Jin never cared for this where both teams gathered in the ter of the stage just to say “good game”. It always felt shallow and devoid of purpose.

  “Good game”? Please. Jin scoffed. Both teams made tons of mistakes. Would anybody unironically call any of these games “good”?

  Despite his objes, Jin dragged himself to the stage and preteo say “good game” along with everybody else. However, he didn’t actually utter a word out loud. He simply couldn’t bring himself to do so, so he only moved his mouth, nothing more.

  Well, that’s that. Jin was more than ready to take his leave after this pointless exge, however…

  “Yo!” A boy from the other team called out, apparently in Jin’s dire. “Awesome game there, dude!”

  “Huh.” Jin paused and gave the eic guy a mixed look.

  “Ya really strong, yo! Mad respect.”

  “Thanks, I suppose.” It’s not that I’m particurly strong. You’re all just too weak.

  “Ya strong alright, but ime we ain’t gonna lose, believe it!” the boy decred boldly out of the blue.

  “Huh.” Jin didn’t know how to even start responding to that nonsensical cim. In fact, he wasn’t even sure whether he should respond at all. Frankly, he had no idea which pyer from Stratus he was even speaking to.

  “Oh, I’m Gunz, by the way,” the boy finally introduced himself.

  “Hmm. I see.” Jin nodded. I had a feeling he was a carefree fellow.

  No logical pyer would insist on nding headshots without any added bes. Therefunz had to be a “special” kind of fellow to pull something absurd like this siously.

  Yes, he looks “special”, alright. Jin o himself. An idiot, basically.

  There was no denying Gunz had impressive meical talent. Most likely, even in Korea, he would’ve been sidered talented.

  He might even be good enough to be scouted to some club. Jin thought. There are many scouts who put meical skill first, so this guy would’ve shown up on their radars for sure.

  In that aspect, and that aspect alone, Gunz was arguably an impressive pyer. But overall, Jin wasn't impressed with the guy at all.

  "So yeah, ime!" Gued his nonsense. "We all gon like ten times stronger before the regionals, and then we'll return to defeat y'all! So, ya better be ready, dude!"

  "Hmm. I doubt it." Jin shrugged and that was the ey of his input oter.

  "Wait, that's all?" Gunz asked. "That's all ya got to say?"

  "Big talk is waste of time. If you want to prove something, do it in game."

  "Dang, you don't even see us, do you?"

  "Hm? I do see you."

  "I mean as petition, dude," Gunz said. "You don't actually sider us strong oppos, do ya?"

  "No."

  "Whoa, shtforward, haha." Gunz ughed awkwardly. "But, I get it. Ya did kinda domihe game and stuff, so you have the right to feel like we're no match for ya."

  "Because you aren't."

  "But hey, don't fet: we did score one kill on ya! Aime, we'll score a bunch more!"

  "No, that was oime thing," Jin asserted. "It won't happen again."

  That oh was an anomaly. It's something that shouldn't have happened.

  I won't let that mistake happen again. Jin promised to himself. ime, I'll make sure to defeat them thhly. That is if there IS a "ime" for them.

  The Leopards were all but guarao climb all the way to the finals, but what about Stratus? They seemed to have a bit more potential than many other trashy teams from this region, but that's about it. Nothing was guaranteed for them.

  "You might not eve a ime," Jin spoke his mind.

  "Nah, we totally will!" Gunz asserted with baseless fidence. "We gon every other team until we get to py against you and Storm! We gonna win the regionals, believe it!"

  "Nonsense." Jin shook his head. I feel like I'm losing brain cells just listening to this guy. In Korea, they taught us that as speak louder than words, but it looks like they don't teach that over here. Sigh.

  This was like watg a tiny d to scare a lion by barking. None of Gunz’s promises or assertions had any substao them.

  If you stay weak like you are now, you won’t achieve anything. That's how the petitive se works.

  Of course, sidering how underdeveloped Gunz's talent was at the moment, he could definitely show a growth spurt at any time. For example, if he underwent harsh Korean training for the few months, then he might e back as a pletely different pyer.

  But, with how x Western training regimes are? There's no way he’ll develop into anything anytime soon. Jin thought. Hmph. I don't know why I'm even sparing any thought to this. This guy is a nobody as far as I'm ed. It seems I’m starving for some petition over here…

  Despite how disappointing Gunz was as an oppo, the guy was still leagues above most other teens in this godforsaken region. So in that sense, perhaps Gunz could be sidered somewhat "adequate".

  Still, Gunz’s talent was like a tiny silver tucked away in a much rger pile of rubble. Its shine caught Jin’s eye for a fleeting moment, but ultimately, it wasn't worth paying attention to.

  heless, for others from the same region, Gunz was somehow a “goal” to aspire to, as sad as that sounded.

  "Before you go about beating him," William stepped in. "You still have to beat me first."

  "You are... Winner, right?" Gunz asked.

  "Yes, the one and only."

  "Haha, figured. I like the niame, by the way," Gunz said. "AbsoluteWinner. It got this strong sound to it. Maybe I should've called myself UltimateGunz or something more epic like that, haha."

  "Name is just name," Jin said. "It doesn't make you stronger."

  "Haha, this dude be spittin'." Gunz ughed. "Actually, what's the deal with your name, anyway? It's like Apprentice, right? But, it got like a typo or something in it."

  "I-It's no typo!" Jin nearly choked at the accusation. "It's a psychological trick."

  "e again?"

  "The name Apprentice was already occupied when I try to take it."

  "Yep, that makes sense." Gunz nodded. "Sounds like a pretty on nick. I remember seeing some gold names like TheApprentid Apprentice69."

  "Yes, it’s very on," Jin said. "But, I didn't want to add extra words or numbers."

  "So, you went with a typo instead?"

  "I-It's no typo!" Jin insisted. "I ged oer in the middle because it's almost unnoticeable."

  "Oh yeah, it's actually really tricky to notice, ain't it? I didn't see it until someoiohere’s a typo."

  "It's no typo," Jied.

  "Haha, okay, okay, I got ya.” Gunz nodded. “Ya really hung up on that part tho, ain't ya?"

  "Because it's no typo," Jin asserted once more. "It's a visual trick. Humans read a whole word instantly after seeing first and st letter, so they usually don't notice small ges in the middle."

  "Really? Didn't know that. Sounds .” Lars nodded. “So, by making one small typo in the middle, you fool everybody into reading your nick like Apprentice, huh."

  "Yes. And, it's no typo."

  "You're suspiciously hung up on that part." William narrowed his eyes. "Well, no matter. Gunz, don't you dare to shift the topie like that."

  "Oh, did I?" Gunz cocked his head. "I just said what was on my mind."

  "Is that so." William sighed. This versation reminds me of a certain scatterbrained brother I have. It makes me wonder, do all meically gifted pyers have ADHD? Well, no matter.

  "I'll say it again," Wilim repeated. "You still have to beat me first."

  "But, didn't I already beat ya?" Gunz asked. "I mean, you were hel tough with all them Korean cels and spag strats. But, I totally beat ya, yo!"

  "Is that the story you’ve been telling yourself? Because it's utter nonsense."

  "Hey, hey, o be a sore lunz said. "I admit ya gave me a hard time, but I totally came on top when we fought, yo!"

  "These results were debatable at best," William argued. "And, if we had more ces to fight, then I'm sure I would've taken you dowually."

  "Oh, so you're like a slower starter or something?"

  "Well, ly..." William found the term somewhat insulting even though that assessment wasn't necessarily wrong.

  "... I suppose you could say it takes me a while to fully adapt," William expined. "So, you haven't actually seehing I bring to the table in a fight. ime, I'll show the full extent of how I fight."

  “Sounds cool, yo! But, I’mma still beat ya, believe it!”

  “Hmph. We’ll see about that.”

  Look at them go. Jin shook his head. Is makiy threats some kind of Western for petitive pyers? They’re like harmless dogs who are trying to overwhelm each other by barking. But in the end, they’re both scrubs.

  Jin didn’t see any reason to eain this nonsense. As far as he was ed, his victory was all but assured. her of these amateurs had anything on him. Perhaps they could be sidered “skilled” retive to the rest of the region, but that’s all they had going for them. In the end, they were nobodies.

  And so, the small talk pretty muded on this note as far as Jin was ed. Gunz tinued g he’ll “definitely beat” Jin and William, and that Stratus will defiriumph over the Leopards, but it was all noise. Listening to this drivel was a waste of time.

  At the around same time, there was another pyer gring at Jin with all the malice they could muster. However, this other pyer didn’t step forward to speak nonsense. In fact, Jin didn’t even notice the malice directed at him this eime…

  DarkestCymore