Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Why the Sky
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Long time since I'd been back home.
"Oppa, get me some playoff tickets."
His little sister, who never usually called him "oppa," was suddenly acting all chummy, and it filled Milky Way's mid laner Envy with an inexplicable dread.
"What's gotten into you, asking me for a favor?"
Envy eyed Eun-chae suspiciously, not for a second considering it might be her admirable desire to cheer on her brother—in fact, it wasn't.
"No, my friend's playing there. I wanna go watch, but tickets are sold out."
"Already sold out?"
"Yeah. I just checked, and there were two thousand people in the queue, so I gave up."
Excluding the finals, Master League matches were all held in arenas seating under a thousand.
A queue of two thousand meant they were impossible to get.
"But who is this friend?"
"Eun-seol. True, you know True."
"......That ST girl?"
The world was small, but her biological brother had been abandoned for a friend she was cheering for instead. How stingy.
"Yeah. ST's mid laner."
"Then just ask her directly. Why me?"
"'Cause Eun-seol's prepping for playoffs?"
"You think I'm not?"
"Come on, talking like this at home is different. And I already owed her one recently, so asking again feels awkward..."
It sounded reasonable yet subtly off, leaving Envy to sigh.
"No, then you're basically saying you'll go cheer for ST. Why should I get you tickets?"
"You know me. I'll cheer for both. And I'll wear the Milky Way uniform you gave me inside."
"You're not wearing an ST windbreaker over it, right?"
"......Probably?"
Watching that subtle silence only made him want to withhold the tickets even more, but as usual with siblings, their parents' intervention settled everything.
"Do whatever. Just don't show up in that bright red crap in the Milky Way seats..."
Of course, arenas were technically all neutral seating on the surface, but by the fans' unspoken rules, specific sections were densely packed with each team's supporters.
And among those, a few seats were reserved as VIP invites for pro players, so "Milky Way mid laner Envy's" invite was naturally in the Milky Way fan-heavy zone.
"Can't help it. Eun-seol's better than you, oppa. I like cheering for the team that'll win. Be grateful I'm cheering for you anyway."
Last time, over seventy percent of the ST cheerers were there too, from what he saw.
As a member of Milky Way, ST's eternal rival, those words inevitably grated on Envy.
"Argh. Maybe I won't get those tickets after all."
"Then I'll tell Mom."
"......"
"Anyway, let me know about the tickets, and I'll come grab them from the team building myself. I'm heading out?"
The damn little sister got her confirmation and scurried out to hang with friends.
And the saddest part?
He couldn't even refute her words.
Scrims were usually held against teams still in the season—ones they'd qualified for playoffs with but had low matchup chances—while picking the highest caliber possible.
"Push straight through. They can't stop me."
The teams fitting that bill right now were KTT and DS Gaming. They'd already scrimmed DS Gaming and gauged them during a real match, so today's all-day scrims were against KTT.
Unlike official matches, scrims—as pure practice—could end anytime.
"Surrendered on the dot."
"...Playing Cassadin like that? Good luck gathering useful data."
"It's not like babying them is any better?"
This game, KTT's teamfight focus slipped riverside, and I scooped a triple kill in the chaos.
Even I couldn't hypercarry early Cassadin normally.
"But thinking about it, why do KTT guys keep valuing value picks against us?"
Scrims sometimes skipped ban/pick phases, with coaches pre-agreeing bans/picks for strategy testing.
Yet KTT demanded we value pick against them.
"DS Gaming looks winnable, and they need this for Milky Way potential matchup."
KTT got memed online after I beat them on Teemo, but other teams saw them as plenty strong.
So high chance they'd take DS Gaming cleanly, and finals qualifier—round 4—opponent would likely be Milky Way.
We were heading straight to finals undefeated too.
"So, Eun-seol, you think KTT can take Milky Way?"
"Not really."
This wasn't overhyping Milky Way; it was just facts.
Why would I hype them up for anyone?
"Lane matchups have caliber gaps anyway, and mid difference looks bigger lately."
No spectator mode for scrims, but I had spy cams.
Eun-chae said Envy was holing up in practice to finally beat me.
Solo queue spectates confirmed his form was up from regular season.
Solo queue wasn't reliable judging, which I knew best, but you sense a pro's vibe spectating.
"But if you're right, he's in peak form?"
"My condition's a bit off."
"......What?"
"Less than half, maybe."
To rematch that Proud bastard, I needed to up my form more.
Envy was prospect-tier to me anyway; nothing much to say.
"Ji-hwan, the scariest thing is you can't tell if she's bluffing."
"Eun-seol never lies about Rock stuff. If she says so, it must be."
"Must be nice not worrying."
Bel sighed and stretched.
No idea why in virtual space where you don't feel stiff.
'When was that again...?'
Stomach should've been hurting soon.
"Alright, kids. Our turn to try that comp we prepped."
At coach's words, I shook off stray thoughts and refocused on scrims.
Rock-obsessed RockGallery regulars were scraping even lower league gossip daily, even without LOCK games.
"Coach."
"Yeah?"
"These scrim scores real?"
"What the— who leaked this."
Coach's reaction weighed toward both his team's and ST's whiteboards being legit.
"Tch. Catch the leaker later. I told you to quit those forums."
"They're fun to read."
"You'll break mentally."
"Already broke once over my sister; I'm good."
Family barbs hurt more than anonymous beastly insults from strangers.
"Dunno if your mentality's steel or glass."
"Dunno about else, but feels like I can do something this time."
Just scrim wins/losses, but Envy's gut screamed.
Even almighty ST's scrim losing streak had one reason.
'True's off her game.'
Mid anchor shaking meant team collapse.
No matter wild comps—even Teemo mid wins in official—ST losing meant one thing.
'...This time for sure.'
Never beating them all season grated.
Just once.
Even if not her full power, one win sufficed.
However.
As always.
"No way, your form's bad lately!"
Life rarely went as planned.