Give Me Back My Score (5)
“Huh? I’ve gotta go home from here.”
“Oh—right!”
Park Jimin hit the recall button the moment Yu Dahye said it.
“If we leave it like this, the wave should pull just a little.”
“Ah·····”
“Is wave management a bit different between top and bot?”
“Uh, I don’t really know.”
(Jimin, wave management is the core of everything.)
(This is why Sol is hard.)
Wave management—the art of controlling how both sides’ minions crash into each other. Jimin had learned the basics, but compared to his current tier, he was still seriously lacking in that department.
(If it’s too hard, just shove every wave and go home whenever you can.)
(Yeah. From a jungler’s perspective, as long as you don’t die, it’s easier if the laner keeps shoving.)
(Besides, Jimin can beat up pretty much any champ he runs into, so that might actually be better.)
Of course, his friends’ advice had landed on a pretty simple conclusion. There was no rush—he could always relearn this stuff once he actually hit a wall.
“If you lock ADC, just do whatever Nuna tells you.”
“Yes.”
“Oh·····”
“Crazy, right?”
The wave was forming right under their own turret. From that setup, Ezreal and Ashe chunked Kai’Sa and Alistar hard enough that the enemy duo had no choice but to shrink back.
Every time Ashe’s W—Volley—came off cooldown, it landed clean. Ezreal held an aggressive position and still slipped every bit of return damage. A bot lane fight that had already been winning started to open up into a full-blown gap.
“Man, nothing makes me happier than pulling the wave like this and just beating on them.”
“Haha·····”
Dahye couldn’t hide how much fun she was having, and Jimin played along just enough.
The advantageous setup kept rolling.
“Okay, start actively last-hitting the minions now. Kill them.”
“Yes.”
Dahye, who had been tracking the enemy jungler’s position with constant bird scouts, called for pressure at just the right moment. She wasn’t content with harassing them anymore—she wanted them half-dead.
She pinged the enemy turret and called jungle. Their jungler Zyra had already read the play and was on the way.
Ezreal’s targeted Qs and auto-attacks never stopped. The enemy bot duo edged back a little. Before anyone noticed, a massive wave had stacked up. Miss this crash and there would be no future for them.
“Kill them. Kill them.”
“·····”
Where Dahye was hyped, Jimin stayed silent and locked in.
The enemy Alistar used his skills well to resist, but the HP deficit and growth gap were already too much. He simply couldn’t fulfill every duty of protecting his ADC.
“Nice!”
“Whew·····”
A clean three-man dive from bot duo plus jungle. Zyra and Ashe had burned Flash, but it wasn’t even a little bit sad.
They cheerfully mined turret gold and admired an ADC CS lead that had already blown past forty.
“See? Everything’s going just like Nuna said, right?”
“Yes.”
Pull them forward, torment them, shove, then finish it with a dive. Watching the script play out perfectly was genuinely fun.
“Aren’t they all pretty similar?”
“Oh, what?”
Laning phase was over, and the two ADCs were staring each other down mid. The enemy team had basically given up on holding and was trying to play around it—but in the brief window of an objective vision fight, Ezreal picked Kai’Sa without burning a single summoner spell.
“Ah, perfect.”
A teamfight over the third dragon. Enemy jungler Nocturne and top Jax dove in to delete Zyra—and they got her—but Zyra’s ultimate was already down. The counterattack opened with Ashe’s ult. While ally top K’Sante held the line like a wall, mid Zed and ADC Ezreal butchered the rest of the enemy team.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Dahye applauded the clean win.
“The game’s way too fun, right?”
“Yes.”
The win streak kept going. With a bright face, Dahye started queueing again. She was the type to requeue fast just to forget a loss—but right now, all she could think about was how they’d win the next one.
“What are you picking?”
“Ah·····”
Jimin couldn’t decide right away.
“What should I go?”
“Just something that can go hard.”
“·····”
While Jimin was still thinking, Dahye locked jungle Zyra.
“Looking at last game, Zyra seemed pretty good.”
“Then—”
Jimin’s pick was Yohone.
“Oh, nice, nice.”
The game started.
Top matchup: Yohone versus Camille. Jungle: Zyra versus Lee Sin. Mid: Zed versus Orianna. Bot duo: Zen and Seni versus Sivir and Thresh.
“Ah!”
“Aigoo.”
An early top gank from the enemy Lee Sin. Yohone had been pressing hard after a good early trade—his body was already leaning in.
“Ah—I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. And what are you even apologizing for?”
Jimin apologized for the death. Giving a kill to Dahye’s opposing jungler, of all people.
“·····”
“It’s fine.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My, Lee Sin’s already got what item?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Aigoo, I’m kidding.”
“Can you hold?”
“Yes·····”
Yohone already had three deaths. On top of that, even Zed had gotten caught by Orianna’s Shockwave and a Lee Sin gank.
“Sorry I couldn’t gank for you.”
“It’s okay.”
“Is it hard without ganks?”
“I’m fine!”
“He says he’s fine, everyone.”
While the turret was chewing on a cannon minion, Lee Sin vaulted the wall for another gank. Camille—always good at following up—popped her ultimate immediately.
“Ah····· oh?”
Dahye, certain Yohone was dead, had only just started sprinting over when something felt off.
A dive packed with CC from both enemy champions. And yet Yohone was threading every skill perfectly. The highlight was Soul Unbound slipping Camille’s hook clean.
Lee Sin, who had entered first, went down. Stubborn to the end, Camille still tried to finish Yohone off.
But a shield that came out the instant before death tanked Camille’s last auto.
“Whoa, that’s insane!”
“What the hell—why are you so cool? Huh?”
“·····”
Only after calmly finishing the leftover minions did Jimin hit recall—smiling the whole time.