0. Prologue
I’m good at playing video games.
This was certain. I have always been in the top 1% since elementary school, the day where I knew nothing about gaming, until now. Whatever game it was.
But on top of that, there was this bastard, who was always above me like a fly. It was four months ago that I felt that reality deeply.
“What the fuck!”
I slammed the keyboard, while spouting curses. An expensive gaming keyboard flashed with colorful lights.
“I’m losing this again, son of a…”
The enemy team’s Jungler was attacking the base and thrashing the Nexus relentlessly. Being already dead, I could only stare at the grayed-out screen with anger just when the enemy team’s chat suddenly popped up in red text.
[All] LVS gamgack(Serrata): JD[2]
[All] LVS gamgack(Serrata): right?
[All] LVS gamgack(Serrata): haha
[All] Hunsu is blocked(Luna): lololol
[All] That’s Geminion(Umpa): kya sweet win
What? Jungler’s difference? Both of my eyes started to burn hot.
No, damn it… Do professionals start talking about Jungler’s differences after winning a jungler’s fight against normal users? Of course, I would too! If I were that Jungler, I could have made a lot of money as a pro, but would someone like him be doing this here? Does that bastard really have no conscience?
“Hey, it’s really annoying…”
The game promptly ended without a hitch. The screen changed and the score window appeared. The amount of damage I dealt was greater than those that were in the other team, Jungler. You fucking bastards…….
[LVS gamgack: Look here Sleepy-nim]
[LVS gamgack: By any chance]
As I was about to turn off the chat window and sighed, the enemy team, Jungler, started chatting with me. However, I was not interested about what was going on, so I quickly pressed the exit button.
“Huu………….”
If I start the next game in this state, I don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate properly, so just as I was about to turn off the game, a yellow light came on in the friend list window.
“What?”
After clicking on it, it turned out to be a friend request from the enemy team’s Jungler. It was a friend request from a famous person, who was a popular pro gamer, known to be amazingly good at games, and has a good face that attracts fans wherever he goes but all it did was make my forehead wrinkle horribly.
“How many times has this been already?”
It doesn’t matter how good your opponent is. The important thing is that this guy was from the enemy team, Jungler, and he was the one who has given me multiple humiliating defeats every time we’ve met up until now. I raised the corners of my mouth, laughing, and pressed the mouse button.
[Refuse]
Did you think that if you just send a friend request to anyone, that they would be excited to receive it? While I was at it, I thought for a while and did something that I wouldn’t normally do before. Like putting that bastard on the block list right away.
‘Now I feel a little better.’
The LVS team belonged to that Jungler. An opponent that I have met dozens of times so far but have never been defeated. Unlike me who has spent a thousand days and nights stuck in the Grand Master rank and can hardly go up, he took the top Challenger rank in two weeks as soon as the new season started and currently, he went back and forth between the top rankings.
If it weren’t for the shortage of people in the Celestial Grand Master and Challenger tiers, I wouldn’t have met that monster as an enemy. Apparently, my position is the same as that Jungler guy, so every time we ran into each other, we met as an enemy.
In the end, whenever I met him, I felt like crying since I had to play the game while realizing just how high and thick the walls dividing the line between what pro gamers were. Why not dodge[1]? My pride didn’t allow it.
I took a bottle of water from the refrigerator, took a sip of cold water, and exhaled a deep breath.
To be honest, the reason I’m taking part in this was clearly to defeat that bastard. Since day one, after playing games with me for some time, that person has been giving me a friend request, like it’s some kinda mockery.
With how stressed I was, one day I even thought that I dreamed that I received a friend request sent by fate with a message saying, ‘Shall I teach you how to defeat that Jungler?’ Even though it was a dream, it made me really angry.
“...done. And done.”
As I recalled the tremendous insults I had received from the games in the past, I felt like something snapped in my head, and a huge hit came rushing in. As the years go by, my age has reached 24, and it was pretty funny to think that I would still be genuinely passionate about the game.
After I returned to my seat, I looked at the monitor screen for a moment.
HOL. Its full name was Hero of Legends. It was undoubtedly the No. 1 online game in name, and it was a famous AOS game that even held huge competitions around the world. In the sense that being a popular professional in a game like this will make you a lot of money.
‘Well, after the last world championship ended, I haven’t been active since then.’
It sounds like I was going to take a break from it, but anyway. It was such a great game and there were many users. I too was a top 0.01% player in such a game, but it felt completely meaningless.
It was a game that I have been holding on to for a while because of one lingering attachment. I closed then opened my eyes slowly, and without hesitation, I turned off the game and deleted it.
School will start next week anyway. There were a lot of things to learn again since I need to return back to school. It was obvious that I wouldn’t have the time to play the game.
***
My expectations were somewhat correct. After returning to school and starting to work as a part-timer, I continued to live a life of not having enough time to sleep, let alone play games.
But that was only during the semester. When the vacation came back, a lot of time was empty.
I am working part-time, but since I set that part-time job according to the timetable during my school time, I only had to go there three or five hours a week and it was over.
During the first week of vacation, I was busy drinking with my classmates, but as soon as two weeks passed, I got bored and started struggling to crawl towards the corner of the room where the computer was located.
“Let’s play a game.”
The words that came out of my mouth reflexively reminded me of HOL. After I deleted it, even if I went to a PC room with my friends, it has been a while since I had access to the account that was an unconditional sub account, and the account I usually use has been accumulating dust for a long time.
“What to do………”
While muttering, I steadily opened the Internet window. Just when I put my hand on the keyboard to check the bulletin board to see what the situation was these days, I saw a familiar word in the real-time search term.
[Zenoris]
It was an MMORPG that a lot of people these days rated as a fun game. The mouse went to the real-time search.
<The popular game ‘Zenoris’ is buzzing about the release of a new job....>
<Zenoris New Job Dark Mage Playthrough Video Revealed!>
<Hot information just released! Check out the Dark Mage playthrough video here….>
There was a popularity rush because of a new job. Dark mage? What’s with a name like that?
I naturally clicked on the YouTube video. On the screen, a character who appeared to be about 5-feet tall was holding a staff with a pointed tip and using various skills.
“Hmm…...”
Looking at the video and skill description calmly, I licked my lips. It didn’t even miss a decent deal with a normal control. The skill combo was tight.
‘If the skill is even slightly out of order, only about 70% of the original damage will be dealt, and more mana is drained, right? The range is also drastically reduced.’
Everyone liked it as it was a new job, but in the end, it was obvious that there would be fewer than one user who could properly utilize that job.
Clicking my tongue, I began to install Zenoris. Ironically, the fact that it was terribly difficult has set a fire in my heart.
“Well, let’s play it a little bit then……”
Even though no one was listening, I randomly made an excuse and waited patiently for the gradually increasing installation gauge to finish.
Notes:
2 [Jungler Difference] is a gaming slang used to mock the other team, they are saying that their Jungler have superior skills here (This is not from the author; and credits to the editor.)
1 [Dodge] means dodging the game by forcing the player to quit on the screen in which the character is already selected to start a team-based game
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Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: Sellychi
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