Chapter 2: “My reunion with the game was the worst”

Abyss Gallery

A community where discussions about Abyss take place most actively, not just in Korea, but across the world, as the game continues to expand globally.

It started humbly, but now many people frequent the gallery, keeping it ranked as the top gallery most of the time.

Anything related to Abyss is allowed here.

People argue whether this character is overpowered or that one is.

Debates about who is a master, who plays better.

There’s talk of internet streams, the Abyss Champions League, character analysis, strategy guides, and even just trolling.

Amidst the various posts, someone made a new post:

“Hasn’t Kayak been playing the game recently?
I just returned and was checking up on old players, but I can’t find Kayak anywhere. Where’d he go?”

• “Did he join the army or something? He suddenly disappeared.”
• “I think he already completed his military service.”
• “Wow, you’re right. He suddenly vanished after season 5.”
• “Maybe he stopped playing because of the server shutdown notice, thinking the game was dead?”
• “Who’s Kayak?”
  • “He was around back in the early days of the failing game.”
  • “But he only played Camilla.”
  • “Wait, are we talking about that Camilla, ranked #1 as a master?”
  • “Yeah, I saw his record still stands, even though he hasn’t played in a while.”

Kayak, a shortened form of “Camilla is weak” (in Korean, “Camilla is weak” sounds like “Kayak”), was a top-tier challenger player, known for being a master of Camilla, a one-trick specialist.

Camilla was a character no one really touched.

More precisely, she was a character people tried out and then gave up on.

She captivated Abyss players with her stunning appearance but offered subpar performance in return.

Despite her high difficulty, her abilities were weak—high risk, low reward.

Camilla was labeled as “pretty trash,” a hero new players might try out briefly before abandoning.

Except for one person.

“Kayak was really incredible at playing Camilla.”

The player known as “Camilla is weak” suddenly appeared one day, proposing a new theory about how to play Camilla.

People couldn’t help but take notice of this sudden appearance of a master.

After all, no one had seen a player like this before.

Even professional players had deemed Camilla as trash, yet Kayak not only reached Challenger but maintained his spot at the top.

“See? It’s simple, isn’t it?”

Of course, most players couldn’t fully grasp his strategies and theories.

Even if they understood, they didn’t accept them, thinking it was a waste of time to invest in mastering a character like Camilla when they could focus on better heroes instead.

Yet, for some players, the name “Camilla is weak,” or “Kayak,” stuck in their minds.

He was a rare, passionate player in the early days of the game, when few others even bothered to play.

But now that the game had grown massively, for some reason, Kayak seemed to have disappeared.

People who remembered him were lamenting this fact, leaving comments on the post.

And then, a new comment appeared under the post about Kayak:

“? Kayak is playing right now.”

There are certain unspoken rules in the world—like gravity making an apple fall if you drop it, or a person dying if they’re shot.

These are obvious laws of nature.

We’ve agreed to call them “common sense.”

And the common sense I believe in typically goes like this:

A TS (transformed) beautiful girl must be strangely good at the game, breathtakingly pretty, and skilled enough to hold her own against pros.

When she streams, everyone should be showering her with praise.

Constant donations are a given, and a beautiful editor should be clamoring to manage her YouTube channel for her.

Yes, this is common sense. Isn’t it only natural for a TS girl to be loved and adored by everyone?

That’s why I, too, planned to stream someday. I had no problems with my livelihood, so I could spend my time playing games, improving my rank.

At least Diamond. No, I’d need to hit higher than that to make it respectable when I start streaming.

As someone aiming to show off my skills on stream, I couldn’t possibly let people see me stuck in a low tier.

Ever since the world changed, and everything along with it, my account—which should’ve been parked at the top tier—hadn’t even completed its placements yet.

The last time I played was three seasons ago. That was three years ago, and because of that, my account had gone dormant, giving me a headache trying to unlock it again.

But whatever, it’s not a big deal.

Three years after announcing the shutdown, the game made a comeback as a legendary title. That’s how Abyss’s history played out in this world.

Compared to that, my account being locked and deranked? It’s a minor issue. The game didn’t die, and I can just climb the ranks again.

Once again, winning games and climbing ranks is as easy as pie for me.

Why? Because I’m a TS girl. I was already a top player like it was second nature, and now I’ve got the TS buff? It’s already game over from here.

Who could possibly stand in my way? TS girls are gods and invincible!

At least, that’s what I thought.

• You have been killed by the enemy.

“Huh?”

Why… is this happening?

I could only stare blankly at the message on the screen.

No way… did I really die?

• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon) has targeted CamillaIsWeak(Camilla)!]
• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon): CamillaIsWeak has been slain!]
• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon): CamillaIsWeak – 24 seconds until respawn]
• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon): Why’d you go in there?]
• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon): Are you an idiot?]

A sharp ping and a flood of angry messages from my teammate followed.

This, too, felt as unfamiliar as my new appearance.

There didn’t used to be people like this. Players, especially new ones, were so rare and precious that even after a poor play, no one got mad.

The harshest thing you’d hear was something like, “Ah, close one lol. Maybe try doing it this way next time?” That was it.

• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon): Why do I always get stuck with such brain-dead rookies?]
• [EmptyYourMindAndBeHappy(Lan): Can you stop cursing and focus?]
• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon): Focus on what? The game’s already over, dude.]

Despite Nixon’s rough language, he wasn’t wrong.

The game already seemed hopeless. A few mistakes on my part, combined with my team’s errors, had snowballed into a massive problem.

Even so, Nixon’s attitude left me uncomfortable.

There didn’t use to be players like that in the past.

Even if players like that existed back then, they were quickly called out in the gallery, bombarded with criticism, or reprimanded by the rest of the team until they quieted down.

However, based on Nixon’s shameless attitude and Lan’s reaction, it seemed like players like Nixon had become the norm.

He was just another typical Abyss player, it seemed.

As my precious “dead game” turned into a “god game” with more players joining, it also seemed like the quality of the community had worsened.

It was inevitable. In the best games of my world, there were always plenty of mentally unstable players.

A game where 1 in 10 people are normal. It’s the unfortunate reality of a “god game,” something you have to deal with.

• [EmptyYourMindAndBeHappy(Lan): It’s over, lol.]
• [Pacquiao(Nox): Yeah.]

Meanwhile, even as I continued playing, lost in thought, the game was slowly heading toward defeat.

Lan, who had been encouraging the team, seemed to have given up, and Nox, our ADC who hadn’t said a word until now, had also lost his will to fight.

• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon): We’re losing because of this idiot.]
• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon): Wasn’t this Camilla Challenger in Season 5? Did you buy your account? Why are you so bad?]
• [SickGame(Haven): I don’t get why you’re playing Camilla in the first place. She’s garbage and no one uses her.]

Even Haven, who had been playing diligently, started criticizing me, adding insults about Camilla.

But this made me wonder:

Sure, I didn’t play well, and yes, I made a few mistakes here and there, but was it really necessary to single me out and blame me for everything?

No.

Looking at it objectively, I wasn’t the reason we were losing this game.

If we’re pointing fingers, Nixon, who had the most deaths, was likely the culprit.

“Ah.”

Then it hit me.

I wasn’t the problem—I’d been played!

This guy, to avoid getting blamed, had picked an easy target—me—and was redirecting all the criticism my way before anyone could turn on him.

It was a dirty tactic I’d never encountered in the clean games of the past.

Once for Nixon’s behavior, manipulating the team with his chat instead of focusing on the game, and once more for the silent agreement of my other teammates, who seemed to support him.

Two times in total.

I was deeply shocked.

• Defeat

Of course, during all this, the enemy team had continued their advance and successfully destroyed our base.

• [MasterToTheTop(Nixon): Just quit the game.]

Nixon’s chat message popped up as the game ended.

Seeing that, my hands trembled slightly in humiliation.

Tremble, tremble.

My reunion with the game after just one day had turned out to be the worst possible experience.