Chapter 3: Where the best players are

The moment I put on the VR device.

‘So this is how it feels.’

I felt like my body was floating for a moment, and then I was transported to a simple room, not the PC bang.

Meanwhile, the familiar input interfaces, the mouse and keyboard, were neatly placed on the desk in the middle of the room.

I was a little puzzled by the fact that there was no monitor, but soon after, a screen-like display filled one side of the room, and I no longer felt uneasy.

As always, I double-clicked the icon of LOC on the screen, and before entering, I connected to the voice chat channel of my school friends that I had found out about.

[My ID is]

Of course, I didn’t say much.

It was obvious that if I said one word, they would spit out a dozen sentences.

It’s unreasonable to expect restraint from guys who get carried away by a girl they don’t even know asking them to play a game.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to leave them like that.

‘Well, skill is everything.’

Whether it’s pro or internet broadcasting, or even among friends like now, the one who’s good at the game is king in the game.

Anyway, after adjusting the mouse and keyboard sensitivity, I was invited to a 5-man flex queue.

The host was, of course, Jeong Jihwan, who had the highest rank.

Of course, I remember that guy by a different name.

‘…Fluke.’

LOCK (League Of Champions Korea), that is, 5 wins in the Korean 1st division league, 2 wins in the invitational-style international competition in the middle of the season, and MVP as if he was eating rice.

But the modifier people attached to him was far from that record.

—A f*cker who doesn’t even have a Fluke season.

From his point of view, he took the nickname Fluke itself from the English name of flounder, but there was no hole to refute it because it was the same spelling as Fluke, which is called a fluke.

Of course, the reason why he got such a bad modifier, worse than a curse, is obvious.

‘Because there’s no LOC World Cup.’

To be precise, he went to the finals about three times.

Twice he lost to Chinese teams, and the other time, that is, in the last World Cup held just before the update suspension notice, he lost to me and had no connection with the LOC World Cup for the rest of his life.

There were many unfortunate players in the history of LOC, but if I had to say it, he was the last unfortunate player.

While I was lost in memories, the queue was quickly caught.

As the screen filled one side of the wall, a program that allows you to immediately check the opponent’s solo rank tier and record was attached next to the ban-pick window.

We have Grandmaster, Diamond, Silver, Diamond, and Diamond from top to bottom.

Of course, I’m naturally in charge of Silver.

It’s not strange that I have the placement tier I received when I was addicted to fanboying since I haven’t played ranked games yet.

Anyway, the opponent is Diamond, Diamond, Master, Diamond, Master.

“…Isn’t the opponent’s mid Master?”

“The opponent is so tough because MMR is adjusted because of you, Jihwan!”

“Bullsh*t.”

Perhaps to match the total level of the team, I was suddenly matched with a Master.

“…Are you really going to play mid?”

Jihwan suggested that I change because he was worried that I would be completely destroyed in the laning phase, but that wouldn’t happen, so it didn’t matter.

“I’m better at mid than you.”

It’s a proven fact in front of over 30,000 spectators, so you can believe it.

“A Silver?”

“……I’m going to escape soon, okay?”

It’s not escaping, I’m going to shoot a rocket and run straight to Challenger.

Naturally, that guy didn’t believe me, but he would find out soon anyway.

So I picked it right away.

[Is that right?]

[Eunseol-nim said she wanted to do it.]

[Recommend a support that goes well with that.]

What appeared in my pick window was a female assassin champion with her hair neatly tied up.

One of the so-called sword champions where physical and judgment are important.

“It’s my first time playing with VR, so everyone just go even so I can get used to it.”

The voice channel became much louder than when I picked.

[You’re picking an assassin champ for your first game?]

[I don’t know, just enjoy it.]

[Even?]

[He’s probably talking to Jihwan.]

[I guess.]

The tier difference between the tops is not established in the first place.

If I wanted to, that guy could dry the opponent to death, or he could just kill them as if he was taking out a snack, so I didn’t want the game to explode due to the top difference.

“So you just do something sturdy.”

“……You don’t need me to carry?”

“Why play the game if that’s the case?”

“……”

Fortunately, since there are not those long, long ones yet, if you say sturdy, they were all tank champions who were only really sturdy and had no damage.

Jihwan didn’t say anything else and just quietly picked as I told him, as if he wanted to see what I was doing.

And the rest, well. Anyway, each lane’s tier was similar, so I didn’t say anything additional.

Like that, the game started.

Naturally, the goal is to win from the moment the game starts.

Of course, the trolls’ goals may be different, but since we played a 5-man queue, there shouldn’t be any trolls on the team.

‘…Or is there?’

From Jihwan’s point of view, it seemed that it was fair to say that Eunseol, a Silver, was practically trolling from the start by engaging in a trade with a Master-tier mid laner, no matter what her confidence was.

‘I can’t even help.’

In fact, just looking at the opponent’s movement, regardless of which champion he played, he could crush the opponent and roam anywhere.

But that would be going against Eunseol’s words.

‘…I’ll really just watch until before the game is over.’

If he could fix it before it was too late to do anything, she could develop a genuine interest in this game, and he would also get a victory, so it wouldn’t be bad.

And the four of them had similar thoughts.

They should have.

The kill log that appeared less than five minutes after the game started was in a completely different direction from the thoughts of the four people, including Jihwan.

As I devoted my life to the game LOH, I felt a thrill the moment I checked the first kill log.

‘The movement is light.’

When I switched to first-person just before entering battle in the quarter view, I was literally facing the opponent in the mid lane of the Twisted Treeline.

Without having to press the skill button, just thinking about it, as long as the cooldown is not remaining, the body moves immediately, and the movement was more flexible and smoother.

Curve movements, which are practically impossible with clicks, were also very elegant.

‘First of all, the movement correction when using skills is certain…it’s easier to react on this side for evasion.’

When hitting non-target skills, the quarter view from above can be convenient.

But evasion was a different case.

Reaction speed and prediction are important for skill evasion.

But in the first-person perspective, since the signal to move is sent directly from the brain without going through the keyboard or mouse, the reaction speed was faster, and there was no need to go to prediction.

‘So I should assume that all pros have this level of reaction…’.

All that’s left is to get used to the quick switching and mixing of the quarter view and first-person perspectives.

Of course, the scarecrow to replace that is the opponent champion in front of me, the shield soldier.

And so, in less than ten minutes, he casted a quick move to the safe rear several times.

Of course, it wasn’t his intention.

We won two or three games in a row, taking a quick surrender, and I turned off Lock.

It was too late for each of us to do more. They all said they could skip cram school, but that pricked my conscience.
“What’s with your skill?”

“Duo with me!”

“Please let me get to Master…”
I stretched, roughly pushing away the guys who were flocking with the shield of my girl friends.

“The rest can be practiced at home.”

“Did you have fun?”

“The kids at our school are pretty good at Lock, aren’t they?”
I said it for the kids who played with me to hear.

They made expressions like this isn’t it—but soon grinned when they heard my words.

It’s only amateur level, but still, I could praise them as many times as I wanted because they went along with my stubbornness at first.

[True#Silver : 28/0/7]

I closed the result window of the last game and tried to get up from my seat—

“Huh?”

I sat down again.
“You gathered the boys to play games, and now you’re doing slapstick?”
At Eun Chae’s words, who laughed with a chuckle, I tried to get up from my seat again, but I couldn’t put strength into my body.
“……You really are playing Lock for the first time.”
And Jihwan, who saw me like that, asked me with a shocked face.
“To be precise, it’s my first time playing with this on my head.”

“I know. You look like that because of your current body condition.”

“What about my body condition?”

“You didn’t read the precautions for that VR device, did you?”

“…Probably?”
I didn’t remember it, at least.
I quickly turned on the search window on the computer that still had time left and read through the VR device precautions.
“Excessive use due to lack of physical strength or other special reasons…muscle pain and general body pain?”
What’s this again.
“The device gives electrical stimulation to your whole body.”
Let’s skip the complicated scientific theory and put it simply.
If you play with enough basic muscle strength and physical strength, your body will gradually become stronger as if you received electric therapy, and if your body condition is bad, you will end up like me.
“…Sigh.”
I suddenly looked over my body.

White skin, slender legs, soft flesh, a body with curves in all the right places.
But the only thing that is not visible.
“If you want to be a pro, build up your muscles and basic stamina first.”
“……”
It seems that the first thing I have to ask my dad to buy me is not the latest VR device, but exercise equipment.
No wonder the physique of the pro gamers when I watched the game in person was different from my memory.
“And are you really trying to go pro?”
“You watched my laning phase while playing top, so you know, right?”

“……Then, if you’re interested, try contacting here.”
Jihwan hesitated for a moment and handed me a business card from his inside pocket.
“Milky Way S……”

“The contact information for the scout in charge. If it’s you—”
Before he could even finish speaking, I stuffed the business card back into his pocket.
“Absolutely. Not. Going.”

The best player will be at ST.

Always.
“So you don’t go there either, just come to ST Academy as a top laner.”
“What?”

“LOC World Cup. I’ll make you win.”
At least it will be more likely than now.

Because I’ll be there.