Jin never cared for this custom where both teams gathered in the center 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 objections, Jin dragged himself to the stage and pretended to 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 exchange, however…

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

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

“Ya really strong, yo! Mad respect.”

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

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

“Huh.” Jin didn’t know how to even start responding to that nonsensical claim. In fact, he wasn’t even sure whether he should respond at all. Frankly, he had no idea which player 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 player would insist on landing headshots without any added benefits. Therefore, Gunz had to be a “special” kind of fellow to pull something absurd like this so religiously.

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

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

He might even be good enough to be scouted to some club. Jin thought. There are many scouts who put mechanical 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 player. But overall, Jin wasn't impressed with the guy at all.

"So yeah, next time!" Gunz repeated his nonsense. "We all gonna get 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 entirety of his input on the matter.

"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 competition, dude," Gunz said. "You don't actually consider us strong opponents, do ya?" 

"No." 

"Whoa, so straightforward, haha." Gunz laughed awkwardly. "But, I get it. Ya did kinda dominate the 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 forget: we did score one kill on ya! And next time, we'll score a bunch more!" 

"No, that was one-time thing," Jin asserted. "It won't happen again." 

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

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

The Leopards were all but guaranteed to 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 even get a next time," Jin spoke his mind.

"Nah, we totally will!" Gunz asserted with baseless confidence. "We gonna beat every other team until we get to play 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 actions speak louder than words, but it looks like they don't teach that over here. Sigh.

This was like watching a tiny dog trying to scare a lion by barking. None of Gunz’s promises or assertions had any substance to them.

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

Of course, considering 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 next few months, then he might come back as a completely different player.

But, with how lax 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 concerned. It seems I’m starving for some competition over here…

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

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

Nonetheless, 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 nickname, 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 laughed. "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."

"Come again?" 

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

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

"Yes, it’s very common," 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 changed one letter 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 someone mentioned there’s a typo."

"It's no typo," Jin repeated.

"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 last letter, so they usually don't notice small changes in the middle." 

"Really? Didn't know that. Sounds neat.” Lars nodded. “So, by making one small typo in the middle, you can 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 topic on me like that." 

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

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

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

"But, didn't I already beat ya?" Gunz asked. "I mean, you were hella tough with all them Korean cancels and clean spacing strats. But, I totally beat ya, yo!" 

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

"Hey, hey, no need to be a sore loser," Gunz 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 chances to fight, then I'm sure I would've taken you down eventually."

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

"Well, not exactly..." 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 explained. "So, you haven't actually seen everything I can bring to the table in a fight. Next time, 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 making empty threats some kind of Western custom for competitive players? 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 entertain this nonsense. As far as he was concerned, his victory was all but assured. Neither of these amateurs had anything on him. Perhaps they could be considered “skilled” relative 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 much ended on this note as far as Jin was concerned. Gunz continued claiming he’ll “definitely beat” Jin and William, and that Stratus will definitely triumph 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 player glaring at Jin with all the malice they could muster. However, this other player didn’t step forward to speak nonsense. In fact, Jin didn’t even notice the malice directed at him this entire time…