Chapter 59: Small fry deployment!

Choosing a Nickname.

For every gamer, this is an important rite of passage and one of the biggest time-sinks.

When a new game launches, the first thing many users do is race to secure rare nicknames. It’s practically a tradition.

Of course, some might argue: “It’s just a nickname. Can’t you just come up with something random and start playing?”

They clearly don’t understand.

A nickname is one of the first and most important impressions of a player. It’s akin to a name tag that represents your gaming persona.

Take, for example, the nickname 3-Minute Top Lane Sect Devotee. Doesn’t that illustrate how critical a nickname can be?

From a jungler’s perspective, seeing a top laner with a nickname like that on your team can statistically feel like your win rate drops by 10%.

This isn’t just an analogy; it genuinely feels that way.

On the other hand, look at LaLaLa, a top laner from MYE, a first-division team. Their solo rank nickname? Jungler’s s*ave.

From a statistical viewpoint, having a name like that boosts your win rate by at least 11%.

Naturally, this only deepened my own dilemma.

‘…What should I choose?’

The fact that I previously managed to snag the relatively clean nickname Prisoner was purely because I was an early user of League of Legends during its infancy.

It was a time when just about any name you came up with was available.

But how about now?

League of Legends is one of the most popular games in the world, boasting 5 million concurrent players, 12 million daily active users, and almost 100 million monthly active users globally.

Even limiting it to just the Korean server, how many meaningful nicknames could possibly be left?

“Hmm…”

At first, I considered something simple, like Liberator—the opposite of Prisoner.

Or perhaps Escape.

Maybe FreeMan or even Warden wouldn’t be bad options.

‘If it came to it, I was even thinking of something like Ex-convict…’

But as I mentioned earlier, League of Legends isn’t the same as it was before. It’s a mature, highly popular game.

There was no chance that nicknames like those were still available.

[Summoner name already in use!]

[Summoner name already in use!]

[Summoner name already in use!]

[Summoner name already in use!]

I checked just to be sure, but as expected, all those names were already taken.

‘Forget it.’

If I truly wanted one of those names, I would have found a way to get it. However, I decided to give up on them easily for a reason.

If someone were to appear with a name that directly contradicted Prisoner or was somehow related to it not long after Prisoner disappeared, it would be a goldmine of speculation for rumor-loving fans.

Every clumsy clue I dropped could potentially be traced back to Prisoner, so I felt the need to be extra cautious.

No careless actions.

This was a hard-earned chance, after all.

[Summoner name already in use!]

[Summoner name already in use!]

[Summoner name already in use!]

I tried out a few more names I thought were cool, but of course, they were all taken.

‘…This is infuriating.’

Screw it.

[Prizoner]

[Summoner name already in use!]

These people, are they being cruel to me on purpose?

‘I have no choice.’

At this point, I had to resort to the forbidden ultimate move…

[Yuri Lee]

[Summoner name already in use!]

What? Give me my name back.

[Summoner name already in use!]

[Summoner name already in use!]

[Summoner name already in use!]

Before I knew it, an hour had passed.

I didn’t expect to spend this much time just picking a nickname, but what was even more frustrating was that I still hadn’t managed to choose one.

I was exhausted.

Finally, in a moment of surrender, I hastily typed in a random nickname.

[PlaysWell4148]

[Name is available.]

At this point, drained of energy, I pressed the create button.

I couldn’t waste any more time obsessing over a nickname.

‘Anyway, I can change my nickname later, maybe once I start playing ranked games.’

Or even later, when I make my professional debut.

‘It would be ideal to establish some level of reputation with a consistent nickname before going pro, but…’

What choice do I have?

This is the limit of my naming creativity.

In the end, my decision was to postpone it.

I resigned myself to the baseless hope that I’d come up with a better nickname someday.

[Welcome!]

“Phew…”

Seeing the lobby screen for the first time in so long, I felt a wave of nostalgia before clicking the start game button right away.

[PVP]

[5v5] [Summoner’s Rift]

• Private Pick

[5v5] [All Random All Mid]

• ARAM

[Co-op vs. AI]

• Beginner
• Intermediate

[Training]

• Tutorial
• Practice Mode

‘Alright.’

Without hesitation, I selected Summoner’s Rift.

[5v5] [Summoner’s Rift]

• Private Pick

Normally, leveling up a low-level account to the required Level 30 for ranked games is best achieved through bot matches.

However, I didn’t want to do that.

This was a life I had obtained with difficulty.

Every game was precious to me, and I had no intention of wasting such valuable time battling mere bots.

Things like macros or account boosting were, of course, out of the question.

I was going to become a professional.

Even during the leveling phase, I refused to let macros or boosters leave the slightest blemish on my record.

That’s why I decided to manually level up from Level 1 by playing normal games.

‘Ah, right.’

Come to think of it, I hadn’t bought that yet.

[Shop]

I immediately went to the shop to purchase IP and EXP boosters.

Since I was planning to level up through normal games instead of bot matches, leveling would take forever without an EXP booster.

‘It’s not like I can play normal games forever.’

As I opened the shop, another thought crossed my mind.

‘Hmm, come to think of it, I’ll need champions to play the game.’

Unlike normal games where rotation champions are available, ranked games require players to own a minimum number of champions. Most players just buy the cheapest champions to meet the requirement, but doing so means they can’t strategically pick or ban champions effectively.

That would mean starting the game at a disadvantage due to external factors like champion availability.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

So, I purchased around 1 million KRW worth of points and bought an EXP booster along with every champion in the game. Then, another thought struck me.

‘Ah, I don’t want to play certain champions without skins.’

Some champions in League of Legends have default designs so atrocious that they look weak without skins. Lee Sin without a skin was a prime example.

‘I can’t tolerate that.’

[Purchase]

I spent an additional 4 million KRW, buying almost every available skin, excluding those locked behind loot boxes or grinding.

How could I play the game without champions and skins?

‘Let’s see…’

As the empty champion list filled up, I felt a strange sense of relief.

‘This is what I need to play properly.’

Satisfied, I reviewed my account information and queued up for a game.

[Searching for a match…]

Two minutes passed.

‘…Why is it taking so long to queue?’

That’s when I remembered a crucial detail I had forgotten.

League of Legends had been around for almost a decade.

Not just ten years, but ten years of reigning at the top globally, not just domestically.

In other words, new player influx was virtually non-existent at this point.

The game was aging.

As a result, finding a match in a Level 1 normal queue, which used to be quick, now took as long as queuing for Challenger games.

“This dead game…”

However, even in a stagnant, aging game, there are always a few drops of water in the desert.

[Match found!]

[Accept / Decline]

It was finally time for my grand debut.

[Horororororo has joined the lobby.]

[PlaysWell4148 has joined the lobby.]

[Smurf4Fun has joined the lobby.]

[IAmKimSuho has joined the lobby.]

[yop3i53fgk has joined the lobby.]

Despite it being a Level 1 normal queue, as expected of an aging game, none of the IDs looked like they belonged to first-time players.

‘Good.’

As soon as champion select began, I followed the strategy I had simulated in my head hundreds of times and spammed the chat.

[PlaysWell4148: jg]
[PlaysWell4148: jungle]

[Horororororo: I’ll go mid.]
[IAmKimSuho: bot duo.]

Thanks to my careful preparation, I secured the jungle role.

‘What should I play?’

As I was leisurely browsing champions to pick, it happened.

[Lee Sin]

The third pick on my team, Smurf4Fun, insta-locked Lee Sin without saying a word.

At first, I thought they might be planning to go top or mid. Unfortunately, Smurf4Fun had Smite equipped.

[PlaysWell4148: ?]
[PlaysWell4148: I called jungle.]

Their response was swift.

[Smurf4Fun: lol]
[Smurf4Fun: Just take the bus.]

This kid… really?