𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚁𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚜 || c.ch × k.sw ||

[Fort.y One]

TBZ was going up against 10X, just as chanhee had suspected. they weren't really randomized pairs, but in this case it didn't matter since opponents were being eliminated.

this game was far more intense than the one against KACHÉ, the opposing team actually knew what they were doing and were good at it.

on the one hand this was finally the type of competition they had been waiting for. they were putting their skills and strategies to the test, on the other... this was getting harder. juyeon's confidence wasn't that great to begin with, and being against this team really made him sweat.

luckily, he was sat in the middle of the team, between changmin and eric- arguably the most optimistic in the group. although changmin's face was dead-serious as he played, he would cutely clap each time he made a successful shot. eric as well was a big fan of cheering himself on, but he made sure to praise his elder member whenever he could.

hyunjae tried to act cool, his confidence had skyrocketed after beating the last team of girls  but he knew if he acted too cocky it would all go downhill.

chanhee was nervous, his leg bouncing up and down as he stared at the large screens. he had confidence in his boys of course, but it didn't remove that pit in his stomach that lingered no matter how many positive thoughts he forced through his mind.

"you okay?" asked younghoon, leaning forward in his seat.

"ah- yeah. i just don't like that woojin guy or his team. they don't seem like the good-sporty type when they lose."

younghoon sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "i agree, but we want to see them lose so i guess we can hope to find out."

"he claimed we were helping them cheat, what if he accuses them and something goes wrong?"

"well," he began, "they're not cheating so the issue should be resolved quickly. these tournaments are good at preventing things like that. don't worry, that'll only make things worse."

"you're right, you're right." he finally agreed and took in a deep breath, "i just want this to be over with already. juyeon had his few moments of fame, and well they beat at least one team. is that not enough?"

the other laughed, "nooooo, you know how hard they've worked to get here. it's up to us to see them get to the end regardless of how long it takes."

chanhee pouted. he was right again, it was his duty to be supportive every step of the way. it just wasn't helpful that he seemed to be suffering the same nervousness as the team up on the stage.

-

this round was taking ages to finish, at least compared to the last one. most of the teams had completed their games a little early, but they weren't the last ones yet.

admittedly, this was making sunwoo sweat. sweaty hands made for a sweaty mouse and keyboard, which meant things were getting harder and harder to control. after this, he was definitely going to need to take advantage of their inbetween breaks. thankfully, the rest of his team seemed to be doing well. they were communicating fluently with one another and seemed completely focused.

sunwoo envied them a bit, but he needn't think those things during a game as it could potentially throw them off. he would have to set them aside for later.

round after round against 10X seemed like hell for sunwoo. they had really good teamwork and a set strategy that would switch at random, making them really difficult to predict. they just had to trust their instincts most of the time or even just get lucky but they remained tied for the most part.

it was near the end that things started to get intense- even more so than before. if they won against them once more, they would win for sure. but it dragged on for what seemed like hours to the red head, his vision began to unfocus with the stress levels he was currently feeling.

he just had to hold on though.

yes! eric clenched his fist when the character icon on the opposite team faded away- he had eliminated them while their team was still full. five against four now.

smack.

hyunjae slammed his mouse against the desk. he was killed. it came out of no where, surprising the hell out of him- thus the violent gesture.

four against four, but not for long. juyeon had been nearby when hyunaje was struck, so the enemy had completely exposed himself to him. easy. not a minute later and juyeon brought their team back on top, four against three.

sunwoo was in charge of diffusing this time, but he was practically trembling as he neared the spike. his adrenaline this game was fading and he almost began to panic. this made him lose sense of his surroundings and an opposing team member had him in his clutches.

he thought he was done for at that point. it would be a 3v3 game and he'd have been useless in their success. sure it wasn't any of the big important rounds, but they'd have to win to get there first.

pow!

eric managed to pull through just in time. sunwoo took some damage but he was still in, the other member however was not. four against two.

how would things end? it all seemed in their favor but anything could happen, they couldn't let their guard down just yet.

"we just need two more and we're free. we got this guys." changmin sneaked in some words of encouragement throughout their gameplay, it was much needed to lift their spirits. he, unfortunately, didn't make it to the end of the game. three against two.

"crap, crap, crap," sunwoo cursed under his breath. they were so close to just finishing, but this made it a bit harder.

"i'm out." eric said, defeated. two against two. seems like those words of encouragement applied to the opposite team as well. things were looking rough now.

eric getting killed really sparked something inside of juyeon, though. he was hyperfocused, remaining silent and even going off their plan a bit. it seemed like sunwoo diffusing the spike wouldn't be the way to go at this point so that left plan b: eliminating the attackers.

boom.

he struck, efficiently killing one of the attackers off. two against one.

he was on fire, but it was going to be dangerous. a 1v1 wasn't going to workout with sunwoo in this state, so he had to act fast and intelligently to win once and for all.

it began with locating the last member, it wasn't terribly difficult but they were constantly on the move. he had to make a plan fast, so he had to think ahead.

once something viable popped into his mind, he took action. there was no time to hesitate.

spotting them, he took aim with as much precision as he could muster up at the speed he was going in- and he fired.