Chapter 16: I can’t resist this.

After a long shopping trip, I finally arrived home.

“Yuri, before you shower, organize the clothes we bought and leave them outside. The cleaning lady will take care of them tomorrow.”

“Sure… Should I include yours too?”

Thankfully, the unsettling terms of address that shook my identity upon returning home seemed to have reverted to normal. Strictly speaking, it would make more sense to call me ‘sister’ than ‘brother’ now, but I still needed time.

“Do you think your brother is capable of doing such things? You handle it.”

“Got it.”

Even though I didn’t fully understand what was being discussed, it seemed like a very wise decision.

“Yujin, make sure to take your stuff too.”

“Okay.”

Despite having bought more than a few keyboards and mice, they felt as light as feathers.

“Do you like them that much?”

“Of course!”

“Well, if you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”

My mother smiled lightly as if she no longer cared.

I returned to my room, neatly arranged the keyboards and mice, and headed straight to the bathroom.

“Whew…”

Soaking in warm water for a long time, I finally felt the chill from the biting wind outside fade away.

“Ugh…”

I had walked the longest distance in my life today. Maybe that’s why I instinctively groaned like an old person.

I put on my blue polka-dotted pajamas, which I had purchased earlier, and collapsed onto the bed. Sleep beckoned me from the ceiling, and I felt like I would drift off any second.

“Time to sleep.”

Going to bed early meant I’d wake up early tomorrow as well.

I closed my eyes slowly, but for some reason, I couldn’t fall asleep.

Despite being tired, I found myself in the frustrating situation of being unable to doze off.

At least I could find some solace in not having a routine or schedule to follow like most people.

“Ah, damn it…”

For about thirty minutes, I tossed and turned in bed.

“This isn’t working.”

Eventually, I threw off the blanket and got up.

Perhaps it was the allure of those beautiful things catching my eye at the edge of my vision. My heart was fluttering too much for me to fall asleep.

“Just one game,” I thought.

The unopened keyboards and mice stacked nearby seemed to be tempting me.

Even though I tried to ignore them, the fact that I couldn’t made me feel like this was destiny.

I got out of bed, turned on my computer with habitual movements, and sat down in my chair.

“Ugh.”

Getting out of bed made me realize how tired I still was. It was an annoying situation, but since I had already decided to get up, I thought I’d at least test one.

“Let’s see…”

Carefully, I opened the boxes of the new keyboard and mouse.

Since I planned to try each one and then put them back, I needed to open them as neatly as possible.

“I’ll start with this one…”

I chose the keyboard with the smoothest typing feel and the mouse with the lightest click pressure that I had tested earlier.

“It really does feel different.”

My old keyboard and mouse weren’t bad—quite the opposite. Having used them for so long, I was very accustomed to them, and they were far better for now.

But no matter how comfortable familiarity can be, sometimes you need to take bold leaps.

“Alright.”

I checked the cables behind the computer and replaced the keyboard and mouse.

In the past, I might have needed someone’s help, but this was a simple task for me now.

Click, click—

I could feel the unfamiliar grip of the mouse in my hand.

The keyboard felt equally awkward, and I was tempted to switch back to my original setup right away.

“But I’ll get used to it eventually.”

Sure enough, after a few minutes of browsing the internet, the sense of strangeness began to fade.

“Even a light touch registers.”

The lower actuation force and click pressure meant slightly faster response times compared to other devices.

Of course, with advantages came drawbacks. The sensitivity of the equipment required careful handling.

“These would suit champions that require quick hands rather than precision.”

The moment I understood the equipment’s characteristics, I started considering matching different champions to specific setups. Maybe I wasn’t entirely normal, but who cares?

“Let’s just give it a shot.”

Actions speak louder than words.

Trying things firsthand is always the best approach.

[Login]

I launched League of Legends and immediately entered practice mode.

Before diving into an actual game, I wanted to hit a scarecrow dummy and get a feel for the new setup.

[Sion]

There’s no better champion for warming up.

In the past, Sion wasn’t a champion I would use unless my rank was fairly low, but lately, I’d grown fond of him.

After loading into the game, I summoned a scarecrow and spent several minutes hitting it repeatedly.

I began with Lee Sin’s classic combos:

Casting Q and following up with a W ward jump for closer range, adding an auto-attack, then locking the target down with R, and continuing with Q again.

The combo flowed into E, auto-attacks, and finally, ward-flash W.

Q-W-R—

From standard Lee Sin basics to the flashy advanced combos I’d only recently mastered, I ran through them all.

After trying nearly every combo possible with Lee Sin, I exited practice mode.

It seemed that simply hitting scarecrows wasn’t enough to properly test my skills.

Returning to the lobby, I paused to think.

“Should I just play a normal game?”

Though I’d already hit enough scarecrows to grow tired of it, I had no intention of testing my new equipment in a ranked match.

Besides, I’d already exceeded my daily quota of solo queue games.

Since I didn’t have a smurf account, my only options were normal games or flex queue.

“Flex isn’t a bad option, but I don’t really feel like it.”

I take ranked games very seriously.

Maybe it’s because I’m inherently a solo queue warrior, but I treat each match as if it’s precious.

This mindset extended to flex queue as well.

While many consider flex queue just a version of normals with points, there are undoubtedly players who care deeply about their rankings.

I didn’t want to cause unnecessary harm to them just because it didn’t matter to me.

[Searching for a game…]

Since it was a normal game, the queue popped relatively quickly.

[Game Found!]

[Accept / Decline]

Prisoner has joined the lobby.
DiamondGatekeeper11 has joined the lobby.
JaehyukMaster123 has joined the lobby.
TriangleMidLaner has joined the lobby.
DaHyeThePrincess has joined the lobby.

[TriangleMidLaner: mid]
[DiamondGatekeeper11: ocococ]
[TriangleMidLaner: mid first]
[DiamondGatekeeper11: lol lol lol lol]
[JaehyukMaster123: 3rd and 5th pick bot duo]

In the end, jungle was the only role left.

It had been so long since I last played a normal game that I wasn’t prepared for the so-called “position chat-call culture.”

To be honest, I was a little flustered.

“What should I play?”

Since it was a normal game, playing Lee Sin, whom I’d just practiced, wouldn’t be a bad idea. But for some reason, I felt a bit tired of him.

After some thought, I picked Sylas.

[Sylas]

Once a top-tier jungler, Sylas had fallen out of favor due to continuous nerfs. He was now an unfortunate champion rarely seen in the jungle.

Even so, he still had unique strengths, and if I could survive the early game, he had plenty of potential to shine.

“If this were a ranked game, someone would have dodged instantly.”

But this was a normal game.

Few people here nitpicked their teammates’ champion choices.

Instead, I received a different reaction altogether.

[TriangleMidLaner: But wait, are you the real #1 player?]

Prisoner—legendary from the early days of League of Legends—had ranked first in the leaderboards.

Naturally, even casual players recognized the name, so it wasn’t surprising someone noticed.

[DiamondGatekeeper11: Probably fake.]
[TriangleMidLaner: True.]

Given the prevalence of impersonators, they didn’t think much of it.

Still, as they say, talent always reveals itself.

It didn’t take long for people to realize the truth.

[DiamondGatekeeper11: ? Wait, no way, it’s real?!]
[TriangleMidLaner: ? Really?]
[DiamondGatekeeper11: I looked it up—Challenger, 1600 LP. Rank #2 lololol.]
[TriangleMidLaner: omg it’s actually true.]