Chapter 34: SNS

The day 1st place in the regular season was confirmed.

Even though I should have been off work, I was at the dorm.

The coach was going to talk about the promotion tournament, so it would have been rude to just leave.

“We’ll probably be facing TH.”

You could think of the promotion tournament as having the 9th and 10th place teams from the LCK, and the 1st and 2nd place teams from CK.

The rules were a best-of-five.

The 9th place team chooses one of the CK teams, and the 10th place team faces the remaining CK team.

Usually, the CK playoffs didn’t provide much experience, so most 9th place teams chose the CK 2nd place team.

“So, AX, who probably got 9th place, will avoid us, which means we’ll automatically face TH.”

The coach showed confidence, saying that it might be difficult if it were AX, but they could definitely beat TH.

‘It’s true that TH was overwhelmingly at the bottom this season.’

It was information I knew because I watched the LCK even while playing in CK.

AX was a team that unfortunately came to the promotion tournament after competing in the playoffs until the end.

On the other hand, TH was so disastrous in managing their points that their playoff elimination was confirmed when the 2nd round came.

“But, you all know not to let your guard down, right?”

The coach said, looking at the team, especially the bot duo.

“The TH members have survived the promotion tournament three times since last year. Even if their momentum is broken, they are LCK veterans.”

“Still, we won the regular season undefeated. It should be doable.”

“Didn’t BU go up to the Spring promotion tournament with that mindset and get completely destroyed?”

The coach cut off Jin Yu-seong’s words sharply.

Confidence is good, but underestimating the opponent is a bad mindset.

Moderation is key in everything.

“Are you confident?”

“Huh?”

“About the promotion tournament.”

I looked to the side and saw Kim Do-jin talking to me with his usual serious expression.

‘He’s been talking to me a lot lately.’

Of course, it didn’t feel like he was making a move on me romantically.

To explain…it was more like taking care of a friend?

More accurately, it was like a class president taking care of a student who was a bit of an outsider.

‘Have I not been interacting with the team members enough?’

Come to think of it, I felt like I had been keeping a bit of a distance from the team members except when there were matches.

‘But I can’t act like I did in my past life.’

Honestly, if I were to act friendly with my looks?

I wouldn’t be able to say anything even if I got confessed to.

Telling guys whose lives revolved around gaming to differentiate between love and like was a crime. The one confessing wasn’t the criminal.

‘But I can’t live like this forever.’

I felt like I needed to find some middle ground.

I couldn’t do this every time I met new people in esports, where transfers were common every year.

‘I should think about it after the promotion tournament.’

Of course, the important thing now was the promotion tournament.

Since it was a best-of-five, there could be unexpected variables.

‘I wonder if they’ll do well.’

In my opinion, our team was definitely ahead in terms of skill.

What they needed was an unshakeable mentality.

“Wow, look at those cheeks.”

Friday afternoon after school.

When I arrived at the cafe at the appointed time, Choi Eun-seo, who saw me, said something strange.

Does she browse online communities too?

“You came early, did you wait long?”

“No! I just got here too.”

It was definitely different hanging out with Choi Eun-seo after being around guys who only played games all the time. Her energy was hard to adjust to.

“What do you want to drink?”

“Are you buying?”

“I’m rich.”

“Really!?”

Choi Eun-seo acted like she was going to choose a lot, but then picked a decaffeinated Americano.

“This doesn’t have any syrup or artificial sweeteners in it, right?”

“No, it’s an Americano, but we can add syrup if you’d like.”

“Then I’ll have it without anything.”

Every time I saw her, Choi Eun-seo seemed to have a lot of things she couldn’t eat.

Honestly, I was curious about her story.

‘She’ll tell me if she wants to.’

I decided not to ask until she brought it up herself.

There’s a reason why they say ignorance is bliss.

“One decaf Americano and one chocolate frappe.”

We took our drinks and returned to our seats.

I took a sip of the chocolate frappe I ordered.

The sweetness made me feel good.

As I was silently drinking my drink, Choi Eun-seo stared at me intently.

“What?”

“Oh, it’s just that you look different from when you’re playing.”

“You watch my matches?”

“Of course!”

Come to think of it, is my appearance that different between when I’m playing and normally?

The team members and the coach had also mentioned it a few times, saying it was fascinating, and the fans who came to fan meetings also said it was fascinating.

But I didn’t really feel it myself.

“Is it that different?”

“Yeah, your eyes seem to get a bit redder, and it’s like you become a different person.”

‘Isn’t everyone serious when they’re working?’

I didn’t particularly pay attention to anything during matches.

I just focused more than usual.

“It’s not weird, is it?”

“Of course not! It’s even cooler.”

“Then there’s no problem.”

After answering, I took another sip.

This place is great for chocolate chips.

“So, so. Why did you call me out today?”

Usually, Choi Eun-seo was the one who called me out, but today I called her.

“What are you doing on the 5th of next month?”

“Next month?”

Choi Eun-seo took out her phone to check the day.

“It’s a Saturday, right? I don’t have anything going on.”

“Then do you want to go to LoL Park?”

“Huh? Why there…Ah!”

There were two events held at LoL Park in September, the next month.

The World Championship qualifiers and the promotion tournament.

Among them, the match in the first week was.

“You want to go watch the qualifiers!?”

“Yeah. The coach said he’s close with the RG coach and got some complimentary tickets, but he didn’t have anyone to go with.”

“I’ll go, I’ll go!”

As soon as I said we were going to watch a match, Choi Eun-seo grabbed my hand and her eyes lit up.

We talked about various things since we hadn’t met during the season.

“So…”

“Yeah?”

“Your opponent for the promotion tournament is TH, right?”

“Why do you think that?”

“There’s no way AX would choose you guys.”

As expected of Choi Eun-seo, who watched every LCK match, it was a sharp answer.

“It’s not confirmed, but it’ll probably be like that.”

“You can win, right?”

“Of course.”

“Of course you can, TH lost all their matches in the second round. Your team’s performance is much better.”

Maybe it was because we hadn’t met in a while, but it was a fulfilling day just talking.

“Hello everyone.”

[Seo-ha~]

[Seo-ha~]

[Shouldn’t you just change your nickname to Seo-ha at this point?]

[Seo-ha~]

[LOL No one is saying Para~]

As soon as I got home, the first thing I did was turn on my stream.

I hadn’t been able to stream often lately because of the season, and I felt like the viewers might be bored.

‘Am I really a streamer now?’

I made excuses to myself, but I turned on my stream during my free time.

Isn’t this the mindset of a true professional streamer?

Anyway, maybe it was because it had been a while since I streamed, but the atmosphere was quite…harmonious?

“Have you all been well?”

[If you were just one more day late, I would have frozen to death]

[20]

[The guy next to me isn’t moving?]

[Thaw him]

[MyHighSchoolGirlChallengerVLLChampionRegularSeasonUndefeatedChampionRegularSeasonMVPElderSister…who came back after a month]

“So, even though I got a break after a long time, I turned on my stream for you guys.”

[What’s the reward?]

[It’s legendary that 5,000 people are watching even though you turned it on after a month]

[If you streamed consistently, you would have been the top female streamer]

[LOL Game, face, talking skills, everything is possible here, why would I watch other streams?]

[You don’t stream, that’s why I watch other streams]

[20]

“If you keep saying I didn’t stream, I’m just going to go rest.”

[LLLLLL]

[LLLLLLLLLL]

[Please don’t…]

[Yeah, go ahead and end the stream~ I’ll just watch the saved super plays from CK~]

[You watched all those boring matches?]

[LOL I watched a few and just turned it off because the performance was so bad]

[Ah LOL Watch after they get promoted]

After somehow appeasing the viewers, I continued with the usual communication stream.

“How is pro life, you ask?”

[What did you do to make ARK, which was struggling in the Spring, go to the promotion tournament]

[Wouldn’t you be energized playing games with a pretty girl]

[LOL Guys play harder when they hear a girl’s voice in FPS games]

[?But Para was the one carrying every time]

[That’s true LOL]

“It’s fun. The team members and other staff are all nice people.”

“Then I’ll end the stream here for today.”

[Ah]

[Don’t go don’t go don’t go]

[Bye~]

[Bye]

[I guess I have to endure another month with today’s clips…]

[Let’s go review at the illegal chain store~]

“I’ll probably turn on the stream after the promotion tournament. See you all then.”

I pressed the end stream button and dove into bed as part of my routine.

This is the problem with having the bed right behind the desktop. It had become a habit to throw myself onto the bed after finishing something.

‘It’s comfortable, so it’s okay.’

While lying down and fiddling with my phone, I remembered what I had said on stream earlier.

‘They asked me to make an SNS account.’

There were viewers’ opinions that I didn’t need to stream often, but at least create an SNS to post updates.

Since some teams encourage personal SNS accounts when you’re promoted to the 1st division anyway, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to make one in advance.

‘Should I turn off comments and messages?’

Since becoming a pro, I had put my personal email on my stream, but I was receiving all sorts of weird photos.

And if I thought about the comment terrorism I received in my past life when my performance wasn’t good.

It seemed like it would be easier to just turn them off.

‘So, I’ve created the account.’

I thought I should upload something, so I took a selfie while lying down, uploaded it, and linked the profile in my stream announcement.

If I did this much, they’ll find it on their own.