[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 99

My thoughts come to a halt.

I had expected that something like this would happen, but the arrival of a stranger at such an unexpected moment completely threw me off.

“Uh… um…”

-?

-Is your camera for real, room master?

“…What do you mean?”

Is my camera real, you ask? I have no clue what you’re talking about.

-Wow, it’s really your face.

…Huh?

Feeling as if the conversation was off-kilter, the game officially began.

-Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!

[⨷] [⨷] [⨷]

[⬇] [⬇] [⬇]

[⚑] [⚑] [⚑]

Pings were flying all over the place. Under normal circumstances, I would consider the current enemy and ally invade combinations to determine our strategy.

But for some reason, what caught my attention wasn’t the in-game content but rather a new line of chat.

-So you’re really going to stream until you hit number one?

“Ah… yeah, of course.”

-Wow… that’s awesome.

The enthusiastic reaction was a refreshing contrast to the spicy audience I was used to watching on Red TV.

‘Well… it’s not like the viewers are just a couple of people, so it makes sense there are all kinds.’

While I briefly got lost in trivial thoughts, the enemy initiated an invade.

‘Oh.’

Was it because my focus was divided? My reaction was a tad delayed. I ended up making a mistake I would never ordinarily commit.

-Tong!

Fortunately, I didn’t embarrass myself in front of my very first viewer by donating a kill, but in return, I lost my Flash. And not just any Flash, but Rek’Sai’s Flash.

‘…Should I have just died instead?’

Rek’Sai’s Flash gank is notoriously powerful. So much so that sometimes I wonder if it might be better to simply die without using it during play. And right now, it certainly felt that way. Of course, there aren’t many situations where it’s genuinely better to die rather than preserve Flash, but that just goes to show how crucial Rek’Sai’s Flash is.

‘Comparing the Snowballing value of giving away first blood and succeeding in a top dive…’

Just as my mind was working through the calculations, another line of chat appeared.

-Lol

The viewer laughed.

‘What does that mean?’

Does it have no significance? Then why did they laugh just now? Did I make them laugh? Was that a sneer?

Unfortunately, before I could even ponder that, the jungle monster respawned.

Currently, my route was forcibly redirected to Red Buff. If I awkwardly tried to leash a Blue Buff, not only would it make the bottom lane’s situation tougher, but I might also be ambushed by Nidalee at my Red.

When in the top side, settling for the Red Buff was mandatory in this specific situation and layout.

‘The problem is, Nidalee knows this as well.’

Of course, Nidalee would also be cruising for the Red Buff, but the issue was that I couldn’t predict her subsequent movements.

Would she smoothly farm all camps, or would she secure my Blue after taking Red, splitting the camps? Or would she make a bold play targeting me, who lacked Flash?

‘Concentration… isn’t happening.’

In the past, I would have easily predicted Nidalee’s route from the fragmented information available, but for some reason, I just couldn’t do it now. My mind was a jumble.

The most significant cause was undoubtedly the chaotic chats scrolling across my screen.

-What if you pull the jungle monster that close and it resets? That happens to me all the time.

“Uh, um… just practice a lot.”

For a jungler, minimizing jungle time by even a second is super important. A mere few seconds can determine whether or not there’s an opportunity to intervene in lanes.

So at a certain level, pulling jungle monster aggro to the extreme becomes second nature during jungling, but even professionals can make mistakes in this basic but tough aspect.

-I see. Well, can I get that gold?

“…I’m not sure?”

How am I supposed to know that?

As I kept up this bizarre back-and-forth with my one viewer while managing to rotate through all three camps on the Red side.

‘Alright then…’

I checked the top situation.

It was a Kennen versus Nyar match-up. Both were ranged champions with impressive survivability, making it tricky to find an angle for a gank.

If I had Flash, I could have attempted it regardless, but unfortunately, my Flash was still on cooldown.

‘…I really wish I had Flash.’

But that doesn’t mean there were no ganking opportunities at all. I walked back to the Sprout and entered the Baron nest while making sure to avoid enemy vision.

I immediately checked for vision in the enemy Blue jungle.

‘The Blue Buff is still alive.’

After taking the Golem and heading back to the Sprout, factoring in the Grand Master tier speed of a Nidalee user’s jungling, if she followed a full camp route, she should have been hitting Blue by now.

In other words, Nidalee chose to split the camps.

Considering the bottom situation, it was a decent choice.

‘She probably assessed that a Rek’Sai without Flash wouldn’t be much of a threat in lane.’

Or perhaps she thought it was okay to sacrifice the top lane to some extent.

Something about that second thought was pulling at me—it seemed like I couldn’t help being a jungler.

‘Well, it doesn’t really matter to me.’

Just because I didn’t have Flash didn’t mean I had to back down for no reason. There’s always a way.

When Rek’Sai is in the upper side, she can employ a unique ganking path through the tri-brush inside the enemy turret on the top side, and when she’s on the lower side, she uses the same to get the jump on enemies.

This path completely blocks the enemy retreat and avoids vision wards, making it one of Rek’Sai’s lethal gank routes.

[⨷] [⨷]

[Outlaw(Rek’Sai) targeted IIIIIIIIlII(Nyar)]


[Outlaw(Rek’Sai) targeted IIIIIIIIlII(Nyar)]

The moment I emerged from the tri-brush inside the turret on the top side, I could see Nyar frantically trying to reposition.

Nyar’s E skill allows him to jump again after stepping on an opponent. It’s like using the opponent’s head as a springboard.

The problem was that Nyar was attempting to step on the very Rek’Sai who lay in ambush.

‘…Isn’t that a bit too dismissive of me?’

Of course, it was also true that Nyar had no other options, but I certainly wasn’t going to let Nyar simply step over me without putting up a fight.

-Thud!

Nyar, attempting to leap over my head, found himself airborne.

And with the subsequent combo, his health plummeted below 30%.

However, because the turret was so close, Nyar walked right into it without using any spells.

Even though I hadn’t managed to take away his Flash, I did successfully apply significant pressure on his health.

‘You better back off. If you don’t, I’m diving you.’

Perhaps sensing the unspoken threat, Nyar quickly hit recall.

Of course, I had no intention of letting him go that easily.

‘5, 4, 3…’

Silently counting down the recall time, I used my ambush Q skill just before Nyar could escape.

Once he failed to recall, Kennen, the honorary member of 3 Min Top School, arrived with a hoard of minions right at the turret.

The dive opportunity had opened up.

‘So, what will you do?’

Now, Nyar was left with only two choices.

Will he stay and fight desperately, waiting for teammate support, or will he risk losing minions to back off and return with Teleport?

Nyar chose the latter.

👍

Kennen was clearly pleased with the situation, even giving me an unexpected thumbs up.

Although Nyar was significantly behind, I was also no better off.

I had invested too much time in the top lane, leaving my jungling suffering.

‘But even without securing a kill, I couldn’t even get his Flash; the best I managed was a Teleport.’

Because of the Flash lost during the early invade, the snowball effect had been substantial.

While I made waves at the top, the enemy Nidalee wasn’t idle either.

‘Nidalee’s applying dive pressure at the bottom.’

In that case, instead of running all the way to the bottom on the opposite side of the map, I should clear the enemy Blue jungle.

That way, I could at least keep pace with minimal growth.

Just when I was handling the enemy’s Blue jungle—

-Room master,

-I can’t see my messages!

-Room master!

“Uh… yeah? What’s up?”

-Please communicate with us. You haven’t been watching the chat for a while now ㅜㅜ

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

It seems I got too caught up in planning the top gank and completely overlooked the chat.

‘…This isn’t easy.’

Interacting with viewers while playing. It’s something that BJ’s and streamers do as a matter of course, but it felt extraordinarily tough for me.

“I’ll pay more attention from now on. This is my first broadcast after all…”

-Okay! But why didn’t the enemy take their Blue?

“Ah, that’s…”

As I continued to play and maintain awkward communication with my sole viewer, unfortunately, the number of viewers didn’t increase.

[Viewer count: 1]

The broadcast continued for just one person.

*

SY Dormitory.

Recently, Rainbow Ryu Jin-hyuk began hearing strange rumors.

They said a fake prisoner had appeared in scrims, a “jap prisoner,” they called it?

It was an incomprehensible rumor.

Not one to let it slide, Ryu Jin-hyuk pressured Guinea Pig Yoo Sang-hyun, who was known as the team’s pipeline.

“…What does that even mean? A fake prisoner?”

“Oh, it’s not that someone is impersonating the prisoner; it’s that a jungler has emerged who plays just as well as the prisoner, and I heard they have a perfect record in scrims!”

“A perfect record in scrims?”

That’s impressive, but it doesn’t warrant calling out the prisoner by name.

Ryu Jin-hyuk himself had experienced a perfect record in scrims for a period.

“What was the ID?”

“It was Out… something? I don’t really remember.”

Ryu Jin-hyuk racked his brain but couldn’t recall seeing such a name in solo rank.

‘…Solo rank names are totally different from pro names.’

In fact, many people usually just used random names until they needed a proper name for their pro debut.

“What team are they on?”

“YSG.”

Normally, Ryu Jin-hyuk would have checked out at this point, but upon hearing the team name, he halted mid-step.

…YSG went undefeated?

As far as Ryu Jin-hyuk knew, YSG was a typical mid-low tier team.

Given their performance this season, there were predictions that they could easily sink to the bottom ranks, so it was bizarre to think they pulled off a perfect record in scrims.

‘…If it’s that impressive, it’s not strange to hear about a fake prisoner.’

Then Ryu Jin-hyuk suddenly felt a nagging curiosity.

“Wait, didn’t we beat them in the scrim we played?”

“Back then, our jungler was DieHard, not that Out something.”

“…True.”

It’s perfectly normal for a starting player to appear in a scrim, but it was odd to feel any discomfort about that.

“When’s our next scrim against YSG?”

“It’s tomorrow, but I doubt we’ll run into that fake prisoner.”

“Why not?”

“I heard he left the team.”

“…What?”

What does that even mean?

He played in scrims, yet left the team before the season even ended?

If that fake prisoner was actually that good, wouldn’t he immediately become a starting player from round two onward?

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m not sure. According to Minsu, he disappeared suddenly one day. So the YSG trainees started calling him the legendary deserter.”

The “legendary deserter,” huh…

Considering he left the team abruptly mid-season, it’s understandable for that title to stick to him, but to evoke images of the prisoner feels rather… dishonorable.

“Did he join another team?”

“Who knows.”

“…Really?”

Sadly, Yoo Sang-hyun’s knowledge ended there.

After all, even if he was a social butterfly, he only gathered rumors among players and trainees.

There was no way he could learn the details of any contracts.

“Oh, right! And this is the most important part, that Out something—”

“No, you don’t have to tell me more.”

“…Huh? Isn’t this the most important part?”

“I’m fine with it.”

“…Oh, alright.”

The name “Prisoner” came up unexpectedly, and while I was interested, it was only up to that point.

‘…I really don’t need to be concerned about this.’

The prisoner was dead.

Chasing after that shadow, which no longer existed, needed to stop.

‘Let’s just focus on practice.’

Ryu Jin-hyuk casually browsed the rankings once and shook his head before instantly queuing up again.