Debut Match (1)

"She said she was coming starting today, right?"

ARK's jungler, Lesser—Kim Dojin—rolled his wrists as he spoke.

"She'll show. It's the season opener."

Caster—Park Jinhwan, two years into holding down ARK's top lane—answered without much interest, still setting up his gear.

"How pretty does a girl have to be for them to write a contract like that?"

"I looked her up on YouTube. Yeah, she's actually that pretty."

"You don't just sign someone for a face, though, right? We released Jinsu hyung to bring her in."

"Jinsu hyung was planning to retire anyway. Coach asked him to play through Spring as a fill-in."

"Well, yeah, but still."

Plea—Jin Yuseong—and KAI—Lee Yuchan—chimed in together. They were the newly signed bot-lane duo for the year.

Just how good does she have to be?

Lesser, Kim ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dojin, stared at the still-empty center seat, the question refusing to leave him alone.

In esports, a verbal agreement carried real weight. Most contracts simply formalized terms already discussed in advance. But this one had come with an absurd clause attached to a single player's acquisition:

Should any player approach her with romantic interest, that player's contract shall be terminated immediately, and they shall pay a penalty fee.

What kind of vision had made them add something like that to every ARK player and coaching staff contract?

According to the coach, they'd negotiated it down to something more reasonable—no confession campaigns, no obsessive messaging—but even so, the whole thing was ridiculous.

"At least her first match is online. Lucky her."

ADC Jin Yuseong said it with a snide edge, but Kim Dojin privately agreed it was a good thing.

The CK arena only seated about a hundred and fifty, but the pressure of a pro match was something else entirely. Having suffered through his own offline debut, Dojin felt a flicker of genuine envy.

"You all ready?"

A man stepped into the practice room mid-conversation. Kim Hanseong, ARK's coach and director.

"Yoon Seoha still isn't here?"

"No, sir."

"Alright. The match is online, and we've already synced in scrims, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Hanseong cleared his throat and pressed on with a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠solemn air.

"Jinsu filled in for us through Spring, but I know it left a lot to be desired."

ARK had finished third overall in Spring. Under a system where only the regular-season first place and the playoff first place advanced to promotion, that result had been frustrating.

"But I believe—no, I'm certain—we promote in Summer. And once we're in the LCK? I think this team can hang."

From there, Hanseong launched into talk of MSI and Worlds—ambitions that, to anyone else, would have sounded like pure delusion.

And then, a moment later—

"Hello."

The door opened. A girl walked in, and the four players—including Kim Dojin—found themselves unable to say a single word.

Right. Today's the online match.

Unlike the LCK, which ran almost exclusively as live on-site events barring special circumstances, CK—the second division—sometimes held matches online from the team house. Two games a week: one online, one offline.

I wonder if the house looks the same.

This life, this was my first time heading to the team house. Mother had insisted the contract only started with Summer's opening match, so I was supposed to rest until then—she'd even made me do all the scrims from home.

I was curious whether it would look the same as my previous life.

"You didn't put on any extra makeup today, right?"

"No."

"I really shouldn't be the one saying this, but that is not a face made for gaming."

The woman behind the wheel, smiling as she drove, was Seo Yeeun—the young woman everyone called Manager Seo. Officially the accountant, she handled every odd job that came up and effectively ran the team as its manager.

"I always thought our white uniforms clashed a little, but looking at you in one—there's no need for a separate model."

My outfit was nothing special: a short-sleeved jersey thrown over my school shirt. I'd only finished third period before leaving early for a two o'clock match, so I'd changed in a hurry. Still, the old saying held true—fashion starts with the face.

"The shirt underneath actually makes it look better. Maybe we should pitch collars for next year's uniforms?"

.

.

.

Exactly the same.

That was the feeling that hit me the moment we arrived. A sleek three-story building in Seoul—not quite downtown, but close enough. True to the name "gaming house," it was all clean lines and sharp angles.

"Shall we head in?"

Manager Seo parked the van in the garage and led me inside.

"It's already one. Mind if I show you around the building after the match?"

"That's fine. We shouldn't be late."

"You talk as well as you look."

She brought me up to the second-floor practice room—the site of today's match.

"The players and the coach should be inside. Go on in and say hello."

With that, she headed downstairs to the first-floor office.

I took a short breath at the door, then turned the handle.

"Hello."

I stepped in with the greeting.

"…"

No sign of the coach. Just four players sitting in their seats, staring at me in silence.

When someone says hello, you're supposed to say it back, aren't you?

The awkward quiet stretched on—until a voice came from behind me.

"There you are at last."

I turned. Coach Kim Hanseong was standing there.

"The uniform suits you. Your seat's the middle one—obviously the mid lane spot, right? Just set up whatever gear you brought."

Smiling, he smoothed over the atmosphere. I went to my seat and plugged in the keyboard and mouse I'd packed, ran a quick check in practice mode, then closed it once everything checked out.

"Hey."

The guy next to me offered a greeting with a blank expression.

Lesser. Kim Dojin.

The same solid jungler I'd played with in my previous life—the one who'd held ARK together even after we made it to the first division.

I returned the greeting casually and started stretching. My neck and shoulders had been acting up lately. Too many hours hunched over a keyboard, probably. I rolled my wrists once for good measure, and only then did the league referee step into the practice room.

"Five minutes to game time. Please get ready, everyone."

At his word, I launched the tournament client and logged in with my player ID.

"How are we drafting today?"

"Want to play around bot? Crit items got a ton of buffs this patch."

"Top could take Gnar, honestly."

"If they lock Ezreal, Kai'Sa or Aphelios would be solid."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Support's just going to split utility either way."

Beside me, the coach and the rest of the team were talking through ban-pick.

This Summer patch was an ADC-carry meta off the back of crit item buffs.

But—

"There's a champion I want to pick."

Crit items weren't an ADC privilege.

"Hello, and welcome to LoL Challengers Korea Summer. I'm your caster, Yoo Seungchan."

"And I'm Shin Haram on analysis. Good to be here."

"You can ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feel it—far more people than usual waiting to watch CK today."

"I was thinking the same thing. Let's take a look at today's rosters."

"Even after falling short in promotion, BU showed serious force in the regular season—and their roster is unchanged."

"ARK, on the other hand, has a change in mid."

"And today is a debut, isn't it?"

"That's right. Para—a rookie whose age restriction just lifted this Summer."

"A rookie, and yet not quite a rookie. She drew a huge amount of attention from all of you in the VLL finals held alongside the LCK."

"Which is probably why so many of you are here today."

"Can ARK—who just missed promotion last time—show us something different with this signing? Let's head into ban-pick!"

"Para's carry potential is undeniable, but this meta does feel heavily weighted toward the ADC side."

"Across-the-board buffs to crit items, plus tank item buffs on top of that. The message is clear: scale a tank and an ADC, then slam into a front-to-back teamfight."

"Both tops are filling the front line cleanly so far—Ornn and K'Sante."

"And the ADCs are the expected hyper-carries: Aphelios and Jinx."

"Wait… ARK jungle is Lillia? Lesser likes her, and it's a solid pick, but does that mean mid isn't going mage?"

"What kind of pick is that?! Para showing confidence right from her debut!"