VLL Preliminaries (1)

"We're heading out, sweetie~"

"Have a good day."

"Honey, there's a package for you. Check it out."

Even though it was Saturday morning, my parents were heading into work. I saw them off and took the delivery box they handed me.

I already had a pretty good idea what it was — the streaming camera I'd ordered last night. The listing had said rocket ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠delivery, but I hadn't expected it to actually show up overnight.

But does a cam even matter?

I'd bought it because the chat kept begging me to turn one on. Still, my stream was a skill-focused broadcast. There wasn't really any reason to show my face…

Ah.

Unless they thought I was running a cheat program. Rank one and hack accusations had always been inseparable, after all. If that was why they wanted it, a hand cam wasn't much to ask.

They told me to order food for myself.

I went back to my room, sat down at my desk, and tried to decide on a menu. Ten minutes of scrolling through delivery apps later, nothing looked appealing.

So I went with option three.

I turned on the stream and asked my viewers to recommend breakfast. Was it overkill to go live just for that? Maybe. But last night's stream had been more fun than expected, so I couldn't help myself.

"Hey everyone. Morning — didn't expect this many people already?"

Despite the early hour, roughly fifteen hundred people had shown up, about the same as yesterday. Streaming hard at nine on a Saturday morning… impressive, honestly.

Ah. Most of them were running all-nighter schedules. Well, it wasn't my life — people should live however they wanted.

After a quick round of hellos, I explained why I'd gone live.

"So yeah, I turned on stream to get breakfast recommendations."

Viewers threw out all kinds of options, but nothing really grabbed me. Maybe I'd just woken up without an appetite.

Spicy pork, huh. Not bad.

"Thanks for the ten-thousand-won donation. Spicy pork sounds good."

There was just one problem. I was surprisingly picky about jeyuk bokkeum. From the few times I'd ordered it around here, none of the nearby places did it well.

Nothing for it, then.

I stood up and headed for the kitchen.

"Ah — can you guys hear me?"

I checked chat on my phone. Leaving the door open meant my voice still carried through.

"There's no good place nearby, so I'm just gonna cook it myself."

Luckily I still had leftover meat from a few days ago. I dropped it in a pan, built a sauce from gochujang and soy sauce, and once the meat was nearly done I tossed in the seasoning and vegetables. Done.

Ultra-simple, underweight-gaming-body jeyuk bokkeum — the kind teammates would scrape the plate clean over. Complete.

I plated a reasonable portion and came back to my desk.

"Want me to turn on the cam?"

I was going to turn it on for solo queue later anyway, so I flipped it on early.

"Can everyone see okay?"

Once I confirmed the camera was working, I tilted the angle down.

I checked the stream preview — now the food filled the entire frame. Yeah. This was a mukbang stream.

"Thanks for the meal."

"Is it good, you ask? Take a look."

I picked up a piece of meat with my chopsticks and held it up to the camera.

By the time I'd cleared about half the bowl, I was already getting full. That was one of the more annoying things about becoming a girl — my stomach had shrunk. Compared to when I'd been a guy, even my stamina was different, so it made sense. Still, it was a little sad when good food was sitting right there and I couldn't finish it.

"Alright, solo queue time."

I set the empty bowl in the sink, came back, and launched the game client. Checking the rankings, I was still number one — but one loss from me or one win from second place would flip it.

"Huh? I'm playing like this, though?"

"Wait… you guys wanted the cam for the hand cam, right? Because of the cheats thing?"

"Well… if that's what you want, fine."

I adjusted the camera back to a normal angle, and the flaming chat cooled off a little.

I don't get it.

Pretty or not, this was a gameplay stream. I didn't do big reactions like other girl streamers. I honestly wasn't sure what the point of staring at my face was.

"Okay, starting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the game now."

High-elo games usually wrapped in about fifteen minutes at most, so I'd planned to chat while I played — until my phone buzzed beside me.

"One sec, gotta take a call."

"It's not a boyfriend. It's Han Byeori unnie."

I angled the phone toward the camera so they could see the caller ID, then picked up.

The call had come out of nowhere, so I wasn't sure what it was about — until I was.

"You got hurt? You want me to play the VLL prelims?"

"Got it. Just get to the hospital first."

I hung up and pieced the situation together. Han Byeori had accidentally hurt her hand, and she wanted me to sub in for today's VLL prelims.

It wasn't a hard ask, and it wasn't a bad deal for me either. VLL was a tournament where high-elo streamers gathered, and a fair number of coaches and managers watched it scouting for rookies.

The only real question was whether the other teams would accept me as a substitute.

"Hello."

I joined the Discord link Han Byeori had sent and said hi.

"Oh, hey there!"

The rough, welcoming voice belonged to ShenSaeng — a one-trick top laner who only played Shen, and the team's captain.

"Hii~"

Next was Pressure, the jungler and a former Worlds champion.

"Welcome."

Then Yujin, the ADC who'd once been tangled up in a hack controversy.

"We ran into each other in ranked last time. You probably don't remember, huh?"

And finally Ppot, the damage-support player.

Every one of them had been connected to me in my previous life.

I'd met them through Han Byeori noona back then, too.

"So… is it actually okay for me to sub in?"

"Yeah, the organizers asked the other teams. They all said they didn't mind."

Made sense. We were basically an entertainment team — the others weren't going to sweat us too hard. Unlike the rest of the bracket, which was mostly former pros, our roster was all civilians except for one person.

"We've got a prelim match coming up right away — can you play now?"

"Yeah, I'm free."

The moment I answered, a custom game invite popped up.

"Do you know our usual comps?"

"Shen top, a playmaking champ in jungle, Ashe or Xayah bot, and a damage support, right?"

"Oh, you already know everything?"

"I watch streams a lot."

All ten players locked in ready, and the game started immediately.

Ban phase opened with the enemy team — and they sniped Shen without hesitation. ShenSaeng without Shen was, frankly, Diamond-level. The weight on my shoulders got a little heavier.

"Don't worry too much. I've got a champ I've been grinding."

He banned the enemy's most-played champions without missing a beat, sounding completely confident — and then, first pick, he committed an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠act of pure chaos.

And of course, from the enemy top lane—

Malphite, who stacked armor and lived for ultimate value, had just been answered by his soul counter. As ban-pick rolled on, the enemy mid locked Tristana to fill out their AD.

Okay. This is doable.

At this point, there was only one answer.

"Actually — swap Malph mid, and I'll take top."