Streamer Debut (2)
Thanks to a monstrous performance from their bot lane, the team snagged four enemies in the dragon fight.
"Everyone's playing really well."
He had to talk as much as possible for the stream. Still, what Park Jimin said this time was pretty sincere. Every so often a game came along where all five players were on point, and those were genuinely fun. He even felt like he was catching a second wind himself.
KRA-BOOM!
A poke from Jimin's Jayce tagged the enemy ADC Ezreal and shredded him down to half health.
If an enemy champion was actually threatening, the smart move was to mix in a little tankiness. Jimin almost never felt threatened by anyone, though.
Top Jayce, mid Sylas, ADC Varus. All of them ran wild trying to show off how strong they were, but the one vacuuming up the most kills was still Jimin's Jayce.
"We won."
The word Victory never got old. Jimin had closed the game out in barely twenty-five minutes, and a little laugh slipped into the mic.
"……"
Chat needed managing. But you also had to let it breathe a little. Of course a lot of viewers would joke about Dahye. He was used to it by now, so it didn't fluster him—as long as nobody got truly nasty.
"Alright, next game."
Following Dahye's advice, Jimin had decided to go with a quiet, game-focused concept. He wasn't much of a talker in real life either, so it wasn't a problem.
"Ornn?"
The enemy locked in the tank champion Ornn first. Which meant there was a champion he'd been practicing hard lately.
A little grin.
It was a champion he'd just happened to mess around with for fun with his friends at the PC bang. Now he was practicing it for the stream.
"……"
Ornn might have been a tank, but his laning was strong. Gwen needed time to scale. Jimin played it calm—and started taking the upper hand faster than expected.
A glance at the minimap showed the enemy jungler. Perfect dodge window already gone.
"Whew."
But when Ornn and the enemy jungler Viego burned Flash to dive him, quick judgment and movement let him slip away.
"……"
He backed, recalled home, and on the way out chat was reacting well, so Jimin was enjoying himself too. Of course he didn't ask how it looked—that would have been weird. Looking cool meant not showing you cared.
Gwen scaled harder with every item. He was pulling further ahead against Ornn.
Allies gathered at the Herald. The fight opened on Ornn's ultimate engage.
Allied mid Viktor died to a lazy position—though at least he got a skill off first. As the enemy piled in with the advantage, Jimin popped Ghost and charged.
He deleted the enemy Azir, who had already spent ult and Flash trying to toss Viktor. Next up was Viego, who had just tanked Viktor's full kit for free.
Like a general on the field taking two enemy commanders' heads. His teammates pushed back with confidence.
"Haa……"
A slightly rough fight. Ornn's last desperate swing almost killed him, but Jimin barely survived and only then remembered to breathe.
The game was already going well, and then Gwen picked up even more kills. Ornn on the side lane simply could not deal with her.
"Hmm."
He smashed the top tier-two turret and pushed to bot tier two. While he was staring Ornn down, enemy jungler Viego and Ren showed up as backup.
He hit Ghost. Not to run.
Maybe the stream had gone a little to his head? But he believed he could still pull it off.
"Ha—lucky."
If the enemies had just calmly chained their CC, he probably would have died.
"Thank you, Magne, Eric-nim!"
Viewers here loved nicknames that made no sense. Jimin still calmly read the donation alert out loud.
Five thousand won already.
He had never earned money with his own hands before. First a thousand earlier, and now a five-thousand-won donation—he was just watching it happen. There was still a long way to go, but the fact that people were watching him and even giving him money felt strange and new.
"……"
He wanted to say more, but he held back. He wasn't confident with that kind of talk anyway, and he honestly believed the game on screen was the main content, not him.
And when the game itself was going this well, how could he not enjoy it?
"Alright, won again. Ah, everyone played well this game too."
Compared to the last one, his teammates had only put in a decent one-man job. Jimin still didn't drop the humility.
"Thank you for the thousand won! Yeah, that's the plan."
Ever since he was little, Jimin had never cared much about naming things.
Clearly a lot of Dahye's viewers had flowed in—her name kept coming up.
"This game I'll……"
Jimin hovered Vladimir, a champion he actually wanted to play. More viewers than before. Time to make them even happier.
A champion that, if it got big, could solo wipe half a teamfight. With that burst, people would definitely love it.
"Huh?"
But the enemy snatched Vladimir away.
Jimin opened Bada Wiki.
"Oh?"
The pick he landed on was Akeli.
"Says Akeli is good."
Jimin was a pretty serious wiki believer.
Picking a counter off the wiki for second pick left the viewers speechless. Of course, Jimin almost never ran into Vladimir as an enemy—especially not first-picked—so the decision made sense to him.
Akeli……
These days it was one of the champions he practiced the most in solo queue.
"Oh, really?"
Jimin had a revelation.
Jimin was a little embarrassed, but he decided to give it his all anyway. Akeli was a flashy champion—if he played well, people would like it.
"……"
Jimin typed in chat that Vladimir's Flash was down. Watching Nertube had taught him how important callouts were.
"That one was a little close."
The opponent was a skilled player who knew Vladimir pretty well. He came in on a kill angle he was comfortable with, but he was one tick short and couldn't put Jimin's Akeli down.
Once laning went this easy, mid-game Akeli was hell for the other team.
"Oh, I'm rich."
Barely finished his second item and already sitting on more than three thousand gold in the bank—Jimin laughed.
"Dahye nuna plays well too."
Jimin read the chat.
"I really think nuna is good, though."
Jimin defended her right up to the line where the teasing wouldn't turn into a real fight. Dahye had told him herself not to bother arguing when her viewers said this and that. If he got emotional first, it would only hurt her too.
Right as chat was about to go sideways, Jimin deleted the enemy mid Orianna with massive side-lane burst damage.
Thank god.
One of his streaming homework assignments was probably managing mentions of Dahye well. Honestly he wasn't confident…… but he still had to pull it off.
"Ah, that was so much fun."
Akeli's burst was way too enjoyable even from the player's seat. Jimin smiled after a satisfying game.
Viewers still weren't dropping—they were climbing steadily. Dahye's influence was huge, of course, but the fact that even one more person was watching mattered.
"I'll try Vladimir this time."
First pick, Jimin locked Vladimir. Time to show a different flavor of AP burst.
"Huh?"
And on the enemy side appeared Akeli.
"Ah……"
A counter written right there on the wiki. Nothing he could do about it. All he could do was his best.
"Oh, really?"
Jimin opened the match history and searched.
"It is."
The Vladimir from last game had locked Akeli this time.
Champions swapped, same top matchup. The game began.
"……"
Jimin's Vladimir killed the Akeli.
A quiet snort.
This is fun.
Chat, the pure essence of living and dying with every play. Making people react while he played the game was genuinely entertaining.
10/1/11.
That was Jimin's KDA on Vladimir.
Day one of streaming: seven wins, one loss. Even in the game he lost, Jimin had put up the best performance on either team.
The next day.
Render—one of the biggest SOL streamers on Jijijik—went live on a weekend afternoon.
"MomBeHappy, hahaha, wow, what a filial son."
He looked at the enemy top laner's nickname and let out a gentle laugh.