The Definition of Insanity

by Destructicon

It's 6 AM on February, Friday the 13th. ByuL wakes up to the relentless screeching of his alarm. He quickly gets up and goes through his daily routine. Along the way he passes by his coach, who enthusiastically asks him if he's rested and ready. While brushing his teeth ByuL can't contain his excitement. Today is his big day. The day he plays in the finals, where he will finally win a big tournament!

ByuL quickly gets dressed and rushes to catch the morning bus to the studio. Upon arriving he is greeted by his friends and teammates, all deliriously excited. cheering him on. The preparation, the makeup and the pregame interview pass by in a haze. ByuL enters the booth, the same as he's always done, but this time it's different. Now the ritual possesses a certain gravity, as if the struggle ahead was already casting a shadow. Nevertheless ByuL is confident in his skills. ByuL sits down and loads up the game, contemplating on his strategies, his opponents tendencies and how he plans to exploit them. Finally the countdown begins and ByuL's senses and concentration heighten, the loading screen seemingly sucking him into the game.

ByuL is no longer a mere human. He is now the Overmind attuning himself to the Zerg lifeforce. He starts by exercising his will, commanding his drones to harvest, his larva to morph into more drones and his overlord to scout, all within a few-tenths of a second. He scours the map with his vision, analyzing and commands his overlord to deviate and loop behind the cliff off his natural and then towards his enemy's natural. Shortly he finds that he was right to trust his instincts as the overlord gazes the sight of a proxy. ByuL commands a drone to morph into a spawning pool. After swathing away the feeble strike, ByuL falls into a comfortable macro lead and starts assembling a formidable army. He shifts his attention again to his overseers and scours the battlefield for the Protoss army, he finds it and commands his force into position, laying an ambush. As soon as his foe is close enough ByuL springs the trap; his swarm rushes forward to envelop the now very mortal enemy. But just as he could taste victory, it started to go awry. Mighty forcefields began to cut through the battlefield, dividing his forces while they were hammered by thermal lances and disintegration rays. Soon his mighty army was reduced to ash and ByuL grimaces in pain as he can feel the pulse of warp blades cut through his mighty hive.

ByuL loses the final and as reality starts to set back in, he slumps and falls forward on his desk, burying his face in his hands. The pain of warp blades cutting through him is soon replaced with the deep and tragic loss. In-between his fingers he catches glimpses of lights, but they hurt him, cutting deep like protoss lasers. He can sense the roar of the crowd and their cheers, but it only adds to his misery.

The rest of the day was a big blur. ByuL made his way, sad and dejected, back home and threw himself in bed, hoping to forget it all.

ByuL wakes up to the sound of his alarm again. He checks the clock and its 6 AM. He doesn't remember setting his clock again, but then again he doesn't remember much of the previous day after the finals. He wakes up to go through his daily routine and passes by his coach. The coach stops and asks him enthusiastically if he is rested and ready. ByuL gives his coach a puzzled look before inquiring about what he meant. His coach reminds him of the big final. ByuL is now even more confused, he rushes to his computer and checks the date. Its Friday the 13th. ByuL can't believe his eyes and leans back in his chair in befuddlement.

Bbyong passes him by and says "Mad respect bro! The first thing you do upon waking up, even before putting on anything, is rushing back here to practice for your big final!".

It is then that ByuL realizes he is still in his underwear. He rushes back to his room and gets dressed, still in a state of confusion. Along the way he decides to play the day out again and redress his wrongs. And so ByuL arrives at the studio again to the sight of his friends and team mates once again, he goes through the same interview, then the same games and ends up reliving the same loss. ByuL is now more confused than ever. Initially he thought the whole ordeal was an elaborate joke from his coach and team mates; now he doesn't know what to believe. Confused, ByuL rushes home to sleep it off.

ByuL wakes up the sound of his alarm. Once again it is 6 AM. This time ByuL grabs his phone and checks the date, its again Friday the 13th. ByuL shouts "What the **** is going on!" At that moment a thought enters his mind and a smile flashes across his face. Sure he could manipulate events using the knowledge of his previous losses and time win the final! ByuL goes through the motions again but with more enthusiasm than before. In the finals ByuL abuses his precognition, getting ultralisks now to crush the forcefields and colossus. However, as he springs his ambush his ultralisks and lings are greeted by a mass of archons and immortals that make short work of his army.

Confused, ByuL tries again the next day. This time he goes for a surprise muta cloud, only to fly them into a fully fledged squadron of phoenixes. ByuL tries again and again, each attempt more desperate then before. In a fit of madness ByuL even kidnaps his Protoss opponent and locks him up in the back of a van, filled with cheese and mice, before driving off a bridge. But no matter what ByuL does, the day ends up playing out exactly the same.

Down for the count, ByuL rushes to the nearest pub to drown away his sorrows. He enters the pub, rushes to the bar and orders a shot of soju. Upon receiving it he downs it all in one convicted gulp before asking for another. After drinking a few more, a stranger sits down next to ByuL and orders the same thing. After downing it in misery, the stranger look to ByuL and asks "So what's your story? I've seen you drinking for a while now."

ByuL: I've just lost a big finals.
Stranger: I know what a loss feels like. Bartender, another one for me and my friend here.

The two down their shots.

At this point ByuL could use anything to distract him from his situation. He decides to focus on the stranger, to whom he is grateful for the drinks, and strikes up a conversation.

ByuL: What's your name, stranger?
Stranger: I'm Dear, nice to meet you.
ByuL: Nice to meet you too. Bartender I'll have two more, one for me and one for my friend.

After downing their shots, ByuL continues: So tell me Dear, what is your story?

Dear: This time two years ago, I was the biggest hot shot around. I had won my first finals and I won another one month afterwards. But then tragedy struck.
ByuL: How so?

ByuL listens to Dear as he goes on to explain the entirety of his story, his rise, his eventual downfall and his return to Korea. After listening to such a tragic story ByuL can't help but feel sad for this man, the first time in forever that he felt sorrow for someone else. He orders one more set of shots and turns to Dear.

Dear: Man, I wish I could relive that day!
ByuL: Man, I wish I could just stop reliving this day!

The two raise their glasses to each other, cheer and down their shots.