Streamer Tournament (1)

"Almost. I was trying to take the kill and get out."

Park Jimin had locked in Camille, taken down the enemy top laner—and then died to the jungler.

He already had a growth lead over the opposing top, and still he couldn't convert a planned two-on-one. Frustrating.

"Thank you for the one-thousand-won donation. Still got a long way to go, though."

Camille wasn't a champion he played often. Hwata had simply recommended her, along with Jax and a few others. But after just a handful of games, Jimin was already starting to enjoy her.

"Once the tournament's over, I'll play solo queue a lot more."

Scrims with his teammates had left his personal streams nearly on hiatus lately. But his own broadcast mattered, and he never forgot a promise about the future.

"Thank you, everyone," Jimin said as he recalled to base.

Even with the temporary hype bubbles popping here and there, his viewer count had climbed well past what it used to be. A skill-focused stream that felt like smurfing even in the high ranks, delivered in a quiet, polite tone—people had already settled into Jimin's broadcasting style. And the more comfortable the chat became, the easier it got for him to manage the stream.

Another carry. Last game he'd lost because of teammate drama; this one more than made up for it.

"Thank you for the ten-thousand-won donation!"

The cam was off, but Jimin still bowed his head over and over in genuine gratitude.

Just like his rising viewer count, Jimin's solo queue LP was climbing with serene confidence.

"……"

Not that he disliked it. He was getting a lot of help. Still, Hwata appeared in his stream chat with a suspicious frequency.

Jimin ended the stream, checked the messages, and smiled.

Prize money, teammates, viewers—there were already more than enough reasons to be motivated. And now the biggest one of all had been added on top.

He was good at SOL. So he wanted to show Dahye something impressive.

That feeling had been true then, and it was still true now.

"Hello, everyone. Welcome to the 2030 Summoners of Legends Universe Strongest Streamer Tournament! I'm your caster, Kim Seunghyun."

"Hi, I'm Jeff, on commentary for the tournament."

"And Cooper."

Jijik had put real effort into this event. With the SOL World Cup right around the corner, locking down proper SCK casters hadn't been easy—yet they'd still landed the universally known Kim Seunghyun, SCK and Challengers commentator Jeff, and Cooper, a former pro and World Cup champion whose pro-match casts on Jijik always hit number one in concurrent viewers. It wasn't World Cup or SCK Finals caliber, but as a commentary desk it left nothing to be desired.

"Could you walk us through how this tournament works?"

"Today, day one, is a league format. Tomorrow we run the finals and the third-place match. Pretty straightforward, right?"

"Ha, simple on paper—but for the streamers competing, that tight schedule has to be weighing on them."

"Exactly. Maintaining focus is going to be the key to this whole tournament."

On day one, four teams would settle everything in single games. First and second place would meet in tomorrow's finals; third and fourth would play for the bronze. The group-stage winner also earned side selection, so finishing second and still reaching the finals was no reason to relax.

"And now—today's first match, and the opening game of the tournament! Render Team versus Park Donghyun Team!"

"Park Donghyun's side was initially rated as having the better overall roster, but in scrims, Render's team was, to put it crudely, blowing everyone up."

"The expectation was that if Park Donghyun could just hold against Master-tier tops, his Master-tier bot duo of Gray and Kuma would take over the game. But ah—it hasn't been that easy."

"Render Team's top laner, Jimin. He really did appear out of nowhere like a comet. The big question is whether he can bring that destructive scrim form into the main stage."

Both teams' player introductions rolled. Selfies of Render Team's mid laner Park Solmi and Park Donghyun Team's jungler Suhyeoni caught the audience's eye.

"We've got streamers the viewers really love gathered here today. First match, starting now!"

"Oh—Render Team taking Jax?"

"Chongmyeong doesn't particularly favor Jax, so that looks like a top pick, right?"

"Looking at the data, Jimin never pulled him out in scrims either… but Render Team's carry line is top, and they first-picked Jax?"

Top lane was a role where first-pick versus counter-pick mattered enormously. Even so, Render Team snapped up Jax without hesitation.

"Park Donghyun Team answers with K'Sante!"

"That's a pretty high-tier champion right now. Looks like a solid choice for controlling early Jax."

"This whole match hinges on how well Park Donghyun can rein in Jimin's carry potential—and just how much of Jax's scaling he can shut down."

Jax only grew more terrifying on the side lanes the later the game went. Try to half-counter him and you might get eaten alive. Park Donghyun's team had locked the versatile K'Sante into top.

"Draft complete."

"Neither support has a particularly wide champion pool, so building the bot comps must have been awkward—but both Render and Kuma still managed to grab champions they're comfortable on."

"How are you reading this matchup?"

"Park Donghyun Team drafted a nice tank-damage balance that shouldn't fall off too hard late. Kuma's joked about being the best Draven in Dalseo-gu, hasn't he? I'm curious whether he can punish Render Team for letting him have his signature pick."

"Chongmyeong loves scaling junglers, and Jimin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠showed absolute force in scrims. Render Team looks like they've played to their strengths too."

"Not a single game can be taken lightly today. One loss is devastating. Whether you go to tomorrow's finals or the third-place match—that gets decided right now. Let's begin!"

The first match of the main stage. Both sides' laners reached their lanes without early chaos.

"Trade is already getting fierce."

The bot duos slammed into each other hard. Health bars were dropping, spells already spent.

"Early on, Park Donghyun Team needs to be the aggressor."

"How Vi performs in the jungle is going to matter a lot."

Even this early, a small gold gap was starting to show.

"Ohh?"

Top lane. The camera caught Jax sidestepping K'Sante's skills with pure movement, over and over.

"Jax is already applying pressure?"

"Jimin showing his real skill on the main stage!"

Jax was dodging K'Sante's Q stomps with nothing but footwork. Even the casters who regularly called pro matches were startled.

"If Jax gets to scale this cleanly…"

Jax finished Sheen in record time. Despite K'Sante sitting on a strong patch, he wasn't giving an inch.

"Right—Suhyeoni needs to look top."

"They probably picked K'Sante specifically with Vi synergy in mind."

K'Sante excelled at gank setups; Vi thrived in small skirmishes. Vi was slowly lining up a top-side gank timer.

"Wait, hang on."

Jimin danced left and right and crushed K'Sante again. Top had become a complete stomp.

"K'Sante's health is way too low."

"If he's already this far behind into Jax…"

The laning was better than anyone had imagined. Anxiety was arriving early for Park Donghyun Team.

"Vi heading top."

"Can they even get the gank setup off…"

Top had been dominated from the first second. Vi went to bail it out.

Jimin slipped the skillshots again. Vi burned Flash for a guaranteed stun—and Jimin burned his own Flash right back, strolling out of range like nothing had happened.

"Jax has nothing real to be upset about there."

"If they can't cut him down on this timer… well. They could try again on Vi's next ultimate, maybe."

"And in that window, Ekko is just free-farming."

While Vi babysat top, Render Team's Ekko grew without a single interruption.

"Emperor's Divide!"

Park Donghyun Team's Azir and Vi linked up and took down Neeko.

"As expected of the higher-ranked mid lane—they claim first blood."

"That's genuinely not a bad play, but—hah—the top-side situation…"

Vi, the early-fight linchpin, had taken a kill. Mid lane was also pulling ahead on Azir. And still, no one was rushing to say anything friendly about Park Donghyun Team.

"Oof, oof!"

The more items came online, the harder Jax hammered K'Sante.

"Can they even contest the voidgrubs like this?"

The early topside balance that should have been winning was warping into something unrecognizable.

"Vi got one, but Render Team still completes all five grubs."

"Wow. The game is just going like this."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Jax was twisting the entire match with pure trading alone.

"Is this happening? Is this actually happening?"

K'Sante's shove timing. Vi pathing over. Azir slamming Teleport not onto mid, but onto the friendly minion wave marching into the enemy top tower.

"Doesn't look like a dive—more like they're trying to shove him off."

If Jax simply backed off, he could walk away clean.

"He's not retreating!"

He only stepped out of Azir's spear range. The tower, he held.

"Whoa—whoa!"

Park Donghyun Team's top, jungle, and mid committed a three-man dive out of sheer frustration. Neeko, Teleport already spent, and Ekko were walking over on foot.

Azir and Vi ultimates detonated. They still failed to fully melt Jax.

"Vi! Vi!"

The dive fallout killed Vi. The kill went to Jax. Then Neeko and Ekko joined the chase, and Azir burned every resource he had to barely escape.

"He barely lives."

"Kill on Jax, and now Azir's bleeding resources too."

A bold top-side play that only hurt Park Donghyun Team.

"And bot-side, Draven still hasn't stacked his passive gold…"

Draven-Nami weren't dominating Abelius-Lulu the way they needed to. Vi should have been terrorizing bot early—but too many of her turns had been burned top.

"Tower's going down."

With the voidgrub buff, the top tower fell. First turret went to Render Team instead.

"Hold on! Hold on!"

The laners swapped, but the pattern continued. In front of the bot tier-one, Jax traded K'Sante off the wave entirely.

"From this point on, K'Sante cannot deal with Jax for the rest of the game."

"Vi has to—no, all three of them need to come."

Jax's growth no longer looked like a champion with a hard laning phase. Teamfights began to form. Jax simply didn't show up for them. Render Team feinted engagements and then slipped away, leaving Park Donghyun Team to watch Jax scale in mounting panic.

Jax demolished the bot tier-two. They still couldn't cut him down.

Before long he had three items.

An unavoidable teamfight.

"Jax! Jax! Draven just exploded!"

Draven died without ever cashing his passive gold. The fight was over on the spot.

Trinity Force, Zhonya's, and Death's Dance—a Jax that hit hard and refused to die. On top of that, a cleanly scaled Abelius ready to carry, plus Neeko and Ekko's transform skills that were now nearly impossible to answer.

"Ace! Ah, Render Team is just winning this too cleanly."

"There's no stopping Jax anymore."

The show had begun. On the side lane, Jax winning one-versus-twos. In teamfights, Jax diving five people first and walking out alive. The casters wanted to count how many times they'd just shouted his name.

"GG! Render Team takes the first win."

"Jimin… wow. He was this good?"

"This is a level of force where a normal game simply doesn't form."

"Even with a rank gap, to stomp this hard—it's genuinely astonishing."

Beyond a mere recreation of scrims. Carry power past anything they'd shown before. The presence was so overwhelming the casters almost ran out of words.

Cold, precise feedback. Jimin only thought about what to improve.

"Wow, that was actually insane."

"Hmm…"

Yu Dahye, who had been casting Render Team versus Park Donghyun Team with genuine fire, suddenly found a vacant look settling on her face without meaning to.

"Ugh, I'm hungry, so my focus is just gone."

Dahye had a habit of blaming most of her problems on hunger, and this was no exception.

"Ugh, delivery's forty minutes? I'll go grab some bread."

Dahye ordered food and stood up from her chair.

"Whoa."

Chewing bread like gum, she returned to casting the second match—Hirose Haruka Team versus Park Gyeoul Team.

"……"

If the game had at least been fun, maybe. Coming off Jax's explosive carry the previous match, watching a perfectly ordinary game left Dahye bored stiff.

"Close one."

"Nice play."

"Flash is down."

Expressionless commentary rolled on.

"Chat, keep it civil."

Still, she couldn't just let viewers go trash other streams. It wasn't only her usual audience anymore—people who wanted to watch a girl streamer and the tournament at the same time had piled in.

"That's a GG! And the pizza just got here, perfect timing."

The moment the nexus exploded, Dahye looked happier than anyone. Then she waited for the next game.

"……What? I ordered half pepperoni half Hawaiian, why is there shrimp in this."

Dahye flinched at the wrong order for a second, then decided to just eat it. A more expensive menu had shown up, so she could let it slide.

"Irelia… pfft—sorry. But I don't think Irelia is going to work here."

Haruka Team's top was Diyul. Dahye laughed the moment she saw the Irelia. Of course, it was blue side fifth pick, so they'd had to first-pick something anyway.

"Ohh!"

Her eyes went wide.

The same Jimin who had just put on a monstrous carry performance last game had now picked Fiona—a champion with near-infinite destructive power.

"Oh, she's pretty."

Dahye skimmed the cafe post for a moment and found a clip from Diyul's recent cam stream.

Click.

Dahye, who hated being compared looks-wise to other female streamers, banned the viewer on the spot.

"Oh?"

Not even five minutes into the game, Fiona already had a solo kill.