VLL Finals (8)

Irelia?

Choi Eunseo frowned at the champion that had just locked in as Red side's third pick. Mordekaiser first — that was top, obviously. Wukong second — jungle. Given the current meta, Irelia's role snapped into place without debate: mid.

If the idea was to devour the Lucian they'd grabbed to fill their AD slot, the pick made a certain amount of sense. Still—

Does Seoha even know how to play Irelia?

Ever since watching Para on Han Byori's stream, Eunseo had hunted down every YouTube clip and tournament VOD with Para in it. Not once had she seen Irelia. And if her memory of a casual aside was right—

Irelia? I'm not really confident on her. She's a hard champ.

Para herself had said she wasn't good at it.

And yet—

The casters pouring through the speakers on either side of the stage could not stop singing Para's praises.

"Wow… I don't really know games, but that looked pretty cool."

Even Kim Minseo, the bodyguard who had built a wall between himself and anything resembling gaming, was getting swept up in the atmosphere of the arena. That was how cleanly Game 5 was flowing — a textbook stomp.

It's a favorable matchup, sure.

Irelia into a ranged champion was a classic counterpick, but the solo kill had come at the exact moment the wave was shoved under tower. From that point on, it was Para's slaughter show. The level-six timing, the fight in front of the Rift Herald — once Irelia hit her stride, her teamfight presence was more than enough to take over the game.

Barely past the twenty-minute mark, the kill score sat at 11 to 2. Dragon stacks: three, all on Arts & PE Specialists, and no contest in sight.

"Since this is Game 5, if they win this one, your friend takes the championship?"

"That's right."

"But can you actually win a game just by one person being that good? Listening to the casters, it sounds like the other four are a little… lacking."

"Normally, yeah, it's hard. Just making it this far is already impressive."

"Is that so?"

Kim Minseo, already on his third bag of popcorn, looked genuinely puzzled. Eunseo tipped back the water bottle beside her, swallowed, and answered.

"There's no game where the gap between pros and amateurs is wider than League."

"Then… how is your friend carrying every single game?"

"I'd love to know that myself. How much skill has she been hiding?"

Eunseo glanced up at the scoreboard for a moment, then turned to Minseo with a short, decisive line.

"That's enough. Let's go."

"Huh? You're not staying until the end?"

"I've seen everything I needed to see. That game isn't getting flipped."

She was already on her feet and heading out of the arena before she finished the sentence. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kim Minseo scrambled after her.

"Want to take Baron and end it?"

"Might as well."

"How does a game end when top has done nothing but farm?"

"That's what top is."

At twenty-five minutes we were sitting on a twelve-thousand-gold lead, and everyone already had the win locked in their heads.

"Ziggs ult is down. Let's set up a bait in front of Baron."

On my call, Pressure and Ppot spun their Control Wards and wiped every scrap of vision around the pit. With a gold lead this big, giving up Baron meant the game was over on the spot — the enemy had no choice but to come check.

"They're not coming?"

"Are they just giving it?"

"They're probably waiting for a steal angle. Find Nidalee and burst her."

If they wouldn't walk into us, we'd start Baron and drag them out. First step: locate their jungler.

"Top tri-brush!"

Ppot's urgent shout rang out as he looped the Baron nest and found Nidalee. Before the words even finished landing, the moment Nidalee lit up on the minimap, Yujin's Ashe sent her ultimate screaming across the map.

With their jungler dead, the enemy had nothing left to contest Baron. We took it without a single hitch.

"That's game."

"Shove top and it's over."

"Can Irelia just babysit the mid wave?"

"Bot inhib's already down, so the wave's walking in. Slow push and go."

Their bot inhibitor was already gone, and mid was sitting on a lonely inhibitor with no Tier-3 tower in front of it. Once we confirmed the enemy was clustered mid and bot trying to clear waves, everyone but me sprinted top.

I thought that was the end of it.

"Teleport landing behind us!"

"They're going for the all-in!"

"Irelia, drop TP on the minions!"

"I've got ult — I can bodyblock!"

As a last-ditch gamble, the enemy team started channeling Teleports onto a ward they'd tucked near the Tier-2 tower. They wanted to force a fight before anyone could back and buy. Too bad my own Teleport cooldown had already come back up.

The second the game ended and I pulled off my headset, the roar of the crowd slammed into my ears. I was still staring blankly at the monitor when—

"Seoha."

Shinsaeng, still in full Shin cosplay, walked over and clapped me on the shoulder.

"Go pick up the trophy. They're saying there's no time, so hurry."

I headed for the trophy waiting at center stage. The teammates who'd gotten there first were already locked in a group hug, soaking in the win.

If I were still a guy, would I be in the middle of that pile right now?

The thought drifted through my head as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I stepped up to the trophy.

"Seoha, are you actually insane? You're going to debut in the LCK for real."

"Count and Yujin being a matter of taste ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— we all have to admit that now."

"Unlike a certain someone who bus-rode the last game on pure vibes, who was the one who locked Alistar and made every play of the series?"

Watching them celebrate, I felt pretty good myself. In my past life I wouldn't have given a tournament like this a second glance — but actually winning it felt like I'd just climbed a mountain.

"All right, everyone, line up in front of the trophy!"

The casters had already come down to center stage and taken over as hosts. At their direction, the whole team found their places.

"And now, the announcement! The champions of this VLL are — Arts & PE Specialists!!"

Confetti cannons went off in front of us, and applause flooded the arena.

"Of course, we can't let the winners leave without an interview."

A staffer hurried over, pressed a mic into Shinsaeng's hands, and vanished.

"But we also have a fan meet today, so let's keep it quick — one word from each of you."

…

"You were so cool today!"

"Are you actually going to debut in the LCK?"

"Any tips for playing Yone well?"

The last item on the schedule was the fan meet. Even at that late hour, a lot of people had stayed behind to see both our team and the opponents. About an hour in, the line finally started to thin.

"Hello!"

"Hi… wait—"

I knew that face. It was the woman who'd asked me for a photo earlier in the day.

"The matches today were so much fun! Honestly, from the middle on I wasn't even rooting for anyone — I was just watching!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed them."

"If you debut in the LCK, I swear I'll come to every game!"

"It's a promise, then."

Only after every last autograph was signed did the fan meet finally wrap. Looking around, our teammates were mostly running on empty — a sharp contrast to the opposing side, who were all former pros.

"Man… pros do this how many times a week?"

"Fans are what keep a league running, though."

"Did we say we were doing a team dinner?"

"Obviously. Han Byori noona even showed up."

They were planning a celebration dinner, but it was late and my parents had come with me, so I'd already asked them to excuse me ahead of time. Knowing I was still a student, the team sent me off with a round of "next time for sure" and genuine disappointment.

They said to meet at the parking garage.

I stepped out of the now-quiet arena and was replaying the series in my head by the elevators when a voice from behind me snapped my focus.

"Do you have a moment?"

The fan meet was long over. Who was this? I turned around.

"I heard you might be interested in going pro."

A clean suit, hair combed back, and a red-logo badge pinned to his chest. An outfit I'd seen more times than I could count in my past life.

"I'm Kim Hanseong, coach of ARK's Challengers roster."

He smiled and held out a business card with a name that hit me like a wave of nostalgia.

"If you could spare a little time, would you be open to talking?"

"About what, exactly?"

"I'll be direct."

Back in Challengers, ARK had never been a rich organization, and in my previous life it hadn't been anywhere near my top choice. Past life was past life. This life was this life. I slipped the card into the pocket of my hoodie and asked, flat and uninterested—

"We'd like you to join our team as mid laner. In terms of compensation, we can match the top of Challengers — no, lower-tier LCK levels."

The offer he'd just put on the table blew past my expectations. For an amateur rookie, it was almost absurdly generous.