Give Me Back My Points (6)
"Ah, what the hell, Jimin!"
"……"
Even while eating constant ganks, Yone had barely fallen behind the enemy top laner Camille in growth. And now a double kill—a shutdown, no less—had given him enormous momentum.
While Lee Sin kept digging through the top side, Zyra had focused purely on farming and was already ahead of him in both level and CS. The raw power of a top laner who simply scaled on his own was starting to show.
"Uh, this."
Back from base, Park Jimin traded and drained the enemy Camille's health in a single exchange.
"Why! Why! Why! Should I come or what, huh?"
"Yes……"
For nearly the first time, the Jimin who lived for pure 1v1 fights in top lane actually called for his jungler. The hunger to win mixed with the pressure of a rough early game, and he did something he never did.
"I'll just grab the scuttle and head over!"
"Yes, take your time."
Yu Dahye stopped walking and threw a skill at the scuttle crab.
"I'll go first."
Dahye's Zyra closed in on top lane. She strolled up like she was out for a walk and tossed a skill at Camille. The moment Camille moved, Yone unleashed his ultimate, soul set free.
Camille, hook already spent dodging Zyra's root, couldn't even absorb with her ultimate and simply exploded on the spot.
"Nice! How was that skillshot just now?"
"It was good."
Dahye grinned as she mined the tower.
"Ah, this is too easy."
Zyra, overgrown from the lane advantages top and bot, flexed that power and won the Herald fight.
"Hmm? Again?"
"Uh……"
"Why? Why? Hurry up and tell me—what am I supposed to praise you for?"
"No, I didn't think I'd catch her, but I just did."
"What?"
Jimin's reaction after sniping a full-summoner Orianna on the side lane. Even after dropping a massive highlight like that, he just stammered and fumbled, and Dahye found the whole thing hilarious.
"Thank you!"
Dahye pressed her hands together and offered a polite bow of gratitude.
"Ah, this feels so good."
Watching the enemy nexus shatter and their teammates scatter, Dahye couldn't hold back her delight.
"Huh?"
Then the screen on the stream.
"Yes!"
Dahye had climbed back to Diamond 2.
"Thanks! Five losses and then five wins."
"Haha…… Congratulations."
Jimin offered a shy little congratulations.
Ah, I wasn't even paying attention.
Jimin checked his own rank. In the time he'd driven Dahye down to Diamond 3 and then fished her back up to Diamond 2, his own tier had quietly become Diamond 2 as well. He even had more LP than her, so if things kept going this way he'd climb even higher.
Five wins in a row, right?
He'd shoved her into a five-loss streak, then duo'd for five straight wins. His karmic debt was fully paid. She shouldn't need him anymore, right?
"Next game, go."
"Yes?"
"Yes? Why the sudden tone?"
"No, nothing."
Jimin hesitated, then agreed.
"I told him to restore my points. I never said we had to get five wins."
"Ah……"
Jimin finally understood the reason.
Jimin's carry power turned even situations that should have been crises into nothing. And at least during this win streak, Dahye was playing well too. Before anyone realized it, the only thing growing was the expectation of just how high they could climb.
"Jimin, but this game I'll do ADC a bit. At this rate my sense is gonna dull."
"Yes, sounds good!"
Dahye, who had only been playing jungle and support, switched over to ADC.
"Gragas?"
"……"
The enemy top was Gragas. With Kassadin already on the enemy team, mid Gragas was off the table.
What's good here?
Jimin first thought of Jayce, the champion he'd played the most—but a second look showed it was already banned. So the next most-played champion.
"Oh, Aatrox."
"Hmm……"
He locked Aatrox and opened the wiki again to check Gragas's skills. He'd faced him before, but looking once more never hurt.
Dahye picked the Caitlyn she was confident on, and the game that would make it a six-win streak began.
"Whoa, crazy."
At level three, Jimin solo-killed the enemy Gragas. For missing just one barrel, the result was brutal.
Aatrox kept shoving the enemy wave without end. Even in a pure 1v1, Gragas was forced to burn his ultimate just to survive.
Kha'Zix, who had pathing through top, killed the enemy Gragas, took the kill, and strolled out.
"No, Gragas must not even want to play this game."
The laning phase wasn't even over yet and Gragas died again. The level gap between the two tops was already two levels.
"Ah what, Nuna has nothing to do."
"Haha……"
Joy was clear in Dahye's voice. In the third dragon fight, Jimin's Aatrox with ultimate up looked ready to end the world.
"Ah, boring, so boring!"
Dahye stretched as she said it. She'd been winning lane on Caitlyn, but before even a slightly weak timing could show up, Aatrox and Kha'Zix had just ended the game.
Ah……
Somehow on the receiving end of an enemy's affection campaign, Jimin scratched his head.
"You're popular, huh?"
"No, the playstyle is just different, right Jimin?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Ah, you're too nice!"
Dahye made a head-patting gesture in the air.
Six wins. Of course she had no intention of stopping.
"Enemy Irelia?"
The enemy top was Irelia. Jimin was preparing his counterpick.
"Oh!"
His choice was Fiora.
"Yes, fighting! Jimin, fighting!"
"Yes……"
With Jimin's timid reply, the game began.
Top was Fiora versus Irelia. Jungle was Lee Sin versus Jarvan. Mid was Annie versus Fizz. Bot was Varus-Morgana versus Miss Fortune-Nautilus.
"Ah, I don't like this support."
From the earliest moments of lane, Dahye was already irritable.
"Ah, not good."
"Ah, this is not it for real."
Mid, Annie had given up two solo kills to the enemy Fizz.
The enemy mid laner Fizz kept dominating lane. Bot wasn't rolling the way Dahye wanted either.
"This is it, Jimin!"
"……Ah, yes!"
Completely locked in, Jimin solo-killed the enemy Irelia and answered late.
In a game that had been nothing but frustration, a top solo kill arrived like winter giving way to spring.
"……"
Jimin, who almost never refused people, turned down Lee Sin's game plan. The game still felt oddly uncomfortable. Watching the Rift slowly open up, he layered his own instincts on top and kept solving it.
"Oh Jimin, nice!"
"Close."
"……"
He'd taken two, but barely failed to walk away alive, and he bit his lip a little as he said it. Dahye almost offered a "still, you did well," then didn't.
"Ah, the enemy Fizz really is too big though."
Fizz, who had killed Annie five times in lane, looked thoroughly full of himself.
"Ah, that to Miss Fortune."
They killed one and lost three—a lost dragon fight. Watching the enemy carries snowball so hard, even Dahye started talking less.
"Oh?"
"……"
"Wow."
Dahye clapped a hand over her mouth.
Irelia's sixth death of the game. And Miss Fortune and Jarvan both died to the Fiora who had already cracked the tier-two tower. After exploding the top second tower, Fiora rotated bot. Dahye started slamming Baron pings like mad.
The team went for a bold Baron try. In that instant, enemy champions started appearing in Fiora's vision.
"Ha……"
Dahye didn't even make a sound. She just sat there with her mouth hanging open, smiling.
"We won!"
"Hoo."
This time it had been genuinely hard, and Jimin felt the strength drain right out of him.