I'm Going to Play Games. (1)
However, she didn't dive straight into the game world. The pain of her first period was beyond imagination.
She could only finally sit at her computer desk after two more days had passed since that day.
"Ugh... everything aches."
Thankfully, no new missions had popped up in the meantime. Thanks to that, she got some solid rest and felt like her body was somewhat back to normal.
Click. The mouse felt light under her finger.
"Alright, I... I can do well now, right?"
She moved the mouse familiarly and logged into her favorite game.
LoL, the massively popular 5v5 AOS game sweeping the world. It was the game she'd been playing for a solid 10 years now, and its fame hadn't faded with time.
"Gotta warm up my hands, so... ADC it is!"
Top, jungle, mid, ADC, support. In this game divided into five roles, she firmly believed she was an all-liner who could handle any lane.
Or at least, that's what she thought. Deep down, anyway.
"Yeah... already feels like a win."
Soon, the matchmaking screen popped up. She quickly searched for the current top ADC champions.
"Hmm... Eh, Bronze tier—I'll just play what I'm good at."
She didn't actually pick a top-tier champ based on the rankings. It was just for reference; she believed she'd win for sure with her mains.
She passed over the so-called Tier 1 picks and grabbed a Tier 5 bottom-feeder: Osya, the Sword of Light.
Originally a melee champ better suited for mid than ADC, Osya's concept of moving at the speed of light, wielding a sword, and that unique handling made it pretty popular.
Naturally, that spawned a bunch of diehard fans who picked it regardless of skill.
"Play it right, and it works in bot lane too...!"
The moment the game started, an inexplicable surge of overconfidence welled up in her.
Bronze or not, she had the unshakable belief that she was the best in Bronze.
"And anyway, losses are always the team's fault. Yeah."
That was just her opinion, of course.
The second her teammates saw the Osya pick, the chat exploded.
She calmly muted her teammates. No need to listen to every hater.
"I'll prove it with my carry...!"
And so the game began.
[Enemy team has slain an ally!]
[Double Kill!]
[No one can stop HolyBibleMonk!]
[Penta Kill!]
The game exploded violently.
"Huh...?"
Her KDA at the end: 1/12/5.
Once before the first minion wave even ended.
Then, the moment she respawned and returned to lane—bam, again.
The enemy support had a skill that pulled allies in, and Nam Ha-neul failed to dodge it every single time.
Even though Osya had a projectile reflection skill with perfect timing and a short-range dash.
The enemy ADC, who snowballed kills from laning phase, dominated the game.
Top, mid, jungle—the so-called "upper body" could fight all they wanted, but it was hopeless.
She alt-tabbed out to the main menu immediately. An alert blinked over her empty friends list.
[New friend request received.]
[Accept CherryPicker's request?]
"Huh...?"
It was from one of her teammates in the loss. She declined. Anyone could see it was just for flaming.
Sweat dripping, Nam Ha-neul mentally called up her status window.
"It's supposed to be prodigy-level... said it was a great talent..."
Her status window had certainly changed a lot from the start.
But pulling prodigy talent and getting game stats didn't magically make her good...
"Ah... I haven't grown into it yet..."
No way she'd suddenly excel without practice. With average stats at 50, her game stats were straight trash.
Hard to believe she'd played over 10 years.
"Hmm... so what do I do...?"
As if answering her dilemma, the status window popped up a panel.
[You can raise stats with points!]
[10P per 1 stat point—take note!]
In other words, she could force growth with points.
Of course, natural growth via effort was possible too, but Nam Ha-neul wanted quick and easy gains.
"Points..."
Webnovels always said to save points, though. Who knew when she'd need them for a gacha pull?
She shook her head and gave up on that thought.
[Investing all 100P into 'Game-Physical'!]
"Hehe."
Whatever. She wasn't some webnovel protagonist!
She was the type to settle for immediate gains in gaming skill.
She queued up the next game right away and, predictably, locked in ADC Osya again.
"This time... it's really different!"
Nickname: CherryPicker. Real name: Yang Che-ri.
She was a streamer on the Tsurruk platform—not huge, but with a solid fanbase.
Her no-makeup look was the issue, but her natural "girl-next-door" vibe drew viewers.
The cute, effortless style had real demand.
"No way! This can't be right, guys? This is just wrong!"
She yelled into the mic, furious. Her tomboyish concept usually kept things chill, but this rage was rare.
The reason was simple.
"How do I run into this right before promo?!"
Her Silver promo game had been a total stomp.
Not just a loss—they got obliterated before she could react.
Why? "That SkyDuo bastard—what the hell?!"
SkyDuo. The previous game's ADC had been godawfully bad.
As support main-laning with her, Yang Che-ri felt it hardest. Buffs, heals, poke—didn't matter. He walked into death like it was intentional.
She'd even suspected a viewer smurfing to troll. But nah, her viewership wasn't that big, and Bronze sniping was rare.
A rare 300+ viewers. Plus a mission: Silver promo today for 200k won.
Bronze 1 at 98 LP—one win to promo.
And then...
"No... this can't be real."
She clutched her head and shook it. No choice—checked her LP.
Bronze 1, 84 LP. Not a huge drop; still one win from promo.
She prayed not to get another SkyDuo as she queued.
"Promo this time, for real."
Hands clasped in prayer, she accepted the instant queue.
Then unease hit.
LoL hid names in pick phase, but...
ADC picked Osya again.
"N... no way, right? Guys, this isn't him, yeah?"
In-game, fury crashed down.
SkyDuo. The troll ADC struck again.
"Huh...?"
Nam Ha-neul tilted her head at the support's name. It was the one who'd friended her.
"Mm... win this one, and we're good?"
Her Game-Physical had jumped by 10! Plus, the muted teammate from last game stayed muted—no fiery chat from CherryPicker.
In-game, she sized up the situation.
Osya, Sword of Light. Short-range dash and perfect-timing projectile reflection.
She reviewed her champ mentally, slapping her cheeks before minions arrived.
"This time it's really different!"
Minions hit lane; war began.
Her support CherryPicker picked Brista, Ironclad Shield. Black shield wielder who blocked attacks, stored damage, and blasted it back.
Enemy duo: Kesh, Restraining Archer, and Tales, Death Farmer.
Kesh's arrows stacked slows on hits. Tales threw chain scythes to yank foes.
"Ah... grab champ again."
Grabs pulled enemies—last game's nightmare.
Osya's short melee range forced her forward for minions.
And sure enough—
Ping!
"Oh?"
Reflexively, she reflected arrow and scythe at the perfect moment.
Kesh slowed herself; the reflected scythe yanked Tales toward her.
[Perfect skill timing for the first time!]
['Game-Physical' +2!]
[Get 5+ Kills and Win]
🎁 Reward: 'Game-Physical' +5
💀 Failure: 'Game-Judgment' -3
She traded some poke, fell back, and checked her status.
"Oh... nice. I can do this!"
Good vibes. Nailing a reflect right at lane start?
Osya's popularity despite meh stats came from that reflect dopamine hit. Perfect timing demanded physical skill, but good mechanics let you crush foes.
She focused on the rare joy of gaming, mouse flying.
[Talent 'Game Prodigy' reacts!]
['Game-Physical' doubled for this game!]
Her Game-Physical hit 42 total.
Still below average, but from 9? Over 4x growth.
Momentum building, her lucky reflect snowballed into—
A double on the enemy bot duo. Miracle territory.