[Han Kang: If you can, could you help me a little? I’ll make it worth your while.]
It was a message from Han Kang.
It was the evening after I had a deep moment of contemplation and met with Si Hyun.
As I arrived and habitually turned on my computer, a message popped up on Discord.
When I asked what was going on, this is what I heard.
[Han Kang: You know Fusion Gaming, right?]
[Kayak: Uh, no, I don’t.]
[Han Kang: Oh, you don’t keep up with pro matches? Surprising. Anyway, there’s this team called Fusion Gaming that’s been ranked number one for several years….]
[Han Kang: It seems someone there was really impressed by your playstyle. That’s why they reached out to me.]
[Han Kang: Though they’re on the second team, this friend is a promising player. They’re young, but someday they might make it to the first team-.]
[Han Kang: I heard there are quite a few fans of you over there. Well, considering there are many pros who watch streams, and even if you’re not a streamer, you’re still a well-known user-.]
To summarize Han Kang’s somewhat chatty message, it was this:
A pro gamer has taken an interest in my play to learn the tricks of the trade.
‘Pro gamer….’
I fell into a moment of thought.
Honestly, the word “pro” was pretty foreign to me.
Back when I first immersed myself in Abyss, the environment was so unstable that it was a joke to say, ‘Are there pro players in this game?’
I had received pro offers before too. As a high-ranked player, I often hovered around the top tier.
But I turned them down. Frankly, that was a time when the game was on the verge of collapse. There were even announcements about shutting down the servers, and how it came back to life as a god-tier game is still a mystery to me.
The reason I didn’t become a pro was simple.
I thought I’d become like a prince from a fallen kingdom, a pro in a league that had collapsed, just a lost soul.
I had a desire to be one, but I didn’t feel a burning passion for it. If I were really desperate, I would have accepted the offer when it came.
And now, even though Abyss has become a great game, the conditions I wanted back then have been met. But still.
For some reason, the term “pro gamer” didn’t make my heart race. It didn’t spark my interest.
For someone like me who lives life as it comes, being a pro felt impossible.
However, separate from that, this offer piqued my interest quite a bit.
Miga bloomed.
Even pro gamers come to me seeking to learn Camilla. Isn’t this like being a grandmaster who has completely mastered a field?
Most people recognize Camilla as Kayak, and even though that’s been accepted, it feels like an esteemed institution has given its stamp of approval.
If things go well, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to promote the broadcast as ‘the place where pros learn Camilla.’ Of course, that would require some negotiation on that side too.
And most importantly.
“I might get to see Camilla play in the league.”
Even now, three years since the early days when I actually kept an eye on pro matches.
Camilla has never participated even once in the league. When I first heard that news, it hurt so much. It felt like a label had been slapped on her, saying she was a character abandoned by Eonix, which made me even more upset.
If there’s a good outcome this time, if I successfully pass down skills through direct encounters with pros…
Maybe Camilla could finally compete in a pro match at least once.
“A flashy debut and a funeral…”
The first and last. A debut game that is also a retirement match soon.
Since there hasn’t been any hotfix, Camilla’s nerf is a done deal.
In that case, wouldn’t it be better to participate in the tournament and make an impression on everyone’s minds?
This is what they call a glorious death.
Camilla would probably wish to shine on a bigger stage and die there rather than just being nerfed after only dominating in solo rank.
This is something I can guarantee as the current Camilla’s heart analyst.
It could be worse than receiving a nerf, but I didn’t care.
Like my nickname suggests, Camilla has always been a weak existence.
No matter how much Camilla gets nerfed or how weak she becomes, I will never abandon her.
[Kayak: I like it]
I accepted the offer.
*
“It’s done!”
“What’s done?”
“That thing Jun Hyuk mentioned last time, about getting the know-how from the master of Camilla. I just got a call. They said they’d connect us.”
“…Really?”
The trainee, Tae Wan, had a somewhat indifferent expression as he pulled a drink from the practice room fridge.
His reaction was due to the fact he wasn’t present when Jun Hyuk suggested learning the know-how last time, and on another note, he wasn’t quite sure if this master was really that amazing of a person.
It wasn’t exactly clear to him why someone called a master would be such a big deal.
‘They’re just an amateur, a regular person, right?’
Fusion Gaming, a prestigious team. A few years ago, when the Abyss started making waves among gamers, they quickly formed a team. Since then, they’ve consistently delivered great results.
Just last year, they won the ACK championship without losing a single match and clinched the World Series trophy too. That trophy was proudly displayed in the practice room to boost the players’ morale.
Tae Wan took considerable pride in being a trainee at Fusion Gaming, a member of such a renowned team.
Even though he was still just a trainee and couldn’t participate due to age regulations, he had no doubt he would dominate the league in just one more year.
In fact, during internal scrims at Fusion Gaming, Tae Wan often had the best results among trainees, sometimes even outshining a few second-string players.
At that age, when one’s self-awareness is at its peak and the world seems to revolve around them, it was only natural for Tae Wan to look down on Kayak somewhat.
‘Jun Hyuk is really something, caring about everything. As if he could do better than me.’
By the time he debuted, the team would be a complete unit, unstoppable against any competition.
With that thought in mind, Tae Wan smirked slightly and asked a teammate,
“What did that person say? When are they gonna teach us?”
“Um… They said they’re coming here?”
“Here? When?”
“Wait, I think I need to talk to Jun Hyuk. He says he’s fine with it?”
“Hmmm…”
As the teammate walked away, Tae Wan pondered.
‘They’re coming all the way here? To this practice room?’
The team’s practice room was no walk in the park.
They say that the team holding the first place has more mental pressure than the team aiming for it.
Fusion Gaming, being a prestigious team, was exactly that. With the constant need to maintain their top position, the atmosphere during practice was intense. On days when they held internal scrims or primary tests, it felt like walking on thin ice.
Of course, if an outsider were to come, they would be treated politely, and the atmosphere would be somewhat friendly.
‘But that’s only if they prove their worth.’
If they seemed like they couldn’t bring anything to the table, things would turn cold. Everyone here was genuinely passionate about the game and the Abyss.
Here it is. The folks here are all seriously into the game and the abyss.
‘I hope she comes soon.’
Tae Wan somehow found himself looking forward to Kayak’s visit to the team.
*
Finally, the promised day has arrived.
On the day of Kayak’s visit, Jun Hyuk, the one who wanted to learn from her expertise, was met by several players who showed up to welcome the guest at the practice room.
And then they were shocked.
“Hello, I’m Kayak.”
“Y-yes… Hello.”
The coach, not one to falter, seemed a bit frozen.
After that, the players began to murmur.
“Whoa, crazy. So damn pretty.”
“She looks just like Camilla?”
“Did she dye her hair to look like Camilla?”
“If I’d known a woman was coming, I should have tidied up the practice room…”
Meanwhile, the captain Jun Hyuk maintained his calm demeanor.
“I’m Lee Jun Hyuk, it’s an honor to meet you.”
“Hello, Jun Hyuk.”
Even though Kayak was meeting the legendary pro gamer known worldwide, she retained a nonchalant attitude.
As they shook hands and headed inside the practice room, the atmosphere remained electrified.
It was only natural. A pro gaming team was no different from a male-dominated workplace.
In this male bastion, a woman, and an absolutely stunning one at that, had just entered, so there was no way there wouldn’t be a reaction.
Only someone like Jun Hyuk, who knew nothing but games, remained unfazed. The rest of the players were clearly thrilled.
And there was one more person who, like Jun Hyuk, wasn’t in a frenzy like the other players.
‘What the hell is this?’
It was Tae Wan. He was wide-eyed, looking at Kayak with a sense of disbelief.
‘Is she a Camilla doppelgänger? Did she deliberately style herself to look like her?’
There was not a single feature that didn’t look like Camilla.
To play just one game character and actually look that similar in real life—she couldn’t have just naturally been born looking that way. She must be pulling off that cosplay look all the time.
So Tae Wan had some rather rude thoughts for someone he had just met.
‘Is she a crazy lady…?’
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