Chapter 9: New Spark

It’s already been three days since my account was suspended due to the game company’s tyranny of not recognizing self-defense.

“Why aren’t you streaming these days?”

I was determined to go home, mute everyone, and climb the ranks today, but Jihwan suddenly spoke to me after school.

“Wait, you were watching my stream?”

I thought he was only interested in Lock and not in internet broadcasts, so it was surprising that he was watching my stream.

“Sometimes, before the queue pops. You’re good.”

He nodded his head and asked again why I had been taking a break from streaming lately.

“…Suspension due to inappropriate language? What did you say?”

“I couldn’t stand it when the support was eating experience in mid.”

“Ah.”

It wasn’t even just eating, he was conspiring with the opposing player to throw me into the pit of defeat.

I guess it’s fortunate that I managed to crawl back up and succeed in revenge.

Meanwhile, at my explanation, he nodded his head and quickly understood.

There’s something that connects mid laners.

“Oh right. I’m not a mid laner anymore.”

“……What?”

I almost dropped my phone.

“No, really? Why?”

As I kept asking, he showed me his match history from a match history site without saying anything more.

And in that match history, except for the games played in the secondary position, he was playing all games as top.

‘…Did my words have that much of an impact?’

Fluke—Jeong Jihwan—heard a lot of talk about being titleless, but that’s because he had the ability to win the LOC World Cup but couldn’t.

Originally, players who can’t do it at all don’t even hear the titleless talk because there are no expectations.

In that sense, the fact that Fluke, who was classified as a top-tier mid laner until the end of the LOC game scene, suddenly gave up the mid lane, came as a shock to me.

“Why are you surprised? You said it yourself. If I come to ST as a top laner, you’ll make me win the LOC World Cup.”

“You signed a trainee contract with Milky Way.”

“I told the coach that I wanted to change my position to top, and he said he’d think about it again, but when I contacted ST, they said they’d welcome it, so I just changed.”

Come to think of it, it’s not a pro contract, it’s just a middle school student’s trainee contract, so there was no way there would be any complicated and poisonous clauses that would benefit the club.

It wouldn’t be difficult to transfer with a few documents prepared.

“Did you decide after thinking about it enough?”

“Every time I queue up, I see you, and I can’t do it like you.”

Maybe, one of the big branches of the future I knew might have changed.

“Well, you don’t have to feel too sorry. Surprisingly, it suits my aptitude well.”

The display of the tier at the top of the match history site was something strange.

“…Are you maybe.”

“I reached Challenger as top.”

Perhaps he was hiding it on purpose, he answered me with a grin.

“When did you reach it?”

“Yesterday.”

When I was dating trolls in the Twisted Treeline to climb to Diamond, he reached Challenger even though he changed his position to top.

It’s faster than the original history.

Of course, being a Challenger in middle school doesn’t guarantee success as a pro, but among successful pros, there were many who showed prominence from middle school.

So it meant that he strongly impressed the coaches as soon as he moved teams and positions at the same time.

“Do well there. I’ll be there soon too.”

“Since I joined ST first, treat me as your senior when you join the ST Academy later.”

“What are you saying.”

The number of meals I ate there was dozens of times more than this guy.

“If it’s by seniority, there’s only Fraud above me. Everyone else is below me.”

From Fraud’s retirement until LOC died.

I was always ST’s mid laner.

Sometimes the surrounding players were replaced all at once, but I was always in that position.

“…So. You’re saying you’re the best except for Fraud?”

Of course, he seemed to accept it as a different kind of confidence.

Well, that’s not wrong, so let’s move on.

More than anything.

I was confident that I could make those words come true.

With about 10 minutes left until the ranked game restriction was lifted, I turned on the stream.

“It’s been a while.”

Even though it was a stream after three days, people came rushing in.

—Hi.

—You’re finally here.

—You came?

—It was too cold…

—Why did you go silent without saying anything?

I neatly resolved that question with a single ranked game restriction notice.

—Ah lolol.

—If you go all out like that, that’s right~.

—Explain why you cursed at normal people.

—Damn, kick out the trolls.

—If you don’t curse there, you’re a Buddha.

—lol.

—Ah lol that?

—Never search for ‘middle school girl Lock rage’.

—Bookmark.

—Bookmark.

—Thanks.

Of course, if you’re aiming to be a pro, it’s better to have no controversy, but this was within the control range.

First of all, it was clear that I was the victim, and above all, age is not just for show.

The age of a middle school student was a big shield for me, who was just a streamer, not even a formal player.

In addition, although it wasn’t expected, the patch notes that came out right after my incident occurred broadened the scope of trolling and lengthened the suspension period, so the overall public opinion was good, not only among the viewers who watched my stream.

—Thanks to that, troll sanctions have been strengthened in this patch, so it’s great.

—lol.

—The great light True who sacrificed herself to destroy the trolls.

—Thank you!

—Ranked point damage compensation is also provided lol.

—I wonder how many people sent the True rage video to the head office lolol.

—You can’t help but sympathize if you watch the full video.

—So pitiful, True True.

—The game just starts and she’s just desperate…

—Even the video is a 1-man carry.

—lololol.

“Yes. Anyway. So I unintentionally took a vacation and comfortably played normal games with my smurf account.”

Thanks to that, I exercised throughout my free time.

It was still hard, but compared to the first week, it was bearable.

“Well, now that the restriction is lifted, shall we start the game?”

So, after finishing the small talk with chitchat, I started the full-scale Lock stream.

“I reached Diamond last time, right? Now there’s only one goal for the stream.”

I wrote it in large letters on the notepad used as a notice.

“So I’ll skip minor missions like going from Diamond to Master, or Grand Master.”

—Mi?nor?

—(Translation) Give me something big.

—lololol.

—Her collection skills are improving day by day.

—lol.

As soon as I finished speaking, a mission came up.

—??????

—You’re betting on this right away?

—Is this a safe asset this time?

—You trust the director lol.

—Damn lol, is this the director too?

—Run away~.

—Super rich.

—Big capital go~.

—Big hand.

—Is this mission even possible?

—The season itself is long, so in the end, it’s a matter of skill.

I intentionally closed my mouth for a moment, and the viewers’ chat immediately became a mess.

—But she doesn’t seem to lack skill?

—She’s still Diamond 4, what are you talking about?

—Even if you’re only in the upper ranks of Master, you can get 10 or 20 kills in the Diamond~Plat range.

—lol.

—It depends on how you look at it.

—Bullsh*t.

—A middle school girl is god.

—She’s skilled enough to challenge to become a pro gamer, so she’ll crush ranked games.

—Do you think pro gamer is a joke?

Seeing that they were divided into those who doubted my skills and those who sent unconditional trust, it meant that there were still many people who doubted my skills.

And it was my role to turn that anxiety and doubt into cheers.

“What are you watching?”

In front of Jihwan, who was watching Eunseol’s solo queue while eating a late dinner, the academy coach appeared.

“Just, a friend’s stream.”

“The one who told you to play top instead of mid laner?”

“Yes.”

“It was a girl?”

The coach looked puzzled and watched the stream together for a while.

‘…She’s good for a girl, no, she’s just very good.’

Just watching for a moment, from the laning details to running to the Twisted Forest where hunters hunt monsters, not minions, to level up even before a ping is placed.

Except for the screen showing her upper body and keyboard, it was believable to say that it was a solo queue video of any pro gamer.

“Jaehoon hyung.”

So when I was immersed in the stream and immersed in the game from Eunseol’s point of view.

Fraud was standing behind the two of them.

“What are you watching that you’re so focused on?”

After checking the screen for a moment, he smiled like a mischievous boy, not the external appearance of dealing with a coach, but like dealing with a close older brother.

“Can I tell your wife?”

“Hey, hey. She’s a middle schooler. What nonsense are you talking about? I was really just watching because she plays the game just like you, without a single lie.”

“…Like me?”

It was quite unfamiliar to see him say this, as he was a coach who was known for being stingy with praise, not only to pros but also to young players who were still attending the academy, and for giving harsh feedback to promising juniors.

“What’s the name of that stream?”

“Middle school girl from Silver to Challenger Day 12.”

“……”

It was a very intuitive name.