The Path to Challenger (2)

"I think we need to play this one aggressive."

Allied top was Gangplank. Jungle was Karthus. Mid was Talon.

The enemy frontline was Gnar–Vayne–Azir.

With the gap between Karthus and Vayne, it looked like allied top and mid would take a lot of pressure.

They needed a champion who could slam the early game and still carry ADC value into the late game.

"I'll take Ez."

Jimin's pick was Ezreal.

Depending on the pilot, Ezreal could put on a spectacular show. Skillshots mattered, and his solo agency was excellent—one of the ADCs Jimin himself preferred.

"Zeri Nami? Ah, if it's that…"

The enemy bot lane was a Zeri–Nami duo.

Jimin wanted his support to lock in something strong in lane.

Allied support locked Karma—excellent in lane.

Jimin cracked a small smile.

Zeri–Nami wasn't weak in lane either, but if they played it right, they could make the enemy duo choke.

Weird.

Before, Jimin had just picked whatever looked fun or strong. Now he kept thinking about team composition and matchups.

He was still rough at it, of course. His understanding had to be far behind same-tier players.

But between Hwata's help and his own hunger to get better at Sol, ban-pick itself had become something he enjoyed.

"Let's win this."

If he lost here, not giving up top would just look like empty swagger.

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

Jimin took one deep breath and headed for the bot lane.

"Hmm."

Unlike top, bot was a 2v2 lane. As the late-game protagonist, the ADC leaned hard on the support—but that conventional wisdom barely applied. Jimin held an aggressive posture, landing and dodging skills without pause.

"Oh, that hit."

As if answering his clean play, Karma landed Mantra ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Q on Nami.

With Aqua Prison down, Jimin's Ezreal Arcane Shifted forward and dumped damage. Nami burned Heal and still had no choice but to back off.

"That got comfortable fast."

His synergy with the support was better than expected. And an Ezreal landing skillshots like targeted abilities could only smother the enemy lane.

They seized complete control of the wave. The enemy couldn't fix the awkward lane state—they were just getting dragged along.

Talon had already lost mid priority to Vayne's early gank.

"If we could just get one kill…"

The CS gap kept widening. Jimin bought Sheen and pressed even harder.

The moment Karthus hit six, the team looked up. Karma rotated topside to help with void grubs.

"Whew…"

Both enemy bot laners were still bot. Even in a 1v2, Jimin slipped every skill and never got shoved around.

A notification popped that his team had taken all three grubs.

"Thank you for the 1,000-won donation!"

Chat was loving it. Some viewers preferred watching him plant himself top and grind, but plenty just wanted to watch him play well, period.

"Oh—that hit."

With his support back, they had the enemy pinned under tower and were landing free skillshots when a Trueshot Barrage from the bush clipped Zeri. The enemy ADC's health cratered—and something dropped onto her head.

"Ah, Nami didn't die."

Karthus's level-one ultimate wasn't that strong on damage. Still, the enemy bot tower was completely exposed. They kept chewing on it, and gold poured ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in.

"Items are already looking great."

Tear stacks were climbing, and Trinity Force had finished. Every enemy champion now had to fear Ezreal's damage.

On the strength of the Ezreal–Karma lane, the bot tower fell. The growth gap with the enemy Zeri was already massive.

"A lot of skills I have to dodge, though."

Herald fight time. Enemy jungle Vayne could lock anyone she wanted. Azir's toss from mid. Zeri's Lightning Crash chaining on engage. Nami's Tidal Wave and Gnar's ultimate couldn't be written off either.

But this was an Ezreal armed with Trinity Force and Muramana. He had confidence.

"Feels like he's taking way too much."

Allied Gangplank got chunked hard by Gnar for a second—but Jimin was already shaving health bars with poke. Landing Q after Q shortened his cooldowns. Mixing in autos on Gnar forced the enemy team back step by step.

Vayne hovered, unsure whether to commit. Ezreal's skillshots stayed cold and clean.

No kills, but the enemy peeled off, and the team took Herald for free.

"Aigoo."

A standoff with the enemy ADC mid. Standing next to each other was already impossible—the gap was that wide. With enemy positions spotted, Jimin traded aggressively, and Zeri had no choice but to run. Missing the last Trueshot Barrage stung a little.

Jungle Karthus dropped Herald mid without hesitation, and the mid tower melted.

"Ah, that's nice."

Poke them down, wait for the dive, then punish. Vayne dove for Ezreal and melted under allied damage; even long-armed Azir couldn't leverage his range. There was nothing left to do.

"Huh? Solmi noona, hi."

Among other streamers, Jimin always greeted former teammates first.

"Feels like a lot of people are watching today."

Challenger carried a special weight. Chasing it made chat scroll faster than usual.

The enemy still hadn't given up—but against an Ezreal coming off Baron, they had to fall back. Talon, an assassin by trade, was reduced to bodyguarding Ezreal.

"Whoa."

Riding team priority, a well-fed Karthus dropped a level-three ultimate. The demoralized enemy peeled back. Even while the twin towers got hit, they couldn't find a dive.

For how murderous Ezreal's damage had been, the kill score wasn't huge—but they'd still taken the game almost too easily.

"Ah, we won."

Today his teammates weren't dragging him down at all. Everything was rolling clean.

ADC's actually fun.

Personally, Jimin loved the top lane—but playing ADC like this was fun too. Mid felt too chaotic for his hands; jungle and support neither fit him nor gave him confidence.

Of course top was still best, so he queued his main role again.

"K'Sante."

Enemy top locked K'Sante.

"…"

Plenty of champions could eat tanks. But Jimin wanted to pull something different.

The reaction was pretty good.

The champion viewers had loved when he played ADC.

"I'll try Vayne."

Jimin locked Vayne—an ADC champion—into the top lane.

Allied jungle–mid was Nidalee–Twisted Fate, a pair with excellent map control. Late game, Lucian–Nami bot would take over. Jimin decided to run free.

"Vayne is honestly such a good champion."

From the start, Jimin pressed the enemy K'Sante. Vayne wasn't something you saw every game, but top laners who defaulted to tanks always had to respect her as a possible last pick. The enemy wasn't completely helpless—but when he managed distance and kept the bolts flying, it hurt.

On top of that, solid jungle support. Even without converting a kill, Nidalee showing up to threaten and drop damage was already huge help.

"Whew."

He'd bought items and was beating on K'Sante when enemy Lillia ganked. He popped Ghost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and slid out cleanly.

"Shame. There was a kill angle if I could've taken it."

He'd dodged the gank, but he felt like he'd lost the window to burn ultimate and Ghost and eat the enemy alive.

"Oh."

Spells came back eventually. Before lane phase ended, Jimin sidestepped K'Sante's skills and opened both ultimate and Ghost.

"Ah, got him."

Jimin grinned. He didn't even have first-item Blade of the Ruined King yet, and the damage was already like this.

"Thank you for the 1,000-won donation!"

Reactions had been solid for a while now. Showing ranged carries top every so often might not be a bad idea.

Vayne's flashy plays kept coming. The team never lost priority and snowballed cleanly. In mid standoffs, Lucian–Nami started shoving Aphelios–Lulu off the map. With Twisted Fate's global ultimate available, Jimin hunted K'Sante even more boldly on the side.

"Nice."

A side-lane solo kill. Vayne's scaling finally caught real momentum.

"Oh!"

A perfect follow-up off TF's gold card. In the dragon fight they deleted Lillia in seconds.

Vayne chased the routing enemy champions. She was already fed—and with ultimate and Ghost both up, she was pure terror.

"Why is Vayne this strong?"

Jimin marveled. He'd played her a few times, but few champions hit this hard when they got ahead.

"Ah—Diyul-nim, thank you for the 10,000 won!"

Jimin bowed his head toward the senior streamer.

"Crow-nim, thank you for the 10,000 won!"

Among the amateur platforms, Jijik didn't have many true high-elo monsters relative to its size. Jimin was already becoming far too big a presence.

"This is too much fun."

Today the games were really going his way.

"Ah, I'm nervous."

Games went well and games went poorly. There were matches with ally mistakes and his own slightly off decisions. Matches where his teammates carried hard. Matches where he put on a joyful carry performance.

After smashing the enemy side with top Vayne, Jimin kept queuing solo ranked, over and over.

If it didn't happen today, he could try again tomorrow—but if he didn't finish it, he didn't think he'd be able to sleep.

Once midnight passed, ranking inside the top 300 would make him Challenger. But if his LP dipped outside 300 in that exact moment, he couldn't claim it.

"Everyone, should we log in just a little later?"

It was 12:05 a.m.

But Jimin hesitated. Even though, by previous tier distribution standards, he'd already made enough LP for 285th place.

Challenger pushes didn't happen every day, and the attention from the tournament still hadn't faded, so he was drawing quite a few eyes.

"Logging in."

Having unintentionally tortured his viewers, Jimin logged back into Sol.

"…Oh."

The Grandmaster emblem he'd thought looked pretty cool. The moment he hit Challenger, it transformed into something sacred.

Jimin was certain he would never forget this moment for the rest of his life.