Who Is Jimin? (3)
[Far East Prince! They're eyeing that Ryze right here·····]
SCK Challengers: P1 Academy versus Far East Prince Challengers.
Far East Prince's top laner Renekton and jungler Lillia were locking onto the enemy top Ryze.
[Still, their CC can shut down Ryze's emergency escape.]
[Right, Renekton goes first.]
They hesitated against the well-fed Ryze, then finally dove in.
But Ryze, built with a item tree that satisfied both damage and tankiness, refused to go down easily.
[No, no, no!]
[Ryze has zero intention of dying.]
[Whoa, Jimin·····]
From laning phase all the way into the late game, Ryze had kept widening the growth gap.
His presence was impossible to shake off.
[Uh-uh-uh, Lillia right here!]
[And Ryze flashes—aaah, Renekton!]
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
The crowd erupted, clapping and roaring at the super play.
From the side lane, P1 Academy's top laner Jimin's Ryze cleaned up both the enemy top and jungle.
[Jimin is showing exactly why he picked Ryze.]
[I mentioned after the recent patch that Ryze could absolutely be viable top, and Jimin just pulled it out immediately.]
[What even is this guy's champion pool? He plays like this the first game he ever brings Ryze out?]
[Last match he looked solid on K'Sante, and now in Game 2 he's on Ryze····· hahaha.]
In the previous C-Plus Dia Challengers series, Jimin had done decently enough on the tank K'Sante in Game 2, but he hadn't looked destructive. Today in Game 1 he'd been serviceable on the tank again, yet nothing explosive.
Game 2, though, he was the undisputed protagonist.
[P1 is just overwhelming.]
P1 Academy, Baron buff secured, marched forward.
Where Game 1 had been a relative scrap, Game 2 was a perfect P1 clinic.
[Nexus exploding.]
[GG!]
[P1 Academy is insane!]
[Nine-game Spring winning streak. They haven't dropped a single series in Spring Round 1.]
"Hoo·····"
I survived.
Park Jimin managed an awkward little smile.
K'Sante was a champion he'd practiced for a relatively long time, but Ryze? Not even a full week.
The coach had recommended it as a potentially great pick if he could make it work, so Jimin had practiced like his life depended on it. Thank god it clicked today.
All those days of grinding over twenty Ryze games apiece had finally paid off.
Having three Challenger accounts made it ridiculously easy to keep practicing the champion in solo queue right after scrims.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
P1 Academy players clapped back at the fans who were applauding them.
"Couldn't you play more aggressively on K'Sante?"
"Huh?"
In the van heading back to the dorms, Kang Jun spoke up to Jimin.
"Teamfights are one thing, but you were way too tame in lane."
"Coach told me to dial back the aggression a bit."
"Still, sometimes you gotta go with the feel."
"·····"
Jimin didn't particularly agree with Kang Jun.
Right now he was still trying to layer the coach's and the team's colors over his old habits.
A little more aggressive.
Of course, playing freer once in a while might not be a bad idea either.
Watching Dahye's reaction made Jimin smile.
Living with a bunch of young guys all day long naturally produced funny episodes.
The joint ceremony his teammates had done the other day—acting like they were worshipping him the day he got solo POG—seemed to have especially cracked Dahye up.
"·····"
New connections. Jimin was still getting along well with everyone so far.
Of course he still checked in on his old friends too.
Now that they were high school seniors who had to take the CSAT, some of them said they were going to study harder or attend more hagwons, but from what Jonghyun told him, none of them seemed to be working all that hard.
I miss them.
There were a lot of people he missed. His friends were among them.
Reunion would take time, but for now Jimin just wanted to show them the cool version of himself as a P1 main roster player.
Heh.
What was so funny about that?
Jimin still didn't fully understand Dahye's laugh points, but he liked that she laughed so well for him.
"·····"
Jimin felt a strange mix of emotions.
Was there actually a better situation than this? His mom and Dahye were still getting along so well, and Dahye was still paying so much attention to him.
But ever since he had more clearly recognized his own feelings, a small fear had also taken root.
The woman named Yu Dahye had become far too big a presence in his life.
By now·····
He couldn't imagine a world without Dahye.
And knowing he wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than a special relationship, putting that greed on hold was starting to feel hard for Jimin.
A little more. He just needed a little more time.
For now he would simply do what he could inside the physical time he couldn't control.
[Whoa that hit hard though?]
(Jimin): Huh? Think I can get him?
(Shake): Huh?
P1 Academy's jungler Shake had been heading for a gank.
But the enemy top laner's Urgot suddenly had a huge chunk of his HP shaved off.
[Waaaaaaaaah solo kill!]
[Jimin again!]
[What even is this, even when he plays a tank the enemy can't handle this much damage.]
Sion, one of the current patch's tier-1 top champions.
Jimin was starting to properly show the form he had polished in practice.
[He's coming! Sion is coming aaaah! Jinx just exploded!]
[Teamfight over, that's it.]
[P1 Academy!]
P1's jungler Vine locked onto the enemy Jinx cleanly, then Jimin's Sion ult blasted through and turned it into a confirmed kill. Of course there was no police station in the Rift where you could report getting hit by a car.
[Ez! Ez! Ez! Ez!]
[Rapid isn't breathing!]
[I said early on that P1's comp was low on damage, but if he plays Ezreal like this·····]
Dominant from laning phase onward.
And with resources funneled to him by the team's caretaking, Rapid's Ezreal truly reigned as a god above gods in this Rift.
[GG!]
[Toward a ten-game match winning streak! P1 takes the first map of their tenth consecutive series.]
Across nine series they had dropped only a single map. That was the destructive power of P1 Academy.
[If Aatrox is open.]
[Oh they snatch him immediately.]
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
The moment Aatrox's portrait appeared on P1's side, the crowd packed into Hongdae exploded in cheers.
[Whoa another solo kill!]
[Jimin!]
[This is insane!]
(Open): Damn that was filthy.
(Rapid): Ah shit that Lulu auto.
(Sala): Close close. Still, top's cooking for us.
(Shake): Jimin I'll be top right away.
(Jimin): Okay.
[This isn't working! Aaaaah he died again!]
[Jason is completely gapped.]
[They're just letting Aatrox free?]
The Aatrox–Sejuani combo.
Even after using teleport, Maehwa Life Esports Challengers' top laner Volcano still died, his face twisting in frustration.
[Boom! Boom!]
[Building Aatrox like that makes the damage terrifying.]
[That's a build only Jimin can really pull off. Hehehe.]
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
The series wasn't even over yet, but Aatrox's greatsword was already shredding teamfights.
The fans were already certain of victory.
[GG!]
[P1 Academy! Extends the streak to ten straight wins.]
[This is way too one-sided, isn't it?]
"·····"
"Feeling good?"
"Huh?"
"You're grinning."
"·····A little?"
Tanks were fine. If the team wanted him to play them, he could.
And there was something uniquely satisfying about smacking enemy champions around as a tank too.
But even after becoming a pro, Jimin still preferred the champions he actually enjoyed playing.