Chapter 12: I will definitely get my hands on it.

The game has begun.

3-minute top lane honor recruit – Nyar

yytvxxiaojin – Nidalee

997785dd55 – Renekton

GodTukiKingBunjaJang – Tristana

NMMU – 2||04||

As expected, the opposing mid-jungle duo’s nicknames were familiar.

It felt like they immediately queued up again, relentlessly discussing the absurd defeat we had just suffered.

• Welcome to the Summoner’s Rift!

I checked the invade matchups.

[Allied / Enemy]

Top: Sion / Nyar
Jungle: Ekko / Nidalee
Mid: Sett / Renekton
ADC: Samira / Tristana
Support: Nautilus / Leona

“Half-and-half… well, strictly speaking, I’d say we’re slightly disadvantaged.”

Except for me, our team’s picks were all very strong early-game champions. However, the problem was, of course, me.

It was inevitable once I picked the relatively weak Ekko.

Our team was set up on the bottom side.

!!!!

I placed a few wards and then retreated completely, pinging for a fallback.

This signaled that I had no intention of engaging in an invade fight.

Of course, since our team’s picks were quite strong, we could have fought if we really wanted to. But for this game, I planned to conserve some strength in the early game.

“But isn’t Prisoner an invade one-trick? All the games that are won these days seem to be decided in invades.”

I wasn’t really concerned about that comment.

Really, I wasn’t.

Seriously.

!!!

When I pinged, my teammates also placed wards and retreated.

The ward locations were around the Bladeflower crossroads and the bush near the upper river island.

With this much vision, we could tell how the enemy was approaching.

As soon as the clock hit 1 minute, all five enemy players revealed themselves near the Bladeflower crossroads, turning their lenses.

“They’re coming.”

Without hesitation, I pinged for a retreat again and gave up vision on our red side.

This was going to be a very difficult early game compared to what I had planned.

“I have no idea where the enemy jungler is starting.”

Would they clear my red buff and start there, or would they just take the vision and leave? The information was limited now since the vision had already been cleared.

“In situations like this, I have no choice but to minimize risks.”

I decided to head to the upper jungle for a blue-side start.

Nyahahaha!

At that moment, Nyar sneaked over and placed a ward on my blue buff.

As a jungler, this was truly a frustrating moment.

Now, not only did the enemy know where my jungle start was, but they had also hidden their own information.

It has been just a little over a minute since the game started, but for a jungler, the game already feels halfway over.

“To some extent, this was expected.”

In a way, the situation had completely reversed compared to the previous game.

This game seemed like a perfect opportunity to prove myself.

1 minute 30 seconds.

The jungle monsters appeared, and I began my standard jungle path, starting with Blue Buff, followed by Gromp, and then Wolves.

[Ekko – Level 2]

Now, this is where it gets important.

“Hmm.”

I kept a close eye on the movements of the enemy mid and bottom lanes.

In lower tiers, it might not be as noticeable, but in higher levels, the jungler’s position often becomes evident through the movement of the laners.

“From what I can see, it looks like they’re splitting their path, but…”

The real problem is, I can’t be certain.

After all, the enemy clearly remembers what happened to me in the last game.

There’s no guarantee that I won’t be caught in the same situation again.

“Currently, there are three likely places where I expect Nidalee to be.”

The first is the same route she took last game: stealing my Red Buff, then recalling and heading to protect her own Red Buff.

The second is after taking all of my bottom-side jungle camps, then rotating to her Blue-side camps, which is the so-called “split path.”

The third is starting at her Blue Buff and clearing her own jungle.

“So, what now?”

I don’t know where the enemy is.

But it doesn’t matter.

No matter where they are, I can just lure them out.

I waited in the bush heading towards mid.

The moment a few minions in the mid lane died…

[Ekko – Level 3]

“Alright.”

This was the so-called “magic path.”

Finally, at level 3, I pinged Renekton in the mid lane.

“I’ll take control of mid.”

Ekko’s W skill was placed behind Renekton, and I quickly closed the distance.

Renekton, probably not expecting a mid lane gank at that timing, seemed a bit flustered, but quickly regained composure, using his “Slice and Dice” to escape.

“Not a chance.”

I used Flash to follow, and Renekton, realizing he could no longer hold back his summoner spells, immediately used his Flash to escape.

It was a decent gank.

Renekton barely managed to escape with his summoner spells, but mid-lane control had already shifted firmly to Sett.

“I had considered a 2v2 skirmish, but Nidalee never showed up. That means she must have been far away from mid.”

With that, I had a clearer idea of Nidalee’s path.

Her movements, which had been shrouded in fog until now, were starting to become clearer.

And then…

!!!

Nidalee, with both buffs, appeared in the top lane.

[Nidalee – Level 4]

Nidalee had appeared in the top lane at level 4.

As expected, Nidalee had followed the Red Buff path.

• Flash!

With Nidalee’s gank, Sion used his Flash and barely managed to survive.

Nyar had not yet reached level 6, so her gank response was relatively weak.

This meant that both Nidalee and I had exchanged ganks once.

Of course, for the time being, I might be at a slight disadvantage.

After all, I had used my Flash, and I was falling behind Nidalee in terms of leveling.

But the important thing was that I was playing Ekko, one of the scaling champions.

“Given the circumstances, this is still a pretty solid start.”

If I had made even a small mistake, the worst-case scenario would have been losing not just the Scuttle Crab but also control of the 3 buffs.

Somehow, I had managed to bring the situation to a relatively even state.

“Alright, let’s try again.”

The game ended.

My final KDA was 13/0/11.

It was a dominant victory.

In Beijing, China, at the GRS team house.

GRS’s mid laner, Li Zhixuan, couldn’t hide his excitement after a long time.

He had just achieved a 35-game win streak in the highly competitive Korean server, which was considered the top-tier league.

But that streak had just been brutally broken.

Of course, he had known that a day like this would come eventually.

A 35-game win streak in Korean Solo Queue, where monsters roam—he had vaguely thought it was bound to break sooner or later, even though it had been achieved through duo queue.

The problem was the process itself.

The defeat was utterly absurd.

At first, he thought it was just a fluke.

Maybe the enemy’s early invade strategy had worked by chance, leading to the loss.

That was all he thought.

Li Zhixuan, along with the jungler Huang Haoran, who had been part of the 35-game win streak, queued up again.

They couldn’t just slink away like beaten dogs.

Sure enough, they encountered Prisoner once again on the enemy team.

Huang Haoran boldly declared,

“This time, let’s get our revenge, brother.”

“Of course.”

And they lost.

Although the form of the defeat was different from the first, the overwhelming loss was just as crushing.

Red Cup runner-up.

35-game win streak in Korean Solo Queue.

Throughout all of this, the two had always been cheerful, but now, for the first time, a long silence fell between them.

Even when they had lost in the Red Cup finals, they had comforted each other, but the defeat just moments ago was so shocking that they had no words left.

“…I’m going to rest first.”

“Uh, yeah. Okay.”

After Huang Haoran returned to his room, Li Zhixuan absentmindedly watched the replay.

Every movement had no waste, the judgment was sharp, and the execution was precise.

“Impressive.”

The one who had dealt such despair to the Red Cup runner-up and the dominant mid-jungle duo of the Chinese league, GRS, was none other than Prisoner.

Surprisingly, the one who had driven them into despair was neither a professional with an outstanding career nor a mysterious rookie who appeared like a comet.

Prisoner had been an active user for a long time.

Naturally, he had some recognition among the Chinese pro players, and the general evaluation of him was usually the same.

• Decent management, but relatively lacking in mobility.

However, the Prisoner encountered this time was nothing like the evaluations up until now.

Li Zhixuan thought,

“I’m sorry, Haoran, but the jungle difference was definitely significant.”

Of course, it was not just the jungle difference that made Prisoner stand out; his skill was anything but ordinary.

To put it bluntly, it would not be an exaggeration to say that GRS’s mid-jungle duo had been toyed with by Prisoner alone.

“What’s going on? You look serious.”

At that moment, Coach Jang Seokhwan approached.

“Coach.”

Li Zhixuan thought it was a good opportunity.

Coach Jang Seokhwan was a former Korean pro gamer.

In other words, he might know something about Prisoner, who was also Korean.

“Really?” Why?

“Do you know anything about Prisoner?”

“I do.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, now that I think about it, we even considered recruiting him. Probably.”

Li Zhixuan hadn’t known about that.

“…Recruiting him? Why didn’t that happen?”

“There were circumstances.”

“What circumstances?!”

Li Zhixuan’s voice unconsciously rose.

To think he could have played with a jungler like that…

Li Zhixuan couldn’t hide his excitement.

“He couldn’t turn pro. I heard he has a rare disease. Apparently, he can’t even move around.”

“…What?”

“Yeah, that’s why the recruitment was canceled. Other teams felt the same.”

A rare disease?

It wasn’t a small issue, but Li Zhixuan didn’t really hear it.

What did a disease matter?

He played the game so well.

Even if his time to play was limited to just a few hours a day, it didn’t matter.

There were always ways to substitute a jungler, just like Huang Haoran did.

But Prisoner had no substitute.

An irreplaceable jungler.

That was Li Zhixuan’s evaluation of Prisoner.

“Bring him in.”

“What did you say?”

“I said, recruit him again.”

It was an obvious overstep, but Li Zhixuan’s family was one of the main sponsors of GRS, so it was a request that could be made.

In other words, it meant that Li Zhixuan’s side would support the amount needed for Prisoner’s recruitment.

“If necessary, we’ll even offer a salary of over 5 million yuan (about 8.7 million Korean won).”

Even for a promising player, this was an extravagant offer to make to a rookie who had yet to prove anything.

“…Alright.”

Li Zhixuan couldn’t shake the thoughts running through his head.

Prisoner, Prisoner, Prisoner…

I will definitely get him.