Chapter 77: Are you watching a different screen alone?
by AfuhfuihgsNot all skilled gamers become professionals.
Even those who consider making a career out of gaming sometimes choose a different path.
If not a pro, then what?
The most obvious alternative is becoming a streamer.
Once was satisfied with the path he chose.
Objectively speaking, he was a successful streamer.
Teamfight Arena, the world’s most popular game, carried an infamous reputation alongside its fame.
A game where getting angry was more common than staying calm, where the World Health Organization once classified gaming addiction as a disease, and where players often blamed others rather than acknowledging their own mistakes.
A person who played Teamfight Arena without ever getting angry was considered a living Buddha.
Indeed, watching most streamers play, you’d find that nine out of ten—or ninety-nine out of a hundred—would explode in frustration at least a few times.
There were exceptions.
Some players didn’t get angry.
But they were usually in lower ranks, didn’t care about their ranking, or had already given up.
Because honestly, who can struggle to climb the ladder while being constantly held back by their team and not get frustrated?
So Once was unique.
A former rank 1 player who, despite all odds, never blamed teammates, never cursed, and barely showed any anger.
A “living Buddha” style of streaming.
With an average of 20,000 viewers, he was undeniably successful.
For the longest time, turning on his stream meant automatically being the #1 Korean channel on TryIt.
But lately, he’d been dropping to #2 more often.
Why?
Because someone even more unique had appeared.
Legend—a supernova from the very beginning, skipping the small-time phase entirely, instantly becoming a sensation.
All things that thrive will one day decline.
A Buddhist teaching.
So, did this “living Buddha” calmly accept his fall?
‘Now it’s that guy’s friend?’
Instead of accepting it, he channeled his rage into action.
“Victoryyyyy!!!”
He was at the gym, lifting weights.
If he didn’t regularly vent his frustration, it would explode during his stream.
A living Buddha? Where? He wasn’t about to become one of the Five Great Saints.
After exhausting himself with weight training, he still wasn’t calm.
So he ran twelve laps around his neighborhood, then showered and collapsed into bed.
Why didn’t Once go pro?
To answer that, you have to go back.
Back to when he first realized his limits.
Before Victory debuted as a pro, Once had never managed to surpass him.
That despair wasn’t unique to him.
No one had ever surpassed Victory.
Earlier, we mentioned that Once had held rank 1 for a long time.
But everyone knew the truth.
That period was when Victory had stopped playing ranked to prepare for professional tournaments.
For a pro, a high rank was nice.
But competitions always took priority.
When forced to choose, pros put everything into tournaments.
Only Once’s most die-hard fans insisted that he would have been rank 1 even if Victory had played seriously.
But even Once didn’t believe that.
He had already experienced what it was like to face an unbeatable wall.
Still, he had found success.
He became the best in the streaming world.
Did he really need to go pro?
It was like weight classes in combat sports.
If you can’t be #1 in the unlimited division, being the best in middleweight isn’t bad.
As a streamer, he had found his place.
That belief was further reinforced whenever he looked at Wild.
Who was Wild?
Probably the second-best Teamfight Arena player in the world.
Yet he was mocked endlessly.
Why? Because he was always #2.
There’s research showing that silver medalists are less satisfied than bronze medalists.
So imagine the life of someone eternally in second place.
Blocked by a genius, unable to ever reach gold.
Once had always reassured himself that he was satisfied.
That he had made peace with it.
But then another wall appeared before him.
Legend.
At first, he thought it was just temporary hype.
But she was like an onion, constantly revealing new layers of talent.
Her stream quickly cemented itself at the top, consistently drawing the most viewers.
Still, it was fine.
She only streamed five days a week.
Only four hours a day.
Losing some viewers during those four hours was manageable.
Once she went offline, the audience returned to him like salmon swimming upstream.
But now?
Now it wasn’t fine.
Five days a week.
Eight hours a day.
A “double streaming time” event?
Was she trying to strangle small businesses?
And that wasn’t even the worst part.
It wasn’t just the streaming scene she was taking over.
Now, she was dominating Teamfight Arena too.
Once’s rank was 7th—a position solid enough to be considered a top-tier player.
Until now, he had barely encountered Legend in ranked matches because her ranking had been lower.
But after she declared her Rank 1 climb, specifically after breaking into the Top 50, they started running into each other constantly.
And after facing her, he felt it again—the same wall he had once felt against Victory.
So this was what they meant when they said, “There is no paradise for those who run away.”
[oo has donated 1,000 KRW.]
“How the hell do you maintain an 80% win rate in a 5v5 game? Are the other players all rankers too, and she’s just two tiers above them?”
Three consecutive losses against Legend.
His rank dropped from 7th to 9th—a devastating blow.
And right in the middle of that, a donation praising his opponent.
His mask almost slipped.
The mask of a calm, composed streamer that he had worked so hard to maintain.
But he had to keep it on.
His viewers came to watch a clean, skill-focused stream.
“She really is different. I guess she didn’t declare a Rank 1 climb for nothing.”
<“Once is washed up LOL, switching to Legend’s stream now.”>
And then, a single chat message stood out.
It almost broke him.
Switching to a more entertaining stream? That’s natural. He could understand that. He could accept that.
But why did they have to say it out loud before leaving?
Just to piss him off?
What the hell had he done wrong?
[ᄋᄋ has donated 100,000 KRW.]
“Once, you’re amazing for not blaming your team and acknowledging the enemy’s skill. I always enjoy your streams.”
<“Respecting skill is respectable.”>
<“Look at his face—he’s barely holding it in LOL.”>
<“But he held it in, right?”>
<“Restraint mayo.”>
Timely financial support and chat messages helped pull him back from the brink.
Right. He had fans who supported him.
No need to let a few trolls ruin him.
Holding his mental state together, Once decided to approach things differently.
“But if two people can do it… shouldn’t others be able to as well?”
Once had felt a wall before.
Victory was a genius, and he still believed that.
And now, he had hit another wall.
This time, it was Legend.
Victory’s recognized rival.
But something felt different.
One person being on another level was one thing—but two?
That meant there was a way to get there.
Had he just given up too early?
“It’s a 5v5 game. A single player’s impact should have limits. How are those two pulling off such ridiculous win rates?”
Was it mechanics?
Sure, their reflexes were monstrous.
Dodging everything, landing every skillshot—of course, that would lead to winning.
But that only applied to 1v1s.
In a 5v5 setting, mechanics alone shouldn’t be enough.
Every player in the top ranks was at the peak of the game.
They weren’t facing idiots.
Then was it game sense?
But what exactly were they doing differently?
What was the key?
That question started to clear up in the next match—where they ended up on the same team.
[Legend has requested assistance.]
Legend- “ColdSteel, take this area and back off immediately.”
Once had deliberately avoided watching Legend’s streams.
He felt like it would stir up ugly feelings.
Victory was a pro.
That was fine.
Once was a streamer.
A different playing field.
That’s how he rationalized it.
But now? Now, another streamer had appeared who was in a different league.
Wouldn’t it have been better if she had just gone pro?
But that was the thinking of a loser.
If you don’t face something head-on, you’ll never understand it.
If you want to become better than yesterday, you can’t run away.
No matter how much it scares you.
No matter how much it hurts.
[Legend has requested assistance.]
[Legend is on the way.]
[Legend has requested assistance.]
[Legend has requested assistance.]
[Legend has requested retreat.]
“She never stops shot-calling… but how the hell are her calls this accurate?”
It was almost like…
She was seeing a different screen from everyone else.
BONUS CONTENT: Recent False Accusations About Legend
Lately, Legend has been accused of being flat-chested, petite, and an AAA-cup.
The cover illustration only looked that way because she wasn’t wearing a bra, causing a slight gap.
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