Picking Mid
"Ughhh~ Done~"
Jung Yunho stretched his arms high, gazing proudly at the computer monitor in front of him. He'd hit Commander level 8, grinding nonstop AI matches just to unlock Flash for PVP. Luckily, whenever he picked mid, the other players went top or bot instead. It was AI matches, after all, and most of the randos he got were fellow newbies like him—no one had strong line preferences.
"You hit level 8 already?"
"Easy."
Jung Yuna couldn't hide her shock. By her calculations, even rushing it should've taken until dinner at least—but it was barely 4 PM. She spotted the reason in the game results screen Yunho had up.
What the hell...?
Yunho's last game's KDA—Kills/Deaths/Assists—was 21/0/4. Sure, it was AI, but Yunho was a total newbie. First day on WoL, brand new account. That kind of KDA? You only saw it from smurf accounts farming Commander levels fast.
Yuna snatched his mouse for a sec and checked his match history.
...No wonder it only took this long.
Every game, his KDAs were insanely high. Meaning the matches ended quick. Forget her estimated 30 minutes per game—not even 20-minute ones were common. Honestly, it made more sense to think he'd played WoL before.
While Yuna marveled at his history, Yunho fiddled with his phone. Blame the notifications from tutorial time. He'd ignored them, figuring they were nothing important.
And sure enough, it was Cha Hyun-su—one of the loser squad fivesome. Yunho called him back. Probably bullshit, but four missed calls deserved at least one pick-up out of courtesy.
*
The call connected after a couple rings.
"Hyun-su, why'd you—"
"Hold on sec... Ah..."
Han-gil's voice cut in briefly. Then sounds leaked through from wherever he was.
"Why the fuck are you just standing there?"
"Traitor bitch, blame your call for breaking my focus."
"Anyway, that's on you."
"How the hell is this my fault?"
"Yeah, mid diff."
"Fuck this, I'm tower-diving. GG."
"Dive what? It's already over, troll."
Sounded like the other four loser squad members—minus Yunho—were all at the PC bang. Keyboards clacking, yelling... easy guess. They bantered a bit more, then Hyun-su came back.
"Jeongho, you started WoL, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Send your nick on KakaoTalk. Let's 5-queue."
"Sure."
"Oh yeah, why'd you dip alone today? Coulda come to the PC bang with us."
"Hadn't done tutorial. Sis was gonna teach me anyway."
"Right, yeah. But we could've too..."
Honestly, sis wasn't exactly normal, but these guys were worse. They'd "teach" alright—pump his head full of garbage. Sis might tease, but these psychos would straight-up troll him. No way was he learning WoL from them.
I hung up without a word. Better to just send the nick and queue up.
Shot off my KakaoTalk with the username. Moments later, a friend request pinged in WoL.
Accepted it, and boom—game invite. Lobby filled up quick: me and four others.
WiseWater: yo, it's hyun-su
MansionMaster: newbie welcome? i'm taek-jun
Syncro: whoa newbie alert, it's han-gil
Xia: jeongwoo here, fire up skipper. voice invite incoming
Skipper was voice chat software. Didn't have an account till last year for group project. Jeongwoo was in my group—guess he remembered.
Fired up the dusty app. Voice invite hit quick. Accepted, and ding~—I was in.
"Testing... hear me?"
I spoke up. Hyun-su replied first.
"Traitor says hi?"
Stung a bit. We're each other's only friends, and I bailed post-exams without a glance. Fair call-out, but still sucked to hear.
"Hey, shit happens."
"Admit it—traitor's Hyun-su anyway."
"Why me?"
"Fuck, I ganked mid so hard, and you still let their Jayde snowball? That's beyond traitor—straight troll."
"Jayde shadows are busted vs assassins. Try winning lane as a poke mage like Jerald, you brick."
Listening to them bicker, I pieced it together. Hyun-su took Han-gil's ganks but still lost lane. Game snowballed from there.
Jeongwoo, top dog in muscle, shut 'em up.
"Both STFU. So Yunho, where you lining? Mid?"
"Yeah, mid."
"As mid authority, no. Go elsewhere."
"Authority my ass? If you're authority, I'm a god."
"Real talk—sending a no-Flash, no-rune newbie mid?"
Figures—they'd drag me in regardless. Hell no. Wait, runes?
"I got Flash. But what's runes?"
"Check your profile—'Runes' tab. Peek it."
Followed Taek-jun's lead. Hex-shaped slots, mostly empty.
"In it. Buncha blanks?"
"Rune page. Slot runes, equip in champ select—boosts base stats."
So...
"No runes means starting behind on stats?"
"Yup. Huge gap. Bluntly? Like opponent starts with an extra longsword or codex. Late game it fades, but early? Brutal."
Sounded bad.
"How do I get 'em?"
"All given by default—next to it? Issue ain't that..."
"Red, blue, yellow runes—9 each. Keystone's 1. Total 12 slots, unlock one per level. Commander 30 for full set."
Summary: Can't spec-match level 30s till you're 30. WoL max is 30, so sub-max means inevitable stat deficits vs vets.
"Ah..."
"Traits separate—I'll show in pick screen. Anyway, you still mid?"
Mid mattered. Felt it in my bones from AI alone. Map-wise, mid influenced top, bot, jungle. Center of the battlefield...
The other four, with ranked experience, knew it best. Me going mid rune-less? Massive team penalty.
But still... I wanted mid.
Logically, Hyun-su mid maximized wins. But I started WoL watching Classic. His slick mid plays hooked me. Couldn't main it forever, but my first PVP? Mid or bust.
"Can't I mid this once? Other lines next."
Hyun-su went quiet, mulling. Jeongwoo jumped in.
"Here's the deal: Yunho's newbie, one mid shot. Han-gil, cover him good. Next game, Hyun-su mids."
Clean arbitration. Hyun-su backed off.
"Fine. But I'm ADC Jerald. Taek-jun, time to serve."
"Sigh... do you."
"Your supp pick. Tank it with grit."
"Yay, yay..."
"Yo Yunho, why that nick? Cool, but why so edgy?"
"Popped in my head. No big meaning."
I eyed my lobby name: Icarus. Yeah, the Greek myth dude. Flew from the labyrinth on wax wings with dad Daedalus. Ignored warnings, flew too high—sun melted wax, feathers scattered, drowned in the sea.
Rings a bell? Cocky kid dreaming pro Go, crashed hard. Same vibe as sun-chasing Icarus.
Spill that, instant mood-killer. They treat it like a landmine... whatever, I'm chill now.