NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1
I was frail since birth.
According to the doctor, it was a rare disease characterized by muscle contraction throughout the body—still unreported in academia—and no treatment had been found.
Because of that, I couldn’t run outside like other kids, nor could I even walk properly.
– Kya-rur!
– Hey, stop!
The scene of children playing outside was always something I longed for.
“Yujin, do you want to go outside?”
Fortunately for me, my family was reasonably well-off, and my parents were devoted to me. Whenever I stared blankly out the window, my mother would quietly bring over a wheelchair, and we would take a stroll outside.
“The air is nice, right?”
“Mm-hm.”
Maybe that’s why.
At some point, I stopped looking out the window.
“Yujin, shall we go for a walk?”
“I want to stay home today.”
“Oh really?”
There wasn’t a particular reason. It was just that whenever I looked outside, I hated to see my mother’s teary eyes reflected in the window, and seeing her force a smile while we walked past happy kids made me feel sorry for her.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“I’m okay.”
“…Yujin.”
Since I stopped looking outside, all I could do was sit quietly in my chair, moving the keyboard and mouse.
Click, click…
Well… in that sense, being born in this era could be seen as a blessing. At least in the world inside the monitor, my body as a prison could no longer hold me captive.
[Rainbow: Wow… Prisoner is always so amazing. How do such judgments come from there?]
I was good at the game.
No, there was no other way to be.
The game was everything to me.
Not needing to go to school or academies like other kids, apart from my lessons with a home tutor who came three times a week, I invested most of my time in gaming.
My parents didn’t really stop me either.
In fact, they seemed satisfied just knowing I wanted to do something.
And then… time passed.
[Current Ranking: 1st]
Legends of League.
My favorite game and currently the most successful game in the world.
In the eight years since Legends of League launched in Korea, I had never dropped from the solo rank number one.
Of course, I didn’t maintain the first place continuously.
I lost and regained it many times.
Nevertheless, it was clear that I finished every season ranked first.
In other words, I could be considered one of the best amateurs in Legends of League.
Offers to go pro came in droves.
“Hello. I’m SCV Coach Kim Moon-sik. Do you have a team you belong to? If not, are you interested in going pro?”
At first, I obviously declined.
Going pro was out of the question with my body that could only manage six hours of activity a day.
“Oh… I see. If you change your mind, please contact me. My number is…”
Given the situation, my topic had long been a controversial subject in the community.
– Why doesn’t Prisoner debut as a pro? If an old user is still ranked first, he would have crushed everyone if he debuted earlier, right? Right?
– Lol, crush? That’s just solo queue, what’s pro, some kind of joke? And Prisoner’s playstyle is too focused on strategy; it wouldn’t work in tight pro settings, so shut it.
– So what’s your rank?
– Diamond?? You’re bragging about being bronze? Lol.
But as time passed, seeing people who had once played with me, and were still playing, debuting as pro players lit a spark of ambition in me.
Couldn’t I do it too?
The exact trigger was Rainbow, my duo buddy, winning the Legends of League World Championship for the second consecutive time.
The international tournament often referred to as the Red Cup.
A total prize pool of 10 billion won.
Additional skin revenue.
During the interview after his second Red Cup win, he mentioned me.
[“I think my win this year was solely due to luck. If Prisoner had debuted as a pro, who knows what the results would have been.”]
The winner of that year’s Red Cup receives a title called “The Greatest.”
The world’s best mid laner.
A person like him recognized me, an ordinary solo queue warrior.
Naturally, the communities exploded with discussions.
– See, I told you. Prisoner is fundamentally different from other solo queue warriors, right? Anyone disagree, you’re a noob.
– He’s just saying that because they’re friends, lol. If Prisoner really debuts as a pro, the hype will die down and he’ll retire within a month, I’d bet my entire fortune on it.
– Screenshot taken.
Someone who had played with me for a long time acknowledged me.
It felt as if they were inviting me into the world of professionals.
“……”
Was that why?
For the first time, I found the courage.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“I want to go pro.”
My parents supported my courage.
“Hello, this is Prisoner, who contacted you previously. Is there any chance I could try out?”
Once they realized my body condition, the scouts who had been trying to bring me in one way or another all looked troubled.
“Ah… we understand Yujin’s determination, but as you know, pro gaming isn’t just about skill. You need basic physical stamina to participate in team scrims, and there are tournament schedules to manage…”
That was a given.
I couldn’t even walk properly, and my arms were so thin that moving the keyboard and mouse was a struggle.
Above all, I couldn’t handle the team schedules, let alone participate in multi-game competitions.
The time I could play a day was barely five hours.
Of course, there were occasional offers from overseas teams, where the league level was relatively lower than Korea, but there was no way I could live as a player abroad with my condition.
“Yujin…”
“It’s okay; I knew it wouldn’t work out anyway.”
“I’m so sorry, I’m sorry for my mom…”
“I’m okay with it.”
My parents comforted me, but I couldn’t hold back my overflowing tears.
And…
Was there a rumor spreading among the pro teams about me? At some point, offers to go pro suddenly stopped coming as well.
“We’re sorry. We’ve already signed a contract with a new player.”
“I hope we can meet again if fate brings us together.”
In the end, I had no choice but to remain a solo queue warrior, just like always.
– My brother’s friend is a coach at Team Max, and they say Prisoner has a rare disease, which is why he can’t go pro.
– How could someone with a rare disease play like that?
– Come to think of it, considering that Prisoner ranks first every season, his physical abilities are average; his operations and judgment are insane, but it’s not like there’s no basis for such rumors.
– You’re obviously lower tier than him.
– You’re just a Bronze, lol.
– Going Masters? Lol.
– Prove it, Bronze.
It certainly seemed that the rumors had some truth to them.
So while I had to give up on my dreams of going pro, I could not give up my passion for gaming.
More precisely, this was all I had.
“Let’s be a streamer, let’s become a streamer.”
Dreams achievable through gaming weren’t limited to being a pro gamer.
What era are we living in?
It’s an age where internet broadcasters’ influence rivals that of celebrities. Besides, the reputation I built as Prisoner over the past eight years was not trivial, so I had confidence in finding success in broadcasting.
[Prisoner’s First Live Stream]
After days of preparation, just as I was about to start my first live stream with a pounding heart…
“Uh?”
With the sharp pain in my heart, I collapsed right under my chair.
It was a seizure.
“Ugh…”
For someone like me suffering from a rare disease I didn’t even know the name of, sudden full-body seizures were like an annual event.
However, this time felt a bit different.
“Grrkk!”
My previous seizures would settle down in a few minutes.
But this one showed no sign of calming down even after ten minutes passed.
I instinctively sensed it.
This seizure was different.
As if to prove that fact, I couldn’t move a single fingertip, my breathing grew shallow, and I felt like I was suffocating.
[“If you have another seizure like this, it might be dangerous. It seems you might need hospitalization…”]
Like a flashback, the warning from my doctor last month resurfaced.
The doctor strongly recommended hospitalization, but already trapped in a prison of flesh, I didn’t want to live in a hospital.
[“I’m fine.”]
Even if I die, I don’t want to die lonely on a hospital bed.
That was my last wish, and my parents granted that wish.
But…
Ironically, my first and last stubbornness was the very reason I was dying now.
“Creak, gurgle…”
Normally, someone would’ve come to help me by now.
Yeah, if today weren’t the day.
My mother, who usually took care of me, went to her high school reunion after years, and the helper lady had gone shopping for a bit.
My dad and younger sibling weren’t expected back for a long while from their work and school.
Soon, there would be no one to help me as I faded away.
“Cough, cough…”
Death was approaching.
My vision blurred, and I could hear ringing in my ears.
Beeee─────
“Hah, haah…”
Because of this damned body, I couldn’t even live a life like everyone else.
Because of this rotten body, I couldn’t even properly dream the dreams everyone else hoped for.
Because of this dying body, I couldn’t give up everything and start anew.
“Hah…”
Why, why, why!
Why me of all people?
I was resentful of everything.
If there was a god, they shouldn’t take anything else from me.
Not from me…
“…Grrk.”
My breathing gradually slowed.
Consciousness was swallowed by darkness as death stared back at me.