To Be Needed or Not to Be Needed

Chapter 1

"I don’t want to go with that prick!” shouted Shi Guang, while pointing his finger to the Korean boy who had been lost in translation for almost fifteen minutes. Evidently, not too lost. 

"Prick?! Me?!” whined Hong Soo-yeon in Korean with the same intensity of dislike towards Shi Guang. 

Torn between two stubborn Go players, who are also his best friends, Yu Liang sighed. Under pressure, he looked towards his supposed-to-be savior, Fang Xu. However, Senior seemed uninterested in helping him to clear the bad air between the boys. Shixiong chose to talk to Bai Laoshi about the competition registration and briefing instead. 

The fact Shixiong did it so Yu Liang lost his chance to ask Bai Laoshi for help made him annoyed even more.

Feeling betrayed by the unspoken command to solve the problem by himself, Yu Liang clicked his tongue in frustration before going back to the source of his headache.

Okay, I can do this. One person at a time.

“Soo-yeon, you requested to have a game with him. So, act nice.”

“I did act nice. Did he? Besides, I asked you to set a game for us, but not without returning the favor, right?”

“You said you’re okay to keep him company when I’m not available.”

“I was, but now, I changed my mind!”

Before he could calm the Korean Go-player down, Shi Guang worsened the situation even more, “What did the prick say, Yu Liang? Don’t leave me out of the conversation!”

“Again?!”

Tired and oh-so-done with both of them, Yu Liang snapped in English, “Stop it!”

“But-” 

“But-”

He repeated it once again. Only this time, with the same harsh tone his father had used on his pupils, which Yu Liang had heard since childhood. He could say that it was a quite successful impersonation because even Fang Xu and Bai Laoshi stopped talking.

Couldn’t waste the limited silence he earned, Yu Liang instantly asked Shi Guang, “What’s wrong with you?”

“With me?” answered Shi Guang with frowns on his forehead.

“Yes, why are you against this game so much?”

“He looked down on me before.”

“Before. Now, he respects you.”

Shi Guang took a small glance toward Soo-yeon with wonder. It took less than a minute before he protested at him again, “Look at his face!”

Dodging Shi Guang’s request to checked on Soo-yeon’s expression which he believed must be unpleasant, Yu Liang ignored it by sticking with his agenda, “It doesn’t matter if he’s not the nicest person you’ve met, but the fact is he’s a brilliant Go-player. I tell you this as your captain… If someone as good as him personally asked you for a game, you take it.”

“Yu Liang, he cheated about his age in this competition” stated Shi Guang about the topic everyone had been avoiding since Soo-Yeon stepped into their room.  

Shocked over Shi Guang’s remarks, Yu Liang glanced over his other best friend to check if the Korean boy realized what they’ve been debating about. Fortunately, Soo-Yeon looked dumbfounded, so Yu Liang shifted his attention back to Shi Guang.

“I know, but he had his reason. He wanted to compete with you again.”

There was a pregnant silence between the two of them.