Chapter 115: I’m a fan

Being a “ranker” sounds quite cool, but not long ago, society used to call those people shut-ins.

The word “shut-in” uses the same character as in waste items like scrap, sewage, used cooking oil, and garbage.

People who invested more than a reasonable amount of time into games usually had something broken inside them.

Though there were exceptions.

Once never imagined things would spiral into such chaos.

If he had known, he wouldn’t have invited JeonJeonSeol to the server.

He genuinely just wanted to have discussions about the game and, thinking it was a place where like-minded people gathered, invited her without hesitation.

But who could have guessed that adding just one woman into what was once a peaceful male-dominated space would stir up such a dramatic reaction?

Weren’t these guys all into games because they had either given up on dating or had no interest in it?

It was only natural to question that.

But no.

Some of the men, who had given up on dating due to lack of confidence or ability, became fanatically obsessed with a woman who shared their gaming interest.

From JeonJeonSeol’s perspective, that immature kid who got annoyed and left because it was too loud was better than the weirdos clinging to her just because she’s a woman.

Of course, the best thing would be for people to just treat her as a person, regardless of gender.

But seeing how rare people like Once were—those who genuinely wanted to talk about the game—she felt close to despair.

Part of her thought, “Of course, this is exactly what I expected.”

‘What is he planning to do?’

Once told her not to leave the server and to wait—he’d resolve things soon.

He seemed to be close with the server staff, but what kind of method was he planning to use?

A short while later, an official announcement from the admins was posted.

It looked like it was written in a rush at Once’s request.

[Announcement Regarding New Server Rules

This server is not a fan server for any specific streamer.

Even if it’s exciting to meet someone you’ve only seen on stream, please don’t approach them in a burdensome way.

(No DMs or mentions outside of in-game issues.)

The Gladiator Gathering is a space for discussion and information sharing about Teamfight Arena, where streamers participate simply as fellow gamers.

Please do not show excessive fandom or try to initiate personal friendships that might make streamers uncomfortable.

First offense: warning. Repeated offense: removal from the server.

Let’s work together to build a healthy community.]

It was a clever, well-thought-out announcement.

They didn’t specifically name JeonJeonSeol or even mention her gender.

Most Challengers, including successful streamer Once, had at least dabbled in broadcasting.

Although it’s rare for someone to truly succeed with talent in streaming.

By calling them “streamers,” the rule technically applied to many people.

Of course, no one had caused such a stir like JeonJeonSeol had.

It could seem like turning a blind eye, but in Korean, the difference between one word and another can make all the difference.

In addition, the admins opened up three new voice channels—Game Discussion Rooms A, B, and C—each with a cap of 10 people.

This would prevent another mess like the 20+ person mob from the day before.

The next morning, at that awkward in-between hour of 11 a.m.—too late to be called morning, too early for lunch—Once called for JeonJeonSeol.

She entered Game Discussion Room B as he asked, and six people were already waiting.

Why were these people available to play games at 11 a.m., when most normal folks would be at school or work?

Some might wonder, but the world is filled with all sorts of lifestyles.

Let’s not dig too deep into that.

“Hello.”

─ “Hey there!”

─ “Nice to meet you.”

─ “Welcome.”

The atmosphere was much calmer than yesterday.

The participants were different too.

─ “JeonJeonSeol, you mentioned that the ranked ladder seems tougher these days, right? We’ve been gathering here all the time, watching replays and streams, analyzing and studying.”

─ “I’m learning a lot.”

JeonJeonSeol, the ranker of rankers, the Challenger among Challengers.

She was the one who had a significant influence on raising the overall skill level in ranked play.

In a game so random that it was hard to find any standard meta, she spread the meta through her overwhelming win rate.

Of course, she never kindly explained anything herself, so people had to study and figure things out on their own.

Yes, this was a Challenger gathering.

A place filled with people so passionate they studied game strategies more intensely than they ever studied in school.

JeonJeonSeol felt like she had stumbled into a fan signing event—except she was the one everyone came to see.

It was a different kind of awkwardness than during her streams.

While stream viewers felt like distant spectators, the people here were all familiar nicknames she had faced dozens of times in Challenger matches.

There was a kind of internal intimacy.

For the record, intimacy and likability are completely different issues.

Back when she announced her retirement and then came back, the response was surprisingly warm, and JeonJeonSeol felt a little touched.

Her favorability toward viewers increased slightly.

Of course, the sense of closeness was still nonexistent.

Even after streaming for a long time, it’s impossible to remember every viewer, and they’re neither one nor many, just a vague in-between, making it hard to know how to treat them.

It’s not that she disliked them.

It was because they were precious that she found it hard.

She was scared—if she did anything wrong, they might all leave.

That kind of fear made it hard to open up.

Compared to that, the people in this server were few enough to remember.

She even thought, maybe… they could become friends.

─ “JeonJeonSeol, could you take a look at one of our replays? We can’t figure out why we lost.”

“Shall we take a look?”

Reviewing games is an extremely effective training method.

Would you improve if you only solved test questions without checking the answers?

Reviewing is the process of checking your answers.

Of course, unfortunately, Teamfight Arena doesn’t have an answer key.

But JeonJeonSeol—ranking #1 for the longest time—is probably the closest thing to an answer right now.

If you reviewed your games with her, you’d probably get much better results.

Enjoying the discussions with the passionate students, JeonJeonSeol spent three full hours analyzing replays with them.

It was really fun.

---

[Author: ㅇㅇ] [JeonJeonSeol’s secretly playing favorites in VC?]

[(Screenshot of JeonJeonSeol in a Discord voice channel)

Ignoring her viewers, hanging out with Challengers in private lol

Probably using the money you donated to go eat BBQ with Once

Electric dogs got abandoned again lol]

He posted this attack post simultaneously on the Teamfight Arena and TryIt forums.

The ID was “Juicy.”

It was the same guy who had messaged JeonJeonSeol yesterday, asking why she accepted Once’s invite and not his, and whether they were dating.

But in reality, he wasn’t even a Challenger.

When he joined the Gladiator server, he was—but couldn’t maintain it and quickly dropped out.

A so-called “drop-outger.”

The Gladiator group wasn’t strict enough to immediately kick someone out for dropping rank, so he lingered like a ghost.

Naturally, he was also a viewer of JeonJeonSeol’s stream.

As a fan, he had sent her an invite to his server through TryIt messages, but she ignored him.

Back then, it was just disappointing.

But when she accepted Once’s invite, he stacked one level of rage.

And seeing her having fun in a 10-person cap room without him, he reached full rage and posted the attack threads.

─ [So what?]

─ [Don’t you have any friends? Guess that’s why you’re trolling forums.]

└ [Why throw an AoE flame like that?]

─ [There was a Challenger VC? Why wasn’t I invited?]

└ [Because you’re not Challenger.]

└ [How’d you know, lol]

But the reaction Juicy expected didn’t come.

Usually, when a female streamer gets cozy with a male streamer, it would ignite chaos—right?

Cue NTR memes, unicorn jokes, drama, outrage.

But this time, no one played along.

That was because of JeonJeonSeol’s image.

She looked like she’d faint if picked on, fragile like blown glass, tiny and emotionally delicate.

She didn’t seem like someone you could tease for fun—she seemed like someone you might literally break.

Unless you completely discarded every shred of human decency, it was hard to bring yourself to bully the weak, fragile JeonJeonSeol.

Juicy thought it was a chance to get close.

But he got booted instead.

Unless someone had a deep, personal vendetta and had already gone dark-mode in their soul, they wouldn’t join in.

[Author: ㅇㅇ] [You dumbasses, she’s using your donations to date Once!]

[She’s probably using your money for motel bills lol]

Frustrated by the lack of engagement, Juicy posted even more provocative content.

But shockingly, no one cared.

Enraged, he booted up a game—but he lost.

Of course, it was “bad team comp,” obviously.

And then, three weeks later, he received a notice saying he was being sued for defamation.

“Fine, I’ll meet her at the police station!”

he thought.

But in reality, a defendant can’t just meet a complainant.

She didn’t settle, either.

He had to pay a 2 million won fine.

But like… what can you even do?

Other than get mad and yell?

What can you actually do?

And since he got sued for acting like a dog online, now he couldn’t even curse on the internet anymore.