The Trick Was Complete Hypnosis!

The trick was complete hypnosis. The reason the snipers had shown up carrying their Challenger main accounts was pure self-promotion and a desperate craving for recognition. In truth, if they truly wanted to pour cold water all over Kim Haru's stream, it would have been far more effective to snipe her with low-rank or unranked accounts and simply cut her winning streak short. No one would have blamed her for losing to five Challengers. But their need for validation wouldn't allow such cold, rational judgment. The only real difference between them and her was that she was a woman, yet they couldn't stand watching her become a popular star just because she was good at the game. They twisted and distorted their thinking however they pleased. That was why all five of them brought their main accounts and ended up getting mocked for it.

"As if. Could that kind of thing even happen?"

It was an event on the level of an adult man losing an arm-wrestling match to a kindergarten girl. An anomaly that normal common sense could never accept. Yet because none of them had ever reached Challenger themselves, they couldn't comprehend that height. All they could do was spit out such nonsense to scratch at people's nerves.

"Smurf account! You bastard! Or it's a booster!"

Even though he himself was a sniper, he was venting his rage at the enemy.

In the online group chat, inside the voice channel for TrueCode, a teammate's voice cut through. Since they were running a five-man snipe, there was no reason not to use voice, so all five were gathered in the room. Amid the chaos, a teammate was calming down the guy who had just gone ballistic after getting solo-killed by a Silver.

In reality, the two Diamonds and one Master on the enemy team were being completely suppressed by the sniper team and couldn't do a thing. It wasn't turning into kills yet, but playing that passively meant losses ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were steadily piling up. It was like breathing in toxic gas because they didn't want to die from suffocation. Everyone knew exactly what would happen once that poison fully accumulated.

Another defeat notification rang out. One teammate hurriedly made an excuse.

It was a briefing that meant nothing and only hurt morale. And it wasn't even a mistake. He had played it well. The opponent had simply played better. That opponent was Kim Haru. The man couldn't bring himself to admit that he had lost because Kim Haru was better than him.

The snipers had come to crush Kim Haru's momentum and show the difference in skill, but instead they had laid out the perfect stage for her to shine. Even if the sniper team went all-out and won from here, Kim Haru would at least be remembered as someone who fought well despite the loss.

"Focus up."

The teammates who had cleaned up the Master and Diamonds from below finally joined the fight. This was a special operation to destroy Kim Haru. By now she was glued right next to an allied defensive tower. Of course, if the minimap showed no enemies, retreating to the tower was the logical move. But that was the limit of a newbie. In the celestial realm, enemies inside towers could still be pulled out and eaten alive!

Three members of the sniper team dove in to catch Kim Haru, who was stuck beside the tower. A 3-on-1 with the tower in play. Under normal circumstances, it was a numbers advantage that should never fail.

The sniper team's three heroes, fighter jets that should have been performing dazzling aerial maneuvers with Challenger pilots at the controls, crashed one after another. They were sucked into Kim Haru's bizarre micro-movements that somehow avoided only the stuns and knock-ups, then ate too much ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tower damage. Sniping and streaming went hand in hand; on the broadcast she had running for the stream-snipe, Kim Haru's voice rang out clearly.

From start to finish, they were being toyed with. This was not the picture the sniper team had drawn.

Gwanunjang was holding top lane while Kim Haru played mid. Leaving the two strange oddballs alone, the sniper team began focusing their attacks on the weak links—the Master and Diamonds. That was when it happened. Gwanunjang suddenly burst out of a bush. The sniper team panicked.

They had Kim Haru's stream open. They were watching her minimap. Allied positions were all marked on it. Missing Gwanunjang's location should have been impossible unless the enemy had done something tricky.

Even the viewers couldn't understand the situation. Kim Haru let out a sly chuckle.

It sounded like a cute little kid's laugh, yet for some reason it sent chills down the spine.

A beat too late, one of the sniper team members realized what had happened. The method Kim Haru had used to deceive them. Streamers could decorate or overlay anything they wanted on their broadcast screen. Kim Haru had taken a small cropped section of the minimap showing Gwanunjang in top lane and pasted it over the real-time in-game minimap. As a result, the sniper team had been completely misled about Gwanunjang's position. Thinking they had the numbers advantage, they had forced a fight, only to have their throats cut by Gwanunjang leaping from the bush.

Once when Gwanunjang took first blood from the top lane.

Once when Kim Haru purely outskilled them in the center.

Once when they got impatient and failed a reckless tower dive.

And once more when they got wiped out by Kim Haru's minimap bait.

The game was not merciful enough to forgive a sniper team that had made four such massive blunders. The difference in growth, items, and objectives had reached a point of no return.

What they saw in the end was the red defeat screen. On the sub-monitor running Kim Haru's stream for the snipe, the contrasting blue victory screen shone brightly.

All the praise, compliments, and recognition they had wanted were now monopolized by Kim Haru. Kim Haru opened her mouth to explain the minimap that people hadn't understood.

Kim Haru's technique became widely known a short while later when an analysis post went up on the community.

It was like magic. No, the principle was simple enough that anyone who hadn't thought of it seemed stupid. The real issue was execution. In the middle of a game, in that split second, while actually playing, she had done all that work on the side? She had overlaid a fake minimap on top of the real one without anyone noticing?

—When did you start thinking you were looking at the real minimap?

—Holy shit that's so cool

—That ability is complete hypnosis!

—This is the perfect education for stream snipers lmao

[Kim Haru Challenger Solo Kill Highlight.clip]

(Roughly a video of her solo-killing a Challenger in lane)

They knew she was good. She had even proven she was beyond human. But who would have thought the Challengers would walk over themselves, willingly become sacrifices, and show everyone she was on an even higher level? Just where was the limit of Kim Haru's skill?