Tournament Practice Period (2)
(Suhyeoni): Can we take the top crab?
(Gray): Mid can rotate first, but we probably shouldn't.
"Top's rough."
(Suhyeoni): Heading blue side.
(Gray): You're fine, hyung. Once we hit late game, we won't be behind.
(Kuma): Bot Jinx is scaling pretty well right now. Just play safe.
(Karen): ……Fighting.
Park Donghyun's team had bonded by playing other games together. The atmosphere had been far more fun than on Render's team — until the first day of scrims, when everything changed.
"Ah……"
He'd been getting beaten every time he so much as touched a minion. He'd finally managed to catch a crashing wave when the enemy jungler, Nidalee, showed up for a dive.
Two minutes earlier, his team's Azir and Maokai had taken down the enemy Ahri in mid. That kill was long forgotten.
For one top laner, the hellish laning phase was over. Allied Jinx-Lulu and enemy Varus-Janna faced off in mid. With laning done, things were a little easier — but Aetrox was still terrified every time his eyes met Yohone's.
The top-lane level gap was already two levels.
(Gray): Looking for a TP angle behind their top.
(Suhyeoni): I'm heading there too.
Yohone, who had already demolished the top tier-one tower, was swaggering around bullying Aetrox when Park Donghyun's mid laner Azir saw a chance to take him down. Yohone spotted the teleport and backed off — but Maokai had more than enough ult to lock him down.
A three-man raid party of top, jungle, and mid, assembled specifically to take down Yohone.
(Gray): Ah!
Of course they knew the enemy Yohone was fed. They hadn't approached casually. Even so, Yohone charged Azir first. Azir tossed him with Emperor's Divide, but Yohone slipped free with Soul Unbound and kept dancing.
They'd stabbed him full of spears and drained his health, but Azir went down.
(Suhyeoni): Die! Just die already!
Maokai and Aetrox hammered Yohone as hard as they could.
Yohone lived one more tick at the end, taking Maokai with him. Aetrox barely managed to finish Yohone off. The shutdown gold notification flashed on screen — but nobody on the team was celebrating.
(Gray): "Ah, that one was on me."
Gray, the team's Master/Grandmaster card and the one who needed to perform this game, blamed himself.
(Suhyeoni): "Why does that Yohone not die?"
(Gray): No tanks on their team, so he built tanky. Ugh, once the Muramana stacks are up he's so hard to deal with. His next core item's coming soon too.
"Hoo…… Well, at least we got him."
Knowing that constant self-blame would drag the team's morale down, Park Donghyun kept his voice calm. The Yohone shutdown gold had gone to him — and honestly, he had no confidence he could use it. It would have been better if it had gone to Maokai, so the front line could hold firm.
(Gray): Hyung, I'll take the Yohone side.
"Y-yeah, thanks."
(Gray): Ahri's items don't hurt that much. You'll be fine.
On the side lane, Aetrox faced Ahri while Azir took on Yohone.
(Gray): Ugh, damn.
Azir ran into Yohone on the side. Yohone activated Soul Unbound and unleashed a merciless skill combo; Azir had no choice but to fling him away with Emperor's Divide and run.
(Karen): Yohone is broken……
(Kuma): It's fine, it's fine. We can still win.
(Gray): He is pretty good, though.
"Their top is seriously good."
Park Donghyun's innocence had been proven.
Strengths and weaknesses were splitting between the two sides. Then a teamfight broke out in front of the dragon pit.
"Nidalee! Nidalee!"
The whole team waited for Nidalee's Zhonya's to come off. But at death's door she used Heal and slipped away clean. Then Maokai got charmed by Ahri and got focused down.
(Suhyeoni): Ah, this……
The enemy pushed in hard.
(Gray): Looking for an Azir ult angle.
Like the seasoned mid laner he was, he saw a way to flip the fight.
"Nice!"
Azir's super-toss. In an instant, Varus and Janna went flying.
(Kuma): Varus! Varus!
Aetrox and Jinx unloaded on Varus.
They let Janna Flash away and focused the enemy ADC Varus, cutting him down. Next target was Ahri — barely any health left.
"Huh?"
Jinx, Get Excited! blazing, was charging forward hard. Then, a beat late, Yohone cast his ultimate — Fate Seal.
Jinx, Azir, and Lulu all went airborne. They should have been watching for it the whole time.
Lulu, skills already spent, got blown up instantly. Jinx, health already low from Varus's resistance, died to Yohone's blade without a fight. Nidalee and Ahri slipped back onto the field to support him.
"Ah……"
Aetrox died to Nidalee's spear for the ACE. It was a teamfight full of regrets.
(Karen): So close. I pressed it too…
(Gray): This game just won't open up.
(Kuma): Flash was almost back, damn……
(Suhyeoni): Sorry. It started with me getting picked.
"No, it's fine. Just… man, that hurts."
The fight they'd thought they could win off Azir's super play had ended in a loss.
The dragon that had been sitting on the battlefield went to the enemy.
And Baron with it.
(Karen): Uh-uh-uh!
The enemy team came in with Baron buff. One Nidalee spear deleted half of Lulu's health.
Towers fell one after another. They made their last stand in front of the mid inhibitor turret. Nowhere left to retreat.
(Gray): Ah……
Azir's Flash ult was completely telegraphed. The enemy Varus Flash-reacted, and Azir was the one who ended up in danger.
Yohone tore through them while the enemy ADC cleaned up. Ahri ran down the fleeing allies and finished them off.
(Gray): "So close."
(Karen): "Good game, everyone."
(Kuma): "That was rough."
(Suhyeoni): "Maybe I should just play Nidalee…"
"……Damn. That's really frustrating."
Park Donghyun scratched his head.
"Yeah, no, it was a top gap. He's good, I'll give him that."
This wasn't the place to mess around and claim he'd played well. He was supposed to do variety content — but he couldn't just force the comedy either. That was the hard part of tournaments and collab streams.
"I'll hold the line for you guys."
Park Donghyun locked in Gnar top. The enemy champion was Jayce. He'd gotten last-picked on again, but at least it wasn't a matchup that left him completely unable to breathe.
"Uh-huh."
Of course, the pilot on the other side was the real problem.
Every boomerang he threw at Jayce missed completely, and the moment they went wide, Jayce beat him senseless for free.
(Suhyeoni): Wait, what?
Jarvan came up to help Gnar — but the enemy Jayce dodged the flag, and the kill angle vanished.
"I'm dead."
The enemy jungler Karthus started singing.
He was running from Jayce's beating when Karthus's ultimate unfolded over the map. Park Donghyun let out a long sigh.
(Suhyeoni): Why does Jayce hit so hard…
"Hoo……"
A skirmish in front of the tier-two tower. Both Gnar and Jarvan died to the enemy Jayce.
Full plate on the tier-one, and now the tier-two was gone too. Pressing Tab had become something to fear — Jayce's stats were terrifying.
(Kuma): "Ah, their Ezreal won't die in one combo."
(Gray): "Galio's tanky now too."
(Suhyeoni): Their Karthus is so fed…
The game kept tilting further against them. Every time they tried to teamfight, each poke from Jayce felt like it was snapping bones. Stack Ezreal's poke on top of that and the whole experience was miserable.
A losing game. They killed Karthus, but that champion could keep attacking even after death. A fully stacked three-point Karthus ultimate was the kind of thing that drained your will to fight. And at the end, one hammer swing from Jayce deleted their ADC Miss Fortune.
Game two was a loss as well. They still had to play a third set regardless of the result, but the series was already decided.
(Suhyeoni): Next time we face them, we need hard top-side prio and we need to ban carry junglers.
(Gray): Yeah. Karthus, Nidalee — stuff like that is brutal. Hard to even shut them down.
"I'll do better next time."
(Karen): Hang in there……
Everyone already knew. No matter how many times they faced that top laner, they wouldn't be able to handle him. If they picked a tank top, he'd just last-pick a top-lane butcher and run them over.
(Render): "Ah, I played that one so badly."
(Chongmyeong): "I should've done something, anything."
(Park Solmi): "Yeah, their mid being Master makes it rough."
(Yapang): "So close."
"Good game, everyone."
Jimin finished speaking and pressed his lips shut. He'd completely dominated the enemy Jayce from laning phase as Gnar. Switching champions for game two and still coming out massively ahead — that was a real performance. But losing still felt terrible. Subjectively, about ten times worse than a solo queue loss.
Of course, a bot-side disaster from the early invade had forced them behind bot, and mid had gotten shut down too. There wasn't much they could have done about that.
What followed was a storm of feedback from Hwata. Rather than calling out individuals, most of the discussion focused on improving team-level movement. That team-game understanding was exactly why Hwata was their coach.
(Hwata): "Jimin, let's talk more later."
"Okay."
(Park Solmi): "What, why just the two of you? I'm getting jealous."
(Render): What are you even saying.
(Yapang): Hahaha, that's funny.
(Chongmyeong): Tomorrow's the weekend — Underwatch during the day?
(Render): Daytime's tough for me.
(Park Solmi): I'm busy.
(Yapang): Sorry about that.
"……"
Jimin was reading the room.
"Hahaha."
But inventing a lie wasn't easy.
Huh?
His phone buzzed. He checked it.
(Chongmyeong): What about you, Jimin?
"……"
(Chongmyeong): Hello?
(Park Solmi): Who just laughed like a total idiot?
(Render): Wasn't me.
(Yapang): Jimin……
"……Ah! Sorry."
Jimin snapped back from his phone.
"I didn't catch that."
(Chongmyeong): Ah, no worries.
(Park Solmi): Girlfriend?
"Huh?"
(Park Solmi): Caught you red-handed.
"No……"
It really wasn't. And the person in question was someone who would cause a disaster if people got the wrong idea.
"It's really not……"
(Park Solmi): Sure it is. You weren't grinning like that while we were talking.
(Yapang): Ooh…… Congrats, congrats.
(Render): Why are you bullying him, hahaha.
(Chongmyeong): Unnie's old habits coming out.
(Park Solmi): What did I even do.
"……"
Time with good people. It was genuinely fun. But honestly, Jimin was having trouble focusing — his phone kept pulling his attention away.
(Render): Safe to pull it out now?
(Hwata): Better to save it for the real tournament and cut their ban pool. You can't play Kali well anyway, hyung.
(Render): Call it "I don't prefer it"……
(Chongmyeong): Don't worry, Jimin. Hyung's got your back properly.
"Okay."
(Park Solmi): Ah, I'm nervous.
(Yapang): Fighting.
Two scrim games in a row against a Master mid laner — everyone knew what Park Solmi was dealing with, so they all encouraged her.
(Hwata): Sett? Solid pick. Lock it in.
"Okay. Hoo……"
It was a champion he used to lock without a second thought, but with the team's expectations and worries riding on him, Jimin found himself getting tense.
Day two scrim opponents: Park Gyeoul's team. As a game-focused female streamer, she held a uniquely dominant position in the streaming scene. And given how few high-elo players the platform produced, her top laner Crow was operating at near the absolute highest level of skill available.
Against him, Jimin last-picked Kalista top.
(Render): Bot'll handle itself, so look top a lot.
(Chongmyeong): Oki.
(Yapang): Let's go, let's go.
(Park Solmi): Mid is…… whatever, I'll figure it out. I played against Master yesterday too.
(Hwata): See you in a bit, Jimin. Wait — fighting, everyone.
(Render): What's with that guy… heh.
"Fighting."
He was the type of player who preferred smashing top and spreading that influence outward — a selfless kind of laner. This time, though, he'd been cast as the complete protagonist.
(Render): Nice!
(Park Solmi): Oh, what was that!
"Ah……"
(Chongmyeong): Enemy jungle ward! No, I'll go place one.
(Yapang): He is seriously good.
Whoa.
Solokilling the enemy Sett at level four left Jimin himself stunned. The sheer destructive power of Kalista flinging spears — it barely felt like the champion he knew.