VLL Finals (1)
It was late by most people's standards, but for Yoon Jinseong and Choi Hyunseo, midnight was simply quitting time.
Having finished his shower, Yoon Jinseong sat on the couch and cracked open a non-alcoholic beer, taking a long drink.
"Dad."
Yoon Seoha, who would normally have been asleep by now, came out into the living room and spoke up.
"Sweetheart, stay up too late and you won't grow any taller."
"I have something to tell you."
Curious, Yoon Jinseong set down his beer and listened.
"A tournament?"
"Yes. It's a competition for streamers and content creators. I went in as a substitute this time, and we made it all the way to the finals."
"I don't even need to ask whose daughter you are — of course you're good at games."
"So, um… could you and Mom come watch tomorrow?"
It was a Saturday, and the project Yoon Jinseong had been working on was more or less wrapped up. The problem was his perpetually busy wife.
She did say she'd finished a big lawsuit, though.
As an ace attorney at a major firm, free time was a rare commodity for her. Still, she had mentioned having a little breathing room after closing a major case recently. He figured he should at least ask.
"And if Mom says no, should Dad come alone?"
"You both have to come. No exceptions."
"Why?"
"Well… just tell her you want to go on a date. She'll say yes."
Yoon Seoha almost never voiced her opinions that firmly. Yoon Jinseong found it a little strange, but he promised all the same.
"So, where did you say it's being held?"
"Sangam Stadium. Same place they used for Star League."
"Oh, they're holding it there? Dad used to go all the time when he was younger."
Sangam Stadium was a meaningful place for Yoon Jinseong — he had watched Star League live there more times than he could count. With his daughter playing a finals match on that very stage, there was no reason not to go.
Tomorrow was a weekend, sure, but it was one in the morning. Choi Eunseo still replied to my message instantly.
Her love for LoL was so intense that even most pro gamers couldn't hold a candle to it.
In my previous life, outside of my parents, I had never given guest tickets to anyone. This time, though, something made me feel like I should give one to Choi Eunseo.
I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because we'd gotten closer lately, eating meals together. I told myself it was just payback for that fancy lunch box she'd treated me to this week.
I'd told my parents, and I'd told Choi Eunseo. That was everything that needed doing. All that remained was to rest well for tomorrow.
I changed into pajamas and lay down in bed, but the matches I'd played so far kept spinning through my head, making it hard to settle.
Akali into Azir might not actually be that bad.
In today's Game 2, I'd first-picked Azir — a champion who'd taken some heavy nerfs — because we needed wave clear and range. Their mid laner confidently locked in Akali, coasted through laning phase without trouble, and then went completely nuclear in teamfights.
I'd eventually crushed her with the range and DPS advantage, but the matchup hadn't been nearly as unfavorable as the conventional wisdom from competitive play suggested.
Maybe I should've just set up a push wave and only taken last hits.
I'd pushed the wave out of some vague sense that I needed to be doing something, got ganked, took a loss, and threw away all my early advantage. It had been a game I could have played better.
The quarters might've actually been harder than this.
At the same time, I had the feeling that Tuesday's quarterfinals had been tougher than today's semis. Unlike today, where we'd taken Game 2 cleanly and closed it out, that series had gone the full three games — and in the last one, we'd nearly lost.
When they stole Elder while we were taking it…
That Elder steal from the opposing team had reminded me so much of a finals series from my previous life that I'd genuinely thought it was over. We'd only survived because they got a little too excited and threw, and we cleaned it up. Without that, we might have lost.
I need to play better.
Whether it was because I still hadn't fully adapted to the improved physical ability from this life, or because it had been so long since I'd played organized team games, I wasn't sure. But I still felt like I wasn't bringing out a hundred percent of what I was capable of.
Blaming team luck is pointless.
Our opponents were all active Challengers, and our team was a bunch of barely-Grandmasters — so sure, I could make excuses about losing. But later on?
Would I be able to say we lost because the other team had a certain player and ours didn't? If I was aiming for the top, I needed to be able to overcome that kind of team luck and still take the championship.
…My head hurts.
It was eleven. After overthinking every possible thing last night, I hadn't fallen asleep until past five, so I'd only gotten about six hours. Whether it was because that was less than my usual eight, I couldn't say — but my head was pounding from the moment I woke up.
Thankfully, a bit of stretching after getting up made it go away.
Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I headed out to the living room to find my parents already finished with breakfast. I went to the bathroom, washed my face halfheartedly, came back out, and sat down at the living room table. Mom handed me a piece of toast.
"What time are you heading over today?"
"I need to be there by three, so I'm going to eat, get ready, and leave right away. You and Dad just need to be there by six."
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
I took a bite of toast, and Mom looked at me like I'd said something absurd.
I knew it… maybe inviting them to a gaming match was a little premature.
I was about to tell her she didn't have to come if she didn't want to, but what she said next was nothing like what I'd expected.
"We're going together by car. You were going to go all the way there alone? You'd use up all your energy just getting there."
Sangam was about an hour and a half by subway from here, or fifty minutes by car. In my previous life I'd taken the subway to the practice facility just fine, so I'd planned to go alone.
"Aren't you busy, Mom? That means using up your whole Saturday."
"What do you take me for? Of course I clear my schedule for a day like this."
I hadn't even finished my toast yet when Mom reached over and touched my cheek.
"But."
"But?"
"Finish that, and then we're picking out clothes. You said there's no uniform, right?"
"Well, yeah, but…"
If we were going by car, we did have time to spare. But Mom's dress-up fashion show?
That was a tougher problem.
"You don't want to?"
"Uh… no… it's fine."
.
.
.
"Well? Mom's fashion sense hasn't died yet, has it?"
The outfit Mom put me in was, put simply, the kind of look that mothers go absolutely crazy for. A neat white turtleneck with a long skirt — all soft and girlish — topped off with a coat.
My usual hoodie and wide pants had been confiscated. Apparently those weren't clothes a girl should be wearing, or something like that.
"Yeah, it's pretty."
Still, as the saying goes, the face makes the outfit — and with this face, I'd look good in anything. Honestly, on anyone else this coordination might have come off a little messy, like someone with a princess complex. On me, it just looked like an actual princess.
"So there's a fan meet for my daughter too?"
"That's right."
"What if there are weird people there?"
In the car on the way to the stadium, Mom spoke with a worried look, but there was nothing to frett about. Most of the audience at these live events was female.
Guys mostly just watch the stream from home.
On top of that, today's opposing team was entirely made up of former pros, most of whom were considered good-looking. Without even looking, I could tell the crowd today would be ninety percent women.
"Don't worry too much. They said there are security guards too."
From what I'd heard, they were using security on the same level as the LCK I'd played in. With a bunch of other streamers attending besides the finalists, it was a reasonable measure.
"There really are a ton of people here. Not a single parking spot left."
Dad sounded surprised as he searched for a place to park after we arrived at the stadium. He wasn't wrong — no matter where you looked, there wasn't a decent spot in sight.
"Alright, honey, you and Seoha go on ahead. I'll keep looking, and if I can't find anything I'll park outside."
After one full loop of the parking garage without finding a space, Mom and I got out of the car at Dad's suggestion.
"Shall we head inside, then?"
"Yes. They said it's on the fourteenth floor."
We took the elevator up to the fourteenth floor and found a larger crowd than I'd expected. The system seemed to be that you exchanged tickets here, then went up to the stadium on the fifteenth and sixteenth floors.
"Hold on a second — Mom's going to the restroom real quick."
While I waited for her outside the restroom, reviewing the opposing mid laner's play on YouTube—
"Um… excuse me."
Someone spoke to me.