NoveLight ™
The opponent was none other than Rimaldo.
He was a streamer who usually enjoyed playing card games.
He was someone I had often watched in the past.
But now, here he was, making it all the way to the finals.
‘He’s really lucky, it seems.’
His skill in card games clearly hadn’t disappeared, as he seemed to have an incredible stroke of luck picking champions.
I had seen him holding Kalista the last time I briefly watched his stream.
That aside, Rimaldo wasn’t a streamer who usually played Leore.
He was actually one of those who avoided it.
But here he was, participating in a Leore tournament.
“This guy usually doesn’t stream, but now he’s here, huh?”
[🗡️전지좆능한크툴루: Are you saying Rimaldo usually doesn’t stream, just roams around, and when there’s a tournament with a prize, he rushes in to get the prize and disappear?]
[How does this guy know so well? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[We were all Rimaldo’s fans...]
[Mangming: This guy really doesn’t stream much.]
[Mangming, do you have the right to say that?]
[Mangming: Hehe.]
[What do you mean “Hehe”, I want to grab your tongue and stretch it out.]
[Harin: I don’t understand why he doesn’t stream. Money comes in when you stream.]
Since Rimaldo was already a famous figure on the Twiss platform, anyone who had watched internet streams for a while would know him.
That’s why everyone felt free to talk about it.
Rimaldo himself had built quite a reputation.
He’d take donations from viewers and run, occasionally making weird comments about fellow streamers.
Thinking about that, I entered the private channel.
And I saw that Rimaldo was already inside.
“It’s like seeing a rare Pokémon.”
Seeing him here like this was really something.
I thought to myself, "This is surprising," and entered the Discord channel.
[Ah, now that both of you are in, we’ll start the finals soon. There won’t be any grand opening ceremony, so don’t be nervous. Please just say a few words if you’d like.]
What would I say?
Honestly, as a viewer, I knew Rimaldo well, but as a fellow streamer, I didn’t really have any connection with him, so it felt awkward to say anything.
‘Hmm, what should I say?’
To be honest, I wanted to say something strong.
Rimaldo rarely streams, and it really bothered me.
But personal emotions shouldn’t be mixed with public matters.
I thought for a moment about what to say to him.
[Then, Rimaldo-nim, would you like to say something first?]
At Pa-in’s request, Rimaldo spoke first.
His interview was hesitant, like he was checking the room.
He probably didn’t want to say anything too strong, in case it backfired in the finals.
He chose the safer route, which made sense.
But I didn’t really have any reason to choose the safe path.
‘I’m not afraid of losing.’
He wasn’t even someone who played Leore often, and if I lost to him, how embarrassing would that be?
I’d have to quit the game.
With that thought, I opened my mouth.
“I’ll make sure you can never stream again after this tournament.”
Until now, I had been a viewer, so I had to watch as Rimaldo participated in this tournament. But now, as a fellow streamer, if Rimaldo joined a tournament, I could join too.
What I was saying was that I could eliminate him from any tournament, anytime, by my own power.
[🗡️전지좆능한크툴루: Whoa.]
[That’s a strong statement ㄷㄷ]
[But it really is annoying how Rimaldo only shows up for tournaments with a prize.]
[He only joins tournaments that give prize money up to 3rd place, it’s so frustrating.]
[But damn, you really said that harshly ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Essentially calling out his participation in the tournament.]
[Mangming: That’s a nice remark.]
[환희: He needs to be called out for not taking his streams seriously.]
With Pa-in’s words, the game began.
Of course, the champion wasn’t decided yet.
It was time to choose now.
“Please, something good.”
It would still be fun to beat Rimaldo with a bad champion, but I preferred to pick a good champion and dominate.
I didn’t want to give Rimaldo any chance to win.
With that in mind, I clicked the random champion selection.
And shortly after—
“Game’s over.”
The best possible champion for a 1v1 appeared.
A champion that literally bites people—a dog, Warwick.
[🗡️전지좆능한크툴루: Damn.]
[This is really Warwick ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Warwick, the God.]
[No matter what the opponent picks, I feel like I’m going to win. ㅋㅋ]
[Even if the opponent is ranged, I should still be able to win.]
[There’s no champion better at catching ranged champions than Warwick.]
[Mangming: Rimaldo is done for.]
[He’s going to get destroyed, haha.]
“What will the opponent pick?”
Just then, Rimaldo selected his champion.
His champion was—
“Wait a second.”
A champion using an axe appeared.
Its name was Olaf.
Personally, I didn’t like this champion much.
It was one of those champions that relied on freebies more than anything.
[🗡️전지좆능한크툴루: This is a bit tricky.]
[Olaf is really bad.]
[Why do I feel like Warwick could lose to this?]
[If Olaf hits, I’ll probably get my head smashed, haha.]
[강후민입니다: Let’s destroy Olaf.]
[Perverts are such good critics, haha.]
[강니키, calm down.]
After thinking for a moment about my runes, I quickly set them up.
I realized there was no real need to overthink it.
I chose the “Deadly Speed” rune, which increases attack speed the more you hit the opponent, and waited for the game to start.
And shortly after—
The finals had begun.
Before the real lane phase began,
There was about a minute of short time.
A time where we could freely chat.
I had something I was curious about regarding Rimaldo, so I decided to speak up.
“Um, Rimaldo-nim. I’ve been wondering something, can I ask you a question?”
Since I had never met Rimaldo in person, it seemed better to use formal language.
When I was alone, well... I’d call him by various names.
I’d wanted to ask this for a long time.
When he did stream, it was never anything special—just rambling and passing time.
I was curious as to why he didn’t stream more often.
When I asked, he answered—
That was a surprisingly honest answer.
But hearing such an honest reply didn’t make me feel better.
If anything, it made me feel worse.
Wasn’t he a streamer who made a living from broadcasting? And he’s saying it’s too lazy to turn on the stream?
‘Damn, what an asshole.’
I bit my tongue, holding back the curse words, and tried to respond as politely as possible.
“Ah... I see. Let’s have a good match.”
But I couldn’t stop my voice from shaking.
I had been waiting for Rimaldo’s streams, and his response was, "I’m too lazy to stream."
How could I not be upset?
[🗡️전지좆능한크툴루: What’s with the shaking voice? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[환희: That’s gotta be frustrating, for real.]
[Rimaldo really should be dealt with.]
[He acts like he’s something special, really makes me want to kill him.]
[Whoa, calm down.]
[Mangming: Why is everyone so mad?]
[The anger is so funny, haha.]
I saw that there were others in the chat who were just as mad as I was.
Anyone who plays Leore would be upset by this.
I briefly muted my microphone on Discord and spoke to the viewers.
“We should keep the public and private matters separate, so please don’t say anything too harsh.”
After all, if I said something too harsh and ended up getting sued, that would be terrible.
I was just saying this in advance.
There’s nothing more unfair than getting sued for speaking the truth.
With that in mind, I started the lane phase.
Given that Warwick had received a recent buff,
There was a possibility of winning against Olaf.
That’s why I decided to try and finish the match early.
‘Slowly.’
Warwick is better when played slowly.
Don’t rush into anything unnecessarily.
I cautiously made my way through the bush, moving toward where I expected the opponent to be hiding.
Then—
I heard Rimaldo’s surprised reaction.
But I didn’t respond and slowly began to take him down.
Olaf’s kill potential mostly depended on his axe, so avoiding the axe was key.
Just like now.
Whoosh-!
With that—
“Gotcha.”
It was an easy kill.
[Enemy slain!]
[Warwick -> Olaf]
After taking down Rimaldo, I muttered under my breath.
“...Don’t participate in tournaments anymore.”
From now on, I planned to enter every tournament Rimaldo would enter.
I’d stop him from running away with the prize money.
I knew this wasn’t the most righteous thing to do, but I couldn’t help it.
Rimaldo had often ignored his fans.
[🗡️전지좆능한크툴루: Wow.]
[That was awesome.]
[This is DaMa.]
[DaMa is a god!]
[DaMa has only been streaming for a month and is already huge, what’s Mangming even doing? DaMa has only been streaming for a month and is already getting views, what’s Mangming even doing?]
[Mangming: Why are you hitting on me?]
The finals ended way quicker than expected.
If my opponent hadn’t been Rimaldo, I probably wouldn’t have been so harsh… but since it was him, that’s how it went.
I was thinking about that when—
The interview began.