Chapter 99

### Chapter 99: First Broadcast (2)

* * *

The accident (??) stops.

I had anticipated that something like this would happen, but the unexpected timing and the visit from a stranger left me utterly flustered.

“Uh... Th...”

­?

­Is the streamer’s cam real?

“...What do you mean?”

Is the cam real?

I don’t understand what you’re saying.

­Wow, it’s really your face.

……Huh?

In the midst of a conversation where the points didn’t quite align, the game officially began.

­Welcome to the Summoner’s Rift!

[ ] [ ] [ ]

[ ] [ ] [ ]

[ ] [ ] [ ]

Pings are flying around chaotically.

Under normal circumstances, I would consider the current team and enemy invade combinations among the numerous pings to determine the direction.

But why is it...

What caught my eye wasn’t the in-game content but a new chat line.

­Are you really going to stream until you hit first place?

“Ah... Yes, yes. Of course.”

­Wow... That’s impressive.

The reaction was surprisingly positive, different from the spicy viewers of RedTV I usually see.

‘Well... There are bound to be people like this among the viewers, right?’

While I was momentarily lost in these pointless thoughts, the enemy initiated an invade.

‘Ah.’

Was it because my focus was scattered?

My reaction was a bit late.

Under normal circumstances, I would never make such a mistake.

­Bang!

Fortunately, I didn’t end up making a fool of myself in front of my first viewer, but I lost my Flash.

Not just any Flash, but Leesha’s Flash.

‘...Should I have just died instead?’

Leesha’s Flash ganking is so powerful that it can be called a finishing move.

Sometimes, when playing Leesha, I think about not using Flash and just dying, and this was one of those times.

Of course, there aren’t many situations where saving Flash and dying is better, but it shows how important Leesha’s Flash is.

‘Comparing the value of a snowball from a pub and a successful snowball from a top dive...’

As I was calculating in my head, another chat line appeared.

­Haha

The viewer laughed.

‘What does this mean?’

Is it meaningless?

If so, why did they laugh just now? Was I funny? Or was it a mocking laugh?

Unfortunately, before I could figure out the answer, the jungle monster respawned.

My current path is forced to be the early Red.

If I go to the early Blue for a leash, not only will my team’s bottom lane struggle, but I might also get ambushed or surprised at my team’s Red.

When in the top jungle, the early Red is not a choice but a necessity.

‘The problem is that Naliri knows this too.’

Of course, Naliri will also take the early Red path, but the issue is that I don’t know his path after that.

Will he smoothly clear the full camp,

or will he split the Red and take my Blue,

or will he take a bold move to target me without Flash?

‘I can’t concentrate...’

In the past, I could predict Naliri’s path with the given fragmented information, but for some reason, I can’t now.

My mind is too cluttered.

The biggest reason is the chaotic chat window.

­What do you do if you almost get the jungle mob and it resets? I’ve had that happen before.

“Uh, ...practice a lot.”

For a jungler, reducing the time it takes to jungle by even a second is very important.

Those few seconds can determine whether you can intervene in a lane.

Thus, at a certain level, you have to pull the jungle mob’s aggro to the extreme, and even pros sometimes make mistakes in this area.

­I see. Then, can I get the gold?

“...I don’t know.”

How would I know?

While jungling and communicating with my only viewer, I had already cleared the three camps on the Red side.

‘Now, then...’

I checked the top lane situation.

Cain and Nyar setup.

A ranged vs. ranged setup with both champions having excellent survival skills, making it difficult to set up a gank.

If I had Flash, I might have tried to set up a gank, but unfortunately, my Flash is not up.

‘...I really miss having Flash.’

But that doesn’t mean I can’t set up a gank at all.

I walked to the bush near the top lane’s inner turret without being seen by the enemy ward, and then used the bush to jump to the Baron pit.

I then checked the vision of the enemy Blue jungle.

‘The Blue is alive.’

Considering the time it took for me to clear the Golem and return to the bush, and the jungling speed of a Grandmaster-tier Naliri, if Naliri took the full camp path, he should be hitting the Blue now.

So, Naliri chose to split the camps.

Given the current bottom lane setup, it was not a bad decision.

‘He must have judged that a Flash-less Leesha is not a significant threat to the lane.’

Or he might have thought that the top lane could be sacrificed.

Seeing that the latter thought was more appealing, it seems I am an inevitable jungler.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter to me.’

There’s no need to retreat just because I don’t have Flash.

There’s always a way.

Leesha has a unique ganking angle when in the top jungle, entering from the tri-bush inside the enemy turret, and when in the bottom jungle, entering from the tri-bush inside the enemy turret.

This not only completely blocks the enemy’s escape route but also allows for an ambush without being seen by the ward, making it one of Leesha’s killer ganking routes.

[ ] [ ]

[Outlaw (Leesha) targets IIIIIIIIlII (Nyar)]

[Outlaw (Leesha) targets IIIIIIIIlII (Nyar)]

As I jumped over the tri-bush inside the top lane turret and appeared through the tunnel, I could sense Nyar’s panic.

Nyar’s E skill allows him to jump again by stepping on an enemy.

He can use the enemy’s head as a stepping stone.

The problem is that the target Nyar is trying to step on and escape from is the ambushing Leesha.

‘...Is this too much of an insult?’

Of course, Nyar had no other choice, but I had no intention of letting him step on my head and escape.

­Bang!

Nyar, who tried to step on Leesha’s head, was lifted into the air.

His HP dropped to below 30% with the following combo.

Of course, because he was so close to the turret, Nyar walked into the turret without using any spells.

Although I couldn’t take Nyar’s Flash, I successfully put a lot of pressure on his HP.

‘Recall. If you don’t, I’ll dive.’

Nyar seemed to understand this silent threat and immediately recalled.

Of course, I had no intention of letting him go.

‘5, 4, 3...’

Quietly timing his recall, I used my Q skill to interrupt Nyar’s recall just before he could complete it.

After the failed recall, Cain, who was pushing the lane, led a minion army to the turret.

A dive opportunity was formed.

‘Now, what will you do?’

Nyar had only two choices left.

To fight to the death and wait for team support,

or to take a hit on the minions and retreat to teleport back.

Nyar chose the latter.

『』

Cain, the 3-minute top lane honor student, seemed very satisfied with the situation and even gave me a thumbs up, which he rarely does.

Although the enemy Nyar was very frustrated, I was equally frustrated.

I had invested too much time in the top lane, and my jungling was not going well.

‘But I didn’t even catch Nyar or take his Flash. The best I got was a teleport.’

The snowball effect was significant due to the early invade where I lost my Flash.

While I was causing chaos in the top lane, the enemy Naliri was not idle.

‘Naliri is putting dive pressure on the bottom lane.’

So, my job is not to run to the bottom lane on the opposite side of the map but to clear the enemy Blue jungle.

That way, I can at least keep up with the minimum growth.

While I was clearing the enemy Blue jungle, a chat line appeared.

­Streamers

­Can’t you see my messages?

­Streamers!

“Uh, ...yes? What’s up?”

­Please communicate. You haven’t been looking at the chat window ㅜㅜ

“Ah... I’m sorry.”

I must have been too focused on setting up the top lane gank and didn’t see the chat window.

‘...This is not easy.’

Playing the game while communicating with the viewers.

It’s something that streamers and internet broadcasters should do, but for me, it feels very difficult.

“I’ll pay more attention. This is my first time streaming...”

­Yes, yes! But why didn’t the enemy take their Blue?

“Ah, that’s...”

While continuing the game and communicating with my only viewer, unfortunately, the number of viewers did not increase.

[Viewers: 1]

The broadcast continued for only one person.

* * *

SY Dormitory.

Recently, Rainbow Ryu Jin-hyuk started hearing strange rumors.

A fake Prisoner, or rather, a copycat Prisoner, appeared in the scrim?

It was an incomprehensible rumor.

Of course, he didn’t plan to let it go, so Ryu Jin-hyuk grilled Guinea Pig Yu Sang-hyun, who could be considered the team’s gossip monger.

“...What do you mean? What fake Prisoner?”

“Ah, it’s not that he’s pretending to be Prisoner, but a jungler who plays as well as Prisoner appeared. I heard he has a perfect scrim record.”

“A perfect scrim record?”

That’s impressive, but it’s not enough to call him Prisoner.

Ryu Jin-hyuk himself had a perfect scrim record for a certain period.

“What’s his ID?”

“Out... What was it? Anyway, something like that.”

Ryu Jin-hyuk tried to recall but didn’t remember seeing such a nickname in solo queue.

‘...Solo queue nicknames and pro nicknames are completely different anyway.’

In fact, many people use random nicknames in solo queue and only decide on a proper ID when they debut as pros.

“Team?”

“YSG.”

If it were any other time, Ryu Jin-hyuk would have lost interest, but he stopped in his tracks when he heard the team name.

...A perfect scrim record from YSG?

As far as Ryu Jin-hyuk knew, YSG was a typical mid-to-lower tier team.

Moreover, it was predicted that they would be at the bottom of the league this season, so a perfect scrim record from such a team?

‘...If that’s the case, it’s not strange for the fake Prisoner rumor to spread.’

Then, Ryu Jin-hyuk felt a sudden curiosity.

“Back when we scrimmed with them, we won, right?”

“At that time, the jungler was Diehard, not that Out...”

“...That’s true.”

It’s not unusual for a main player to appear in scrims; in fact, it’s quite normal, so it felt strange to feel strange.

“When is our next scrim with YSG?”

“It’s tomorrow, but... I doubt we’ll meet that copycat Prisoner.”

“Why?”

“I heard he left the team.”

“...What?”

What does that mean?

He participated in scrims and left the team before the season even ended?

Moreover, if his scrim performance was that good, he could have been a main player from the second round?

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know much. According to Min-soo, he suddenly disappeared one day. So, the YSG trainees call him the legendary runaway.”

The legendary runaway...

Of course, it’s understandable to call someone who leaves the team during the season that, but it’s a dishonorable title for someone with skills that remind you of Prisoner.

“Did he go to another team?”

“I don’t know.”

“...I see.”

Unfortunately, that was all the information Yu Sang-hyun had.

After all, even as a gossip monger, he could only gather rumors among players and trainees.

There was no way he could know detailed contract information.

“Ah, right. And this is the most important part, that Out...”

“No. You don’t need to say more.”

“...Huh? This is the most important part?”

“It’s fine. I’m not really curious.”

“No, this part is really important. That person...”

Ryu Jin-hyuk, who usually doesn’t show much emotion, revealed a rare sign of anger due to Yu Sang-hyun’s persistent questioning.

It was because he felt uncomfortable hearing that name again.

“It’s fine, I said.”

“...Okay, I get it.”

He was genuinely curious when he heard Prisoner’s name, but that’s as far as it went.

‘...I don’t need to worry about it.’

Prisoner is dead.

Chasing a shadow that no longer exists is something he should stop.

‘I’ll just practice.’

Ryu Jin-hyuk glanced at the ranking list and shook his head, then immediately queued up.

* * *