[TS] Malicious Sniper

The long-awaited first game of Grandmaster has been secured.

Unfortunately, the enemy team does not have Nayun Queen, but that was okay.

It would take at least three days for Curry to reach Grandmaster anyway.

“First match, I’ll just watch. Feedback can wait until after.”

Curry’s champion is Renekton, the quintessential bruiser.

On the other hand, the enemy top is Malphite, the bulkiest soup in existence, wielding a comet rune.

Even though it’s a tank, Malphite’s early harassment with comet can be fierce, so it would be wise to buy a Doran’s Shield for lane sustain.

But once the game starts, Curry buys a Doran’s Blade and a potion.

While Renekton has decent lane sustain, starting with a Doran’s Blade carries some risk.

Curry wanted to intervene right away, but since he said feedback would come after the game, he held back.

And any item choice is his freedom; as long as he proves his choice, it shouldn’t matter.

Curry suffered from a rolling tortoise throughout the laning phase.

At the 3-level timing, he tried to trade hits.

But he narrowly missed stunning the speeding Malphite.

If he had used E to escape right away, he probably wouldn’t have taken too much damage.

Using E forward while consuming built-up fury resulted in a massive trade loss for Curry.

If he had gone with the Doran’s Shield, he could have at least recovered health to push the awkward lane.

The moment he tried to push the lane clumsily, it was clear he would die solo.

Left with no choice, Curry opted to recall and immediately used Teleport to get back to lane.

The lane was in a precarious state, truly the worst-case scenario where he couldn’t do anything.

If the enemy jungler had been waiting, he might have died in that situation.

Fortunately, the enemy jungler showed up in the bot lane, and with allied Eles, they dived and took down Malphite.

[First Blood!]

“This is what a jungler looks like! This is a top carry!”

“…”

Curry, who shouted about the top carry, had much to say.

But he suppressed it while mentally noting, “That situation was all Eles. You were just a fool.”

After that, Eles focused heavily on the top lane.

Unlike the ‘actor’ who stubbornly ganks due to stream aspirations, it was a genuine expert’s perfect gank.

Once the allied bot lane secured a kill, Eles followed the enemy jungler’s route, scoring a sharp counter-gank.

Eles was surely not a local, and the game’s balance fell apart due to a typical “jungler difference.”

“Hey, guys. We might actually reach Grandmaster today?”

“Ha…”

Curry’s mumbling made me unable to hold back a sigh.

He looked at me cautiously, and the excited chatter from before fell silent.

Even if I thought it was just for the broadcast, he had gone too far this time.

[Curry’s foolishness has made the teacher seriously mad;;]

[Can’t say all I want to say]

[I’m a silver and can see this is a jungler difference, yeah]

[Silver plays better than Curry, haha]

[God Barcodes protects the world]

[If I were Barcode, I would have stuck a pencil in Curry’s forehead]

With overwhelming jungle carry, the game drew to a close.

I looked at Curry, who was sneaking glances and couldn’t keep his eyes down.

“Curry.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Are you ready to be scolded?”

“What, what did I… No, I’ll stay quiet…”

He was about to ask what wrong he had done, but when I shot him a glare, he made a scuttling sound and kept his mouth shut.

I snatched the mouse from Curry’s hands and downloaded the replay of this game.

Curry bowed his head like a sinner waiting for punishment.

Seeing him dejected made me feel a little soft, but I had to say what I needed, so I played the replay video.

As soon as the video started, I hit the pause button and shifted my gaze.

“Stop looking down and watch the screen.”

“Yes…”

I pointed at the Doran’s Blade in Renekton’s item window on the screen.

“Why did you buy that?”

“Well… because it’s a guy’s thing, Doran’s Blade?”

“Don’t joke around.”

“If I buy a Doran’s Shield, it’ll feel a bit restricting…?”

Seeing Curry give such a foolish answer made me laugh.

I wasn’t laughing out of joy but rather out of disbelief at how absurd it was.

“What do you think when you see Malphite with the comet?”

“He’s trying to poke with a rolling tortoise…?”

“Then what item should you have bought to endure that poke?”

“Doran’s Shield, right?”

“You’re quite knowledgeable, huh?”

Knowing all that but having given such a ridiculous answer just moments ago was amusing.

Originally, I intended to teach him moderately while planning to give him a good ribbing.

As a proud League of Legends user, I couldn’t help but be frustrated.

“No more Doran’s Blade against champions who can poke from a distance.”

“That’s too harsh…”

“What did you say?”

“…Nothing.”

To send the top dummy Curry to Grandmaster, this correctional task was absolutely necessary.

While I managed to solve that immediate problem, a plethora of other issues remained.

Starting from his habit of taking ‘Domination’ instead of ‘Resolve,’ which would better aid his laning capability.

To his foolish mindset, remaining blissfully unaware of the enemy jungler and thinking that if the enemy jungler ganks, they both die.

“Uh, Teacher Barcode? There’s no way I can fix all of this…”

“Fix it.”

“Yes.”

“Honestly, I don’t expect you to fix everything either. But if I’m constantly ribbing you in real-time, won’t you have no choice but to improve?”

“…”

[Hey, you don’t want that? Haha]

[Look at this guy’s stiff expression]

[You’ve got to do what the teacher says, student!]

[For real haha]

[You should be grateful for personal lessons too]

[Haa… Teacher…]

[If you’re jealous, you lose… if you’re jealous, you lose…]

Curry had a lot to say, it looked like.

But I ignored him, shifting my gaze to tell him to queue up.

“Sigh…”

With a barely audible sigh, Curry started the matchmaking process.

*

“You were told not to buy a Doran’s Blade against poke champions.”

“Think about the positions of your jungler and the enemy jungler while trading.”

“By the way, why did you engage earlier? The enemy jungler was visible.”

After the first game, Barcode proceeded to give real-time feedback on the wrong plays.

Thanks to that, it felt like my mind was about to fly away, but ironically, the game was going well.

It was like the rule of diagonals, where if one side gains while the other side loses.

Curry had always been someone to cause ‘losses’ in the diagonal rule.

But due to Barcode’s ongoing feedback, he found himself in the ‘gain’ position.

[Victory]

Once again, Curry effortlessly secured a win, feeling a strange mixture of emotions.

Clearly, the feedback that his body rejected was effective, that much was certain.

The problem was that following Barcode’s teachings required significant mental energy, but.

Achieving five consecutive wins through mere mental energy wasn’t a bad outcome.

“You did well this game.”

“Really?”

Barcode’s commendation, which hadn’t come even once during the five-game win streak.

Perhaps too immersed in the teacher-student concept, he genuinely felt happy.

While pretending it wasn’t a big deal, it was already too late, and Barcode smiled.

That smile resembled the kind you give when you see a cute animal, and I felt embarrassed for no reason.

“If you keep playing like this, you might actually reach Grandmaster by tomorrow.”

“Really? No way, that sounds like a lie…”

“I can’t assure you either. It all depends on Curry’s abilities and the outcomes that follow.”

The results changing according to his abilities sounded obvious, but it was something easily forgotten.

If he continued to improve, he might escape this hell faster.

With just five consecutive wins, a promotion match to Master was created.

Even if he couldn’t maintain the winning streak, if the momentum and team luck continued.

If Barcode was correct, reaching Grandmaster by tomorrow wasn’t impossible.

Soon after, matchmaking was set up.

The ban-pick process went by quickly.

Thus, the long-awaited first promotional match began.

[Nayun Queen]

“…”

Seeing the name of the enemy mid-laner Talon.

Just looking at it was infuriating, a name tied to a deep-seated grudge spanning years.

And I thought it could be the dreaded streamer aiming for me.

But Barcode is right next to me?

The absurdity of Barcode and Nayun Queen coexisting in this situation.

What if someone else was using the Nayun Queen account?

Curry, who had firmly believed they were the same person, started to have doubts.

“You’re a famous sniper, right? Let’s takedown that person and go to Master.”

“Oh, yes. Let’s do that…”

Barcode’s response didn’t differ much from earlier, so the suspicions faded.

Instead, doubts began to sprout about Nayun Queen and Barcode being the same person.

After all, there was no concrete evidence that Nayun Queen and Barcode were the same individual.

Their most-played champions could overlap by chance, and their active hours could differ.

Perhaps it was just coincidence piled on coincidence that made it seem true.

Had he been looking at it through colored glasses all this time?

Nayun Queen’s sudden appearance muddled Curry’s thoughts.

In a situation where he didn’t know what the truth was, Curry refrained from hastily judging.

Perhaps that ‘Nayun Queen’ could indeed be a decoy.

As the game progressed, Curry took the opportunity to watch Nayun Queen’s Talon closely.

If Barcode really found a substitute for ‘Nayun Queen,’ that person would surely play differently from her.

With that thought, Curry observed the enemy Talon, and by mid-game, he was certain.

That’s definitely Nayun Queen’s Talon he knew.

The very essence of Nayun Queen, a total subpar version of Barcode.

“You’re doing great. In 20 seconds, your Teleport will be ready, so head to the bot lane for some split-pushing that our Curry likes, right?”

“Yes, understood.”

As the game progressed, the doubts about Barcode dwindled away.

As the image of ‘Nayun Queen’ gradually fell away, Curry began to see how great a person Barcode truly was.

The chairman, who had always cheered him on during his toughest times.

The streamer Barcode, who readily accepted the sudden collaboration proposal.

Thinking back, weren’t they all people who only did beneficial things for him?

Though he still couldn’t get used to Barcode’s ribbing.

When he considered that it was because of that ribbing that he had grown this much, it felt oddly pleasant.

The game was dominated by Curry’s finely tuned Fionna.

To stop the split push of Fionna, two or more members of the enemy team had to be mobilized.

The difference in numbers easily led to securing major objectives.

If it were the usual Curry, he likely would have pushed too greedily and died.

But with Barcode, a Curry-specific inhibitor, that wasn’t going to happen.

They smoothly took Baron, whittling down the enemies through strategic play.

The enemy team began to falter, and an important team fight arose in a precarious state.

Naturally, it was illogical to think the enemy team could win in such an unstable situation.

[Victory]

In the end, Curry wrapped up his first promotion match with a victory.

[Nayun Queen? Please don’t mention that washed-up guy]

[Wow haha, how do you know all Talon’s movements?]

[No matter how I look at it, Teacher Barcode isn’t human]

[If I saw him, he’d be a goddess, for sure]

[Curry has evolved from a top fool to a great general]

[Always be grateful to Barcode!]

After the game, I turned my head and caught sight of Barcode smiling subtly.

Seeing him smile like that made me feel a twinge of guilt.

I was convinced that the Nayun Queen I had just encountered was indeed ‘Nayun Queen.’

Yet a lingering doubt resided deep in my heart.

After all, it was possible they could have set up a substitute user with a similar demeanor to ‘Nayun Queen.’

The possibilities remained open, and no suspicion, however small, should be overlooked.

There was no conclusive evidence that Nayun Queen and Barcode were the same person.

But equally, there was no definitive proof that they weren’t.

“Let’s hurry to Grandmaster; let’s get the next match going.”

The calm voice of Barcode suggesting the next game still resonated.

It sounded just like his usual voice; why did it seem different?

“Yes. I’ll do my best to show you I can reach Grandmaster soon.”

Curry, who had always worn a mask when facing her, finally answered without one.

Perhaps Barcode wasn’t Nayun Queen after all, he thought.

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