Give Me Back My Rank (4)
“Sorry for yelling.”
“Haha…”
Park Jimin laughed awkwardly.
“You know I was joking, right?”
“I know.”
Dahye glanced at the chat and allowed herself a small smile.
On top of his game skill, Jimin was only eighteen — still young enough for streamers to treat him like a kid. And that oddly wholesome way of talking made it easy for people to warm up to him fast.
“What do you want to play?”
“What should I play?”
“I asked first?”
“Ah…”
Jimin stammered, caught off guard. When he watched her stream, he could see her face and read the mood. Hearing only her voice, he couldn’t tell where things were going. Not that he thought she would say anything cruel.
“I’ll go Gnar.”
“Oki.”
Gnar — a champion beloved in pro play and high elo. Dahye welcomed the safe, reliable pick.
“I’ll grab something good too.”
After checking the enemy jungler, Xin Zhao, she locked in Diana.
“Renekton?”
The enemy champions kept rolling out. Top lane Renekton and jungle Xin Zhao — the kind of faces you’d cross the street to avoid if you met them in real life.
“Who’s favored if Gnar and Renekton fight?”
“I’m not really…”
“You don’t know?”
“I think whoever plays better has the advantage.”
“Huh?”
Dahye laughed like she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.
“You confident?”
“Ah, yes.”
His tone was a little clumsy, but somehow it didn’t sound empty.
“Go go!”
“…”
“Go go!”
“Yes, yes.”
“Nuna hates awkward silence, so answer properly, okay? Got it?”
“Understood.”
Dahye looked pleased as she waited for the game to start.
“Hey, so how’d you even find out about me?”
“Ah, well.”
Jimin wondered how to put it, then decided there was no need to add or leave anything out.
“A friend showed me your stream. I was watching on YouTube and then started watching the live streams too.”
“What a great friend. Friend, you watching? Thanks to your introduction I got demoted, and now I’m getting carried back up.”
“Ah…”
Whatever Jimin said, Dahye found a way to turn it into material. She was good at that.
“Right, so your friend showed you. You’re a sophomore — studying’s hard enough. Why’d you get so into me?”
“Ah…”
A teasing tone, and a question that took more thought than it should have. Even while he mulled over what to say, Jimin kept playing out the lane.
“Uh, out of everyone I’ve ever seen, Nuna is the prettiest.”
“What? Pffft—”
The answer was so blunt and clear that Dahye had no choice but to laugh.
“You must be really good at studying?”
“Sorry?”
“No interest in celebrities or idols or anything?”
“Not really, no.”
“For real?”
She’d half expected it, but she hadn’t thought he would genuinely have zero interest.
“You know how to throw a line pretty well, huh?”
“Sorry? Uh, uh.”
The enemy Renekton went for a bold trade against Jimin’s Gnar. The timing was solid enough that even Jimin was caught off guard.
“Ah, sorry — was Nuna talking too much?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Ah, damn.”
Dahye ran into the enemy Xin Zhao in the jungle and took a loss peeling away.
“Mid Akali looks rough.”
“…”
Before they knew it, both of them had locked into the game.
Their mid was Orianna into Akali. Bot was Ezreal–Rell versus Jinx–Thresh. Jimin, who was supposed to be dictating the game, somehow couldn’t force anything early, and Dahye hadn’t picked a champion that could snowball the map quickly. Not the easiest game for goofing around while they played.
“Ah…”
But after a recall, Gnar slipped Renekton’s engage once, and the whole picture flipped. Jimin was disappointed he couldn’t convert it into a solo kill, but the lane had already swung in his favor.
The kind of play Jimin had been waiting for — the kind that was fun just to watch. Chat started flying faster by the second.
“Come over here a sec.”
“Yes.”
The top-lane advantage kept rolling. Dahye called for Jimin.
“Nice! That’s what I’m talking about!”
While the bloodied Renekton tried to catch the wave, Gnar and Diana quietly closed in and took down the approaching Xin Zhao.
The slight tension that had been sitting on Dahye’s face a moment ago gave way to ease.
“Oh, what?!”
Dahye was even happier than before.
“Ah… thank god.”
Jimin, who had nearly died, breathed out in relief. Renekton had ulted right in front of his own tower and even burned Flash to dive Gnar — and ended up the one who went down.
Whatever early fight Renekton had put up was long gone. He was rotting faster by the minute. Once Gnar came back with Trinity Force as a first item, three autos and a boomerang were enough to make standing still feel pointless.
“Die!”
“Ah, this is so good!”
A top–jungle two-versus-two, and they crushed it. Diana, already snowballing hard, vacuumed up the kills. Dahye was bouncing like a kid who’d just tasted the best food of her life for the first time.
Diana invaded the enemy topside jungle and cleared it fast. Before long the jungle gap had blown wide open too.
“Easy, right?”
“Ah… yes.”
“Is it hard?”
“No, just — managing the rage gauge takes some focus.”
“Next game maybe play something other than Gnar.”
“Yes.”
From Dahye’s view, Jimin’s skillshots had been excellent all game, but his rage management in teamfights left something to be desired. Was his Gnar mastery not that high?
No way, right?
It was hard to believe a top laner of that caliber would be short on Gnar experience. Was his career itself really that short? She decided to force herself to believe it for now — but somehow he looked different from before.
The first game was a clean win.
“Huh, what?”
“Huh?”
Second game. Jimin had queued top and Dahye jungle — but Jimin got assigned ADC instead of top.
“ADC okay?”
“It’s fine.”
“Ah, then I kind of want to go support.”
Dahye immediately started typing in chat.
“Easy.”
Dahye, who prided herself on being a multi-role player, had claimed the support position.
“Can I play Ezreal?”
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you.”
Dahye grinned to herself again.
“What do you want Nuna to play?”
“I don’t mind either way.”
“What, you locked without thinking about the comp?”
“Yes.”
“Huh?”
“I heard Ezreal doesn’t depend on the support much.”
“Engh?”
“Then I’ll play whatever I want?”
“Yes.”
“Oki.”
Dahye’s choice was Ashe — the one who fought with a bow.
“How’s that?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Want to just split CS?”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
“What are you saying — I’m joking.”
The enemy bot lane was Kai’Sa–Alistar. From an Ezreal–Ashe perspective, if they just minded their positioning, it was a matchup they could bully one-sidedly.
“Oh, this is nice.”
From the start of the game, Jimin’s Q kept landing on the enemy, and Alistar — who’d been trying to tank in front — started melting fast.
“Jimin-ah, teach Nuna how to farm CS well.”
“…”
“Jimin-ah?”
“Ah, yes!”
She’d called out to him on the way back from base.
“Uh, just… watch carefully and hit when they don’t have health, I think.”
“That’s it?”
“And if you poke the enemy before you take it, it gets easier.”
“Never mind.”
Dahye covered her mouth, laughing.
“…”
Of course, she had no way of knowing that the other person was so flustered just from hearing her call his name that he was struggling to hold onto his focus.