Your future is yours

"That idiot was actually right…" Huobai muttered for the nth time this week.

He was stunned by the performance his team showed during the last few minutes of the new year event.

The idiot, called Doom, said they will be done in two minutes. When the winning dialogue showed, they were done in one minute and fifty-eight seconds. Huobai wanted to throw his keyboard through the screen.

Not that he wasn't glad they won, but it was because of Doom's instructions that they won that quickly. And those instructions. Well, that was a chapter by itself.

"Magician, start before us, cover SIG, use MP skill default 8 first, then use MP potion…" he said as if Huobai knew what was his eighth default skill.

Just because he didn't want to look like an amateur and idiot in front of that person, he changed his skill toolbar back to default in seconds and behaved like he knew what was the default setting.

And what surprised him, even more, was the simplicity everyone followed his order. And SIG... his performance… no wonder they were known as a perfect combo.

He was told to follow Doom's lead, and he followed it. Meanwhile, Huobai had the tendency to talk back every time he was given a command or told which skill to use.

That's why he tried to talk to SIG more than to Doom. He was more valuable to Huobai than Doom was.

"Can I invite you to a party next time too?" he asked, both players that were left there, SIG and HNYG. He could hear a faint conversation from the SIG's background. Huobai frowned.

"Could it be that SIG was already taken by a team? That he was a professional? It was possible, but their characters weren't high-level. But this server was really new, so no one here was high level…" Huobai heard a chuckle when he realized he was muttering his thoughts to himself. Loud enough that the microphone picked it up.

"Nice. Yes, no problem, we already are friends. And you seem fun…" Huobai heard him say, with a hint of a smile in SIG's voice. He was so embarrassed that he quickly said 'thanks, bye' and ran away. Logging of the game.

He said back to his chair and breathed out. This was humiliating. Have a stranger hear his thoughts, but Huobai was so used to being alone now that he just said what he thought.

And now, he was too embarrassed that he would be seen online, that he played only during the night. Resulting in almost no sleep, and his concentration in school was lowering with every sleepless night.

A knock sounded on his door, and Huobai jerked himself on the bed. He was trying to catch up on the sleep, but now he would probably get none.

His father and mother both opened the door and peeked, if they may come in. They were afraid to interrupt him in case he was doing something.

As they did interrupt him the day before. Because he clicked on a link that one of his past teammates, who was actually a decent player, sent him. And as idiotic as Huobai was, he got 'rickrolled' as the guy explained it.

For Huobai, even being caught watching porn wouldn't be as embarrassing as his mother walking on him, watching this guy dancing and singing.

"Honey, we came to talk to you," his mother said as they were walking in. His father rolled the gaming chair to the bed where Huobai was sitting. And his mother stood behind him.

What were they doing? Playing a drama? Really? Sometimes, Huobai did not know what his parents were doing, and more often he was thinking whether he was adopted or they were just plain weirdos.

"Talk about what?" he finally woke up and asked. His mother suddenly looked concerned, and his father's expression was grim.

"About your future…" his father said and looked around him. "We let you play around now because we know it helps you. But you can't throw away your future and play around your entire life," he continued. Huobai rolled his eyes back and then forced himself not to fall asleep while listening to their lamenting.

"Do you guys know that some people, if they are good enough, they are living, making money by playing games?" Huobai interrupted their monologue about the future when he couldn't take it anymore.

"Yes, but that's only really fortunate and skilled people. They don't play around as you do." His mother hurried with her answer. Huobai was now somewhat offended.

He wasn't just playing around. His lack of sleep and the amount of money and time he put into gaming and streaming, wasn't just playing around, as she called it.

"I'm not playing around!" he exclaimed, angry. His mom grabbed his father by his shoulder and made a step back. Not that Huobai was ever yelling like that.

"Okay… we said we will let you play. But you will go to the university and you will finish it. When you are twenty-five, I will take you to our casino, and we will talk once again. Up until then. I don't care anymore. Are we clear?" his father said, stood up, and waited for Huobai to nod, then he walked away from his room, leaving there his speechless wife and son.

Huobai and his mother were watching the open door, where Nanchuan just walked out from, and then they looked at each other.

"I will be watching you. Don't think that you will play around the whole day and night. I'm not your father and I care about you. So, I will be watching you." Song Fei said and walked away from the door, following her husband.

Huobai shivered as she walked away. If anyone else said it, he would laugh. But as soon as his mother said something like this. He feared her. It felt almost like a threat rather than a promise to a loved son.

Huobai picked up his phone from the pillow he earlier dropped it on. And with a thump just let his body fall down into the pillows.

He read some of the messages that were mostly praising him, but there were some haters too, and most of them were asking about his next stream.

Huobai looked at the clock on the night table and groaned. It was almost time for him to start. Time to face his embarrassment.

Today really wasn't his day. At all. The whole week wasn't his week. At all.