The New Star (5)
“Not eating that taunt right there was huge.”
P1’s Park Jimin was reviewing the previous match on stream.
It had been a thoroughly one-sided win against CK Savings Bank Orion. On Jayce in Game 1 and Akeli in Game 2, he had completely outclassed the opposing top laner.
“Thank you for the 10,000-won donation, 10-Year Top Laner. Yeah, things have been going really well so far.”
His Challengers team had taken the championship. After the call-up, the main roster was sitting in first place through the Summer split. His own performance was drawing high praise. Day after day felt like a dream.
“Game 2 is, uh… heh.”
After reviewing the overwhelming Game 1, he moved on to the second set.
“Honestly, this one felt like it ended at the invade.”
An invade where the enemy jungler got caught and the mid laner burned Flash. Already the weaker side, CK Savings Bank had opened in an even worse position—there was no way they could weather P1’s aggression.
“Man, though, Akeli’s damage is actually insane.”
The final sequence where he cleaned up the enemy carries and strolled out of the fight. Even though he had been the one piloting the champion, Jimin still found himself stunned by how strong a well-fed Akeli could become.
“……”
Jimin read the chat at a leisurely pace. It felt a little like coasting, but he couldn’t deny how comfortable review streams were. And looking at the viewer count, the audience clearly preferred chatting about tournament games over solo queue.
“Games have been going well lately, so it’s been really fun.”
He spoke as he watched Game 2 of that day wind down on the VOD. If he thought about it, SOL had always been a means to an end—something to enjoy with friends, a way to get closer to Dahye, a way to make money. But now he was truly having fun. Every moment spent wearing the P1 jersey and walking into Jongno was electric.
“Thank you for the 10,000-won donation. Really, thank you for watching the matches.”
It wasn’t just his old fans anymore—P1 fans had poured in as well. Fans who kept coming back to say how happy they were lately. For their sake alone, Jimin couldn’t afford to stop.
Among P1 fans there was a running joke that Jimin’s tank play was basically Meganaru—he simply never enjoyed tank champions. But Sion was highly rated in the current patch, and the matchup into Jayce was solid, so he locked it without hesitation.
“……”
C-Plus Dia—the team that had crushed P1’s Worlds hopes last year. Jimin had finally earned the right to face those players on the first-team stage. His own roster had changed dramatically; theirs had stayed the same. The feeling that their mid laner and ADC were truly excellent hadn’t changed either.
Of course.
Right now, we are stronger.
With Maehwa Life’s earlier loss, the upper-bracket race had plunged into the fog. P1 wanted to lock down first place; C-Plus Dia wanted to seize second. Neither side could afford to yield.
Mid-lane. Sylas pressed hard and forced Viktor’s precious Flash on his own.
P1 was already carving out a favorable early picture.
Sion was already showing mountain-like tanking against Jayce from the earliest minutes—the kind of performance that explained why a tank could still be a viable second-pick into Jayce.
A fight brewing over the void grubs.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
A beautiful teamfight that proved their recent momentum.
After the fight, Ezreal’s ultimate came off cooldown. He fired toward the brush—and the fleeing enemy Ren walked straight into it and died.
Sion, who had already been winning the early lane, picked up a kill in the fight as well. Jayce, stacking deaths, looked impossible to play.
Sylas’s chain landed on Viktor, and the full skill combo followed.
On the side lane, Sylas soloed Viktor. From the earliest minutes, Sylas had been utterly dominating his opposite number.
Wukong flashed an ultimate that launched Zen into the air; Zen barely escaped with his life. C-Plus Dia remained under constant pressure.
Sylas used the Maokai ultimate he had stolen, and C-Plus’s champions fled behind their second-tier side tower.
Sion barreled straight through the enemy formation—counter-engage tools and towers and all—unleashing an unstoppable ultimate charge. There were no traffic cops in the Rift.
Twenty-six minutes. P1 was already hitting the enemy Nexus.
Against the same C-Plus that had handed them a Round 1 loss, P1 took Game 1.
“Hoo……”
As if to say it wasn’t over yet, Jimin simply nodded and stood from his seat.
“Ah, I was so bad early.”
“Still, after the void grubs it was good.”
Kang Jun grumbled. Their opponent was Himmel, one of the best ADCs in the league. He had gotten swept up in the collapsing mid-game, but early on he had definitely shown sharp teeth.
“……”
Thank goodness.
Sion had been showing up more and more even in Challenger solo queue lately. The coaches had researched him heavily—mid Sion had even appeared in scrims. Jimin had practiced the champion with real diligence.
Sion had not been banned. P1 snagged Jayce immediately.
Ban-pick entered its final stretch.
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
The moment the champion portrait appeared, the arena erupted.
Jimin nodded. Across the stage, C-Plus’s top laner Sai bit his lip. As a top laner who obsessed over the top-side matchup almost as much as winning the game itself, he couldn’t hide his discomfort.
Sai — Sion vs Aetrox — Jimin
Bree — Xin Zhao vs Karthus — Oz
Karas — Ahri vs Jayce — Luca
Himmel — Jinx vs Ashe — Rapid
Juno — Nautilus vs Braum — Durandal
Aetrox—the champion that had briefly made Jimin the center of attention even before his Maehwa series breakout. He was back.
Bot lane. Ashe and Braum kept making good plays and building a lead.
Jinx’s CS was in emergency mode. P1 kept rolling the snowball.
Aetrox played carefully into Sion. Among tanks, Sion was the type that could suddenly find a kill angle, so he never just walked in mindlessly.
Ashe’s ultimate streaked toward mid. Ahri’s ultimate and Flash were both down after a failed attempt to kill Jayce moments earlier.
Because the hit landed near her own mid tower, she avoided eating Jayce’s full combo. Ahri fled on a sliver of HP.
But Karthus’s first ultimate rang out right there. The song rose above Ahri’s head.
P1’s composition of a 1-AP Karthus carry. That plan was unfolding far too smoothly.
Aetrox, with his Q skill levels already sky-high, was pressing Sion hard. Bot lane was freely abusing the enemy tower. C-Plus had priority on not a single lane.
Dragons kept falling. The moment anyone stepped past the river, deaths appeared on the side lanes. P1’s game simply continued. And Karthus’s growth had already left the realm of reason.
“Waaaaaaaaaah!”
The P1 crowd roared. Karthus, hitting level 16 absurdly early, tore through the enemy’s eardrums with his ultimate. The opposing carries had lost the will to fight.
But the equally overfed Aetrox appeared beside him and swept his greatsword through the fight, while Jayce’s poke was no joke either.
Ashe’s nonstop damage finally dropped Sion.
No matter how hard you tried to stay restrained, no matter how hard you tried to root for the other side—you couldn’t stop the praise.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
The fans welcomed their proud players.
“Ah, nice.”
“Huh?”
“What.”
Jimin clenched his fist and celebrated at the most random possible moment. The teammates around him burst out laughing.
“Ah, that game was fun.”
He had been playing an RPG on Karthus and suddenly the game was over. Jungler Minhyeok’s face was glowing.
“……”
Jimin let out a small snort of laughter. The fact that the very person who had suffered at that team’s hands last year had simply enjoyed the game this time—it just made him smile. Had he been the only one taking it so seriously?
“Ah, why is my hair like this.”
“Worried about your style? Ah, right, the fan meeting’s important.”
“That’s not it.”
Kang Jun denied Sangjin’s words.
“……”
Of course.
To Jimin, the fan meeting was important.