[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 416

Three steps to the left.

Five steps to the right again.

And then left again…

“If you’re that anxious, just follow along, will you?”

“Huh? No way. What anxiety?”

“Then what the heck are you doing right now?”

“Practicing evasive maneuvers.”

“What does that even mean?”

To be honest, it was true that I was fidgeting.

Well, anyone would be after witnessing the scene from earlier.

“…It should be fine, right?”

“I have no idea.”

Hearing Baek Seong-an’s response only intensified my anxiety.

“Maybe we should just go and see…”

“Don’t say that. Ji-hoon must have his reasons.”

“But he only has muscles, right?”

“What do you even see people as?”

That… doesn’t seem too far off, does it?

Setting aside whether Kim Ji-hoon actually had any thoughts, I couldn’t help but worry.

I mean, if Kim Ji-hoon actually decided to beat up Kim Jae-min today…

“Then the relationships within the team would be ruined.”

Of course, in some sense, the team might end up functioning pretty well.

Plus, the results might even be better than before.

As the saying goes, it’s better to have a hawk that’s fierce, so if the team is run on a hierarchy, the command structure would be clear.

But results don’t tell the whole story.

I, and we, hoped this team wouldn’t turn into one filled with hierarchy and a toxic atmosphere.

What I wanted to grow with was not just the player Jaem-min, but also the individual Kim Jae-min.

“And above all… to reach the highest peak, we can’t become that kind of team.”

People can’t always be right.

If the main dealer, our AD carry, keeps getting dismissed and ignored, it will eventually become difficult for the whole team.

“Ugh…”

But sadly, there was nothing I could do at that moment, so I had to just wait.

Please let this end well.

*

The empty gym I arrived at after following Kim Ji-hoon was filled with eerie stillness.

All sorts of equipment sat quietly in their places, and the floor was disinfected so well that it reflected light, creating a quiet sight.

The view of the gym in the mirror possessed a strange beauty, similar to a Vincent van Gogh painting.

In this place, where it felt like time had stopped, not a single sound was heard.

Inside the quiet gym, there was nothing but silence, existing without movement, and even the air felt like it was stopped.

“…Ah.”

The scene was so surreal that Kim Jae-min stared blankly at the silent gym for a moment before collecting himself.

“Kim Jae-min.”

The soft sound of Kim Ji-hoon’s voice echoed like a whisper in the empty gym.

“…Yes.”

Kim Jae-min swallowed hard, tensed up.

He didn’t know why Kim Ji-hoon had called him here, but the atmosphere of this place felt too chilling.

“Why did you do that?”

Kim Ji-hoon’s question soon followed.

Why did I do that?

Kim Jae-min bit his lip tightly.

Was he asking because he really didn’t know the reason?

What was he seeing me as…?!

“If you have any complaints, say it.”

“…I already did.”

“You did?”

Kim Ji-hoon’s reaction, as if he truly didn’t know what I was talking about, made my voice rise without realizing it.

“Yes, I did! All the time! Even when I said it, you didn’t listen!”

At Kim Jae-min’s outcry, Kim Ji-hoon’s gaze sank heavily.

“When did you say anything?”

“Huh?”

“When did you say it?”

“So I kept—”

Just as Kim Jae-min was about to unleash all the pent-up frustration and anger, his lips froze.

Because a sudden doubt crept in.

‘Did I even… say anything?’

A question turned into suspicion, and suspicion eventually evolved into certainty.

‘Did I really… say anything?’

I thought I did.

I thought I expressed it.

But no.

Kim Jae-min’s words never reached Kim Ji-hoon or the other team members.

「“I think we need to go for the Rift Herald. You just farm.”」


「“But how am I supposed to farm then?”」


「“You don’t really need to farm. Just buy what you can, even if it means losing some XP.”」


「“…Okay.”」

Before Kim Jae-min could say anything, he was too scared to speak.

Of course, Kim Jae-min had things to say too.

“From the beginning, you weren’t even going to listen to me anyway.”

He didn’t refrain from speaking because he didn’t want to.

No matter how much he spoke, it was certain they wouldn’t listen.

Though it wasn’t openly expressed, there was a persistent atmosphere within the OLZ team.

The AD carry doesn’t have to do anything.

You just deal when we set things up for you.

You don’t need to do a thing.

Kim Jae-min continued to feel that atmosphere, and even though he wanted to vent what was inside him, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

There was a lack of justification.

Objectively speaking, Kim Jae-min didn’t have anything going for him in the OLZ team—his age, experience, and even tier didn’t stand out at all.

So he couldn’t speak.

No, he didn’t speak.

He was sure he thought that way…

“Why are you judging that?”

Then Kim Ji-hoon’s words made Kim Jae-min’s eyes go wide.

“…Huh?”

“You’ve never really spoken up, have you? Why are you jumping to conclusions without saying anything?”

“But the atmosphere…!”

“Still, do it. You’re a pro, right?”

Pro.

Hearing that word made Kim Jae-min’s mind snap into focus.

Yeah, pro.

This wasn’t just a hangout where neighborhood friends played games.

This was a serious professional team, and it was a team that had been promoted to LCKR, the greatest league in the Legends of League.

Such behavior could neither be forgiven nor allowed in the first place.

But despite that knowledge, Kim Jae-min spoke.

“…Even if I said something, you wouldn’t listen.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to speak properly.

It was that the very atmosphere made it impossible for him to speak freely in OLZ, and the only one who could possibly communicate, the supporter, was so intimidating that he could barely muster the courage to approach.

So Kim Jae-min couldn’t speak.

He thought that regardless of what he said, they would undoubtedly not listen.

“I’ll listen.”

But the answer that followed was something Kim Jae-min never anticipated.

“…Huh?”

“I’ll listen. So just say it.”

Kim Ji-hoon added.

“You’ve never really spoken up, have you?”

The moment he heard that, Kim Jae-min felt something welling up inside him.

When he was first dragged into this place, he thought he might not survive whatever would happen here.

But that never happened.

Instead, Kim Ji-hoon was telling him to let out what he had been bottling up.

“Why, why…!”

Kim Jae-min spilled out.

“Don’t you ever support the AD carry…!”

The pent-up sorrow till now came rushing out.

“What’s an AD carry doing just sitting back? Isn’t it the position that carries and deals damage? So why is it always just me…!”

He let it all out.

“I can carry too. Please believe in me. Just once.”

Watching Kim Jae-min pour out his heartfelt words, Kim Ji-hoon softly said.

“Not yet.”

“…Huh?”

Kim Jae-min couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

Just a moment ago, it felt like anything he said would be heard, and now, suddenly, that wasn’t the case?

“…Y-you’re contradicting yourself!”

“I said I’d listen, but I didn’t say I’d grant every request.”

“What do you mean!”

Is this guy not a total con artist?

First, he told me to speak freely, and then in less than a few minutes, he changes his mind?

“If you want us to listen to you, prove yourself.”

“…Prove?”

“Yeah.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

There are many ways for a pro to prove themselves, but right now, Kim Jae-min often found he wasn’t even in a position to show what he could do.

In such an environment, proving oneself wasn’t an easy task.

Since Kim Ji-hoon wasn’t oblivious to that fact either, he laid down the conditions.

“….”

“….”

Hearing those conditions, Kim Jae-min momentarily froze but then nodded.

“…Just wait. I’ll definitely show proof.”

*

Fortunately, Kim Jae-min, who followed behind Kim Ji-hoon out of the practice room, returned alive.

His eyes were puffy, perhaps from crying, but at least it didn’t look like he had been hit.

No, if he had been hit by Kim Ji-hoon, someone as fragile as Kim Jae-min wouldn’t have been able to walk back.

When Kim Jae-min returned to the dormitory, he went back to the practice room as if nothing had happened, and soon after, Kim Ji-hoon followed in.

“What did you guys talk about? You didn’t curse or threaten him, did you?”

When I asked Kim Ji-hoon, he replied.

“I didn’t do anything like that.”

“So…?”

“I told him if he had complaints, he should say it.”

“And?”

“He said he wanted to play like an AD carry. Leveling up all at once and carrying too.”

“Really? And what did you say?”

“I said if he wanted us to listen, he had to prove it.”

“Prove?”

“Yup.”

Kim Ji-hoon said with a light chuckle.

“I told him to get first place in solo rank.”

At that, Baek Seong-an chimed in.

“Uh… Isn’t that a bit too hard, though?”

“That’s on Jae-min.”

“That’s true, but… 1st place points are insane right now. The preseason is ending soon too.”

In usual cases, when a pro gamer played seriously in solo rank, getting to first place during the preseason wasn’t impossible, but the reason Baek Seong-an spoke like that was simple.

The point gap between the current 1st and 2nd place was quite significant.

That much, the current 1st place was overwhelming.

+

1st – [OLZ Outlaw] [2124 LP]

2nd – [GameEasy] [1801 LP]

3rd – [IIIIIlIllIllI] [1721 LP]

+

Because the current 1st place was me.

“Well… I guess that’s that.”

It seems achieving what Jaem-min wanted won’t be an easy task.