Luke’s instructions before the main play were quite clear.
“Mary, since you’re not used to active items, first buy Hala’s Flaming Cape and focus on surviving as much as possible. Only move in the direction I mark.”
“Uh, okay.”
“Shirud, play as you normally would, but be careful of that ‘Cicada Harvester’ over there. I’ve encountered him a couple of times before, and his senses are quite sharp. You could get assassinated, so don’t overlook defensive items.”
“……Got it.”
He tailored the play guide to suit Mary’s level to ensure she could contribute to the team, while giving Shirud a bit more freedom in his tactics since he had some knowledge of the game.
Even after the game officially began, he continued to provide accurate briefings and orders to lead the team to victory.
“Ugh, I died again! That black one is too strong!”
Mary’s wailing, but Luke comforted her.
“It’s okay, when you respawn, come this way and set up a monitoring totem here. Got it?”
“Yeah, I understand……”
At that moment, an alert sound echoed in the game.
—Cicada Harvester, Double Kill!
“Shirud, what are you doing getting killed there! Focus! If you just lasted 20 more seconds, you could’ve induced their dragon timing and enabled stable operations!”
“……Sorry, I got a bit tense.”
“Haah, it can’t be helped. I guess I have to push a bit harder.”
Luke’s character soon began walking into the enemy’s territory.
And……
—Illusionary Archmage, Triple Kill!
Luke first eliminated the assassin with high damage and an unavoidable targeting skill, then swept away the weakened enemies caught in the area, regaining control of the flow.
Since it was still early in the game and he didn’t have proper items yet, this was about his limit.
Although there were still more enemies left, anything beyond this would be greed.
Even Shirud couldn’t help but be amazed by Luke’s clean play.
“Wow, what just happened?”
He cut three people where angles didn’t seem possible, and returned alive?
Though he was left with just enough health to die from a single blow from a minion, the enemies had no choice but to give up their pursuit of Luke, who was already far away.
“Phew, luckily the gamble paid off. Shirud, you should be more cautious from now on.”
“Yeah……. I’ll be careful.”
Shirud could only nod, reflecting on his carelessness in response to Luke’s voice.
As everyone already knew, Luke had a strong drive for improvement, and his competitive spirit was remarkable.
Whether in sports festivals or playing rhythm games on the bus, he always needed to see things through to the end and win.
Even if the Tigalodon incident had left some things unresolved, he was quite serious about betting on fishing as well.
So it was no surprise that Luke was being this sensitive.
However, Shirud couldn’t have expected that Luke would become a ranker.
Just a few months ago, when they played together, Luke was only in the gold and platinum range.
Thus, Shirud couldn’t help but be surprised when Luke logged in for the first time.
After all, Luke used to not have much time to play games because of various other commitments.
Additionally, he didn’t really understand the differences between regular games and ranked games.
Luke had only started playing ranked matches a few months ago after asking how to get those shiny badges next to people’s usernames.
But suddenly, he was a ranker?
Was it really that easy to obtain?
Seeing Luke dominate in what he called “normal games,” Shirud had known he had skills, but still, what was going on here?
However, even Shirud wasn’t entirely without grievances.
With so many people watching from behind, how was he supposed to show his skills?
Murmur, murmur.
“Wow, he dodged that?”
“How did he know when to use chains there? And then he counters it? Is he crazy?”
“Seriously insane. No wonder they say he’s a hacker.”
Whispers of admiration from those watching Luke’s play merged into a single echo.
That buzz was nothing but extremely burdensome for Shirud.
He had excused himself to go to the bathroom for a moment, only to find throngs of people gathered in his absence.
In truth, those reactions might seem overblown to some, but viewed from the perspective of people involved in the Super Magic League, it was likely understandable.
The ability to predict an opponent’s movements and strategies based solely on a glimpse of them that didn’t even fit within one’s field of vision, and the physicality to execute the plays they envisioned was not a skill that could be achieved without significant talent.
And sometimes when he watched Luke play, it was indeed cool.
However, understanding was one thing, and feeling burdened was another.
‘Do those girls even care…?’
Mary, who didn’t know much about the internet café culture, seemed unaware that such an atmosphere was unusual, or perhaps Shirud didn’t notice her decreasing ability under pressure since she simply could not afford to feel it.
Wasn’t it contradictory for Luke, who often sang about not wanting to become famous, to not care about such gazes?
With that, Shirud asked softly into his headset mic.
“Luke, aren’t you worried about the guys behind us?”
Luke calmly countered, as if asking what he meant.
“Hmm? They’re not really bothering me now, are they? Photos would be a problem, but I’m not being photographed right now. So why not focus on the game and not worry about that?”
The annoyance of becoming famous and being followed was different from the level of attention he was receiving now; this was a normal level of attention by now.
There was no need to worry about it now.
“……”
Shirud turned back for a moment, seeing that no one was pulling out their phones, and then returned his gaze to the screen.
It seemed that his threat about reporting anyone taking photos for harassment was indeed effective.
“I’ll contact the police if you don’t delete that photo you just took in front of me.” so how could they take any pictures?
Moreover, if fully grown men were caught taking pictures of a 10-year-old girl, they would be socially condemned…
Right, as Luke said, let’s just concentrate on the game.
With that thought, Shirud focused on the resurrection counter of the character he had just died as it slowly decreased.
—-
After a few games had concluded and the time remaining was awkwardly short for another game,
Shirud and Mary began various activities on their computers during their downtime, while Luke was chatting with Marco and others.
“You’re really amazing, you’re not actually a hacker!”
Luke tilted his head and responded.
“Hmm? I am a hacker, though?”
“What?”
The atmosphere suddenly became cold.
Luke hurriedly added.
“Why? Isn’t a hacker just someone who plays well? Wasn’t that what Shirud said…?”
“While that’s true! That’s something others say, you can’t call yourself a hacker!”
“Uh, true… but…”
Seeing Luke getting scolded, the people around couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
“Ha ha, so that’s what it was?”
“Ha ha ha! I guess in that sense, that’s right!”
The atmosphere became lively again.
Luke was still tilting his head, unable to adapt to the sudden change in mood.
Watching this, Marco thought to himself.
The identity of the heavily veiled ‘Illusionary Archmage’ was actually that of a 10-year-old girl?
And someone I know?
‘This makes no sense.’
Marco thought he had this thought quite a lot today.
However, it was impossible to brush aside the scenes that had unfolded before his eyes.
In a defeated tone, Marco asked Luke.
“……So you’re not a mineral-tier but a ranker? How did you suddenly become a ranker?”
Luke’s answer went beyond what was obvious and was just dry.
“Well, it’s just…”
The reason Luke had suddenly become a ranker was actually quite simple.
Recently, he had been ‘free.’
Currently, it was winter, with the flowers in the flowerbed not blooming, so there was no need to find time to manage them, and the gemstones he had commissioned and the dolls he had ordered had not been completed yet, so there was nothing much for Luke to do but gather mana and stabilize his circle.
As a result, all Luke could do at home was play games……
Before he realized, he had surpassed what he had secretly wanted, and a strange numbered badge had appeared next to his nickname.
But even if he disliked it, deliberately losing was also a violation of the ‘game rules,’ so he just worked a little harder and eventually became the 372nd ranker.
During that process, he had become known among those who knew him as the ‘famous hacker,’ but since his account settings had always been set to auto-block, he couldn’t see any chat messages, and since he never engaged in any gaming communities, it was natural that he remained veiled.
“If you work hard, you can do it. If you predict your opponent’s strategy and devise a way to counter it, dodge their attacks, and hit mine, there’s no way you can lose.”
That was common sense.
The difficulty lay in the execution.
Because the Super Magic League was a game you absolutely couldn’t play alone.
A real-time strategy siege game played in teams of five, it was natural that there were always people who intended to lose on purpose, making others feel bad.
Luke must have met those kinds of people, so how did he easily become a ranker?
“Even so, there’s such a thing as team luck, right? There must have been plenty of people trying to lose on purpose…”
“Team luck? I don’t know. There were people I suspected, but…”
Experiencing a surrender vote in a game you were winning was indeed quite unpleasant.
Still, by consistently playing, he was always able to score points.
In the end, hard work pays off.
“Well, it all gets resolved with enough playtime.”
“Ha ha.”
At Luke’s words, Marco could only give a weak laugh, completely taken aback.
That way of stating things seemed overly simplistic.
As Marco scratched his head for a moment, a sudden curiosity struck him.
Why did that little girl choose such a denture-smelling nickname, Illusionary Archmage?
“By the way, why did you pick the nickname Illusionary Archmage?”
“I was going to go with Illusionary Grand Wizard, but ‘Grand Wizard’ was taken. So I chose it to mean surpassing the Grand Wizard…”
“What the heck, what a sense.”
While Luke had always been a little out there, this was a bit much.
At that moment, someone among the crowd suggested.
“Hey, have you ever thought about streaming? It seems like you could easily make money!”
The mention of streaming suddenly garnered enthusiasm from the crowd.
“Ah, yeah! If you stream, I’ll definitely watch, for real.”
“Right, it’s not easy for a girl to be that good at gaming.”
In the streaming market, buzz equals popularity.
To them, Luke had ample buzz.
With good looks and top-tier gaming skills, it would be impossible not to be popular.
Moreover, if the identity of the famous hacker, ‘Illusionary Archmage,’ turned out to be this girl……
It would undoubtedly become an unprecedented sensation.
Luke frowned slightly and murmured.
“Streaming? How does that make money?”
