NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3 - What I'm Good At (3)
Chapter 3 – What I’m Good At (3)
“Oh, seriously! Protect me!”
“·····”
The ADC champion Ashe on the screen died helplessly.
‘What a waste.’
Park Jimin is still not familiar with Sol.
But he can tell that the scene just now was quite unfair for the player.
When playing with friends, he’s heard that the ADC is someone who needs to be protected from the backline.
“Oh, it’s already eleven thirty?”
After binge-watching Yoo Dahee’s YouTube videos, time had already flown by like this.
[The promised three core items, achieved again.]
Of course, his fingers don’t stop.
Jimin immediately played the next video.
‘This is fun.’
At first, he wondered why someone with such a pretty face would play games, but as he watched, it was actually quite entertaining.
“Get out, you bastard.”
“·····”
Her rough language is certainly unique. But many girls at school talk like that too.
“Ahhh, really ahhhhh!”
She screams, showing slight mood swings.
She was playing ADC and got ganked by the enemy jungler in the bottom lane.
-Wow, amazing broadcast
-Rengar’s bottom lane 108 gank on
-Bottom lane already ruined?
-Please blame the ADC difference once
-Blitz is wondering whether to throw now or later
-This Rengar guy only looks at bottom from the start
‘How interesting.’
The chat window shown in the video.
Everyone must be watching the broadcast because they like this noona, so why are they happy when she dies? Shouldn’t they all be sad together? Am I the only one who wants noona to do well?
“They ruined the top side while only focusing on bottom?”
Suddenly the game turned favorable, and Yoo Dahee, who had been wearing a serious expression, put on a triumphant look.
-Boring
-GG
-Did the enemy Renekton buy Oblivion Orb?
-Teammates’ top and mid are smurfs ㅡㅡ
-The luck is real
-Rengar, don’t just gank, take objectives
-I’ll trust you Rengar, you’re definitely a local
-ADC has 20 CS difference, if you win like this, you really have no conscience
The game was going well and the streamer was smiling, but the chat was actually getting angry.
Jimin didn’t understand, but Dahee didn’t seem to care at all.
“Ah·····”
Suddenly, he starts looking for channel information.
Recorded videos are good, but when is the live stream?
It didn’t take long. Fortunately, it’s in the evening. At least during the break·····
“That’s right, I dropped out of school?”
Jimin had momentarily forgotten what happened today.
Whether she broadcasts in the morning or evening, it has nothing to do with him.
He felt a bit depressed, but then
“Bottom carry who survived the gank!”
The video zoomed in on Dahee smiling brightly.
“Haah·····”
At the same time, Jimin held his face in his hands again.
‘Cute cute cute.’
That tearful face from before was gone, replaced by a smug expression.
Is it okay for a woman older than him to be this cute?
It’s not like there weren’t pretty girls at school. However, the woman on his phone was truly in a different league.
Even after watching her face for hours, he doesn’t get tired of it.
“Come on everyone, I played well and won, so please write nice comments.”
-Won because played well (while getting carried with a 3/5/7 score)
-As expected, Sol is a top lane game
-The reason she goes to the freeloader lane a lot this season
-Wasn’t the support doing everything?
-Agreed agreed
-That Blitz grab was a work of art
‘Did she play badly?’
Jimin was still inexperienced, but he didn’t think Dahee played that poorly. At least from a beginner’s perspective, did she make mistakes? The enemy ADC player didn’t seem to play noticeably well either.
“When she goes live, I should chat too.”
He doesn’t understand why everyone uses mean words, but wouldn’t that hurt her feelings? When she goes live, he’ll cheer her on as much as possible.
“·····”
The remaining video time decreases. It’s now 1 o’clock. Mom would be asleep by now, right?
Jimin noticed the YouTube comment section. There are many incomprehensible comments, but it’s cleaner than the live chat.
Jimin slowly began to leave a comment.
[I just discovered you today and really enjoyed watching. I found out because of a friend, and I’ve never seen someone as pretty as you, noona haha. You look like a celebrity. And you’re so good at games·····]
He wrote a long comment with whatever came to mind.
Hoping that perhaps she might read it.
“·····”
Today is truly a strange day.
Too many things happened to call it just a day, with various emotions coming and going. When was the last time a day felt this long?
Too sad, then slightly relieved, then happy, then sad again.
Just now, after impulsively checking my phone and turning off the lights, a sense of tranquility enters my heart.
“Haah·····”
No matter how I think about it, dropping out of school isn’t a pleasant experience. Isn’t it like a swamp that might hold me back in unpredictable ways in the future?
The hardest thing to bear is my mother’s sorrowful face.
Just imagining it feels hopeless, so I turn my head to the side and lie down.
A painful reality where there seems to be no choice but to avoid it.
“·····”
‘Sol, static noise.’
But joy arrives simultaneously.
-Jimin, you’re doing really well.
-I think you have talent for Sol.
My friends are happy and acknowledge me.
-We won! We won!
Though she only exists inside my phone, her face beaming with joy.
Suddenly, I find myself smiling like a fool.
Maybe I’m being a bit immature. Getting absorbed in games on the day I dropped out, watching videos of a woman I’ve never seen before for hours.
“Ah·····”
-If you don’t know what you like, just focus on whatever interests you even a little. And since people tend to like what they’re good at, if there’s something you’re even slightly good at, keep working at it.
‘Teacher.’
The teacher’s words from today come to mind.
What I’m good at, what I like.
At least for Jimin right now, it wasn’t difficult to find the answer.
***
“Oh, what? When did you get here?”
Lee Jonghyun and Yoon Sangchul, second-year students at Daesang High School, arrived at the franchise café known for its affordability.
“I haven’t been here long.”
Said Jimin, who had dropped out yesterday but had already been there for 15 minutes.
“Yuseok and Jaeyoung have other plans.”
“Ah·····”
Jonghyun explained the whereabouts of the two absent friends first.
“So what did you want to talk about?”
“Well·····”
Jimin cautiously spoke to Jonghyun and Sangchul.
“That’s it?”
“Huh?”
Jonghyun asked with confusion after hearing the answer.
Jimin nods.
“Is it strange?”
“No, it’s not strange. You just suddenly spoke so seriously.”
“I thought something had happened again.”
Following Jonghyun, Sangchul also has an unusual reaction.
Is it that strange to say I want to properly learn Sol and try solo ranked?
“Yeah, if you’re going to play games, it’s better to do it properly.”
“But you know, when people play to raise their tier, they lose their personality. Are you sure Jimin won’t turn to the dark side?”
Sangchul, who is currently Gold tier but believes his pure skill is at least Emerald or higher, said with a chuckle.
“How high do you want to raise your tier?”
“Me? Up to Diamond.”
“What?”
Once again, both friends react with surprise.
“Is there a reason you’re suddenly fixated on Diamond?”
“Do you want to go higher than Jonghyun?”
“Is that it?”
“No, no!”
Jimin waved his hands dismissively.
Of course, he couldn’t say that he wanted to meet female streamers in the game. He’s still at an age where it’s embarrassing to admit that his motivation is to get attention from pretty girls.
Sangchul knows about Dahee noona, but that’s exactly why Jimin can’t tell him.
“Like Sangchul said, raising your tier isn’t easy. It’s not something you can do just by being good at the game.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, ah… how much should I explain this.”
“Jimin will probably raise his tier a lot eventually, but doing it in a short time is difficult. There are a lot of people playing Sol these days.”
“I see.”
‘I should have tried this earlier.’
Jimin momentarily forgot his past when he didn’t have the mindset to properly immerse himself in Sol.
However, the game Summoners of Legend is currently at its peak popularity, which means there are many users.
The retirement of the greatest superstar Maker a few years ago.
Many people predicted that Sol would fail in Season 17, but things didn’t go as expected.
It was what people call ‘god-tier game management’ by Ryan Games, Sol’s game company.
They discarded what needed to be discarded and kept what needed to be kept, lowering entry barriers while not forgetting the essence, making this game great once again with their exquisite change in direction.
Some Korean users joke that if Ryan Games were an IT company instead of a game company, it might have become the world’s greatest corporation.
“Especially our country’s server is the best in the world, and our pro scene is still the strongest.”
“Strongest? We haven’t won Worlds for two consecutive years. And we lost to China in the finals of the last MSL.”
“Hey, SCK is still the premier league.”
Sangchul bristled at Jonghyun’s cynical remark.
SCK had surrendered the championship to China’s SPL for two consecutive years. There was a lack of confidence in calling it the world’s best league, at least when it came to Worlds.
“Hey, didn’t we lose to a Japanese team last year, not even China?”
“Japan isn’t the Japan of old.”
The most shocking event at last year’s Worlds wasn’t China’s SPL winning for the second consecutive year, but the major upset when Korea’s SCK first seed Maehwa Life E-sports was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Japan’s Sensukai Gaming.
It was a day of tremendous glory for Japan’s Sol league, SCJ.
This event brought a Sol fever to Japan, which had already been gaining popularity through streamers over the past few years.
Of course, it was the worst humiliation for SCK, who failed to send a team to the Worlds finals.
“Anyway, whether it’s Japan or China, most of the players who do well there are Korean, so what’s the point.”
“That’s always been the case, so it’s meaningless.”
“…”
Slurp.
Jimin just quietly drank his 2,000 won coffee amid the strange conversation.
“Jimin, let’s go to the PC bang first.”
“Huh?”
Seeing is believing.
Since Jimin wanted to properly learn Sol, the prospective Sol boyfriends were simply showing him through action first.
“If you want to raise your tier, you should know how to play at least 3 lanes.”
“Ah…”
“Don’t rush too much, knowing 3 or 4 champions per lane is enough for now.”
“That’s right, even in Diamond, many people only play one or two. Though that would be boring.”
“Got it.”
“Let’s have a 1v1 match with me first.”
“With Jonghyun?”
“Yeah.”
‘Jonghyun is good…’
Jimin scratched his head. Jonghyun was the friend who was best at Sol among their friends.
‘But still.’
At the same time, he had a similar tier to Yoo Dahee. Jimin suddenly felt motivated.
“Jason is really good to learn.”
“Jason?”
“Yeah, have you tried him before?”
“No, I haven’t…”
“It’s okay, it’s difficult but you’ll learn quickly.”
Jonghyun glanced at Jimin who looked troubled.
Jason was a champion that didn’t depend much on matchups. At the same time, his performance varied greatly depending on the pilot’s skill.
‘I think it’ll suit him well.’
If that’s the case, he believed it would definitely suit Jimin, who had innate physical abilities.
“Are we using the same champion?”
“Yeah, let’s try a mirror match.”
Jimin spent a short time learning about Jason on the Bada Wiki, then practiced his skills in practice mode.
1v1 match.
Both Jimin and Jonghyun chose Jason.
Sangchul thought about watching some broadcasts but chose to be conscientious since the three of them were together.
‘Jonghyun really liked first-picking Jason, didn’t he?’
Sangchul observed their match closely.
Jonghyun, a mid user who was also decent at top and ADC, preferred to first-pick Jason for top and mid.
Even his friend could see that he was quite skilled.
Of course, he was completely unaware that one of the reasons was because he always preferred 1AP carry junglers.
“Huh?”
“·····”
At first, Jonghyun was clearly ahead, so it seemed natural.
But as time went on, Jonghyun’s brow began to furrow.
Was Jimin really playing Jason for the first time?