Risk Commensurate with Return
When you consider the risk that comes with the return, the GOAT of any field always obsesses only over strong teams and strong teammates. They have no desire to become just another cog in an already complete machine. Instead, they present a vision to teammates whose potential has yet to fully bloom, take the lead in shaping the game, and ultimately rise above everyone else as the final victor. They never resort to underhanded tactics like deliberately weakening the opposing team. They focus solely on what they pursue and what they need to achieve it. For someone like me—who could no longer be satisfied with a mere handful of league titles—following in their footsteps felt only natural.
After the first set between ZX and V4 ended, I found myself lost in thought before the next set began.
"What are you thinking so hard about? Did you spot a player you want among the ones who just came out?"
My sister seemed intrigued by how unusually serious I looked.
"Yes. I think I found one."
Following my gaze, she saw Starlight—Han Seongkwang—with a thoroughly sour expression on his face.
"Starlight...? If you're picking him because of what I said earlier, I can find you a better support than him..."
"Or is there some other reason it has to be Starlight?"
The fact that she was rarely this quick to push back against my opinion made it clear that Starlight had always been difficult, in both his past life and this one. Still, if I had to give a reason why I needed to pick him, it was because his career had been far too short compared to the potential he possessed. Unlike me—someone driven by a fierce competitive streak and a self-centered nature who had learned to endure—he had always worn his emotions on his sleeve, only to be forced into retirement. It wasn't until after he left that people began reexamining his plays, his decision-making, and his strategies. Flaws and all, he was a player with more than enough raw talent.
That was why I wanted to take the unique style of play and strategy he had never fully developed during his short career and bring it to full bloom with my own hands. But if Han Seongkwang still carried that same reckless personality from his previous life, then my sister's concern and her attempts to recommend other players made perfect sense. Even so, I had no intention of being pushed around by some support with an oversized ego.
"I know what you're worried about. But I'm confident I can draw out Starlight's potential without letting him run wild."
"A wild dog might keep snapping at you, but after getting hit a few times, it eventually learns it's just a beast, right?"
My sister nodded slightly, though her voice wavered as she replied.
"Y-yeah... I guess that makes sense... Sera, did your memories come back...? Or were you always like this and I just didn't know...?"
Hmm. Maybe the analogy was a bit too rough. Given that she was practically my number-one fan club member, the words must have come as quite a shock.
"Don't act so surprised. It's only because I haven't had to deal with anyone else and have only been talking to you. Nothing's really changed from when I was still the Saintess."
"Ah...? So you didn't actually become gentler. You were just relatively docile because of your surroundings? Should I be happy about this..."
She looked slightly bewildered, perhaps because my words implied that the living space and care she had provided had, to some extent, worked on me.
"Just... think of it positively. A person's true nature doesn't change that easily, after all."
"...Got it."
I heard her mutter to herself, "Maybe I should've brought her from an earlier point in the past..." but I decided to pretend I hadn't.
* * *
When I turned my attention back to the match, ZX had made a massive starting roster change for the second set—likely because they had thrown the first one away so meaninglessly. Shadow, who had been playing top, moved to support. Hades, who had been mid, shifted to top. And Assassin, who had been waiting on the bench, came out in mid... ZX took the stage for the second set with a typical SS-tier roster stacked to the brim.
"Now I understand why ZX dominated so completely in their first season."
In my past life's MCK, there had been the Four Great Mids of MCK: Hades of GOD, Lapez of V4, Shadow of ZX, and Oracle of AVL. The mid lane in MCK had almost always been dominated by these four rotating among themselves. But here, two of them were monopolized by a single team, and ZX even had Assassin—who would later shine in an overseas league—on their roster. It was no wonder the other teams' overall level had dropped.
"Even looking at it again, they're really ruthless."
What's more, after monopolizing the roster from the very first season and enjoying all the fandom absorption and early advantages that came with it, they sold off all but four players at high prices the following season. While other teams that tried to clumsily copy their strategy collapsed, ZX maintained a stable mid-to-upper ranking. Whether in or out of the game, there was no denying they ran their operations with remarkable precision.
As I watched the match while lost in thought, ZX easily crushed the second set. With only the third set remaining, something unusual seemed to be happening inside ZX's booth.
"...Don't tell me today's the day."
"I wasn't sure if the same thing would happen again, but looking at the situation now, it probably is."
If the commotion inside was the incident I remembered, then this was the biggest event of the league's first season—and the moment that would explain why Starlight was forced into such a swift retirement.
"I only ever read about it in articles... I never thought I'd get to see it live. Sera, I'm asking you one more time—are you really sure you won't regret recruiting Starlight?"
The reason my sister was pressing me so hard was simple. Starlight—Han Seongkwang—had just flung open the door to ZX's booth with considerable force, stepped out alone, bowed to the audience, and walked straight out of the stadium.
"Wow... He really doesn't hold back."
"...I'm starting to wonder if we even need to recruit him."
At a glance, it was easy to call him a washed-up has-been—and to be fair, there was some truth to that. But Han Seongkwang's actions weren't without reason. The fact that he had played the first set in disastrous form and was immediately replaced showed that he had long since become a discarded card within ZX. Yet in that situation, the coach had excluded him even from scrims, only to suddenly put him back in for the third set? After the first set with Starlight had been a complete letdown and the second set without him had been a dominant win, this move was no different from deliberately trying to humiliate him. Considering that one of the coaches at the time had ties to the underworld, this was an indirect form of match-fixing using Han Seongkwang.
But Han Seongkwang had noticed the suspicious signs. The moment he was told he would start the third set, he walked out of the booth. Of course, from his perspective, it was also a way to avoid being used as a tool for match-fixing and to prevent other players from getting caught up in it. To the public eye, however, he was nothing more than a pro who had stormed out mid-match just because he wasn't being put in the starting lineup—someone who had completely lost his professional mindset.
Well... as always, the truth would only come to light after the public had socially buried Han Seongkwang and after he himself had grown disillusioned with the game and left long ago.
"Sera. Think about it one more time. We don't have to take on that walking liability."
"I get that you feel some sympathy as a fellow pro gamer, but I don't want you getting dragged into criticism just because you're involved with someone completely unrelated..."
Hmm... My sister seemed to be misunderstanding something. I wasn't trying to recruit Han Seongkwang out of pity.
"I've never thought he was pitiful. If we handle this situation well, we can generate maximum buzz while also clearing his name at the same time."
Whether positive or negative, attention was attention. So why not keep feeding them interesting news and truths while flipping the direction of that attention in our favor? If we could reverse the perspective of the majority of those paying attention, then even the negative attention that seemed like a minus would ultimately become part of the buildup. And that attention wouldn't remain mere attention—it would become the foundation that doubled our influence when I eventually rose to greater heights and made a name for myself in front of everyone.
The plan was set. Now all that remained was convincing my sister, who would be a great help in turning that attention positive.
"You agree too, right?"
I smiled as gently as possible and leaned in a little closer, speaking in a coy tone.
"Uh... huh? Yeah."
My sister froze for a moment, her pupils shaking as if her system had crashed, before nodding vigorously.