APGD 16

Chapter 16

Debut: 99th Year
Pro Gamer

Streamer Rajan.

He was a former professional gamer who had spent about three years as an official pro in Vol.

Among Vol streamers, he was famous as a big shot with both skill and connections.

He had plenty of nicknames too: King of Top, Challenger Top, Rajan-Nurungji, and so on.

From the moment he retired, Rajan had been making full use of his “former pro” status to stay highly active.

But.

Even he had a nagging worry these days.

“Lately, both my MewTube views and live viewers feel like they’ve plateaued.”

It was the stagnation of his livestreams and MewTube growth.

He knew exactly why.

“Yeah… running out of content is probably the biggest problem.”

The main pillar of Rajan’s channel was a type of content known as “mediation,” or more widely, “Vol Trials.”

As the name suggested, when disputes arose between players, Rajan—using his ex-pro gamer’s perspective—acted as mediator to settle the matter.

Whether it was deciding who was more at fault, analyzing replays to determine account-boosting cases, or similar…

It always generated plenty of buzz, fueling the growth of Rajan’s channel.

But lately, requests for such Vol Trials had dropped off sharply.

Likely because it was the so-called “end-of-season” period—more precisely, the preseason.

“Hmm… isn’t there some fun case or request out there?”

Craving content, Rajan was once again livestreaming that day.

With nothing special in hand, he was just playing ranked games like most Vol streamers.

Ding!

[‘Han Moonsang’ has donated 50,000 won!]
[Hello Rajan! Could you mediate a 1 million won bet? I’ll pay you a 500,000 won fee.]

Just as his game was about to wrap up, a viewer sent in a Vol Trial “request.”

Rajan’s eyes widened at once.

“Oh, jackpot! What a windfall!”

Unable to hide his excitement, Rajan spoke into the camera.

“Han Moonsang! Ah, thank you for the 50,000 won donation. What? A 1 million won bet? That’s a pretty big sum! Did the other party agree to this too?”

The atmosphere in his otherwise sluggish stream instantly heated up.

• Wow, wtf lol, a million won bet?

• What could possibly make someone put 1 million on the line?

• Rajan-hyung suddenly hyped up LOL

• Why does Rajan only speak politely when it’s donations though?

Glancing at chat, Rajan retorted.

“Why only polite during donations? Hey, listen here! Because that’s a paying customer! You freeloaders who never donate, you think you’re the same as someone supporting me?!”

The audience clearly loved the drama.

• Ohhh? Did he just call us ‘you guys’? Controversial~

• LMAO look at Rajan’s form improve as soon as he gets a case

• As expected, Nurungji-hyung… what a cozy smell again today lol

• Exactly, customers are precious. Does 50k just fall from the sky?

While finishing his ranked match, Rajan kept talking.

“So, Han Moonsang, could you explain exactly what you want me to mediate?”

Han Moonsang answered in chat, but messages flew by too quickly.

Realizing the hype, he began communicating via donations.

Ding!

[‘Han Moonsang’ has donated 1,000 won!]
[In the online qualifiers of the recent President’s Cup amateur tournament, I suspect there was pro account-boosting. Please judge whether the opposing midlaner was really an amateur or a stand-in!]

Rajan quickly grasped the gist and nodded.

“So you just want me to judge whether the opposing midlaner is pro-level or not?”

Just then, another viewer donated and butted in.

Ding!

[‘Samstealer’ has donated 1,000 won!]
[More precisely, Han Moonsang claims that a pro 100% played in place of the amateur. Please judge specifically whether it was boosting or not!]

It seemed this person was in conflict with Han Moonsang.

“Okay, Samstealer, so now you’re also requesting mediation along with Han Moonsang?”

Rajan quickly added,

“To avoid confusion, I’ll give both of you temporary mod privileges. Please talk through chat.”

• Han Moonsang: Thank you.

• Samstealer: Got it!

“So, summing up—you two disagree on whether this amateur match involved boosting, and you want my verdict, correct?”

• Han Moonsang: Yes. I’m a Challenger player, so I meet pros all the time. That ‘TacticMaker’ guy was definitely not amateur level.

• Samstealer: But I’m close with his team’s other four players. No way it was boosting. I only asked for mediation because he keeps insisting otherwise.

Rajan raised an eyebrow.

“Wait, Samstealer—you’re saying you’re actually friends with the team in question?”

• Samstealer: Yeah, though not with the midlaner himself. But I’m in the same clan as the other four guys.

“But friendship aside, how can you be sure it wasn’t boosting when it was online?”

• Samstealer: They practice together daily. I heard they all gathered at a PC café for the qualifiers.

• Han Moonsang: LOL ‘I heard’? Rajan, this guy’s just spewing hearsay. Even friends could stage something.

Rajan raised both hands to calm things down.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down. Samstealer—you weren’t actually at the qualifiers in person, right?”

• Samstealer: No, I wasn’t. But they’re not the type to do boosting. Their jungler is seriously aiming to go pro.

“I get that it feels unfair if you know them personally. But honestly, that’s not hard evidence.”

He turned to the other side.

“Han Moonsang, do you have a replay from the qualifiers? That’d be best to start with.”

• Han Moonsang: Yes! I already sent the replay file to your business email!

“Oh, perfect! I’m curious too. Since you’re that convinced he’s pro-level, let’s check his level of play.”

Rajan downloaded the replay and also searched the TacticMaker account on stat-tracking sites.

“Hmm, his item slot habits—like putting boots in a specific slot, Stopwatch placement—consistent details like these are important for judging.”

• Han Moonsang: But look, his record is all support games. Then suddenly, in this qualifier, he picks Chad mid and plays like a god? Doesn’t make sense.

“Haha, Moonsang, you’re really heated. Let’s calm down and watch the replay.”

After reviewing the match from start to finish, Rajan let out a genuine exclamation.

“Wow… this guy’s insane. His Chad gameplay is delicious! Not drawing conclusions yet, but I see why you’d suspect.”

Chat agreed.

• This is amateur? LOL case closed, Moonsang wins.

• Wtf, was Chad always this strong in teamfights?

• Absolute carry monster.

• His mechanics are cracked. If that’s amateur, he’s a once-in-a-generation talent.

• No joke, could debut in Korean league right away.

Rajan stroked his chin.

Truthfully, before watching, he leaned a bit toward “friendship” arguments.

But seeing the replay, the scale tipped the other way.

TacticMaker’s skills were indistinguishable from a real pro’s.

• Han Moonsang: LOL, just look at chat. Clear 100% boosting, right?

• Samstealer: No way. I heard he even smashes scrims. His skill tier is just naturally high.

With arguments and chat at a boiling point, Rajan froze the chat with his mod tools.

“Alright, let’s cool it down, folks.”

Then suddenly, a spark of inspiration struck him.

“Wait… if I play this right, I can milk a few episodes of content from it!”

Rajan spoke with a sly smile.

“Look, both of you. From the replay, yes, his skill looks pro-level. But as I said, habits like item/spell slots match his history too. It’s still ambiguous. We can’t pass judgment just from this replay—especially with 1 million won at stake.”

• Samstealer: Right. I’m still certain it’s not boosting.

“Exactly. But I just thought of a solution you’ll both accept.”

He glanced at his calendar.

“When’s the offline finals again?”

• Han Moonsang: Seoul region is tomorrow, Saturday at 10 a.m., Samsung COEX.

“Oh, tomorrow? Then I’ll go there myself. I’ll watch him play live and judge on the spot.”

• Samstealer: You’ll go to the venue in person?

“Of course. Even if a pro boosted him online, they can’t show their face offline. Plus, they do ID checks.”

• Han Moonsang: Yes, ID checks are mandatory.

Rajan nodded.

“Exactly. Only the registered player can play onsite. So if I watch tomorrow, I can definitely judge whether it’s boosting.”

Honestly, Rajan didn’t care what the verdict was.

“Hehehe. Killing two birds with one stone.”

If it was boosting, he’d get juicy “justice served” content.

If not, he could still recruit TacticMaker for a “prodigy Chad master” guest episode.

Either way, win-win.

Plus, building rapport with TacticMaker would be easier by showing up in person.

“COEX is close to my place in Seocho anyway, and with a 500,000 won fee? Worth it.”

After thinking it through, Rajan asked again.

“So, what do you say? If I judge tomorrow in person, will you both accept the result?”

• Han Moonsang: Absolutely.

• Samstealer: Confident, let’s do it.

Rajan opened a notepad and typed his account number.

“Hehe! Great, then I’ll take the job! Both of you deposit 1 million won each. I’ll deliver a proper verdict tomorrow!”

It was now 11:44 p.m.

“With this score, I’ll safely be in Challenger.”

I had been grinding ranked games for three hours nonstop.

Stretching as I waited for the 11:45 tier update—

Whiirrr, ping! BOOM—!

The promo effect triggered.

“Finally in Challenger, huh.”

Sure, it was just preseason Challenger.

When the new season opened in January, tiers would reset.

Still, having raised my MMR now mattered a lot.

Even after reset, the higher MMR would remain.

There was a huge difference between climbing from scratch and climbing on a high-MMR account.

“From now, my matches will be almost all Challenger-level.”

Perfect conditions for experimenting new picks with Park Yongwon.

I glanced at my friend list.

Only one person was added: SharpAim.

We hadn’t been matched together again since then, but…

• IndexFinger: Hello~! Your Ryos gameplay was delicious. Are you a current pro?

• Penta: Nope haha. Still just an aspiring player.

• IndexFinger: Really? You’re amazing. Let’s 1v1 mid sometime for fun.

• Penta: Sounds great!

Since that day, whenever we were both online, we’d sometimes warm up with 1v1 mid duels.

A budding friendship, in a way.

“No need to rush. Build more rapport first.”

After that thought, I kept grinding ranked until around 3 a.m.

Though I wanted to push until 5, I logged off.

Tomorrow was the offline finals.

“It’ll be way tougher than the online qualifiers.”

The top teams that survived qualifiers would clash for the title.

It wouldn’t be easy, but we’d prepared well.

Tomorrow, I planned to trust in all our hard work—and enjoy the tournament with my teammates.