Her Captain, The Gamemaster

Happiness Is The New Rich

After a few squeals, a group of three approached us when the two of us returned to our benches. Li returns her head to my lap and continued sleeping.

'Ohayou!' I hear from one of them. At this point, anyone could tell they were triplets. Identical tan skin, brown hair and brown eyes. They were all rather pretty and I felt a stab of insecurity but I raised my head to greet them.

'Um hi! I overheard you guys speaking English. I can't speak Japanese. Can we talk in English instead?' I ask sheepishly but they seemed fine with it.

'Sure,' another one of them spoke. 'We thought you were Japanese,'

The three of them rub their napes in sync and I smile.

'No problem! It's Esme, Wren and Isla, right?' I point at them as I state their names.

'Yepp, and you are Jung Soo-ah?' Isla replied.

I nod. 'You're names are so exotic and your last name's so cool. Where are you guys from?'

'Odessa, Ukraine,' Esme answered with a smile.

'Wow, sounds amazing. I've never been outside of East Asia,'

'Really? Where are you from?' Wren asks, as she climber onto the bench above us.

'Seoul, South Korea,'

'Damm, the capital?'

I nod as the triplets began to converse with each other among themselves. I hear a pair of footsteps head our direction and I look up to see a taller girl with red curls and green eyes.

'Hey, you guys are the other first-years on the team, right?'

We reply in English upon hearing the girl speak.

'Oh you speak English? Thank god, I was afraid I would have to carry around a translator with me to talk to you guys,'

The triplets and I laugh.

'So you're Annie Lamont?' I hear Esme ask from behind me.

'Yepp, the one and only,' she answered with a grin before turning to me. 'Your sets were great. Do you think you can set for me?'

I grin back. 'Hell yeah. I love setting and anything challenging is fun,'

My smile falters as I come into realization of something else. 'But I'm not that good. You might benefit from asking one of the seniors,'

She raised her eyebrow at me before smirking. 'Alright, you wimp. Don't be so insecure,'

'Yea Annie's right. Your sets were pretty solid from what we saw,' I hear one of the triplets from behind me.

I open my mouth to argue but I was cut off my Esme.

'I have an IQ of 182. Don't argue with me,' she says as she pressed her face against my cheek.

I let out a laugh before continuing our conversation. 'You have an IQ of 182?'

'Yea, all three of us do. That's how we got onto XinShan's radar,'

'Wow, but if you have that IQ, shouldn't you be in the main branch in China?'

The three of them nodded sheepishly before Isla continued. 'Yea and we got offered full ride plus expenses that covered living and food but...,'

I look at her with a question mark. (dont ask how. she just did, ok?)

'Ahh, the three of us don't come from the wealthiest family,' Wren explained, looking down. 'travelling to Okinawa from Ukraine was affordable and more convenient for our family,'

I nodded in understanding and I see Annie do the same.

'Well, there's no shame in that. In fact, you should be proud that your parents worked so hard for you to study abroad. And even average-income families can't afford anything in that area of China, especially since the capital of XinShan is there,' Annie lazily commented but I see the small smiles of the faces of the triplets and I smile at them too.

I turn to Annie. 'What about you? How'd you enter XinShan?'

'Well, I got in on a sports scholarship and my family knows the Queen,'

My eyes widen. 'You know the Queen?!?'

'Yeah, she's my godmother and my family are kinda like her guards. We provide protection for her and take care of all her problems,'

I feel my jaw drop but I recovered before asking another question. 'Did you get in for just volleyball?'

'Huh? Nah, other than volleyball, I play basketball, tennis, field hockey, swimming, rock climbing, field and track and a few other stuff crammed in there,' she replied taking out a bottle of water from her bag.

'Geez, do you even sleep?' I hear Esme snicker and we all share a laugh.

'What about you, Soo-ah?'

'I've always been studying with this institution. I went to Cheul-gi Hagwon Elementary in Seoul and then in grade 4, I moved to Guangzhou and attended the main branch before coming here,' I summarized.

'Wow, you went to the main branch?' Isla looked shocked and I giggled at her expression.

'Yeah, the main one is so big I kept getting lost,' and we shared another laugh.

'Why'd you transfer to China?'

I feel a blush rise to my face as I answered. 'At the start of grade 4, my school played the main branch and we lost big time so I kinda went there to beg Li-ah to be my teacher,'

'Li-ah?' Wren asked, as all three of the triplets tilted their heads.

I point to the sleeping girl on my lap and they 'ohh'ed.

'She's been my friend since grade 4 and she taught me how to play volleyball professionally,' I tell them.

'Wow, she sounds like a great person,'

I sweat-drop but I agree. 'She is, once you get to know her. Right now, she's asleep,'

They nodded in understanding. 'How did you join the institution?'

'Well, you see,' I begin. 'My family has a lot of money,'

I grumble at the thought of them and Annie lets a smirk make it's way to her face. 'Mommy issues?'

I shoot her a look but it only resulted in giggles. 'Your last name is Jung? Is your family the jewelry manufacturer one? Or is it that teddy-making one?' Annie continued, still laughing.

'Both but they also do furniture, mattresses and clothing,' I roll my eyes.

They gaped at me and I feel my face heat up. 

'St-stop looking at me like that!'

Author's Note:

just some random flashback fillers. istg each chapter is so short. each one is like 1000-1200 word

dr. seuss has more content than i do

thxx.