I Must Become the Victorious Loser
When the phone broke, I truly felt like giving up and heading home.
But if I turned back now, I’d have lost my branches and cane, arriving at home a loser with nothing gained.
Ah, yeah, I really am a loser. I’m missing an eye and a leg.
Still, there’s a good saying that’s been around for ages.
If I have to be a loser, I might as well be a victorious loser.
So at the very least, I should make it through the purpose that got me out today.
The old man, who wasn’t even hurt himself, had grumbled at me for no reason, then couldn’t stand that I’d been injured because of him and fled down to the next stop.
At least no one said a word when I sat back down. That was the only small mercy.
In the end, I still had to head to Kancho’s Studio in my bare feet, but leaning against the windowsill after the struggle made me feel a little less gloomy.
If only I could find a cane, but that was out of the question.
The place was busier than my neighborhood, I guess.
When I stepped off the bus, people walking by looked at me with more than a little disgust.
It was a relief that they didn’t seem to care about me.
Ah, more accurately, they were slinking away.
Yeah. Anyone with scraped knuckles and a ruined knee in that state wouldn’t want to get close to me anyway.
If I’d been limping with a crutch or cane, maybe someone would have felt sorry for me. But right now I looked like a total lunatic myself.
If I’d wandered around America at night like this, I probably would’ve been mistaken for a ghost and shot.
Thanks to that, even after a few steps, when my legs gave out I sat on some cardboard box for a breather, and no one said a word to me.
Shabby clothes, messy hair, and blood dried on my knuckles and knees.
Even if I put it nicely, I looked like a mess. A self-deprecating laugh escaped me.
I might be late to Kancho’s Studio just by resting wherever I found, but at this point, a little more delay didn’t matter.
After all, I was heading out to fight.
I had to keep my condition good since I’d start gaming the second I arrived at the studio.
My knuckles and knees were raw enough to bleed already, so my condition was pretty shot, but that level of pain wouldn’t stop me from playing.
I’d just have to take it easy.
Even so, my body wasn’t recovering fast enough to cover the distance I’d have to move in one go.
My body was far from healthy, after all.
It didn’t matter if I wasn’t sick; I hadn’t exercised in a while, so my endurance was bound to be terrible.
Thanks to that, when I finally reached Kancho’s Studio I was left panting.
I’d caught my breath on the elevator ride up, but that alone wouldn’t restore my full stamina.
Still, if the elevator noise had reached inside, it would have been even worse if I hadn’t gone in.
I managed to speak just enough to catch my breath and knocked.
“Yes, the door is open. Please come in.”
A calm man’s voice came through.
I didn’t know if it was Kancho’s or Celesty’s, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t need to remember which was which anyway.
After all, I was only meeting them today, and I probably wouldn’t see them again.
“…Sorry I’m late. I slipped and fell. I’m the person using the Noel ID. You’ll probably all read me as Noel.”
With that, I pushed the door open and stepped inside. The people inside all wore expressions of utter shock.
The passersby on the street had been strangers with different purposes anyway, so I could have just looked away and kept going.
But these people were tangled up with me right now, so I couldn’t even run away. That was humor, I guess.
Two people on camera.
And two more at the desk on the opposite side, doing something on the computer.
All four of them were frozen.
I figured maybe they hadn’t planned to stream here after all, and there were extras besides the streamer.
“Ah, welcome.”
While the woman in the rabbit mask stayed stiff, the handsome man broke the silence with a belated greeting.
Even so, whether the mood was good or bad, my explanation for my gameplay was the only thing that mattered.
Probably because they knew I’d already decided to introduce me to the viewers, the man handed me a mask and started talking.
Honestly, it didn’t matter who was Kancho and who was Celesty.
I’d only come here to explain myself.
Since I wasn’t keen on having my face appear on the internet, I quietly accepted the fox mask, put it on, and sat in the empty chair between them.
One monitor was set up for me to play, and the other was separated for chatting with viewers.
As soon as I sat down, I saw that the viewers were already throwing at me the kind of in-game harassment I’d expected.
They had probably split the monitors to keep me focused on the game.
Or maybe they always broadcasted that way.
Either way, the foul language through external programs was familiar enough, but it still stung.
I wanted to wrap up the explanation and go home to rest, but the rabbit-masked woman kept pestering me.
Her scraped knuckles, missing leg.
I wondered how she could be so broad-minded when she wasn’t even offering bandages or a cane.
The neighbor woman never acted like that.
Realistically, I’d only talk about what I could actually do right now.
“Well then, Noel-nim, please log in with your own account and start playing. As you can see, the computer only has the basic programs, the broadcast program, and League of Champions installed. I’ve already checked.”
I was glad the man was handling the explanation.
He showed me the pile of keyboards and mice.
Maybe they’d received some computer peripheral ads.
“No, these are better than the ones I have at home. I don’t want to hear any of that ‘this mouse is…’ or ‘that keyboard is…’ talk.”
I decided to use the installed equipment since I wasn’t in the mood for the usual complaints.
I wasn’t about to bring a good keyboard and mouse just for one game.
On the other hand, the man confirmed that besides League of Champions and the broadcast program there were no other programs, and I casually answered while logging into the game.
Even though it was messy with people around and the room was too bright compared to my home, the familiar client felt stabilizing.
…Sounded like a gamer addict, huh.
But if it was addiction, what was I supposed to do?
After all, when the money ran out I’d be dead.
My usual mindset kicked in, and the viewers arguing on the side monitor stopped mattering.
Whether they were shouting in-game or here, it had no effect on me.
So I calmly matched for a ranked game.
Position was top, secondary was mid.
There were plenty who wanted to be the main character in the game, and those people often chose mid-lane as the primary attacker and a ranged dealer.
It wouldn’t be too hard to lane.
“Now, whether Noel-nim is a hacker or not, we’ll have to watch for now. Please refrain from excessive swearing. This is also an in-game issue, but we’re doing it for you. Don’t break any monitors and come to court.”
“Ehehe, since Kancho-nim has finished his part, I guess it’s okay that I’m here. Aren’t I supposed to go home?”
“Even just bringing Noel-nim here is enough to be grateful. Noel-nim is satisfied with the explanation, and I’m satisfied with the views from the studio. Win-win, right?”
Maybe there really were a lot of people calling me a hacker.
The man stepping in to calm the viewers was funny.
Still, since they were honestly stating their interests, it wasn’t that annoying.
A nagging mother-in-law was worse than a choking sister-in-law.
In this case, I’d just load the mother-in-law onto a cart and send her away.
Ah, but the man was a man, so I couldn’t call him sister-in-law.
Still, thanks to the two of them chatting, I’d figured out which was Kancho and which was Celesty.
But whatever, they’d probably call me “there” and “there” anyway. It didn’t matter.
“Ah, wait. Noel-nim, are you really queuing for ranked right now? No need to keep your hands busy, right?”
“My hands will loosen up after I farm CS.”
“Yeah, but even if it’s not an FPS, you should at least match your mouse sensitivity, shouldn’t you?”
“If I get used to it, it’s fine.”
So the alternating coaching from Kancho and Celesty was something I could easily ignore.
It was better than hiding intentions like parents and showing kindness.
Even between parent and child, if things got bad they’d show their true colors.
It was honest to say outright that we had a trading relationship and state what each side gained.
Just like trolls in ranked games.
If there were people yelling and fighting in the waiting room before the game, I’d just dodge instead.
But once the game started and bombs dropped, there was no chance to avoid them.
The fact that I ignored Kancho and Celesty’s concerns and waited paid off, and the match made shortly after.
It was probably because it was right after noon.
A college student who took a lunch break to log in, or someone who woke up late and started gaming around now.
I buried myself in a soft, oversized chair bigger than the one at home and planned combinations in my head while looking at our team’s hope champions.
Mid: Yone.
Jungle: Karvanus.
Just seeing those two made me conclude that I had to pick a magic-damage-based champion.
The damage formula in League of Champions divided into three types.
Physical damage, magic damage, and true damage.
True damage had no way to reduce it, so I set that aside for now.
Seeing Yone and Karvanus, the champions would be physical-damage based.
Of course, some of Yone’s attacks went into magic damage, but that was only part of it.
Ranged dealers would also use physical dealers based on critical items.
If I also picked a physical-damage based champion, the enemy team’s tank only needing physical armor items would make the game easy for them.
We’d have to combine our attacks, but a tank wrapped in physical armor items would endure even more solidly.
If the dealers also got physical armor items, the composition efficiency would drop, so it was better to spread the damage types.
But then another twisted thought hit me.
Why were they forcing me to pick?
If you’re going to make the board your own anyway, why shouldn’t I make my own?
I’d pick a warrior with true-damage based damage that wasn’t hindered by physical armor.
In the past I might have adjusted the composition.
But now that my body was like this, I preferred champions that made up for what I lacked.
Warriors who could seize control based on their powerful physical abilities.
So, Fiora. I brought up the portrait of the swordswoman wielding a rapier.
- Two-headed Wolf: Ah, top-nim… no AP champ?
- Two-headed Wolf: Akali or Rumble would be great
- Two-headed Wolf: Or maybe the AP Malphite that’s popular lately
As expected, my teammates tried to coach me.
I had no intention of listening.
The enemy top laner had picked Jax, too.
The moment it was my turn, I picked Fiora like a knife and hit ready.
Even though I knew Jax was sometimes picked in jungle recently.
If they banned Poppy and picked Jax, it had to be top.
Jax was picky about champions like Malphite and Aatrox, and Hiemodinger, but picking Jax so boldly showed they had enough skill to counter it.
So pride flared up.
As the top laner, I don’t dodge the fight I’ve walked into.
“Fiora, um, I think it’s a good pick. My teammates will hate it, but if we call in two more from the side it’ll be fine. Perdie will go into true damage too. Plus it’s a physical champion, so it’s a good pick for Noel-nim’s explanation.”
“Oh. Noel-nim, did you think that far before picking? I was counting experience points earlier, so if you really aren’t a hacker, haven’t you been playing brainless all this time?”
I’d only picked Fiora out of pure defiance toward the team and respect for Jax.
But Kancho and Celesty’s reactions were weird.
They’d let me be insulted until now, then suddenly assigned meaning to my actions.
Surrounded by two inexplicable broadcasters, I watched the teammates’ chats cheering enthusiastically.
Chalvanus and Yone’s combo was more than enough, let’s do well, so they were patting each other on the back.
That mood shattered the moment the game started and loading ended.
- Challenger Rank Climb: Ah, met that hacker again
- Stage Diver: Oh, the hacker bus is sweet
- Challenger Rank Climb: What bus? Just a bastard who only throws bombs
- Challenger Rank Climb: Since he can’t throw in real life, he’s just a mo-sol who throws bombs in game
Yeah. It was League of Champions as usual.