The Unwanted Coach
If you were a pro gamer… hmm. No, that’s not it. Right now, if you asked people which was the best e-sports team in South Korea, it was only natural for several different opinions to come up. But if you narrowed the scope a little, the story changed. The game currently enjoying the greatest popularity in the world, New Dimension, was an RPG that also supported its own AOS and PVP modes. Tournaments for those two modes were held on an enormous scale. So if you were to pick the absolute best and strongest team in each of those fields? Ten out of ten people would probably answer “Sirius” for both. They had proven it by winning the New Dimension PVP Worlds First Season and the New Dimension AOS Worlds First Season. For now, at least, Sirius was both the best and the strongest team. But that was a story that only worked with fans. For the pro gamers themselves, that was never the end of it. They had to keep showing that the results they had built weren’t just a fleeting moment of brilliance. It might seem cruel, but the weight of the word “pro” was that heavy. In exchange, you could obtain definite wealth and fame, but it was a Möbius strip where you had to constantly prove yourself. A single mistake could turn you into a has-been. A single loss could deny everything you had built. That was the world of professionals. Because the pro gamers belonging to Sirius also knew this fact, they had no complaints about the grueling training itself. However—
“Why exactly do we have to do this, Director?”
That didn’t mean they accepted everything. There were things they were dissatisfied with, couldn’t understand, and didn’t want to accept. Even if they were pros, as long as they were human, that was only natural.
“Why do we have to take lessons from a streamer? What is there for us to learn?”
When I woke up, there was a Miscode message from Gaeun. What the heck. So our connection that day hadn’t ended after all. No. It wasn’t even a connection worth calling that. We were just people who happened to get to know each other by chance? That kind of feeling. In other words, my answer was rejection.
Casually trying to message someone you have no real acquaintance with to ask a favor. So that “I’m an asocial person too” line from last time was a lie after all. Of course, thanks to my smart brain finding the flaw in that logic, I had known from the beginning that it was a lie.
“Hmm…”
But he didn’t seem like he was going to give up. What exactly was he trying to ask? Honestly, it would be a lie to say I wasn’t curious at all. The other person was someone called the pinnacle even in New Dimension. For someone like that to ask me for a favor meant there was clearly something important involved. What could that request possibly be…? He said it wasn’t a recruitment offer, so… Hmm. I don’t know.
In the end, I sent that kind of message. “…Why on earth?” After hearing the story, that question naturally arose.
When Lene played AOS mode, everyone had questioned her decisions. Jaehun, the director of the Sirius team, was no exception. However—
Faced with the results the team’s strategic analyst had brought, Jaehun had no choice but to acknowledge it. What Lene had shown back then wasn’t a simple coincidence, but clear skill.
“Well, in the end it was only possible because of the gap in skill… but at the very least, it’s definitely not a play that can be dismissed as coincidence.”
Why had Lene gone into the enemy jungle at that time? A fight had broken out between the mids, and early-game skills had long cooldowns. So if you killed the opponent before their skills came off cooldown, even if the enemy mid joined, it wouldn’t affect you much. Because of the matchup, the bot lane was being heavily pressured right up to the tower. In other words, even if a fight broke out, because of the long lane characteristic of the side, it would take time for the jungler to join. The allied bot lane couldn’t join at all, but since the goal was just to kill the enemy jungler and come out, it wasn’t a big problem. Therefore, Lene, who had absolute confidence she would win, had gone into the enemy jungle. Of course, if you really thought about it, it was a play that wouldn’t work in pro play. In pro play, where they predicted the enemy jungler’s pathing, saved skills, and applied appropriate lane pressure, unless everyone moved just for her, it was a play that would never work. But in any case, it had been proven that there was a basis for all of Lene’s plays. …If it had been Gaeun’s play, he probably could have understood the intention from the beginning.
“It means she’s not the type to charge in without thinking…”
Then, when the environment was created—when all allies moved just for her—would Lene still be able to make those kinds of plays? Jaehun was curious about that. The confidence that she could definitely win in a 1v1, the skill to back it up, and the judgment to instantly grasp the entire surrounding situation without communication. He was extremely curious whether all of that would work even against players who carried the name “pro.” Unable to contain that curiosity, Jaehun had eventually asked Gaeun for a favor.
“Thank you, Lene-nim.”
Fortunately, Lene had replied that she would accept Jaehun’s request. “Hoo…” After finishing the call, Jaehun let out a deep sigh. “I wonder if everyone will understand…” Of course, the fundamental reason was Jaehun’s curiosity. But as the director of the Sirius team, he hadn’t asked Lene for a favor out of curiosity alone. The second season of NAK, the Korean tournament for New Dimension’s AOS mode, was about to begin. That meant the pro gamers had to prove their skills once again. Especially for Sirius, who had won the world championship last year. In that situation, would the members be able to understand Jaehun’s decision? Professional gamers who were full of competitive spirit and pride? Even Jaehun, who was close with the Sirius team members, couldn’t easily guarantee it. But Jaehun steeled his heart, telling himself that this was all for the team.
“This time, I’ve invited Lene-nim, who is currently active as a streamer, as a short-term play coach. I’ve asked her to guide you all. I think there’s a lot you can learn from her, so please study hard.”
He gathered all the Sirius members and informed them of the fact.
★
Bang! The sound of someone slamming the table echoed. “Ha…” The man who had slammed the table—Owen, who played jungle for Sirius’s New Dimension AOS team—swallowed the curse that had risen to his throat and let out a sigh. “No, guys. Is this really right?” There was no answer to Owen’s words, but the atmosphere clearly spoke for itself. Absolutely not. “What on earth are the director and Gaeun hyung thinking…” He had thought inviting a streamer itself wasn’t a bad thing. Even as pro gamers, they often turned on their streams to communicate with fans. But for that streamer to come as a play coach? The four people sitting there thought it was impossible.
“Everyone knows she’s good. But that’s being good among streamers. In the end, she’s still an amateur, right? Why do we have to learn from her?”
The wall between pros and amateurs was much larger than people thought.
Since even a mid laner who had once reached solo rank #1 in New Dimension AOS mode, surpassing Gaeun, had said something like that on stream, for a mere streamer who wasn’t even solo rank #1 to come as a play coach? “Entering the enemy jungle as a Traveler and beating an Assassin back then? I could do that too if I played there. It’s not even solo queue, it’s normal games. What’s so great about just that kind of play?” It was something a pro gamer could never understand. “If she was good enough to teach us, she would have become a pro gamer herself. The fact that she didn’t means she knows it doesn’t work in pro play, doesn’t it?” The other three didn’t refute Owen’s words. First, because they agreed with him. Second, because Lene’s position was jungle, they knew Jaehun’s words could be taken differently by Owen, the team’s jungler. “Anyway, I absolutely can’t accept this. I can’t stop her from coming, but… if she tries to teach me something when she gets here, I’ll crush her with skill. Then the director and Gaeun hyung won’t have anything to say either. You guys shouldn’t go easy on her either.” “Yeah.” At Owen’s words, the other three also nodded sincerely.
★
“So how exactly do you do that…?”
“Isn’t doing this much already good?!”
“Shit, ha, hoo…”