Ha Jeong-uk / Wook_SUP (2)

Ha Jeong-uk could feel it too—the flow of the game was somehow off.

It was a bizarre composition, yet the game was unfolding with effortless smoothness. Although Jin Gyeo-wool's team was built primarily around AP damage, the enemy tanks were hardly sturdy from the early game either. When chained CC and burst damage landed on still-squishy bodies, melting away was only natural.

Knowing this perfectly well, Jin Gyeo-wool and her slaves opened fights the moment a teamfight setup appeared, even from the early game. They would initiate first behind Zac's excellent sustain, then keep stabbing in chip pokes from Joni and Ezreal. With Jeanne on the roster their join speed was fast, and even Jeanne herself carried airborne and slow CC. Aside from the main dealer Ezreal, all four champions possessed high-level crowd control, so the moment anyone became the target of Zac's ultimate Jelly Jump and got yanked out, getting beaten senseless from that point on was the inevitable sequence.

Gong Je-hyeon, apparently determined to repay the bitterness of his 1v1 defeat to Jin Gyeo-wool right here if nowhere else, began thrashing the opponents with everything he had.

Around the ten-minute mark.

Tahm Kench threw his body in to save the Galio Zac had pulled, only for his health to be carved away in massive chunks by Joni's max-range Q/Twinkle Star poke that followed the sleep.

"Poking hurts like hell, doesn't it? Huh?"

He fled with every ounce of strength he had, but what came next was sticky jelly and Jeanne's slow. Even after crossing the river, climbing the hill, and activating his shield, Tahm Kench met his end.

Meanwhile Ezreal was showcasing monstrous poking power in the bot lane, beating Caitlyn senseless until she couldn't think straight, shoving her deep into the lane, and successfully taking the tower. A natural top-bot lane swap followed. To stop Ezreal and Jeanne's tower pressure, even Galio came top to help—but at that exact moment Gong Je-hyeon's Joni, who had climbed through the jungle, made a surprise appearance. Caitlyn, mid-Q while trying to push the wave, never even got the chance to run; she took the max-range Q poke and exploded on the spot.

Having scored a clean kill, Gong Je-hyeon shouted at Jin Gyeo-wool.

"Hey, Jin Gyeo-wool. Did you see that?"

"Sorry, I was busy laning bot."

"Ah, shit! Look for once! You saw it and you're just pretending you didn't."

"I really didn't see."

At twenty minutes of game time, every enemy first tower had fallen. And the enemy Kha'Zix was beginning to rot. He should have crushed Zac early with jungle invades or farmed kills in the relatively weak mid and bot lanes, but every single attempt had come to nothing. It was a five-man team ranked queue, so the opponents' skill was admittedly a step below Jin Gyeo-wool's tightly coordinated squad—yet even accounting for that, Kha'Zix was doing far too little. The rotten Kha'Zix had become a gag character who would simply walk around, get yanked by Zac's ultimate, and explode.

"Hey. Peacock. Straight for the Peacock."

"Looks good. I'll TP."

The enemy jungle had popped, and the game sat in an overwhelmingly advantageous state. What needed to be done now? Naturally, try for the Peacock. Jin Gyeo-wool's Cho'Gath, who had been shoving bot, joined up and completely sealed off any poke that could fly in from the wall behind the Peacock nest alongside Zac, while the remaining three champions happily beat the objective senseless. The Peacock's health melted in an instant, and Ezreal fearlessly shoved himself into the enemies' faces and started landing Q combos.

"Galio's behind the fog of war. Going in."

"Two mid. Engage."

"Confirmed!"

The reason Yu Min-jae had used his front vision so boldly was that he had already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠confirmed the mismatched enemy calls on the map.

"Ah, so why don't you just give up instead of loitering here!"

"Kill them—!"

Zac, who crossed over with E/Slingshot while using smite, joined the fray, and Joni's poke coming around the bottom wall added in as well. They had just taken the Peacock, but thanks to Jeanne restoring everyone's health with her ultimate the whole team was healthy, and no matter how much magic resist he had built, Galio simply could not handle a three-on-one.

"Push top all the way?"

Thinking they had the win secured, Gong Je-hyeon advanced without hesitation and hammered the top second tower. There was no confirmation from Jin Gyeo-wool, but in this roster, silence meant agreement. They had chipped the top second tower down to about half health when the sudden gurgling sound of Tahm Kench's ultimate rang out.

"Tahm Kench is coming?"

"They're actually walking into this?"

Seeing the setup that followed, Jin Gyeo-wool immediately added,

"Kill them and keep pushing top. I'll join mid."

With a gurgle, Tahm Kench's tunnel opened toward the top golem jungle. They must have believed Joni was alone hammering the top tower—that was a serious misjudgment. Tahm Kench and Kha'Zix, who had tried to ambush from behind, could only jump in shock at the sight of Zac suddenly bursting out of the jungle. And it wasn't just Zac. Jeanne had been standing by between Ezreal shoving mid and Joni shoving top, ready to support at any moment. To save the Kha'Zix he had brought along and send him back, the sacrificial lamb this time was once again Tahm Kench.

"Ah, push push~"

"Let's go~!"

Lively communication among the teammates. Everyone was making precise judgments about the situation.

"Looks like the game's over. Just don't die to some stupid mistake."

And at the end of it all, there was always Jin Gyeo-wool's comment. The game had exploded early and they had continued to hold an overwhelming lead, so in a way it was only natural. But for Ha Jeong-uk, it was a freshness he was tasting for the first time.

He had played countless games as a support, yet no matter how well he performed, most of the time he simply received a word of praise from the ADC and that was the end of it. He had climbed to Master with difficulty while being mocked as a tool, but even in Master tier the situation had not been much different. In any game, there was a hard limit to what a support alone could create.

It wasn't as if he had never belonged to a team. But the members of those teams had only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the vaguest sense of belonging or shared goals, and so each of them wanted different things. Every match produced the loud dissonance of an unpracticed orchestra. He had tried to coordinate as much as possible from the support role, yet every team he had ever joined ultimately failed to come together as one. And Ha Jeong-uk had felt a deep, crushing powerlessness.

If it's this team… maybe they really could achieve something…?

But Jin Gyeo-wool's team was different.

"Ah, we won~!"

"Wow. This is real Joni hard carry. Agree?"

"Nope. Cho'Gath and Zac carry."

"What kind of bullshit is that. Yu Min-jae, did we even play the same game?"

The captain was Choi Do-yun, but Cha Ga-eul's words that the actual captain was Jin Gyeo-wool hit the mark perfectly. She had said something like, The captain is Choi Do-yun, but gathering the members is pretty much Gyeo-wool's doing. Exactly as those words claimed, Jin Gyeo-wool was no childish girl who knew nothing and had boldly thrown herself into tournaments while dreaming of going pro. She was a processed gem waiting only to be set into a beautiful ornament.

The entire gathered team was tightly united around Jin Gyeo-wool, moving as if they were a single body. She understood how critical teamwork was to a squad, and she had poured everything into building a team that would not fall apart on that foundation—so much so that even Ha Jeong-uk could feel it. Of course he could; this was his first day playing with them, yet he was already gaming as if he had always been part of the roster. From the very beginning, Jin Gyeo-wool had known that Ha Jeong-uk was the puzzle piece that perfectly filled the empty space.

A somewhat passive support who nevertheless thoroughly did his job. That was exactly the talent type she had wanted—one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that would mesh cleanly with Yu Min-jae.

She's a girl. How much interest could she really have in games? She might have climbed to Grandmaster on pure luck.

Ha Jeong-uk, who had been thinking along those lines, eventually had no choice but to change his mind. This girl was serious. She had fire in her eyes, determined to climb all the way to the top by any means necessary.

I'm the piece needed for that process.

Ha Jeong-uk was a passive, reactive person. Even knowing his parents' demands did not match his talent, he had followed them simply because he believed they needed him. And so he had suspected that Jin Gyeo-wool, like everyone else, might see him as nothing more than a disposable card to use and discard.

"Jeong-uk hyung. Your support was good."

"Ah. Uh…. Thanks."

But Jin Gyeo-wool had recognized the talent he possessed. She was sincere enough about the team to chase after him when he tried to run and grab hold of him. And she was a properly upright captain who thought not only of her own future, but of the futures of every teammate who would walk beside her.

Four consecutive games of merciless slaughter. When Ha Jeong-uk was so drunk on victory he could barely think straight, Jin Gyeo-wool casually walked over and stood beside him.

"How about it. Feeling some motivation to game with us?"

Ha Jeong-uk answered while looking into her sparkling eyes.

"…It's fun, yeah."

"Of course it's fun. We're going to smash every other team from now on."

With this team, it was entirely possible. They still had no solo-queue Challenger, but in amateur tournaments whether someone was Challenger or not was never the decisive factor. The mind games that began with ban-pick, and the teamwork and macro that followed—if team games were easy simply because a player's solo rank was Challenger, the current pro league would have no reason to keep separate coaches.

"Decide quickly, Ha Jeong-uk. If you don't accept this offer, I'll have to start looking for other members too."

What Jin Gyeo-wool held out as she spoke was the future plan schedule. Today was April 27th. The sheet was packed, week by week, with plans that would begin as early as next week.

Is she really thinking of joining the pros in just one year…?

It might have felt like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a somewhat absurd plan, but there was a saying for a reason. The bigger the dream, the better.

"How about it. Joining? Or not."

Jin Gyeo-wool was smiling as if this opportunity would never come again. The three colleagues standing behind her each added their opinions as if they trusted her completely.

"Honestly, asking whether you'll choose the CSAT or this is a bit much. But doesn't it look fun?"

"After laning with you, it's definitely a waste to let that talent rot."

"Hyung-nim. Honestly, if not now, when will you ever win a tournament? Looking at your mock exam scores, you'll probably have to retake the year anyway, so why not just take a clean gap year this year?"

Gong Je-hyeon's last remark seemed to have gone a little too far; Jin Gyeo-wool's fist flew.

"Hey. If you're gonna say shit like that, just don't talk."

"Oof… Your fist really stings, damn."

Truly the devil's whisper. Were these people a demon legion dispatched from the Demon King's army? How did they understand Ha Jeong-uk's heart so perfectly and scratch the exact places that needed scratching? These devils were tempting him with the promise of the greatest experience of his life in exchange for half a year. And at their head stood this beautiful yet fiery-tempered girl.

No. Not a girl. A devil among devils. Her exterior was unmistakably that of a beautiful young woman, yet what filled the inside was without question an ambitious man. She was nothing less than Paimon herself—the one who brings honor to whoever summons her.

"I came to persuade you, not force you. Anyway, you can't completely ignore your parents either. Once you start practicing with us, studies will definitely take a backseat. Grades will drop."

But if, in exchange for those side effects and half a year of his life, he could gain corresponding joy and fame—if he could finally get a real chance to unfold the talent that had only been rotting away—was that a loss, or a gain?

"Team…"

The devil's temptation is always sweet, and humans cannot easily escape it. Perhaps Ha Jeong-uk's choice had been decided from the very moment Jin Gyeo-wool came after him with her slaves in tow.

"I'll join. But… won't I be a hindrance? You guys have been gaming continuously, and your tiers are Grandmaster—"

The instant she heard those words, Jin Gyeo-wool held out a new sheet of paper. It was a contract with only a few simple sentences written on it. The reason she had recently pestered and pestered her father until he raised her allowance all the way to five million won had been for this very contract.

Effort without reward produces only emptiness. Jin Gyeo-wool, who had spent a long time living as a penniless loser, knew that better than anyone. It wasn't only Ha Jeong-uk who was startled by the word salary. The three teammates shouted at the same time.

"…Salary?!"

"What, you're giving salary?!"

"…?! You're giving money?"

Jin Gyeo-wool continued with a sly grin.

"I won't tell you to work for passion pay, so just work as hard as the salary you receive, right? Yeah?"

At present, more than half of all League of Council amateur players competed without receiving a single coin. Considering that, Jin Gyeo-wool's salary proposal was nothing short of groundbreaking. Even Ha Jeong-uk, who had been conflicted and agonizing, had no choice but to collapse before money. He was a student without cash of his own, and the salary she offered would even be enough to cover the academy fees his parents provided.

"Definitely. I'll definitely do it!"

The white flag was finally raised. Jin Gyeo-wool grinned, slipped her arm around the back of Ha Jeong-uk's neck in a firm shoulder hug, and said,

"Very good."