Chapter 120: Hyper Action (3)
Chapter 120: Hyper Action (3)
Seo-yeon felt deeply wronged.
When she played alone, she was never matched with people this good. But playing in a five-stack made the game feel entirely different from her usual matches.
What was Top lane?
It was a place where only the logic of power prevailed, often called the "lane of men." That was why Seo-yeon liked Top.
‘That petty little brat, shooting poison needles.’
And that was why Seo-yeon hated Teemo.
A character that looked weak to anyone’s eyes, giggling creepily while blowing poison darts.
Being toyed with by such a creature’s poison darts made her blood boil. Of course, this wasn't Seo-yeon's first time facing a Teemo. However, this one was better than any Teemo she had ever faced.
He wasn't just "good." Her stuns simply wouldn't land.
‘If only this were before the patch.’
She could have taken him down. Her hands trembled.
‘Why are there no virtual reality games in this world?’
Usually, in TS stories, the protagonist would slaughter opponents in a VR game, get matched with a famous streamer, and slaughter them too!
With her physical abilities and reaction speed, she would have heard things like, "A parry right as the attack landed! Wow, amazing!"
But!
Phut!
Parry!
Argh!!
Phut!
Parry!!
Aaaargh!!
Poison darts cannot be parried. This trash game called League of Legends did not support parrying. If it were a VR game, she would be parrying the darts and hearing exclamations like, "How did she parry a needle?!" Instead, her head was just getting riddled with holes.
"Wa-wait just a bit. I'll head up after I take this."
"……No."
Baek Geun-soo spoke while glancing at Seo-yeon, but she shook her head. It was still fine. Seo-yeon took pride in her strong mental fortitude, and it was true. She rarely got angry over trivial matters.
When she met 'Summer Girl' before, she had been furious at how the other members treated Cha Na-hee, but this wasn't like that. She recalled what her mother always said to her father, who was quite serious about gaming.
‘Calm down, it’s just a game.’
Seo-yeon agreed with Sua’s sentiment. Games were meant to be fun, weren't they?
"I can win!" Seo-yeon declared confidently.
No, she couldn't allow anyone else to interfere in this sacred Top lane. If she did, it would feel like she was borrowing help because she was bad!
And so, 3 deaths, 4 deaths.
By the time she was spending more time looking at a gray screen than actually playing... it was still okay. It would have stayed okay, if not for that one comment from Teemo.
It was at that exact moment that the mouse in Seo-yeon’s hand exploded.
"A-are your hands okay?"
Baek Geun-soo shouted in shock. He jumped up, forgetting the game, and the other students did the same.
‘Is she hurt?’
‘She’s an actress. Is this going to be a huge problem?’
A mouse exploding out of nowhere! It was an unimaginable accident. Did the battery inside explode? It was supposed to be a standard Logitech mouse.
As Baek Geun-soo left his character standing and ran over, Seo-yeon raised her hand. Her hand was as smooth as white jade. For a mouse that had "exploded," there wasn't a single scratch on her.
"I'm fine."
Her voice was eerily calm. However, everyone in the room felt it—the deep rage contained within that quiet voice. It was a fury so intense they feared she might rip Teemo in half if she met him in real life!
"Here."
Ji-yeon, who had watched the scene with a sigh, pulled out a mouse and pressed it into Seo-yeon's hand.
"It's the one I use when I play... so don't break it, okay?"
Surprisingly, Ji-yeon had brought it along after hearing Seo-yeon was going to the E-sports Club today. She had a feeling something like this might happen. It was better to break a personal item than the club's equipment.
‘If it’s the one she uses for gaming...’
Seo-yeon gripped the mouse Ji-yeon gave her. It was relatively new. It was likely the mouse she bought for her streams.
In other words, the mouse Ramiel used!
The rage that had surged toward Teemo began to cool. Instead, her motivation soared. A KDA of 0/7/0 no longer mattered to Seo-yeon.
*
Baek Geun-soo thought to himself: League of Legends is a game you can't play with physical mechanics alone. There was a lot to memorize and a lot of strategy involved. You had to know exactly how to gain an advantage in a skirmish to achieve victory.
‘She’s actually... pretty good?’
When he first saw Seo-yeon play, that was his honest thought. Her CS was good for a Silver player, and her control was actually excellent. If her opponent hadn't been a character with point-and-click skills, her mechanics would have shone even brighter.
‘...As for her combat style, well...’
Naturally, Baek Geun-soo had been keeping an eye on Top lane to look after Seo-yeon. So he couldn't help but notice. It was a bit awkward to say, but Seo-yeon was the type to just dive in. She didn't use her head much.
What is it? Does she think she can hit him even if she can't see him?
Of course, that wasn't the case. Seo-yeon died like that. Seven deaths.
However, the game wasn't as difficult as expected. The teams were neck-and-neck. Teemo had scaled into a monster, but Baek Geun-soo had also grown enough to hold his own.
‘And Irelia’s CS is surprisingly decent.’
Did she farm while dying? Her tenacity was nothing short of incredible. Still, he didn't expect much from Seo-yeon. As he thought, League wasn't a game won by mechanics alone.
Or so he thought...
"Huh?"
A team fight broke out. In a sudden clash in front of Baron started by Baek Geun-soo’s initiation, Irelia came flying in.
Sometimes, there are characters that just work, even if played a bit recklessly. Irelia was one of them. She was the kind of character who could make things happen as long as she had a Blade of the Ruined King!
Diving in with a shout of "The Mid laner used their ult!", Irelia flew across the battlefield. No, was that even possible? Her reaction speed was truly beyond words. She barely got hit by any skillshots.
Since Teemo was busy trying to peel Baek Geun-soo off, there was no one to keep Irelia in check. It helped that most of the enemy's skills were skillshots, but still...
Triple Kill!
Though she died at the same time, it was an incredible achievement that shouldn't have been possible with such a reckless playstyle.
‘The grand victory of the Head-butting Dinosaur...’
Baek Geun-soo felt like his eyes had been opened. So, things could actually work out if your mechanics were just that good...
Even though the MMR was likely at least Diamond level because of Baek Geun-soo and the other E-sports Club members...
Anyway.
[VICTORY]
As the word appeared on the monitor, Seo-yeon stood up and raised both hands. In those hands, she held Ji-yeon’s mouse and the wretched remains of the broken one. Like trophies of war.
*
"I'll pay you back for the keyboard and mouse next time."
In any case, Seo-yeon successfully finished her visit to the E-sports Club. However, she had to compensate for the shattered mouse and the keyboard that looked like a honeycomb.
‘I’ll be going often, so I should replace them with expensive ones.’
Good equipment leads to good gaming. That was Seo-yeon’s philosophy. She even submitted a formal application to join the E-sports Club.
"Are you really doing this?"
"Yeah."
Ji-yeon was a bit taken aback. She hadn't expected Seo-yeon to fill out the application right then and there. The bewildered faces of Baek Geun-soo and the other club members were still vivid in her mind.
Honestly, she was worried. With such a busy schedule, did she really have the energy to play games?
‘Well, I guess she might.’
Ju Seo-yeon’s stamina was abnormal. Honestly, Ji-yeon had never seen Seo-yeon look exhausted in her life. It felt like she lived her life using twice as much time as everyone else. She was envious, but also found it impressive. Even with the stamina, most people wouldn't live so diligently.
‘I guess pros really are different.’
Just like actors, professionals were definitely different from ordinary people. She had seen high-level play many times on streams, but experiencing it in person felt different. Since she had learned a few things, it was a very, very satisfying experience.
‘I might actually be able to use this when I’m a VTuber.’
It had become something she muttered like an excuse whenever she wanted to do something, but this time she was serious. Especially since she needed to improve her skills if she wanted to play with Ji-yeon.
"By the way, Rami... I mean, Lee Ji-yeon. What was your rank again?"
She remembered Ji-yeon had started League about two months ago. When she appeared on a stream before, she was probably around Platinum...
"Diamond."
"……."
For the record, Seo-yeon’s rank was Silver. The sheer distance between them made her head spin. And Ji-yeon hadn't even played that many games!
"Oh, Ju Seo-yeon."
"Yeah?"
"I got the script."
The script. Seo-yeon knew what it was. It must be the script for the Gyeongseong Lady audition.
‘They give it out in advance instead of at the audition site?’
She thought it was a rather kind audition. Usually, you'd do a cold reading on the spot.
"……I, uh, want to practice later."
Ah, is she asking for help? Just as Seo-yeon was about to nod...
"Could you call Jo Seo-hee for me?"
"……."
Seo-yeon’s pupils shook at Ji-yeon’s words. It felt like the two had become much closer than she expected while she was busy running around.
*
Hyper Action Star.
Though it was only a cable variety show, the anticipation for it had surpassed that of most major network programs. This was because the ten-minute teaser was incredibly impressive.
There had been many audition programs across various genres. But the only ones people remembered were idol auditions. The reality was that most people didn't even know other auditions existed. Most failed. Depending on the scale, it was common to face massive deficits.
"There are about five main characters we'll focus on in this Hyper Action Star."
PD Lee Gi-tae said this while looking at the production team. There were specific actors the investors especially wanted to see on screen.
"Ju Seo-yeon."
She was the first one mentioned. It went without saying. The reason the teaser became such a hot topic was thanks to Seo-yeon, who literally "jumped" off a three-story building.
No matter how many air mats were below, it took nerves of steel to jump like that. However, she had also faced significant criticism afterward. People reacted that the production team was negligent because even with air mats, 100% safety couldn't be guaranteed. With no excuse to offer, the crew had to promise to pay more attention to safety in the future.
‘Who would have thought someone would just throw themselves off like that?’
‘Right? In what world would anyone jump without even being tied to a wire?’
There wasn't even time to stop her. How could they catch an actress who took one look down and just went for it? Still, if it could generate this much buzz, it was better to take a bit of heat.
"Besides her, Jo Seo-hee... and Han So-yu."
As he spoke, he muttered while looking at a photo.
"Min Do-ha is a bit of a shame."
"She did well, but it was too... normal."
"Still, people like her usually have a high chance of winning."
Honestly, it would be great if someone like Jo Seo-hee won, but unfortunately, Jo Seo-hee didn't have much experience with action acting. In Ju Seo-yeon’s case, she had at least received praise for her action in The Chaser. And she had been highly commended by Professor Kim Hong-baek.
"But this is different from real stunt actors."
Grit and tenacity. Stunt actors possessed that kind of obsession. This lead role meant everything to them. Whether these ordinary actresses could beat them was still unknown. An actor who only does action is different from an actor who also does action.
However, this Hyper Action Star prioritized "action" above all else. That was the variable.
"So, the next step was to give them missions by group and film scenes, right? What exactly was the scene Group A picked?"
When PD Lee Gi-tae asked, the staff checked the upcoming schedule. Group A was the group Seo-yeon belonged to. It was also currently the most watched group. For the record, the scenes were randomly drawn by each group. That scene had already been filmed. The scene Group A had drawn back then was...
"A gunfight. With a bit of a chase scene mixed in."
A gunfight taking place in the city. They would construct and perform that scene. That was the mission for this round of Hyper Action Star.