Ch.3331 – Favor (Part 1 Complete)

In the end, I banished Sia and Minjun to the distant top jungle as punishment for getting on my nerves.

That’s how I naturally ended up in the bottom lane with “PatientlyPersistant.”

“You’re Se-min? Nice to meet you.”

“Ah yes! Nice to meet you too. Um…”

“Call me NoName.”

“NoName? Was that actually your real name?”

“Is that a problem?”

“Not at all.”

I picked Asteria, same as always. Until she received her balance patch, I planned to only use this champion.

Besides, this would probably be my last time playing League anyway.

It was Se-min’s turn to pick.

A giant warrior with a shield appears.

“You’re picking Brau…m? Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about earlier…”

“No no no! Right, Lulu! Lulu would be better, right?”

“Lulu? You can play Rammus like you usually do.”

“Even so, playing him as support would be a burden. You remember what I play?”

“…Let’s go.”

The laning phase in ranked was incredibly boring.

I hit level 2 first, but the opponents pulled back early, so I couldn’t capitalize on the level advantage.

At this rate, it was obvious we’d both just farm evenly without a single fight, wasting time.

Since our composition wasn’t bad for late game, there was no reason to force anything this early.

Se-min seemed more relaxed in this forgiving game environment, having found himself among high-ranked players.

“When I said I saved you, NoName, I wasn’t just joking around, right?”

Se-min asked with a somewhat determined tone.

“Why would you think it was a joke?”

When I teasingly asked back, Se-min just scratched his head, apparently at a loss for words.

I couldn’t help but smile at his bewildered expression.

“Look. Asteria is definitely overpowered, but she has clear limitations. Until level 6, I have to just take hits like this.”

The enemy Vayne attacked me with Tumble.

Normally, Lulu would shield me and we’d kite together with the ADC while Vayne retreated, but I didn’t expect that much from Se-min.

Rather than fighting without support help and taking a big health loss, I chose to just take the hit.

Asteria’s fox ears drooped. Was it painful? Or maybe she felt helpless.

“It’s hard to even get CS like everyone else. If I were playing MF or Caitlyn, I could farm without worrying, but with Asteria, I need to make precise decisions every moment.”

Whether to kill minions while taking hits from the enemy ADC, or to give up minions to avoid attacks.

“I could pretend to go for a minion and trade hits, or bait out the enemy ADC’s skills before re-engaging. Like this.”

My childhood was always a series of choices.

One mistake meant death, so even minor accidents weren’t tolerated. Even if they weren’t my fault.

“Things don’t change much even at level 6.”

A bird that hatches from its egg faces a new world, but that world is never welcoming.

It must fight numerous predators, scorching heat, and raging storms.

It has wings but cannot fly.

That was level 6 Asteria, and that was me.

When Vayne momentarily separated from her support, I immediately used Supernova.

But thanks to her saved Tumble and Flash, she luckily avoided two hits, resulting in me just wasting my ultimate.

Would Vayne feel threatened in this situation?

Most people wouldn’t.

Instead, surviving Asteria’s full combo would give her confidence to be more aggressive in the next fight.

Perceptual errors intensify selective perception and reinforce existing bad decisions.

Someone who has always been in the predator position finds it difficult to accept that next time, they’ll be the prey.

“When I go in, cast ‘Grow’ on me.”

[Asel!]

I kill a ranged minion with my Q skill, satisfying the possession condition.

[Sai!]

I restrict the enemy’s movement with W and block the support’s assistance with E.

[Riba!]

Although there was no mark to provide additional damage, I rushed toward Vayne without hesitation.

[Ra Asteria Shuhata Filum]

[“Grow!”]

Perfect ultimate combo.

A pattern I’ve experienced dozens of times.

The pattern that makes ignorant players lose against Asteria.

No complex calculations needed here.

Vayne’s ultimate is invisibility, but it was useless against Asteria with her non-targeting skills, and we both had half health left.

Logically, when both use their best attacks, Asteria has a much higher damage expectation.

But the snake that couldn’t abandon its past arrogance…

It’s nature’s way for an eagle mistaken for a chick to devour its prey.

[Double Kill]

“But the reason Asteria is overpowered is because there are teammates who sacrifice themselves until she grows.”

It’s easy for someone to forget who helped them grow.

Especially players of Kassadin, Kayle, or Asteria.

Was I in this position solely because of my own excellence?

Of course not.

Without a mother bird incubating the egg, it won’t hatch.

I expressed gratitude to everyone who had been my nest, my windbreak, until I could build my own complete world.

“Thank you, Cheon Se-min. For saving my life.”

For recognizing my desperate struggle in that fleeting moment, which would have been easy to overlook.

“Without you, I wouldn’t be here.”

I was truly grateful. Sincerely.

* * *

[Have you heard of Walpurgis?]

After getting a double kill, Asteria becomes what players call “broken.”

Long range, balanced sustained and burst damage, and neither is weak.

A ranged carry with mobility, and an ultimate that deals merciless damage depending on the caster.

[I was trapped in a capsule with my mother. Without knowing why.]

“NoName, you’re actually insanely good?”

Asteria had just successfully executed a top dive.

Pyo Min-jun praised her while looking at her kill score.

(13/0/2)

Some might say 13 kills for Asteria isn’t impressive, but that’s assuming the game went to late stage.

A matchup with four high-ranked players on one team wasn’t just an uneven playing field—it was like the Earth’s axis flipping completely, with the North and South Poles switching places.

Even though they claimed to be playing casually, the game was one-sided, and the playtime still showed only 19 minutes.

In other words, the enemy team had been getting stomped for 19 straight minutes.

[But when I tried to investigate what that organization did in Korea, I couldn’t find any information.]

As soon as NoName and Se-min secured a victory in bottom lane, Asteria manifested as a god of calamity.

She relentlessly targeted the enemy top laner, whose spirit was already broken after being solo-killed twice by Min-jun during the laning phase.

Despite being an ADC, she successfully executed two top dives at 15 minutes and destroyed two turrets.

[Should I just live my life pretending not to know?]

Eventually, Asteria descended to mid lane and mercilessly took the lives of three enemies defending there.

“Is there anything more frustrating than dying under your own turret?” Sia muttered.

All the enemies had done wrong was try to defend their mid turret.

“Then they should have gotten stronger,” NoName replied cynically.

She even criticized them for what they were doing while she was growing.

Following behind NoName, Se-min thought she was truly an unpredictable character.

‘At least she seems cheerful.’

But Se-min still couldn’t get her words from the laning phase out of his head.

A terrorist organization that had caused incidents sensational enough to make headlines in Korea for months seven years ago—how did it come up here?

‘And the prosecutor who handled that case back then was probably…’

[Junho123: Hey, when’s the game ending?]

A message from Junho.

Se-min suddenly remembered he had come to the PC bang with his friend.

[PatientlyPersistant: Almost done.]

[PatientlyPersistant: Just wait a bit.]

[Junho123: Stop putting periods at the end of your messages. OCD much?]

‘What’s wrong with using periods?’

Se-min was about to send a text.

“I’ll kill at least you before the surrender vote!”

Vayne, his lane opponent, activated Ghost and fiercely chased Se-min, who was left alone in enemy territory.

Vayne was already furious from hearing Lulu’s laughter throughout the game.

She clearly wouldn’t sleep well tonight unless she took the little fairy’s head.

Se-min tried to escape quickly, but the speed difference was already too great, and each of Vayne’s silver arrows pierced his body.

Just before the final judgment struck his heart,

He felt his health being restored with a flash of light.

[Flash – Heal]

“You shouldn’t get distracted during games.”

Asteria had used her 4-minute cooldown heal and 5-minute cooldown Flash without hesitation to dramatically save Lulu.

Even though Se-min was only Silver tier, he understood the importance of those summoner spells.

“Isn’t using both spells for a support too wasteful?”

“You’re not just any support.”

Asteria helped the fairy to his feet with the brightest smile she’d shown yet.

“You’re my savior.”

“Ah…”

“Now let’s go end this game.”