Chapter 26: The greatest genius rookie of all time

[With the Nexus destroyed—GG!]

[ST overwhelms DS Gaming in the 2nd set as well, taking the total set score to 2-0 and rising to 1st place in the league, albeit temporarily!]

My Master League debut was successfully concluded.

“Good job! You did great!”

As the five of us gathered and headed back to the waiting room, Coach Ahn Jaehoon greeted us with a bright face in the middle hallway.

Perhaps he had suffered a lot seeing the performance of ST3 last season, he was even shedding tears, moved by today’s victory.

“Especially Eunseol! You really worked hard.”

“If they have any conscience, they’ll give me POM at the analysis desk too, right?”
“Wouldn’t it be stranger if we got even one vote?”
“I, I also have no deaths…”
“Shut up.”
“……”

As expected, the tool manages the spoon well.

“Isn’t the AD Carry getting the kills and assists without being first in damage just stat padding?”
“If I wanted to survive there, I had to back off, right?”
“I think it’s a long-term gain to throw you away and save Eunseol, no matter how I look at it.”

Even though they say that, they seem eager to praise each other.

Or not.

Anyway, seeing the warm appearance of the bottom duo building up their friendship thanks to today’s victory, I wondered if it would be good for the top side to gather as well, so I looked around at the others.

“Why didn’t you come gank top today, Changhyun?”

Hmm.

It seems that Fluke has become a top lane devotee—disease—quite a bit.

Of course, even today, his skill itself hasn’t gone anywhere, considering that he took the first initiative, found the angle to assassinate by going around the back, and in the 2nd set, he played a tank champion steadily and even led the laning phase, but I felt like I might have twisted his life a bit.

“Okay, okay. Stop fighting. You, try to develop more independence as a top laner.”
“What independence.”
“I said that top lane is a lane that lives with the mindset of winning a two-on-one fight.”
“Who said that?”
“Someone.”

The current ST top laner and two-time LOC World Cup winner.

One of the four people who made my LOCK debut a defeat.

For reference, I’ll say it again, it’s four.

In the season right after Fraud retired, the form of all the guys in the team except me plummeted vertically.

Just thinking about that time makes me grind my teeth.

Especially, I have a lot of intertwined things with the top lane personally.

“But no matter how I think about it, I tried playing top, and it’s best to call the hunter first.”
“You finally realized it. It’s time for you to learn the Ox summoning spell.”

If you know this, the hunter will give up on whatever he was eating and run straight to my lane.

“…That’s because it’s you.”

Fluke gave a hollow laugh, but I added to him.

“Trust is important. Even in a teamfight, if you think it won’t work but you go in anyway, if they follow, something will happen.”

If you go in one by one into the opponent’s mouth, you’ll end up like sausages, but if you go in all at once, something will happen, whether the opponent’s mouth tears, their throat gets blocked and they die, or they get indigestion and feel uncomfortable.

If it doesn’t work, just let the Nexus explode and play the next game.

“So, shall we eat to strengthen the friendship between us, the top side?”
“Abandon the bottom?”
“Let’s gather once as the top side and once as a team and eat at the same restaurant.”

Coach, who was listening to that from the side, added.

“It’s on me. It’s our first win of the season, shouldn’t we eat meat?”

As expected, the coach is the best at team bonding.

“Shall we eat beef?”
“No, an all-you-can-eat pork restaurant.”
“…Don’t you have a corporate card?”
“I do, but if it was that generous, I would have used it myself. I sometimes order drinks at the cafe with it. You have to know how to be satisfied with what you have.”
“Should we invite Eunseol to the all-you-can-eat restaurant too?”
“Of course, we have to invite her. If we don’t invite the player who did the best today, who should we in……Ah.”

I understand that it’s not a matter of money or harmony, but there are some parts that are inherently difficult to deal with.

I know too.

I know what happens when men eat meat, drink alcohol, and have a good time together.

That’s why I opened my mouth even more casually.

“Let’s go to the street across from the side road of the building. There’s a delicious meat restaurant there.”

There’s a meat restaurant that I used to go to and eat when I was comfortable, whether my salary was high or low.

“…That’s a very hidden gem restaurant, how do you know, Eunseol?”
“These days, all the good restaurants are on SNS.”

Even with my words, the coach looked quite puzzled, but I feigned ignorance appropriately.

It was practically a team-only meat restaurant that took care of ST players a lot, so there was no way I wouldn’t know.

Anyway, while we were chatting like that and reviewing in the waiting room, a staff member shouted from outside the door.

“True, please prepare for the POM interview! You have to go back on stage soon!”

I responded appropriately and straightened my hair, which was pressed down by lying on the egg-shaped chair.

It seemed like I was getting to know how to neatly arrange long hair.

“It’s right for Eunseol to receive it.”
“Who else would they give it to if not her?”
“They might have hesitation/concern between me and Eunseol.”

Well, Strike did well too.

If the AD Carry has no deaths, that’s good.

“That makes no sense. And aside from everything else, if you receive it today, that would be a riot in itself.”
“Why?”
“Did you see how many people came saying they were True fans on stage?”
“……”

Our team’s support and Strike’s suppressor, Bell—Min Jiseok—reminded me of the atmosphere in the audience.

‘True! True! True!’
‘Please take me, Noona!’
‘True looked at me! I’ve been chosen, so I’ll stand above the viewers!’
‘Please throw one more eye mask!’

The people chanting my name right after the game were incomparable to before the game started.

Well, it wasn’t particularly strange.

It was clear that half of the one thousand people in the capacity were fans who came after watching my broadcast, and two-thirds of the other half were ST fans.

Therefore, when ST won, it was natural for my name, which had the largest share in that victory, to flow out.

“But I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Is there anyone here who watches my broadcast? Of course not, right?”
“……”

Why is there no answer.

“Excuse me?”

Can’t you at least answer me without avoiding eye contact?

“…Don’t tell me you’re all watching, right?”

There was still no answer.

In the quiet waiting room, I struggled through the silence and came back to the bright stage.

“Now, please welcome today’s Player of the Match, ST’s True!”

Coming back to a bright and cheering place makes me feel like I can breathe.

Three people who were looking at me with expressions that looked like they had done something wrong, and Fluke with an ambiguous expression.

Someday, I’ll find their streaming site sub-accounts and ban them myself.

“True, were you very nervous?”
“No, yes. Ah. Yes. Well. A little…”

I was thinking about various things at the same time, so my words got tangled, but fortunately, the announcer who hosted the show had dealt with many professional gamers who lacked communication skills, so she naturally continued the conversation.

“It was your debut today, but you performed so well that you received the POM. Do you have any secrets?”
“Uh…well, there was nothing special, and the game went well as we prepared, so there’s nothing special to say. The opposing team also did well, but I think we did a little better.”

Fortunately, it wasn’t the first or second time I’ve had an interview like this, so I was able to give a decent answer right after I came to my senses.

“True, you also stream, right? Actually, in a way, this could be seen as your first fan meeting, do you have anything to say to True’s personal fans?”
“First of all, please support ST a lot, and I’ll turn on the stream in the evening, so I’ll see you then.”

Suddenly, the stadium erupted in cheers that seemed to tear it apart.

It seems right to keep those guys trapped in the internet world forever, rather than releasing them into this arena.

“Lastly, please tell us your determination for this season!”
“I’ll definitely win, so Fraud, please clear your schedule.”

If winning the Master League is an invitation to fight Fraud, I was confident that I could get it over and over again.

At my words, cheers that were incomparable to before resounded through the stadium.

“Do you watch the Master League too?”
“There are players from our team debuting today.”
“You’re watching it, so you must be quite concerned, right, Hyung?”

The current ST1 top laner, Woo Dowon, expressed his doubts while watching Fraud, who was watching a lower league game for some reason.

“The others still need to be seen more, but maybe two of them will come up to the 1st division.”
“Who?”
“Top and mid.”

It was a simple answer, but the person who heard this knew the weight of it.

“Will they get through me? No, rather, who will push Hyung out?”
“I’ve competed too, so it’s not impossible.”
“……This Hyung is serious.”

[ So Fraud,]

Dowon, who was already thirsty from Fraud’s words and was drinking a beverage, sprayed it out.

No.

All the 1st division players in the practice room turned their attention to Fraud.

True unknowingly scored two wins in one day.