USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we…?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
@primemackcub@lomeine An objective shouldn’t just be incontestable, everything has a way to play around but you can’t just give every urn because your “comp isn’t made for it”, abilities forcing you out is unplayable either there should just be like a 5 second timer to breath, 99-99 is a real fight
@lomeine Oh yeah I get that mechanic I just mean before that when it’s 99-99, had a couple games today someone stepped off and insta rewarded whichever team was still in
the second best feeling in the whole world is when a girl runs her fingers through your hair. the best feeling is definitely besting a foe in a test of swordsmanship. he was careless, a lunge too far, an opening for my blade. you were formidable but never stood a chance
It’s Worlds 2017. You’re 21 years old in China, having just been eliminated in the grand finals.
It’s Worlds 2025. You’re 29 years old in China, having just achieved an unprecedented threepeat.
You are Lee Sanghyeok. You are Faker.
And there will never be anyone like you.