Soulmates, One Way or Another. | Choi "Zeus" Woo-Je

003.

My eyes fluttered open, groaning as my vision set on the night sky filled with stars, realizing that it's still night time. My phone still lit up, playing the live stream of them being still in-game after so long. I looked at the time, eyes widening, "It's nearly 2 am! How many matches are they going for?!" I gasped, a bit too loudly at that.

I saw Zeus' face cam, startled and flinched a slight bit. 'Huh? But nothing happened to him in-game...' I shook it off, looking at what I've missed. "Oh wow, it's the fifth game which means... this game is the finals decider!" Quickly, I went to the bathroom and freshened up, washing my face and headed back into the bedroom. The final match was on 28 minutes... The last few games have ended on 27 minutes, that's the time for matches their enemy won! There's a specific pattern here, T1 wins whenever it's over 27 minutes!

"T1! Zeus! You guys got this! Just focus on the objectives and you'll pull it off!" I cheered. Smiling, turning my eyes into 2 lines because of how wide I was smiling. A smile crept onto Zeus' face as he suddenly got all the confidence he needed. I was too busy cheering to realize. Boom! T1 got 4 kills and now they're pushing one of the lanes. The smiles on their face cam, the screams and their voices loud. Destroying the main tower, the crowd cheers. T1 formed a group hug, tears of joy flowing down their faces, smiles that are able to light up the world.

I was also able to hear my neighbors and other people close to my apartment cheering, a lot of people were watching them live! I cheered as well, just not as loudly as the others. "Well done, T1!" I whispered to myself, smiling. Seeing them happy makes me happy, despite not knowing them. I don't have any idea on how the game works and how they won but something inside of me just... felt like there's a connection. Maybe it's a sign I should start playing the game? Maybe...

As they lifted the trophy one by one, I smiled watching them. When Zeus lifted the trophy, a big smile formed on his face. He was cheering, but then I saw he hit his head..? I gasped, my hands covering my mouth. "Oh my goodness! I hope he's okay..." I muttered to myself. No one really noticed what happened, even his teammates. The crowd kept cheering as he placed the trophy back down.

He walked towards his teammates, touching his head and showing them his hand. No way he's actually bleeding on stage right now, right..? He was told to go to the medic, which I was worried about. Wait... why am I worried? I don't even know him. The announcer asked his teammates questions about how they feel, etc. I was only worried about Zeus who went backstage.

A few minutes passes by with questions asked throughout those minutes, the announcer said that Zeus will be joining us, which lit a smile on my face. As he walked out from the stage, I giggled to myself, "Ahh, how adorable you are, Zeus." He grabbed onto the microphone his teammate passed him, looking around, confused for some reason, which made me laugh. This Zeus was... something special, alright.

They then went backstage after the interview finished. Satisfied, I turned the stream off and my phone as well, charging it on my side table. Letting out a relieved sigh, smiling whilst I got back into my bed comfortably, "I'm glad," I said, as I drifted off to sleep. 

Zeus on the other hand was smiling ear to ear, his teammates obviously noticed. "Wooje-ah! What's gotten your mood so... happy?" Hyeonjun teased, elbowing him on the side. Sanghyeok shook his head, chuckling, "We won Worlds 2023 and you weren't this happy. There's definitely something else to this."

Minseok was next to Minhyung, talking with each other while Minhyung comforts him because of him tearing up. "I really, really, don't know how to explain it... it's so weird." Wooje sighs, confused and a tiny bit overwhelmed. "You can talk to us about anything, you know? We're practically brothers at this point, all of us!" Minhyung let out a hearty laugh. "Tell us, what's on your mind?"

"... Or maybe, who's on your mind?" Hyeonjun continues to tease Wooje, making him flustered. "Can you guys hear her voice too..?" Wooje muttered, earning the attention of everyone, even the crying Minseok. Everyone looked at him, confused on what he's talking about. "I've been hearing someone's voice in my head, a female to be exact. She was mentioning how it's her first time knowing about us and..." Wooje trailed off, looking at his teammates. Hyeonjun was holding in a laugh, so is Minhyung. Sanghyeok and Minseok are visibly confused on what Wooje is saying.

"I swear! I'm not joking! She was cheering us on and... fell asleep after game 1. I was calm due to her light breathing throughout the next few matches. She woke up right before we won the finals and was complimenting us when we finished the games! Most importantly, she was worried for me when I accidentally hit my head!" Wooje rambled on, the other teammates finding it hard to believe him but the amount of details he has mentioned makes them want to believe him. The silence was loud, everyone was in shock, confused as well. "Are you sure you had enough sleep last night? Or the past week, maybe?"Sanghyeok was the first to break the silence, worrying about him. 

Wooje shook his head, overwhelmed by everything. He was glad he won Worlds but this is seriously driving him crazy! Who is she and why is he the only one that could hear her? "Wait, I kind of believe him, guys..." Hyeonjun said, putting a comforting hand on Wooje's shoulder. "I've heard of this before, it's quite one sided, though..."

"One of my male friends also had been hearing a female voice in his head a few years ago, apparently it was his soulmate! They clicked instantly after they met and I think they're even married now if I didn't mistaken it." He continued, leaving Wooje dumbfounded. 'Soulmates..?' Wooje kept repeating that word in his head, not believing it. He wasn't used with the word 'love' itself, not to mention something super abnormal such as soulmates! He has never had the urge to look for relationships, Wooje never had a partner, he even believed that he did not have any romantic feelings.

Wooje was a closeted aroace, which means he's someone who feels little to no romantic nor sexual attraction and no one knows, except the people he has told but he has never opened up to anyone. But it changed after hearing her voice for the first time, he was a little confused but was a flustered mess when she kept cheering them on, complimenting them, especially him for some reason. 'Does she know about this? That I can hear her?' That specific sentence was stuck in his head, repeating itself again and again.

"Wooje! Snap out of it!" Minhyung said, shaking him up and making Wooje come back to his senses. "W-Wha?-" Wooje was startled by his actions. Everyone then looked over to Hyeonjun, in their mind they were asking the same questions, no one dared to speak up. "So... how did your friend meet her?" Wooje asked softly, nervous and curious. Hyeonjun stayed silent, looking down and avoiding everyone's gaze. 

"Well... it took him ages to find her, actually. She didn't live in Korea, she was all the way in the United States. He went there to find her, took him around 2 years to finally pinpoint where she went to. They met and it hit off, basically a perfect match." Hyeonjun stated, making Wooje slightly upset. Hyeonjun continued, "This soulmate system is weird, even though she doesn't know how to speak Korean, her voice speaking in my friend's head was speaking in Korean. Luckily, my friend speaks English well so he was able to communicate with her in her native language when they met. Wooje, you definitely hear her in Korean, right? Since you speak Korean yourself..."

Wooje nodded slowly, the voice in his head indeed was speaking Korean. "But... even if she is my soulmate, there's no guarantee I'll be able to meet her, right? If I did, I probably don't speak her language anyways... I'm only fluent in Korean, my English is slightly good and that's about it! I don't know any other languages!" Wooje said, frustrated. "Plus, I don't even believe in soulmates! I'm probably just hallucinating and you're making a story to make me feel better." He tugged his arms together.

"N-No! Seriously! It happened to my friend!" Hyeonjun defended himself, saying it as genuine as possible with his tone and the looks of his eyes. The other 3 were looking at the both of them back and forth as they argued. "Well, I don't believe you. I just need a rest, just... leave me alone!" Wooje lashed out on them, making all four of them flinch by the sudden raise in his voice. 

Wooje's eyes widened after realizing what he did, his eyes teared up slightly. Without wanting anyone to see him cry, he ran out of the backstage and to the bathroom, entering a stall and locking the door behind him. He sat down on the toilet seat with the lid on, breaking down in tears. Everything was so overwhelming for him. He was supposed to be happy because of the win, but here he is, crying in the bathroom stall. "How pathetic can I be..." He muttered to himself, tears falling down his eyes to his cheeks like waterfall.

No one can ever understand him, not even his so-called 'soulmate'.