"I 't believe it..." Ignis muttered.

  "My, what's wrong?" Esmeralda asked. "You look as if you saw a ghost."

  "Trust me, I saw something WAY worse than a ghost. I saw this damn kid... using KC! you believe that shit?"

  "But of course. He is Korean, after all."

  "Oh, yeah. Right. Makes perfect sense... except it totally doesn't! Even if you're a Korean, you're not supposed to KC as a kid! Nobody is born with K their skillset, you know? Seriously, what the flying fuck is up with this kid...!?"

  "So," IronWall started. "He do Korean cel?"

  "Yep, he sure ." Ignis delivered the details to the rest of the team.

  "Are you sure you're not drunk again?" Hawk asked.

  "No, I'm not drunk. Not this time. This kid really did it."

  "Huh. Wild stuff." Hawk shook his head.

  Everybody had a hard time buying Ignis's story. Worst of all, she couldn't evehem. Why? Because she had a hard time believing it herself.

  The Korean Step cel, usually called Korean cel or KC, was an advaype of attack-g. As the name implied, it was first discovered by Korean pyers.

  Under certain circumstances, KC allowed the pyer to take a siep during the recovery animation of a basic attack. It started off as a bug but eventually turned into a feature based on the pros' reception.

  The teique gained popurity in the east, mainly in Korea and a. However, it remained niche in the west, even in the pro se. Why? Because it was hel difficult to execute sistently.

  KC required extremely precise timing, so much that it ractically impossible to do online. And, even offli was a challenge no matter how much the pyer practiced.

  In addition, there was the danger of buffering in a te step wheed poorly. It might sound like a small deal, but at the highest levels, a single misstep could make the whole differeween winning and losing.

  That’s the most annoying part, really. Ignis remembered her past failures. I’d totally try harder to master this thing if it wasn’t such a double-edged sword.

  Like many pros, there was as a time when Igertaihe idea of learning KC. She spent many weeks trying to tame that beast.

  But, in the end, she gave up on the challe was impossible to master KC to any reliable degree, not without YEARS of practice. At least, that was Ignis's impression of it.

  It seemed that most western pros cluded the same. As a result, KC became an obscure super high-level teique that only a few bothered to wield.

  Oher hand, in pces like Korea, the pro se embraced the meic with open arms alessly traio master it. They were so obsessed with it that they apparently even taught it to kids.

  If he use Ksistently, then this kid might be more trouble than I expected. Looks like I gotta take this more seriously. Heh. 't believe I'm saying this when my oppo is a flipping middle schooler, but that's how things are now.

  Thus far, the kid's performance was borderline perfect. His farming was quick, his st-hits were on point, and he even mao ter Ignis's aggression. There was no doubt he was cut above other kids his age.

  Gotta admit, so far it feels like pying an actual pro. Ignis couldn't deny it any longer. Even though taking a kid so seriously was embarrassing, losing to a kid would be a huimes more embarrassing. Alright, fine. I'll take you seriously. That's what you wanted, right?

  The minion wave went as smoothly as the previous ones. Ignis swept through it with Fearless Charge and War Cry, whereas the kid used Shield Bash into Bde Swing.

  As long as Ignis was 100% trated on farming, she didn't miss a si-hit. I won't be distracted again.

  Shortly, both sides finished clearing the minions. Ignis was a little faster this time, so the kid received o from her bowman before he fihe job.

  Of course, this otle hit didn't even begin to pare to the two hits the kid nded on Ignis earlier, but it was a start. From here on out, Ignis will steadily recim her advantage.

  There was o rush and fight the kid, it’ll only put Ignis at risk. Instead, she'll slowly but surely grind him down. After all, Warrior was strohan Knight during the early-game, so she'll use that fact to her advantage.

  This time, when both pyers were returning to their respective sides of the hey didn't even try to touch each nis didn't raise a finger against the invader, she simply let him go. And naturally, the kid did the same. He didn’t have the balls to get anything started against her right now.

  So, she's not attag this time. Jin nodded. Looks like showing it to her twice was enough. From here on out, she'll have to respect my KC every time we fight. I wonder, how much experience does she have against KC?

  The Korean Step cel was almost ent in the west, that was one of the shog truths Jin learned after moving here. And, it wasn’t just at school level. Even in the pro se, few westerns bothered to learn KC.

  Acc to Ruez, most pros deemed KC too difficult and unreliable, so they didn't want to "waste" so much time practig it. Apparently, they preferred to spend that time polishing other "more important" skills, whatever those were.

  That's se. This robably the millionth time Jin had this thought sining to this try. The differen how Korea and the west treated KC was simply mind-boggling.

  In Korea, KC was a fual skill that every self-respeg petitive pyer had to possess. It was even used as a filter during various exams. Kids who couldn’t learn KC had a much harder time getting accepted into any serious Cssmancers club.

  But of course, nobody was born with the ability to KC right away. Therefore, it was unreasoo expect many kids to be able to master KC at such a young age.

  Instead, the coaches paid more attention to how the kids hahemselves during intense KC training. Surviving through that training was the real “exam”.

  It was hell. Jin shuddered at the mere thought of it.

  Back theher his mind nor his body were sturdy enough for that kind of exam. He was just a kid in grade school who wao try his hand at Cssmancers after seeing some amazing pro matches.

  For kids that age, video games were just a fun pastime. So, Jin definitely didn't expect such a difficult meical exam right off the gate.

  In fact, it was unclear whether the examiners even expected any grade-schoolers to survive that insane KC exam. Most of the examihat day were at least middle schoolers, so Jin and his friends were the exceptions there.

  I believe I'm the only grade-schooler who made it back then. Jin reminisced.

  It was hard to say what kind of feelings he harbored toward that exam now, three years after the fact. However, at the time, it was soul-crushing.

  Jin challehe exam alongside his two best friends. Together, they promised to bee the geion of pros who’ll domihe Korean pro se, the stro se in the world!

  But, the exam was harsh. Too harsh The amount of work and dedication demanded from the kids was far beyond their naive expectations.

  For a while, the trio stuck together through trials and tributions. They enced and motivated each other, which helped them ehe hell they were burning in. But eventually, they reached a breaking point.

  "I 't take it anymore! I’m doh this!" With that oburst - everything crumbled apart.

  All three of them shared simir thoughts but they did their best to keep their true feelings hidden. They khat putting such thoughts into words would destroy their motivation.

  But, it was impossible to stay silent forever. Eventually, the frustration was bound to explode in their faces, just like that.

  "We 't quit now," Jin argued. "We've e this far. Just a little bit left!"

  "I'm sick of it! Everything else was still fine, but this stupid KC training is too much! Isn't that something only pros do? Why do they insist we learn it!?”

  Holy, Jin thought the same thing. Given their beginner level, none of the kids could truly appreciate the importance of KC at the time. Therefore, being forced to practice su inprehensible teique, day in and day out, was like torture.

  Over and over, they had to keep repeating Ktil their success rate satisfied the examiners. And, ohey achieved that goal with one css, they had to repeat the same process with another css.

  Given how the timing of KC was tied to the attaimation, the execution varied from css to css. It was a slight differen paper, but in practice, it was akin to retraining all muscle memory from scratch.

  Every time, the kids had to break their muscle memory apart and rebuild it anew. It was a long, agonizing process.

  "We just have to bear with it a little longer," Jin argued. "I heard some examialking. They said they don’t actually expect us to master KC at this stage. They just want to test our endurand see how long we keep up with this training."

  "Hah, easy for you to say. You're already a pro at KC, so you don't have to worry either way."

  "I wouldn't call myself a pro," Jin said. "I only fluke it every now and then."

  "That's more 'flukes' than two of us bined. Very ving."

  "Maybe it's because I practice it at home too."

  "You do WHAT?"

  "Hm? What's wrong?" Jin blinked. "You don’t practice it at home at all?”

  "Are you serious? We gh this hellish training every day, but you still have the energy to practiore after that?" The two friends exged awkward looks and smiled wryly.

  Jin was clearly the odd o in their eyes. Looking ba it, that robably the beginning of the end.

  Upon learning this information, his friends could no longer hide behind excuses. They couldn’t cim that Jin had any “special talent” for KC or any suonsehey came to realize it was all the result of Jin's hard work, which far transded the amount of work they were willing to put in.

  At first, Jin's hard work motivated his friends to try harder. As a result, they started practig at home as well. And so, everything was heading in a good dire, or so Jin believed at the time.

  Unfortunately, the extra training wasn't as helpful for his friends as it was for Jin. They definitely improved at KC, but their results were still discing. At this rate, they might fail the final evaluation exam.

  Not to mention, all their improvements came with a cost. They did extra training on top ur training, which slowly but surely wore them out mentally.

  "I... I 't do this anymore." It all started with that breakdown. One of the friends finally called it quits, and the other followed soon after.

  "Are you really going to quit?" Jin demanded. "What about our dream of dominating the pro se!?"

  "Sorry, I really 't go on."

  "Yeah, this way harder than I expected... I'm getting sick of pying Cssmahese days. They sucked out all the fun from it."

  "But, we trained so hard for this..." Jin found himself trembling in disbelief.

  All that hard work, all these tless hours of practice - his best friends were about to throw everything out of the window. The trio was so close to passing the exam aing into a high-level club that gave birth to many pros. As, right before the final stop, his friends were about to drop out.

  "Let's keep trying for a just little longer!" Jin pleaded. "We're definitely going to make it in!"

  "Sorry, I’ve already decided. I'm out."

  "Yeah, me too."

  There was no ging their minds. No matter how hard Jin tried to vihem, his friends were hellbent on quitting. They gave up on being pros and on Cssmancers as a whole.

  "But, you should keep peting, Jin. You got the makings of a pro, I feel it!"

  "Yeah, 100%. You gonna be one of the best pyers in the world in no time. We'll be rooting for you!"

  "A-Alright," Jin promised with a shaky voice. "I'll keep trying to get into the pro se."

  "Yeah, that's how it gotta be!"

  "Go wipe them out!"

  At that moment, Jin ihe will of his friends and swore to carry it all the way to the pro se. As such, practig and improving at the game was no longer something he only did for himself.

  Was that a blessing or a curse? It filled him with both determination and pressure. He felt obligated to keep pushing forward for the sake of the friends who couldn't keep going.

  And so, Jin ended up being the only grade-schooler to successfully clear that exam. There were very few exami his age to begin with and all of them dropped out. Only Jin pulled through, no doubt thanks to the encement he received from his friends.

  He passed in most categories with flying colors, and he even learo do KC semi-sistently. And so, he embarked on the road toward the professional se!

  But, that was just the beginning. The entry exam wasn’t made so harsh just to disce pyers. It was but a small taste of what awaited those who successfully ehe club.

  Jin had to spend hours upon hours after school practig at the club's facility. And, even after returning home, he tiraining some more because the threat of being discharged was ever-present.

  The coaches tested ead every member he end of the month. Those who were found unworthy were given the boot.

  Therefore, even after the entrance exam was over, the petitioween fellow pyers never ended. Everybody had to keep struggling and struggling, fighting tooth and nail to remain in the club.

  At that point, Mancers pretty much became my whole life. Jin thought. I started w hard because of my friends, but we lost most of our ta the process.

  It wasn't anybody's fault Jin simply didn't have enough free time to hang out with his best friends, so they gradually drifted apart. Before long, the two friends repced Jin with ahird member.

  But, it's not like their retionship turned sour or anything. They still talked in css from time to time. For what it was worth, the two friends still cheered on Jin and wao see him bee a pro.

  As, their retionship couldn’t ever bee any more than that. The moment Jin stepped into a professional club, he started living in a different world from the rest of the kids.

  Training regimes, practice matches, aion exams. That’s what Jin’s life revolved around at that time. While other kids spent their time messing around, Jin was fighting for survival as he climbed the ranks in the club.

  And, I was doing so well, too. Jin couldn't help but grump. I was always iop 3 for my age at the club, and I even did well in scrims with pros. But...

  Abruptly, all of that came to an end. Jin's father got a job offer in the west and had to leave Korea. And, he dragged the rest of the family along with him. No matter how much Jin pleaded to stay behind with retives, it was to no avail.

  "You keep pying your video game over there too." That's what his parents said. They weren't against Jin’s dream of being a pro pyer, but her did they practically care for it. Not to mention, their uanding of how the petitive se worked was fwed at best.

  In the end, Jin's resistance came to naught. That’s how he found himself in his current position, in an enviro where the skill level was ughable pared to Korea. It was truly depressing.

  The team he joihe so-called "best middle school team of the region", was just a joke. The best pyers there were about as strong as Jin was two years ago. Yes, the gap between them was that big.

  But, it's not like they're not taking the game seriously. Jin didn't mean to insult them, he really didn’t.

  There was no doubt that the members of the Leopard believed they were dedig their lives to Cssmancers. But, pared to the harsh training Jin underwent, the Leopards’ training regime looked like a sad joke. Therefore, as much as Jin uood that they were "doing their best", deep down he couldn't help but s their meager efforts.

  That training regime didn't satisfy Jin at all. It was far too simple, far toiving. It didn’t ihe same sense ency or petitiveness he was used to.

  Ruez went out of his way to prepare a special advaraining menu for Jin, but even that wasn't enough. Without any strong rivals to test him at every step of the way, there was little hope of improving in any meaningful way. At this rate, Jin was bound to rust.

  That's why I had to take a. Jin thought. I'll lose my touch if I only train with the Leopards. I have to aim higher.

  That’s what led Jin toward the idea of joining a pro team. It was an unventional request, especially in the western se.

  heless, Jin had to push for it. Otherwise, he’d lose his mind from being surrounded by pyers far below his level.

  Ba Korea, I never even thought about getting into a pro team during middle school. It seemed impossible because of how high-level the petitive se is. But here, in the west, it’s definitely possible.

  The same way the average middle schooler was a much weaker pyer in the west, the same held true for the pro se as a whole. The pros in the west didn't pare to the godlike Korean pros. Therefore, against these lowly imitations of pros, even Jin stood a ce despite his age.

  I even hold my own against a B-Leaguer. Jin swung his bde, cutting right through Ignis. And, before the bde retreated all the way back, Jin celed the recovery animation and stepped backward, getting outside of Ignis's retaliatie.

  I do this. I get into the pro se here...!

  In this try, Jin could definitely rival a pro. He inteo prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt here today!

  However, Ignis had no iion of taking this beating lying down...

  DarkestCymore