Chapter 15: Why is it so easy?

[ Player True, Hong Eunseol, will be joining ST as a mid laner in the 3rd division league, Master League, under LOCK (League Of Champions Korea) for one year starting today. ]

[ Please give her a lot of support and love as she is young. ]

The official recruitment SNS post uploaded by ST immediately became a hot topic.

“No, really?”

“She’s going straight to pro right away.”

Even if they’re good in solo queue, there are tons of promising players who crumble in each team’s academy without even making it to the 3rd division debut.

It was almost unprecedented to have a rookie immediately join a pro team—even if it’s the 3rd division, a pro is a pro—without a scrim or other verification.

“Can you tell us a little bit about it? What exactly happened?”

Durang, who was an ST fan, was naturally excited and started asking Eunseol various questions.

“After I was promoted to Grandmaster last time, I received contacts from several teams.”

From ST to the scouts of the mid-to-low-ranking teams in the league, they all sent me love calls.

“Oh? Then were there teams with better conditions?”

“There were.”

From what I remember, one team that had their mid laner go to the US—he really went to North America—this season asked me to come as a 2nd division mid laner right away because they had to use a 2nd team player.

I knew best how unconventional it was to skip the academy and Master League and play directly in the 2nd division, the Grand League.

Especially since it was an excessively good condition to offer to a rookie who hasn’t even been verified for their first-person movements.

And some overseas league teams even guaranteed a starting position.

Maybe it wasn’t just because of my skills, but also because of my appearance, but it was an unconventional offer in many ways.

“But I refused them all.”

“No, why?”

“Coach Ahn Jaehoon from ST called me directly.”

“……Oh.”

—Crazy.

—Is that the person who played Lock with a keyboard before Fraud?

—Yes.

—The deleted record of LOC lol.

—Ah lol, the real Lock is having to fight with VR.

—Weren’t the records before that all water rockets?

—This b*stard.

—Triggered?

—lololol.

Even though it was a game made by a small and medium-sized game company, Lock, which only used a keyboard and mouse, which was quite popular, had a league at that time.

It’s like the ancient Lock of the ‘BC’ feeling.

And the ST mid laner at that time was Ahn Jaehoon.

“He persuaded me very passionately.”

“Did he say anything about VR?”

“He said he would take responsibility for that, so I should just come. That’s what he said.”

For reference, I was told in advance that it was okay to talk about this much.

Anyway, in the e-sports scene, where the entertainment aspect is particularly strong, each of these trivial stories comes together to form a big narrative.

—Is she really talented…?

—The Great True that ST’s coach is nervous about.

—Maybe he just got his eyes turned because there’s a kid playing Lock with a keyboard?

—lol.

—But honestly, with that level of control, I think she’ll be good at first-person too.

—That’s true.

—It’s not like you have to be muscular because there’s correction, it’s just a reaction speed fight in the end.

—Young age is invincible and god in reaction speed.

—lololol.

—Young guys are good~.

—Ahem, it’s a girl.

—Um lol.

“But have you really never used first-person?”

“Maybe two or three games? That’s all I did when I went to a PC bang with my friends. I haven’t used it since I started ranked games in earnest.”

“Then would you be okay with doing first-person on today’s broadcast?”

“Of course. That’s what I asked for.”

MultiNambi and Durang seemed worried that I, who had already signed a pro contract, might be embarrassed by using the unfamiliar VR function, but I didn’t care.

The contract is already over.

Like it or not, it means that ST3—ST’s 3rd division team—has to use me for at least one season unless I mess up half the season.

It wasn’t for nothing that I skipped other teams and immediately signed a contract.

Of course, that didn’t mean I had any intention of actually messing up.

“If you’re going to learn, you have to bump into it at a high place.”

Durang added to my words and naturally explained the contents of the second part of the broadcast.

“We prepared it knowing you would say that. Following the Challenger achievement broadcast, this time, it’s an in-house game with Challengers!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the names and faces of nine famous Challengers appeared on the broadcast screen.

—Wow.

—Damn, how did you gather them?

—It’s practically a large-scale joint broadcast.

—Seeing that one team’s mid is empty, is it True’s turn?

—100%.

—Wouldn’t the first part of the broadcast be to reach Challenger?

—G.G. if you’re MultiNambi who was nervous that True might not reach Challenger even though you gathered them like that.

—lololol.

As I roughly looked through, there seemed to be a lot of people who were obsessed with only one champion and reached the limit, just by looking at their nicknames.

—There are a lot of master b*stards who live in Challenger.

—I always see only a black and white screen when I put a trade with those guys in first person.

—lololol.

—It’s just scary.

—Should I taste a bit of first-person?

—I don’t think Grandmasters were beaten by True because they didn’t use first-person.

—But it seems like it’ll be a close match if True’s skill drops because she uses first-person.

—Close match?

—[This comment has been blocked]

—What’s there to learn while getting beaten?

—Grow strong and strong, True!

Anyway, the preparations were quick.

“Well, everyone, this is the latest VR device sponsored by Hior Games—”

I wrote the VR device while half-lying on the egg-shaped fluffy cradle chair that I had seen in the stadium someday.

A feeling of floating for a moment.

When I blinked for a moment, I was already standing in front of the computer in the broadcast room.

“Are you in?”

“Yes.”

“The settings are set to the former pro player who used it here.”

Certainly, there was no chair in this space, and the desk was at a perfect height for me to stand and operate the keyboard and mouse.

‘…Oh.’

Come to think of it, if you switch to first-person, you’ll immediately feel the sensation of standing on the ground with your two feet, so it seemed like it would be easier to adapt if you played the game like this.

It’s a virtual space anyway, so it won’t hurt even if I stand for a long time.

So, while I was making detailed adjustments in the settings window for a while, something like a portal appeared next to me, and avatars of various colors popped out.

“Are you True-nim?”

“Wow…is this the default avatar? You didn’t do any customization?”

I was suddenly embarrassed to be surrounded by two ordinary people, one orc, and one elf, and I heard the familiar voice of streamer Durang from above.

[Ah, ah. True-nim. Those people are the people who will be on the same team today.]

I thought so.

I expected it because the desks were stretched out on both sides of me.

So, after a brief greeting for the viewers and me, as people who put their lives into Lock, we went straight into the game.

“Do you want to go easy for the first game?”

“Yes?”

“The five opposing teams are all one-trick masters.”

There was no need to worry.

“Can you close the ban window and just do it?”

“Of course.”

“Just tell us what you want to do today.”

I don’t know what words he used to persuade them, but the connections that MultiNambi gathered with all his might followed my words immediately.

[Wow! No ban! No ban!]

[The mindset that you can win even without respect! Team True!]

Naturally, the opposing team chose the master picks that they had devoted their lives to, and we chose the so-called tournament picks that could move more as a team.

So we entered the Twisted Treeline.

I switched to first-person as soon as the loading was over.

It was the first game, and the basic purpose was for me to get used to first-person, so the early game, where minions hadn’t even spawned, went smoothly.

[Now the minions arrive at the line!]

[The laning phase begins in earnest!]

But when the game started in earnest, the opposing mid laner didn’t seem to have any intention of going easy on me.

I’m a short-range champion, a champion who goes only trusting the ultimate that survives for 5 seconds even if the world ends, and the opponent is Zenos, who is famous for his long arm among mages.

From level 1 to level 5, that is, before you can take the ultimate, it means that you have to do nothing and just get hit.

In other words, if you think about it differently, it was also an opponent optimized for my practice.

‘This is right.’

As expected of a master, the skill shots are no joke.

[He hits well. He hits very well.]

[It’s hard. The matchup is definitely not good.]

It was clear that other people would have barely avoided it if they played that champion, but the range adjustment skill is machine-like.

[You can’t avoid that unless it’s first-person.]

[As some of you may not know, the speed of skill projectiles is getting faster every year, right?]

[This is all because the old people keep dodging in first-person.]

First of all, I’ve been hit by all the skills once, so it was time to experience it in first-person.

[Oh, True-nim switches to first-person this time.]

[The opponent has good sense. He uses the skills one by one in the same order! It’s like he’s confident that he can dodge if he can!]

First of all, I check the opponent’s movement until the end for the charging skill.

I turned my body to the side at the moment when my arm went up little by little and stopped.

The opponent’s skill misses narrowly.

It was definitely a skill shot that was not much different from before, but since I changed, the result also changed.

[Dodged!]

[This time it falls from above!]

There seemed to be no need to check the attack range that appeared on the floor.

The precursor movement of using a skill that is more clearly visible than on the screen.

That one thing made evasion simple.

[Dodged again!]

—No, she said she barely used first-person.

—Damn.

—How do you dodge that?

—Did she get hit until now to boost the master’s morale?

—I told you that the keyboard and mouse are really shackles?

—Honestly, I’m a keyboard fan, but this time, that’s right.

—All.

I returned to the computer between the opponent’s skill cooldowns and read the viewers’ chats while holding the keyboard and mouse.

“It just works when I move as soon as I see the opponent’s skill cast motion. Was it always this easy?”

—??????

—The master’s pride is scratched.

—lololol.

—??? : If you see well and hit well, you win.

—Look at all the geniuses saying the same thing.

—Yeah, I’m an idiot for expecting a tip.

—But in the meantime, is it real that she released first-person and read the chat window?

—So much leeway.

“It’s really sad that I started using this good function now.”

—You!

—Didn’t!

—Use it!

—Damn.

—lololol.

—‘Shackles’.

—G.G. if you’re a scout who hesitated because you didn’t use the VR function lol.

—Ah, I should have bet then! 

—The fact is that ST has already snatched her~.

—Isn’t the most f*cked up thing the Master League mids?

—lol.

—How do you stop that?

—I don’t know?

The chat window exploded.