apartment block 17

[ 028 ]

"what should my nickname be?" seungcheol wondered as the game asked for them to input one. he decided just to use his stage name, s.coups.

the two screens stood side by side, wonwoo in front of one and seungcheol in front of the other. there were ropes around the small area, resembling a boxing ring. mingyu and seokmin were standing off to wonwoo's side while seungkwan stuck near seungcheol.

the two boys fitted on their boxing gloves and calibrated them. seungcheol chose the buffest looking avatar in the selection, while wonwoo chose a rather elegant looking man. the screen flashed with fancy graphics, introducing the two opponents. those still in the queue started cheering, as if it were a real boxing match.

"introducing our fighters!" the upbeat programmed voice of the machine announced. their nicknames flashed across the screen as their avatars walked onto the screen of their opponent.

seungcheol snorted as wonwoo's avatar walked out; his nickname, jeon cena, flashing in bright colours across the screen as the avatar pumped his fists.

the match started, and seungcheol started assaulting the air in front of him in a flurry of punches. he had no idea what he was doing, so he figured the faster, the better.

wonwoo on the other hand, thought much more tactical. he didn't have great physical prowess, but through observing seungcheol's random attacks, he managed to pull off a couple of uppercuts and sharp jabs which greatly lowered seungcheol's health.

the boxing gloves also seemed to sense their whole body movement, so wonwoo began moving back and forth in order to dodge seungcheol's punches.

seungcheol started to lose strength as his stamina ran out, and wonwoo finished off his avatar with one powerful jab. the crowd cheered as 'k.o' followed by 'jeon cena wins!' flashed across the screen, accompanied by glorified trumpet music. through all the noise, seungcheol could hear mingyu shouting all sorts of praise and congratulations to wonwoo.

as if to combat mingyu's shouts, seungkwan started cheering for seungcheol as well. he started jumping up and down, waving his hands and screaming terrible rhymes in an effort to out-cheer mingyu.

the game entered its second round, music blasting out once again and their avatars walking proudly onto the screens. seungcheol had underestimated wonwoo, but he definitely wouldn't lose this time.

the second round proceeded similarly to the first, though seungcheol slowed down on his attacks and tried to play smarter rather than harder. though wonwoo still held the upper hand for a majority of it, in a twist of events, seungcheol managed to land a fatal blow on wonwoo's upper left cheek. 's.coups wins!'

mingyu started booing lightheartedly, and seungcheol shot him a glare. he laughed and hid behind seokmin.

tension was high as the third round began. seungkwan upgraded his cheer by taking off his shoes and wearing them on his hands. he waved them around chaotically and looked like he was about to break out into a full olympic gymnastic routine.

as the entrance music played, seungkwan danced energetically, flinging his hands about and shaking them in a comedic manner. it caught the attention of surrounding patrons, who laughed and cheered him on.

seungcheol looked to his right and studied his opponent. wonwoo looked far too calm for someone about to go into a life or death match. is he underestimating me? no, his eyes look really focused.

he noticed wonwoo glancing at mingyu and seokmin on the sidelines every few seconds, as if for assurance that they were still there. mingyu was still yelling out encouragement.

their avatars finally finished their glory parade and took their fighting stances. the match started and seungcheol immediately jabbed sharply to the right. wonwoo anticipated this and dodged easily, countering with a swift uppercut that sent seungcheol's avatar flying to the end of the boxing ring. as the match wore on, both of their health bars hovering around the same mark, the cheers from the surrounding crowd grew louder; cheering for who, seungcheol wasn't sure.

seungkwan's cheerleading got more intense, his arms swinging about dangerously. mingyu had started fist pumping intensely and seokmin seemed to be having the time of his life. seungcheol had broken into a sweat as he focused as hard as he could on knocking wonwoo's avatar out.

by the three minute mark, both of their health bars were dropping below the 10% mark. both of them were pretty exhausted from the previous two rounds of excessive arm pumping. seungcheol didn't know how the gloves were still on his hands; he could feel himself sweating out buckets through his hands.

in a swift moment, wonwoo managed to land a lucky hit on seungcheol's nose, which caused his health to drop down to 4%. seungcheol swore under his breath and blamed the sensors for not registering that he had definitely dodged that strike.

seungcheol really didn't like losing. his avatar's health was so close to depleting completely that his body started acting on its own before his mind could catch up with it. he sidestepped wonwoo's next attack and slung his arm around real-wonwoo's neck in a light headlock.

"seungche– what the–" wonwoo spluttered, flailing around as he tried to escape seungcheol's grip on his head.

they were struggling with each other awkwardly, seungcheol attempting to pull off some weird sidecuts with one arm while enveloping wonwoo with the other. the crowd's cheers dimmed down as they looked on in confusion.

"hey, seungcheol! that's not fair!" seokmin protested.

"life's not fair!" seungcheol countered. wonwoo seemed to accept seungcheol's challenge as he had a scarily eerie grin on his face. wonwoo attempted to counter seungcheol's haphazard punches whilst he was still enveloped in seungcheol's death grip.

seungcheol managed to lower wonwoo's health bar down to 6%; his was still dangerously hovering around the 3% mark. the cheers resumed and seungkwan entered the 10th round of his extensive cheerleading routine.

just as wonwoo was about to win the third round, the cheers halted as a group of burly men pushed their way through the crowd, angrily staring down seungcheol and wonwoo, who were still half-wrestling each other in an effort to win.

"stop!" they commanded in eerie synchronisation. seungcheol and wonwoo stopped flailing and straightened up as best they could. the men approached them and grabbed their arms firmly.

"what part of virtual fighting only do you not understand? if you didn't know, that means no verbal or physical abuse," one of the men said firmly.

"we didn't really mean it–" seungcheol began.

"shut up. this is your first warning. if we see you causing trouble again, you'll be banned from this arcade. are we clear?"

"yes, sir," seungcheol gulped.

hauling the two boys out of the simulator area, the crowd dispersed in disappointment as the match wasn't able to be finished. the game had reset once there was no movement for a while.

"wonwoo totally won that," seungcheol heard mingyu arguing with seungkwan as the two of them met up with the other three away from the simulator.

"seungcheol managed to bring him down 7% in like, 2 seconds. he definitely won," seungkwan said.

"let's just say it's a tie," seokmin intervened.

"as much as i don't want to accept that, i'm too tired," seungcheol sighed as he and wonwoo rejoined the group. he turned and shook wonwoo's hand firmly. "it's a tie. but next time, i'll beat you. fairly," he added for good measure.

"sure, sure," wonwoo smirked. looking at the time, seungcheol figured they had just over half an hour left in their keycards. wonwoo's group came in later, so they may have more time, he figured.

"what do you guys wanna do now?" seokmin asked.

"ooh, karaoke!" seungkwan suggested excitedly, pointing over to the karaoke booths toward the back of the arcade.

seungcheol figured it was the perfect excuse to practise and show off his rapping prowess.