[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 83

Upgrades are nothing compared to downgrades when it comes to electronic devices.

Just look at 60Hz versus 144Hz—it’s a whole thing. In my case, I was using a crazy 480Hz monitor at home.

The downgrade was something that couldn’t even be explained with words.

Of course, “Legends of League” isn’t a game that actually requires a 480Hz refresh rate to function, but still, the feeling of downgrade was there.

“Sigh.”

I ended my training mode while lamenting the poor practice conditions of the YSG trainees.

It would be a lie to say it didn’t bother me, but I didn’t want to blame the equipment or the environment.

‘Other trainees are probably dealing with similar gear anyway.’

Of course, whether they’re used to that or not is a different matter, but the conditions were the same.

“I’ve sent the invite.”

“…Oh, okay. I’m in.”

As I entered the custom game, the nicknames and tiers of the YSG trainees appeared.

‘Hmm.’

I couldn’t tell who was in the second string and who was still a trainee, but their tiers varied.

The lowest was Master, and the highest was Challenger.

As much as I wanted to look up their scores in detail, I just didn’t have the energy to start searching for their nicknames on stats sites right off the bat.

‘I’ll memorize their IDs and check later.’

“Excuse me…”

At that moment, a trainee sitting next to me, right by the fridge, nervously approached.

I couldn’t help but feel that the seating arrangement of the players was just… off.


Regardless of limited space, if that’s the case, they shouldn’t increase the number of people here.

“…What’s your position? I think the coach said you play Jungler…”

“It doesn’t really matter where I go.”

“Oh… okay. Then I’ll let them know you’re going Jungle for now. That’s what we assumed too.”

Hmm, I didn’t think I ever actually told Coach Park Tae-Hyung about my main position… but apparently, he must have seen through it.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, do you have a Discord ID? I want to use that for voice chat.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“I’ll send you an invite. The tag is…”

Once everything was set up, including the voice chat program, we were finally ready.

“Ah, can you hear me?”

[“…Yes, I can hear you.”]

[“Sounds good.”]

[“Hiya!”]

[“…….”]

A bunch of voices came through, but they all sounded so unfamiliar that I couldn’t tell who was who.

What was clear was that they all had youthful-sounding voices.

‘…Oh right, I am the oldest here.’

23 years old.

Not exactly ancient, but being around these kiddos makes me feel older than I am.

‘Well, when it comes to trainees, there are often high school students, so…’

Lost in thought, I finally saw a chat pop up, confirming all preparations were completed.

[YSG Min-Soo: Let’s start]

[TopJungleMidADCSupport: Let’s go]

Ban/Pick began.

The setup looked pretty standard.

[“Looks like we should pick a Jungler… what do you want to play?”]

“Um, I’ll take Viego.”

There was a slight delay before the response came through.

[“…It’s Lee Sin on the opposing team. Are you okay with that? Could go Jungle.”]

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

…

[“The enemy Top and Mid are Nyar and Sandra, so I think Sylas would be good. Can we do that?”]

[“Go for it.”]

It was a straightforward setup, picking out OP and Tier 1 choices that had been effective in pro play, without any wild picks.

+

[Allies / Enemies]

Top: Sylas / Nyar

Jungle: Viego / Lee Sin

Mid: Akali / Sandra

ADC: Aphelios / Varus

Support: Thresh / Braum

+

The game was officially on.

This was a real team game, unlike the solo ranks I had been used to.

[⬇] [⬇] [⬇]

[“Just a heads up, the enemy has Braum, so he might engage.”]

[“Copy that.”]

Just as the game started, chaotic communication began.

[“I put a ward in the bot lane. Can’t clear it.”]

[“Too bad.”]

[❕] [❕] [❕]

[“They’re coming in. Let’s pull back.”]

[“Ward at our Red.”]

Even just standing still, various bits of info were flooding my ears.

‘They’ve already figured out my starting route.’

I decided to use that to my advantage.

I pretended to go for the full camp while subtly changing course to the top camps.

‘The lane situation…’

Both top and mid were mismatched—a melee champ against ranged.

Naturally, that meant I’d be pushed back early.

Pulling the lane gives you a higher chance of succeeding a gank, but it also raises the odds of losing the skirmish if the opposing Jungler decides to counter-gank.

‘Lee Sin will probably look to counter-gank top or mid.’

So where will he strike?

Lee Sin probably believes I’m full camping.

But he couldn’t be too sure about it.

To confirm, I needed to check the Blue side jungle.

From the numerous clues given, I quickly reached a conclusion.

‘Top it is.’

I headed straight for mid.

At mid, the enemy Sandra was taking advantage of her ranged champion to bully Akali.

With Sandra showing her strength in lane, and Akali being practically the weakest of the weak early on, the difference in CS was already more than double.

[⨷]

[Outlaw (Viego) targets YSG Min-Soo (Sandra)]

‘At minimum, she must be out of flash.’

Just as I thought that, Sandra, who had been pressuring the lane, suddenly started running away to the other side.

Even before I made my presence known.

‘Was there a ward? No, that can’t be. Sandra must have placed her ward elsewhere.’

So did Lee Sin cover her vision?

Or…

‘Lee Sin checked my Blue side jungle and fed that info to Sandra.’

Viego isn’t on a full camp route. Basically telling her to be careful about mid.

‘This is interesting.’

The enemy’s reaction was quicker than I anticipated.

Thanks to the real-time communication in this team game, it was entirely possible.

But I shouldn’t be disappointed just because my route was figured out.

I went straight to bait a fight at the top crab.

‘The positioning isn’t optimal, but… it’s doable.’

Sylas and Akali.

Both were strong in fights, even if their laning was weak.

Adding in Viego, who’s known to be a fight master, it was definitely a fight worth taking.

Lee Sin and I met up, and our respective laners were rushing to push their waves for a join.

[“This is looking good.”]

[“Lee Sin! Lee Sin!”]

The fight for the top crab was beginning, one that could decide the fate of the upper side early on.

-Enemy has been slain

-First Blood!

-Our side has been slain!

The result was a 1:1 trade.

The enemy Lee Sin and our Akali both went down.

I could have taken the top crab and escaped without losses, but Akali chased the weakened Lee Sin too aggressively, leading us to trade kills.

Of course, as it was Sandra and Akali who got the kills, the trade was tilted more positively for us.

[“I can’t let this go.”]

[“It’s fine. We got the crab, so it’s a win.”]

But I had a twinge of disappointment.

Despite planning the fight meticulously, I didn’t earn as much as I hoped.

‘At least Akali got the kill, so it’s not all bad…’

A champion is a different beast entirely after getting kills versus not getting any.

Still, the root of my disappointment wasn’t just that.

‘…Hmm. I can’t react to skills after seeing them.’

It would be a shocker if someone else heard it, but to me, it wasn’t anything unusual.

I had always reacted after clearly seeing the skills.

In the past, it would have been impossible, but after my body changed, my reaction speed and reflexes improved tremendously.

But now,

Just like with a 60Hz monitor, my computer’s performance, having terrible frames below 60FPS, made it impossible to deal with such scenarios.

The time window to react after seeing a skill is truly just a split second, and due to the frame difference, I couldn’t react to attacks that I had never even seen.

‘This is manageable up to this point, but…’

Originally, I had reached Challenger rank without having to rely solely on physical skill or fight-based micromanagement.

I could adapt my gameplay regardless of conditions, it was not difficult at all.

However, the real issue was something else.

‘My body feels heavy.’

At first, I thought it was just nerves, but thinking back, it was an odd date today.

‘…It wasn’t just in my head.’

The given environment, the conditions.

Everything was at rock bottom.

If there was one consolation, it was that I had somewhat adjusted so that I wouldn’t faint like in the past?

Overall, I could now say I’ve more or less adapted to these sudden cramps every month.

‘Not that I know what’s fortunate about that.’

I smiled bitterly while moving my mouse. This kind of challenge was nothing to me.

I had played under much worse conditions before.

“I’ll initiate a fight for the Dragon.”

For the first time since the game started, I spoke up.

[“…Oh, okay.”]

[“Teleport is ready.”]

Feeling a bit odd about the trainees’ somewhat hesitant responses, I quickly refocused on the game.

“I’ll keep an eye on the ADC.”

One sentence at a time.

I said them carefully.

[“Okay okay.”]

[“Nyar used his ult. Teleport coming. Go!”]

My teammates gradually warmed up to my voice, starting to follow what I said.

It was quite a funny thing to consider.

I was just an amateur in the candidate testing phase, not even a full trainee.

Yet, they were genuinely responding to my input, which was barely Master tier at best.

‘This is… team gaming.’

Even wrong orders have to be followed.


The trainees seemed to understand this better than anyone.

Of course, my orders were right.

-Enemy has been slain!

-That’s a wrap!

And also,

-The enemy has conceded with five votes in favor and none against.

[Victory]

I had claimed victory in my first match of the entry test.