The Jungle Is Hard?
Bolt upright on the bed, Youngho looked around the room.
“Ah—”
Familiar surroundings.
Waking up in the master bedroom, Youngho rubbed his face with both hands and let out a groan.
The things he’d done the night before came flooding back, one after another.
It wasn’t as if he’d drunk himself stupid, so there was no chance he wouldn’t remember.
Had he gotten swept up by the mood because of a long-lost best friend he’d reunited with after so long?
He remembered getting embarrassingly hyped, blurting out everything he’d been holding in to his wife, then coming home, washing up, and going straight to bed.
“Hm...?”
But what had his wife said?
There was no way she’d let something like that go, and yet for some reason it felt like she hadn’t said all that much.
Scratching his head, he wandered into the living room and spotted the meal laid out on the dining table.
And on top of it, a small note.
[I made dried pollack soup, so heat it up before you eat.]
Staring blankly at the note, Youngho followed its instructions and turned on the gas stove in the kitchen.
After a quick wash, he brought the pot, now bubbling away, to the table and set it down.
He put a spoonful of rice in his mouth and chewed, then blew on the wife’s dried pollack soup and sipped it hot.
The raw ache in his stomach from drinking after so long finally began to ease once the steaming broth went down.
He was eating in a daze when his phone rang.
Checking the number on the screen, he saw it was his wife.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Honey.”
I figured you’d be up soon, so I called.
“Mm-hm. I just woke up and I’m eating now.”
Right. Even when you pass out drunk, your wake-up time is always exact.
“Was it? But you’re not in the middle of work, are you?”
Correct. I can’t talk long. So let’s keep it brief.
At her flat, dry voice, Youngho flinched and swallowed hard.
He’d just dumped all that out so abruptly and one-sidedly the night before; there was no way she’d have a good reaction to it.
Could this really be the kind of story that ended quickly?
Yesterday I woke the kids up because they were trying to sleep and had them tell me what was going on. Why all the chaos in the middle of the night? You could’ve talked in the daylight.
“Ah... well, I—”
From what I heard, it was a story only I didn’t know about. That did make me feel a bit betrayed, you know.
“S-sorry. It wasn’t like I was trying to hide it from just you... no, I mean, I did hide it, but...”
He was about to start explaining himself on reflex, but his wife cut him off and got straight to the point.
Forget it. Don’t keep sneaking looks at my face and worrying about it. Just do what you want to do.
“...Huh?”
You think I don’t know you? You’d have run the numbers over and over, worried yourself sick, and only started it because you figured it might actually work.
“Yeah... that’s true.”
Streamer... no, wait, was it streamer? I don’t really know much about that field, but it’s going well, isn’t it? The kids were all fiercely defending you.
“Yeah... it’s going so well I almost wonder if this is even allowed.”
Youngho, who had been sitting up straight with his back rigid, finally relaxed a little as he answered.
He’d been worried he was about to get torn apart, but the mood was better than he’d expected.
If it’s something you want to do and it’s actually working, what more is there for me to say? Though Jae-min’s academy fees did make me feel a little dizzy.
“Th-that part... is a little rough, right? Haha...”
You really can handle it, right?
“Of course! I’m telling you, it’s really going well. At that level, it’s—”
As long as you’re fine, that’s enough. Next time, talk to me before you take on something that costs that much. I know you’re not the type to waste money, but still. I’ve got to get back to work, so do your best.
“Oh, right. You too, honey, and take care—”
The call disconnected.
He stared at the phone screen, mouth still open, then let out a hollow laugh and set it down.
It had all rushed over him like a storm in the span of a few short minutes, leaving him dazed.
Still, one thing was clear.
Compared with all the trouble he’d worried over when it came to how to persuade her, it seemed to have been resolved almost anticlimactically.
No, not really anticlimactically.
She might have spoken lightly, but his wife had clearly spent the whole night turning it over in her head.
Instead of picking through every detail, voicing her anxiety, and fighting with her husband, she’d simply chosen to trust him and watch how things played out.
Imagining what must have been going through her mind, Youngho felt his chest tighten with gratitude and guilt alike.
I’ve always worked hard, but now I really have to give it everything if I want to succeed as a broadcaster.
It had been a simple meal—just dried pollack soup and not much else—but even so.
The conflicting feelings of worry and hope his wife must have packed into that little breakfast didn’t feel light in the least.
Silent as ever, Youngho moved his spoon and renewed his vow not to fail.
* * *
As always, the opposing team surrendered quickly, ending the game in no time.
Back in the waiting room, Youngho casually checked his account information.
He was level 21.
He’d also been buying champions that looked fun whenever he had enough points, and the number of champions he owned outside of the rotation had reached 14.
“At this rate, I should be able to meet the requirements for ranked games by the day after tomorrow.”
Watching the chattering viewers, Youngho picked the next round’s viewer-participation players.
People were still rushing in to join, but compared with before, the numbers were noticeably lower.
Usually, when viewers watch their favorite game on stream and a participation match opens up, they think it’s more fun to play along than just watch, so a lot of them jump in.
But on Youngho’s stream, the trend was oddly moving the other way—more and more people seemed to think watching was more fun than participating.
After all, most of his viewers were in Silver or Gold, the most common tiers.
The skill gap between them and the streamer was so enormous that it was only natural they’d feel burdened by being compared to him and then getting flamed by the other viewers.
Youngho still hadn’t entered ranked yet, but just by watching him play, everyone—not just most viewers, but all of them—believed his skill was above Master, the standard for the uppermost echelon.
“Hm. Even if you tell me to stop being good... I’m just playing normally. I mean, it’s not like I can deliberately, what do you call it, int on purpose? I can’t do something like that.”
Looking at the noisy chat window, Youngho scanned the champion list on the shop page.
Crushing enemies was nice, but the game was ending in the same pattern every time now, so it seemed like it was time to shake things up.
“So, I’ve been playing top and ADC the whole time and smashing the lane. This time, I’ll try a different position.”
Saying that, he locked the category to jungle.
“From what I’ve studied, I heard jungle is the hardest position in Legend of War.”
“Hm, mother bird? I do know a thing or two about a parent’s heart. I’m not a mother, but let me try being a father bird.”
As he said that, browsing to find a champion he liked, one suddenly caught his eye.
Most of the other champions either looked stern or wore fierce expressions.
But this one stood out with a bright, beaming smile, a face that looked downright cheerful in contrast to the rest.
“I think this’ll be fun. It even looks nice and kind.”
He bought the champion at once.
Then, after switching his preferred role to keep the party waiting, he queued up immediately.
For some reason the viewers’ reactions were ominous, but the match was found before long, so he focused on the game.
Soon the champion-select screen appeared, and he picked the champ he’d just bought.
[Possessed Clown Doll: Sashark]
“I’ll show you a truly amazing magic show!”
The game began.
After buying the jungler-only item, Youngho let his memory wander for a moment.
Snippets of jungle guide videos flashed through his head, including one titled If You Memorize This Route, You Too Can Be a Master Jungler!
The most important thing at the start was... which jungle camp you started at, right? I think they said you first planned your path and then chose your starting point.
Trying to think of everything at once made his head feel cluttered.
The locations where jungle monsters spawned were always fixed, and these spots were called camps.
Junglers had to build routes that could clear those camps as efficiently as possible, which was the most basic task of the role.
On top of that, they had to account for the enemy jungler’s route and prepare multiple plans depending on the situation.
It really did seem like an incredibly difficult position.
Wasn’t reading the enemy jungler’s path important too?
Remembering one of the guide’s tips, Youngho sharpened his senses and scanned the map.
First he filtered out movements heading toward the lanes.
Not long after, he caught a single hint of movement in one of the camps in the enemy’s lower-side jungle.
“Hm.”
After a moment of thought, stroking his chin, Sashark moved with the exaggerated, springy footwork unique to the champion.
Come to think of it, being a jungler didn’t mean you absolutely had to start by farming jungle monsters.
One of the guide videos had plainly said that even if your own growth slowed a little, it still counted as success if you could set the enemy back more.
And when it came to one-on-one fights, Youngho was certain he wouldn’t lose to anyone.
“Wouldn’t it just be fine to fight the enemy jungler and win?”
Counter-jungling—shortened to “counter jungle,” or “invading” for short—means stealing monsters from the enemy jungle.
Sashark, with its stealth skill, was a champion well-suited to invading early and stealing jungle monsters the enemy was trying to take.
If the strategy succeeded, the enemy jungler would still be level 1 while he’d already hit level 2, allowing him to immediately force a favorable skirmish.
And since the enemy would already have burned health fighting the jungle monster, the situation would almost inevitably tilt in his favor.
For that reason, viewers were cautioning that the enemy bot duo might be nearby, lighting up vision and watching whether Sashark was approaching, or that they might have already placed a ward and rotated down.
Of course, Youngho had already determined through his detection network that things were not like that, so he could keep moving forward without a shred of hesitation.
Most of Youngho’s fans praised him as a man with nerves of steel, but a few others, being new to Legend of War, criticized him for playing too recklessly and without any real basis.
Ignoring all that, Youngho stood behind a large wall and focused on the enemy’s movements with his senses.
He’s busy fighting the jungle monster.
The image of the enemy jungler fighting the blue golem—commonly called “blue”—came to mind as Youngho thrust his spear forward.
A spear-wielding eastern-style champion named Jintao.
Judging the timing, Youngho’s Sashark used its level 1 skill, Magic Show!, and moved over the wall.
Magic Show! was Sashark’s skill that instantly turned him invisible and moved him a set distance in the chosen direction.
Ordinary terrain that most champions couldn’t cross became passable with this skill, making it both a useful escape tool and the lifeline that turned Sashark into a deadly assassin.
As expected, the enemy had no idea he was there and was still attacking the jungle monster with his back turned.
While the stealth remained active, Youngho stood quietly behind the enemy jungler for a moment and then used Smite, the special summoner spell unique to the jungle role, to kill the blue the opponent had been hitting.
“Huh?”
Smite was a combat support spell that dealt a high amount of fixed damage to minions or monsters.
The enemy jungler, perhaps slow on the uptake, managed only a single “Huh?” before his brain seemed to short-circuit and he froze in place.
From behind that enemy, Youngho’s level-2 Sashark began its attack with the dagger in his hand.
“Wha—?! S-shit!”
Only after taking damage did the enemy realize what was happening and try to escape with Flash.
Whirl! Thunk!
“Aagh!?”
Sashark’s level-2 Throwing Dagger Show! flew into the back of the enemy’s head and stuck there.
The skill hurled a dagger as a projectile, inflicting damage and a slow.
The slowed opponent barely got away before Youngho caught up and, in the end, had to meet death at the point of repeated little dagger stabs.
FIRST BLOOD!
While the watching viewers reacted in all sorts of ways, Youngho, with the body of a clown doll, smiled brightly and said, “Oh, this is fun.”
For some reason, the chat’s reaction only grew more intense.
Hm? Why are they all acting like this?
He thought he’d just shown a great play that put his team in a winning position.
He didn’t really know why, but the viewers seemed not to like Sashark very much.