VLL Preliminaries (4)
"Alright, that's it for today's stream. Thanks for watching, everyone."
"Yeah, looks like it."
VLL ran every match of the tournament over the course of a single week, all the way through the finals. Han Byuri's full recovery would take at least a month, they said — so no matter how far the team went, I'd already agreed to play it out to the end.
"Quit fighting, guys. I'll turn the stream on an hour before tomorrow's match. Good work, everyone."
I left the disappointed viewers behind, hit the end-stream button, and drew a long breath.
...It's been a while since I played a real team game.
The afterglow of the match still hadn't faded. Even for a hastily thrown-together roster, the difference between coordinated team play and solo queue had hit me all over again.
That said — I'm wiped.
I'd been concentrating harder than usual, and I could feel it in the stiffness settling into every joint. People always said women were more flexible than men, but this body — soft as it looked — had a nasty habit of locking up at the worst times.
"Nngh..."
I stretched my arms overhead, and a pleasant ache rolled through me. Since I'd already started, I worked through a light full-body stretch, then collapsed onto the bed. I savored the warm, boneless exhaustion for a moment — and was just about to queue up another solo queue game when a message arrived.
"Who's this?"
An unknown number. The only contacts saved on my phone were my parents and Han Byuri, so I sat there wondering for a second. Then another message came through.
Ah. So it was that girl from school — the one who'd come up and talked to me. Before we'd parted ways she'd made such a fuss about swapping numbers that I'd given her mine, but I hadn't expected her to message me the very next day.
When my dad had mentioned watching my clip videos on YTube, it hadn't really registered. But hearing that someone I actually knew — even if we weren't particularly close — watched my streams stirred up a strange feeling. Honestly, it was a little embarrassing.
Weird.
In my past life, friends or no friends, I'd been completely absorbed in LoL. So in this life I'd figured I'd managed to build some decently normal friendships.
I just hadn't made any friends I could talk LoL with. Having a conversation about the game with a girl left me with a peculiar feeling.
That was the last message. Nothing more came through.
Though — was that final emoticon meant as a cheer, or a boxing-stance taunt?
I lay on the bed turning it over in my mind, and little by little my eyes began to close.
"Viewers, what you're watching right now is just how far a single mid laner can carry a game."
"Para is absolutely incredible!"
"Worlds — the culmination of an entire year — held right here in Korea. Every Korean team has been eliminated, and yet ARK, a team no one expected anything from, has clawed their way to the finals. This is why."
"I imagine most of you watching on the official LCK channel are rooting for ARK to take the title. But NK... they're truly formidable."
"That's right. This is the team one step away from the Golden Road in LPL history. And against that team, it's 2–2 — they've been driven all the way to the brink!"
"Game five. Now the rest of the team needs to show up."
"Exactly. Up to this point the draft has leaned far too heavily on Para."
"He did carry game four, no question, but there were a number of mistakes. They need to take some of the burden off him."
"ARK's bot duo needs to take a carry pick at least once. They've come this far — they have to show something."
"Ah... Ziggs. Looks like they're locking bot down one more time."
"And if Maokai comes out top as well, mid's shoulders are going to be crushing."
"Para just made a declaration. I'll carry this."
"But this patch version nerfed both Lethal Tempo and Yone. We'll have to see at what point his carry potential can actually come online."
.
.
.
"Ah... LCK's last flame is slowly going out."
"Para, you have to focus! The pressure to carry is real, but you've come this far — you have to hold on!"
"NK came incredibly well prepared."
"They held Poppy in reserve the entire series just for Yone, and now they're putting on a clinic."
"Ah... solo kill."
"Too greedy, Para. Whether he miscalculated Poppy's W cooldown or not, he forced a dive and gave up the kill."
"Baron! Baron! Baron!"
"Just take it and get out, ARK! You have to win the smite fight here— ah, stolen..."
"Baron steal into an ace for NK."
"Still, if they can hold for twenty seconds, Ziggs comes back up."
"Para, one last time — you have to do this! You have to!"
"They have to cut the ADC first. That's the only path to a chance."
"Para is stacking his Q... Fate Sealed!"
"Are you kidding me, Regular?! He reacted to the Q-Flash!"
"Ah... Yone is turning back, but with CC like that there's no getting out. He just stands there and dies."
How long had it been since I'd dreamed of my past life?
Even knowing it was a dream, it was a thoroughly unpleasant memory.
"..."
I lowered my gaze to my hands. Spotlessly white, slender and long. I closed them into fists, and the sensation was familiar.
Why had my physical ability improved just from becoming a woman? Why had I become a woman in the first place?
I'd been turning those questions over for a long time, but they weren't particularly important to me now.
What I wanted was this:
Win it all.
Domestic leagues, international tournaments — in this life, I would leave nothing unfinished. The hunger for every single title burned hot.
And to get there, I needed to climb one step at a time.
First up.
The VLL championship.
It was an exhibition tournament, and I'd come in as a substitute — but the moment I stepped onto the stage, I had no intention of conceding the win to anyone.