A Bit of Image Laundering (5)
He'd managed to win, sure—but handing his first death of the day to some Platinum scrub he'd written off left Choi Go-yun burning with humiliation.
And the friends who'd been fawning over him just the other day, insisting the game fell apart without him? Now they were too busy gushing over Jin Gyeo-wool.
"She's good."
"Yeah. Definitely better than you, Yuk Min-su."
"It kills me to admit it, but yeah."
They were complimenting her, sure—but the awkwardness underneath never quite went away. Finding someone likable didn't magically erase the traumatic memories of the past. That was just how it was.
Still, Jin Gyeo-wool felt the atmosphere warming up nicely enough.
No harm in steadily expanding my ranked network like this.
Between games, she took a sip of the drink she'd ordered. At some point Choi Go-yun had claimed the chair Lee Yeong-bin had briefly vacated.
Gyeo-wool gave him a puzzled look.
"…Something you want to say?"
Her stare bored straight through him. Choi Go-yun held her gaze for a long moment, then grimaced and edged back a little, like he just couldn't take it anymore.
"You. You're not actually Gold."
"…"
Busted. For a split second the shock showed plain on her face.
"I knew it. Figured as much."
How did he know?
Solo-killing her opponent three times in a row in an Irelia mirror match up top. Rotating as a follow-up in a mid-game skirmish, collapsing the enemy formation, cutting off their escape with her ultimate—Blade of the True Heavens—and snagging a triple kill. Taking dragon solo, then joining the Peacock fight and deleting the enemy ADC in a heartbeat. In the final teamfight, slipping through a vision gap, shattering their formation, and picking off the enemy mid and ADC.
That was about all she could think of.
Do I tell the truth, or just bluff my way out of this?
While she was still weighing it, Choi Go-yun kept going.
"You're Master tier, right? …You were definitely better than me. I'm Diamond II, and the whole game I could feel you seeing way more than I was."
Where her Gold-and-below friends simply registered it as "she's good," Diamond-tier Choi Go-yun broke it down into the specifics of how she was good.
"Not that I'm anything special. My little brother's a Master-tier jungler, so I just picked up an eye for that kind of thing whether I wanted to or not…"
In that instant, one phrase snagged hard in Jin Gyeo-wool's filter. Master-tier jungler and little brother. For someone already thinking about putting together an amateur team, those were extremely important keywords.
Jin Ju-yeong was still looking into existing amateur teams she might join, but it was nowhere near a sure thing.
Which meant it couldn't hurt to start collecting contact points with potential teammates now—like gathering Dragon Balls. Even if they already had teams, getting close to good players meant access to info on other squads. Win-win.
She trusted Ju-yeong, but Gyeo-wool knew full well that grinding alone wasn't going to cut it.
Keep practicing like always—and put real work into networking too…
Bae Do-hyun hadn't been cornered by lack of skill alone. He'd failed at managing his connections, and that was what shoved him to the margins.
While Jang Jae-hong—the "nice little brother" he'd taken in at the start—quietly took over the whole group, Bae Do-hyun had been pure and clueless, burying himself in work and the game.
If I don't…
There was no law saying Jin Gyeo-wool wouldn't end up in the same spot. She'd be shut out just for being a girl—that much was guaranteed in a sausage-fest like League of Council.
If she wanted solid ground under her feet in the middle of all that, the only move was locking down her circle early.
Ju-yeong had already mentioned pushing for a collab stream soon. Gyeo-wool decided she'd let that run its course and do everything she personally could in the meantime.
So she softened the blunt expression she'd been wearing all day. With a gentle look designed to put anyone at ease, she spoke to Choi Go-yun.
"Are you close with your brother?"
"Huh? My brother?"
Her upper body tilted naturally toward him. She had a personal creed that the first step of building a connection was showing sincerity, and she was doing everything she could to make a good impression.
The sudden closeness threw Choi Go-yun completely off.
As Gyeo-wool leaned in, a sweet shampoo scent drifted from her swaying hair. Layered on top of that was the fresh, clean fragrance of the skincare products she wore every day for her skin routine—and lifelong single Choi Go-yun's brain short-circuited.
"Do you talk a lot normally? Is your brother thinking about going pro?"
"Uh… uhh. Hold on. So…"
Even as he stammered, her body kept drifting closer.
W-what? I haven't even said anything yet—why is she already like this?
In the scenario he'd imagined, the reaction was supposed to come when he suggested they play together. For some reason, Gyeo-wool was already showing serious interest before he'd even gotten the words out.
"Anyway!"
"!"
Both hands shot out from where they'd been resting on her knees and seized Choi Go-yun's wrists in an instant. It was pure predator instinct—locking down prey that had wandered into range so it couldn't escape. To Choi Go-yun, who had never in his grown life had a girl grab his wrists, it was devastatingly thrilling.
"Let's be friends. You said you're Diamond, right?"
"Y-yeah. Y-yeah! Yeah!"
"Can you introduce me to your brother too? Let's play together."
"Uh! I can! Of course!"
Too close. Way too close!
Choi Go-yun was screaming internally, trying to lean back somehow—but the chair blocked him. There was only so far he could run.
I had no idea she was this forward…!
The whole chain of logic had skipped several critical steps, but Gyeo-wool's physical closeness packed enough destructive force to short-circuit any sense of how irrational it all was.
The fact that she was the same vicious beast who'd ripped out her friend Lee Yeong-bin's hair hadn't changed—but if you looked at her now with fresh eyes, she was closer to an adorable cat.
Without meaning to, Choi Go-yun started picturing a future with this lovely girl. One son, one daughter—two kids was plenty. A cozy weekend with the four of them. A little girl who looked just like Gyeo-wool, reaching up to yank on Choi Go-yun's hair—
…Huh?
In that moment, last year's image slammed into his head: Jin Gyeo-wool straddling Lee Yeong-bin and wrecking him. She'd even dropped him with a single punch right before that.
And just like that, he could see her clearly again. She was smiling gently—but he'd almost forgotten that behind that expression, the madness was always there.
Choi Go-yun shuddered, realizing he'd nearly fallen for a witch's enchantment.
Oh no. Did Jin Gyeo-wool just mark me as her next target…? And I walked straight into her mouth without even knowing…?
Maybe bringing a smurf account today had been deliberate—bait to reel him in. As the only Diamond in the group, she'd probably figured he'd clock that she had a main and come to her himself.
And the second he got close, she'd grabbed both his wrists so he couldn't run.
Hiiiiik—
The rose-tinted glasses finally shattered completely. This was a trap. He had to get out!
If he didn't, Gyeo-wool—bored of Lee Yeong-bin—would make Choi Go-yun her new slave. Guaranteed.
"Perfect. You've got to introduce me to your brother later, okay? You can just give me his ranked tag. I'll reach out."
Luckily, he had the perfect bait. Her grip on his wrists was still iron-tight, but this was the only way out of the monster's claws.
"I'll tell you right now! Right this second!"
"Really?"
Mission accomplished, Jin Gyeo-wool broke into a pleased smile. It was a completely pure, intention-free laugh—but there was zero chance Choi Go-yun would take it that way.
The five-stack kept rolling after that. When four o'clock hit, Gyeo-wool said she had things to do and headed home first. Lee Yeong-bin and the others were getting hungry themselves and filtered outside for dinner.
"Gyeo-wool was actually cracked today."
"She could stream, no joke. Face like that plus that skill level? She'd blow up instantly, right?"
"I dunno if she's that good. But she's definitely better than Yuk Min-dick."
"You son of a—!"
"And that hundred-hour PC cafe voucher was insane. If she keeps queuing with us, we basically never have to pay for PC time again, right?"
"Facts. Guess the daughter of the family that owns the school foundation really is built different."
Everyone except Choi Go-yun aired their takes. The consensus boiled down to two things: they'd thought she was just good at fighting, so the gaming skill was a genuine shock—and giving them free PC cafe hours made it hard to believe she was as awful as the rumors said.
"…I'm garbage."
Choi Go-yun alone was muttering to himself in abject misery.
"I'm garbage! I sold out my own brother just to survive!"
"…What's wrong with that guy?"
"Dunno. Leave him. What are we eating?"
It was out of character, but his friends shrugged it off and threw themselves into the serious business of picking a dinner menu.
What if Gyeo-wool doesn't like Choi Do-yun?
She'd wanted a new slave. The second he offered to introduce his brother, she'd let him go. But if little brother Choi Do-yun didn't make the cut?
The arrow would swing right back to Choi Go-yun.
Damn it… I couldn't even hold back one second of lust. You absolute idiot…!
He'd always roasted Yuk Min-su in ranked for inting because he couldn't hold himself back for one fight. Today, Choi Go-yun had zero right to talk.
He chewed his nails for a while, then seemed to reach a decision and bellowed,
"Yo. I've got stuff to do at home! You guys eat without me!"
"What? Hey! Where are you going, you bastard!"
"Nah, let him go. He's definitely cooked up some weird idea and is about to make a whole production out of how genius it is."
"Yeah, not the first time."
Watching Choi Go-yun tear off into the distance, Lee Yeong-bin's expression wasn't entirely easy.
What the hell did he talk about with Gyeo-wool to end up like that?
Something had clearly been said—but Gyeo-wool had played dumb and insisted it was nothing.
It's bugging me…
She'd accepted the vice class president offer in a situation where punching his lights out wouldn't have been weird at all. She'd even reacted positively to going to play games together.
So he had no choice but to believe she'd gotten nicer. The uneasy feeling lingered, but Lee Yeong-bin shook his head hard and scrubbed the thought away.
"Hey! Choi Do-yun!"
"Mmm. Busy."
"It's important, you little shit. What are you doing?"
"Ranked."
The second he got home, Choi Go-yun charged straight at his little brother. The kid was in the lobby trading messages with someone. For a second Go-yun hoped—but it wasn't Gyeo-wool.
"If someone named ValKyrie sends you a friend request, be nice. Be really nice. Got it?"
Choi Go-yun was trying to sell his brother on this for the sake of his own future—but as everyone knows, little brothers don't listen to their older brothers. It's not just siblings of opposite genders who sharpen knives for each other every day. Brothers do it too.
"Why would I?"
The pushback came as naturally as breathing. Panicking, Choi Go-yun said something he would never normally say in a million years.
"Half my allowance. Yours."
"For real?"
"You can wear my sneakers whenever you want."
"I said, for real…?"
From Choi Do-yun's perspective, his brother had clearly lost his mind. This was a guy who lived entirely on his own ego and never gave anyone anything—and now he was splitting his allowance and lending out his sneakers? The same sneakers he'd called his treasure and threatened to murder anyone for wearing outside?
Unless Choi Go-yun was about to die and had suddenly turned over a new leaf, this had to be connected to the "ValKyrie" person he'd mentioned. Clever Choi Do-yun clocked his brother's scheme instantly.
"What, is this ValKyrie person setting you up with a girl?"
"……"
No—more accurately, I have to sell YOU off to that person.
The words caught on Choi Go-yun's tongue and barely made it back down his throat.
"Y-yeah. Yeah. Something like that."
"Ohhh…"
Of course. Choi Do-yun could not stand watching his brother succeed—especially not at romance. He was about to shut the whole thing down with a hard no when Choi Go-yun kept talking.
"But this ValKyrie… I think she might have a thing for you."
"Huh?"
ValKyrie wasn't a guy?
Choi Do-yun tilted his head, puzzled.
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm serious! Why else would she get my ID just to friend you?"
But how was he supposed to buy that? Some stranger who'd never even met Choi Do-yun suddenly coming on this strong? His instincts screamed fishy, and he said as much.
"Nah. Total bullshit. It's a guy, right? Some dude pretending to be a girl to catfish me? Even scammers have standards~"
"Oh, come on. Look at this, then."
In the end, Choi Go-yun pulled up the photo he'd taken on his way back from the bathroom at the PC cafe—Gyeo-wool sitting in a row with his friends.
"That's Yeong-bin hyung."
"Exactly! It's real. Not a lie."
"The person on the far end is ValKyrie?"
"That's what I'm saying. For real, not a lie."
Gyeo-wool's looks definitely stood out. She looked like she belonged on TV or a stream overlay, not in a PC cafe.
Choi Go-yun was a lifelong single—but so was his little brother. Even if this turned out to be a hidden-camera prank, Do-yun figured just seeing that face wasn't a loss, and asked,
"So what. What do I actually have to do?"
That part had been decided from the start.
"What else? Ranked."
And the moment the words left his mouth, a friend request landed on Choi Do-yun's screen. It was from Jin Gyeo-wool's Master-tier main account—ValKyrie.