze at her friend. "The only thing they're going to be enamored with are computers and sexy in-game characters."

"Listen to the woman, Anie," Seon-Yi, who had draped herself over the bed and found a Chic Girl magazine, said. She flipped through the crinkly pages, the sound annoying the hell out of Hye-jin. "We're not going to a club and we can't since we're still technically minors."

Anette pouted but withdrew her brush attack. "Fine," she said. "Let me just do your mascara to make your eyes pop."

Hye-jin groaned. "My eyes are fine," she said. "Let's just go. I'm dying to get my hands on some games inside the campus. My laptop is strictly off-limits and my desktop is back home."

Who said going to a dorm inside the campus during the current term was a good idea? Even though she ended up on the same floor as her friends, Anette and Seon-Yi, she still missed her room in the province. Sadly, it'd take at least two hours by public bus to step foot in the house she grew up in. She shouldn't have dreamed of going to Whiteridge City. It wasn't as cracked up as she thought it to be.

Before she could get out of her chair, though, Anette whipped out her mascara bottle and popped the lid. "Just let me do your eyes, please?" she bobbed up and down in solicitation. "I promise I'd make you really pretty! Hotter than the chicks the programming club is rumored to have."

Hye-jin sighed. When Anette was on to something, there was nothing to stop her. "Fine," she relented. "But you better treat me to a bottle of banana milk for a whole week. Got it?"

Anette blubbered a ton of agreeing sentiments. She's going to forget it the next day and Hye-jin wasn't the type to insist on her end of the bargain anyway.

A few more minutes later, three girls strode out of their dormitory hall dressed in the most ridiculous clothes Hye-jin had ever seen inside the campus. She opted for a comfortable, baggy sweatpants with a matching hoodie but Seon-Yi, their resident fashionista, insisted they wear figure-cutting sets. Even if she didn't seem to adhere to Anette's goal in fishing for guys, her only goal in life was to dress Hye-jin up in stuff she's too scared to wear herself.

A doll. That's how Seon-Yi treated Hye-jin.

It's not like Hye-jin hated it. At least she got free shopping trips and the latest clothes to go around. Free stuff was always good.

When they got to the dingy basement and slid the door to the programming club, the familiar scent of stale coffee and dried sweat filled her nose. The air was humid, as if the air conditioning unit stopped working ages ago. Clacking noises, muttered curses, and feet stomping against the dusty carpet covering the floor filled the space. The only source of light in the whole room were the bright screens. Not a single one was unoccupied.

"How many?" a girl with pixie hair and an amount of highlights Anette would have killed to have on her own scalp held out a wad of flyers to us.

"Uh, three?" Anette said, already looking like she regretted even dressing up for this dingy cave.

The pixie-haired girl shoved three pages into Anette's face. "Sit there, noobs," she pointed towards an empty bench ripped out of the cashier waiting area. While not appreciating being called a noob she could probably beat ninety percent of the people here), Hye-jin decided to avoid causing a skirmish and just sit down.

Minutes passed that way after that. Nobody came up to talk to them, which bummed even Seon-Yi, who started playing on her phone and chatting with her high school friends. At some point, another boy arrived and sat beside her. She caught a whiff of spent men's perfume—the kind that she absolutely abhorred.

Then, after a few more minutes stretching into hours, the door opened once more and in strode a scrawny guy who looked like a lost kid in a mall than a freshman in university. Though, if Hye-jin was to be asked, there wasn't really any difference between the two.

The guy, dressed in plaid flannel over a dark shirt complete with a pair of light denim jeans and worn sneakers, took a flier from Pixie Girl before wandering towards the bench. He was no doubt pointed to sit here like Hye-jin and the perfume guy were.

"Hi, mind if I sit?" Lost Kid said.

Hye-jin opened her mouth to say no, but the guy beside her perked up and scooted closer. Ugh. This was disgusting. Then, to make matters worse, Lost Kid attempted to start a conversation. "Have you been here long?"

That's when Hye-jin felt the need to shut this conversation up for good. Perhaps it was the subpar quality of the air or the disappointment over the fact that she came into an unpaid computer cafe on campus. Either way, she's just not in the mood.

But then, Lost Kid kept pushing until he basically insulted her ability to reach a high rank in Fortress and Strife. "Want to settle it with a match?" she finally said. As if on cue, two people got up and left their places.

To his credit, he didn't back down and agreed. Hye-jin stretched her fingers. It's going to be good. She's going to flatten this kid and he wouldn't think of doubting her skill ever again.

When the game started, she started with her usual maneuvers. The fastest way to win in a 1v1 match in Fortress and Strife was to strike relentlessly, giving the other turf no time to recover. Then, before she could even break through his defenses, one of her sub-bases towards the back of her turf fell. What the—?

She backtracked and switched to defensive. That's her mistake. Lost Kid was hoping to draw her out from the front lines to give chase to him. Then, her frontal bases started crumbling, ruining her main guard. Cursing, she captured some of his sub-bases, taking over his inner circle. Use his own tactic against him. She was close to cracking his middle tier when large red letters spelling DEFEAT froze her screen.

"What the hell?" she screamed. She clicked a button and reviewed the battle play. While she was laying waste to his inner tier, he was out there, hailing down on her middle tier. With her inner circle and frontal bases destroyed, he's basically paved a path to victory before she even made a move.

This was a loss she deserved. Lost Kid's good.

She rounded her aisle and met Lost Kid just as he was coming up to her. "That's a good one," she said. "One of the best I've had in a while."

Lost Kid smiled, something that's totally normal but made Hye-jin gain respect for him. "I could say the same," he said. "Who knew an overwhelming tactic would almost get me to cover my ass and run for it."

Hye-jin snorted. "It's nothing special as your attack," she said. "What made you decide to sneak through my defenses first?"

Lost Kid rolled his shoulders. "I prefer the element of surprise," he said. "It's like your overwhelm tactic, except I add the sneak elements."

Before Hye-jin could ask more questions, Lost Kid jerked his chin towards her. "You've got a good playing style. One of the best I've come across. You're quick too," he said. "What's your secret?"

Huh. Why would he ask that? Hye-jin rolled her shoulders. "If you're hard up for something, it'll open up," she said, recalling the thing her mother always threw around the house whenever someone complained about things being too hard. "It means to never give up on breaching your enemy's defenses. Or on any aspect of life, for that matter. If you don't give up, if you keep at it so long as you're able, you'll get it. Eventually."

Lost Kid didn't reply immediately so Hye-jin extended a hand towards him. "Good game," she gave a long pause for him to introduce himself.

"Rin," he said, taking her hand. The way he gripped hers was strong. "Nagara Rin. You?"

She smiled and shook his hand. "Hye-jin," she said. "Joon Hye-jin."