Chapter 62: Nightmare

Korea, GRS-Owned Headquarters.

“Hey, how much longer are you going to keep this up? It’s about time we head back home.”

Coach Jang Seokhwan felt a growing sense of frustration.

The new season was only a few days away.

They should have returned home long ago, yet here they were, lingering in Korea for weeks.

“…Not yet. Not yet. We haven’t found Prisoner.”

GRS’s mid-laner, Nightmare, Li Zhixuan, shook his head despite Coach Jang’s urging.

That stubbornness of his.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

For weeks now, Coach Jang Seokhwan had been hounded by everyone—GRS’s head coach, the front office management team, the PR team, the development team, various managers, the general manager, and even the CEO.

“Do you even realize how long it’s been since he last participated in team practice?! Get him back here immediately!”

“Ah, Coach Jang? We need Li Zhixuan to return home soon. We haven’t been able to get in touch with him.”

“Coach Jang, I take it your house doesn’t have a calendar? Haha. Seems like it’s about time you came back.”

Due to Li Zhixuan’s influence within the organization, the management hadn’t been able to forcibly recall him.

As a result, only Coach Jang Seokhwan suffered, caught in the middle of everything.

It was the classic struggle of a middle manager.

‘Damn it.’

The stress was enough to make his hair fall out.

Actually, he was pretty sure he had been losing more hair these past few days.

Not that he had been slacking off.

Even before management started bombarding him with calls, Coach Jang had been trying hard to persuade Li Zhixuan.

Finding Prisoner’s whereabouts was part of that effort.

He had figured that if he could resolve the reason Li Zhixuan was holding out in Korea, they could finally move forward.

“Sigh.”

Unfortunately, finding traces of Prisoner had proven difficult.

He had contacted teams that had previously tested Prisoner, but they wanted nothing to do with him.

“Prisoner? Stop asking me about that guy. Do you know how many times I’ve gotten calls about him just this month?”

The reason teams were suddenly interested in Prisoner again was obvious.

Now, he was worth the trouble.

The first jungler to reach 2000 LP in solo queue.

If that were all, most teams still wouldn’t have taken the risk on a player with a rare illness.

But the issue was what Prisoner had shown.

“Prisoner reached 2000 LP in solo queue, not duo. And he did it without a single loss.”

A 35-game win streak at the highest tier of solo queue.

Achieving that kind of win streak in lower tiers was rare but not impossible.

Some pro players had climbed to Master rank on smurf accounts with near-perfect win rates while duoing.

But Prisoner didn’t do it in Silver.

Or Gold.

Or even in Diamond or Master.

He did it at the top of the Challenger ladder.

That was where he proved himself.

If he hadn’t disappeared, how far could he have gone?

2100 LP? 2200 LP? Maybe even higher?

Or had he already reached his peak?

No one knew the answer.

Because Prisoner was gone.

Now, even Coach Jang, who had struggled to understand Li Zhixuan’s obsession, was beginning to get it.

“Sigh.”

Checking the community forums had become part of Coach Jang’s daily routine.

He knew it was a long shot, but maybe—just maybe—there would be some new information about Prisoner.

• Prisoner will return. Prisoner will return. Prisoner will return. Prisoner will return. Prisoner will return.
• Why hasn’t our king come back? Why hasn’t our king come back? Why hasn’t our king come back? Why hasn’t our king come back? Why hasn’t our king come back?
• This board is a disaster. Just come back already, Prisoner…
• You idiots, lol. Why are you looking for Prisoner here? Just look up, and you’ll see him.
• Damn, they really treat him like a star in the night sky.

“Figures.”

Just as expected.

The forums were a mess, as usual.

Ever since Prisoner had set an unbelievable record and disappeared, the entire League of Legends community had been in chaos.

Every discussion revolved around him or something related to him.

Letting out a deep sigh, Coach Jang turned to Li Zhixuan, who was practically living like a shut-in at this point.

“I checked every funeral home in the country. In the past month, seven people named Lee Yujin have passed away, but none of them were Prisoner. You saw the records yourself.”

“Then he must still be alive! Shouldn’t we check the hospitals?”

“Hey, do you have any idea how many hospitals there are in the entire country…!?”

Coach Jang Seokhwan, who was about to raise his voice, shook his head.

What would be the point of yelling and arguing when he was supposed to convince Li Zhixuan to come back?

“Forget it. Besides, you’ve already checked the hospitals, haven’t you?”

“…You knew?”

The fact that Li Zhixuan was searching for Prisoner through both legal and illegal means, using his personal secretary, was supposed to be a secret from Coach Jang Seokhwan.

If this information got out, it would undoubtedly have a massive negative impact—not just on Li Zhixuan but on the entire team.

However, keeping it a secret didn’t mean Coach Jang was oblivious.

“There’s no way I wouldn’t know.”

The reason Coach Jang had turned a blind eye was because he understood all too well just how obsessed Li Zhixuan was with Prisoner.

It wasn’t just an obsession.

It was madness.

And that madness had reached its peak when Prisoner disappeared after hitting 2000 LP.

“I understand why you’re so fixated on Prisoner. You believe that if you play with him, you can defeat Rainbow at the next Red Cup, right?”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

“I get it. It’s natural for a pro player to have that level of competitive drive. But this can’t go on any longer.

The team and I have already been as understanding as possible.

So let’s go back.”

Li Zhixuan, who had been staring blankly at his monitor, finally spoke after a long silence.

“…Alright, I’ll go back.”

“You made the right choice.”

“But Coach, I want you to stay here.”

“What?”

“I’ll triple your salary.

Just stay in Korea and keep looking for clues about Prisoner until then.”

In short, he was telling Coach Jang to quit coaching and work as a full-time investigator for him.

“…Ha.”

Coach Jang Seokhwan felt something inside him snap.

“Hey… I’ve had enough.”

It must have been the first time Li Zhixuan had seen Coach Jang like this, because his eyes widened in genuine shock.

“…What?”

“I’m a coach for GRS, not your personal secretary. Are you kidding me right now?”

Coach Jang’s voice was sharp with irritation.

“Money? Yeah, sure, money’s great. But this? No.

If this is how it’s going to be, I quit.

I don’t care if you go back to China or not. Do whatever you want.

You’re a grown man.”

With that, Coach Jang immediately pulled out his phone and made a call.

“Ah, Coach? Yeah, I can’t do this anymore. I’m quitting.”

“W-Wait a minute!”

“You stay quiet.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking straight.

I’ll go back to the team.”

For once, the usually proud Li Zhixuan spoke in a pleading tone.

Only then did Coach Jang lower his phone slightly.

“Are you serious?”

“…Yes.”

The truth was, Li Zhixuan already knew.

He knew how ridiculous he was being.

Prisoner was dead.

He had been desperately avoiding that reality, refusing to face it.

But now, he had no choice but to accept it.

If he were planning to quit being a pro player entirely, that would be one thing.

But if he wanted to continue, then returning to the team was the right decision.

No—it was a decision he should have made long ago.

“When you get back, forget practice for now. Focus on fixing your daily routine.

You haven’t been sleeping properly since you got here.”

“…I know.”

Coach Jang tapped on his phone screen.

“I booked your flight.

You’re leaving tomorrow morning at 9 AM.

Make sure you have everything sorted by then.”

“Okay.”

“Then take the rest of the day off.

Do whatever you want—whether it’s searching for Prisoner or anything else.”

“…Thank you.”

That was the best compromise Coach Jang could offer.

At the very least, allowing Li Zhixuan to do as he pleased for one last day might help him refocus for the upcoming season.

‘…Though I don’t know if he’ll be able to return to the starting lineup right away.’

No matter how influential Li Zhixuan was within GRS, being a starter required skill.

And he had been absent from team practice for far too long.

‘He’ll figure it out.’

Shaking his head, Coach Jang left the room.

And then—

Now alone, Li Zhixuan sat in silence for a long time before finally launching the League of Legends client.

He connected to the Korean server.

[Start Game]

He queued up for a match.

Even though he knew it was futile.

Even though he knew it was foolish.

Still, he clung to the faint, fragile hope of a miracle.