[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 228

First Meeting.

That’s a word that’s special to everyone.

And the same goes for my first meeting with Yoon-ki.

When I first met Yoon-ki, I had no choice but to be helplessly defeated by his bizarre plays.

Back then, the plays that made no sense to me were established purely on absurd physical dominance, and I couldn’t understand it at all.

“…You come in like this?”


“Are you really going to lose while fighting like this?”


“What is this?”

Unreasonable.

That was the feeling I had when I first met Yoon-ki.

At that time, I may not have had much physical prowess, but I had a sense of pride in being ranked number one every season.

However, after meeting Yoon-ki, that pride was shattered.

It probably started from that moment.

The moment I felt like I was being left behind by the times.

Even though the jungler role is relatively less reliant on physical prowess, a new era had arrived where merely reading the game and thinking wouldn’t suffice anymore.

Even the position I believed I could dominate betrayed me in the end.

I thought everything was over.

I even considered giving up.

But I didn’t want to.

“…”

It all started with acknowledgment.

Fortunately, I realized that I was quite good at that.

Acknowledging and accepting.

I acknowledged Yoon-ki.

It wasn’t an easy task.

After that, I began to study.

Even though there was no visible rationale for his plays, I nevertheless analyzed and reanalyzed Yoon-ki’s gameplay, which somehow always worked against me.

“…He really just does whatever he wants.”

The more I analyzed, the more I felt like I was diving into a labyrinth, but I persevered without giving up.

Thanks to that, I began to understand the seemingly chaotic movements of Yoon-ki one by one.

“He prioritizes the opportunities to get kills over the flow of the entire game.”


“The rationale behind that must be his overwhelming combat capabilities. It’s clearly working well.”


“So then…”

Little by little.

Based on my analyses, I adjusted my strategies against Yoon-ki.

At first, the awkward adjustments probably led to even worse winning rates.

But I didn’t stop.

“Yoon-ki usually takes his first red after starting blue and comes for a lot of counter-ganking at level 3. Champion matchups don’t really matter here…”

Thanks to that, my previously terrible matchup record against him started to gradually change.

Where I had lost four out of five games before, I then lost three, and finally even turned the tables to lose only two.

[Victory]

As my matchup record against Yoon-ki narrowed down, eventually, I started to lead.

It wasn’t solely because I had completely analyzed Yoon-ki.

The plays that had once made no sense, Yoon-ki’s erratic style started falling into a more organized pattern under the name of “Team,” evolving away from throw-like plays to something more rational, little by little.

Plays I couldn’t grasp began descending into the realm of comprehensible gameplay.

Of course, that didn’t mean Yoon-ki got worse.

Without needing to look far, that year, Yoon-ki achieved Royalroader status.

‘What on earth… how should I say this.’

And now, I was seeing Yoon-ki’s shadow in an unfamiliar player.

A player who completely retained a sense of wildness.

Just like how Yoon-ki once was, or how other hopefuls had been, MaBing had the viciousness unique to rookie junglers.

However, what set MaBing apart from other hopefuls was that he possessed the teeth and claws to sink into his opponents with that viciousness.

‘Hmm.’

In the Legends of League, experience doesn’t always mean an advantage.

The memories of defeat.

The pains of failed gambles.

All of those are also among the downsides of the poison called experience.

Rookie junglers have comparatively less of such experiences than veteran junglers.

Thus, they can push forward in the direction they believe is right without any doubt.

It can be a flaw, but conversely, it can also be an incredibly powerful weapon.

Just like how Yoon-ki was in the past, and how MaBing is now.

But…

‘He picked the wrong opponent.’

If it were the old me, I would have been incredibly flustered.

But now, it wasn’t like that.

I no longer had to feel that way.

As I mentioned earlier, the current situation is, strictly speaking, more favorable for our team.

We secured First Blood and won the smite fight.

I easily surpassed one of K’Sante’s drawbacks in the early game.

And that wasn’t all that was positive.

‘The transformation gauge is quite filled.’

After a 3v3 skirmish, I snagged a kill.

While the timing wasn’t right for an immediate transformation, it was evident that I could transform much sooner than usual.

‘The red gauge has filled a bit more, but… I should consider going Shadow Assassin too.’

Of course, given the combination of allies and enemies, going Darkin wasn’t bad.

Having three melee champions, especially Arelia, made it impossible to engage when Darkin was present.

However, in the current meta, Shadow Assassin stood higher in tiers compared to Darkin, and moreover, in this game, I wanted to focus more on the enemy jungle.

‘The matchup between K’Sante and Graves can flip when he transforms.’

Naturally, simply transforming doesn’t guarantee that K’Sante will dominate Graves.

In fact, transforming into Darkin could lead to being thoroughly toyed with and outkite by Graves.

K’Sante morphing into Graves’s counter is only true when he turns into Shadow Assassin.

‘So then…’

Let’s test the waters a bit.

Since the transformation gauge was leaning red, I inherently needed to target either Graves or Ezreal to make that happen.

‘I could wait for the right time, but… it’s best not to do that if possible.’

There are times when players forcefully try to transform into something other than the original form by waiting, and those cases usually fall into one of two categories.

Either the game is going overwhelmingly in their favor, and they don’t care about K’Sante’s transformation, or vice versa, where the game is in shambles and they have to forcibly adjust their combo.

Naturally, the current situation was neither of those, so I had no luxury to wait.

After snatching the crab after a skirmish, I returned home and immediately headed back to the lower jungle.

It was about time for the lower jungle to respawn.

Eating the lower jungle, I surveyed the lane situation.

“The mid angle isn’t completely closed off, but… it’s not a scenario where I can gank right now.”

Why doesn’t K’Sante show up often?

To understand that, you need to know about his unique transformation system.

To gank, K’Sante must transform.

His performance in a typical state before transformation is particularly poor.

However, to transform, he must gank.

He needs to get a successful gank to fill his transformation gauge.

Contradictions upon contradictions.

That’s the contradiction and limitation that the current champion K’Sante holds.

‘So then…’

I headed straight for bot lane.

The lower crab was already taken.

‘He’s coming soon.’

Smelling that fact, the enemy Blitzcrank began to leap toward our bot as he dodged the barrage of our minions.

It was obvious why Blitzcrank would suddenly make such a move.

[⨷]

[OLZ Outlaw (K’Sante) has targeted MaBing777 (Graves)]

After the crab, Graves, who had been looking for an angle, appeared at the bot.

Currently, I was crossing near the bot tri-brush.

‘The enemy is just a bit faster.’

In this situation, if any of our bot laners were caught, it would lead to a counter-gank, destroying the whole layout.

In other words, I had to avoid being grabbed at all costs.

“Zerastu’s stun hit. At this distance… Blitz can’t get close enough to grab.”

That meant there was plenty of room for me to maneuver and avoid Blitzcrank’s grab.

“Now!”

Blitzcrank’s hand glowed, and our Zerastu used his flash without hesitation.

That was a wise choice.

“Then, it’s my turn now.”

[⬇] [⬇]

[OLZ Outlaw (K’Sante) is on the way.]

[OLZ Outlaw (K’Sante) is on the way.]

MaBing’s Graves tried to bite onto my fleeing allies, but the moment I showed up, the situation changed.

What was initially a late arrival turned into a counter-gank.

“Hello?”

Just like in the beginning during the blue jungle, another 3v3 skirmish erupted at bot.

MaBing would learn today.

That this ferociousness of devouring everything isn’t solely his prerogative.