Enter the Tournament? (2)
“·····”
In front of the enemy top outer turret, Park Jimin was slowly tormenting his opponent on Yone.
“Huh?”
His ally Eku was coming for a gank. Perfect when they show up like this.
Jimin instantly traded damage to drop the enemy Aatrox’s health, then waited for Eku.
The result was a clean dive success.
“Ah, nice.”
The game was going really well today.
Jimin grinned to himself.
Hell yeah
Eku bus detected on
He knows which lane’s popping off
Of course you go to the free lane
Is Yone always this strong early?
10-Year Top Laner donated 5,000 won.
“Now that’s Yone.”
“Thank you for the 5,000 won!”
And now a donation on top of it. How could the day not feel good?
“You guys really love it when I play Yone, huh.”
Yone, Jayce, Fiora, Akali. Champions that always got a strong reaction. Of course Jimin already knew they looked cool when played well—he’d searched them up all over YouTube and the communities—but still.
“Thank you everyone for today!”
Having just bombed Master tier, Jimin signed off.
bb
Jiba (Jimin bye)
That was fun today
What do I watch now?
Yu Dahye that crazy girl no-showed her stream again
“Huh?”
As he ended the stream, something caught Jimin’s eye.
A message from a streamer—something he rarely got. He’d been ignoring them because they were usually nonsense, but…
“Uh—!”
He really should have been reading these more carefully.
By Jimin’s standards, it was a long message. He barely had the presence of mind to read it properly.
How am I supposed to reply?
He felt exactly what Render must have felt contacting him. Most streamers could get in touch privately through mutual connections somehow, so it wasn’t usually a problem—but for Jimin it absolutely was.
“Ah·····”
Looking closer, there was a Discord invite link. He hesitated a little when he saw Render had gone live, but there was no time to sit around deliberating.
The reply came fast.
The other person was being gentle about it. Jimin, though, was still a nervous wreck.
The gist of it was: please join this tournament.
No way.
Jimin had looked up what kind of tournament it was, but he’d never imagined Render would actually contact him.
In every way it was too good an opportunity to turn down. Prize money, a chance to raise his profile—and Jimin had no other schedule beyond streaming to begin with. There was no reason to refuse.
Even so, he’d also looked into the other three team-captain streamers besides Render. Surprisingly, Render—who averaged nearly ten thousand viewers—had the lowest average of the bunch. People that huge were hosting a tournament, and a complete newcomer like him was supposed to slot in?
“Ah—ah, yes, hello everyone, good to see you.”
Right in the middle of Discord, Render casually slipped into his stream opening. Jimin could only marvel at how smooth it was.
“Alright everyone, I’ll invite the team into Discord now.”
We already know anyway
Some people are clenching their jaws avoiding the topic
Ah I genuinely have no idea…
“Hello.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, Gold’s strongest royal mid laner, Han Solmi. Thank you.”
“Haha, yeah.”
A husky voice that didn’t match her pretty looks. Han Solmi, a female streamer in her late twenties, greeted everyone.
Gold body mid is wild lmao
How many cigarettes do you have to smoke for that voice
Her donation reaction is making smoke rings
For real?
Cap
She’s a non-smoker though…
Solha
Are those two dating? They hang out a lot
“Alright, next.”
Not exactly a fresh face to Render’s audience. And they weren’t expecting much from the next person either.
“Yes, hello!”
“Welcome.”
A booming male voice rang out.
“Hello everyone, I’m Chongmyeong. I’ll only path to the winning lanes.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Chongmyeong, an Emerald-tier jungler in his mid-twenties. He was stronger on YouTube than on live streams.
His voice is so damn loud lmao
He’s a weird guy so go easy on him everyone
How do you even play team games when you blame everyone else every time
He’s tame in front of Render
“I just hit two hundred thousand YouTube subscr—”
“Yeah, save it for later. Next!”
Render pushed the promo time aside and introduced the next streamer.
“Hello.”
“Nice to meet you.”
A small, delicate woman’s voice.
What
Is that Yapang?
Who’s that
It’s Yapang
Whoa legend
Why is someone this precious in a dump like this
Render knows a Vtuber?
How do those two even know each other
Render’s more of a social butterfly than I thought…
Yapang, a Vtuber who averaged over three thousand viewers. The moment she appeared, chat sped up more than before.
“Embarrassingly, I’m Bronze. I’ll do my best not to hold Render back.”
“Looking forward to it. Next up·····”
The viewers seemed to want Yapang to keep talking, but they moved on for now. Render let a little silence hang.
“Go ahead and say hi.”
“Hello.”
“A lot of people won’t know you, so maybe introduce yourself?”
“Sorry?”
Unlike with the other streamers, Render was asking for something different.
“Hello, I’m a new streamer named Jimin. I’m·····”
Who??
Who is this?
Is he still in school lunch?
Anyway hi I guess
The viewers had been indifferent to the first two people and surprised by the last two. Chongmyeong and Han Solmi—who didn’t appear often given the nature of streams, but were known to have some connection—were the former. Yapang and Jimin, who came after, were the latter.
Of course the meaning was a little different.
Why are you here? And who even are you?
“No no, it’s fine, sorry sorry.”
“Ah·····”
Render found it funny how hard Jimin was trying just because he’d been asked.
“Guys, uh, yeah—he only started streaming recently. He’s the friend who showed up in my latest YouTube video. He’s insanely good.”
He explained the identity so the audience could follow.
Oh?
That delinquent Yone
The one who beat the crap out of Render and the trolls together
He was a streamer?
Wait you’re bringing him to a tournament too?
That video did well, why didn’t he promote himself if he’s a streamer
Doesn’t seem like he does YouTube
He was disgusting at the game in that video though
“Nice to meet you, Jimin. Next, let’s bring in our coach.”
Just as important as the players themselves.
“Hello, I’m White Tiger.”
A slightly deep male voice came through.
Hwa-ta?
Hwa-ta holy crap
Hwa-ta is coaching?
World-class level whoa
He was close with him too?
He mentioned him sometimes
White Tiger, a former SOL pro player. Better known as Hwa-ta. He’d already announced his retirement as a pro and was streaming now, but he still had serious name recognition in the SOL scene.
Not only had he competed in the SOL World Cup—more importantly, he was the poster child for multi-role players, having played pro matches in top, jungle, mid, and ADC.
“I’m close with Render hyung, but I’ll coach hard and properly for the whole tournament.”
“Haha, already terrifying.”
He was the kind of man so uncompromising with feedback that you could almost believe stubborn personality was why he wasn’t coaching a pro team.
“Hello everyone. Since it’s the first day and everyone seems a little shy, how about we hop into some normals?”
Render started inviting the members—already friended—into a game one by one.
(Chongmyeong) “Let’s go let’s go.”
(Han Solmi) “Hey! Lower your volume.”
(Chongmyeong) “Okay.”
“Haha·····”
Those two were driving the conversation. When Jimin heard Render and Yapang’s laughter, he managed an awkward smile of his own.
(Render) “Jimin-ah, first day’s just for fun so don’t be tense.”
“Yes! Haha.”
Jimin still couldn’t hide how awkward he felt. It had been less than ten minutes since he’d even agreed to speak casually with Render.
Ah, what do I do.
From what he’d seen, this Chongmyeong hyung and Han Solmi nuna were both talkative, total social-butterfly types. Playing games with a group like this was something he could do with friends—but these people were all professional streamers he didn’t even know. It was too much.
Normals, huh.
Thinking about it, the days of casually playing normals with his friends already felt like a long time ago, now that every single day was new.
(Chongmyeong) “Hyung, did Hwa-ta leave?”
(Render) “He just did the intro today. He’ll rejoin when scrims start tomorrow.”
(Han Solmi) “Oppa, he’s in the chat room? Our viewers’ chat.”
(Render) “Oh for real? Why are you lurking instead of leaving.”
“·····”
Were they all already close? Jimin still couldn’t find a way in.
(Yapang) “Um, what champion should I play?”
(Render) “First day, so forget comps—just play what you like.”
(Yapang) “Okay, got it. Then I’ll go Lulu.”
(Render) “Lulu? Then we’ve gotta go Kog’Maw. Jimin-ah, you pick whatever you want too.”
“Huh? Yes yes, okay.”
(Han Solmi) “Wait! I was gonna play Jayce.”
Jimin’s pick was Jayce.
“Ah! Then I’ll swap.”
(Han Solmi) “No, just play it.”
“Uh, okay. Thank you.”
(Han Solmi) “Ah damn why is this kid so funny.”
(Render) “Talking to him he’s cute, but he plays the game like a terror.”
“Haha·····”
Suddenly Jimin wanted to see Dahye nuna. No matter how they ended up talking, he’d never not been nervous around her—but at some point there had also been a strangely comfortable feeling.
(Chongmyeong) “Have fun have fun.”
(Han Solmi) “Hey, then why are you locking Graves.”
(Render) “Leave him.”
“·····”
Jimin fretted over what he should say, then something occurred to him. He was a streamer now too, in his own way, wasn’t he? Talking was basically an obligation.
(Han Solmi) “But if you’re eighteen, what year were you born?”
“Me? 2013.”
(Han Solmi) “2013? Insane.”
(Chongmyeong) “This country’s finished, wow.”
(Render) “Sorry Jimin-ah, we’re not even speaking the same language or anything, right?”
“Ah, no, it’s fine.”
What do I do?
He’d been looking for an opening, but all he’d managed so far was stammering and useless small talk. He needed to say something that actually meant something.
Ah, right—that.
There was still one more person among the five. And he needed to keep it from feeling completely off-topic·····
“Um, Yapang-nim?”
(Yapang) “·····Huh? Me?”
Jimin’s radar had locked onto Yapang, the streamer who’d barely spoken. Render would occasionally address her, but her answers were almost always short. Her voice sounded pretty young compared to the others—maybe around his age?
“Yapang-nim, how old are you?”
(Yapang) “Sorry?”
The other streamer didn’t say anything.
(Render) “Uh Jimin-ah no!”
(Han Solmi) “What, why are you asking a girl her age.”
Huh?
Caught off guard by the sudden silence and the reaction, Jimin panicked.
(Yapang) “Uh.. yes, I’m older than you, Jimin-nim, haha.”
“Ah·····”
Some kind of atmosphere he couldn’t quite read. He decided the smart move was to keep his mouth shut for a while.
(Render) “Oh what, already.”
Jimin’s Jayce had solo-killed the enemy Gnar.
“Top flash is down.”
Even if it was just normals, they were a team now. He didn’t forget to call the spell.
(Han Solmi) “Wait he’s actually cracked?”
(Chongmyeong) “Can I get vision on their red.”
“Yes.”
(Yapang) “Oh nice nice.”
(Render) “This is the friend I brought, everyone.”
Jimin let out a small laugh. Still—when you played well, everyone got happy and cheered you on, same as when he was with his friends. As his own play started coming out, a genuine sense of enjoyment began to settle in.
(White Tiger): Hold on.
(Han Solmi): Ah damn! Sorry.
(Render): What the, why’d you drop in like that.
“·····”
White Tiger, who had left and then re-entered Discord. Even Jimin was startled.
(White Tiger): You can’t just recall right there.
“·····Me?”
Jimin knew immediately that meant him.
In this world, some things didn’t end with just having fun.