Just Experience Points
Yuseung had definitely told me that Kim Hanseo was stubborn and had a sharp personality, but that must have been pure slander from Yuseung's friend, who was apparently one of Kim Hanseo's former teammates and full of malice.
Surprisingly, even in this situation, Kim Hanseo didn't lose his temper. Sure, he let out a disbelieving chuckle, but that wasn't weird at all. If anything, it was an incredibly mild reaction.
In the end, the commotion died down only after I grabbed Arang's head and forced her to bow and apologize. Just imagining what might have happened if Kim Hanseo hadn't let it slide was terrifying.
"...That's mean."
"One more word, and you're really in for it."
"Pudge hates you."
Sigh, what was I going to do with this girl?
Anyway, with the fuss over, Arang had at least properly imprinted her presence on the whole team. There was still some time until 6 p.m., so I went back to my seat and ran some solo queue games. Eventually, it was time for the team dinner.
We all wrapped up our games around 6 and headed to our rooms to get ready to go out. The guys and I finished up quickly, but Seo Seohui and Arang took over 30 minutes.
"Why are you taking so long?"
"You can't just go out looking like that."
"I was fine with it, but Crisu grabbed me."
Arang's hair was neatly styled now, and she'd even put on some makeup. It was a relief that Seo Seohui was looking out for her like that. I was thinking that in a laid-back way and said let's go, but...
"Whatever, let's head out."
"Head out? Come here first."
"Huh? Wh-what?"
Seo Seohui grabbed me and dragged me straight to her room.
"Hey, what are you doing?!"
"No way you're going out like that."
"What's wrong with how I look? I'm going like this."
"Just sit still and behave."
She wasn't taking no for an answer. Seo Seohui put a headband on me to push back my bangs and started dabbing makeup on my face.
"Don't talk. Just stay still."
Arguing would just make things more annoying, so I put up with it. Luckily, she wasn't going for a full makeover—just some light makeup and hair styling before calling it done.
"...Do I really have to do this?"
"You're a girl now. Going out bare-faced is kinda off."
"I don't care."
"I do. Your base is already pretty, so no heavy makeup needed. Just a light touch-up."
Was it? It felt like she'd put on quite a bit to me.
Looking in the mirror, it wasn't a huge change, but my face did look sharper and more defined.
"I rushed because everyone's waiting. You, Arang—why does no one care about this stuff?"
"A high schooler's got no business with makeup."
"Unnie's twenty-one."
"You used to be a guy."
"Guys wear makeup these days. Anyway, no going out bare-faced in front of me. You do basic makeup before matches anyway."
"Yeah, these days..."
With that, we finished getting ready and headed out. When we got to the lobby where everyone was gathered, Jang Seonho immediately started griping.
"Not even showing off that you're a girl, and it takes this long?"
"Shut it. You want me to go out bare-faced?"
"Drawing lines on a pumpkin doesn't make it a watermelon."
"Excuse me?!"
"Both of you, chill. It's a good day. We're going to eat good food—don't ruin the vibe."
The director mediated quickly, thank goodness, but next up was Yuseung. He looked at me and started grinning like he'd seen something hilarious.
"Whoa, makeup now too?"
"Quiet."
"Nah, you look pretty."
"I said shut up."
"You two as well."
Anyway, we headed out, piled into the van reserved for our team, and took off.
"So, what are we eating?"
"Hotpot."
"Hotpot? Isn't that like mala tang?"
"If you add mala, yeah. Chinese-style hotpot? Like shabu-shabu."
The director explained hotpot casually.
"Different broths in separate pots—you add whatever you want. Perfect team dinner food for pros."
"Never had that at Tundra."
"What'd you eat there?"
"Meat, always."
Anyway, mala tang vibes didn't thrill me. I wasn't a fan of that stuff. I'd tried it before—not bad, but just not bad.
The others didn't seem to mind, and it wasn't enough for me to complain about.
Absolutely not because I like mala tang.
"Pudge loves mala tang."
"Huh? Who said that? When did I ever say I like it?"
"Last time we went, you refilled three times by yourself."
"I only did it 'cause Arang looked like she wanted some."
"Nope?"
"You wanna get scolded again?"
"UwU."
While I was fending off Arang's slander, Yuseung tossed out a jab.
"Didn't you say mala tang was for girls before?"
"...When?"
"You did. And on stream too, right? Something like, 'Not kimchi stew, but mala tang?'"
No no no, I vaguely remembered saying something like that, but dragging it up now was foul play.
"Yeah! I remember too."
Even Arang piled on. She was there from the start. I tried playing dumb to deny Yuseung, but
"You all know this is malicious slander, right? I'm not the type to say stuff like that."
"Girls can't play games, huh?"
Seo Seohui landed the finishing blow.
"...I'll be quiet."
I couldn't clear up the rumor that I loved mala tang.
It was so unjust.
A bit later, we arrived at the hotpot place the director was a regular at. Good thing they had a private room—no risk of being seen by outsiders.
Especially since me hanging with these guys might raise eyebrows.
Though with three girls, no one would peg us as a pro team anyway.
And so I tried hotpot for the first time in my life. Not bad.
Time passed, and Seo Seohui spoke up as I refilled the mala broth for the third time.
"The guy who hates mala tang is refilling just the mala pot three times?"
"No no, I sacrificed myself since you all seemed to like it. How's that me liking it?"
Yeah, I felt wronged. Anyone would think I was some mala-obsessed chick.
"Haven't touched the plain broth, but scooped tons from the mala side."
"You stay quiet, butcher."
"Central warding."
"Wanna die?"
Yuseung kept needling me,
"Was that support hate speech?"
"Perp is Yuseung."
"You said 'wanna die?' too—that's the same."
Seo Seohui pounced on my slip-up right away.
The world was so unfair. Mid was basically the team's heart—did it deserve this treatment? I sighed and complained to Arang.
"Arang, they're bullying me."
"Pudge has the lowest score, so it's fine."
"Arang, what kinda talk is that?"
Had she held a grudge from the forced apology earlier? Even Arang started picking on me. Technically, I did have the team's lowest score right now. Close to Seo Seohui's, but she edged me out by a hair.
"I didn't raise you to judge people by scores."
"You her mom? When'd you raise her?"
Yuseung grabbed the baton again.
"Not mom, but dad level, sure."
"Bullshit."
It was our first team dinner, but we had a blast chatting noisily anyway.
Meaningless bickering and teasing built teamwork and closeness. The dinner itself was a huge success.
Mostly Yuseung, me, Seo Seohui, and Arang yapping, but across the table, Kim Hanseo, Jang Seonho, and the director were chatting among themselves.
As the dinner wound down after a fun time, the director got everyone's attention for an announcement.
"Alright, listen up. Good food, right? We've been chill till now, but with everyone here, that's over! From here on, it's intense training, frequent strategy meetings. Scrims start tomorrow, so prep well and let's go!"
"Scrims already?"
Jang Seonho's question made the director grin.
"Opponent had issues today, schedule shifted. Lucky for us—we snagged it. Scrim tomorrow. First one, so it'll be probing, but don't take it lightly!"
"Probing who?"
Seo Seohui asked something innocently clueless. Maybe she meant who the opponent was. But this time, the probe target was clear.
The director answered.
"Us."
Yeah, that's right.
~
The next day, before our first scrim, we kicked off with a strategy meeting.
Following the director's call for horizontal discussion over vertical orders, everyone threw out ideas.
We hadn't played proper team games yet, so pinning down our color was tough, but one thing was sure: we weren't a heavyweight team fundamentally.
Combining opinions, mutual evals, and career stats, it boiled down to this.
Top: Shield over sword. Low carry potential but strong anti-carry. Solid frontliner, exceptional at holding.
Mid—me: Honestly, consistent high performance was iffy right now. More ops-focused than physical.
ADC: Great laning, but post-lane, calls split from team often. Damage stats low even accounting for weak team.
Support: Biggest issue. ADC perspective gave unique vision—big plus, but unproven. Objectively, lowest weight class.
Putting it together, the answer was clear.
Jungle carry.
Our most efficient path right now.
Because Yuseung was a flawless jungler.
Top-tier carry, no bad reps on ops, weight, pathing. If not for the break wasting his career, he'd be in first division.
So we'd test strategies and adapt, but this was our baseline direction.
Conclusion reached, scrim time approached.
I didn't expect a first scrim win. High chance of loss, so focus on growth points over defeat itself.
Plus, our opponent was trouble.
"How'd you snag a first-division team?"
"Clung to their coach's leg. Got rejected then, but when a spot opened, they came to us. Worth it."
First scrim foe: Milky Way Hynix.
Worlds champs three years back, dynasty material, but now all-stars gone, spring finals 6th—a fallen team.
Still first division 6th. Qualitative gap over second division.
So assuming loss wasn't weird. Even beating a second-div team would've been fine.
"First scrim, we'll probably lose, but it'd be great to gain something."
Obvious, but the director shot it down.
"No, nope. Wrong mindset."
"Huh?"
"Think. Our team? Top's Worlds quarters top-laner, jungle Worlds runner-up once, mid three times. ADC's demoted a team, support's world's first female starter pro."
"...Last two aren't positives?"
No matter how I spun it.
"Exactly—don't think we're losing to a total wreck. Mindset matters. We're raw misfits, worst case. But our ceiling crushes theirs. Floor? Nothing to lose. Fight to the end believing we'll win."
"...Not getting it."
What nonsense.
"Don't call loss a loss. We're devouring them. Our peak's way higher—own that. Milky Way Hynix? You're just XP for us!"
The director's sophistry was hard to grasp.
But wasn't it basically what I'd always said? I'd win in the end—believe it.
Difference: He didn't label it defeat.
Ridiculous, incomprehensible... but exactly what I'd felt watching Proud.
"Love it. XP."
"Yeah, experience points."
Our goal: Worlds win. Greatest foe: Proud. No changing now.
So?
"Milky Way ain't worth the worry."
Arrogant. Insanely so. But I loved it.
"Let's go."
And so we started our first scrim—and got absolutely destroyed, three games straight, ridiculously one-sided.