Ch.2020 – The Dead of the Battlefield

Adults love numbers.

When talking to adults about a new friend, they never ask about the essential things.

But is it really just adults who are like this?

“I caught 100 Pokémon today.”

“I spent $1,000 on my Autumn Story account.”

“I ranked in the top 100 in Resonance story mode.”

Children love numbers too.

Especially rankings—they make their blood boil with excitement.

In that sense, the user named NoName left different impressions on people, but one thing remained consistent.

[Season 2044: 3,917 games]

[Season 2045: 8,392 games]

[Season 2046: 8,505 games]

[Season 2047: 8,469 games]

[Season 2048: 8,538 games]

[Season 2049: 8,150 games]

[Season 2050: 4,033 games]

Games that take 20 minutes at minimum and up to 40-50 minutes each—requiring 23 games every single day without fail to reach these numbers.

Large numbers inspire awe and curiosity.

Who could it be?

Who would grind away their life on a mere game?

Who would continue to enjoy a game that makes most people rage after just two or three matches, as if it were their entire life?

People witness this spectacle.

“Which position do you want? Any preference?”

“What’s best for ending games quickly?”

“Bottom lane is better right now. Support is my main position anyway.”

“Then I’ll take ADC.”

Sia stared at NoName, who was carefully reviewing the patch notes from the past six months.

“So?”

“What?”

“Think you can make it to Master?”

Sia didn’t think she was bad at the game. At least not Bronze-level bad.

She had clearly carried many games herself and used to watch replays frequently.

But if asked whether she was confident about boosting NoName to Master within a week, Sia couldn’t answer with certainty.

Today was the first day of the new season—a time when countless passionate gamers set their goals for the upcoming year.

The ranked queue was chaotic, and team luck could make or break games.

If she were duoing with another Challenger player, it would be a different story, but NoName’s skill level remained a mystery.

“Well, gaming isn’t really my thing.”

“Says someone who played 8,000 games a year?”

“But I am confident.”

It’s not like there’s any money to be made from League content anyway.

She really is a mysterious person.

“How long are you going to look at that? You don’t need to check everything so meticulously at this rank.”

She was examining every buff, nerf, system change, and numerical value like a professor reviewing a dissertation.

“I don’t want to lose because I wasn’t prepared. That would be too frustrating.”

“Well, if you say so…”

NoName seemed to take gaming more seriously than expected.

Hard to believe this was the same person who trolled between Bronze 4 and Bronze 1.

“It’s your turn to pick! I’ll adjust my champion to match yours, so hurry up and choose!”

The countdown began, and NoName considered her options.

As Sia mentioned, patches this season had significantly increased bottom lane’s influence.

But not all ADCs could benefit from these changes.

[Asteria]

“You’re picking Asteria? That’s a new champion—are you sure you can play her? Her win rate is only 43% right now.”

“I’m sure. Pick Yuumi or Lulu for support.”

Yuumi and Lulu were typical picks for supporting ADCs.

Sia had been thinking about carry supports like Lux or Pantheon, but since this was their first game, she respected NoName’s opinion.

“When the game starts, your voice will be broadcast too. Just so you know.”

“Seol-ah?”

“Yes, did you call me? Is something wrong?”

“No, let’s do our best.”

* * *

Have you ever felt like your body wasn’t your own?

I feel that way quite often.

I used to be able to eat bugs without much aversion, but nowadays I jump at the mere sight of a spider, my heart racing.

Each time, I’m overwhelmed by an inexplicable guilt.

Where does this guilt come from?

Is it because this body has another original owner, and I feel sorry for taking over their life?

Or is it simply that my memories from my past life remain intact, but the dissonance of having a different body manifests as guilt?

Our brains fear change.

That’s why defense mechanisms form, why we close our hearts.

That’s also why I couldn’t properly talk to people at first.

A brain that doesn’t interact with others doesn’t develop. Knowledge derived solely from past life memories is never profound.

But when these unfamiliar experiences feel familiar, the body senses the disconnect.

[Welcome to the Battlefield.]

This is also why I hate games.

‘It’s been a while. You’re crawling back here again?’

“Now, let’s begin our special collab content with the legendary NoName—the Master climb starts now!”

‘Did you love games that much? Because of you… every day… I felt like I was dying…’

“Let’s go, NoName! NoName? Name?”

‘Die… yes, let’s die together! You should have died with me seven years ago! Just stop breathing right now! Don’t breathe!’

I understand missing your mother, but…

‘If you exhale one more time, I’ll strangle you with my own hands, you abomination. Die. Are you really my daughter? Die.’

So the hallucination I saw when gaming with Arin wasn’t just from mental exhaustion.

“Sorry, let’s go.”

“No time to leash. We need to head straight to lane.”

“I don’t think I can talk while playing. Sorry, but I’m muting my mic.”

“Huh?”

She and her viewers seemed quite confused, but what could I do?

I also blocked voice chat with Sia. Now only the battlefield trumpets would sound.

And one more thing.

“I haven’t visited mom in a while. I’m really sorry. I’ll ask the professor and visit tonight.”

‘You need to die.’

“Mom might not know, but I am both your daughter and not your daughter.”

‘Die. Just die already.’

“I know Seol-ah wouldn’t say such things, and that this is just an illusion I’ve created.”

‘…’

“But appearing as Seol-ah means I must miss her that much. Yes, I miss the days gaming with Seol-ah. I… NoName, with the name mom gave me, have grown up alone all this time. I even grew 2cm taller.”

‘…’

“I don’t understand. Why was I born with these memories? Sometimes I think it would have been better if I had died with mom, knowing nothing.”

‘Then just die.’

“I can’t do that. Mom would want me to live. I’m going to find the people who trapped us in those capsules.”

‘You have no power.’

“No, I am strong. I, NoName—Estasha Latias de Kaizen—Yoo Nak-won, will become stronger than mom could ever imagine. I’ll definitely get revenge.”

‘…Just don’t lose the game. You idiot.’

Perhaps her anger had subsided. The auditory hallucinations faded.

[Enemy slain]

[Double kill]

‘Asteria.’

A new champion released this January.

She is the last survivor of the Selena race. The Empire sacrificed her family, throwing them alive into a blazing furnace to create a weapon called the Star Destroyer.

Asteria tried her best to save her family but ultimately only managed to retrieve the Sel-Core—the fused and condensed remains of her loved ones.

A girl with a unique and grim story.

Her damage mechanism was unlike other champions.

A concept that seemed to combine Samira and Gnar.

Asteria’s attack range and armor penetration increase with each attack on enemies, but her defense decreases.

At 30% and 60% possession thresholds, her possession intensifies, and her skills gain auxiliary effects.

When she reaches 100%, Asteria loses 500 range but gains a new weapon and can use her ultimate, “Supernova.”

An extreme high-risk, high-reward champion.

Plus, with the shortest range among ADCs, you must be careful not to become passive in lane, and in team fights, you need to precisely calculate your remaining movement skills and range.

Paradoxically, to increase range, you must take the risk of entering the enemy’s range.

But conversely, when facing champions with non-targeted abilities, that risk becomes much more manageable.

Sia utilized the lane-dominant Lulu effectively.

She withstood the strong pressure from Ezreal and Xerath, using well-timed shields and skill pokes to maintain an even lane despite the unfavorable matchup, leading to a standoff where neither side wanted to back.

The enemy jungler was confirmed to be top lane. The mid laner would take at least 16 seconds to join.

I used my movement skill to dash forward through enemy minions, and Ezreal responded with an auto-attack and Q, while Xerath used his E. I took the auto-attack but immediately dodged the two skills.

With momentum on my side, I mixed auto-attacks and abilities, and they responded to my duel.

When Ezreal used Arcane Shift backward to maintain range advantage, Xerath became isolated between me and Sia, who was approaching stealthily from the brush.

Xerath finally responded with a flash backward and Q, but my enhanced veil reflected the damage onto Ezreal behind him.

Eight seconds until mid arrived—more than enough time to finish them both.

I had already lowered the minions’ health with my Q dash, and right on cue, I hit level 6. Only one movement skill left. Current possession rate: about 95%.

Using a movement skill on a champion increases possession by 5%, so the timing was perfect.

The high possession rate meant sacrificing defense—one skill hit would kill me—but I immediately charged at the enemies.

Lulu’s Whimsy launched both enemies into the air, buying me time to use Asteria’s ultimate, “Supernova.”

Ten star fragments scattered across the controlled area, and within just one second of collecting them all, the double kill announcement echoed across the battlefield.

The enemy mid laner arrived late, rushing at me after I had used all my ultimates, but…

I traded damage just enough to stay alive, rebuilding my range, then created distance with my saved Flash to kite.

[Triple kill]

I won’t lose.

Because I’ll only get stronger from here.