Chapter 114: In this cruel world

During the official league season, solo rank standings usually didn’t attract much attention.

That’s because it was widely seen as just a battle between those left behind, with the real pros disappearing to prepare for their matches.

However, with ultra-popular streamer JeonJeonSeol and fairly high-profile streamer Once battling it out for first and second place, it was impossible for it not to become a hot topic.

The two of them constantly swapped rankings for a while.

[Posted by: ㅇㅇ] [JeonJeonSeol’s been playing weird games too much, he’s lost his touch LOL]

[Look at that win rate drop LOL

Can’t even call himself a skilled gamer anymore]

─[If second place is considered bad, then what are the 2 million people below? Monkeys?]

└[Welcome back, Electric Dog]

└[No seriously, what are those 2 million people below then LOL]

─[Second-tier god: Finally, you’re looking this way?]

└[You lunatic LOL]

─[Even hate should have limits—are you that insecure?]

With his once-overwhelming dominance gone, armchair critics came out in droves to tear JeonJeonSeol apart.

But after nearly a week of grueling battle, JeonJeonSeol once again stood tall at the top.

He reached a point where second-place Once would need a 10-game win streak just to catch up.

In truth, Once’s rise had been helped by tier inflation.

The more people played, the more point volatility was introduced, and the more high-ranked players there were, the more opportunities arose for others to climb.

To put it simply: while JeonJeonSeol was earning 7 points per win and losing 30 per loss, Once was passing through the same stage earning 12 per win and losing 25 per loss.

It all happened while JeonJeonSeol had his attention elsewhere—on another game, Meteor Story.

But now, he was back and focused.

[Posted by: ㅇㅇ] [Where did all those clowns pushing the “JeonJeonSeol is washed up” narrative go?]

[He planted his flag back on the summit in just a week, right?

He just took a short break to play -Meteor- and you all acted like he was done for LOL

Saying he’s washed, that his skills dropped, that he’s outdated—what a joke

If you’re that bad at analyzing games, maybe stop playing altogether

It’s losers like you pretending to be experts that turn this community into a trash heap LOL]

─[I get that JeonJeonSeol’s good at games, but why are you so hyped?]

└[Because he’s an overly invested “broth fanboy”]

─[So, are you richer than Once? Higher ranked than Once?]

└[I’m Bill Gates and I have 20 billion golden calves at home]

─[Still, playing -Meteor- is kinda weird. That game got caught rigging its loot boxes]

└[Gasp!]

└[Are you seriously calling someone irrational and dumb for playing Meteor Story, the game that created the greatest gacha item system in Korean gaming history?]

└[Yeah]

└[I think so too]

[Posted by: ㅇㅇ] [Haters, pack your bags!]

[(Rank 1 record of JeonJeonSeol’s ladder stats)

(Photo of JeonJeonSeol in a red wig)

As of today, TeamArena Gallery belongs to JeonJeonSeol]

─[We worship the GOAT]

─[(flag waving)]

─[Why are you guys losing your minds here instead of your own fan gallery?]

─[Greatest of All Time, JeonJeonSeol]

─[Praise him]

This was what happened on the surface, in the visible world of the internet.

And in a place not open to everyone… something more private was going on.

Once – <Still an unscalable wall, I see>

Once – <Always learning a lot from you, thank you>

Once – <By the way, would you be interested in joining the Challenger Discord?>

Once – <We spectate each other, watch replays, discuss strategy, even do some internal scrims>

Once – <No pressure—totally fine if you’re not up for it>

JeonJeonSeol –

JeonJeonSeol –

Once – <(link)>

A gladiator’s gathering.

A Discord server exclusively for the top Challengers of Teamfight Arena.

They weren’t cruel enough to kick someone out for being demoted, but when joining, you had to prove to the admins at least once that you were a Challenger.

Once – <I’ve already talked to the admins, so you can skip the verification process>

Thankfully, the one who invited him handled the hassle.

The server had around 90 members.

Considering there were only 300 Challengers total, that was a pretty decent number.

Of course, not everyone was super active.

Many people joined the server but didn’t participate at all.

Still, it wasn’t a ghost town—there were several people streaming their games, and a number of spectators watching.

<JeonJeonSeol has entered the server! Wave hello!>

#A system message posted in the chat channel.

A few people immediately reacted.

JMG – <Is that really him?>

TryIt_Fanboy0 –

TryIt_Fanboy0 –

Once – <Took some effort to bring him in, haha>

JeonJeonSeol –

JMG – <(waving emoji)>

TryIt_Fanboy0 – <(waving emoji)>

Once – <(waving emoji)>

JeonJeonSeol – <(waving emoji)>

The reason JeonJeonSeol accepted the invitation?

Honestly… he was bored.

As mentioned several times, she didn’t really have any friends.

She was so bored that she became completely absorbed in the kind of RPG that efficiently erases time.

The Discord server was divided into two sections: a text channel for posting images and messages, and a voice channel where you could do video calls, screen sharing, and voice chat.

JeonJeonSeol entered a voice channel where about seven people were gathered, spectating a game.

“Hello.”

─ “Wow!”

“?”

─ “Did someone open YouTube? I hear a girl’s voice.”

“It’s not YouTube. I’m a girl.”

─ “Gasp!”

─ “As far as I know, there’s only one woman in Challenger.”

─ “Whoa, is it really you, JeonJeonSeol?”

Anyone who played enough to reach Challenger knew who JeonJeonSeol was.

And the reactions to her appearance didn’t stop there.

Ding.

Ding.

Ding.

Ding.

Notification sounds that played whenever someone entered the voice channel.

From seven, the number of people in the voice channel quickly jumped by sixteen, making it twenty-three.

Strangely enough, none of the newcomers spoke up right away.

JeonJeonSeol had a hunch.

They were all waiting for her to say something.

“Uh, hello?”

─ “Hello!”

─ “I’m a fan.”

─ “My in-game name is ‘TotalTrashGame’.”

─ “Nice to meet you.”

─ “You’ve finally arrived!”

More than ten people spoke at once, causing all the sounds to overlap, making it impossible to understand anything.

“Everyone, please calm down.”

─ “Ah, I was just so excited.”

─ “We’ve met in-game a lot. Do you remember me?”

─ “Why didn’t you accept my invite before but joined just now?”

─ “Can we all take turns talking?”

─ “The audio is overlapping too much.”

Even though the number of people speaking decreased, five or more still talked at once, so the sound still overlapped.

It was hard to understand what anyone was saying.

Then, during that brief moment of silence—

─ “Ugh! It’s so damn noisy!”

The person who had been sharing their screen suddenly turned off their stream and disappeared.

The atmosphere turned icy.

─ “What kind of inconsiderate jerk says something like that?”

─ “Well, we were kinda loud…”

“I’m sorry. I’ll leave.”

─ “No! No! Don’t leave, JeonJeonSeol. Someone else can stream.”

─ “Earlier he said his friend was still in school. Probably just rude and immature, right?”

JeonJeonSeol had a powerful premonition.

She was already screwed.

Maybe she shouldn’t have accepted the invite.

Some people would say:

Didn’t you know what would happen if you joined a social server?

But listen carefully.

She was genuinely frustrated.

She was just lonely because she didn’t have any friends, and she wanted to get along with others, have healthy discussions about games and so on—

But how was she supposed to stop people from falling for her on their own, becoming fans, confessing their feelings?

Is she supposed to take responsibility by staying alone forever and dying lonely?

If you’re not planning to be someone’s girlfriend, are you not even allowed to speak to a guy?

What kind of ridiculous logic is that?

“Ugh…”

JeonJeonSeol let out a groan full of many meanings and left the voice channel.

That’s when a sudden DM—direct message—arrived.

Juicy – <JeonJeonSeol, that’s so unfair. Why didn’t you accept my server invite, but you accepted Once’s?>

Juicy – <Are you two dating?>

Who even are you to send a message like that?

Do you even know me?

Once and I actually have a bit of history, we’ve seen each other often, I’m used to him, we even have each other added as friends—but you? I literally don’t even know you.

So why would I accept some random invite from a stranger?

Even the thought of having to explain all that made JeonJeonSeol’s mind go numb.

Why are there so many people in the world who lack even the most basic decency?

Once – <I’m really sorry, JeonJeonSeol.>

Once – <But please don’t leave the server.>

Once – <I’ll clean it up neatly.>

She also got a message from Once.

He clearly hadn’t predicted things would turn out this way.

His message showed he was flustered.

JeonJeonSeol decided to let it slide—just this once.

Because she was desperate for someone to talk about the game with.