Starting Lineup Competition (4)
“Hello, everyone.”
The day after his debut match, Jimin finished another packed training schedule and went live. For him, this stretch of time had started to feel more like rest than work.
“·····”
He couldn’t hide the anticipation. This was truly his first stream as Park Jimin of P1, after making his first-team debut.
“Thank you for the 10,000-won donation. And thank you for watching the match.”
It really was a different feeling now — standing in front of viewers as both a streamer and a pro gamer at the same time. Something subtle and new, nothing like before.
“My teammates played so well that I didn’t get nervous, and the game just opened up for me,” Jimin said, looking fondly at the chat.
He had felt it in scrims, and again watching set one right before his own match: as long as he did his job, they would win. There had been no weight of possible defeat at all.
“Uh····· thank you, Park Donghyun. Aigoo.”
Jimin swallowed his fluster and answered. The man who regularly fought for first or second place in total platform viewership whenever he went live — and who had faced Jimin on the opposite side in the last tournament — had just donated.
“·····”
A quiet laugh escaped him. Other streamers dropping by, the chat lighting up over it — all of it still made him happy. He was performing as a pro now, but he found himself realizing all over again how precious those pure streaming days had been. And thankfully, it seemed he hadn’t done anything as a streamer that would make people hate him.
“Alright, first game of the day.”
A queue popped at the perfect moment. Even in front of his viewers, Jimin had another chance to show overwhelming top-lane force.
“Hoo·····”
Alone in the streaming room, the broadcast screen dark. He had gone a little past the allotted time. Only fifteen extra minutes, but he had crossed the line. Pro life was fun — and it came with more than a few restrictions.
Ding!
“······Huh?”
Jimin opened a messenger he hadn’t used much lately.
“·····”
He immediately started typing.
Park Solmi, who had once been his teammate, had messaged him on Discord.
Solmi had always been a bit of a joker, but Jimin had been comfortable with her the whole tournament.
He smiled. His mood lifted.
I didn’t mind at all, though.
Maybe because they had been teammates who got along to the end, things felt harder to approach now that the situation had changed. He thought he should reach out himself sometime.
Same as always — a slightly eccentric nuna. She had to be around thirty by now, right?
When the team had first formed, Render, Chongmyeong, and Park Solmi had already been fairly close; to some degree, he and Yapang had been the ones who got slotted in. Even so, Jimin had found it incredibly fun and comfortable.
I miss them.
Being a pro came first now, but part of him still wanted to queue up as five again, like before.
I don’t think Nuna’s the type to get nervous, though.
Jimin blinked in confusion, then found himself laughing.
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
Startled, he turned to find the team’s mid laner, Kim Junyeong, standing beside him.
“Second match — nerves settled a bit?”
“Ah····· yes.”
Jimin scratched his head. Half right, half wrong. He figured he could play more comfortably than last time — but knowing Dahye would be watching with her stream on made him want to play even better.
“How about trying a perm sometime?”
“I’ve never done it·····”
“I think it’d suit you.”
“·····”
Jimin, done early, was watching Kang Jun. The makeup staff was suggesting a change of hairstyle.
Figures.
Just like he’d heard — for a pro gamer, how you looked mattered more than a little.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The SCK broadcast music kicked in. Fans roared as if they’d planned it together.
“We are P1!”
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Including the coach and staff, all seven of P1’s players stood in a line and greeted the crowd.
“·····”
Grateful and a little embarrassed, the cheers caught his eye.
I want to win.
Today’s opponent was VVK Flex. Of course, Jimin trusted the years of practice behind him — and his teammates.
“Are they swapping?”
Casual clothes that somehow still looked put-together. The camera only made her already pale skin stand out more as the woman on stream spoke.
“Hmm.”
Yu Dahye had her stream on and was watching P1’s match — P1 versus VVK Flex. In set one, P1 had closed it out inside thirty minutes with overwhelming form.
Set 1 POG is Oz!
Yes — his Wukong play was truly almost the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
And as Head Coach Jang Yaohwan foreshadowed for P1—
“Hmm·····”
Everyone’s expected range.
Top laner is Jimin, and on AD Carry we have Rapid.
The broadcast cameras cut to cheering P1 fans.
“Thank you for the 1,000 won. And please don’t snipe.”
Dahye huffed a small laugh.
“Hmm·····”
Ban-pick phase. Dahye watched with close attention as the champions appeared one by one. P1 was on red side, heading into a counterpick structure.
P1 takes Nidalee in the jungle — and their final pick?
Yohone.
“Something about it·····”
P1 locked in a Renekton–Nidalee–Yohone–Varus–Neeko composition.
P1’s composition is a high-difficulty ban-pick.
“Not really, though?”
It looked strong, no question — but it didn’t give the feeling of a rock-solid P1 draft.
Set 2 ban-pick is locked. Will P1 close it out, or will VVK even the series? Set 2 begins!
If you were a P1 fan, this was the kind of game you wanted to see explode early. Against VVK’s Udyr–Skarner–Orianna–Jinx–Nautilus — tanks, engage, CC, and late-game carries — P1’s laners started pressing hard from the opening minutes.
Durandal’s skillshots have been—
Uh, he’s eating way too many of those?
“Oh?”
Bot lane, Neeko’s abilities kept landing. Varus held aggressive angles and piled pressure on the enemy champions.
Yohone! Yohone!
Aaaaaagh!
“Whoa!”
Orianna and Skarner committed hard to killing Yohone, but the last of his shield carried him out alive by a thread.
Skarner only burned flash there.
He can just TP back, sure.
Even with priority and jungle help, Orianna couldn’t pin Yohone down.
Renekton’s Conqueror is up.
Uh— uh—!
Top lane. Udyr’s health was evaporating in seconds. Renekton flashed in.
“Oh, this—!”
Predicting what came next wasn’t hard. Empowered Renekton’s ruthless Predator stun after the flash. His body swelled with the ultimate, and the skills rolled out.
Wooooooah!
Solo kill!
This is an emergency!
Aaaaaagh!
And on the next cut of the screen, Orianna — flung into the air by Yohone’s Fate Seal — took Nidalee’s spear and went straight to the other side.