Chapter 16

〈 Chapter 16 〉 I Can't Take This

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After a long day of shopping.

We finally arrived home.

"Yuri, before you take a shower, sort out the clothes you bought and put them outside. When Auntie comes tomorrow, we'll give them to the cleaners."

"Un... what about Oppa's?"

Fortunately, the moment we got home, the term that had been shaking my identity seemed to revert to its original form.

Strictly speaking, it should be "Unnie" now rather than "Oppa"... but I still needed some time to adjust.

"Would Oppa do something like that? You do it."

"Okay."

I don't know what we were talking about, but it was a very wise choice.

"Jin-i, take care of your things too."

"Okay."

Despite buying a lot of keyboards and mice, they felt as light as feathers.

"Are you that happy?"

"Of course."

"Phew... Well, if you're happy, that's fine."

Mother laughed lightly, as if she didn't care anymore.

'Alright, then...'

Back in my room, I neatly arranged the keyboards and mice and headed straight to the bathroom.

"Phew."

After soaking in warm water for a while, the chill from the cold wind outside finally seemed to leave my body.

"Ugh."

It was the longest time I had ever spent in the shower. Maybe that's why I sounded like an old person.

I put on the blue polka-dot pajamas I had bought earlier and lay down on the bed.

The demons on the ceiling seemed to be beckoning, and I felt like I was about to fall asleep.

'I should go to sleep.'

I need to go to bed early, as I'll have to wake up early tomorrow morning.

'...'

I slowly closed my eyes, but for some reason, I couldn't fall asleep.

Despite being tired, I found myself in a frustrating situation where sleep wouldn't come.

At least I could take comfort in the fact that I didn't have a regular daily schedule like others.

"Ah, damn it..."

I tossed and turned in bed for about thirty minutes.

"I can't take it anymore."

Finally, I kicked off the blanket and got up.

Maybe it was because of the cute things that kept catching my eye, but my heart was pounding, and I couldn't sleep at all.

'Just one game.'

The unopened keyboards and mice seemed to be tempting me.

I tried to ignore them, but it seemed like this was my destiny.

I got out of bed and, with a routine movement, turned on the computer and sat down in the chair.

"Ugh."

It was a strange situation to be tired after getting out of bed, but since I was already up, I decided to at least test one of them.

"Let's see..."

I carefully opened the boxes of the new keyboard and mouse.

Since I would need to use them and then store them again, I had to open them as neatly as possible.

"Let's start with this one..."

I took out the keyboard that felt the softest and the mouse with the lowest click pressure from the ones I had tested earlier.

'They are definitely different.'

The keyboard and mouse I had been using weren't bad.

In fact, because I had used them for a long time, they felt more familiar and were better for now.

However, even if familiarity is good, sometimes you need to be bold and take a challenge.

"Alright."

After checking the cables connected to the back of the computer, I replaced the keyboard and mouse.

In the past, I would have needed someone's help, but now it was a simple task for me.

Click, click

The grip of the new mouse felt a bit awkward.

The keyboard was also awkward, and I had a strong urge to switch back to my old equipment.

'But I'll get used to it eventually.'

Sure enough, after a few minutes of internet browsing, the unfamiliarity of the new equipment started to fade.

'Even a light touch registers.'

The low key pressure and click pressure meant that the response time was slightly faster than other equipment.

Of course, with advantages come disadvantages, and the sensitivity of the equipment required a lot of attention during use.

'They would suit champions who need quick, busy hands rather than precision.'

The fact that I was already thinking about using different equipment for different champions showed that I wasn't exactly normal... but who cares.

'Let's give it a try.'

Seeing is believing.

The best way to do anything is to just try it.

[Login]

I logged into League of Legends and immediately opened the practice mode.

I felt the need to warm up by hitting dummies before diving into a real game.

[Riven]

There's no better champion for warming up.

While I used to avoid her unless I was in a high tier, she had recently become one of my favorite champions.

After the loading screen, I summoned a dummy and hit it for a few minutes.

I used Q to dash, W to close the gap, and mixed in an auto-attack to prevent the dummy from retaliating. After using R, I followed up with another Q and then E, auto-attack, E.

Q, Q, and ultimate, followed by W and Flash.

Q, W, Q, R.

From the basic combos of Riven to the more advanced ones I had recently mastered, I practiced almost every combo Riven could do a few times before ending the practice mode.

Hitting dummies alone wasn't enough to get a good practice session.

Back in the lobby, I thought for a moment.

'I should play a normal game, right?'

I had already hit dummies to death in practice mode, but I didn't want to test the new equipment in a ranked game.

After all, I had already played more than enough solo queue games today.

I didn't have a secondary account to use, so my options were either a normal game or a flex queue.

'Flex queue isn't bad, but I don't really want to play it.'

I respect ranked games a lot.

Maybe it's because I'm a solo queue warrior, but I treat each game as if it were my life.

The same goes for flex queue.

While many people see flex queue as just a ranked normal game, there are definitely people who take the score seriously.

I didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble for them just because I didn't care.

[Searching for a game...]

The queue was pretty fast, probably because it was a normal game.

[Game found!]

[Accept / Decline]

+

───────────────

Prisoner has joined the lobby.

DiamondGuardian11 has joined the lobby.

JaeHyukPro123 has joined the lobby.

TriangleMidlaner has joined the lobby.

DaHyeThumb has joined the lobby.

───────────────

[TriangleMidlaner: MD]

[DiamondGuardian11: MDMDMD]

[TriangleMidlaner: Mid lane, please]

[DiamondGuardian11: TTTT]

[JaeHyukPro123: 3-5 pick, going bot]

In the end, the only position left was the jungle.

It had been so long since I played a normal game that I didn't react to the position chat culture.

To be honest, I was a bit surprised.

'What should I do?'

Since it was a normal game, playing Riven, whom I had been practicing earlier, wouldn't be bad, but I felt a bit tired of her.

After some thought, I picked Sylas.

[Sylas]

Until last year, he was a champion with good performance in the jungle, but due to continuous nerfs, he was no longer viable in that role.

However, he still had unique strengths, and if I could get through the early game, he had a lot of potential.

'If this were a ranked game, I would have dodged immediately.'

But this was a normal game.

Few people would argue with their teammates' picks.

And...

Instead, another reaction came.

[TriangleMidlaner: But 1st pick, really?]

Prisoner, who had been ranked 1st in the early days of League of Legends, was a well-known figure, so it wasn't strange that someone recognized him.

[DiamondGuardian11: Probably a fake]

[TriangleMidlaner: Yeah]

Of course, people were indifferent, probably thinking that the real Prisoner wouldn't appear in a normal game.

There were just too many fakes.

But as the saying goes, a needle in a haystack.

It didn't take long for people to recognize me.

[DiamondGuardian11: ? What, it's really him?]

[TriangleMidlaner: Rly?]

[DiamondGuardian11: I checked, and he has 1600 points in Challenger, ranked 2nd. lol]

[TriangleMidlaner: MC, it's really him]

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