Chapter 96: Once a Villain, Always a Villain (2)

The top laner of Unicorn, Lee Ha-sung, couldn’t find words to describe the horrific scene unfolding in front of him.

It had been a typical day of streaming as usual.

Although his solo queue records for the day weren’t great, thanks to the support from his fans, it wasn’t a bad day overall.

“Are pro gamers nowadays so outclassed by amateurs?”

However, the not-so-bad day was completely thrown off course by the sudden appearance of a certain man.

He had queued up for a final game.

Lee Ha-sung quietly watched the enemy top laner who dodged all his skills and basic attacks, mocking him.

The opponent was a player Lee Ha-sung had heard about before.

Shia.

A streamer who played League of Storm occasionally on Twipod with a villain persona.

His skills were often a topic of conversation within Lee Ha-sung’s team and among other pro gamers.

Pro gamers who had never faced Shia before tended to underestimate him.

After all, he was just an amateur.

They couldn’t possibly be on the same level as professional gamers whose lives depended on their career.

Lee Ha-sung initially thought the same way.

In the Korean League of Storm League, belonging to Unicorns, his nickname was Blade.

He had quite a bit of confidence in his career.

Having secured consecutive runner-up positions right after moving up from the second division, wasn’t a bad career, was it?

Moreover, he thought his skills were decent.

Though overshadowed by his teammates’ performances, he was undeniably the top laner of a championship-contending team.

However, the in front of him was thoroughly destroying everything he had believed in.

“Swing properly. How do you expect to hit any attacks like that?”

“Why are you doing this to me? This is our first meeting and you’re using informal language…”

“Oh, does that make you uncomfortable? I’ll use polite language then, just play the game properly. Honestly, it’s quite unpleasant.”

He was an opponent who couldn’t be reasoned with.

Rumors about his terrible personality were well-known, but not to this extent.

Streamers and pro gamers often knew each other indirectly.

At that moment, a thought flashed through Lee Ha-sung’s mind.

‘…Could it be Tae-ho hyung?’

An incident that had recently occurred within the team.

Although it hadn’t been disclosed to the public yet, he had had a clash with the current coach of Unicorns.

More precisely, the coach and the entire team had been at odds.

Coach Lee Tae-ho was originally a streamer and was said to still be close with some streamers.

Paaaah!

Lee Ha-sung furrowed his brows and continued his attacks.

The opponent’s performance was beyond his imagination.

Although he had faced him a few times before, it wasn’t to this extent.

“If you swing so weakly, do you think I’d get hit? Play properly.”

– Who is that guy to be so rude?

– Insulting a pro gamer like that is crazy.

– Isn’t he a streamer?

– lol Shia is really showing his bad character again.

– It’s really unpleasant to see a broadcaster behave like this… I hope you teach him a lesson ^^.

– lol why is the chat in this stream so calm lol

– Be careful, if you attract attention, you’ll get banned immediately.

Shia kept taunting Lee Ha-sung with a relaxed tone, and Lee Ha-sung could feel himself being slowly dragged along.

So, he muted Shia’s voice and took a deep breath.

Then he spoke to his jungler.

“I’m pushing the top lane, can you gank?”

The allied jungler was his duo partner and Unicorn’s jungler.

A close colleague who went by the nickname , Shin Chan-jung.

“Just wait a bit. Once I get a rough idea of the enemy jungler’s position, I’ll come right away.”

If the enemy top laner was overconfident in his physical abilities, they just needed to call for a gank and take him down.

An amateur is just an amateur.

Those who rely solely on their physical abilities won’t survive in the professional scene.

‘You can’t win the game with just physical abilities. You need good teamwork… there’s no top laner who syncs with their team as well as I do.’

But three minutes later.

“This is ridiculous. Isn’t he using a helper?”

“No, Ha-sung. How could you use your skill like that? We should’ve definitely gotten him this time…”

“You saw it too, right? How could a human react to that? I’m telling you, he’s been weird since earlier.”

The enemy skillfully used his abilities to evade their focused attacks.

And as if to mock them, he arrogantly waggled his fingers with his sword planted on the ground.

Watching that, Lee Ha-sung gritted his teeth and glared at his opponent.

“You’re playing the game like trash.”

He wanted to curse him out, but since their gameplay was being broadcasted, severe swearing was impossible.

“Hold on. I’ll adjust my path and try again. The enemy used their spell this turn, so just put some pressure on him.”

The jungler Shin Chan-jung sighed and spoke, and Lee Ha-sung nodded, refocusing on the game.

The opponent seemed to realize he had been muted, shrugging his shoulders and glaring back at him.

Always relaxed and irritatingly smug.

It was impossible to know what grudge made him play like this.

However, as a professional gamer, he had to return the favor.

Lee Ha-sung bit his lip with determination and swung the large crescent blade in his hand as he approached the enemy.

#### 4.

– Wow…

– Our villain… is he really this good?

– He’s completely overwhelming the second-ranked top laner in the Korean league.

– Did you see him dodging the gank earlier?

– With this skill, what’s he doing not being a pro gamer lol

– Ah, is this the ‘serious mode’?

– His physical abilities are insane.

I dodged the opponent’s attacks leisurely and glanced at the chat.

There was definitely something strange.

It was true that I was trying harder than usual to fulfill Seong-sin’s request, but honestly, the opponent felt lacking.

“Chan-sik hyung, what’s going on today? Why are you playing so intensely? It’s really scary.”

The game had already been going for 15 minutes, and the current score was 7 to 3.

I had solo killed the opponent twice already, and thanks to Dong-hyun’s involvement, we were comfortably leading in other lanes as well.

The reason the game was going this way was very simple.

The enemy team had heavily invested in the top lane.

Especially the enemy jungler, Savannah, who was on the same team as Blade, had attempted to gank the top lane three times in 15 minutes.

And the result?

The kill score clearly showed the situation.

The enemy’s top ganks had failed, and I had solo killed the enemy top laner in return.

It was only natural for the game to tilt rapidly in our favor.

If the investment doesn’t yield results, it’s a loss.

I furrowed my brows slightly as I watched Blade, who was just standing under the tower.

He didn’t seem like someone who should be blaming Seong-sin for anything.

“Hyung, take it easy.”

“I am taking it easy.”

“I saw you teasing the opponent earlier… be careful. Their fans are quite rabid. You might get into a controversy… oh, but you wouldn’t care anyway.”

Originally, I had no ill feelings towards that team.

But hearing about how Seong-sin had been treated, I couldn’t just look at them positively.

I was the one who had connected Seong-sin with the professional gaming team after all.

I felt a bit responsible for that part.

If it were other streamers, they wouldn’t be able to respond like this.

For a streamer to provoke a pro gamer was practically a forbidden act.

There was a common trait among the pro gamers I had provoked so far.

They were the ones who had doubted my skills.

Most of them had encountered me in solo queue and had been utterly crushed by me.

Team games are different, physical skill alone can’t make someone a pro gamer, such childish self-rationalization.

Well, it was something like that.

– But isn’t our villain a bit harsh this time? lol.

– Blade hasn’t said anything to our villain, right?

– Yeah, totally.

– I don’t get it, lol.

– Isn’t Seong-sin part of Unicorn?

– What does that have to do with this lol? Isn’t he just picking a fight because he’s in a bad mood?

The number of viewers on the stream had surpassed 30,000.

It hadn’t even been an hour since I started, and the influx of viewers was massive.

It seemed the internet communities were buzzing about how I was dominating pro gamers, and many of the new viewers appeared to be from there.

I briefly took my eyes off the chat and looked at my opponent.

He showed no sign of coming out from under the tower.

Even I couldn’t avoid the tower’s attacks. They were homing attacks that followed automatically.

Calling Dong-hyun for a dive was one option, but there was a far more effective method.

“Dong-hyun.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Let’s invade their jungle.”

“Okay.”

Spreading the influence of the top lane to other lanes.

Starting from that, I began to intervene in the enemy’s jungle and mid, and from then on, the game started tilting rapidly in our favor.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Ten minutes later.

[Enemy slain!]

[You have destroyed an enemy turret!]

The difference in the top lane had become insurmountable, and the kill score had widened to 17 to 5.

– The way he’s snowballing is insane.

– This is truly top-tier.

– (Roughly a top-tier crab).

– Even if it’s solo queue, Blade’s performance is just pathetic lol.

– He got babysat in the early game, but collapsing like this… seems like he’s not taking it seriously because it’s not a tournament.

Good.

Now was the right time.

I opened the all-chat window and immediately typed a message.

Just because I had muted voice chat didn’t mean I lacked means to taunt the opponent.

Maybe it was because it was a match composed entirely of pro gamers?

No one responded to my all-chat.

But that was enough.

– This is the literature major top laner…

– There’s a reason he’s called a literature major lol.

– Is he called a literature major because he taunts his opponents in chat?

– His chat messages are so annoyingly provocative.

– Top-tier! Top-tier! Top-tier!

7 kills, 0 deaths, 5 assists.

That was my record for this game, and there was a KDA mission riding on this match.

The mission reward was 85,000 won.

At the very least, I had earned enough to more than cover the cost of the chicken I bought for Seong-sin today.

I grinned and left one final message in the chat.

And shortly after.

The enemies surrendered without a word, and the game that had begun for Seong-sin’s revenge ended cleanly in 20 minutes.

This should be satisfying enough for Seong-sin as well.

I wanted to torment them a bit more cruelly, but pushing further could be a bit overwhelming.

It seemed best to leave it at this.

“Great job, hyung. We should have a meal together sometime.”

Before leaving the game, Dong-hyun smiled at me and said, and I nodded in response.

“You’re buying, right?”

“Of course.”

“Alright, take care.”

“Oh, right. Hyung, could you turn off the stream sound for a moment?”

Hmm?

What’s he planning to say?

I turned off the stream sound.

“It’s off.”

“Hyung, did you do that on purpose? Picking a fight with Blade?”

How did he know?

“Streamers really are amazing. You heard the news and built up to this? Wow… just how many steps ahead are you looking…?”

Wait a minute.

This was news to me.

I furrowed my brows slightly at Dong-hyun’s words and asked.

“What news?”

“Huh? Weren’t you doing all this after hearing the news?”

Soon, Dong-hyun started talking about something I didn’t know, and as I listened, my eyes lit up.

“That’s solid info, right?”