IeSF World Championship Finals, vs Macau (1)
The camera swept over the commentators' booth set up behind the spectator stands, bringing the two-man broadcast team into view.
"All right, esports fans watching around the world — at last, we've reached the end. The finals! I'm your caster, Rickman, joined by my analyst, Pretzel."
"Hello, everyone. Pretzel here! Finally, the last match."
"That's right. And what a matchup we've got. Remember when Korea and Macau first clashed in Group B?"
"Of course. Both teams were considered strong, but Macau already got a bitter taste of defeat against Korea in the group stage."
"Exactly. Korea went undefeated and took first in the group, while Macau advanced in second with two wins and one loss — but even meeting again in the finals, Macau remains the underdog."
"They do. Korea already showed overwhelming firepower in the group stage. And… Korea's top laner has stirred up an absolute storm! The whole world is stunned right now!"
Behind the commentators' booth, her image flickered briefly across the jumbotron. A small cheer rose from the crowd.
"Who could have guessed that such a lovely little girl would pick up the most terrifying champions and beat her opponents half to death with them?"
"Ugh, seriously. I thought I was going to lose my mind!"
"Honestly, before I saw Korea's roster, I figured Macau's coach would be the big story. You know — a beautiful female coach. You don't see that every day."
"Agreed."
The jumbotron camera swung briefly toward Macau's side. She was certainly a striking woman, but she couldn't hold a candle to Jin Gyeo-wool.
"And then — out of nowhere — someone even more extraordinary shows up! I still remember the crowd losing it during Korea's first match."
"It was an unbelievable moment. Even in the amateur scene, a female gamer — and not just any female gamer, but a woman Challenger, something you almost never see — stepping onto that stage!"
"The name ValKyrie had already been making the rounds through Reddit and various communities around the world."
"But even the people spreading the word probably had no idea. A female player is rare enough — nobody expected her to be this beautiful!"
"Hahahaha!! That's exactly what I was going to say."
As the commentary rolled on and the players took their seats to set up for the match, two familiar faces spotted each other among the sizable finals crowd and exchanged greetings.
The two men shaking hands vigorously were Bae Jeong-ung, coach of Hyeonseong Universe, and Kwon Jae-hoon, an agent who had flown all the way to Taiwan hoping to make contact with the Korean team.
Kwon Jae-hoon was one of the agents at LeagueStar, widely regarded as Korea's largest agency, and he had lent a hand during Hyeonseong's roster reinforcements the previous year.
"Coach Bae. What brings you all the way out here? Is it true Hyeonseong is just going to swallow the whole Korean team whole?"
"What… the rumors have already gotten that far?"
"How could they not?"
Kwon Jae-hoon shrugged with a sheepish look.
"All kinds of teams and agencies have already reached out, and every single player on the Korean team talks like they've already decided where they're going. How are you supposed to miss that?"
"Still, they wouldn't have said they were going to Hyeonseong."
"You've got Jin Gyeo-wool. She's close with Lee Do-jin."
Kwon Jae-hoon let out a heavy sigh. He had come all this way only to leave empty-handed tomorrow.
"Honestly, if anyone was going to pick up Jin Gyeo-wool, I figured it'd be Hyeonseong. But it looks like the other players decided to go with her."
"Seems that way. It's amazing how tight-knit that team is — the bonds run deep."
"It really is strange. I've seen a few female amateur players before, and even then I never saw anyone this good. And beyond that, teams with female players tend to have problems, don't they? It's almost weird when there's no drama."
Had there been incidents like that? Bae Jeong-ung rubbed the back of his neck, admitting he didn't know the details that well.
"Anyway, anything you're curious about? We've got history, so I'll tip you off a little."
"…Is that okay? Your boss is going to chew you out again."
"Pwahaha! It's a dead deal anyway — what does it matter if you know? Besides, I already dropped the rumor as an anonymous post on LoC Gallery."
"Good grief."
The man had no sense of caution whatsoever. Still, it wasn't as if his behavior was causing any real trouble, so Bae Jeong-ung just laughed it off.
With Jin Gyeo-wool's destination all but decided, it hardly mattered what offers had been about to come her way.
"She's popular worldwide. The calls from outside Korea actually came in first."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Honestly, if you can play, who cares if you're a guy or a girl? Korean gaming prodigies rarely want to go overseas, so supply is always short."
"True enough. Most of them would rather stay in Korea if they can…"
Leave home and life gets hard. Especially for gaming addicts who spent most of their time in front of a computer, living abroad always came with serious hardships.
Unfamiliar food. Environments that were hard to adjust to. Teammates who didn't speak the language. Just thinking about it was enough to make anyone miserable.
"Oh, right. Want to hear the funniest part?"
"What is it?"
"The Commonwealth of Independent States — you know Vindictus Esports?"
"The team that finished runner-up in the CCCo, right?"
Kwon Jae-hoon grinned as he continued, looking like he'd been dying to spill this.
"They're introducing a franchise system next year and scrapping promotion and relegation. So the owner over there has kind of lost his mind."
"…Huh?"
"Apparently he's going to build the entire team out of women starting next year. Oh, and this is confidential. The detailed team stuff…"
"Ah. Right. I'll be careful. That's why I told you not to just blurt things out."
"Come on, how am I supposed to hold this in? My mouth was itching. Anyway, he's wiping the slate clean with an all-female roster, bringing in pretty players, and trying something radical."
"That does sound completely insane."
Bae Jeong-ung raised his eyebrows with genuine interest, muttering that you really did see everything.
"Their results are probably going to be a disaster. Looking at the players they're eyeing, a lot of them honestly aren't even pro level. Diamond-tier players as pros? That's a bit much, isn't it?"
"And they want to sign Jin Gyeo-wool on top of that… Sounds like they're planning to use her as a bus driver."
"Exactly. So they offered a rookie an amount that defies imagination."
"Whoa."
Recruiting Diamond-tier players just to build a women's team was something only a deranged owner would do.
And most of their positions were supports. The result of drafting purely on looks while ignoring skill entirely.
"Of course, it's not a place you'd go just because the money's good. North America and China will probably throw around similar numbers."
Having said that, Kwon Jae-hoon glanced sideways at Bae Jeong-ung, as if hoping the other man would speak first. But it was Kwon who opened his mouth again.
"Still, honestly, Hyeonseong deciding to pick her up is a bit of a surprise."
"Well… it wasn't something we expected from the start either."
"I'll hear the details once the off-season is over, but GM Ju Yeongsik must have made a real commitment."
"He's steeled himself to take a full year of abuse."
"Pwahaha!"
Kwon Jae-hoon laughed hard, then forced himself to settle down and asked Bae Jeong-ung,
"For sure. Next year looks like it's going to be chaotic. Maybe starting as early as this Korean Cup."
"LoC Gallery will flip upside down."
"More precisely, just the Hyeonseong fandom, no?"
"Everything's going to flip. You know our fans."
"Ah. Right. Yeah."
Having watched countless fandom wars over the years, Kwon Jae-hoon couldn't simply laugh it off.
He let out a low hum, then asked casually,
"But she'll be on the bench for now, right?"
He said it because Hyeonseong was already set to sign Kim Jongha, an outstanding top laner.
There was plenty Bae Jeong-ung could have said, but he held his tongue. There was nothing to gain from leaking things this early.
Once Jin Gyeo-wool arrived, she would compete with Kim Jongha for the starting spot — but for the time being, they'd probably start Kim Jongha for stability over raw skill.
Even if Coach Kim Donggyun sometimes looked like he ignored the front office entirely, he wouldn't just throw Jin Gyeo-wool into the starting lineup without considering GM Ju Yeongsik.
"Well, we'll have to wait and see. We don't know anything yet either."
"Man. Ironclad security, same as always."
"Can't help it. I'm shipping off to the military soon. If I mess up, it'd look like I blew everything up and ran off to the army."
"Ah. That's fair."
At the same time, back in Korea, at Choi Go-yun's house.
Having learned today's match schedule in advance through his younger brother Choi Do-yun, he had summoned every one of his friends over.
On the couch across from the big TV sat Choi Go-yun, Yuk Min-su, Do Ho-jae, and Lee Yeong-bin. On the table, a freshly delivered order of hot fried chicken and ice-cold cola stood ready.
"Maybe we should've ordered the chicken later."
"Why worry about that? Ssam-Gyeo-wool's going to end it 3–0 anyway."
"It's not Ssam-Gyeo-wool, you childless bastard — it's Game-Gyeo-wool."
Yuk Min-su picked up an unopened container of pickled radish from the table, determined to force a joke.
"Radish? Chicken radish?"
"Wanna die?"
"Ack."
Lowbrow jokes were met with appropriate physical force. Between Yuk Min-su and Do Ho-jae trading fists and open palms, Choi Go-yun spoke with absolute confidence.
"By the way, when Gyeo-wool gets back to Korea, shouldn't she come thank me first?"
"What does she have to thank you for?"
Choi Go-yun looked down at Yuk Min-su with a self-satisfied expression and laid out what he considered solid evidence.
"Be honest. If I hadn't introduced my little brother to her, would any of this have happened? Finding a team is way harder for girls than for guys."
Lee Yeong-bin nodded in agreement. He had already grabbed a fork and was bringing a piece of boneless chicken to his mouth.
"And that's not all — I played games with her too. Went to the school tournament with her. Man… I really did a lot for a girl who was infamous at school as a total psycho."
But this part was so heavily exaggerated that everyone stared at Choi Go-yun like he was pathetic. Lee Yeong-bin swallowed his chicken and muttered,
"I was the one who suggested going to the PC bang, and I was the one who talked her into being on the same tournament team. You said no at first."
"Well — yeah, okay, fine!"
Apparently fed up with how Choi Go-yun had been strutting around school lately, Yuk Min-su couldn't hold back any longer.
"No wonder random kids have been coming up asking about Gyeo-wool. You've been running your damn mouth again, haven't you?"
"Me? What? This Diamond-tier gentleman spoke only the truth. I just added a tiny bit of MSG."
"Yeah, right."
"A low-tier scrub talking back?"
"Ever heard of Soft-Int Min-su, you bastard?"
"Yeah? Soft-Stuck Min-su, you bastard."
Lee Yeong-bin stared at him in disbelief, then sent a message somewhere. Sensing something fishy, Choi Go-yun asked,
"Who'd you just text?"
"Yeo-reum and Ga-eul."
"Why are you calling them?"
Why else? Because those two were basically Jin Gyeo-wool's managers. There was no way he was going to sit back and watch someone freeload off Gyeo-wool's name.
Hearing the reason, Choi Go-yun waved his hands in a panic.
"Hey! Are you serious? What if Jin Gyeo-wool comes back to Korea and grabs me by the hair?"
Lee Yeong-bin answered with the serene smile of a man possessed by the Buddha himself.
"Hey. Look at me. Ever since that day, my hair roots have gotten stronger and fuller."
Choi Go-yun's mouth quietly formed a single word. Psycho.
Three minutes into the match.
Choi Do-yun pulled out the signature level-three gank he hadn't shown once since arriving in Taiwan.
It was a pathing Macau had never seen from him.
"Oh, Doyoon. He's running that route again."
"Dodging every ward, taking the scuttle, and ganking at three — right? Macau's pushing bot hard right now. If the Hook lands, this could be a kill."
If Macau had predicted his pathing, they should have started playing carefully by now — but ordinary players tended to relax the moment a ward was planted in the river brush.
"That's level three. Chain Sweep! He's pulled in!"
"The Hook—! It lands! Slow applied — and Lee Sin's arrival timing is perfect!"
It almost felt like the enemy got caught every single time he tried it. That was how innovative this gank route was at the amateur level.
KOR Doyoon ▶ MAC GodFegei