Ch.33Luck Comes Unexpectedly – 1

– Victory! –

“…Ugh!! I-I’m back up!!”

Looking at the two characters for victory filling the screen.

Madcat, no. Eunsol Seo lets out a cheer.

With this, I’ve made it back to the promotion series. Now all that’s left are 3 victories.

If I win, I’ll reach Silver. Once I hit Silver, this long and arduous mission will finally end.

The mission reward is certainly sweet, but more than that, I want to escape this hell quickly.

Honestly, I thought it might be possible yesterday, but you should never get your hopes up.

Just yesterday, in the final match of the much-anticipated promotion series on stream.

I was absolutely destroyed by an enemy mid who didn’t look like a local player at all.

That’s exactly when you say someone is playing the game solo.

Four trash teammates, yet one person carries the game.

Thanks to that, Eunsol Seo’s mental completely shattered and she ended the stream.

To that Eunsol Seo, her brother and former pro gamer, Jaehyun Seo, said:

“Hey. I watched your promotion replay briefly, and that enemy mid isn’t a local. At minimum, they’re Diamond or higher.”

“The reason I’m certain is, forget everything else and just look at how they calculate damage. They deliberately take hits they can afford to take, and dodge everything they shouldn’t take. It’s intentional. They make you think you can win, then when you go in, they turn it around on you. At your rank, you’d naturally think ‘I landed my skills, why am I losing?’ That’s understandable.”

Jaehyun Seo even said that, though the possibility was low, the opposing mid gave off pro vibes.

Vision control and skill accuracy, plus movement prediction, map reading, and enemy behavior prediction.

Even early lane trading advantage using minions for auto-attack exchanges.

“They might be malicious. Be careful. Looking at their match history, it feels like they’re deliberately targeting promotion series.”

Jaehyun Seo rarely worries about his younger sister.

Like real siblings, they’re the type who don’t particularly care what the other does.

But when it comes to games, especially smurfing like this using alternate accounts, he’s sharp.

Moreover, since they’re both streamers, they can’t help but be extremely sensitive to stream sniping.

“Seriously… if they want attention, they should just donate instead.”

With a sigh, Eunsol finished her dinner and sat back down.

She wants to turn on her stream right away and show herself trying the promotion series again.

And she wants to rise proudly to Silver amid everyone’s cheers.

‘Should I just remove the break notice and turn on the stream? …No, no. I should rest when it’s time to rest.’

How many people have fallen off after underestimating streaming?

I’ve heard that sedentary jobs will collapse if you don’t manage yourself properly.

Rest when it’s time to rest, exercise when it’s time to exercise, and work when it’s time to work.

Even her brother, who was a pro gamer, exercises regularly despite saying he hates it.

And Eunsol also goes to the gym to maintain at least minimal fitness.

This isn’t a hobby or a pastime. It’s clearly a profession.

You must have a sense of responsibility and not neglect self-management.

“Huh?”

Eunsol, who was just browsing here and there as usual, lets out a gasp.

It looks like a news article that just came up, and the title itself is concerning.

“Gate formation in a suppressor area? What? Is that even possible?”

Why is a suppressor called a suppressor? Obviously because it suppresses gate appearances.

While not 100%, it blocks gates with a very high probability.

Some say society didn’t collapse thanks to this groundbreaking invention.

But a gate appearing where a suppressor is working properly?

‘Is this just clickbait? No way. Even tabloid journalists wouldn’t go that far.’

Plus, it’s not just one article with such a title. Similar articles are flooding the feed.

Continuously tilting her head in confusion, Eunsol clicked on one of the articles at random.

“Maybe there’s just a problem with the suppressor? Or perhaps it’s a villain’s doing.”

Perhaps influenced by streaming, she keeps muttering to herself.

She wonders if this is an occupational disease, talking to herself even without viewers to respond.

The article content was, well, not much different from other news.

Roughly, a gate appeared, monsters came out, and several people were injured.

And then some criticism about the slow response and not relying too much on suppressors.

Just like always, a few easy verbal criticisms and that’s it.

‘The quality of these journalists, really…’

As Eunsol scrolled down casually, she suddenly stopped at a photo.

A blonde, blue-eyed beauty, and a man shaking hands with her.

First of all, every citizen in South Korea knows who that Westerner is.

S-rank ability user, the strongest in South Korea in terms of pure power, and also the craziest, Rina Lee.

It’s said that South Korea can speak with a louder voice thanks to her.

That’s how overwhelming Rina Lee’s power is.

“S-rank ability user Rina Lee, who was on her way to the Association, eliminated all monsters that emerged from the gate. Upon confirmation, one was an A-rank gate, while the other was assessed as between C-rank and B-rank…”

As Eunsol read along with the article, she suddenly fixed her gaze on the man in the photo.

Who is this person to be with Rina Lee?

Moreover, why is he shaking hands with that woman who reportedly ignores even the president?

“Meanwhile, according to Rina Lee’s testimony, another ability user bravely stood up to block the monsters. That brave protagonist is Seojin Baek, a civil servant currently working in the ability measurement department, who is currently dispatched to the Academy…”

According to the following content, this wasn’t just a one-time occurrence.

Recently, when the Academy was massively attacked by villains.

Seojin Baek, who was dispatched that day, helped the students and was injured enough to be hospitalized.

To make such a decision despite not being a security officer for the Academy.

Eunsol was newly impressed by this person named Seojin Baek.

If it were her, she would have just run away without looking back.

‘It’s because he’s that kind of person that he fought hard when the gate suddenly appeared.’

She examined the brightly smiling Seojin Baek more closely.

Looking at him this way, he’s not just a kind and brave person.

He’s kind and brave, and on top of that, handsome.

She thought he might be better off streaming than being a civil servant.

“He’s really a good person…”

Such a person would always play with manners even when gaming.

Not cursing, not asking about parents, not looking down on less skilled players.

‘And! Not smurfing like the opponent I met yesterday!’

The world would be a better place if there were more good people like this!

Eunsol gave a round of applause as an ordinary citizen to Seojin Baek in the photo.

*

Getting off the subway and heading toward the Academy, I saw strange people ahead.

“There! There he is!!”

“Mr. Seojin Baek! Mr. Seojin Baek!!”

“Please give us a moment of your time!!”

What the hell! A zombie horde? Is this an apocalypse story?

When dozens suddenly rushed toward me, I instinctively turned away.

“Where are you going! Mr. Seojin Baek!”

“I’m a reporter from ◇◇ Daily! Please give us a comment!”

“▲▲ Newspaper here! We’d like to ask about yesterday’s incident!”

Don’t they care at all about the person being interviewed?!

Isn’t asking for permission first the natural order of things?!

I understood why Rina immediately got annoyed at the sight of reporters.

Yesterday, I just did a few interviews and that was it. So I just went along with it.

But now I can see that was because all attention was focused on Rina.

Now those reporters, without Rina around, seem to have marked me as their next scoop.

And they probably thought I’d be much easier to deal with than that woman.

“Where are you going! Mr. Seojin Baek! How did you meet Rina Lee yesterday?”

“What is your rank? How did you feel when Rina Lee shook your hand?”

“Did you clear the gate together with Rina Lee? Please answer!”

What are they saying? Why are you all curious about me shaking hands with someone else?

And now I notice all the questions are about Rina, not about the gate.

Are they from the entertainment department? Isn’t this normally covered by the social affairs section?

“Mr. Seojin Baek!”

“Mr. Seojin Baek!!”

“Please answer for the people’s right to know!”

Damn it, so I have no rights at all!

I have nothing to say. I already said everything yesterday, what more do you want!

BOOM―!

As I was busy trying to avoid the reporters without even being able to enter the Academy.

Suddenly, something like an explosion went off right beside me.

I thought it might be another villain attack.

The reporters, startled by the sudden situation, were busy running away shouting “Save me!”

“Tsk tsk. I wonder if they really want to behave like this even in a place like this.”

“P-Principal!”

White hair, elderly, and narrowed eyes. The perfect trinity.

Hakjun Ma, whom I had recently saved from Hyuk Kwak, was somehow right beside me.

‘Are you a ghost?!’

Really, no matter where you go, why are white-haired old men so incredible?

They say it’s the norm, but I heard that ability power normally plummets with age.

When you awaken your ability, you reach your prime until your 30s. After that, it’s a continuous decline.

That’s why most S-rank ability users are concentrated in their 20s and 30s.

Not everyone is like that. Rarely, some maintain their skills even as they age.

Of course, this requires truly bone-breaking, blood-spitting effort.

By that standard, Hakjun Ma was truly an exceptional case.

Thump―

“Let’s go in. I have some things to discuss.”

Hakjun Ma takes the lead, lightly tapping the ground with his scabbard.

Thanks to him, the reporters who realized it wasn’t a villain attack and were trying to approach again.

Were busy backing away without a peep due to Hakjun Ma’s tremendous pressure.

“Excuse me! Mr. Seojin Baek!”

Amidst all this, there were still a very few reporters who dared to step forward.

Brave, professionally dedicated, or perhaps just an exceptional tabloid journalist.

“I have a question… Eeeek!”

But even that reporter eventually crumbled under one glance from Hakjun Ma.

At a glance, he doesn’t seem to be an ability user but a non-ability user, which makes him all the more impressive in many ways.

“I heard about what happened yesterday.”

If it’s Hakjun Ma, he would focus more on the gate occurrence within the suppressor area rather than on Rina.

He’ll probably ask about any peculiarities regarding the gate or monsters…

“You, what exactly is your identity?”

At this point, I feel a bit guilty. I’m clearly just an ordinary 9th-grade civil servant.

It’s just that somehow I ended up with one strange characteristic.

Wouldn’t it be better to just say, “Actually, I’m a secretly dispatched special agent”?