The morning came too soon.
Ts Danger blinked against the harsh sunlight leaking through the cracked window. His body ached—shoulders sore from hunching, eyes dry from staring at the screen for hours. He rolled off the mattress with a grunt and checked his phone. No messages. No job calls. Just a notification:
"Valorant - Ranked Match History: 7 Wins, 2 Losses. Rank: Platinum."
He allowed himself a quiet fist pump.
In the kitchen, his mother stirred dal on a weak flame, her hands moving automatically. She glanced over her shoulder. "You were up again?"
"Yeah," Ts said. "Promotion match. I got it."
She nodded, her face unreadable. "Platinum. That's good, right?"
"It's a start."
She didn't argue. She never did. But the silence meant she was worried.
Ts took his tea and returned to his room. He had an hour before the electricity would cut again—the city's usual four-hour blackout schedule. Just enough time for a game.
He queued solo.
His first match in Platinum wasn't kind. His teammates didn't use voice chat. One rage quit after two rounds. Another blamed lag. The opponents, however, weren't rookies—they were a stacked four-man squad with custom skins and laser-sharp coordination.
They mocked his username before the round started.
"TS DANGER? lol sounds like a mobile player""Hope you brought a babysitter, bro""Gonna teabag this man every round"
Ts said nothing. He never did.
The first few rounds were brutal. His team collapsed under pressure, and Ts found himself holding site after site alone.
But that's where he thrived.
One round, the enemy team rushed his location. Three came at him fast, confident. He dropped them in four seconds—headshots only. No panic. Just precision.
The chat blew up.
"ok wait what?""yo danger just clutched that??""nah this guy's smurfing FOR SURE"
Momentum shifted.
Ts started giving pings, calming the chaos. He anchored the match and pulled his team from the edge of surrender to an overtime victory.
Final score: 13-11.MVP: TS DANGER — 32 Kills, 5 Deaths, 9 Assists.
As the enemy squad logged out, one of them typed:
"Yo. You stream?"
Ts stared at the message. He hesitated… then typed back:
"Not yet."
But maybe… it was time.