"Noel..."
Gabi wasn't unaware.
She knew that Noel's mental state was far from normal.
When they were young, she just thought he was a model student.
Studying hard, listening well to his parents.
Getting along fine with friends too, the kind of kid people would call "that friend's son your mom always talks about."
His face wasn't exactly handsome enough to make a fuss over.
But with good skin and distinct features, you could say he was decently good-looking.
However, the good impression he made at school was only possible because Noel was male and a good student.
Just by having his gender switched, all that affection and support was cut off, and he was practically imprisoned at home.
If the family you believed would love you forever turned their backs like that...
Realizing that love was all a lie, that they were proud not of Noel himself but just of having a son who studied well...
Gabi thought that even she couldn't have endured such frustration and despair.
Still, he'd been doing well until now.
He'd reconciled with his mother and become a pro gamer.
Though she knew his heart was hurting, she thought he might be better after visiting the hospital.
She thought the stress was just temporary.
She believed he only had success ahead of him.
But becoming a pro gamer seemed to put more pressure on a person than expected.
Of course, Gabi understood.
Becoming famous meant attracting public attention.
When things go well, you receive praise, but if there's even a small flaw, you face countless criticisms.
Additionally, League of Champions was a team-based competitive game.
If you lose a match, you get beaten up by the entire community.
Even traditional sports were like that, and gamers weren't any less harsh with their words.
Since Noel had become a pro gamer after being an internet broadcaster, he was well aware of community reactions.
On top of that, being under the constant gaze of spectators from all directions...
For someone like Noel, who felt uncomfortable even when making presentations at school despite pretending otherwise, the pressure must be immense.
Noel was just enduring it all.
Not because it was his dream.
After all, Noel hadn't even been playing games seriously for a year.
Recalling how he had muttered that there was nothing else he could do, perhaps Noel was just struggling to survive.
But Gabi, his childhood friend, couldn't stop him.
It wasn't like she could support him financially yet.
At minimum, she'd need to graduate college and get a job for that to be possible.
So for now, though it pained her, what could she do?
All she could do was hope for Noel's success and cheer him on.
So when the doctor went up on stage, Gabi prayed that nothing was seriously wrong with Noel.
And when the doctor stood in front of Noel and said something to the other players, coach, and manager, she bit her lip.
Since a doctor had come up, something must be seriously wrong.
His body seemed fine, so it must be a mental issue.
Wouldn't it be better to have him step down to prevent things from getting worse?
But for Noel's dream...
While anxiously watching the stage, Gabi heard the commentators' reassuring conversation.
["If Noel gets a medical stop, CryingSSD will have to take his place. Though his wounds have healed, it's been too short a time for rehabilitation."]
["If CryingSSD participates, it's hard to expect the same level of performance as before. Oh, but they're continuing. Fortunately, Noel's condition doesn't seem to be at its worst."]
["The match resumes. LCK Summer Season 4th match, with Genji team leading 2-0. If Genji wins here, they take the championship, but if HLG wins, it goes to a final deciding match at 2-2. Can Genji maintain their advantage and win, or will HLG regain momentum and stage a comeback? Ban-pick starts now!"]
The commentators spoke energetically, trying to revive the broken atmosphere.
But looking at Noel's tired face, Gabi was filled with worry.
A doctor had already come up to check on Noel, indicating something was wrong.
Though the commentators didn't say it, their voices already seemed to lack energy.
When a player needs a doctor's attention, it's hard to expect them to perform well in the game.
Despite supporting Noel, even Gabi thought so.
So during the ban-pick phase, she could only look at Noel with concern.
Eventually, despite having no particular faith, Gabi found herself in a prayer-like posture with her hands clasped as the commentators continued their match explanation.
["Ah, HLG finishes their composition with Blitz. In the previous match, Genji created many variables with grab champions. So it seems HLG is also trying to create variables by taking a gamble."]
["That's right, they lose everything if they lose here. They need to use all their prepared strategies. Especially since they've been hesitant to show it in first picks until now, not even showing the portrait. Now Noel finally brings out Jackson. It must be his signature pick."]
["It seems like he's trying to show everything he can despite the difficulties, which makes my heart ache. But you can't be a pro player on emotion alone. Picking Jackson first is tricky because there are so many counter picks. That's why he's been saving it."]
["Even though Genji has a composition with Colki and Misfire, two ranged damage dealers, they can still counter Jackson well, and if lane counters overlap too, it'll be tough... Ah, Uduru comes out."]
["Genji seems to think Uduru counters Jackson. And that's pretty accurate. He has decent sustainability that Jackson lacks, doesn't lose in trading damage, can approach opponents and stun them. Except for being slow-footed, he's an excellent warrior who can ignore crowd control with skill enhancement and perform well."]
["Will this be the final match, or will HLG open the curtain on a comeback? The fourth set is ready, let's watch the match!"]
---
Uduru, a druid who channels the spirits of various beasts to fight with their ferocity.
The champion that Kin chose as his warrior to fight in his place was certainly tricky.
Kin is also skilled with Jackson.
He showed an impressive performance in the previous match, which made things quite difficult.
Thanks to my extensive experience with Jackson, I could keep the lane phase fairly even, but that was it.
Since there wasn't much difference in our capabilities, once my teammates collapsed, I was helplessly dragged down with them.
So for this match, which might be the last, I brought out Jackson to try something.
When I chose one of his main champions, Kin also found his own countermeasure.
It's not a counter pick, so farming minions isn't too burdensome.
But trading damage doesn't work out well.
Of course, if we clash directly, our health bars deplete fairly evenly.
But Uduru can recover health by borrowing the power of the ancient turtle.
Meanwhile, Jackson only has health regeneration that increases over time and minimal recovery from runes, with no skills to restore health.
Naturally, as the lane phase continues, Uduru's health remains intact.
Only my health and mana dry up.
So I had to accept some losses and return to base to recover health.
Uduru killed a few more minions than Jackson and returned with more items bought with the earned gold.
The already frustrating situation became even more one-sided after the item gap widened.
Looking at the team status, we've secured first blood, so it should be fine as long as I don't die.
But if balance collapses on one side, most teams' winning formula is to persistently exploit that weakness and gain advantage.
Uduru's movements seemed threatening, so I glanced at the minimap.
Sure enough, Genji's jungler was heading top.
Zyro, a mage who summons plant tendrils to bind enemies and beat them one-sidedly.
I bit my lip and calculated the situation.
From taking hits from Uduru, it seems he's building as a magic power-based tank, and with Zyro as the jungler...
Thanks to my magic resistance items, I won't melt instantly.
But at the same time, because I haven't built damage items, I can't deliver threatening firepower even if they dive me.
Should I retreat now?
No, Seong-jun's Maokai is coming to join me from base after confirming Zyro's position.
So my job is to buy as much time as possible.
Not to survive, but to hold onto the two champions' pant legs long enough for the turret to target them.
That much should be possible.
So when Zyro revealed himself and Uduru walked steadily toward me,
I moved slightly forward to take hits from Uduru first, whose health was relatively low.
When Uduru borrowed the bear's power to pounce on Jackson and stun him,
I could have easily avoided it with Counterattack since it counts as a basic attack.
But the turret needed to target Uduru, so I had to take damage.
To minimize even that, I only pressed my ultimate to increase defense and magic resistance.
["With all my might!"]
["GROOOWL!"]
The fishing rod and bear's paw cross.
Thanks to that, Jackson takes the hit with minimal damage and gets stunned, then Zyro's thorn bushes surge like a wave.
Stun followed by binding.
But before Zyro's ultimate unfolds and the summoned plants shoot thorns,
Jackson, barely regaining consciousness, starts swinging his fishing rod to deflect incoming projectiles.
Uduru's basic attacks, plant fragments thrown by Zyro,
And thorns spat by summoned flowers, all deflected.
And thanks to the area damage reduction attached to Counterattack, even Zyro's ultimate is taken with relatively less pain.
As a result, Jackson is near death, but thinking it dangerous to get stunned by Jackson's counterattack while taking turret hits,
Uduru and Zyro briefly retreat.
The first dive attempt has been defended.
But with health below 10% and mana depleted, Jackson is now powerless against skill combos.
Uduru approaches again after cycling through skill cooldowns.
I can't just retreat.
Uduru has activated the Phase Rush spell, dramatically increasing movement speed.
So I must endure this assault near the turret again.
To take the attack as late as possible.
When Uduru reaches right in front of Jackson,
I try to recover some health with a basic attack imbued with Grasp of the Undying,
But even that is negated when Uduru stuns me with the bear's power.
Following that, Zyro walks up, trying to bind Jackson with thorn bushes.
Thanks to me buying as much time as possible,
Jackson wakes from the stun and can dodge the thorn bushes by moving sideways.
Uduru moves away from me briefly, wary of taking more turret hits despite the turtle's shield.
And Zyro, concerned about the increasingly powerful turret that strengthens with each champion hit, doesn't follow up.
Thanks to that judgment, Jackson's death was delayed a bit longer.
And because of that, my reliable reinforcement could arrive.
With a wave of sturdy tree roots, incomparable to Zyro's thin killer plants,
Seong-jun's corrupted tree spirit, Maokai, arrived with heavy footsteps.
Having already used his skill enhancement passive to deploy a shield, Uduru
Couldn't enhance his skill to ignore crowd control, and was helplessly bound by those tree roots.
Still not giving up, determined to kill me even if he dies,
Uduru blocks my escape route and growls.
A sound that rendered Uduru's efforts futile was heard.
Clank, as the sun shone down, shields surrounded Jackson and Maokai.
Not a huge amount, but the core item that provides various tanking stats at a cheap price, Steel Solari Pendant.
Thanks to securing first blood, Seong-jun could afford that item and used it generously to save me.
Not stopping there, he held Uduru in place with tree roots to prevent his desperate beast-powered swings from reaching Jackson.
Because of this, Uduru couldn't finish off Jackson's remaining health.
Zyro tried to use skills to kill me, but I wouldn't just stand there and take hits.
Simply dodging the wave of thorn bushes, the only incoming damage was thorns spat by plants summoned along the path.
And that actually became poison for Zyro.
Turrets don't ignore attacks on allied champions.
They prioritize attacking the source, firing a powerful beam.
Meanwhile, Zyro, caught in Maokai's binding, quickly becomes near-death from turret attacks.
Maokai throws a sapling at such a Zyro and detonates it.
However, the sapling didn't get to explode.
Zyro died before that.
Being a tank, Maokai lacked the firepower to finish off Uduru.
Uduru abandoned his dead teammate and showed his ability to forge his own path to escape.
["Shall we take a shot?"]
Jinseok's Tristania flew in with a rocket jump to chase Uduru's retreat path.
No matter how fast Uduru ran without looking back, after getting explosives stuck to his head and being hit repeatedly by the dwarf gunner's cannonballs,
When he was pushed back by a large-caliber bullet at the edge of attack range, that became Uduru's grave.
Even though I'm not listening to my teammates' briefing and have my microphone turned off,
In this moment of silence amid the noisy game sounds,
I glanced to the side and saw everyone focusing on the game with brighter expressions, which gave me a strange feeling.
Despite not communicating at all, the fact that they coordinated and came to support me like this,
Even though I almost ruined the 4th match because of me, it felt like they were shouting that we are a team.