Chapter 82: “Not an Easy Task”

“Please have a seat here and… um… just wait a moment.”

A man wearing a t-shirt with the logo “Fusion Gaming” printed on it gestured to me.

Was he a player who participated in matches?

If I had known, I would have researched the players beforehand.

I felt a slight sense of regret.

The man’s demeanor was natural, yet slightly awkward.

He quickly scanned my face, and his eyes briefly flickered to my chest before hastily looking away.

Whether he did it consciously or unconsciously, it was a pretty impressive response.

Thanks to Camilla’s physique and my superhuman dynamic vision, I could catch such things—something that an average woman wouldn’t even notice.

The gazes directed at me—or more precisely, at Camilla—were reactions I was no longer surprised by.

When I was first contacted, Fusion Gaming had expressed their desire for me to visit.

However, since I was a faceless streamer who had never revealed my identity, and a woman at that, they said it would be perfectly fine if I just passed on my knowledge online.

They assured me they would reward me generously even if I only did that much.

Despite this, why did I choose to come all the way here?

Honestly, I couldn’t clearly explain the reason myself.

I had always avoided going out, and even now, I didn’t particularly enjoy outdoor activities.

The reason was complex—many factors mixed together.

But what first made me decide to visit the team in person was the thought that it would be better to do things thoroughly.

I had already conducted several training sessions in the past.

Although I hadn’t followed the path of a professional instructor, I had somehow ended up teaching Nicang, Lilyang, and even a few team members.

Teaching techniques through an online screen was quite difficult.

Starting from the fact that students often struggled to understand what I was explaining, to having to go through complicated explanations for things I could have just demonstrated right in front of them.

Of course, these were pro gamers.

I didn’t doubt that everyone here was as serious about Abyss as I was.

So, I believed there wouldn’t be any major difficulties explaining things online.

Still, I had lingering worries—what if I couldn’t fully pass on all my knowledge about Camilla?

What if Camilla never even made it to a tournament and ended up getting nerfed?

Such thoughts made me uneasy.

And I was also curious.

If I taught them in person with my full effort, just how much of my skills could these professional players—especially from a top team—absorb?

A mix of anxiety, curiosity, ambition, and intrigue ultimately led me to this place.

While I was lost in thought, one of the people in the practice room handed me a piece of paper and a pen.

“A… autograph, please.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. You, Kayak…”

He was a somewhat clumsy-looking man.

With his thin arms and legs, thick-rimmed glasses, and the same team uniform as the others, he lacked confidence.

Even when I tried to look at his face, he couldn’t maintain eye contact and kept his head down.

“Do you watch my streams?”

“Yes, I’ve been subscribed for three months, but I’ve actually been watching for much longer.”

“How long ago?”

“Since… since you used to stream without a microphone.”

“Oh.”

So there was one of the original “30 Crusaders” here.

I suddenly felt a sense of camaraderie.

It seemed this guy was also an old-school gamer and an original fan from back in the day.

I wondered if he might be someone I knew, like Yushia, and asked.

Top of Form

“Can I ask for your Twishy and gallery nickname?”

“Uh, um… well…”

“If it makes you uncomfortable, you don’t have to answer. I was just curious.”

“Mudfish… Do you remember me?”

Mudfish? That sounds familiar.

Mudfish… Mud… Ah.

“Didn’t you ask me for advice back then? About wanting to go pro.”

“Yes! You remember?”

“You actually became a pro. Congratulations, that’s awesome.”

Back then, he was just a young boy.

Was he 16? Or 17?

He was one of the students who, like me, frequently appeared in the ranking charts.

He wanted to become a professional Abyss gamer, but, like me, he worried about the future of gaming and whether he could really make it as a pro.

I never thought he would establish himself so well like this.

Feeling proud of him for achieving his dream, I held his hands tightly.

He blushed furiously and quickly pulled his hands away.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“N-no, it’s fine. Uh, it’s just…”

Scratching his head slightly, he mumbled on.

“Anyway, thank you. The advice you gave me back then really helped… Like telling me to never give up if I was truly desperate, to seriously consider if this was something I genuinely loved…

And how you said I could give it a shot until my early 20s, and if it didn’t work out, I could just serve in the military.

No one else gave me such realistic advice.”

“Oh, um… Yeah. I did say that, huh.”

Hearing his words jogged my memory.

Back then, I didn’t really know anything, yet I gave such advice.

“I found out later that you weren’t even an older brother, but actually a sister, and just a year older than me.

But thanks to you, I became a pro. I’ve also been following your streams ever since you came back…”

It was a little embarrassing, but it warmed my heart at the same time.

To wrap up our conversation, I left a cute little drawing of Camilla and a small autograph on the paper.

Then, one by one, other players started lining up in front of me.

“?”

I looked at them, confused, and they spoke up.

“Can I get an autograph too? Hehe…”

“I’m gonna become a fan starting today. You stream on Twishy, right?”

“You’re really beautiful.”

I had come here to pass on my knowledge, but why did it suddenly feel like a fan meeting?

Feeling a little puzzled, I earnestly signed for each one of them.

“It took a while. Sorry for the wait.”

“Oh, uh… yeah. A little…”

The woman, Kayak, who responded, somehow looked more exhausted than before.

Had something happened?

Junhyeok, the team captain and the eldest, took a glance around the practice room.

‘Looks like they’ve been bothering her.’

It was obvious.

Even though they were trying not to show it, a few of them were clearly excited and fooling around.

A visitor had arrived—an eye-catching woman at that—so of course, they were thrilled.

Junhyeok, as a guy himself, could understand how they felt.

But today, he wanted his team members to show some restraint.

‘They better not waste their energy.’

If they couldn’t perform at their best because they were off their game, it would be a problem.

After all, Junhyeok was the one who initially suggested learning Camilla’s gameplay from Kayak.

It was someone who had been brought here with difficulty.

Even though I had told them, “It would be great if you could visit in person,” I never imagined they would actually come, which made it even more surprising.

This was an important time, just before the new season of the league started, and since I had already invited this person, Junhyeok hoped for some results.

“Sure, you can pick any empty seat and sit down. If the keyboard or mouse is uncomfortable, you can move to another spot.”

“Okay.”

Junhyeok, guiding Kayak who looked like she was ready to start, gave a subtle warning to the team members.

It’s fine to watch, but he asked them to keep their distractions to a minimum and avoid actions or words that might make things difficult.

There were three people receiving lessons from Kayak.

Minhyung, who had met her in solo ranked games, Hyungkyu, who had analyzed her plays, and Junhyeok, the team captain.

If they fully absorbed Kayak’s gameplay, the focus of picks would revolve around these three.

It wasn’t just one person playing; they were even considering swapping if needed, so this decision was made.

“What should we do first?”

“First, please teach this friend. About Camilla. How Kayak usually plays, what kind of decisions she makes in certain situations… No, that’s too broad. Could you show us how you play with this build? And we can ask questions as we go.”

“Hmm, sure. I’ll play some solo queue first.”

And so, a ranked game began.

Kayak showed her unique gameplay, which Junhyeok had shown interest in, as she played fiercely in the top-tier queue.

“Why didn’t you keep going straight and instead went down?”

“If I kept going, I’d be at a disadvantage. Camilla might look invincible, but she’s actually weak in direct combat. The build concept is designed to pull it into a chaotic brawl as much as possible.”

‘It seems like you’re gaining the advantage through skirmishes. Like a hit-and-run guerilla tactic.’

“Exactly. I’m going to poke again here. It’s hard to predict the timing.”

Throughout the game, she answered questions calmly as if they were no big deal, continuing her play smoothly.

When someone makes something seem easy, it often means they’re very skilled at it.

That was exactly the case with Kayak.

The ranked game ended after reviewing the build.

Junhyeok, with a satisfied expression, spoke up.

“You’re really good. Now, can this friend try playing with the build you just used, and you can point out the things Kayak might be missing in real-time?”

“If you’re going to point things out, how detailed can you get? Isn’t there a limit to how much you can focus on the overall framework?”

“You can point out even the smallest details. We’re professionals, after all.”

“Is that so?”

For a moment, Junhyeok felt as if Kayak’s blue eyes had flashed.

It was like when Camilla’s character in the game awakens and glares.

But maybe it was just an illusion, as when he looked again, Kayak’s eyes were perfectly calm, the same clear blue.

Of course, it was normal.

It was highly abnormal for someone’s eyes to shine like that.

And soon, just like before, a ranked game with Camilla began, but with the pilot changed.

The difference this time was the voice chatting beside the player.

“You could’ve gone further just now.”

“It might be good to push the ping-pong to the limit.”

“How about trying to aim for a counter?”

The in-game voice, perfectly matching Camilla’s voice, gently pointed out Minhyung’s mistakes.

“W-why is this happening?”

“Ah, if you press qw at the same time, that sometimes happens. You’ll probably need to respawn to fix it.”

“What kind of terrible champion is this…”

“Hmm… Have you never played Camilla before?”

There was a slight hint of disappointment in his words.

Junhyeok watched the situation and thought to himself that passing down such knowledge wasn’t as easy as it seemed.