Chapter 23: The Third Spell

A little before Eunseol arrived, the players were chatting in the scrim-dedicated space.

“He went even with Fraud?”
“He ended up giving up a solo kill.”
“Still, his movement is good, right?”

Since both teams had prepared ban-picks separately, there was no need to even talk about ban-picks, so the only topic to talk about was the new mid laner who was coming today.

Especially since she was the first female gamer recruited by ST.

“Well, in the end, the team also has to make money.”
“The topicality will be no joke.”
“Will the arena be full when we play?”
“She also streams, so just gathering those fans would easily be five hundred people.”

So naturally, the conversation topic was leaning towards other aspects rather than skill.

Of course, they knew that she didn’t get Challenger for free like a so-called queen bee, so they didn’t completely ignore Eunseol’s skills, but that didn’t mean they acknowledged her either.

“Shut up and follow my lead.”

Therefore, when Eunseol first said that, most of the ST3 teammates were dumbfounded.

“The butcher…talking back?”

Especially the ST3 hunter, Oh Changhyun, who was directly hit, couldn’t say anything.

He had heard playful words about fighting AI a few times, but such a blatant remark was nothing short of an insult to the hunter position.

Harsh words mixed with profanity that you wouldn’t think came from that appearance, along with arrogance as if she was the best here.

‘Let’s see how good you are, really.’

Even though they were at the bottom of the 3rd division league, they were playing in Challenger like a playground, so they had no intention of obediently listening to a new recruit who was younger than them.

Clearly, that was the intention, but—

Unexpected good news came from the laning phase.

“What.”
“She’s good?”
“I was eating minions, so I didn’t see what happened. What happened?”

The opposing team, WD’s mid laner, had already played a season in the Master League, so I thought it would be a decent level, even if it was even or a slight disadvantage.

No one predicted this situation.

“Hey, everyone, focus a little. Our laning phase isn’t over yet.”

At the words of Fluke, who is young in the team but is said to be beyond the 3rd division from laning to teamfights, everyone put aside their surprise for a moment and started to focus on the game again.

That was the same for the hunter, Oh Changhyun, who was called a butcher earlier.

As he was diligently catching monsters in the Twisted Treeline.

“Come gank here. Now.”

Rude informal speech along with a commanding tone.

I wondered if True’s lane was in a precarious situation, so she spoke informally, so I turned the screen to check the mid lane, but it was the opposite.

‘The angle is too good?’

The health bars of both team’s mid laners were split to the limit.

And she intentionally pulled the lane and got caught.

“No Flash, no Teleport.”
“……Oh.”

Above all, the opposing mid laner was completely defenseless.

At this point, the important thing now was not the informal speech.

“Slowly. Save your skills and just auto-attack.”

With her words, the opponent’s appearance was so appetizing that the hunter gave up on the monster he was eating and stabbed the mid lane with a gank, easily picking up the kill.

“…Good order?”
“Turn around and stab the top-side monsters. The opposing hunter will be there.”

She gave the next order as if it were natural.

“I have to go down and eat my camp’s monsters…”
“Just go. You’ll win if you go.”

He didn’t even think for a moment that the opposing hunter wouldn’t be there, and since he got a kill, he went up, thinking he would go along with it at least once.

A small skirmish broke out with the top laners coming down, and they won a great victory.

So he ate all the monsters in the Twisted Treeline on the opponent’s side and returned home.

‘What is this.’

Just by listening to her words a few times.

The game was too easy.

The past, when I had a headache all day long after even setting foot in the pro scene, was so futile that the game was going too well.

“The opposing hunter is at the top, the opposing support will soon go up, so cut them off if they come deep, or just clear the vision.”

True was easily identifying the opposing hunter’s ganking route and even their location.

And the basis for that was Eunseol’s overwhelming laning phase.

“The opponent went home. Be careful of ganks following the minions.”

Eunseol went once, and even though her health was fine, she went to match items to hunt large monsters, while the opponent had already gone home three or four times.

After the first solo kill, it was impossible not to feel that the opponent was being cautious from the Twisted Treeline to other lanes.

And after that, informal speech was no longer a problem.

Especially, True’s movement, which allowed him to go counter-jungling—taking the opponent’s camp’s monsters—as often as he ate, and even win if he encountered the enemy without thinking, was like a god to the hunter, Oh Changhyun.

“Come to the pinged location and wait.”

So, from the moment the game entered the mid-game, he unconditionally prioritized her words.

“Don’t eat that and go to the bottom and look for a counter-gank timing.”

Normally, when another mid laner said that, he would have finished the monster he was hunting first, but he had already built up enough trust in a short time, less than a single game, so he ran down without hesitation.

“Why is the hunter coming at this timing?”
“Just suck! We win!”

Anyway, in a situation where the bottom lane was even, if the growth difference between the hunters was significant, the side that received the counter-gank was bound to be ruined.

[Triple Kill!]

As expected, it was a one-sided massacre that was embarrassing to call a battle, as there was a level difference and a difference of one completed item.

It was a battle that put a period to the game that was already half over in the top side.

’……Is this possible?’

And Oh Changhyun, who achieved a triple kill, was more dazed than happy.

In a scrim that shows a different level of pressure and macro than solo queue, he was stunned by the fact that a single person could have such an impact with just one order.

“Let’s end it now?”

It wasn’t just one or two people who had similar thoughts while watching True, who had already broken the second tower in the top lane with Fluke and was leisurely escaping.

“I’m sorry!”

When the scrim ended and they returned to the virtual waiting room, the team’s hunter, Ox—OX—Oh Changhyun, suddenly said that to me and bowed his head.

I could roughly guess why he was apologizing like that, but I pretended not to know and bounced once.

“Why all of a sudden? You didn’t do anything particularly wrong.”

When I asked back casually, he seemed to be choosing his words carefully, his face turning red.

I paused for a moment, then smiled lightly.

Anyway, since he apologized without any ulterior motives, saying he was sorry, he was fairly fixable, so I had no intention of having a power struggle.

“It’s okay. I don’t care.”
“Really?”

Suddenly his face brightened.

“Anyway, you’ll do anything I tell you to do from now on, right?”
“…Doesn’t that sound a bit strange?”
“The thug should go play alone.”
“……”

Pushing Fluke back, I was able to get the unconditional support of the jungle.

“And Fluke said that the bottom laners also said something about me…”

Since I was playing in first-person perspective, I couldn’t hear the voices of the teammates below, but I could hear Fluke’s voice, who was breaking the tower right next to me.

At my words, Strike, the AD Carry, and Bell, the support, glared at Fluke at the same time, but that didn’t make the words they uttered disappear.

“To make money, the team’s attention-seeking…what was it?”
“Argh! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

If that’s said within the team, it’s a happening, but if I say it outside, it’s a UFC match.

Knowing that, he even prostrated himself and begged well.

“I’m sorry for agreeing with what the spoon said.”
“You’re passing this on to me?”
“Tools are different depending on the user.”

Hmm.

‘That’s the bottom lane.’

As expected, the spoon—tool duo has a lot of trust in each other.

There seemed to be no need to bother them.

“Why did you suddenly change direction here?”
“Because Eunseol told me to.”
“This scene?”
“That too.”
“So the last judgment was also…”
“Just all of it is correct.”
“……”

Coach Ahn Jaehoon was just dumbfounded.

Ox’s chronic problem was solved by playing one scrim.

‘No, was it hidden?’

Ox, who used to prioritize monster hunting, trusting his own strength, moved according to True’s instructions, and his strength shone even more than before.

‘With this, the top side is complete.’

Fluke, a constant in the top lane.

Ox, who doesn’t lose in terms of strength in the Master League, is the hunter.

And, True.

There were few players for whom he didn’t need a modifier, and True was in that category, even though she hadn’t even played her first season yet.

‘…No matter how I look at it, she shouldn’t be here.’

He expressed his condolences in advance to the promising players who would fall in the opening match.

“Okay, guys. Let’s change the ban-picks a bit this time.”

Actually, the important thing now wasn’t particularly the ban-picks.

Absorbing even one of True’s movements and orders.

That was the only task he, as the coach, had to instill in the players before the opening match.

So, several days of scrims and feedback continued.

And the end of that loop was the beginning again.

[Now, the opening match of the LOCK-affiliated Master League!]
[The match between ST and DS Gaming will begin soon!]

—The opening match was just around the corner.