Press Start! (Mystic Messenger: Yoosung Kim/Reader)

Chapter Nine: Flustered

From [First Name]123:

"You haven't been on in almost a week, so I hope you'll understand if I group up with others in your absence. I met a new player recently, and he's on our server! Catch you later, NS."

Your stomach was a-flutter with butterflies as you finished up yet another Whisper to waste away, un-replied and unacknowledged in the inbox of NobodySpecial. Perhaps this nervous feeling was due, in part, to the guilt that came with forming a new LOLOL team. After all, from the beginning of your time on League you had pretty much been attached at the hip with NobodySpecial as he showed you the very inner workings of the system, passed down the ancient knowledge of MMORPG slang, and, in general, provided you with a welcomed power-boost to the top. Playing with #3 of the Shooting Star server meant that you were playing with someone that must have devoted many a late night to monster farming and level grinding to reach such a lofty title. Even yourself at the #15 spot needed to devote pretty much every spare moment to defend the position, constantly accumulating EXP in order to push forward. With NS abandoning his post for such a long while, the next time he logged in he would be sure to mourn the fall of his avatar through the ranks from #3 to #11 in no time flat. If he couldn't be bothered to care about such a fate, than surely he couldn't bring himself to feel cross about you joining a new team, could he?

Superman Yoosung would like to form a party.

Your breath hitches in your throat at the latest in-game notification. Ah yes, you'd almost forgotten about the secondary cause to your anxious woes. Somehow, you had stumbled across a rare individual in the Mystic Messenger application who seemed to enjoy LOLOL nearly as much as you. After stumbling across this mutual interest, Yoosung Kim had launched into an energetic spiel about the game--armor skins, the newest enemies, and event criteria. The whole of which, of course, went virtually unnoticed by you.

With cheeks dusted a soft pink, you vividly recalled Yoosung's declaration of the day before.

Yoosung: [First Name] I think I'm in love~

I think I'm in love~

in love~

love~

He was only joking, of course. Or, you supposed, a little too excited to have discovered a kindred spirit when it came to his most beloved hobby. Still, you couldn't quell the telltale "doki-dokis" of your heart at that moment, just as you couldn't when recalling it again now. Had such a cute boy ever been so forward with you before--even if it was all in good fun?

Bzzt!

Yoosung: [First Name]

Yoosung: [First Name], hi

Yoosung: Wantto group up?

Yoosung: 10% EXP boost all day long!

The avalanche of IMs from Yoosung on your messenger app brought you out of your emotional stupor at once. Oh, right! Yoosung was why you were on in the first place. After his excitement had dulled down a bit, hadn't he invited you, his new comrade-in-arms, to quest together?

Think quickly, [First Name]. How to recover from this awkward situation? Your eyes scan the landscape before you, a pixelated town, European-themed with cobblestone pathways and thatch-roofed homes. Towards the center of the town you locate an avatar with Yoosung's username, Superman Yoosung, resting idly by the fountain of town square. He appears to be of an attack-focused class and outfitted in flamboyant battle armor of silver and red. You find yourself particularly enamored by the pulsating red heart embedded in the center of his chest piece.