Chapter 2
Chapter 2
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Carry? I'll Do It.
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“No way.”
“Whyyyyy.”
“You've been asking for a whole week now, haven't you, Miss Hong Eun-seol?”
“Whiiiine.”
“If I say no, it's no. What makes you think I'd let you play games all day?”
Our Mrs. Jang, who had been peeling fruit under the living room sofa, said it with a very firm expression.
“You've been filling her head with nonsense. It'd be better if she just fan-girled over pros.”
“But she seemed pretty serious about it...”
“Serious or not, what difference does it make? She's about to start high school soon. Games?”
Even in my previous life, Mom hadn't been particularly positive about games, but it seemed like my gender was making her even stricter this time around.
“And anyway, do they let just anyone go pro? From what I heard, all those boys dreaming of going pro in that Roll or Rock or whatever are swarming around the school.”
“I'm a hundred times better than those guys!”
“You barely even played games before. You playing a lot lately?”
“I don't need to play a lot to know. I'm definitely better than those wannabe pros rolling around.”
At my confident declaration, Mom looked utterly dumbfounded.
“Well, well. Is that so, my dear daughter?”
“Yeah!”
“Then why'd you score like that on your midterms? Don't they say you need a good brain for those games?”
“...It's because it uses different parts of the brain.”
“Now you're not a pro gamer, you're a neuroscientist?”
“No, really, I want to do it. I want to be a pro gamer. Please?”
Mom's resistance was fierce, but I'd gotten just as strong.
“Mooom...”
A child who never acted cute before suddenly doing so was bound to startle her parents.
And if that child was a girl, the impact was incomparable.
I'd always been the stoic type, so seeing me beg like this would surely soften her heart a little.
'And besides...'
It was a thought that crossed my mind every morning when I saw my reflection in the bathroom mirror, but for the time being—maybe even for life—playing it like this seemed fine.
“Honey, she's really serious about it. Why not let her try once before high school?”
In the end, Dad—who had cheered on my full-throated challenge on tournament day—stepped in first.
He was the type to fully support whatever I wanted to do, from taking me to the LOC arena in the first place.
With Dad chiming in at just the right moment, Mom finally let out a sigh.
“I knew something was up when you came back from that game last week and kept humming the theme song.”
It was basically permission.
“But there are conditions.”
“...What? I can't promise school grades.”
Unfortunately, studying wasn't my strong suit.
“If you're going pro gamer, the conditions have to be related. I'm not that inflexible.”
Mrs. Jang searched the internet on her phone for a moment and showed me a familiar emblem.
“Looks like this is the highest tier in the game, right? You need to get there first if you want to knock on the pro door.”
This era was still when Solo Queue mattered.
Later on, even second- and third-string pros would line up alt accounts for fun, but right now, there was still some fantasy attached to ranked games themselves.
A sly smile crept up.
I could guess what she was going to say next.
“So, achieve that and show it to Mom.”
The Challenger emblem was on Mom's phone screen.
“By when?”
“Before the end of this semester.”
Three months, give or take.
More than enough time to crush it.
“You won't nag about test scores in the middle, right?”
“Does my daughter have room to score any lower?”
“......”
...I'd have to squeeze in some studying during queue times.
'...This is too easy?'
I wasn't sure about exams yet, but the difficulty at this average public middle school was pretty low.
Having devoted my life to pro gaming but prepared for the college entrance exam late when things went south, I didn't have to worry about getting yelled at over scores.
Anyway, the important thing now was that school was over for the day.
“Why are you packing your bag so fast?”
“Got somewhere to be.”
“The girl who always slumped over asleep—what's up with you?”
They were friends who felt both brand new and familiar.
Compared to half a lifetime in the harsh world of pro scenes and chat flames, they were soft and cute.
“Mmph, mmph.”
“Chaewon, stop touching my cheeks and touch your own! The one with the bigger ones always does this. Her cheeks are mine.”
“The one who's got it really says that...”
It was a prank I used to do often, so my hands moved on their own—what could I do?
While we kneaded each other's chubby parts, Chaewon didn't let go of her question.
“So, where you going?”
“PC bang.”
The gear at home wasn't bad, but since it wasn't the latest, practicing on unfamiliar systems was easier at a good spot.
For reference, PC bangs now basically used VR devices as the main unit, but everyone still called them PC bangs out of habit.
“Ticket hunting for another match?”
“Even the boys aren't as serious about Rock as you.”
“Those guys are basically free-to-play skin buyers. Eun-seol's life is Rock.”
It hit me again how even girls had a basic understanding of Rock—its popularity was on another level from my previous life.
“Nah, not tickets. Gonna play Rock.”
With pro merch filling one corner of my room despite being a student, going to a PC bang screamed ticketing more than gaming.
But that misunderstanding ended today.
“Gonna prep for pro.”
Time to normalize my life.
“...For real?”
Suddenly, the whole class went quiet for a moment, then murmurs erupted from the boys' group.
“There go those Rock fanboys again.”
“Tiers are like gods to them.”
“Our Eun-seol, if bad uncles come at the PC bang, you'll run away saying no, right?”
“What're you talking about.”
I'd rather queue another game.
The PC bang right by school was packed with boys today, as always.
“Hong Eun-seol's really playing Rock?”
“Check if she's actually launching the game.”
“Pull up spectator mode.”
“Anyone know her ID?”
“Need a volunteer to go ask.”
“As if.”
She was quiet at school and slept all the time, but it wasn't an exaggeration to say every boy knew Hong Eun-seol.
Her looks went without saying, and girls who really knew Rock were rare.
Rock—LOC—had taken the world by storm on the back of its era-defining VR device, but that didn't mean everyone knew the game.
VR devices were ubiquitous now, but plenty of people used them without knowing game companies made them.
Thus, Rock's unprecedented success in gaming history hadn't fully penetrated circles of girls uninterested in games.
But at school, Hong Eun-seol was notably into Rock.
Of course, her interest was more fandom than the game itself.
Still, having a common topic boosted the boys' affinity for her—even those who'd never spoken to her.
Though her looks accounted for more than half of that.
“Oh, she launched the game.”
High-end PC bangs had egg-shaped chairs like pros used for semi-private spaces, but the school one—as usual—was mid-range on performance and value, so no such thing.
Thus, peeking from behind or the side was possible.
And humorously, both seats next to Hong Eun-seol were empty.
“At least say hi before logging in.”
“You do it.”
“I can't.”
“Just talking to her would get me arrested.”
Things too high up weren't worth reaching for.
“Aren't you Grandmaster? Go duo with her.”
“...Tier gap's obvious. No point.”
Jung Ji-hwan, who always came to Rock as an aspiring pro mid laner, just watched the commotion's source today.
“Huh?”
Then, suddenly.
His eyes met Hong Eun-seol's.
No prior meeting, yet she seemed oddly glad to see him.
“...She's beckoning you?”
“What're you waiting for?”
“Drag that guy over.”
“I haven't even played a game yet...!”
At that small gesture, he found himself half-dragged in front of Eun-seol.
“Jung Ji-hwan, right?”
“Yeah, but... have we met?”
“You must be Grandmaster by now... right?”
“...Yeah.”
Forgetting how she knew his tier, her rapid-fire tempo left him clueless about where this was going.
“Tch. No duo then.”
Suddenly, more guys crowded around muttering.
“Free Rank's fine!”
“Please, just one game together...!”
“Even if not you, save three of us!”
Ji-hwan just stood there blankly, but Hong Eun-seol continued without hesitation.
“Okay, he's Grandmaster, so slot him in. Assume I'm Diamond or higher.”
Five hands went up, and luckily few position overlaps, so filling the rest was easy.
“Perfect. Let's queue Free Rank as a five-stack. I need to get used to VR.”
And just like that, the middle school rep team formed by accident.
“Drive the bus well, Ji-hwan.”
“Lose and forfeit Grandmaster.”
“We're good at flounder rolls.”
In the chaotic new team, Hong Eun-seol declared confidently.
“What nonsense. Carry? I'll do it.”
Queue popped, ban/pick opened, and she locked an assassin mid champ first pick.
“......That's a mid champ.”
“Yeah. You go top.”
His lane snatched so naturally, he was speechless.
She knew his rank, so he'd assumed she'd take top after picking based on positions, but no.
“Top suits you perfectly.”
With Eun-seol's bright smile and the others' cold stares, he was ultimately exiled to top.