Chapter 25: You’ve Been Kidnapped

After finishing our meal, we wandered around here and there.

The first place we went to was the League of Legends booth.

Literally a booth related to League of Legends.

I went thinking there would be nothing special, but surprisingly, it was the booth I enjoyed the most.

Because the event after taking pictures with the cosplayer-unnis cosplaying Miss Fortune and Irelia was refreshing.

“Huh, why is Poisoner here?”

As you can tell from the murmuring around.

There was a truly unexpected guest.

The identity of the guest was ‘Poisoner’.

A pro gamer currently playing in the first division of the ‘League of Legends Champions Korea League’.

Although he belongs to the mid-tier team ‘UPP’.

He is a fairly popular player thanks to his unique witty remarks and refreshing appearance.

Of course, that popularity is limited to men.

As if the 87:13 result from a previous gender ratio survey was true.

There were almost only men around him.

I don’t think there are any factors that would divide the gender ratio that much, so it’s quite strange.

But what is he doing over there?

It seems like something is written, but it’s too far away for the letters to be clearly visible.

“Unni, can we go a little closer over there?”

“Are you talking about where Poisoner-nim is?”

I nodded my head.

Honestly, I didn’t want to enter that sausage fest, but I couldn’t stand it because of my inner curiosity.

“Do as you wish.”

Having received Garam-unni’s consent, I approached that booth a little closer.

[1v1 Showdown with Poisoner]

Hmm, so that’s why so many people are gathered for an event like this.

“Hello, little lady. Did our little lady also come to see player Poisoner?”

The moment I got close to the booth, a woman wearing glasses spoke to me.

Looking at her name tag, she seems to be a booth vendor?

I wondered why she was talking to me.

“Yes.”

“Then you can either wait for the fan signing at 3 o’clock, or you can buy some merch from our booth and spin the gacha to aim for the ‘1v1 Challenge Ticket’.”

Ugh, I have to wait until 3 o’clock?

I had no intention of meeting him to that extent.

I was just curious about what the person who tormented me in solo queue with strange picks would be like in real life.

But it’s a bit of a waste to give up after coming this far…

I wracked my brain for a moment and came up with a solution.

The solution I came up with was to ‘get the 1v1 challenge ticket through gacha’.

It was an idea very much like a gambling addict.

But I was planning on buying one piece of League of Legends-related merch from this booth anyway.

The design of that ‘Poro Kindred Keychain’ was quite well done.

“Then please give me one of that one hanging over there.”

The woman guarding the booth took my card, processed the payment right away, and gave me a keychain and a piece of paper.

On that paper, the phrase ‘Spin the gacha ticket!’ was written.

“You can do the gacha at the booth next to this one.”

Hearing her words, I moved to the place where they were doing the gacha.

Surprisingly, the gacha was in the form of a paper draw that you would only see at old stationery stores.

“Unni, which one should I pick?”

“If you pick the one I tell you, you’ll hit the ceiling.”

Ah right, I forgot that Garam-unni had the Midas touch of misfortune.

Uh… then wouldn’t it work if I pick the opposite?

“Still, just pick one number for me.”

“Hmm… number 3?”

Since she chose number 3 out of 100 numbers… I should pick number 97.

I smiled faintly and picked number 97.

[Winner! Show us your skills!]

Oh, so the hypothesis that doing the opposite of Garam-unni is a sweet deal was true.

“Tch, why did you ask if you were going to do this.”

“Hehe…”

It’s a bit awkward, but as long as the result is good, it’s fine.

I’ll get the victory reward for you instead, so please cool down.

“The challenger can come this way.”

I followed the staff member who was guiding me to Poisoner with a bright smile.

As expected, I received a lot of attention on the way to him.

“Hey, look over there.”

“What, is she lost? But her cosplay is so cute.”

“It looks like she’s going to Poisoner.”

I can hear you, you people.

Why do you keep treating me like a lost child?

Hmph, if I didn’t have something to do, I would have gone and played a prank on you.

Consider yourselves lucky that I have something to do right now.

As I grumbled inwardly and followed the staff, I soon arrived in front of Poisoner.

“Hello.”

“Hell… huh…?”

Right, I knew you’d react like this, but aren’t you being too obvious?

“Little one, how did you get in here…”

Swoosh

I hold out the challenge ticket before he can finish his sentence.

It’s obvious he won’t believe me even if I explain.

Then I think the best way is to just show him with my actions.

“Player Poisoner, let’s have a one-on-one.”

“Uh… huh…?”

The emotion of ‘confusion’ appears on Poisoner’s face.

Well, it’s a natural reaction.

Because an unexpected word came out of the mouth of a young-looking kid.

“Isn’t it possible to have a 1v1 if you have a challenge ticket?”

Still, that’s that, and I absolutely have to get the victory prize.

Look at Garam-unni over there, all sulky.

If I don’t give her some kind of gift, it feels like she’ll hold a huge grudge.

I think it’ll be somewhat okay if I win a prize and give it to her as a gift.

“You can, but… are you really going to do it?”

“Of course.”

Poisoner scratched his head and guided me to the challenger’s computer.

“The champion is random, and you can ban up to four skills. Also, for every skill you ban, the grade of the prize you can receive if you win also goes down.”

Aha, so that’s how it’s done.

I was curious how it was possible to beat a pro player and get a prize without any penalty.

With that much of a penalty, even skilled regular players could probably win.

“What will our friend do?”

But I had no intention of adding a penalty.

How many times have I gotten a solo kill on him in solo queue.

I can win enough without adding a penalty.

“I’ll just play without a penalty.”

“Huh? Are you really sure? I don’t go easy on people, you know?”

Ah, I said it’s fine.

What’s more, my solo queue score is higher than yours.

“Then… I’ll start.”

We logged into a custom room and checked for any errors.

[UPP Poisoner]: When the game starts, you can pick a champion by pressing the random button once.
[UPP Poisoner]: For your information, it’s all being broadcast on the TV outside, so you can’t cheat, okay?

My, my, I’m not a child, stop nagging.

[152528del]: Are we starting?

[UPP Poisoner]: Then I’ll start.

Along with his chat, the game begins.

It’s a screen I haven’t seen in a long time because of my real life (broadcasts).

“Sseuuup~ hoooo, let’s win, Jung Yua.”

It’s been a while, but I can win, right?

I gathered all the luck from every god in the world and pressed the champion random select button.

[Irelia]

Hmm… is Irelia a decent pick?

I wonder what champion Poisoner picked.

[Jax]

Oh crap, the matchup is screwed.

Of all things, Jax, Irelia’s counter pick, came out.

…I don’t know. I have no choice but to try and win with my physical skills.

“Wow, what is that…?”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen Poisoner get pushed back that much.”

“Did another pro player come? I can’t see inside, so I don’t know.”

Fortunately, my fingers were in good enough condition to overcome the matchup difference.

I was pushed back a little at first, but once I got the hang of it, it was easy enough to win.

<Game End 7:1>

Hehe, I won completely.

He must be pretty pissed off since he lost 7 to 1, not 7 to 6 or 7 to 5.

“No… this… how…”

Uh… is he not pissed off, but just out of his mind?

I thought he would be all angry and fuming by himself.

But what anger, his mentality was in pieces and he couldn’t get a grip.

“Excuse me, are you okay?”

“Ah, um… yes, I’m f-fine. Um… congratulations on winning…”

…That’s not a congratulatory expression at all.

Well, it’s understandable since he got his soul thrashed not just by a regular person, but by a little kid.

But at this rate, it seems like it will affect his future schedule…

It would be a bit of a shame if it went that far, so I should try to resolve it a little.

“So I told you to stop being stingy with your flash.”

The words I had said while giving Poisoner advice in solo queue before.

“…Uh… eh? You, h-could you be…?”

I smiled and brought my index finger to my lips.

“Hehe, pretend you don’t know.”

“Uh… okay…”

Now he’ll know who I am.

Then… his mental state will recover to some extent.

That’s it for Poisoner’s mental cover, now I have to go cover for Garam-unni.

Otherwise, I feel like I’ll be subjected to retaliatory sexual harassment.

Ugh… no, no.

It won’t just end with sexual harassment, I’ll definitely be eaten alive.

But, I have the winner’s prize.

[LCK Finals VIP Seat Ticket (for 2)]

Perhaps because the organizers thought no one would be able to beat Poisoner without banning any skills.

They put a ticket worth 1.4 million won as a prize.

Of course, it was probably something brought in through Poisoner’s connections…

But anyway, it was certain that it was worth that much.

If I use this ticket as a pretext to ask her out to play one more time, won’t her sulking ease up a little?

Looking at Garam-unni’s usual personality, that’s probably what will happen.

“So, you’re saying you’ll go on one more date with me, so I should cool down?”

“Uh… um… yes…”

What, surely it’s not useless?

“Hmph, if you want it that badly, I shall accept.”

Phew… I don’t know if it’s a relief or not.

I tried to wipe away the non-existent cold sweat and continued the conversation.

“So how was I? Wasn’t I cool?”

“I know, right, I didn’t know you could beat a pro gamer. What, are you some kind of hidden powerhouse?”

“Huh? A hidden powerhouse?”

Have I ever done anything that would make me be called a hidden powerhouse?

At Garam-unni’s unexpected evaluation, I retraced the times I had done game broadcasts until now.

‘Isn’t it possible to kill if I shoot from here? Ah, if I wait here, only my character will be visible to the enemy?’

‘This round, it’s not that I did poorly, it’s that my teammates trolled. What? You don’t acknowledge it? Then die.’

Ahem, I should probably turn on my ability when I do game broadcasts from now on.

I seem to have gained an unexpected realization.

“Then shall we go somewhere else now?”

“Yes.”

After that, we visited several other booths.

Places like the One Piece booth or the Blue Archive booth.

There, we took pictures… and had a fun time playing games.

And so, as time passed and evening came, we parted ways and went home to our respective houses…

We couldn’t.

To be more precise, I was invited to Garam-unni’s house, almost as if I were being kidnapped.

“Alright, come on in.”

“Um… can’t I go home?”

“What are you talking about? You’ve been kidnapped.”

I don’t know if I’ll be able to go home safely today…