While Deepak stopped talking to Patricia after he applied to MPH programs, he remained at the psychiatric hospital for two more years. He attended Harvard for his MPH in epidemiology, at the end of which he ended up working for a pharmaceutical company.

Bohdan faithfully kept doing realty, while Yakiv became a home decorator. Vira faithfully kept teaching at the elementary school level, and the trio of Ukrainian refugees kept playing ChGK. However, four years later, the Kansas State Team had to undergo a rebuild, and Bohdan found himself back in the captain's seat.

The first player who forced Bohdan's hand was Catria. Even though, for Catria, the victory at Worlds in 2045, then held in Berlin, was "the best graduation gift she could ask for", she withdrew from Kansas at graduation. Of course, since she was one of the top students of her class, so many expected her to either go on to med school or a PhD. She ended up attending Harvard for a chemistry PhD and playing ChGK for the Crimson, never again playing at Worlds. Miraculously, she never relapsed.

Speaking of the 2045 ChGK Worlds, the American victory created a surge of interest in ChGK in the US, which proved short-lived. And the public had a more pronounced liking to Patricia and Catria over the other 4 players while the ChGK fad lasted.

Shortly after Catria graduated from UMKC, Sergei obtained a promotion and left the city because of his new position. Like Catria, he never again played at Worlds after their 2045 win, but he ended up playing for the Quantum Computers, replacing Mikhail after he died of alcohol overdose.

And, of course, Patricia. She was headhunted by some of the most high-profile rehab centers offering both inpatient and outpatient rehab. She left Kansas as well, playing for OneGogi in Philadelphia, with Ainslee taking her old job. Unlike the other two ex-Kansas players, she returned to the Worlds but never again returned to the stardom of 2045.

Lanisha ended up replacing Sergei on the team, and their oldest child became Kansas' designated emissary.

Stephanie became a well-regarded event planner as well as the replacement mastermind for Kansas in ChGK. She managed to participate at the ChGK Worlds and her best finish at Worlds was eleventh in 2050, held in Beijing and won by North Korea. She also led the unsuccessful US bid on the 2051 Worlds to be held in Kansas City, which ended up being awarded to Yekaterinburg. And won by Syria, which became the preeminent ChGK country in the Middle East, over historical Middle East powers, Turkey and Israel.

As for China, they never won the ChGK Worlds again, and 2051 was an embarrassment for Chinese ChGK, where the Chinese didn't even crack the top-60 after coming close to defeating North Korea the previous year.

Meanwhile, Iran never managed to achieve any kind of ChGK success on the international stage.