Chapter 57: Let’s sync up a bit.

Honestly, I wasn’t planning on being surprised no matter what they were eating.

The world was full of all kinds of food, after all.

—”I’m eating chojang (vinegared red chili paste).”

“…Just chojang?”

—”Yep.”

[+HurryAndLeave: …?]

[???]

[Wait, are you not eating it with something else?]

[You have to be, right?]

[Pepe: There’s no way they’re eating just chojang.]

[That stuff is way too salty to eat on its own.]

[??]

[???]

I was confused.

They were eating just chojang?

Was that even possible?

“You’re not dipping anything in it? You’re just eating that?”

“Yeah, it’s good.”

“…Ah, I see.”

I gave a short response because this was beyond my understanding.

Even if they explained, I doubted I would ever get it.

[+HurryAndLeave: So you just decided to ignore it LOL.]

[Honestly, that’s probably for the best.]

[I mean, who eats straight chojang while gaming? That cannot be normal.]

[Really==]

[Pepe: Just picturing someone eating pure chojang at their computer is hilarious.]

[Peak chojang enjoyer.]

[But didn’t Yuki always love chojang too?]

[+HurryAndLeave: Who the hell is Yuki, you damn weeb?]

After some more small talk, I finally assigned Guo-in their role.

“Guo-in, you’re going support.”

“Ah… okay.”

Surprisingly, there wasn’t much resistance.

It seemed like Guo-in wasn’t particularly confident in their Reore skills.

“I’ll go jungle.”

“Wait, if you’re making me go support, you should go ADC.”

Technically, they had a point.

If we weren’t going to play the same lane, there was no real reason to duo queue together.

But.

“Why should I?”

I shamelessly refused.

If it were any other role, maybe.

But queuing bot lane with someone whose Reore skills were completely unknown?

That was basically hell.

Even if I wanted to play for fun, it wouldn’t be fun at all if my duo was that bad.

It’d just be painful.

So I had no choice but to do things this way.

[+HurryAndLeave: LOOOOOL.]

[Yeah, honestly, this is the right call.]

[You can’t just blindly duo bot without knowing their skill level.]

[Unbelievable.]

[Pepe: As expected, Yott is ruthlessly logical LOL.]

[Damn, Guo-in must be devastated right now LOL.]

[Should’ve ranked up if they wanted to duo bot. That’s just how it is.]

“Wow… I can’t believe this.”

“If we win this match, we can go bot together next time. We need to check our synergy first, don’t you think?”

“…Synergy?”

“Yeah.”

[Oh.]

[Hmm.]

[Yott and Guo-in’s synergy…?]

[I cannot ignore this.]

[+HurryAndLeave: Please, control yourselves LOL.]

[I have a feeling this is gonna go horribly wrong, am I the only one?]

[Pepe: Same LOL.]

And with that, we finally queued up.

A few moments later.

Ding!

The game queued up instantly.

Since this wasn’t ranked, matchmaking felt way faster.

As expected, we were assigned the roles we had chosen earlier.

“Hmm… What should I play for support?”

“Ali could be a good pick.”

“That champ is boring.”

“But it’s strong.”

“Still not interested.”

Guo-in turned it down without hesitation.

A shame.

If they had picked Ali, we’d have had a solid frontline.

But I wasn’t going to force them.

This was just for fun—there was no point in making them play something they didn’t enjoy just for the sake of a good team comp.

So, I waited to see what they’d choose.

“Hmm…”

After a brief pause.

“I’ll go with this one.”

A familiar cat champion appeared on the screen.

The one that could literally function at full potential without doing much at all.

“…Of all the champions available, that one?”

Sure, the champion was strong, but it wasn’t exactly fun to play.

It felt like a bit of a waste.

“I’m picking this so I can follow you around and see how skilled you are for this first game.”

“Hmm.”

So, they were evaluating my skills?

[+HurryAndLeave: As if Yott’s skill even needs to be evaluated LOL.]

[Shouldn’t Yott be the one judging Guo-in instead?]

[Yeah, that would actually make sense LOL.]

[Hmm… LOL.]

[Guo-in, Guo-in… smh.]

[This is just hilarious LOL.]

[Pepe: Who’s evaluating who here? I’m losing it LOL.]

[As expected, Guo-in is the king of nonsense bb.]

Well, whatever.

We knew each other’s skill level in the battle royale game, but not in Reore.

It was natural for them to be skeptical.

Thinking that, I locked in another cat champion.

“Meow~”

“I’ll go with this one.”

It was a spear-wielding champion—one infamous for being incredibly difficult to play.

Most people avoided it because of its steep learning curve, but… I was confident.

‘It’s not that hard, honestly.’

To me, it wasn’t that difficult at all.

Sure, the controls were tricky, but when you broke it down, it really wasn’t as complex as people made it out to be.

“Ah, that one’s kind of… hmm…”

Guo-in didn’t seem thrilled, but I ignored them.

It’s not like they were an expert on Reore or anything.

“Don’t worry about it. We’re going to win anyway.”

[+HurryAndLeave: Damn.]

[The crazy part is, he’s not wrong…]

[We’re going to win anyway (100% true).]

[Yeah, if you’ve seen him play before, you’d know he cannot be bad at this game LOL.]

[Pepe: That’s literally just basic jungler skill.]

This champion was a fundamental pick for junglers.

That’s exactly why I was so confident in my choice.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

“Hmm… You don’t exactly inspire confidence, but… I’ll trust you just this once.”

“You don’t have to trust me. I’ll prove it with my gameplay.”

“Hmph.”

[+HurryAndLeave: Damn, LOL.]

[The confidence is unreal.]

[I’m already hyped to see him dominate in-game.]

[Let’s go, let’s go!]

[Pepe: Honestly, losing would be harder LOL.]

And with that, we officially started the Reore match.

“Head to bot first. I’ll clear the jungle on my own.”

“Was already planning to~.”

“Got it.”

[LOL.]

[Why do these two feel like they’re always trying to one-up each other?]

[It’s fun to watch, though.]

[Yeah, but that champ doesn’t need a leash anyway.]

[Clearing the jungle solo is actually faster with it.]

[Pepe: Alright, time to carry.]

I scanned the enemy team composition.

There might be a champion I needed to be wary of.

But.

“…Wow. Their comp is terrible.”

All I could do was marvel at how bad it was.

It was an absolute mess.

With the champion I had picked, this game would be a slaughter.

[+HurryAndLeave: What is that comp? LOL.]

[Bro, it’s casual queue. Just accept it.]

[Still, their lineup is horrendous.]

[Fact: Yott’s team comp is also trash.]

[Yeah, but I’d rather have garbage than literal sewage LOL.]

[Let’s go, time to carry.]

Since this was a casual game, I hadn’t planned on trying too hard.

But after what Guo-in had said earlier, I couldn’t just half-ass it.

If I played poorly here, they’d assume I was always bad.

I had to go all out.

And so, the match began.

Shwoop!

I started clearing the jungle at high speed.

The plan was simple—clear fast and then immediately impact the lanes.

That was the whole reason I picked this champion in the first place.

Tap tap tap!

My fingers moved swiftly across the keyboard.

How long had I been maneuvering like this?

“Alright, time to gank top.”

It was time to impact the lanes.

[+HurryAndLeave: Their Renekton should be able to follow up nicely LOL.]

[Let’s go!]

[Looks like a free kill.]

[Did they seriously not ward and just push up?]

[Pepe: Guess it’s because it’s casual queue—no one’s even warding.]

[That just makes it more fun LOL.]

I sprinted toward the top lane.

And moments later.

[You have slain an enemy!]

A clean kill.

“Cut.”

[+HurryAndLeave: Now that’s what I’m talking about LOL.]

[Damn.]

[Your spear accuracy is insane.]

[Wait, the enemy actually seems decent? What’s going on?]

[Pepe: Nah, it’s just casual queue. Even I could win in this lobby.]

[They don’t seem that good, honestly.]

[Pepe: Uh… I just checked their match history. They’re all Diamond-ranked.]

[Pepe: What the hell?]

So far, the game felt easy—probably because it was casual queue.

The enemies weren’t playing optimally.

But still.

‘Their mechanics are weirdly solid.’

Something felt off.

But whatever.

There were always mechanically skilled players in lower ranks.

Shaking off the thought, I continued to snowball the game.

But then.

[An ally has been slain!]

[An ally has been slain!]

[Double kill!]

A disaster.

From bot lane.

“What the hell happened?”

I hadn’t expected things to go wrong there.

I was genuinely caught off guard.

The enemy comp wasn’t even designed to get kills like that.

Just as I was piecing it together.

“Uh… the enemy is way too good. What’s going on?”

Guo-in muttered something ominous.