Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: I've Bitten the Bait
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Next to the ST headquarters dormitory, there was a gym for the players.
"One more!"
"If I do any more, I won't be able to move my arms!"
I screamed, but Ox—O Chang-hyun—who had agreed to supervise my workout showed no mercy.
"You can still talk, so two more!"
"Uwaaa...!"
"And even if you can't move your arms, gaming won't be a problem anyway."
"Kuek..."
I repeated lifting and lowering the 8kg dumbbells above my chest until the sensation in my arms vanished.
"Okay. You kept up pretty well. Take a break."
"......Die. I'm gonna die."
"You didn't even work out that hard."
"It was super intense for me."
I meant it.
Right after I started streaming, I began working out, but my disastrously low muscle mass made even basic strength training a struggle.
Now, I had managed two sets holding 8kg dumbbells in each hand. That was tremendous progress.
I was plenty satisfied.
But the strict guy who wasn't even the owner of this body eyed me with a dissatisfied expression.
"How many years have you been working out?"
"Four months? Three months? Definitely not by the year."
"...No way you eat like that and end up with this physique."
I did eat a ton at the barbecue place, but that was just the atmosphere.
Getting slandered like this was so unfair.
"I've bulked up a lot, though. Before, just wearing the VR Device gave me muscle pain."
"I heard about it from Ji-hwan. I knew people like that existed, but this is the first time I've seen it myself."
The root cause of why I was stuck here doing workouts instead of Solo Queue that day.
'Whoa, that scrim was intense.'
'Yeah.'
'Let's take a break and grab some drinks from outside before the next scrim, guys.'
In the midst of a peaceful, healthy scrim schedule, a groan filled the practice room.
'Hng... Uh... Nng... No... Why is this happening again...?'
I'd been working out somewhat, so this was ridiculous.
I couldn't even think to take off the VR Device on my head.
Even if I had, I physically couldn't lift my arms, so moving was impossible.
Just thinking about tensing my body made every muscle scream.
'What's wrong!'
'Coach, my body won't move...'
Of course, even saying that didn't mean the coach or teammates could just pick me up and move me—there were too many issues—so soon a resident doctor from the dormitory arrived.
'It's a VR Device side effect.'
'There's a side effect like this?'
'I've heard it can happen rarely if strength is severely lacking, but this is the first case I've seen working here.'
I'd been using First-Person View a lot lately to intentionally practice techniques the First-Person masters from scrims had taught me.
But that effort led to this unfortunate result.
'Eun-seol, no Solo Queue for the time being.'
Just like that, the coach stole my free time and forced extra schedule on me.
Of course, I felt guilty enough not to protest.
'Go to the basement gym with Chang-hyun and learn to work out.'
'Doesn't Ox have a schedule?'
'That's his schedule.'
Thinking about it, Ox's Solo Queue pattern was simple: pick a carry champion, dive into the enemy Twisted Forest with physical prowess, and snowball the game.
That one formula covered it, so aside from maintaining mechanical sharpness or checking new patch changes, practice wasn't really needed.
'Eun-seol, focus on working out until Chang-hyun gives the okay that you're good enough.'
'It's not that bad.'
'I'm saying this because I'm worried. What about stamina at international tournaments later?'
'...Yes.'
The more I thought about it, the sadder it got.
"Alright, break's over. Head over there."
"...It wasn't the end?"
"What are you saying? We have to do legs."
Wasn't the three-day split supposed to mean you don't train other parts on the same day?
"That's for experienced people seriously building muscle. You don't even have any muscle, Eun-seol."
"I have some here."
"That doesn't count as muscle in this industry."
Excuse me?
Isn't your industry the LOC pro gaming scene?
My hollow cry echoed through the gym.
"Haa... Hnggg...!?"
My scream was the cherry on top.
And so two weeks passed.
Amid grinding tournaments in Gyeonggi and ongoing scrims, living the pro life.
"It's True, back with Solo Queue after a long time."
Of course, it wasn't because my muscles had bulked up like super soldier serum overnight.
My face and body on the cam showed no changes whatsoever.
"Not that. Got a ton of complaints."
"No way. And Ox cleans up for me."
"My workout noises were too loud, tons of complaints."
I didn't realize I was that loud, but since most people there at the time complained, not just one or two, I had to accept it.
"So workouts moved to mornings, and I got some Solo Queue time back."
Looking at chat, my workout screams suddenly came to mind.
"Ah."
I couldn't stop my face from turning red.
As chat—and I—plunged into chaos.
"H-Horror games aren't Solo Queue."
Even so, mid-season, playing other games pricked my conscience.
"...If you're worried, 30 minutes max?"
"But my PC has no LoC except games or download platforms."
"Just this once? Even if I don't finish, 30 min then Solo Queue?"
So I opened my browser, downloaded a game platform, and created an account.
"What game is go..."
Before I finished, my gift box was flooded with horror games.
Since I'd made my ID public.
I scanned and picked one with high ratings and mild reviews.
I got completely owned.
"Not scary! High rating!"
"Haa... Hnggg?"
No, don't jump out off-beat!
Not just screen-viewing, the immersive backgrounds and sounds like LoC First-Person, plus monsters more grotesque than Twisted Forest ones—I couldn't keep my wits.
"Haaaa!?"
This wasn't it.
Spare me.