Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Rave Reviews
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Right in the middle of Jeon Jeonseol's Valentine's Day event.
Team Ascend's practice room.
Victory was deliberately avoiding Jeon Jeonseol's stream.
She was nothing more than a rival who was so damn good at the game that facing her was thrilling.
They couldn't get any closer than that.
Victory wanted to keep playing with Jeon Jeonseol, but she'd warned him never to fall for her.
Building some half-assed friendship would just be poison.
A rivalry competing for the top spot in the same game based purely on skill—that was the best way.
That was what both Victory and Jeon Jeonseol wanted, so he was focusing on practice without watching her cooking stream.
Even if she didn't look all that healthy, or pulled some wild stunt like drinking at dawn and venting about loneliness, he couldn't just rush in.
It felt a bit frustrating at times, sure.
"Ah! No one won!"
"With odds over 1000 to 1, what'd you expect?"
"Winning that chocolate roulette is harder than going pro."
But all his teammates were glued to Jeon Jeonseol's stream, turning the practice room into a nonstop chatter fest about it.
"Just hand 'em out to viewers, why do a draw?!"
Naturally, no one won the lottery, and one guy griped about the draw format.
If it'd been based on skill, we definitely would've gotten them!
Jeon Jeonseol didn't outright call herself a Teamfight Arena specialist streamer, but it was her most popular content and what she streamed most often.
So why not give prizes out through games instead?
"Should I drop a donote?"
Squid, Oh Jin-woo—the team's young blood after Victory—sent a donation before anyone could stop him.
Using his viewer sub-account without flaunting his pro status, so it should be fine, right?
Pros are people too!
"Dude, dropping 100k to thirst after her? Don't you know how toxic that is to streamers?"
"It is?"
"Do you never think?"
"But how do you know all this?"
"......"
Choi Joo-an, the team's eldest, couldn't answer his much younger teammate's question.
He couldn't exactly say he'd been an unemployed gamer watching streams all day before going pro.
"Anyway, not cool."
There were tons of viewers and only one streamer.
Joo-an had seen more than a few streamers get swayed by all the conflicting "advice" from fans thinking they knew best, and crash and burn.
He couldn't explain it in detail.
It's brutal to expect one person to handle that many opinions.
She had 30,000 viewers.
Even a restaurant owner struggles to please ten different tastes.
How nightmarish would it be to satisfy 30,000?
As someone who competed in front of hundreds of thousands every match, Joo-an empathized deeply with Jeon Jeonseol.
Pro teams just had to play well, but the nightmare of backlash when they didn't...
Before he knew it, he was hoping she'd keep streaming steadily for a long time.
With the gender ratio estimated at 299:1 in that extreme sausage fest of a Challenger lobby, one female streamer bringing a fresh floral scent wasn't bad at all, right?
Not that he was simping or anything. Yeah, sure.
"Fine, just 10k then."
But Oh Jin-woo misinterpreted the advice and sent 10k with a message instead.
Please give me a chance to prove my skills.
And Jeon Jeonseol was the type who couldn't resist serious game talk.
What game do you want?
Dagger duel.
Come to Dragon's Nest.
In the end, Oh Jin-woo's request came true.
But to avoid making other viewers feel left out from paying for entry, she'd take players first-come, first-served.
She's thoughtful.
Everyone loves money, and in an era where "money-grubber" memes aren't that negative anymore.
Honesty even builds likability.
But people still lose affection for those who seem only about cash.
Avoiding that pitfall like a ghost—she was deeper than she seemed.
Choi Joo-an's opinion of Jeon Jeonseol ticked up a notch.
The first challenger: a Diamond 3.
He showed off some fancy entry before even getting the password, but in the actual game, he didn't land a single hit on Jeon Jeonseol.
The team was impressed.
"Whoa."
"Jin-woo, you think you could do that?"
"Of course!"
"I'd need to be in top form."
Team Ascend.
The undisputed strongest Teamfight Arena team—not just in Korea, but the world.
Victory was the most popular, but championships weren't solo wins.
His teammates were right there with him.
And they weren't pushovers.
Where normal folks would gawk in awe and worship at Jeon Jeonseol's performance, they wondered:
Could I do that?
Instead of shock, respect, or fear, they felt competitive fire.
Wanna give it a shot.
Next up: pro gamer from X6, Cherryot.
Not from a top team, but solid individual skill reputation.
And even he got utterly wrecked by Jeon Jeonseol.
"Distance control fail again?"
"Guy's insane."
"Watch your mouth, habits like that stick."
It was the kind of match that demanded the highest praise.
The Diamond duel just made viewers laugh.
Jeon Jeonseol casually sidestepped Q at max range like it was nothing.
The Diamond dude probably didn't realize it was "seen and dodged," so he never closed the gap.
Zero hits till the end.
He must've thought:
No way you dodge that if you see it coming.
But Cherryot was different.
He knew attacks never landed at 100% range.
So he tried closing distance.
Aiming to push Jeon Jeonseol into psychological warfare beyond physical reaction limits.
But her bizarre movement and spacing let him land only two hits before defeat.
While she nailed him with 11.
"I can do that! I can do that! Lemme at her!"
"Woo-seung maybe, but you? Doubt it."
"I'll show you! Move! All of you, move! I'll prove it!"
Oh Jin-woo had been itching to prove himself since earlier.
But with so many viewers, snagging the password and joining the custom lobby wasn't easy.
Wait, what? That ID in the lobby?
[ ASC selen ]
"Joo-an hyung! How'd you get in?"
"Skill."
"Switch with me! Switch! I'll give you chocolate! I'll win for us!"
"You trying to start proxy drama?"
Choi Joo-an wasn't the flashiest physical talent among top pros.
Maybe 'cause he was born in '98—a bit old.
In a scene ruled by high schoolers and early 20s, mid-20s was ancient.
But he still wanted to run.
Keep proving himself.
Nonstop until retirement.
The match began.
Both sides: Dagger Acrobat.
No buffs or debuffs—a perfect golden balance game.
Think I can dodge at half range. Gotta get inside that.
If it'd been right after the Diamond flop, he might not have known.
But Cherryot the pro had dissected Jeon Jeonseol's play.
Her comfort zone: 50-70% of Q range.
Where others can't react, but she can.
Honestly, monstrous.
Confidence in 100% reaction at that short distance.
And she proved it.
The two hits from Cherryot? Forced shots as he closed in.
She dodged everything outside 50%.
Dodge.
Dodge no matter what.
Selen approached Jeon Jeonseol with ultimate focus, evading skills.
Dagger duels use tiny arenas to prevent kiting.
So even godly spacing eventually forces close range.
Then why only two hits for Cherryot?
He got turned into Swiss cheese before closing.
Choi Joo-an did it.
Ultimate focus: only one hit taken to reach under 50% range.
Inside, it was psychological warfare, not physical.
Choi Joo-an thought:
This much.
I can't lose to a newbie here.
No matter the genius or talent, not in psych war.
Experience gap unbeatable.
"Whoa."
Hits: 11 to 5.
Total defeat.
He succeeded in narrowing to "psych war zone" with just one hit via focus, but then got double-scored 10-5 after.
Lost physical and psych.
Or so Choi Joo-an thought.
"Half of those were seen and dodged."
Victory Jeon Woo-seung, who'd snuck behind his monitor, spoke up.
Even in what Joo-an called psych war territory, Jeon Jeonseol was still flexing physicals.
"That's possible?"
Beyond top pro.
Human territory questionable.
Reaction speed alone doesn't make a pro, and slow reactors can still excel.
But it was an undeniable overwhelming edge.
"Dodging 100% outside half range? Means even closer, she dodges some on reaction."
Ah, right.
That was it.
"Your rival's nuts."
And you too.
Choi Joo-an thought.
Only Victory could beat that madwoman, right?
Wanna see them clash.
He'd seen them in ranked before, but different champs, teammates, variables galore.
But this?
Pure 1v1, physical vs. physical?
1v1 skill wasn't the game's be-all-end-all.
Way smaller than casuals thought.
Still, you wanna know.
Who wins the pure fight.
And that thought wasn't just his.