I was arrogant.
Thinking that playing with HLG's second team wasn't much different from solo ranked.
Assuming other teams wouldn't be much different either.
I regret thinking that pro gamers who couldn't make it to the first division wouldn't be much different from users I meet in solo ranked.
It makes sense when you think about it. There are only 300 Challengers on the Korean server.
If the ten teams in the first division take six players each, that leaves 240 players competing among themselves.
And although I'm at the bottom, I've reached Challenger tier.
I thought, "Hey, this is doable. If I can maintain an advantage at this level, couldn't I climb higher?"
Of course, I've heard people say the top players are almost a different species.
Players like Joker who can counter cheats rather than use them.
Players whose movements and skill shots are so good you'd think they can see the future.
Players who routinely pull off plays that others might manage once every few days.
Arrogantly, because viewers praised me so much,
I could confidently execute my victory plans against the pro players I occasionally faced.
I dared to think I could stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
But playing against players who haven't even made it to the first division, players whose names I've never heard of,
it was frustrating that I couldn't break through their defenses.
I know from my research why HLG wants to recruit me—they want an aggressive top laner.
Since their bottom lane prefers stable play, if mid and top can play aggressively,
they won't have to rely solely on bottom lane strategies and could pivot to top-focused operations when needed.
That's why they needed my aggressive playstyle.
But what if that aggressive playstyle gets shut down?
Sure, there was that unexpected early gank from the enemy jungler,
but that mistake happened so early that the damage wasn't that significant.
To be worthy of recruitment by HLG,
I need to dominate the enemy top laner.
But the opponent won't engage, so I can't break through.
And if I force things, I'll obviously lose.
So the first game ended without me showing anything impressive.
We won, but that was because our team outperformed theirs overall.
If I measure my contribution, it was maybe 10 percent.
Surviving through consecutive ganks from Fiddlesticks and Sejuani, and once escaping the enemy team's focused fire during side lane operations.
The team atmosphere was great at that moment.
I was even praised by active pro gamers, which secretly made me smile.
But objectively speaking, whether I had died or survived then wouldn't have made much difference to the game.
Hence, 10 percent.
That's not enough.
If I'm just going to be average among second division players, why become a pro gamer at all?
I need to show overwhelming skill here, either to transfer to a first division team,
or to be a key player in promoting HLG to the first division.
That's the kind of skill I need to have a future.
Well, everyone here is probably desperate too.
There's that song, "Everybody wants to rule the world."
All pro gamers submit their applications and join teams with the goal of winning championships, giving it their all.
I don't know if their parents supported them wholeheartedly or if they went against their parents' wishes.
But what's different between them and me is that
most pro gamers have something to fall back on even if they fail here.
They might hear encouragement like, "You've pursued your passion as a pro gamer,
so you can work hard at other things too."
Not me.
I'm a one-coin player.
If I fail here, no one will hire someone with a disability like me.
What about disability benefits?
If my father's inheritance is recognized as my asset, I won't even be eligible for that.
Those benefits only supplement a certain percentage of what's lacking from basic income.
Then, can I live the rest of my life on my father's inheritance?
That would be difficult.
So maybe it would be better to take the PR position the coach mentioned,
and build a career as an announcer or caster from an early age.
...Of course, if my resolve weakens after just one game, I'd be letting down the coach who gave me his card.
If he had deliberately set me up to fail just to offer me the PR position, I might have been furious.
But since he was honest about it from the beginning,
I found myself leaning toward that option.
So in the second game, to avoid being a burden to the team,
I played defensively to prevent the opponent from scoring.
Even though we won, I immediately received criticism:
"Noel. You seemed intimidated this game. Did you hit a wall against Fearless team's top laner?"
"No, that's not it. It's just that they were so solid, it was hard to break through."
"Hmm, I haven't watched your streams much, but in solo ranked, don't you often walk a tightrope? I'd like to see that kind of play. It's okay if you die or fail. Even 10 deaths is fine. That's what scrims are for. It's a time to experience trial and error, to analyze what went wrong and what strategies were effective."
When he said that, I felt both relieved and pressured.
The burden of the game itself lightened, but
I felt a weight on my conscience knowing they were being so considerate of me.
Still, it would be better if I failed the test, right?
That way, the coach could hire me as a PR person without any guilt.
So with an unburdened heart, I approached the final scrim.
[I won't back down.]
Even though I had first pick, I chose Fiora.
She's a champion with some counters, but they're practically telling me to dance with blades.
So I should respond accordingly.
Seeing this, the opponent hesitated briefly before picking Pantheon.
Both champions are ones I've played countless times, so
I know Pantheon has a slight advantage.
But Fiora, depending on the pilot's skill—
specifically, how well they use Lunge and Riposte—can reverse the matchup.
Will this work?
Well, whether it works or not, I'm going to clash.
Without any pressure, with full force.
From behind the players, Taehyun watched Noel's play intently.
Of course, since it was a scrim, he wasn't ignoring the other players either.
But they already knew the lane phase details, so he just needed to focus on their macro play.
And so began the lane phase between the rapier-wielding duelist and the warrior with spear and shield.
Pantheon's advantage is that he can harass the opposing top laner one-sidedly with his long spear.
Most top lane warriors tend to use close-range weapons,
which are relatively shorter in range compared to a spear.
Of course, to compensate for this, they often have dash skills or crowd control abilities.
Or they have health-regenerating skills to withstand harassment from longer-range champions.
Anyway, Fiora needs to get close to attack,
and Pantheon can stun Fiora when she approaches, then create distance and harass from afar.
Of course, if they commit to fighting until one of them dies,
Fiora has a higher chance of winning.
She has a skill set optimized for one-on-one duels.
It's just that Pantheon can keep chipping away from a distance.
That's why many people consider Pantheon to have the advantage.
Even that advantage disappears if Fiora can Riposte Pantheon's Shield Vault and return the stun.
Then Pantheon becomes vulnerable to being killed.
But if Pantheon is smart, he won't jump on Fiora in obvious situations where she can react.
Yet from level 1, Noel was very aggressively trying to pressure Pantheon.
Well, since Pantheon had a vital mark pointing toward him,
Fiora might think it's worth taking an enhanced jab if she can hit once and recover health.
[Ha!]
But she dodged it.
The moment Pantheon thrust his spear with full force,
Fiora slid diagonally to avoid it, then slashed Pantheon's vital point with her rapier.
Annoyed, Pantheon retreated slightly until his Q skill cooldown reset.
Well, okay.
Looking at their champion pools, they've both played these champions extensively.
So she probably predicted and dodged the empowered Q.
Lucky.
As if to contradict Taehyun's thoughts,
Noel's Fiora dodged all of Pantheon's thrusts while landing her own rapier strikes.
The first time could be luck.
The second time? Sure, good prediction.
Even the third time could be attributed to winning a guessing game.
After all, the width of Pantheon's spear thrust isn't that wide.
But dodging every single thrust?
That has to be skill, right?
Frustrated by all the missed thrusts, Pantheon finally got fed up.
The moment Fiora slid toward him after dodging a spear, he pounced.
He tried to stun Fiora with Shield Vault to deal at least some damage.
[Too slow!]
But Noel reacted even to that.
Seeing this, Taehyun swallowed hard, feeling goosebumps.
This could work.
With this player, we could make it to the first division.
Suddenly, the game was paused.
Pause. A system only available in user settings.
While everyone was wondering what problem had occurred to halt the game,
the enemy top laner expressed his frustration in all chat.
How could she dodge all the spear thrusts and even Riposte the W skill used at point-blank range?
"I'm sorry to say this, but are you using a cheat?"
Hearing this, all the players and the coach laughed lightly,
while only Noel responded calmly.
[All] Noel: Thank you for the compliment