A Midsummer Night's Game

This year in particular, winter had been much colder than you could ever remember. It seemed like it would last for years, as if humanity would soon have to start dressing in black furs to protect themselves from the cold and build an immense wall to hold back some frozen and half-dead creatures that would disturb the peace of men.

But finally, the freezing temperatures vanished. Flowers began to bloom, leading to beautiful landscapes; the scent of pollen filled the air, and umbrellas disappeared from daily outfits. Spring had arrived.

And just as quickly as it arrived… it left.

In the blink of an eye, before you could even realize it, the sun was already shining at its peak up there in the sky. The transition was spontaneous: melted thermometers, light shirts, drops of sweat, and massive amounts of water to stay hydrated.

Summer had returned stronger than ever.

If there was one thing you hated more than freezing, it was spending your days sweating through your clothes, that burning sensation, the feeling of not being able to breathe without inhaling straight fire into your lungs.

Fortunately for you, in your job as an idol, you had air conditioning and top-tier facilities tailored for your comfort everywhere you went, whether you were practicing at your company or on the recording sets of the different entertainment programs.

In fact, you had just finished recording one of those shows with your group members.

It was already dark by the time one of your managers dropped you off at your apartment. You had been in the industry for a few years now, so you had finally been able to move into your own place. It wasn't that you got along badly with your members, but privacy is an important part of a person's life.

Back in the kitchen, you waited for some instant noodles to cook while checking your work schedule on your phone. Tomorrow was your day off, which could only mean one thing: gaming night.

Eating straight from the noodle cup on your way to the bedroom, you sat in your gaming chair and powered the new computer you had bought just a few months ago.

You considered yourself a hardcore gamer, and as such, you took advantage of any gap in your schedule to invest a few hours into exploring worlds of magic and fantasy, role play as the biggest gangster in Los Santos, fiercely competing against players worldwide, or simply leading a seventh-division team from Iceland to win the UEFA Champions League.

But tonight you had a different plan—you still didn't know if it was a good or a bad one, but it was one of the most recurring on your nights off: League of Legends.

You weren't a pro by any means, but you held your own quite well, usually hovering around the mid-tier ranks. You just didn't have the time, the mechanics, or the mental to try reach High Elo.

After years of playing, you had finally reached the point where you played purely for fun, no more tilt. It was genuinely enjoyable because—and this might be a controversial opinion—it was still one of the greatest games of all time.

Suddenly, a blinking light popped up on your screen, catching your attention. You had a new private message in-game.

You opened the message and read: “We’re playing ARAM and Ryujin just left, we have an open slot, do you want to play?”

You quickly glanced at the user's name and recognized their true identity: fromis_9 Nagyung.

In South Korea, everyone knew about League of Legends. Everyone played League of Legends. And that included idols. Many of them had openly talked about it, recorded themselves playing, and even publicly supported players and teams in the national league, LCK. T1 and Faker, of course, received the most attention.

What not many people knew is that a small group of idols had formed a private chat group to play together whenever possible,

You typed a positive reply and joined the lobby after accepting the invitation. You then opened a voice and text chat app on your computer to communicate during the game.

"Hey guys," you greeted once you connected to the call.

"Oh! It’s my friend." You instantly recognized that familiar voice. Sakura from LE SSERAFIM. It wasn't the first time you had played together, and even though you hadn't met in person before, you had become good friends  the very first time you played.

"Hello, senior," another, more timid female voice greeted you. You saw her through the active webcams: Minju from ILLIT.

"Wow, am I a HYBE infiltrate or something?" you joked, drawing laughs from the rest of the girls on the call.

"Oppa," Fromis_9 Chaeyoung called out. "We are playing a dangerous game here tonight," she warned, with a smirk that boded no good.

"A dangerous game?" you repeated, confused.

"Whoever deals the lowest damage in the game will be punished, and the punishment will be decided by the person who dealt the most damage. A kind of truth or dare." You watched the girl lean closer to her webcam, placing her index finger over her lips. "This is a secret between all of us, okay?"

You thought about it for a second.

"Alright. It could be fun," you finally agreed.

"Oh, it’s definitely fun," Sakura interrupted. "Nagyung already had to scream out her window that she loves oral sex."

Everyone except for the girl mentioned burst out laughing, while you almost choked on your last bite of noodles.

"Very funny," a grumpy Nagyung muttered before her groupmate spoke again.

"Oh, and Minju also confessed to us that she’s never seen a real dick!"

The youngest girl's face turned into a tomato in a matter of seconds. She stammered, trying to cover her blush with both hands.

"You didn't have to say that, unnie!" Minju shrieked, wishing with all her might that the ground would swallow her whole.

You hadn't said a word in a good while, staying on the sidelines of that war of jokes and humiliation but listening to every single one. Now you understood the dangerous situation you'd gotten yourself into.

"Well… shall we play?"

That question silenced everyone. On your screen, all the girls smiled, each in her own way. It was going to be an entertaining night.

Shortly after, the first match of the night was underway. Even though the RNG had given you a pretty terrible team comp, you managed to pull off a win after about twenty minutes.

However, the victory wasn't the truly exciting part. Everyone, now including you as an active part of the mini-game, anxiously awaited the damage charts.

"Who will be the lucky one?" Chaeyoung asked into the air. On her webcam, she could be seen, mimicking a suspenseful drumroll on her table.

"I think I did a good job this time," Minju whispered, looking somewhat relieved.

"I would say that too…AAAH!"

Sakura's scream was so high-pitched it made you jump in your seat. At that exact moment, the statistics graph deployed on the screen, revealing the cruel reality: the Japanese idol had finished in last place.

You couldn't help but let out a clean laugh at her misfortune, and she yelled back at you in irritation, which only increased your laughter and, consequently, her annoyance.

"I've got it!" Chaeyoung said, rather excited, since she had secured the top spot. "Show us your vibrator collection."

You went dead silent.

Sakura scoffed, stepping out of the camera's frame and returning a short while later with her hands full of what looked like various sex toys.

If you had told any of your friends what happened over the next fifteen minutes, they would have thought you'd lost your mind. Because the last thing you expected tonight was to listen to a detailed presentation from Sakura about each vibrator she used to relieve her.