Chapter 118: Graduate student

When does a woman look her most beautiful?

It’s when she’s standing next to a man.

This isn’t about desiring someone else’s woman.

It’s simply a matter of contrast and emphasis.

Just like colors stand out more on a white snowfield, the bigger the thing next to you, the smaller you appear.

Wedged between the large-bodied Lee Jun and Taehun, Seora looked much smaller than usual.

It’s something you can’t really feel when she streams alone.

You can’t tell just by zooming in on a camera feed.

It’s only when she’s next to others that her beauty, delicacy, and petite frame truly stand out.

<Why is Jeon Jeonseol so tiny? lololol>

<She alone looks like she’s breaking the laws of perspective>

<So much for “the closer you are, the bigger you look”… totally false>

[User ㅇㅇ has donated 1,000 won.]

─ “Legend, if you’ve been kidnapped by a mysterious gang and are in danger, please shake a carrot.”

At the sound of the donation alert, Seora clasped her hands into a triangle shape and shook it.

It looked like she was miming a carrot.

<She’s been kidnapped!>

<But is there anyone who could go and rescue her?>

<What if she gets folded in half by Once-ham, omg>

<So this is the HQ of the Korea Fitness Association, right?>

<Jeonseol! You came to save me? No, I got caught too>

<They’re overreacting just because there are two muscle guys>

<Still, Jeonseol is really small>

“Stop calling me small! It’s normal for girls to be smaller than guys!”

<She’s mad lolol>

<But being small is cute, why get angry?>

<So are you saying women who are taller than men aren’t real women?>

<International law says if you’re over 160cm, you’re not legally considered a woman~>

<Gasp… Gck! Ugh!! Cough! jk lolol>

[User 홍길동 has donated 1,000 won.]

─ “Can’t call your father ‘Father,’ can’t say the earth spins, can’t call Jeonseol small—how can this not be a tragedy?”

[User JeonJeonseol’sConscience has donated 1,000 won.]

─ “You know it too, don’t you? Even without comparing yourself to men, you’re just small. Even among girls, you’re the smallest. Extremely small. Just plain small.”

“What the heck! It’s not that bad!”

Unfortunately, she didn’t get a chance to prove it.

Seora didn’t have any female friends.

And the three people next to her right now were all over 180cm tall.

On top of that, two of them were massive.

No matter how unfair it felt, no one sympathized with her.

Well, they knew—it’s just that they chose to ignore it and instead focus on teasing her.

“Mr. Once, it seems you’re also surrounded by horribly evil viewers.”

With an exasperated expression, Seora empathized with Taehun.

But it was hard to even say the viewers watching now were Taehun’s regulars.

With the combo of Victory + Wild + Jeon Jeonseol, Once’s stream was flooded with new viewers, completely overshadowing the original audience.

“Okay, let’s stop the teasing and move on to today’s content. With these two here, we can’t not talk about it—the legendary finals match.”

<Isn’t it kinda cruel to bring on the loser too?>

<22-JunJun aaaㅠㅠ>

<Is this what this stream is like?>

Pretending to be worried, but actually just making the person feel worse with sarcastic sympathy.

But Lee Jun wasn’t fragile enough to be hurt by that.

Any parts of him that used to be delicate had been worn away by a sandstorm of life.

“Our team gave it everything we had, so I have no regrets. I don’t resent the winners either. But that doesn’t mean I’m satisfied with second place. I’ll keep pushing forward, so please continue to support me.”

Someone once asked—

Aren’t you even sorry to your fans?

Back when he had only one runner-up finish, that kind of comment made him really angry.

Isn’t second place still impressive?

Didn’t we do everything we could?

Compared to those teams stuck at the bottom, isn’t second place a pretty solid result?

When he came in second place twice and earned the nickname “2-Jun” (Double Second).

When he placed second a third time and was mocked relentlessly.

He experienced a lot of pain and doubt, but in the end, the answer was simple.

If the door won’t open, keep knocking until it does.

“Then I’ll just keep being the wall.”

But Victory is not a door that opens easily.

To break down that fortress gate, you need a will that is firm and unyielding.

<Did they shoot the TPL Summer teaser?>

<It hasn’t even been that long since Spring ended lol>

<There’s apparently a god-tier player who beat both of them…>

<Is Legend never going to go pro?>

Watching the two of them, Seora thought—

This… actually looks kind of fun.

This tournament thing.

“Alright, before we get into in-game footage, let’s take a look at the ban-pick phase. Here’s the ban-pick for Game 1. First, let’s hear from our third-party guest, Jeon Jeonseol.”

A finals review segment led by Once.

For any fan of Teamfight Arena, this was must-watch, high-quality content.

If you were a fan of Victory, Wild, or Jeon Jeonseol, then even more so.

And among them, the one who stood out most during the stream was Seora.

“The projectile speed of the Hunter’s Q skill is exactly twice as fast as the E skill. How do I know that? Because I tested it myself.”

They say even a master can learn from their student.

Jeon Jeonseol, who had been regularly teaching at the Gladiator meetups.

In the process of explaining things clearly, she had to organize all the things she only vaguely knew.

Some of it, she verified through experiments with other members.

As a result, her gameplay improved a bit, and her teaching skills improved a lot.

In this regard, she even outshone Victory.

<Wait, you have to know all that to be good at Teamfight Arena??????>

<Why even check that? Is she a grad student?>

“I mean, it’s not like you have to know this stuff. I just, uh, kind of found out while studying the game? Like, oops?”

Everyone in the know already knew about the Challenger group, but whether it was okay to mention it openly was another matter.

Seora hesitated for a moment, and the chat instantly jumped on her.

<I thought Legend was all talent, but she’s a grinder>

<Don’t be fooled—this girl masters champions just by reading the skill descriptions during the loading screen>

She’d now earned the quirky genius gamer image who loves the game enough to study it.

Anyway, Jeon Jeonseol was now explaining even the things the champions and Lee Jun didn’t know well—things the audience might’ve been curious or confused about.

Thanks to her, the content became easier to understand and packed with value.

“I feel like you’d be amazing as a commentator. Any plans for that?”

“Don’t say things that could be misunderstood! People will think I’m planting a teaser!”

<Okay, so we are getting a commentary debut in the Summer season, right?>

<No way I’m missing that live>

“But isn’t it a waste of talent if the #1 ranked player ends up commentating instead of playing?”

“I can’t be a player or a commentator! I’d have to go outside! If I go somewhere with that many people, I’ll just die!”

Seora put on a perfect shut-in performance.

But it wasn’t convincing when she said that while streaming happily between three guys.

Especially since this was her first in-person group stream.

She had streamed with Lee Jun once before, but that was online.

Now here she was—camera on, full face revealed!

I thought she was one of us!

I believed she had social anxiety, a fear of people, a hermit lifestyle!

But in the end, you were fake too.

You can socialize—and you want to. You’re one of them!

Some viewers thought so.

[ㅇㅇ has donated 1,000 won.]

—”Legend, please stop streaming and go be a commentator or a player. Now it just feels fake. Pretending to be a homebody, pretending to be a shut-in, pretending to have social anxiety—but there you are, laughing and chatting between three guys. Was anything you told us true? I’m done. It’s a bitter ending to the past four months.”

<Dark mode meltdown, legendary lolololol>

<Legend’s face though lololololol>