The One They Want (5)

The casters broke down the draft.

"How do you see both teams' bans and picks?"

"Let's look at the compositions."

"Gen.G has put together a composition that holds early top-side priority without falling off in late-game teamfights. P1's draft, on the other hand, can shine if they survive the early game—Luca's Akali can take over the side lanes, and they've picked Vi and Neco, champions that create chaos in teamfights."

"P1's bot lane is going to carry a heavy burden in the laning phase. And looking at Jimin now… he took Electrocute?"

"Hahaha. Until Aatrox's Q, the Darkin Blade, levels up a few times, Renekton is a nightmare matchup. Factor in the enemy jungle being Nidalee and that becomes a pretty bold choice."

"But Jimin has shown outrageous physical talent so far. I'm curious what kind of play he'll put on against Gunt."

Maehwa Life Esports had claimed the SCK Spring throne, but these were still the two teams that had met in the finals qualification match. Even after P1 took the first set with ease, tension hung thick over the arena.

"Yeah, Renekton is definitely strong in the early stages."

Gunt, considered one of the league's best top laners for years, was handling the early lane against Aatrox cleanly.

"Yeah, but Electrocute—"

"Hahaha, that hurts."

The moment level-three Aatrox landed his skills cleanly, the damage was something else. Even the casters sounded surprised.

"Oh, he dodged that."

Zeri slipped Rakan's flashy entrance with a clean move. She tried to re-engage on Varus, only to get rooted by Neco.

"Once the spells are burned that early, it gets really uncomfortable."

In the low-level laning phase, every summoner spell mattered. P1's bot duo shoved the wave without mercy.

"P1's bot lane synergy is ridiculous ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠again today."

"I said earlier that bot had to step up, and they're acting like it's the most natural thing in the world."

"Even if Nidalee takes the grubs, having dragon control priority is never a bad thing."

Top and mid were losing lane by pure matchup. But P1 had found their path through the bottom lane and were playing their game.

"So now top has to answer. Nidalee is heading there."

After taking the grubs, Nidalee pathing top.

"From Gen.G's side, though, the angle isn't that—"

"Aatrox's health condition is too good. Looks hard to kill in one go."

Renekton's empowered Ruthless Predator stun. They kept chasing and swinging, but Aatrox simply stretched his body out of range and backed off. He had known Nidalee took the grubs from the start and never overextended.

"Yeah, just peel back like that."

"Nidalee isn't even that far ahead of Vi in growth. The only real lead they can lean on is Orianna's CS advantage mid, and P1 would have fully expected that."

Gen.G's top-side priority wasn't converting into anything bigger.

"That Dance of Death hit."

Varus caught by Zeri's skill. He had no choice but to flash.

"Vi still isn't showing, so he can't just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stand there."

Varus took the loss and backed off.

"Looking mid."

Vi was hunting Orianna from the fog of war.

"Uwaaaaaaah!"

Vi flashed and slammed onto Orianna like lightning. Orianna fired Shockwave, but Akali's shuriken landed first.

"That's a kill."

"P1!"

"Oz's lightning gank. And Luca's Akali, who had been holding up better than the matchup suggested. That combo landed perfectly."

The Orianna who had been pressing Akali went down.

"Now Aatrox can start tasting some real trades, right?"

Past the extreme early game, with his Q leveled, Aatrox started looking for the first real trade into Renekton.

"Nidalee is sprinting over immediately."

Nidalee vaulted the wall for the gank. Renekton's flash plus the empowered W stun. Nidalee's spear flew at the same time.

"He flashes, but—!"

"Please just die!"

"They got him."

Once both Renekton and Nidalee burned flash, Aatrox had nowhere left to go either.

"If they hadn't gotten that, Gen.G would be in emergency mode."

"But because Nidalee showed top, bot is getting torched even harder."

P1's bot duo was unilaterally dismantling the bottom tower.

"Gen.G wants to pick a fight somehow, but they just don't have a clean angle."

"P1 only took one grub and casually gave up the other five. Bottom lane still looks completely unwinnable for them."

The game was sliding into an uncomfortable shape for Gen.G.

"Wait, wait a second!"

The observer cut to top. Renekton, hit by Aatrox's World Ender chains and then carved apart by the greatsword, filled the screen.

"That trade was way too clean!"

"They got one kill earlier, but Aatrox never really lost lane. Now the timing he wanted has arrived."

With teleport down, Renekton had no choice but to eat the HP loss and the wave disadvantage.

"P1 bot is rotating up."

"They have zero intention of giving up the Herald fight."

After shoving the bot wave, P1's bot duo started moving.

"Bloom!"

Neco's surprise engage opened the fight. Zeri's ultimate, Curtain Call, lit up right after.

"Oh, they got cleaned."

"P1!"

P1 traded their support for three kills and won the teamfight. Aatrox, Akali, and Zeri each took a kill and the snowball was rolling.

"Hold on, hold on!"

The game continued to favor P1 until Aatrox and Renekton met on a side lane. Aatrox simply flaunted his superior items and beat Renekton into the dirt.

"He flashes to try and live, but—!"

P1 already had the next play ready.

"Renekton goes down!"

Vi had pathing priority. Low-HP Renekton was nothing but prey.

"Electrocute Aatrox's damage is just not reasonable."

"Even Gunt must have been shocked taking those hits."

"This kid is actually insane."

The replay rolled, then cut to the player's personal camera.

"Hahahahaha."

"Can a rookie top laner really stay this composed against Gunt?"

"He solved the laning phase so well that this is the result. We've seen plenty of times when Renekton and Nidalee decide to just delete top, but he never once gave them a real angle."

Jimin was showing top-lane superiority like it was the most natural thing in the world. Even when he died, his ability to twist trade angles kept the losses from becoming catastrophic.

"And for a while now we've been seeing Akali just continuously shoving Orianna off the side."

"Akali is leading in CS."

Both wings of the map had collapsed out of balance. The bot laners now standing mid were no different.

"Vision on—"

Vi holding Baron vision.

"Waaaaaaaaah!"

Rakan dashed in like a bolt of lightning. Gen.G's champions, waiting in the dark, collapsed on Vi.

"He's dead!"

"That's right in front of Baron!"

"Renekton tps immediately!"

With the 5v5 teamfight still looking even on paper, Gen.G Esports had sniped the enemy Vi. The position was perfect, so they started Baron right away.

Aatrox teleported in right behind Renekton. Akali raced down from top just as fast.

"Gen.G has to be careful—Orianna already used Shockwave!"

The ultimate that had been spent to kill Vi. P1's champions carefully surrounded the Baron pit.

"Aatrox! Aatrox!"

Aatrox was the first to step into their faces. Skills poured in from every direction—Rakan's flashy entrance, Varus's ultimate Chains of Corruption, Nidalee's spear. World Ender Aatrox dodged every single one.

"Whoa, he dodged all of that!"

The arena stirred. Of course the perfect focus wasn't there because Baron was still the priority, but the decisive point was that he had baited out Varus's ultimate.

"They got Baron!"

With their jungler still alive, Gen.G somehow secured the objective.

"Bloom!"

In that instant Neco closed the distance and used her ultimate, opening the fight. Gen.G immediately focused Akali. She slipped into her shroud.

"Uwaaaaaaah!"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

A roar exploded from the P1 section of the crowd. In a single beat Aatrox combined Q with flash, launching both Orianna and Varus into the air. The third Q and an auto later, Varus simply vanished.

"Varus is dead!"

"Orianna too!"

Orianna, caught in Aatrox's greatsword, was already past saving. Zeri charged in from range, and Akali added her weight. Champions dropped one after another.

"Ace!"

"Is Jimin actually insane?!"

"P1! P1! P1!"

The atmosphere felt like a playoff series.

"That's fourth dragon."

Even after giving up Baron, they had wiped the enemy team. P1 took the fourth dragon without issue.

Jimin's personal camera kept popping up this game. Compared to the rest of the team he barely spoke—then suddenly ended the fight with a flash combo.

"Catching the timing right before World Ender ended was huge."

"And Gen.G! Right before they killed Vi in front of the Baron pit, they used Rakan's ultimate to burn Zeri's flash. That was a great play that ended up being painfully ironic."

If they had still had Rakan's ultimate, they could have melted one more champion in a 5v4 and started the fight with a real edge. For Gen.G, that was a bone-deep regret.

"Two-level lead top."

"Look at Aatrox's items. Hahaha."

Not only level, but a full core item ahead. The top-lane gap was brutal.

"Uwaaaaaaah!"

"Jimin!"

Aatrox and Renekton met on a side lane. A few swings of the greatsword and Renekton's body came apart in pieces. Alone, Aatrox demolished the tier-two top tower.

"They need to look for a teamfight, but if Aatrox just swings that sword a few times the fight is already over."

Sure enough, P1 locked Baron vision and started baiting them in.

"He's coming!"

"Boom! Boom!"

Aatrox teleported into the fight. The result was obvious.

What started as a Baron try flipped into a full teamfight for P1. Even a well-fed Akali barely had anything left to do—it was pure Aatrox stage. The last remaining Rakan, trying to run from Aatrox, died to the fourth shot of Zeri's ultimate.

"I can barely remember the last time Aatrox had a game this absurd."

"World Ender, indeed!"

It looked like he was demonstrating the name of his ultimate in real time. The moment P1 took Baron, the game was already over.

"Nexus is exploding!"

"GG!"

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

P1's players and the crowd celebrated the clean win. The camera immediately locked onto Jimin alone.

"Man, it's complete chaos out there."

"Can you blame them?"

P1's head coach Yaohwan laughed. Hochang always smiled easily, but today he couldn't seem to stop.

"Alex even messaged me—said he was having way too much fun watching SCK and asked what the hell was going on with our top laner."

"Isn't he just happy because his team is first place right now?"

"That too, but still."

Alex, head coach of the North American SCS team AK47 and an old friend of Hochang's, had been impressed enough to post the clip on social media.

"I almost wish Worlds was right now."

"Hahahaha."

Even the usually cold-eyed Yaohwan could joke like that—that's how overwhelming P1's momentum felt after dismantling Gen.G today.

"So for the next match—"

But Yaohwan's eyes snapped straight back into coach mode.

"We've seen everything we needed to see. We're going with Jimin."

"…"

Hochang nodded. They had faced every team once and were cycling back around. Next up was VVK. Of course, the real opponent everyone was watching was the one after that—Maehwa Life.

"They'll definitely be preparing with Jimin in mind, but the recent patch favors him too. And after what he just did to Gunt, it's enough."

The competition whose ending had already been decided finally reached its close. Dragging it out any longer would only waste time.

Knock knock.

"Huh?"

Someone knocked on the door of the coaches' office.

"Hello."

It was Shim Changmin, one of the pillars of the team's top lane.

"…"

He looked like he had something to say.

"Ah…"

"That's how it went."

At the P1 building, the coaching staff made the announcement. For the time being Changmin would not be playing in scrims. He would also be taking a few days of vacation.

"…"

Of course a few of the P1 players understood exactly what that meant.

"Jimin."

"Yes, hyung."

During a break, Hochang called him over.

"The policy was the policy from the start, but Changmin accepted it too. He said he wants to keep practicing with the academy players so he can maintain his form."

"…"

It was half a formality, but P1 ran a combined first-team and academy entry. A first-team player showing up in Challengers matches wasn't strange at all. Going the other direction got a little more complicated contract-wise, of course.

What do I do.

Hochang hesitated for a moment over whether he should tell Jimin the rest of the story. The conversation he and Yaohwan had shared with Changmin the day before.

"…"

Hochang couldn't fully relate. He had recognized that he no longer cut it on the pro stage and retired quickly. Admitting defeat in a competition while there was still a "what if" left on the table was something he had never had to do. Of course, Jimin's specialness—whether in scrims or on stage—was something any top laner would feel in their bones. Maybe Changmin loved P1 so much, and wanted the fans' cheers so badly, that watching the spotlight that never came to him finally let him make the decision.

"Yeah, anyway. That's how it went."

"Yes."

Hochang didn't tell him the rest. He didn't think it would help Jimin. The kid only needed to look forward.

And…

"You're starting streams again today, right?"

"Yes. Haha, so I'm looking forward to it."

"You really put your all into streaming, huh."

Hochang let out a short laugh. The passion in someone so young was something else.

"Ah, and—"

"Yes?"

"Um…"

Hochang tried to assemble a sentence in his head. The result was vague.

"Uh, you're going to have to stay a little more tense from now on."

"Yes. Because I'll be playing a lot more matches."

"Not just that. Well, that too, but—anyway."

"…"

Hochang had never been great with words.

You only know if you've lived it.

He had overheard it earlier. The marketing team pulling overtime was full of talk about Jimin. The Aatrox play he had shown in a high-attention match. Looking at the community reaction, things were still overheating. Hochang had never been a star during his own career. But he could still tell. The stars he had competed with in the same era—Jimin could reach them, and there were a lot of people in this scene who wanted to make that happen. Sports always starved for a superstar.

He gave Jimin a light clap on the shoulder.

"Starting with today's stream, it's going to be chaos."

"Ah… hahaha."

Hochang kept the conversation light, the way he always did. And just like always, Jimin smiled.