Chapter 20
Adults like numbers.
When telling adults about a new friend, they never ask about the important things.
But are adults really the only ones like that?
I caught 100 Pokxmon today.
I spent a million won on my Autumn Story account.
I placed in the top 100 in Resonance’s Scenario Mode.
Children like numbers too.
Especially rankings, which make their blood boil.
In that sense, users bearing the name NoName may have left different impressions on different people, but they all had one thing in common.
[Season 2044: 3,917 games]
[Season 2045: 8,392 games]
[Season 2046: 8,505 games]
[Season 2047: 8,469 games]
[Season 2048: 8,538 games]
[Season 2049: 8,150 games]
[Season 2050: 4,033 games]
A figure you could only reach by playing 23 games every day without a single day off, with each game taking anywhere from 20 minutes to as long as 40 or 50.
Large numbers inspire awe and curiosity.
Who on earth was it?
Who was grinding their life away on a game like this?
Who kept enjoying a game that made some people furious after only two or three matches a day, as though it were their life?
People watched the scene unfold.
“Which position do you want? Is there anywhere you prefer?”
“What’s good for ending the game quickly?”
“Bottom is probably better right now. Support is my main position, too.”
“Then I’ll play ADC.”
Sia stared at Name as she diligently checked the patch notes from the past six months.
“How is it?”
“What is?”
“Are you confident you can reach Master?”
Sia didn’t think Name was bad at the game. At the very least, she couldn’t be at a Bronze-level skill bracket.
She had clearly carried many games herself, and in the past, she had often watched the replays over and over.
But if asked whether she was confident she could take Name all the way to Master within a week, Sia couldn’t answer with confidence.
Today was the first day of the new season, a time when countless passionate gamers made resolutions for the year ahead.
Ranked games were crowded, and team luck could be brutally uneven.
If she had been duoing with another Challenger, it would have been a different story, but Name’s skill was still an unknown.
“Well, games aren’t really my thing.”
“Someone who plays eight thousand games a year says that?”
“I’m still confident.”
It’s not like there was any content in LoL that let you make money, either.
What a mysterious person.
“How long are you going to keep looking? At this rank, you don’t need to inspect things that closely.”
She carefully checked every buff, nerf, system change, and numerical adjustment, as though she were a professor reviewing a dissertation.
“I just feel like it would be so unfair if we lost because I played badly.”
“Well, if that’s the case...”
Name took the game more seriously than expected.
It was hard to believe she was the kind of person who had spent all this time trolling and bounced back and forth between Bronze IV and Bronze I.
“It’s already your pick! I’ll build around you, so hurry up and choose.”
The countdown began, and Name pondered.
As Sia had said, this season had seen many patches that greatly increased bottom lane’s influence.
But not every ADC could benefit from them.
[Asteria]
“You’re playing Asteria? That’s the new champion released this season. Can you actually play her? Her win rate is only 43% right now.”
“I’m sure. Play Yuumi or Lulu support for me.”
Yuumi and Lulu were typical picks for supporting an allied ADC.
Sia had been thinking of Lux or Pantheon, picks that could hard-carry even from the support position, but since this was their first game, she respected Name’s opinion.
“Once the game starts, your voice will be on the stream too. Keep that in mind.”
“Seola?”
“Yeah, did you call me? Is something wrong?”
“No. Let’s do our best.”
* * *
Have you ever felt like your body wasn’t your own?
I often feel that way.
I used to be able to eat insects raw without much aversion, but these days, even seeing a spider makes me jump, and my heart starts pounding.
Whenever that happened, I was overcome by an inexplicable sense of guilt.
Where did this guilt come from?
Was there a separate original owner of this body, and was I feeling sorry for stealing that person’s life?
Or did the memories of my past life remain unchanged, while the dissonance in my thoughts caused by having a different body manifested as guilt?
Our brains fear change.
That’s why defense mechanisms emerge, and why we close our hearts.
That was also why I couldn’t properly speak to people when I first arrived.
A brain that doesn’t interact with others doesn’t develop. Knowledge derived solely from the memories of a past life is never truly deep.
But once this unfamiliar experience began to feel familiar, the body started to sense the dissonance.
[Welcome to the battlefield.]
That was also why I hated games.
‘Long time no see. Crawled back in here again?’
“All right, then! It’s time to start the long-awaited collab with Mr. NoName and climb to Master!”
‘Did you really love games that much? Because of you... every day... I felt like I was going to die...’
“Let’s go, Mr. NoName! Mr. NoName? Name?”
‘Die... We’re dying together! You were supposed to die with me seven years ago! Just stop breathing like this! Don’t breathe!’
I understood her longing for her mother, but...
‘If you exhale that breath one more time, I’ll strangle you with my own hands. You detestable bastard. Die. How can you call yourself my daughter? Die.’
So the hallucination I had seen while playing a game with Arin last time hadn’t simply been caused by physical and mental exhaustion.
“Sorry. Let’s go.”
“There’s no time to leash. We should head straight to lane.”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to talk while playing. Sorry, but I’m turning off my mic.”
“Huh?”
She and her viewers seemed utterly flustered, but there was nothing I could do.
I also blocked voice chat with Sia. Now only the battlefield’s trumpet calls rang out.
And one more thing.
“I haven’t gone to see Mom in a while. I’m really sorry. I’ll ask the professor and stop by tonight, even if it’s late.”
‘You have to die.’
“You probably don’t know this, Mom, but I’m your daughter and I’m not your daughter.”
‘Die. Just die.’
“I know Seola wouldn’t say things like that, and I know she’s only an illusion I created myself.”
‘...’
“But the fact that you appeared as Seola means I must miss her that much. It’s true, I miss the days I spent playing games with Seola. I... I’m Name, the one Mom named, and I’ve grown up bravely all alone these years. I even grew two centimeters, you know?”
‘...’
“I don’t know. Why was I born with only these memories? There were times I really thought it would have been better if I’d died with Mom without knowing anything at all.”
‘Then you can die.’
“I can’t. Mom must want me to live, too. I’m going to find the humans who locked us in the capsules.”
‘You’re powerless.’
“No, I’m strong. I, NoName—Estasha Latias de Kaizen, Yoo Nak-won—will grow stronger than Mom can imagine. I’ll get revenge for sure.”
‘Just don’t lose the game, you idiot.’
Perhaps that had eased her anger a little. The hallucination gradually faded.
[You have slain an enemy]
[Double Kill]
‘Asteria.’
A new champion released this January.
She was the last survivor of the Selena race, and the Empire sacrificed her family alive in a blazing furnace to create a weapon called the Star Destroyer.
Asteria did everything she could to save her family, but in the end, she obtained nothing but the Cell-Core formed from their melted and condensed remains.
A girl with a unique and grim story.
Accordingly, her damage mechanics were unlike those of other champions.
She had a concept that seemed to combine Samira and Gnar.
Every time Asteria attacked an enemy, her attack range and armor penetration increased, while her armor decreased.
At 30% and 60%, the degree of her possession grew stronger, and her skills gained additional effects.
Then, at 100%, Asteria lost 500 range, gained a new weapon, and became able to use her ultimate, ‘Supernova.’
An extreme high-risk, high-return champion.
Moreover, since her range was the shortest among ADCs, she had to be careful not to become too passive during the laning phase. In team fights, she would also need to calculate her remaining mobility charges and attack range precisely.
Paradoxically, she had to enter the enemy’s range in order to increase her own.
Conversely, when the enemy team had many champions with non-targeted abilities, that risk became something she could afford to take.
Sia made proper use of Lulu, who was strong in lane.
Despite enduring the heavy pressure from Ezreal and Xerath, proper shield timing and skill harassment led to the two of them facing off without either side recalling, even in an unfavorable matchup.
The enemy jungler was certainly top. Even if the mid laner moved immediately, it would take at least 16 seconds to arrive.
When I used a mobility skill to move forward along the enemy minions, Ezreal responded with basic attacks and Q, while Xerath answered with E. I let the basic attack hit, then immediately dodged the two skills I had anticipated.
With the initiative now in my hands, I attacked by mixing basic attacks and skills, and they accepted my challenge.
Then Ezreal used Arcane Shift backward to gain a range advantage, while Xerath ended up isolated between me and Sia, who had secretly approached from the brush.
Only then did Xerath try to respond with a backward Flash and Q, but the attack was reflected by my empowered Veil, dealing damage to Ezreal behind him as well.
Eight seconds remained until the mid laner arrived—more than enough time to deal with them all.
I had reduced the enemy minions’ health earlier with my Q mobility skill, and I reached level 6 first at exactly the right moment. I had only one mobility charge left. My possession was currently around 95%.
A mobility skill that rides onto a champion increased possession by 5%, so the timing was perfect.
The high possession rate came at the cost of armor, and my health was already low enough for a single skill to kill me, but I immediately charged at the enemies.
Lulu’s Wild Growth knocked both enemies up, buying me a turn to use Asteria’s ultimate, ‘Supernova.’
Ten star fragments scattered throughout the area I controlled, and within just one second of collecting them all, the battlefield rang out with the signal announcing a double kill.
The enemy mid laner belatedly tried to charge at me after I had used my ultimate, but...
I traded blows without letting myself die, replenished my range, then used the Flash I had saved to create distance and kite them.
[Triple Kill]
I won’t lose.
Because I’ll only grow stronger from here on out.