Chapter 22: Meeting

At first, when my mother left a note like that and went out without a word, I was so flustered…

It’s now a thing of the past, but back then, it felt like a serious problem.

“…She told me to heat up the soup?”

How could I not have been flustered when I couldn’t even do something so simple and had to call my mother for help?

“U-uh… How do I heat up the soup?”

I still remember my mother’s voice from that time, half-flustered, half-astonished.

‘It’s not my fault, I’ve never done it before.’

I tried to console myself like that, but the fact remained that I, as an adult, had to call my mother because I couldn’t even heat up a simple meal.

To me, that was a bit of an embarrassing memory.

Of course, it’s all in the past now, and I’m not at that level anymore. I skillfully scooped rice from the electric rice cooker and poured the warmed stew into a bowl before sitting at the table.

The breakfast menu was simple: soybean paste stew, fried eggs, and a variety of side dishes.

Normally, I preferred bread over rice in the morning, but recently, I had just been eating whatever my mother prepared.

The main reason for this change was that I couldn’t make excuses about the side dishes like I used to.

“Just eat what I give you.”

That day, I learned what it meant when someone says they’re cursing with a smile on their face.

‘Well, it’s not that important.’

Clink, clink.

It didn’t take me long to finish my bowl of rice.

Perhaps it was because the start of the day had been so striking, or maybe it was just that I was really hungry.

“Thank you for the meal.”

After a quick rinse of the dishes, I tossed them into the dishwasher.

Once again, I thought how convenient life had become, and I also felt a sense of relief.

If it weren’t for the comforts of modern civilization, I would’ve surely felt the absence of the housekeeper by now.

‘Well, now that I’ve eaten well…

I headed to my room as usual.

“What should I do today?”

If someone saw me, they’d probably think I was deciding what to wear for a thrilling first date.

But the equipment I was considering wasn’t the kind of clothes I’d wear.

‘I’ll go with this.’

I quickly selected a set of keyboard and mouse, and connected them to the computer in order.

When I pressed a key, it felt a bit stiffer than the previous one, but it wasn’t a big deal. I could still use it without any issues.

‘I don’t really need to play a normal game again.’

To be honest, the normal game from yesterday had worn me out.

Not only did my teammates seem out of sync, but even the enemies didn’t seem to be in harmony.

If I had been planning to enjoy the game casually, it might have been different, but since I was trying to win, the mental exhaustion was overwhelming.

In terms of pure mental energy expended, it felt even more draining than ranked games.

[Practice Mode]

Even so, I wasn’t planning to jump straight into ranked games, so I set up a scarecrow in practice mode and spent about twenty minutes using various skill combos.

“Hmm, this should be fine.”

There wasn’t anything stopping me from using the skill combos, and they didn’t get in the way of my hands either.

I gave myself a passing grade based on my personal standards and queued up.

[Searching for a game…]

It was 11 AM.

It wasn’t too early, nor was it late—just an ambiguous time, so it wasn’t a peak time for getting into a queue.

While queuing, I habitually browsed the League of Legends community.

Sadly, I couldn’t find anything interesting, probably because the official pro league season hadn’t started yet.

The best I could find were strange memes about bees or whatever.

‘What’s so funny about this?’

It seemed like it was getting to the point where it was so overdone it was almost cringeworthy, and it probably wouldn’t last much longer.

Just as I was about to close the community, a peculiar title caught my attention.

-(Data Warning) Smiling Peaceful Normal.jpg

Ah, no way, it can’t be.

It’s just a normal game, right?

Despite thinking that, something seemed to pull me in, and I naturally clicked the post.

(Game started over a minute ago, but the bot is AFK.JPG)

(Snowballing early in the game and it all goes downhill.GIF)

(Prisoner Sabung bullying while the Dadaqis laugh.GIF)

(Bottom lane dying again.GIF)

(2-level difference in the jungle.JPG)

(Thinking they’ve won, but the Diamonds start talking trash.JPG)

(Angry Prisoner. Then immediately diving the mid lane against the Diamonds.GIF)

(How is this being turned around.GIF)

(3-level difference in the jungle.JPG)

(Your ult was amazing. Sylas’ Baron banish kick.JPG)

(GG.JPG)

It’s just like I thought, isn’t it?

Or maybe I’ve developed some kind of precognition or superpower.

The protagonists of this post were none other than my Diamond friends who I had met in a normal game.

To be honest, it was a bit ridiculous.

…So now they’re even tracking my normal games?

It’s not unusual for replays to be saved in Challenger-tier games.

Actually, it was more unusual for a match to not have a replay saved in the areas where I play.

Players use replays for feedback, and amateurs save them to learn and improve.

But this was just a regular normal game.

And it wasn’t like a famous internet streamer was involved either.

In other words, someone specifically saved the replay just to watch the gameplay of a player named Prisoner.

…That’s a bit scary, isn’t it?

Even though it’s just a normal game, I didn’t expect it to be recorded, so it made me feel a little uneasy.

Lost in these thoughts, I checked the comments.

• “Challenger is just on another level, how did they turn this around?”
• “This game can’t be won, no matter who comes next, these guys should just give up.”
• “Diamonds are in the top 1%, but seriously, Challengers are on another level, haha.”
• “It’s not that Challenger is on another level, it’s that they’re ranked 2nd. Given their momentum, they’ll probably be back at 1st place today or tomorrow.”
• “Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner!”
• Stop spamming.
• Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner! Prisoner!

Well, having fans is nice.

Even though they might disappear soon, it’s still a pleasant feeling to know someone supports and likes me.

[Game found!]

[Accept / Reject]

After browsing through hundreds of comments, my queue was finally found.

I joined the lobby. wdkmqwojfte joined the lobby.

||||||||||| joined the lobby.

Prisoner joined the lobby.

Tte joined the lobby.

Nayoggeosuro joined the lobby.

1q2w3e4r1234 joined the lobby.

Since it was early in the day, there were more unknown IDs and amateurs than pros.

Those unfamiliar IDs were probably either Chinese pros or amateurs.

[Ban list]
Lee Sin / Rumble
Sylas / Senna
Shaco / Morgana
Morgana / Kai’Sa
Kai’Sa / Lee Sin

Since it was early, or for some other reason, the ban/pick phase proceeded smoothly without any requests for first picks.

[Allied / Enemy]
Top: Renekton / Sion
Jungle: Elise / Karthus
Mid: Galio / Akali
ADC: Ezreal / Jhin
Support: Maokai / Lulu

“We’ll definitely lose if it goes late.”

This was a so-called “time attack” composition.

It wasn’t my preferred ban/pick style, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t confident.

“I’ve done this a few times before.”

Apparently, my teammates felt the same way because the game started without any dodges.

[Game starts!]

As the loading screen appeared and the enemy IDs were revealed, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

3minuteTopGyoMyungyeShindo – Sion
SY YunGi – Karthus
meiuvanfairer – Akali
SCV BlackDog – Jhin
SY GuineaPig – Lulu

…Almost all of them are pros.

Among them, I especially paid attention to the enemy jungler’s nickname.

[SY YunGi]
Red Cup champion jungler.
The wild horse of the Rift.
Rainbow’s partner.
The world’s best jungler.
The man with all those titles.

He was my opponent.