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"Alright, since this isn’t exactly fair, I’ll start with a penalty. I’ll go without wards and give them one free kill to start."

- LOL, still a smurfing stomp.

- This guy, hahaha.

- Honestly, if he doesn’t handicap himself, he’s just crushing the dreamers.

- Dreamers? In this low rank? It’s all washed-up players here.

Ignoring the snarky comments from the chat, Sun-Hyung raised his voice. "Guys, ready?"

"Yeah, ready. Let’s go easy on them. I’ll go with an entertaining pick," said one of his teammates, queuing up.

A five versus five party queue. The match was quickly set up.

"Oh, we’re in! What’s this? Heins Clan? What a funny name. Alright, taking votes. What champion should I go with?"

- Brum.

- Legit. Brum.

"Brum, huh… That champion’s so unplayed it’s practically dead. But hey, it all depends on who’s playing, right?"

- Look at that confidence.

- Honestly, with a pro player smurfing in low ranks, every champion is overpowered.

"Smurfing isn’t the greatest content, so I’ll keep it to a couple of matches. Let’s just breeze through and then surrender."

With that, Sun-Hyung picked the champion Brum, as his viewers suggested.

Then the game began.

"Woah, they’re not even checking the invade. Ah, these low ranks…”

- Easy push for a kill, let’s go!

"If you don’t follow me and commit, there’s no way I’ll help you later! Let’s go!” Sun-Hyung and his teammates confidently initiated a rush. They were going after a lone, tiny middle lane character wandering cluelessly in the jungle.

"If you waltz into our jungle like this, there’s no way out. Unless it\'s a bot, there’s no way they’ll dodge this slow..." he said, moving in for the kill.

Just then—

"Huh?"

Right as he dove in, the small middle lane character darted away, narrowly avoiding his nearly flawless attack.

"Oh, pretty decent reflexes? Still..."

First Blood!

Sun-Hyung chuckled as he took the opponent down in an instant.

"Since I promised to give them a kill, I’ll go down once the laning phase starts."

With that, the laning phase started.

Chat comments flooded in, claiming that the opponent was probably already shaken mentally and him giving them a kill wasn’t much of a handicap—in reality, Sun-Hyung just wanted to end the game quickly as it really wasn’t the type of content he enjoyed doing. ṟ

Knocking down the waves of NPC minions and collecting gold, Sun-Hyung felt something strange about his opponent’s movements.

"What’s going on here? They’re moving a bit... unusual."

Something about the way they played felt off from the usual patterns, but then again, he reminded himself that he was playing against low-rankers. He knew that, as a pro, he’d never get bested by them.

"Alright, let’s pretend to make a mistake and die on purpose."

[An ally has been slain!]

With the notification, his champion collapsed and the screen turned gray.

"Okay, let’s play with no vision wards and end this fast."

- Just win already.

- He’s teaching them a tough lesson.

Laughing at the comments, Sun-Hyung got back into the game.

Then, suddenly—

"Huh? What the—?"

One of his teammates let out a surprised yell.

"Damn!"

Startled, Sun-Hyung glanced over. "What’s up?"

"Shit… What was that reaction speed? I almost died there..."

His teammate said, visibly shaken. Seeing his top lane teammate, Si-Woo—considered a genius in his role—get so flustered was rare.

[An enemy has been slain!]

It seemed his teammate managed to turn it around and secure the kill, but his reaction spoke volumes.

"Whoa... That was some crazy reflex."

"Are they good?"

"I don’t know. Honestly, I can tell they’re a total rookie, missing almost every minion, but their reactions and split-second decisions are startling.”

"Die! Die!!" someone shouted from the bottom lane, fully immersed in the game.

And then—

"Wait, what?! Why are you there?!"

With his scream—

[An ally has been slain.]

[Enemy double kill!]

The stream chat exploded in confusion.

- ????

- ???? Did a double kill just happen in the bottom lane? In this low rank?

- What’s going on?

"Whoa... What’s with their AD carry?”

"Dude, quit messing around."

"Are you kidding me? The jungler’s not even supposed to be here yet!"

"Hey, we’re in low rank, remember? You can’t play by the usual logic here. It’s the wild west here; only people who know the meta stick to it. These guys don’t know it, so they’re playing in unpredictable ways."

"Screw this… This is pissing me off. Time to go try-hard.”

The match resumed. It was one-sided at first, even with the handicap. Despite giving away a kill, the gap between a pro and a low-rank player wasn’t something easily overcome. In fact, they could normally give away two to three kills and still beat the opponent easily. But the opponent themselves managing to get two kills off of them was certainly a shock.

"Alright, no more fooling around."

At that moment, the AD carry in the bottom lane of his team seemed to snap and started playing with a new level of intensity.

- Yeah, that’s more like it.

- He’s a pro getting killed in low ranks? So bad OMEGALUL.

- Totally humiliating, right?

The teasing comments kept rolling in, but Park Sun-Hyung kept feeling that something was off. Even without using wards, the opponent’s playstyle seemed too precise and calculated to be just a beginner. It was as if their reflexes were maxed out, but their knowledge of the game was lagging behind.

"Huh? Wait, what happened? Where’d my jungle creeps go?"

Suddenly, someone in the jungle shouted incredulously.

- What’s going on?

- Come on, you’re messing around too much.

"Damn, did I underestimate them just because we’re playing in low rank?"

- Their movements are strangely on point for scrubs.

- For reals. They just seemed like they’re not used to playing; when they’re locked in, they don’t hesitate at all.

- Maybe they’re smurfing, too?

"These guys are definitely smurfs. A total newbie wouldn’t have this level of reaction time. Their split-second decisions would make even Diamond players smash their keyboards."

- KEKW, watching pros face off against smurfs in a five versus five is the best.

The game didn’t last much longer. Sun-Hyung and his teammates, frustrated by their opponents with their unexpected plays, ramped up and slaughtered them to end the match.

“Oh… I forgot to surrender.”

- OMEGALUL.

"It’s fine. No need to go easy on smurfs."

- True, honestly. It’s fair game at that point.

As the game ended, Sun-Hyung turned the game off, masking his irritation as best he could. "Alright, that’s it for today’s stream. That was unexpectedly fun. Hope this doesn’t mess up my focus with the upcoming tournament."

- Who do you think will win the tournament?

"Who else? We’re in it to win it. Gotta play like we mean it."

- True that.

- For real, lol.

Sun-Hyung turned off the stream and looked over at his teammates gathered in the living room, all with puzzled expressions.

"Hey, what’s up with you guys?"

"Dude, who were those guys?"

"Huh? Judging by how they were playing on their smurf accounts, they probably got up to Challenger and started playing with their smurfs. Their accounts were only created four days ago."

"Yeah, but…" murmured top laner Si-Woo, narrowing his eyes, "playing against them was… unsettling."

"Unsettling? You felt unsettled?"

"Hey, I’m human, too. It’s just… how do I put this…?"

"It felt like we were being experimented on."

"Yes! That’s it! They didn’t seem to care about winning or losing; it was like they were testing something out. Their movements were still rough at times, but the whole match was eerie—unsettling, even.”

"It’s probably nothing. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone play quite like that in Challenger."

"Yeah…"

"But, seriously, were those guys really just smurfs?"

"No one can spook a pro that badly after just four days, no matter how talented they are."

The truth was, none of them knew the real answer.

* * *

A week had passed.

Crunch.

Someone bit into a snack.

"Gank incoming."

In response to his voice, Rinne appeared from the jungle in an instant. The enemy panicked, accidentally flashing in confusion.

Crunch!

The opponent\'s cries echoed as the gank swiftly closed in.

- Damn you smurfing bastards!

- Does it make you feel good doing that in a ranked game?

"Hahaha! Clear the way!"

The top and mid lanes were basically open highways, and the enemy’s bottom lane was getting mercilessly crushed.

Regardless of the enemy lineup, the top lane bulldozed forward and the mid lane swept across the map dismantling everything in its path, while the jungle dismantled the opponent\'s mentality with movements that didn’t allow room for even a single second to respond. Meanwhile, the AD carry at the bottom lane was crushing the enemy, not letting even the support player survive.

Starting from the lowest ranks, they had quickly climbed to the shiny Grandmaster rank. Watching them in action, Al Hajat couldn’t believe his eyes. It was only natural for the opponents to become tougher with each tier, making it more difficult to climb the ranks.

But the people in front of him had somehow forgotten how to stop themselves. They sped forward without slowing down, spending only a few games in each tier before plowing through like a bulldozer. Looking at them made Al Hajat marvel at how they were the same people who had been screaming toward computer players a week ago.

"Alright, go in,” Davey said.

"Yes,” Aeria responded.

She dove in at the perfect moment, locking down the opponent completely.

- Screw this, not playing anymore! Damn hackers!

- I’m reporting all of you.

As the opponents finally lost their heads, the game ended.

"Ahh, that was satisfying."

"No kidding," Illyna and Perserk agreed, both completely different from before.

Illyna, who used to do hunt-and-peck typing, now had unnervingly quick reflexes and muscle memory, as though she was a computer herself.

"Is everyone having fun?” Al Hajat asked.

"It’s pretty fun,” Perserque said.

"It’s nice to see you enjoying yourselves. But honestly, I’m impressed. I didn’t think your skill would grow so quickly."

"Once I got the hang of it, it was easier than I thought,” Illyna said.

Al Hajat gave a wry smile at that comment.

"Considering how so many players are stuck at walls they can’t overcome, you’re quite amazing."

"Now that we’ve gotten enough enjoyment, it’s time to stop,” Davey said.

"Yes, stopping when it’s fun is best. Though I still have a goal left to achieve,” Al Hajat said.

"And what’s that?"

"Since I’ve come this far, I might as well make it into the Challenger rankings."

It was no surprise as he was indeed in the rankings of Alf Online. Eyeing his competitive spirit, Davey couldn’t resist teasing him.

"I wonder if this will make you want to go pro?” he asked.

Of course, Davey knew it was unlikely.

"Haha, not quite. But… pro gamer, huh… there’s a bit of a connection there. Actually, it ties in with you, too.”

"Wait, what?"

Davey blinked in surprise at his words.

ChubbyCheeks & FriedNook\'s Thoughts

Editorb’s Thoughts

Being a Twitch viewer who occasionally watches people play League of Legends and a player myself, I went ahead and localized the terms used in the chapter to fit more with the English streamer scene. OMEGALUL and KEKW are both emotes used to laugh at either the streamer or the enemy, similar to lol or lmao. With fancy new emotes, simply typing “lol” isn’t as common/cool anymore. Here’s a LoL emote of Braum that’s basically KEKW.