MAX 35

It was only after a long while that Han Jiho sat up and began to exhale slowly, as if taking deep breaths to steady himself.

Shame, embarrassment, mortification, shyness, and even an inexplicable joy and expectation—it was an effort to calm the emotions that had whipped through him like a storm.

“Huuu…”

With one inhale, his emotions settled; with one exhale, his stray thoughts scattered. His heart, which had felt as if it were struggling, had finally regained a calm beat.

Nevertheless, not having the courage to look at his phone, Han Jiho sprang up from his seat. Still clutching the cushion, he headed toward his room. He intended to stay away from the phone with the Instar app installed for the time being.

So, instead of his phone, he turned on his computer and accessed a portal site. It was time to resume the internet surfing he had forgotten about because of Instar.

“Phew…”

Letting out a short Hansum to compose himself, Han Jiho looked into the news of new updates for Xenoforce, which he hadn’t paid attention to lately, as well as the status of the domestic league that was about to begin. Quite a lot had changed during the six months he had spent just playing and eating.

First, Xenoforce had updated to its fifteenth season, newly releasing two champions for the Tank and Dealer positions and adding two new battlegrounds. The added maps were a Capture map and a Payload map, respectively.

There was also talk that ‘Taegang,’ a leading domestic conglomerate, was founding a new Xenoforce pro gaming team to enter the E-sports field.

However, among the many pieces of news, the one that caught Han Jiho’s attention most was definitely the news regarding Dawnray, which had recruited a new player.

Main News: News & Issues

[Dawnray, suffering from the ‘Han Jiho Departure’ risk, confirms recruitment of new main healer ‘Mirror’… Will the legendary void finally be filled?]

[‘Gossip-shrouded’ Mirror, can he really become Dawnray’s new savior?]

[Angered Dawnray fandom, large-scale truck protest to oppose ‘Mirror’ recruitment]

[‘Legend out, trash in’ Dawnray fans’ anger explodes… Consecutive truck protests]

[‘Is everyone a legend now?’ Dawnray’s Mirror, past ‘Han Jiho’ call-out post unearthed from SNS… First step of activities falters]

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“…”

Reading through the articles that had sprouted up everywhere, Han Jiho let out a Hansum with a weary face.

The pro gamer ‘Mirror,’ who had been recruited as Dawnray’s new main healer, was a colleague he had played with for about a year on the same team when he had first debuted as a pro gamer.

However, despite the fact they were on the same team, Han Jiho did not have a good relationship with Mirror. It was due to Mirror’s one-sided gatekeeping and jealousy.

Because of that, Han Jiho chose to transfer instead of renewing his contract once it expired, and his relationship with Mirror ended there.

Afterward, he happened to hear news that Mirror, who had been a sub-healer, had switched positions to main healer, but that team soon disbanded due to poor performance. After that, Mirror’s name could no longer be found—at least not in top-tier teams.

Later on, he heard that Mirror was active as a main healer in a mid-tier team, but that was all. Han Jiho wasn’t idle enough to keep an interest in an old teammate he wasn’t even on good terms with.

Thus, Mirror had completely vanished from Han Jiho’s memory and mind.

And it was only today, three years later, that he heard news of him again. And of all things, the news that he had been recruited as Dawnray’s main healer.

What kind of cruel joke of fate was this?

Han Jiho felt a complex and subtle sensation. It wasn’t exactly anger. Even he didn’t know how to explain the mood and emotion he was feeling right now.

It was, how should he put it… like finding a messy, lingering gum stain on the sole of a freshly laundered shoe.

Staring blankly at the monitor, Han Jiho moved the cursor and clicked on an article. It was an article related to Mirror’s SNS and himself.

[‘Is everyone a legend now?’ Dawnray’s Mirror, past ‘Han Jiho’ call-out post unearthed from SNS… First step of activities falters]

DailyPOST | Reporter Choi Seo-eum

Published 20XX-05-12 13:42

DAWNRAY, the pro team for the globally popular e-sports game Xenoforce, has been swept up in controversy as a post calling out player ‘Han Jiho’—regarded as the world’s strongest healer—was recently brought back to light from the past SNS of their newly recruited main healer, ‘Mirror’ (Kang Kyu-chan).

‘Mirror’ Kang Kyu-chan previously worked as a sub-healer on the same team as Han Jiho, and he has recently been recruited as Dawnray’s main healer, signaling the start of his activities. However, controversy is spreading among fans as a post Mirror uploaded to his private account eight months ago recently began to resurface on communities and SNS.

The post in question explicitly includes raw expressions such as, ‘A fcking era where every Tom, Dick, and Harry is called a legend,’ and ‘The bstard fans who like that shtty bstard are also the problem.’ Considering the timing of the post, a flurry of pointing fingers suggests it was effectively a call-out aimed at Han Jiho.

In particular, Mirror has already been involved in gossip several times in the past due to careless words and actions and private life issues, causing the current controversy to grow even more intense.

Furthermore, Dawnray is the team Han Jiho was a part of for a long time, and the fandom is pouring out harsh criticism such as, ‘They threw away a legend and brought in trash,’ and ‘To recruit trash that can’t even be recycled,’ even announcing a large-scale truck protest against the team.

Meanwhile, Mirror has not yet released a separate statement regarding this controversy, and the controversial SNS account is currently closed.

A representative from Dawnray stated, ‘We are internally verifying the player’s past remarks,’ and added, ‘As we view the current situation with gravity, we will strive to restore trust with the fans.’

After reading the article, Han Jiho simply burst into laughter.

It was so absurd he couldn’t even get angry. So much time had passed, yet Mirror’s thoughts and actions hadn’t changed at all from three years ago. He was still hating him even now. It was truly a persistent emotion, to an incomprehensible degree.

Because of that, on one hand, he found such a person as Mirror quite fascinating. In his life, Han Jiho had never hated someone like that. In the first place, there was no one he felt worth pouring that much emotion into, whether positive or negative.

His life had been busy just playing games. From the moment it became the purpose of his life and a means of making money, games were everything in Han Jiho’s life. In a situation where he couldn’t even properly meet friends, having a lover was out of the question.

That was why Han Jiho was a one hundred percent “mother’s-womb solo” (never dated) who didn’t even have that common first love and had never experienced a one-sided crush. And the only person who knew that fact was his childhood friend, Seo Jaeyoon.

Because of that, Seo Jaeyoon still often tried to act as a matchmaker, saying he’d set him up on a blind date or that there was someone who wanted to meet him, but Han Jiho didn’t want to forcibly meet someone he had no interest in like that. Hilariously, he had an old-fashioned view of romance, waiting for a fateful encounter.

At any rate, Han Jiho closed the window, struggling to shake off the negative emotions that had started with Mirror. Then, letting out a Hansum, he lowered his gaze to the article posted below it.

The next thing that caught his eye was the article about the leading domestic conglomerate ‘Taegang (TG)’ founding a pro gaming team.

[TG accelerates investment in e-sports… Simultaneously pushing for Xenoforce team creation and acquisition of streaming platform]

20XX-05-11 12:34

[DisDaily = Reporter Park Sang-moon]

Taegang (TG), a representative Korean company, has begun full-scale investment in the e-sports market. In a conference held on the morning of the 11th, TG formalized the creation of a Xenoforce pro gaming team while also announcing the acquisition of the global streaming platform ‘Striv.’

(Omitted)

The exact team name has not yet been decided, and the recruitment of the roster is also being conducted in top secret. While the specific list is unknown, rumors are circulating that it includes star players who were active in domestic and international leagues in the past, players from overseas leagues, and even amateur players.

Han Jiho stared at the monitor with an indifferent face. If he were still active, he would have felt quite a bit of interest. Getting the massive support of a conglomerate was no easy feat.

But he was already retired. No matter how much interest he took in things that would become past glory, nothing would change.

So, just as he was about to search for other things.

A message notification window suddenly popped up from the bottom right with a cheerful sound. It was a private message notification from It-Cord.

However, the nickname of the person who sent the message was familiar. It was a nickname he had seen somewhere.

“Who is this…”

While trying to recall for a moment, one more message flew in. It was a URL to access a certain site.

Staring at it, Han Jiho soon remembered who ‘LookingForGirlfriend’ was. ‘LookingForGirlfriend’ was that very “girl-crazy” user who had ruined the mood by talking about girls on the day he first joined the clan.

Why would a person like that suddenly send a message?

Unable to understand the reason, Han Jiho frowned and, instead of replying, checked the message he had sent. It was a URL to access the Echo of Eternity Outven site.

And in the preview of that URL, it was written as follows:

[ Archiving the kid ‘HanJiHo98’ who used S-rank hard-aim hack + ESP] –http://outven.co.kr/board/eoe/3456/91386