[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 250

“Ugh…”

Kim Jae-min staggered back after about two hours of being kidnapped by Kim Ji-hoon.

Two hours.

Normally, that wouldn’t seem like a long time, but Kim Jae-min probably thought otherwise.

“I’m dying…”

“Stop whining. And you’re getting sweat all over the sofa, so go shower and change your clothes. Why didn’t you shower at the gym in the first place?”

“I can’t move…”

“Ugh, come on.”

“Anyway, it gets washed tomorrow.”

“You’re not the one doing the washing anyway.”

“Exactly.”

What a nuisance!

Sigh…

Cleaning the dorm is mainly done voluntarily by team members, but for the big clean-up, we usually hire a service to come in once a week during our personal practice time.

Let’s face it, teenage boys aren’t exactly known for their cleanliness, and would you really want to make valuable players do chores?

“Oh!”

“What now?”

“Sis… My arm feels weird.”

“That’s normal.”

Being dragged by Kim Ji-hoon and still being fine would be more concerning. It was a sign of serious physical issues.

“What if I can’t play in the next match? What if my arm is broken?”

“The next match is in five days anyway. And considering how you’re whining, you probably still have enough strength to talk. How’s Ji-hoon?”

At that, Kim Jae-min seemed to think better of his complaints and shook his head.

“He says we’re going up now. Apparently, it’s time for his workout.”

As expected.

Kim Ji-hoon was a monster.

Even if today’s match wasn’t particularly grueling, maintaining that level of self-discipline on a professional game day was impressive…

With that kind of stamina, a pro gamer wouldn’t buckle under a five-game series where everyone usually struggles.

‘Shouldn’t we actually implement some exercise into the team program?’

One of the things we considered when recruiting Kim Ji-hoon was precisely this advantage.

However… the gaming characteristic of not moving unless absolutely necessary applied too well to our team.

‘Heck, I can’t be bothered to move myself.’

Of course, that didn’t mean I ever felt physically inadequate.

Having lived a life with virtually no physical stamina, it didn’t matter now; I rarely felt weak except on unusual days.

‘…I wonder if I can hold up with tight schedules once we go to places like the Red Cup?’

I felt an odd need for a jungle candidate but thought it might be premature to consider new recruits when our existing five weren’t quite in perfect sync.

‘That’s a problem for another day.’

If it comes to it, I could just load up on various pills and make it through the match.

“But aren’t you going home? Isn’t it about time to clock out?”

“I was just about to.”

I thought about playing a few solo queue games, but while looking through the PBE patch notes, I suddenly realized how much time had passed.

It seemed better to postpone solo queue until after tomorrow’s patch.

“Then I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, take care.”

As I stepped out of the practice room, Baek Seong-an spoke up.

“Heading out?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Rest well today.”

“Take care, sis.”

I got into the elevator amidst the farewell of my teammates.

*

Finally, patch day arrived.

I woke up at the crack of dawn, pondering whether to turn on my computer or head to the practice room, and eventually decided on the latter.

With the season still running, skipping practice felt like an unacceptable option.

“Are you going in?”

“Yeah.”

“What about breakfast?”

“I’m good.”

I ignored my mother’s persistent offers for breakfast and got into Secretary Jang’s car.

“Are you heading straight there?”

“Yep.”

The drive to the dorm was swift.

“Oh, Yujin’s here. Why didn’t you take a day off?”

Despite it being early morning, Baek Seong-an was already diligently at the practice room.

“No, it’s patch day.”

“That explains a lot.”

Baek Seong-an grinned.

It made sense; today was one of those days every Legends of League user looked forward to.

Legends of League patch day.

Major patches always excited the players.

Sure, there had been times I secretly wished the day wouldn’t come when my favorite champion got nerfed, but those days of worrying about my champion pool were long gone.

“How’s it looking? Have you tried it?”

“Not yet. But Viktor and Yune definitely got some buffs. I took a quick peek, and they look good.”

“Really?”

One represented sword champions, and the other shield champions…

It felt oddly fitting.

“Oh, is that you, sis?”

“What’s up? Up early today?”

“…I woke up because I was sick.”

Kim Jae-min dramatically huddled up.

Given the chaos he created yesterday, if he wasn’t sore, that would’ve been more surprising.

“You should’ve moved around a bit more regularly.”

“…I feel like all I really see you doing is eating all the time.”

“Ahem.”

I grabbed a bag of snacks and a pack of jelly from the snack shelf and headed straight to my seat.

I wasn’t about to waste any precious time on breakfast on such an important day.

“Is that you, sis?”

The king of enthusiasm, Seo Yeon-woo, was already at her desk, diligently researching the new patch.

“Is the server not open yet?”

“Not yet. But it should be soon.”

“How’s top looking? Do you think there’s gonna be any changes?”

“Viktor and Yune look good.”

“Really?”

Just like Baek Seong-an, it seemed that everyone had their eyes on those two champions as the meta champions for this patch.

“What else?”

“Oh, the runes are interesting. Glacial and Sorcery got changed… did you see the new Ambush rune?”

“Oh, that one.”

At one point, there was a rune called Thievery in the Inspiration category.

Though it eventually got removed due to patches, Thievery was a well-loved rune with champions like Ezreal and Gangplank that weren’t just meta but also fun to use.

It granted you more benefits with every trade.

If luck was on your side, you could start with over a hundred gold right from the get-go; it was quite a gamble.

Most importantly, the Thievery rune was a blast.

Using it with a champion that didn’t fit the mold allowed you to mess with the opponent’s mindset, and the more trades you had to make, the more advantageous it became, leading them to feel like they were losing.

Naturally, this forced the opponent into a passive trading strategy.

‘That was it.’

Of course, balancing the Thievery rune was no easy feat, so after several patches, it ultimately got removed.

Many Legends of League players expressed their regrets, but it was too late to hold on to a rune that was already gone.

Now, the Thievery rune was making a comeback, but in a slightly different form called Ambush.

Though it wasn’t exactly the same as Thievery, the effects it brought were somewhat similar.

If you struck first, you earned gold.

Moreover, unlike the Thievery rune that weakened towards the late game when you built full items, the Ambush rune had its own damage bonus effect, so it didn’t lose power in the late game.

In every respect, it was a worthy candidate to be called the star of this patch.

‘From the looks of it, it seems like champions who used to rely on the Thievery rune, like Ezreal and Gangplank, are set to rise in tier, but… it’s not that simple.’

The reason was straightforward.

Unlike the Thievery rune, the Ambush rune’s activation condition was not too complicated.

Though it was called a starter attack rune, even if the opponent hit first, as long as you hit back within 0.25 seconds, the rune’s effect would activate.

‘It could work for poke champions like Jason.’

The mere existence of a rune like Ambush could disrupt the existing trading mechanisms between champions, altering their lane matchups that had long been locked in place.

‘So, how can I utilize this for the jungle?’

I’d heard rumors that champions like K’Sante would have quicker transformation timing with the Ambush rune, but… I figured I needed to try it out myself to really find out.

“Oh, sis, I think the patch is over. We can log in now.”

“Really?”

I hurriedly booted up the Legends of League client, downloading the patch while simultaneously pulling up the patch notes.

First off, the most noticeable changes were undoubtedly the newly added Bounty system and the new dragon.

‘Champion tiers are likely to keep fluctuating based on future patches.’

In other words, it was better to focus on larger patches that change the direction of gameplay rather than getting caught up in the minute changes to individual champions.

Items, runes, the new dragon.

And the entirely new Bounty system, among other things.

‘Moreover… meaningful changes in the jungle would be related to runes, and the new dragon map effect and changes to the Rift Scuttler.’

Though the changes to the Rift Scuttler seemed trivial at first glance, they could significantly alter the number of champions viable in the jungle.

So much so that at one point, a champion like Kamal dominated the jungle simply due to the timing and value of the Rift Scuttler spawning.

‘Well, to be specific, it wasn’t so much extreme as Kamal’s jungle was just extraordinary during that period.’

Because of that, Kamal was hit with some strong nerfs and soon became mainly a laner.

As someone who had once greatly enjoyed playing Kamal in the jungle, it was a pretty disappointing turn of events.

‘Let’s see then.’

What could the jungle champions do in this meta?