Scrim (2)
"Yeah, yeah, Team Leader. I'm planning to take the girls out for a team dinner today. They've been working hard, you know. Photos? Hmm, since it's not training but more personal stuff, I'm not sure... I'll ask the girls first."
I hung up the call and turned to the players, who were already dressed for going out and sparkling with excitement.
"Girls, one of the staff wants to come and take some behind-the-scenes style photos of the dinner. You okay with that?"
"Ehh, even while we're eating? I'm fine if they make me look pretty, though."
"Me too."
"Hing, I'm not thrilled..."
"If you're not thrilled, what can we do? It's in the contract. Just ask them not to make you look ugly."
"I don't mind."
With 3 yes, 1 no, and 1 neutral, it was decided the photographer would join us.
Shining Star, still ambitious about grabbing both skill and popularity, had staff snapping pics of the players during training or in the practice room and steadily uploading them to the team's social media.
It was to the point where the number of photos of the girls posted online outnumbered the bot games and team matches we'd played so far.
With promotion from the parent company The Shine and the players' stunning looks, Shining Star had gained a surprising amount of popularity for an academy team without even a single official match record.
On the sad side, not a single one of those fans actually liked the team players as pro gamers. The commenters on Insta and such were all just drooling over their faces and figures.
This wasn't what I was aiming for. I wanted to build skills fast so Shining Star would be known as a pro gaming team, not just the "pretty girls' team."
We headed to a nearby pub as Yuna, who'd won rock-paper-scissors, wanted, clinking glasses over some chimaek.
Soon, the office staff arrived and started snapping away with what looked like an insanely expensive camera.
Seon-ah and Eunjae linked arms and eagerly shoved their faces toward the lens, striking all sorts of poses.
Yuna casually munched chicken while chugging beer, and shy Sera and Ha-young dodged the camera every time it turned their way.
After a long shoot, the staff sat with us briefly, grabbed a bit of chicken, then left saying they had to edit the photos. Soon, it was just the six of us again.
As the players chattered away, the topic inevitably shifted to me—the only guy in the practice room where they spent most of their day. For budding young girls, showing curiosity about him was probably natural.
"But Coach, how old are you, anyway?"
"Huh? Yeah, come to think of it, I don't know a thing about you, Coach."
"If you hadn't said your name, we'd still be clueless."
"Huh? Didn't I mention? I'm 21."
The players all made "whoa" faces at my answer.
"21? Wait, that means you're only a year older than me?"
20-year-old Yuna looked even more baffled.
"What, a one-year gap makes you wanna treat me like an equal?"
"Nah, it's not that. You talk like such a vet about pro gaming and all, so I figured you were late 20s. Turns out Coach is a kid at heart. Hehe."
...This one's sharp, huh?
My actual age before regression was already 28.
"Only three years older than us? Then can we just call you oppa casually?"
"No."
"Why not!"
"Coach is coach, player is player. If we start with bro-little bro or oppa-dongsaeng stuff, it'll be hard to give tough feedback."
"Whoa~ Old-school boomer."
"Pfft, Coach is 21 but a young king boomer!"
"You brats... Instead of obsessing over me, train to level up your skills!"
"This is training, though? You're solo queue rank 1, so paying attention to you is like paying attention to rank 1! It's basically training!"
I gave up arguing with Seon-ah's nonsense and just toasted again.
Sera, who'd been quietly sipping cider and listening, finally asked me,
"Coach, what's your main champ?"
"My main? Unlike you all, I can play a ton of champs."
"How many?"
"Over 90."
"Whoa, insane... Out of those, how many have you mastered with skill specialization? 10? 15?"
"You kidding? I've mastered about 65, and expert level on over 30."
"No way, liar!"
Yuna shot back immediately.
"Wow, Coach, I didn't peg you for this, but you can't flex like that in front of cute girls! 65 masters and 30 experts? That make any sense?"
Seon-ah nodded along, calling my claim bullshit.
Yeah, to them, hearing about 65 mastered champs with skill spec and over 30 experts probably sounded like fantasy. They were struggling just to get one champ to expert.
"Sounds like BS? After dinner, I'll show you firsthand if it's real or not."
"Of course it's real! Who'd think our Coach would lie? I've believed you from the start!"
Seon-ah waved it off and flipped her stance quick. This time, Ha-young jumped in.
"But Coach, you're solo queue 1st and have that many masters—why not go pro instead of coaching a women's academy team?"
"......"
Ha-young's question left me momentarily speechless.
No more goals as a player? They'd buy it if I hadn't regressed, but a 21-year-old with zero pro career saying that? I'd look insane.
As I pondered how to respond, Seon-ah poked her head in.
"Hehehe, I know why Coach is coaching."
"?"
"What's the reason?"
"It's 'cause of us!"
"Us?"
"Someone with Coach's skills would've gotten love calls from Division 1, right? But he turned 'em down to coach a women's academy team! With real power! And gathered just girls like us!"
"What're you talking about?"
Ha-young didn't get it.
"Look at our faces. Five stunners like this. Skills aside, aren't we goddess-tier at school? Picking just girls like that! That's when I figured it out!
Using his coach power to prey on innocent girls like us! His dark intentions! 'Wanna get better? Come to my room. I'll give you special personal training. Heh heh heh...' 'N-no! My first time should be with someone I love...!'"
"......"
"Gasp! Coach is that kind of guy? They warned us about agency bosses like that in entertainment, but I never suspected you! Pervert! Should've known when you spotted my talent so quick!"
"Hey, Seon-ah, Eunjae. Coach wouldn't..."
"Kim Seon-ah, Kim Eunjae. After dinner, 10 solo queues each."
"Nooo!"
"Coach! It was a joke! I did nothing wrong! Punish just Seon-ah!"
Their pleas for mercy cut off as my phone rang.
It was a call from Manager Kim. I stepped out of the pub to take it.
"Yes, Team Leader."
"Coach, how's the dinner going?"
"First one, so they're all pretty hyped up."
"By the way, have you done any scrims yet?"
"No teams want to scrim us still. Our skills are way better now, so showing off in team queue should get us some requests."
"That's why I'm calling. We got a scrim request through our front office."
"Huh? Another team requested us first? Who?"
"Team Brilliant."
Team Brilliant.
The strongest in the academy league, but stuck failing promotion to Division 3—half-praised, half-mocked as the "gatekeeper."
From analyzing their academy replays, their mid was especially strong, and the other lanes/supports moved way better than typical academy teams.
'Funny bunch. They ignored us hard when we asked, but now they're requesting first? Why?'
I had no clue why Brilliant was suddenly asking, but it wasn't bad for us. Scrimming the academy king would let us check our form and gauge our level.
"Got it. When's the scrim?"
"This Saturday, 2 PM, best of 3."
"Yeah, we'll do their requested time."
"Oh, and they had one extra request..."
###
"Chug! Chug chug chug!"
"Hey, booze is just for me—you're all underage, so cola and juice only."
Back in the pub, the five players were rowdy. A few ringleaders were especially loud, making the already noisy place echo.
"Girls, listen up."
I sat at the table, sighed, and spoke.
"Planning to give special physical training in the secret room, huh!"
"No. Shut up before I make it 15 solos. This is important."
Seon-ah finally zipped it.
"We got a scrim scheduled."
The players all went "ooh~" with sparkling eyes full of anticipation.
"A scrim? With another team? Whoa, for real! We're actual pros now."
"They said it'd be hard to find scrim partners for a while, but you got one in under two months? Who's the opponent?"
"Team Brilliant. This Saturday, 2 PM, 3 games."
"Brilliant? What's that team? Sis, you know?"
"How would I? We've just been practicing."
"I know. Academy league overlord and Division 3 gatekeeper."
Ha-young, who'd looked into academy teams, answered for her.
"Are they good?"
I nodded at Sera's question.
"Of course. Gatekeeper nickname isn't for nothing. No rivals in academy league. And they requested us first."
"Whoaaa! So we've aggro'd them enough to get noticed?"
"We haven't practiced outside bot games—how'd they know if we're good or not?"
"True?"
"Doesn't matter if they know our level or not. Something more important than the scrim itself."
"Big news incoming, big news... thud thud thud... Ow!"
Seon-ah stopped drumming the table only after Yuna smacked her.
"Those Brilliant guys requested it as a public scrim."