VLL Finals (2)
"That is you, right? Para?"
She looked quite young — early twenties at most.
"Yes, that's me."
"I'm a real fan!"
Not quite Choi Eunseo levels, but her energy was still pretty high. Thinking about it, the female fans who'd shown up to fan meetings in my past life had all been roughly like this.
"Could I maybe get one photo with you? They said only autographs are allowed at the fan meeting!"
Usually fan meetings covered both autographs and photos, so I hadn't known a rule like that even existed. Maybe it was because there were so many people today and not enough time. Taking one picture didn't cost anything and wasn't particularly hard, so I agreed without hesitation.
"Then look this way just once."
She flipped her camera app to selfie mode and stepped in beside me.
One, two — click.
She checked the shot, then turned to me with a thoroughly satisfied look.
"Wow… there's literally zero editing, and your face is so small."
"Thank you. You'll be cheering for our team today, right?"
"Uh… well."
With handsome former pros on the other side, female spectators who'd come to root for our team were going to be vanishingly rare. You could practically say there were none at all. But asking even when you already knew the answer was the important part.
"Just kidding. Instead, if we play well, cheer really loud for us, okay?"
"Yes! Of course!"
"Then enjoy yourselves today."
Unlike other sports, esports had an especially strong culture of individual player fandoms. Even inside the same roster, you got fans who only loved one player and had zero interest in anyone else. But if you wanted a long pro career, you eventually had to grow the share of team fans with real purchasing power. The method I'd always used for that was simple.
Let the people who already cheer keep cheering — and just get them to feel a little goodwill toward me.
After that, proving it with skill was enough. No matter how much fans fixated on a player's exterior, they always came back to skill in the end.
"Um… could I get a photo too?"
When I turned around, a line that looked like dozens of people had already formed. Well… there was still plenty of time until we started, so it should be fine.
(Photo of Yoon Seoha; the man's face next to her is covered with an emoji.)
Came to the VLL finals because my mom and little sister dragged me, saw Queen Seoha, and sprinted over for a pic.
She's seriously insanely pretty. Real life is a complete cheat code.
(Photo of a business card from the major law firm Daehan.)
Went to watch VLL live and there was this absolutely gorgeous person there.
Felt a little wrong, but I still went over to ask for her number — and she said she was married.
Was disappointed but about to leave when I found out she's Para's mom.
She's even a lawyer. Handed me her card. Holy crap.
(Photo of a long line formed behind Yoon Seoha as she diligently takes pictures with fans.)
They were taking photos in front of the bathroom until staff said it was too crowded and moved them to the side lmao
But is she seriously a middle schooler? Not a single sign of being tired, just taking them one by one.
(Photo of a neat autograph reading "para," with a small star drawn beside it.)
Had to catch the last train so I couldn't do the fan meeting, asked if she could still sign something, and she did.
But the autograph is just "para" in English and that's it lmao
I asked if that was really all and she said yes, that was really all.
But that's not the important part.
She suddenly went, "Shall I draw a star for you at least?" and then just drew a star.
"Alright, everyone, that's all for now."
Right in the middle of taking photos, a staff member came over and cut us off. I checked the clock — already 4:30. Time to start prepping for the match.
"Sorry, everyone. Next time we meet, I'll take pictures with all of you."
I said my goodbyes and followed the staff toward the waiting room. When I arrived, I was apparently the first one there. Checking the group chat, I saw messages about everyone else still being held up by fans.
Ah, right.
It had been so long since I'd been mobbed by people that I'd completely forgotten about Mom. I hurried to send a message, and a reply came right back.
After ending the conversation, I zoned out for a few minutes until my teammates started arriving one by one.
"You're here early?"
First through the door was Shen-saengnim. He'd said he started playing Shen because the champion looked like him, and he really did resemble him quite a bit. But that outfit…
"But that outfit…"
"Ah, this?"
What Shen-saengnim was wearing was what people commonly called a doctor's uniform — more precisely, green surgical scrubs.
No way.
"Is that a Shen skin cosplay?"
"You recognized it? Doesn't it look pretty close?"
Surgeon Shen. Among Shen skins, it was the comfort-food pick — the value skin everyone called a staple. Plenty of pros used it in competition, and Shen-saengnim had only ever used this one. Yesterday he'd suddenly dropped a "look forward to it" in the group chat, and now I understood. The man had serious follow-through.
"How's everyone's condition— wait, what."
Next through the door was Pressure. In the future he'd work as an LCK coach, so I'd run into him often — and he looked almost exactly the same as I remembered.
"Hey, everyone."
"Today the support shows you a cheerful little rebellion."
And right behind them, the bot duo arriving together. The whole team was finally here.
"Hyung, what on earth are you wearing."
"Relax. This is surgery without anesthesia."
Shen-saengnim dropped a Shen voice line in answer to Pressure's question, and everyone in the room burst out laughing. Doing it like that, he really did look the part.
"Whoa, but Seoha — you're seriously pretty in person?"
"Thank you."
"Anyway, what bans do you think the other side brings today."
Since this was the first time we were all meeting in this life, I exchanged simple greetings with the team. They were the type who knew how to keep boundaries, and every one of them had a monstrous competitive drive, so they seemed more interested in the finals than in me.
"Today Shen's actually getting through, right?"
"Feels like the other side will leave him open and try to play into it."
"Yeah, probably. I figure mid gets the sniper bans."
"If they're planning to leave bot open and just draft into it, we're actually favored."
The second they walked in, it was all game talk. Sitting through it pulled up memories from my pro days. Back then, too, we'd spent every car ride to the venue talking ban-pick.
"I can play basically my whole champ pool, so we can go mid-blind if we need to. Doesn't matter to me."
"Wouldn't that be too rough on you, Seoha? Their mid still has an LCK title on his résumé."
Of course, I'd never even won a league title myself, so on paper my career lost that comparison. But the idea of the current me losing to a retired pro was hard to picture.
"You don't trust me? Even if they lock a counter, I'll still take half the lane for you."
"Come on. Who's our team's ace? Of course we trust you."
We were deep in finals talk when a staff member called that it was time to head out. I was getting my gear ready — the setup I'd brought from home — when Shen-saengnim suddenly spoke up.
"Right. I paid good money for these and almost forgot."
He started frantically digging through the bag he'd brought. What he pulled out were five white zip-up hoodies.
"I had team uniforms made. What do you guys think?"
Looking closer, the right chest had lettering that read Arts & Athletics Specialists. Beside it were a soccer ball and a baseball bat — a cute design that somehow suited our team perfectly.
"Whoa, hyung, you've got taste. This is better than the uniform I wore when I won Worlds."
"Hey, that kimchi-pancake dig was too much."
"So you're wearing the scrubs over it, then?"
"I'm just hanging mine on the chair. I'll only put it on for the fan meeting after."
Shen-saengnim handed a uniform to each teammate. None of us were particularly big, so the free-size zip-ups fit everyone without issue. Mine had sleeves that ran a little long, but it didn't feel oversized.
"Alright. Let's go."
"If we win today, hyung's buying meat, right?"
"The one who carries buys."
"Support carry incoming."
The goal is the championship.
No other result was acceptable.