Chapter 2: Insta Firestorm

2

In the end, my teammates couldn’t stand it and surrendered.

I was pissed off and just wanted to quit after the match.

Right then, a game invite popped up.

Before I could see who it was, I instinctively clicked accept. The game started instantly.

It was a 5v5 custom room.

I casually picked Disha. Once the loading screen came up, I saw Priya and her national server Arjun were in the game.

Me: …

Is this never going to end?

Sure enough, as soon as the match started, they teamed up and camped me all over the map.

Every time I died, Priya would type something to taunt me.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.

I went AFK and started venting in chat:

'Yeah, yeah, keep shouting. What’s so great about riding someone else’s coattails to climb ranks? Don’t think you’re actually good.'

'You even have to bring your jungler bro to a custom game. If you’ve got guts, 1v1 me.'

'All this girl-on-girl drama, and you want people to hype you up? Are you even eighteen yet, kid?'

After venting, I instantly surrendered and closed the game without looking back.

I thought that was the end of it.

But the next day, my roommate sent me a video on WhatsApp:

'Yashu, is this your game account? I remember you use that name.'

A bad feeling crept up.

I frowned and opened the video.

It was a stream recording.

A pretty, innocent-looking girl sat in front of her computer, holding her phone, looking all pitiful:

'I was just joking with her. Why did she get so mad? Even if I went a bit far, she didn’t have to curse me out like that, right?'

As she spoke, she turned the camera to her phone, showing my game ID.

'She’s probably blocked me already. Everyone, help me apologise to her, okay? I really didn’t mean it, it was all for the stream.'

The video blew up, racking up tens of millions of views.

Countless netizens swarmed the comments:

'Is this aunty so thin-skinned she can’t take a joke? Why’s she so mad over some banter?'

'Anyone who spits out filth like that must be trash. Why should we apologise to her?'

'She actually dared to curse our Priya di? She’s hit a wall this time.'

'Guys, her friend’s online. Can’t curse her in-game anymore.'

'It’s fine, babies, I’ve already found her Insta and ShareChat. Let’s go get her.'

Suddenly, my own phone vibrated, lighting up the room with a harsh blue glare. For a moment, the hostel's usual hum of ceiling fans and distant scooter horns seemed to fade away, replaced by the ceaseless digital jeering that bled out from the screen.