“Phew.”
After playing an interesting game for the first time in a while, a sense of satisfaction washed over me.
Unconsciously, I could have hosted a stream, so I turned it on, only to be greeted with an unexpected scene.
[You guys keep feeding kills whenever you come, and that’s why I’m behind on items!]
In the post-game results screen, Hanbyeori was seen arguing with her teammates.
Streamer Hanbyeori, real name Kim Hanbyeol.
A popular female streamer known for her great banter and rare skill within the gaming community. In the future, she would also become the team streamer for Team ark, a team that I was once part of.
“Such an interesting person.”
However, the connection between ark and Hanbyeori wasn’t born out of genuine fandom but rather from financial interests. In fact, she rarely watched professional leagues until our team came to her with the offer, and all we expected was a decent level of interaction.
[Seriously, why did you waste that flash!!!]
[Yo, para, are you crazy? How could you not see that angle?]
[How did vz become such a strong team? If vz wins, I’ll go back to my hometown and confess to her.]
[No, I’m the one going crazy! Why isn’t para calling it out? Why are you all just sitting back?!]
[Sigh…it’s over.]
She genuinely started cheering for our team and even got upset when we lost in the finals as if it were her own loss.
Because of this, she became close with the players, often attending official fan meetings and events together, and frequently appearing in YouTube content.
“What a memory.”
I never imagined that Hanbyeori would be my first connection in the esports world after transitioning genders.
I was feeling a bit strange as I searched for the next game when suddenly…
“Invite?”
Someone sent me a game invite.
The nickname was Hanbyeori…
I felt something off and checked the small streaming window I had open.
[No, I really have to go.]
It was indeed the real Hanbyeori who had sent me the invite.
“What’s this about?”
There are generally two reasons why someone sends a game invite or friend request after an LOL game:
1. To jump into the “bus” with a good player.
2. To harass someone they don’t like privately.
Why not just curse out someone publicly?
‘Well, it’s simple, one-on-one doesn’t result in any warnings or bans.’
LOL has a strict system. If you troll or insult others, your penalties gradually increase from chat bans to month-long suspensions. However, due to harsher restrictions on abusive language compared to trolling, the system received plenty of complaints. Importantly, one-on-one conversations generally don’t result in any bans.
Why?
‘Because Riot just did what Riot thought best.’
For a user to get penalized, there needs to be a report, but private chats do not have a reporting feature. If someone wants to report an issue, they would need to log in to the official site and initiate a complaint through a rather tedious process, which no one really does. On top of that, private conversations are not easily prosecutable.
This was why quite a number of players opted for private insults after games.
‘But it doesn’t seem like Hanbyeori invited me to curse.’
Not sure why, but I pressed the accept button anyway.
*
“What? Did you block me? Why isn’t my friend request going through?”
I sent another friend request, but all I received was an error message.
[Blocked gallery, lol.]
[Don’t be creepy, let’s just go to the next game.]
“Why won’t she accept my friend request?”
Streamer Hanbyeori, who is she?
A rising star in the LOL community, she had a private chat group dedicated solely to ambushing anyone eager to game with her. She was a major streamer.
{User ㅇㅇ donated 1000 won.}
Oh, it looks like she has friend requests turned off.
[Ah, true.]
[She turned it off because of Seolhui.]
[Ahaha.]
[Yeah, makes sense.]
The “Seolhui Incident.”
There was once a major streamer named Seolhui who had maintained an average of 10,000 concurrent viewers just by chatting casually. One day, she decided her broadcast needed more variety and began gaming shows. The game she chose? League of Legends.
During the tutorial, she slaughtered AI opponents and mistakenly believed she had a natural talent for the game. Consequently, she jumped into regular games and was utterly defeated.
Afterwards, she unknowingly accepted a friend request from a team member, which led to her being harassed by insults.
Already an emotionally sensitive person, Seolhui cried on air when she encountered the harassment, and the scene was streamed live.
As a result, Riot changed the system to require manual approval for friend requests from new accounts.
They did not focus on addressing abusive language in one-on-one settings but instead shut down the feature entirely, letting users manage it themselves.
This was a typical “army-style” approach, which is why many mocked Riot as a mid-tier game company despite being the top in the industry.
[But looking at the records, wasn’t she duo queuing?]
[Ah, true, but isn’t she low tier despite that?]
[Is she just being criticized for being Hanbyeori?]
[The boy who declined Hanbyeori’s invite.]
[All her fans must be crying haha.]
Amid these comments, one viewer mentioned seeing duo queue history, which left Hanbyeori feeling bitter inside.
There was only one reason why she was so determined to find a duo partner.
‘With less than a month left…’
There is an event called vll held by the streaming platform featuring the top-tier streamers.
An opportunity came up for her to participate due to a close friend’s suggestion.
Considering the average viewership and YouTube hit rate during vll, it was clearly a chance for her to transition into a major league streamer.
However, the qualification required either being a former professional gamer or achieving Grandmaster tier in the current season.
Her regular tier, Diamond 2, was not sufficient to even apply.
‘I told them to take anyone who could climb, no matter what.’
The team she was joining was an entertainment-focused group, not a championship team.
The members included a world-champion-turned-failed-Master-level ex-pro, and the number one player who performs at diamond level when his main champion is banned.
So, they told her that it was fine to climb with anyone as long as she made it to Grandmaster.
‘Doesn’t look like it’s feasible.’
She heard the story during a joint streaming session with the top-ranked player.
Even he had judged her Grandmaster climb as impossible.
Frankly, it wasn’t surprising.
Master Tier, often referred to as the “zone of demons,” showcases a significant skill gap compared to even top-end Diamond players. Taking an underperforming local player who’s barely hanging in Diamond 2 or 3 would be quite a challenging task.
‘But maybe…this person.’
The person who had wrecked a Diamond game so thoroughly might be capable.
It was a faint hope, but worth pursuing.
“Let’s stop the nonsense and play some games.”
“Stalker girl is unpopular, next game please.”
“Hi Hanbyeori, do you mind? I was 300 points in the last season.”
“Last season was full of rookie MMR bugs, 300 points.”
The chat was starting to get restless, and as a last-ditch effort, she sent out an invite.
“Huh?”
-para has joined the lobby.
-para: Hello?
Both her and the chat were left momentarily stunned after the invite was accepted.
A bit later…
-Hanbyeori: Um…hello?
-para: Hello.
An awkward exchange of pleasantries ensued.
[Legendary greetings. lol.]
[If this is prepping something, the like button is already hit, first one here.]
[Okay.]
[You can recommend only once per day.]
‘Does she not know me?’
Typically, people meeting her would flaunt their desires and ambitions, but para, whoever this mystery yanger was, showed no response at all.
In fact, the sheer lack of response was making it hard to know what to say next.
-para: If you have nothing to say, I’ll go.
-Hanbyeori: Wait!
-para: Why?
-Hanbyeori: We just played against each other in the last game, you were really good. Would you like to duo queue?
[Such amateur lines…]
[No sense, no sense.]
[Will this person who Hanbyeori asked, the one who abandoned Master Rank, really help her reach Grandmaster?]
‘What am I doing?’
Even Hanbyeori herself thought it was an odd request when she reflected. Regardless of the urgency to reach Grandmaster, inviting a complete stranger to duo queue on a live stream wasn’t typical.
She had planned to quickly apologize and recover if the answer was no, but…
-para: Sure.
-Hanbyeori: Really?
-para: Oh, by the way, aren’t you mid?
“Ah.”
Indeed, para was a mid-lane player just like Hanbyeori. With at least some support champion skills, she considered switching lanes but ultimately decided against it.
After all, she was joining a team that leaned more towards entertainment, so it wouldn’t create too much controversy, but she still had her pride.
-Hanbyeori: I didn’t think about the lanes. Sorry about that.
[She’s not a support, queen Hanbyeori!]
[She has her mid-lane dignity.]
[Saying no to support is staying classy.]
-para: Then, how about I go top?
-Hanbyeori: No, you don’t have to go that far.
-para: Let’s go.
In LOL, as you climb the ranks, having a fixed primary lane and even a main champion tends to be beneficial for climbing tier.
Even if you’re a yanger on mid, switching to top may result in endless deaths and losses.
‘But I did mention it, and if we lose after one game, at least it won’t be awkward to end things.’
…
…
…
…
…
[Victory!]
“What… how did you destroy the top inhibitor at 12 minutes…”
[Woah, the opponent is a top-tier player with 500 LP?]
[That’s a 100 CS lead against a 500 LP top player!]
[10 wins in a row! 10 wins!]
After 5 hours of duo queuing, Hanbyeori’s longest winning streak record was broken that day.
10 consecutive wins.
