With That Rotten Mindset
In the tense atmosphere, Seonuyang's chat was going up in flames.
Facing her flustered expression, I opened my mouth.
"Seonuyang, what do you think mid is?"
"Uh… um, someone who can help the whole team from mid lane…"
She's thinking of mid like a support.
This wouldn't do. Time for a sharp correction.
"With that rotten mindset, you cannot play mid!"
I barked it out in a sudden explosion of volume, and Seonuyang flinched back in shock. She looked like a terrified puppy.
"Repeat after me. Mid is—!"
"M-Mid is—!"
"Royalty!"
"Royalty…!"
I spoke clearly to the thoroughly cowed girl.
"Help the other lanes? With that rotten mindset, you will never play mid. Mid is not a tool."
"Th-Then…?"
"Mid is royalty. When the emperor thrives, the nation thrives. Only when I get fed do we win the game. Understood?"
Seonuyang protested timidly.
"B-But I heard ADCs have strong damage too…"
"Quiet!"
She shrank back again.
"In theory, yes — but your rank is Gold! Remember this. From Iron through Gold, ADCs are minions."
"What does that mean…?"
"Hit them and they die. Understood?"
"Y-Yes, understood!"
Mid is royalty.
If you get fed, the team wins.
To do that, you needed a pick that could beat the opponent.
The problem was Seonuyang's mechanics.
From the brief look I'd gotten, her skill wasn't particularly good.
She couldn't even last-hit minions with a mage's auto-attacks, and her skillshots were only decent when they were targeted abilities.
The one area that was passable was her macro.
Being a former support, her map awareness wasn't bad, and her roaming timing was solid.
So I needed a champion that played to her strengths while still letting mid's influence shine.
And I knew exactly one champion like that.
"Trainee Seonuyang. From this moment, you play as my brain proxy. You do only exactly as I order. Understood?"
"Understood!"
Matching spun up with my words. A queue popped almost immediately, and she landed mid again.
"As this instructor has stated, mid is royalty. How does an emperor expand their influence?"
"Uh… roam a lot?"
Half credit.
"The answer is: shred the opponent, then roam. Understood?"
"But I'm not good at all-inning…"
"Quiet! Never make weak excuses again!"
Seonuyang shrank once more. Chat, on the other hand—
The mood in her chat was not particularly friendly. She'd probably never played a game in this kind of atmosphere before.
But just wait.
I'll turn that hate into cheers.
"The champion Seonuyang will play is Talon. Understood?"
"Yes! Understood!"
The game began.
The opponent was Yasuo — another melee champion.
"Take W and trade with Yasuo and the minions together until level two. Understood?"
"Yes!"
Laning started. And just as I'd expected, Seonuyang's W accuracy wasn't bad.
Because the opponent was Iron-to-Gold elo too. He'd already gotten clipped three times standing with the minion wave.
Yasuo's HP was already scraped down to about forty percent.
"Well done. Next time you land W, go in. Understood?"
"Yes, understood!"
Then came level three.
Yasuo, spooked by Talon's forward movement, burned his Wind Wall into empty air for nothing — and Seonuyang timed her W perfectly, landing both hits.
"Now! Flash Q auto Ignite!"
"Kyaaaaaah!"
The moment she heard my order, she moved. Blood sprayed from Yasuo's body as the burn DoT from Ignite started stacking.
And then—
"Oh? Did I get that?"
"Do not drop formal speech! End every sentence with the proper military suffix!"
"Yes sir, understood!"
Confidence lit up her face. Time to drive a stake through that growing confidence.
"Push the wave, then recall. Execute!"
"Execute!"
She shoved the wave in fast. As an AD champion, the number of CS she was dropping had already dropped dramatically.
"Ari, I have a question — may I ask it, sir!"
"Granted!"
As expected of a soldier's daughter — she was matching the bit perfectly. She probably thought this was just a concept stream.
For me, it was real life.
"Roaming! Timing is! When do we take it, sir?"
"Excellent question. I'll answer that as we play."
Chat was on fire.
Compared to my own stream, the language was milder — but people still said what they wanted to say.
"Same as before — scrape Yasuo with W, and if you land both hits, go in with Q. Understood!"
"Yes! Understood!"
I'd discovered an unexpected talent in her. The speed at which she absorbed feedback, and her surprisingly solid skillshot accuracy.
After a few more ability trades, she locked in a favorable exchange.
"Now find the kill angle yourself."
"M-Me, sir?"
"You've done well so far. This instructor believes in Trainee Seonuyang."
"Uuuu… yes, understood!"
Her mouse started trembling under the pressure, but her eyes stayed locked on the game screen.
That was when the enemy Yasuo walked up. He came in with a charged tornado, looking for a kill angle — but Seonuyang, seemingly scared, backed off while landing both W hits on him.
She stabbed in with Q and immediately started trading autos with Yasuo.
And in that moment — by exactly one kill and one Long Sword of gold difference — Talon won the fight.
Level six hit at the same time.
"Kyaaaah! Ari, I won… no — I won, sir!"
"Well done. This instructor is proud of the trainee."
"Now. Right now. Base immediately and roam."
"Right now, sir? Our bot lane's HP is pretty low…"
My temper snapped.
"QUIIIIET!"
"Where does mid get off checking the utensils' HP before making a royal procession? Repeat after me — Mid is!"
"Mid is!"
"Royalty!"
"Royalty!"
"Chaaaaarge!"
"Waaaaah!"
Talon vaulted the giant wall into the pulled-up bot lane. Caught completely off-guard by the roam, the enemy bot duo didn't even have time to move.
Talon's ultimate hit both of them, then W, auto, Ignite slammed into the ADC.
They exploded on the spot.
"Th-This is… an assassin?"
"Don't stand around gawking. Go straight back mid."
She stared blankly at her own hands like she couldn't believe them, then heard my order and immediately headed back mid.
But something in her eyes had shifted slightly.
…A glint of bloodlust mixed in.
The game rolled on smoothly from there. Mid's influence spread across the map, but not quite enough to completely stomp the enemy.
By the diagonal rule, the enemy had tunnel-visioned top — so the game stayed contested off the enemy top laner's impact.
Before long, it was teamfight phase.
"A-Ari Instructor! What should I do, sir?"
"Excellent question. From now on, remember only this one thing."
An assassin's destiny. It was—
"Shred the squishies. Run from the tanks. Execute!"
"Ex-Execute!"
True to her support roots, Seonuyang used the map widely.
Hopping jungle walls and looking for openings, her eyes locked onto one single target when a teamfight broke open.
The ADC Caitlyn, sitting all the way in the backline.
"I'm gooooing!"
Her flashy R+W+Q+auto combo obliterated the ADC. The enemies watching could only flail trying to catch Talon — but she hopped a wall and escaped again.
Even so, the enemy team's core power was their top laner, so the standoff held and they kept grinding it out.
That was when Seonuyang asked.
"N-Now what do I do, sir?"
"Trainee Seonuyang. Suppose you've discovered the greatest restaurant on earth. What do you do?"
She looked at me like I'd lost my mind at the random question. Then, uncertainly:
"…Bookmark it and go again?"
"Exactly."
The easiest ways to win a game.
First: crush them with raw mechanics. Second: break their mental.
And the role that does the second best of all is the assassin.
"You stab a good restaurant twice."
"Yes sir!"
The uncomfortable standoff stretched on through the teamfight. Caitlyn, freshly respawned, was walking back to rejoin the fight.
"H-Hyah!"
In that cute little voice, Seonuyang drove her blade into the ADC and dove her.
The ADC exploded all over again. The enemy team couldn't hold any longer.
They got slowly pushed back, gave up towers, traded kills, and naturally lost the teamfight.
The victory banner floated up in the center of the screen.
"How was your first assassin experience?"
For a moment, no answer. The high of her first blade champion probably hadn't worn off yet.
"…It's thrilling — no, it is thrilling, sir!"
I nodded in satisfaction at the booming reply.
"Remember this. Mid crushes the opponent, then makes a royal procession to the other lanes."
I ignored the noise in chat and kept going.
"That weak little mindset of 'I'll just help in teamfights' will never carry a game. Understood?"
"I will keep it in mind, sir!"
And so the next game, and the one after that.
Keeping the drill-instructor concept and continuing the feedback, her movement and mindset had clearly changed from before.
Now she finally looks like a mid laner.
"Don't forget what you learned today. Review it. Understood?"
"Yes, understood! Ah, but Ari—"
"This is the end."
"No, that's not what I meant."
She called out to me urgently.
"I just wanted to say thank you — if we win the tournament, can I buy you a meal? My treat!"
Yes! Just saved myself a free meal.
Please win.
"Yes! I hope for good results! Contact me if you win!"
"Yes! I'll reach out again, Ari!"
I gave a light goodbye and left her stream.
The moment I returned to my familiar broadcast screen, chat exploded like they'd been holding it in the whole time.
"…I'm not a female soldier, okay. Anyway, big-corp experience went well."
I was reading through chat one by one when my temper suddenly flared.
"No but like — those big-corp people type so nicely in chat, why are you all so mean?"
"…I'm not saying I'm jealous, I'm saying it'd be nice if we all typed nicely to each other."
"Alright, starting my stream now. I'll casually go five wins in a row~"
And in the end, that goal went unachieved.