A Stroke of Victory [Yeongyu]

Chapter 1

NOTE: Please don't take the cryptography parts seriously since English is not my first language and I don't know how to translate it well.

Yeonjun followed Soobin to the lobby.

"I'm sorry," Soobin said. "I thought I had it with me."

"Don't worry about it. You probably left it on your desk."

"Yeah." Soobin inserted the key into the lock. "Let's just grab it and go."

Soobin didn't hide his irritation well. Yeonjun followed him into the dorm room and dropped his backpack by the door. He looked from one end of the room to the other.

"I guess I don't need to ask which side is yours."

Soobin snorted. "You think?"

The demarcation line couldn't have been more obvious. Soobin's side was cluttered with dirty clothes, baseball boots on the floor next to his glove and wrinkled uniform. Empty soda cans, stacked two or three high, covered the nightstand. Clearly, it was Soobin's space—Carl Yastrzemski's poster above the bed left no doubt. Soobin was a die-hard Red Sox fan. Yeonjun liked the team too, but he was more of a Jacoby Ellsbury follower.

Of course, it was probably more about Jacoby's killer smile and good looks than his season stats. Soobin, on the other hand, undoubtedly liked girls. Various posters of women in varying degrees of undress adorned his walls.

In contrast, Mr. Neat lived on the right side, with all his belongings neatly in place. The collection of posters on Mr. Neat's walls, meticulously aligned and spaced, caught Yeonjun's attention.

"Yeah, you don't strike me as the type who has a Battlestar Galactica poster above your bed," he pointed to the object.

"Frak, no."

Yeonjun raised an eyebrow. "Frak?"

"It's a joke. They say 'Frak' instead of 'Fuck' in the series."

"What series?"

Soobin shook his head. "Hello? Battlestar Galactica."

"Oh, right. You watch that?"

"No, man. But if you hang around Beomgyu long enough, you end up learning these things. Plus, have you seen the girl in the red dress? She's hot as hell."

Yeonjun glanced at the woman in the poster. Platinum blonde hair, ample bosom, and a tight red dress. He should be able to see the appeal. Truth be told, he was never a big fan of science fiction, and all this seemed to be from someone quite devoted: aliens, spaceships, military fighters. Yeonjun inspected Beomgyu's belongings as he approached the perfectly made bed.

"I wonder what his sheets are like."

Soobin scratched his head and sighed. "Pervert."

"What? No! I mean, he probably has Star Wars sheets or something." The ends of the navy blue comforter were tightly folded, as if hiding a secret.

"Whatever. Damn, I can't find the damn USB." Soobin scratched his head and let out a sigh.

Yeonjun thought he should help Soobin, so he gave the room a quick once-over. The bed was a mess. His sheets and blankets were twisted into a pile on the mattress, and a pair of boxers peeked out from under the lumpy pillow at the foot of the bed.

"Check your bed. Maybe it fell out of your pocket."

"What's with you and beds?"

Yeonjun didn't answer. He was never sure how to take Soobin's teasing. He had taken the whole gay thing well, as most of the team had, but still, Yeonjun tensed slightly when he heard those little comments.

"I'm just trying to help."

Soobin let out a frustrated grunt in response, focusing his attention on his desk.

Yeonjun approached Beomgyu's desk, looking at the small action figures on display. He picked one up and examined it closely. It was some kind of elf, troll, or something.

"Maybe your roommate borrowed it," he said.

"Nah, he knows not to touch my stuff."

"Okay." Yeonjun put the creature back in its place on the desk but managed to clumsily knock over several of the immediate figures.

"Oh, damn," Soobin said. "Now he'll think I've been messing with his things."

"No, he won't," Yeonjun quickly said, straightening the figures. "He won't even notice."

Soobin crossed his arms and gave Yeonjun a stern look.

"He'll notice."

"God, it's not a big deal. And anyway, why does he have so many? They all look the same."

"It's some kind of army," Soobin said. "Look, I don't know. Just help me find the damn memory before I completely lose my patience."

"Okay, okay. Do you want me to check his desk? Maybe he mistakenly thought it was his and took it."

Soobin grabbed the sheet by one end and violently shook it. A piece of pizza crust spun in the air and landed on the mountain of soda cans.

"No, he doesn't use them. He says they're outdated. Says I must be living in the clouds or something."

Yeonjun chuckled. "Cloud storage?"

"Whatever." Soobin got on all fours and searched under the bed.

Yeonjun looked in the other direction, avoiding staring at his friend's protruding backside in the air.

"Hey... must be weird living with a..."

"Fag?" Soobin said in a flat tone. "It's not that bad."

"What?!" Yeonjun turned his head. "Damn. What? I was going to say 'geek.'"

Soobin sat up from under the bed with empty hands.

"I don't know. It never occurred to me." Soobin grabbed his backpack and proceeded to dump its contents on the bed. Yeonjun glanced at Beomgyu's side of the room again, hoping to see a picture of him somewhere.

"Is he good-looking?"

"Seriously? Are you asking me if he's good-looking? This conversation is getting too gay."

Yeonjun rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on. I can tell you if a girl is hot. I'm sure you can tell if a guy is good-looking."

"Well, he's no Zac Efron. Wears glasses. And he's always playing with one of those Rubik's cubes. Not very normal, not cool."

"Although I bet he's pretty smart."

"He's a damn nerd, and I'm sure he thinks we're a couple of dumb jocks. Guys like him don't hang out with guys like us." Soobin suddenly jumped to his feet with the memory in his hand. "Shit! It was in my backpack the whole time."

Yeonjun sighed.

"Yeah, you're probably right."