Chapter 79 : Who’s the mentor now ?

Was Curry flustered by my sudden appearance, or was there another reason for that expression?

I wasn’t sure, but his gaze wavered significantly as he looked at me.

Soon, he opened his mouth and, with a voice full of confusion, quietly asked me,

“Barcode-nim, are you allowed to be here?”

“Yes. I got permission from the manager. There’s no problem at all.”

Answering his question confidently, I walked past Curry and moved to the seat next to Rine.

“If Rine-nim doesn’t mind, I’d like to help alongside Curry-nim. Would that be okay?”

“Wait, Barcode-nim would teach me…? The Barcode-nim who coached Curry-nim to Grandmaster… would teach me?”

“Yes. But if it’s uncomfortable for you…”

“No! It’s not uncomfortable at all! It’s an honor, really!”

I had never once worn a gentle smile in my life.

But seeing Curry’s face crumble in real time made the kindest smile naturally form on my lips.

Perhaps noticing my smile, Rine seemed to relax a bit—or maybe she was just quick to adapt to the atmosphere.

Either way, her outward awkwardness visibly diminished, allowing us to proceed in a more comfortable environment.

“First, let’s go over the replay from the last game.”

“Ah, did you… watch it by any chance?”

“Yes. I saw everything from the control room, including the replay.”

“Oh no…”

Maybe she felt embarrassed that her gameplay had been seen by someone she admired.

Unable to meet my gaze, Rine covered her face with both hands.

“You don’t need to feel embarrassed.”

“But it is embarrassing.”

Despite her words, Rine lowered her hands and looked up at me with sparkling eyes.

I started the replay file and skipped to the scene I had earmarked for feedback.

Rine was playing Renekton, while her opponent in the top lane was Camille.

Typically, when facing Camille, the usual strategy was to remove her passive shield before trading damage.

However, since Renekton’s empowered W could break shields, there was no need to worry about her passive before engaging.

The feedback I wanted to give was about a specific moment where Renekton, with over 50 Fury, had reached level 3 before Camille.

Instead of aggressively engaging in a trade, Rine chose to prioritize farming CS.

Even though she had clear lane priority, she gave her opponent too much freedom, turning what could’ve been a dominant laning phase into an even, back-and-forth battle.

“What’s the issue here?”

“Um… not engaging aggressively in trades… seems to be the problem.”

“You’re absolutely right. So why didn’t you engage aggressively?”

“Well… because the enemy jungler is Xin Zhao… I was scared of a level 2 gank, so I held back my skills.”

Hearing her hesitant response gave me some insight into her tendencies, so I calmly continued my explanation.

“Have you had a particularly bad experience with Xin Zhao? Starting with level 2 ganks and continuously after that.”

“Yes, exactly! So when the enemy jungler is Xin Zhao, I instinctively play passively…”

Skipping a trading opportunity due to awareness of the enemy jungler and taking the lane phase as an even trade—it showed a depth of thought uncommon for this rank.

However, this wasn’t necessarily a good decision.

Especially considering Gold-tier players, the top lane was a role where dominance in lane was essential to climb the ranks.

To put it nicely, Rine was cautious. To put it harshly, she lacked the instincts necessary to succeed as a top laner.

That being said, while she lacked what I’d call the “talent” for being a top laner, her mechanical skill was undeniably impressive.

Her mechanics were clearly above Gold-tier level, but her playstyle and tendencies seemed to act as a bottleneck for her true potential.

To be blunt, Rine seemed better suited for mid or jungle roles.

But at this stage, switching her role wasn’t an option, so I had to teach her as much as I could within the limits of her current position.

“Curry-nim told me things like, ‘You have to do map reading. You must time teleport plays well. Always engage in trades.’ That’s what he said.”

“…It sounds a bit exaggerated, but yes, that’s essentially what I conveyed.”

“Forget all of it.”

“Excuse me? Is that okay to…”

I turned my head to look at Curry.

He, wearing a defeated expression as if he had given up on everything, nodded reluctantly.

“Curry-nim says it’s fine.”

“Ah, okay…”

Rine glanced at Curry with a sympathetic gaze before turning her attention back to me.

“First, Rine-nim, you lack the fundamentals of a top laner.”

“The fundamentals of a top laner…”

“Let’s look at this trading scene, shall we?”

By this point, another wave had passed without any trades, and both players had reached level 4.

Xin Zhao had shown himself on the bot side, while the allied jungler, after clearing all camps, was taking the Scuttle Crab.

In this scenario, the only options for the allied jungler were to invade the enemy jungle, gank mid, or gank top.

For Renekton, the optimal plan would have been to trade damage to create dive pressure or to execute a dive for a kill.

Instead, Renekton attempted a trade with Camille but ended up taking significant damage in return, leading to a net loss.

The main mistake was entering with E and immediately using the empowered W when Camille’s Bone Plating was still active.

As a result, some damage was reduced by Bone Plating, and most of the damage Renekton dealt was negated by Camille’s passive shield.

This showed a lack of understanding of the opposing champion, which led to the critical mistake of failing to utilize the allied jungler effectively.

“Rine-nim, there are two things you did wrong in this situation. One is the lack of understanding about Camille, and the other is failing to utilize your jungler.”

I replayed the trading scene multiple times, explaining each point in detail.

“When trading against an opponent with Bone Plating, you must always remove Bone Plating first to gain an advantage.

Camille’s passive activates upon basic attacks, so it’s best to intentionally give her space to exhaust her passive shield.

Also, don’t let bad memories hold you back by overly fixating on the enemy jungler’s position.”

As I continued my calm explanation, Rine let out an exclamation of realization.

“Seeing it this way makes everything clear. Now I understand why I struggled in the early laning phase.”

“Exactly! And remember, as a top laner, you should always use your jungler as an extension of yourself.

If the mid laner is like a jungler’s helper, the top laner must communicate with the jungler like an ADC does with their support to snowball the lane.”

“A top laner must treat the jungler as an extension of themselves… I’ll keep that in mind.”

From then on, I focused solely on delivering the feedback Rine needed most.

I emphasized that there’s no reason to save teleport just to consider other lanes early in the game.

I ingrained the belief that as a top laner, she should avoid sacrificing herself for team plays.

Most importantly, I explained how committing to split-pushing instead of ambiguous rotations would ultimately benefit the team.

The feedback was more passionate than ever, and when it was over, Rine lit up with an expression of newfound clarity.

“I’ll try another solo queue game!”

“I’d love to give you live feedback, but I’m afraid that might pressure you too much. So, I’ll just spectate.”

“Alright! Watch closely, Barcode-nim. I’m going to carry this game.”

Maybe it was because she reminded me so much of Ji-hye, but I felt a growing desire to help Rine succeed.

Being a fairly well-known solo singer, her appearance was stunning, and her personality seemed kind.

To me, Rine felt like too good of a match for Curry, and for her sake, I resolved to act as a barrier between them.

With that mindset, I took on my mentor role earnestly and focused on Rine’s game as it began.

Honestly, I didn’t expect dramatic improvements after just one round of feedback.

However, compared to the games she had played with Curry, Rine showed a clear shift, engaging in trades more aggressively.

I was starting to feel proud, believing this was already a successful transformation, when—

[First Blood!]

Rine capitalized on the enemy Aatrox wasting two abilities, quickly seizing an opportunity for a kill.

Having picked Kled in response to Aatrox’s first pick, she easily secured the kill on the skill-depleted enemy top laner.

This was starkly different from the games she played under Curry’s feedback, and since it was an unanticipated solo kill, the surprise was even greater.

Rine, who had clung to defensive gameplay until now, had suddenly turned aggressive.

Well, I hadn’t expected her to secure a solo kill, but…

It was certainly a positive change, and it seemed within a reasonable range of expectations…

[Enemy slain!]

[Dominating!]

[Unstoppable!]

…Or so I thought.

Seeing Rine’s Kled utterly dismantle the enemy Aatrox left me speechless.

As the shocking gameplay unfolded, I had no choice but to reconsider my earlier judgment.

Did I say she lacked the talent to be a top laner?

No, Rine had an impressive knack for being a top laner.

She exuded the bold spirit of a top laner, akin to Curry—reckless and full of audacity.

Just as I had helped Curry reach Grandmaster, if Rine continued to display such dominance, she could easily climb to Platinum.

As I overturned my previous assessment, Rine’s awakened aggression led her to mindlessly engage fights.

Yet, her unstoppable Kled swept through the battlefield, single-handedly taking down three enemies and securing a victorious team fight.

With that, Rine’s team claimed all the objectives and began playing a more structured game.

When the enemy team all converged to stop Kled, who was split-pushing in the side lane,

her allied team opted to push instead of grouping up, while Kled took on a 1v5 fight all on her own.

Even with her fed state, a 1v5 in the mid-game was an unreasonable decision.

She should have retreated before getting caught, but Rine had fully embraced her “top laner” mentality.

There was no backing down; with a resolute determination, she quickly eliminated the enemy ADC.

However, the enemy team chained crowd-control abilities to gradually drain Kled’s strength.

In the end, Kled managed to take down two more before finally falling.

Still, having single-handedly eliminated three players, Rine had essentially sealed the game.

The enemy team rushed back to defend their base, but a two-player defense against her four remaining teammates was a near-impossible task.

None of them had grown as strong as Rine’s Kled.

[Victory!]

Finally, Rine achieved her first victory since the collaboration began.

She practically flung off her headset before turning toward me.

“I did well, didn’t I? Even I think I did amazing this game!”

“Pfft. Yes, you really did a great job this time.”

Perhaps it was her newfound awareness as a top laner, but Rine’s shameless confidence was apparent.

Surprisingly, that confidence suited her perfectly.

“Ah, I got a little too excited for a moment… How embarrassing.”

“It’s fine. I have some feedback to give, but let’s keep going with the solo queue for now. Once you lose that momentum, it’s hard to get it back.”

“Got it! I’ll trust you completely, Mentor Barcode!”

To see Rine, who had been so downcast before I arrived, transform so much in a single game was incredible.

Even I was amazed at this change, and as she queued up for another match, I casually glanced over at Curry.

“…”

Curry was staring at Rine with a gaze full of conflicting emotions.

When our eyes met, his expression turned as though he was about to cry.

Unable to hold back, I silently mouthed the words to Curry:

Who. Is. The. Mentor. Now?

Whether he fully understood what I was saying or not, I couldn’t tell, but Curry’s face darkened with a shadow of despair.