ATEEZ Imagines

Wooyoung ✦ Arcade

Published: November 6, 2021
Rewritten: September 13, 2023

Word count: 1,977

Credits to celestial_nyx_ for this idea

DO NOT read or interact if you're under 14

A long drawn-out sigh left your lips as you stepped into the local arcade, a place you frequented when you wanted to have a little fun. It was your absolute favorite place to go to wind down after a long day at work.
A smile spread across your features right away when you saw your favorite game was vacant. You could practically hear the machine calling your name, beckoning you to take a seat and indulge in a little gaming.
Perfect.
You hurried over, getting ready to put a couple coins into the game, however, your hand froze when you saw the scoreboard on the screen. Your player name was no longer in first place, instead was a new player named Woo.
The corners of your mouth pulled into a frown of distaste. You've held the high score on that game for months and this new player just comes in and beats the score just like that? You took that as a challenge. With a new sense of determination, you put the coins in the slot and started a new game.

After playing for an hour, you had beaten this Woo person's score. You smiled, pleased with your work. You finally felt like you could go home and relax in peace without worrying about someone else having the highest score.
It sounded silly, but you worked hard to achieve that high score. Was it important to keep that number one spot? No. Did you do it on purpose? No. Honestly, you just played the game to chill out after work, you didn't intentionally get the highest score, but upon reaching the milestone, you wanted to keep it going. Now that you had some competition, keeping that high score would be a lot tougher, and if this Woo person is as good as you think, maybe even a little frustrating.
You reluctantly stepped away from the machine and gathered your things before finally leaving the arcade and heading home for the day.

The following day after work, you stopped by the arcade like you normally do, excited to play your favorite game. You shrugged off your coat and set it on an empty chair along with your bag before sitting down. You paused to check the scoreboard before starting.
1st WOO
Your eyes widened as you rummaged in your bag to pull some quarters out.
"Two can play at that game." You muttered, shoving the coins into the machine.
Fueled by your annoyance towards this Woo player, you worked harder than you ever have, putting every ounce of effort and focus into each level. You ended up beating his score by a few thousand points, thinking that if your score was much higher than his, it would be harder for him to beat you next time and you would remain the reigning champion.

This went on for weeks, those weeks turned into a month, then two months. You came in to the arcade as you would on any normal day and every single time, your score was beaten by the same person. It didn't seem to matter how high your score was, Woo always beat it.