| Minji |

Sitting up front, barely a few meters from the stage, Minji felt her nerves act up for the first time. Would this be successful? 

There would certainly be multiple ways to define success, and at the very least, quite a crowd had gathered out of interest in this supposedly 'new' event. 

"Wow, I'm shaking I'm so excited." Soyeon whispered from beside her. 

"Let me introduce to you Chungdam High's Starting Roster!" Kim Dohoon announced loudly.

She had definitely selected the MC's well, they sounded not much unlike the explosive voices she had heard while watching the match. 

"Playing for Chungdam high, at top lane, Kang 'HoldThem' Hosuk, a Diamond 2 player whose mastery includes the likes of Gnar and Riven."

"At jungle, our very own Jeong 'Premiere' Seongwon, a Platinum 2 player whose competitiveness in every single sport never ceases to amaze us."

The moment Seongwon sunbae's name was spoken, a chorus of high pitched screams filled the entire gymnasium, which was only exemplified as he stood up from his desk to reveal his handsome face. 

It was pretty clear he was the crowd favorite even among those with little interested in the game itself. 

"Hailing from the middle lane is Kim 'Uniform' Chanhyung, a Diamond 4 mid who and I quote 'has never lost a single matchup before'." 

There was a hearty chuckle coming from Soyeon, as she seemed to understand something from the opening that Minji did not. 

"At AD Carry, Jung 'K-MO' Kyungmo. A Diamond 1 Vayne main with mechanics that he self labeled himself the UZI of Chungdam high." 

(Vayne is a champion in LoL requiring fast reflexes, UZI is a famous Chinese professional e-sports player) 

"And starting at Support, recently hitting the number 3 spot in challenger and a member of KT Rolster's Academy roster. LEE 'AVATAR' DOHYUN!" 

Minji watched as he was now the one to stand up to greet the viewers. 

There was an uproar of guys in the crowd, that almost equaled that of the screams of the girls from when the previous jock was announced. 

"And you've got to think with his insane skill level and mechanical ability, he is giving his opponents a handicap playing off role as the support." 

The acute statement from Dohoon did bring about some confusion. Dohyun had already explained that because supports do not gather much gold and kills. It would be difficult to 'carry' the game on the support role. The equivalent of a star soccer forward playing a game as a defender. 

Seoul Tech, living up to its reputation of nerds and gamers, seemed to have their own mini-amateur esports team. Not only were they all dressed in matching Esports-like track jackets with the school's name on it, but their average ranks, at least from Minji's understanding, were significantly higher than that of Chungdam's players apart from Dohyun. 

"Now while Chungdam High's Avatar may seem like an unfair matchup against Seoul Tech's players. It's actually quite even, if not an advantage to Seoul tech with their carry roles all on high masters." The commentators explained. 

Seoul Tech even had their own student coach, pacing astutely behind their players, holding a clipboard in his hand. 

"You think he's there just for show?" Soyeon whispered into her ear. 

Unfortunately, their coach turned out not to be there for show. With his advice, Seoul Tech quickly banned away several champions that threw Chungdam's players into confusion. 

Despite knowing very little about all of the different champions in the game, with one glance she could see the panic across several of their player's faces... apart from him. 

Dohyun sunbae.

He had an unbelievably calm demeanor about him, unfortunately not in a good way. 

He seemed to be completely silent, as she had to squint to see if his lips moved at all during the entire drafting period. From the previous match, she knew this was supposed to be where the players communicated with each other to draft strategies. 

Was he really engaged in this match? 

The game froze as soon as all of the champions were picked, or 'locked-in', allowing a time-delay between the player's game and the observation screen. 

Then after about a minute, the game loaded and with it an iconic phrase spouted through the school's audio system. 

"Welcome to Summoners Rift." 

Everyone in the room began to cheer as all of the characters fanned out across the 3-laned map.

Minji exhaled, as she watched the first wave of minions spawn into the game and head across the lanes. 

10 minutes passed, and surprisingly the game was quite uneventful. Neither side wanting to make any key mistakes. 

However even without a deep understanding of the game, it was clear, Seoul Tech was more practiced. 

Their team coordinated together to slay the Chungdam players one at a time, leaving the home team in disarray.

While Avatar and his bottom lane partner K-mo were able to take 2 early kills against their opponents. The other lanes and especially the jungle position were clearly outmatched.

"And Premiere? What is he doing there? That's going to be one easy kill over to Seoul Tech." The commentators seemed skeptical at first to critique the fan-favorite Seungwon. 

But as the mistakes increased, they had no choice but to cast the match as was. Honestly, anyone could see he looked lost playing against such skilled players on the other end.

The game quickly 'snowballed out of control' as the commentators coined the massive beatdown that Seoul Tech team brought her school. 

Seoul Tech took the first game within 23 minutes, when Minji hadn't seen any of the pro games she watched end in less than 30 minutes. 

"With that we'll take a 10 minute intermission while we let the players strategize before the next game." Dohoon ended the first game off. 

"Well... that was something." Soyeon chuckled from beside her. 

Minji had been the one to propose the idea of an intermission between games, copying the format of the Professional matches she had watched. 

However, seeing the defeated faces of Chungdam's team as they stepped off the stage, she wondered if she should've just let them keep playing. Even the undeterrable Seungwon lowered his gaze, clearly shaken by the crushing defeat.

From the side of her vision she noticed several of the girls who had come solely to watch the handsome soccer player frowning and motioning to leave. 

In the end, all of her hard work and effort... for this?

No, Minji decided she wasn't going to let the event finish like this. Not when it so clearly didn't have to.

"Sorry sunbae, I'll be right back." She excused herself from her seat. 

Outside the auditorium the two teams had formed separate huddles on the empty soccer field. While Seoul Tech looked to be celebrating around their coach, the Chungdam huddle was nothing more than an awkward gathering of misfit students.

Especially him, Lee Dohyun, he looked completely disinterested in the ongoing event. Seriously? 

He was the one who called her out for her condescending attitude towards gamers... yet here he was... in the very event he had contributed too. Speak up! Say something! Call them out, you're the best player! 

She marched towards the roster she had assembled, feeling a sense of ownership over them and the success of the event as a whole. 

"Minji-ah." Seongwon was the first to spot her, his crestfallen expression brightening as soon as he locked eyes. 

However, she unconsciously ignored him, barreling towards him. Lee Dohyun stood zoned out, not even reacting as she cut through the other players on a warpath. 

"Ya! Neo!" She snapped her fingers in front of his face to gather his attention. 

He lifted his dull eyes, widening them in surprise at her extremely disrespectful action. 

"Get a hold of yourself! Don't forget your promise sunbae-nim, if you don't take this more seriously, you're dead!" She snarled, completely forgetting the small audience still around them. 

Dohyun blinked repeatedly, as if he had just taken a punch to the face. 

Then she turned to his previous laning partner. 

"Kyungmo-ssi, you're playing in the Jungle next game." 

While scouting the players, she could vaguely remember the different lanes they had told her they played. 

Because Kyungmo was still a pretty high rank in the game, it made sense that he should be the one playing the jungle role. The jungler was responsible for managing the entire game, helping losing players win their matchups, it wasn't optimal for the worst player to be the one in this role. Which unfortunately meant...

"Seungwon sunbae." She gazed at the handsome boy who was obviously still dumbfounded by her sudden change in behavior. 

"I'm sorry, but if you want to win. You're going to have to play support in the bottom lane with Dohyun sunbae." 

There was a moment of silence as each of the players were still struggling to comprehend her authoritative actions... all except him. Lee Dohyun was grinning proudly, as if he had been expecting her to step-in this entire time, and had played poorly intentionally knowing so. 

"I agree with Coach Song on this. Let's do these role swaps, they won't be expecting it." He supported her, speaking up in front of others for maybe the first time. 

"They are way tier than their ranks say, so we can definitely win if we just don't fall into their pick comp (pick composition)." He added with surprising vigor. 

(pick composition is a play style where a team tries to get 'picks' or isolated kills onto individuals, avoiding full-on confrontation)

"Minji-ssi is right. I'll go support with Dohyun and Kyungmo you should be jungling." Seungwon finally affirmed her, flashing a supportive smile. 

"Sounds good coach!" The other players suddenly all chimed-in with lifted spirits. 

Seeing that her point had been made, a slow burn of shame at her outburst began to sweep over her conscious.

"Ok, let's do that then." She immediately spun around before squirming away. 

"Coach Song on 3!" She heard Dohyun suddenly shout from behind her, only adding to her utter embarrassment. Why in front of Seungwon sunbae? 

God, she hated him sometimes. 

. .

| Dohyun |

"3!"

"2!"

"1!" 

"Coach Song! Coach Song! Coach Song!" The entire team cheered unanimously, perhaps the first time their voices agreed on something.

Dohyun couldn't help but watch in amusement at the lowered head of the usually chic girl darting away in embarrassment. 

He had happily volunteered to play support, despite knowing it would likely be disadvantageous for their winning chances, mostly because he didn't care about winning. 

Watching her converse so smoothly with Jeong Seungwon before the game, had further demotivated him. She wasn't here for the game, she was here for him. 

Except she had proved him wrong, judging by her frustration he could see she actually did care.

As the bell signaling ten minutes recess rang, Dohyun and his teammates headed back into the auditorium. 

"I didn't know you and Minji-ssi were close." Came a hushed voice, from beside him. 

Somehow Jeong Seungwon had found himself to his side, the tall athlete holding back his pace to keep from overtaking him. 

It was difficult to tell whether his was a statement made out of pure interest towards a close junior or jealousy. But the quick-witted athlete was far too calculated to let it show. 

"Not really, she's just a hoobae who recruited me for the team and asked me a question or two about setting up the venue." It wasn't really a lie. 

In her eyes, he probably was just an annoying roadblock to her ultimate goal, the goal that was now directly in front of him. 

"Oh really... I could've mistaken you two for best friends the way she spoke with you." Seungwon chuckled clearly with a clear innuendo. 

Dohyun exhaled, wondering why someone like him would even feel a hint of jealousy. 

Here was a guy with almost everything going for him. Dohyun was about to respond when— "Hey Jeong Seungwon!"

Both of them stopped, as following close behind were several members of Seoul Tech's team. 

The voice was clearly from their Mid-laner, a tall more athletic boy who Seungwon seemed to recognize. 

"Kim Dongmin." The athlete responded, holding back his frustration. 

"Just cause you're half-descent at soccer you think you're the at League too? Wake up, you're the worst player here." Dongmin taunted, clearly venting his frustration from getting his beaten during the football match. 

As usual, the statured boy looked unfazed by his comment instead electing to turn around and walk away. 

"By the way who