Chapter 40: It hurts.

Dayou TV 015745 has joined the lobby.

Prisoner has joined the lobby.

qq7785dd55 has joined the lobby. ChansikChansikChansik has joined the lobby. Tteonayogeugoseuro has joined the lobby.

The ban-pick phase has begun.

Some of the usernames were familiar, while others were not.

It seemed like a roughly even split.

‘By the way, that mid-laner looks like the Chinese pro from last time… This is interesting.’

GRS.

This is the team that recently made a shocking offer to me—the runner-up of China’s Red Cup.

Judging by the circumstances, the mid and jungle players of GRS, who had faced me before, must have spoken highly of me, leading to that scouting offer.

Thinking that someone who rated me so highly back then is now my teammate… It’s a strangely embarrassing feeling.

‘Well, we were bound to meet again sooner or later.’

Shaking off those thoughts, I focused on the ban-pick phase.

Our team was on the blue side.

That meant we were starting from the bottom half of the map.

[Ban List]
Alistar / Sylas
Shaco / X
Senna / X
Gwen / X
Rumble / Lee Sin

‘There are a lot of no-bans this match.’

It wasn’t particularly unusual.

From a strategic standpoint, no-banning could be a deliberate move to let overpowered champions through for specific picks, or in the case of professional players, it could be done intentionally to get more diverse solo queue experience.

…Of course, there were also plenty of cases where players simply didn’t bother banning out of laziness.

[Sett]

Even though our top-laner was picking first, they didn’t ask for a swap.

Sett was a solid pick for top, mid, and even support, making it a good first-pick option.

Then, the enemy team locked in their first two picks.

[Renekton]
[Leona]

Renekton.

A pick that had been gaining traction lately.

Of course, it wasn’t getting popular as a jungler, as it was originally designed.

Even though Renekton was meant to be a jungle champion, it was mainly being used in top and mid solo lanes. This was a clear case of a jungler suffering because they couldn’t traverse walls.

‘So, we still don’t know their exact top or mid picks.’

Statistically speaking, Renekton had a slight edge against Sett in the top lane, so it could have been a counter-pick based on that. But making assumptions too soon wasn’t wise.

With picks being locked in one by one, the draft phase soon wrapped up.

[Our Team / Enemy Team]

Top: Sett / Renekton
Jungle: Rek’Sai / Xin Zhao
Mid: Twisted Fate / Akali
ADC: Varus / Kai’Sa
Support: Alistar / Leona

The most notable picks were in the top and mid lanes.

Twisted Fate countered Akali, but Renekton countered Twisted Fate.

Renekton and Twisted Fate.

The way these two champions utilized their ultimates would likely be the key factor in this game.

The match began.

BAN EZ – Renekton

GangGangGangGangGangGangGang – Xin Zhao

11111111111 – Akali

MAX KingGodEmperor – Kai’Sa

SCV WhiteCat – 2||24||

Familiar usernames.

Among them, the most eye-catching one was the top-laner, BAN EZ.

‘Hmm.’

BAN EZ.

He was the pro player who had lost his rank-one spot to me not too long ago.

Even though his team’s overall performance in the league hadn’t been great, BAN EZ himself was highly regarded by analysts as one of the best top-laners.

Despite his team not even qualifying for the Red Cup, his individual mechanics were considered world-class.

‘So we meet again.’

Of course, even if I lost this match, the rankings wouldn’t change.

The gap in our scores was already significant.

‘That doesn’t mean I plan on losing, though.’

The game began.

—Welcome to Summoner’s Rift.

The early game was uneventful.

We didn’t have a bad invade composition, but we chose not to invade.

Rather than introducing unnecessary variance early on, it seemed better to play through mid-lane priority and snowball from there.

‘More importantly, I need to impact the top lane as soon as possible.’

Sett was often considered a champion with no losing matchups in the laning phase.

He was just that strong.

But his opponent was EZ, a player known for utterly dominating his matchups.

I couldn’t afford to leave that as a variable.

I didn’t reach rank 1 for nothing.

Even though pro players often say that solo queue rank doesn’t mean much, it’s not completely meaningless either.

A high solo queue rank is still one of the strongest indicators that someone is currently in top form.

My jungle pathing was what people call “burberdoo.”

It was a route designed for the fastest possible intervention in the top lane.

Normally, Rek’Sai is most threatening when she clears three camps on the red side before choosing to gank either top or bottom at level 3, depending on team positioning.

But my opponent’s top laner was so dominant that I felt the need to deviate from the standard route.

If their jungler successfully executed a top dive, the game could be over right then and there.

Despite having the advantage of being on the blue side, I wasn’t comfortable ganking bot.

I glanced at the top lane.

Hmm, as expected.

Renekton versus Sett.

It wasn’t quite a pure skill matchup, but it was still a melee vs. melee battle, which meant intense early trades were inevitable.

A fight was bound to break out in the top lane.

Since both top laners were already exchanging heavy blows, there was a high probability that the enemy Xin Zhao was also heading top.

No, it was almost a certainty.

Especially since both mid-laners had taken Teleport, making a 2v2 or even a bigger skirmish likely.

[0]

[Prisoner (Rek’Sai) has targeted BAN EZ (Renekton)]

Just as I reached top lane, I spotted Xin Zhao moving from the tri-bush into the lane bush.

[0]

[Prisoner (Rek’Sai) has targeted GangGangGangGangGang (Xin Zhao)]

The moment Xin Zhao placed a ward in the lane bush where I was hiding, my position was revealed.

At the same time, Sett had already arrived, and together we surrounded Xin Zhao.

However—

The enemy Xin Zhao didn’t panic.

He landed his W on Sett and attempted to dash away with his E.

He was going for a breakthrough.

Not a chance.

The moment Xin Zhao’s E activated, I used Flash and Unburrow to interrupt his dash mid-air.

At level 3, without his ultimate, Xin Zhao had no escape options.

Even with Flash, he had already used all his abilities, and against the combined attack of Sett and Rek’Sai, he couldn’t get away.

First Blood!

We successfully secured the first kill in the 2v2 skirmish.

The problem was that the enemy Renekton was still in great shape.

Both Sett and I had used all our key abilities, and our health bars weren’t looking good.

Meanwhile, Renekton had healed up by farming minions.

I could still escape.

Just as I was about to use Unburrow to knock up the approaching Renekton—

“Ugh!”

A sharp pain shot through my stomach.

It was a sensation I had never felt before.

Because of that, I made a critical mistake.

Normally, I would have used Q first to break Renekton’s Spell Shield before knocking him up with Unburrow, but I failed to use Q in time.

You have been slain!

I had lost my only tool to stop the rampaging beast.

And now, Sett was also in danger.

An ally has been slain!

Enemy Double Kill!

Renekton had secured a double kill in an instant, but I didn’t have the mental space to care about that.

“Hngh…!”

A stabbing pain in my lower abdomen.

I instinctively reached for my phone.

If something was wrong with my body, I needed to let my family know.

…

Even though my champion had just respawned in the fountain, I couldn’t focus on the screen.

Phone… phone…?

I pressed the power button, but it wouldn’t turn on.

Right.

I had turned it off before starting the game because of the flood of calls and messages.

I needed to turn it back on, but the pain in my stomach made it hard to move my fingers.

“Kh…!”

A sudden thought crossed my mind.

What if this was the end for me?

What if I collapsed, got rushed to the hospital, and died alone—without anyone knowing?

Prisoner was the only proof that I had ever existed.

That’s why I wanted my final moments as Prisoner to be somewhere no one else had ever reached.

But…

If I was just another nameless amateur, forgotten by everyone—

If my life and death meant nothing—

I didn’t want that.

That… I really didn’t want that.

“…Ugh.”

I put my phone down.

Instead, I grabbed my mouse again.

I knew.

I knew how foolish and selfish this was.

But if this really was my end, I refused to go out like this.

If this pain was a warning of my final moments, then at the very least, I needed to leave a footprint on the side of the mountain that no one else had ever climbed.

“…Mom, I’m sorry.”

I turned my eyes back to the screen.

I had a game to win.