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Late at night, at the Riot Gas Korea office.
Most of the staff had already gone ho, but mbers of the PR team were busier than ever, hustling around even more than during the day.
"Jeez, even the E-sports team left for the day..."
The PR manager let out a hollow laugh, recalling the E-sports team staff who always left the latest, along with the end of MCK.
Tonight, the PR team found themselves in the sa situation as them.
'I never expected it would be this intense.'
It was the sa 'CrazySmurf' tournant held every season. So, he had a rough idea of the workload to expect. But this season, his estimates had missed the mark.
'This is really unprecedented. Next level, for sure.'
Just as the interest had reached unprecedented heights, so too had the workload.
After a short break, he resud checking the work reports from the staff.
"This sound is way too loud. Lower the comntators' voices by about 70%. Actually, prepare a version without their voices entirely and send both."
"This is too much of a close-up shot. Pull the cara back and make the composition wider. If it's too close it'll feel ssy, and people will just skip it."
"Oh, let's include the comntators' faces here. It'll be fun to see their reactions together. Just tiny in the corner, you know?"
What the PR team was focusing on now were the highlight reels, short edits of the major monts from the tournant.
All were being prepared for 'Shorts', the short video platform run by Q-tube.
Editing clips for every season was routine, but the PR manager was reviewing the outputs more ticulously than before.
'Sorry, but there's no choice. It's work too, after all.'
There was a reason why, even at this late hour, both he and his team had to push themselves.
"These aren't just for Korea! Rember—these will go up on the main headquarters' channel, too!"
This season's videos were not only headed for the Korean channel but also slated for upload on the North Arica headquarters' main channel.
And that was at the direct request of HQ.
"You sent the raw video to HQ, right? But if their edit gets uploaded instead of ours, that'll hurt our pride, won't it?"
Since the raw videos had already been sent to HQ, the PR manager rallied his team again before slumping into his office chair.
'A request from HQ, huh...?'
He let out a dry chuckle.
Even after saying it out loud, he still couldn't believe it.
'Since when did they care about CrazySmurf?'
It was an amateur tournant, with a bit of history to it. But HQ had never cared before—not once.
Official event or not, it had always been an affair mainly for Korean fans, strears, and their viewers.
In another sense, it had always been treated as 'their own league.'
'Well, things completely changed this season.'
But this season was different.
Fans from Korea and overseas had flocked to the event, drawing HQ's gaze. To think HQ opened up coverage on their global channel...
There was only one reason for this change.
'PerG-Day, just Purple's participation totally changed the landscape.'
All it took was PerG-Day's participation—really, just Lee Gyeongbok's involvent—for a butterfly effect to happen.
He made the tournant a hit and moved HQ into action.
'Thanks to him, our PR team's status will climb even more.'
A smile appeared on the PR manager's lips. But quickly, he straightened his posture.
A knock sounded; an employee ca in.
"Oh, did you finish distributing the press releases?"
He was in charge of preparing the press releases, to be distributed mainly to gaming magazines and webzines.
Soon enough, the PR manager noticed sothing odd about the staffer's expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Uh... The webzines refused the press release."
His eyes widened at that answer. Things were going so well, and now this—what was that supposed to an?
"What? Why? Is there a problem?"
"No, there isn't. This ti they said they're preparing their own articles."
Blinking several tis at the follow-up, the PR manager processed the words.
"Their own articles? They'll write them themselves?"
"Yes, so they don't need our press releases..."
"Huh."
He let out a brief exclamation and chuckled.
"This season really is unprecedented, absolutely historic."
"Excuse ?"
"Has CrazySmurf ever run without those guys taking our press releases?"
"No, never. Everyone's always busy with MCK at the sa ti."
Since CrazySmurf began, webzines never prepared their own coverage.
By design, the event's timing always overlapped with MCK, so naturally webzine personnel devoted their resources entirely toward MCK.
So, they had always run with articles the PR team had prepared for them.
"Right, just like HQ, the webzines changed their attitudes. This season of CrazySmurf is breaking all the records inside and out."
The webzines had changed their approach, just as HQ had.
For the sa reason.
"It's all thanks to that strear, Purple."
A wide smile spread across his face.
"They were a huge help—huge!"
CrazySmurf was designed for PR. The publicity impact was crucial.
There was a big difference between distributing a press release and having webzines write their own articles.
The forr just ant they'd run the sa material across the board, no matter which webzine.
'Mystic League is getting exposure across so many different keywords now!'
But if the webzines wrote their own articles, the content would naturally vary. The results might be the sa, but the analysis and reviews would all differ by journalist.
The PR manager imdiately opened up a docunt.
[Influencer Ranking Sheet (Reference)]
It was a file summarizing major influencers' info, sorted by tiers, mainly for event invitations and collaborations.
"Purple, Geno, Eclipse, and who else?"
"Ah, skullkim and Bakjapcho."
"Oh, right."
He quickly bumped up the tier rating of each PerG-Day mber. At the end, he moved Lee Gyeongbok to the very top.
"Um, sir?"
"Yeah?"
"Um... the highest tier was supposed to be for Mystic League expert influencers only, right?"
Each tier had criteria. Even if it was just for reference, they needed to maintain objective guidelines for reporting.
And the criteria had been set by the PR manager himself.
"Oh, right. I got too excited and lost my head."
Recognizing his mistake, he laughed sheepishly. What would the employees think if he broke rules he'd created?
So he changed the list, keeping Lee Gyeongbok in a special category.
[Priority Zero – No Conditions]
Tier 1, and above that, priority Zero.
A brand new topmost designation on the ranking sheet.
"See this? From now on, Purple is literally 'always first priority' for invites."
That was the level assigned to Lee Gyeongbok.
* * *
The next morning.
Around pri ti in North Arica, several videos went up in a row on Riot Gas' official channel.
Unlike previous uploads, most of these were under 2 minutes long with only a single-line description and so hashtags.
[Superplay? It's #PerfectPlay]
All were 'Shorts' videos.
They showed highlight monts from the Korean amateur tournant CrazySmurf and almost all of them featured Lee Gyeongbok.
[-WTF? This is supposed to be an amateur tournant?]
[-Koreans really are born with it!]
[-Damn, if this guy is an amateur, what does that make ?]
[-If this wasn't on the official channel, I'd have thought it was CGI!]
[-The hashtag #perfectplay is spot on.]
At first, most comnts focused on the plays themselves. Most viewers didn't know Lee Gyeongbok, but soon, the comnts shifted.
[-OMG! Purple made it to the official channel!]
[-lol, a true masterpiece deserves an 'official' seal of approval.]
[-We shouldn't call this video a 'Masterpiece'—it needs to be called a 'Perfectpiece'.]
[-I envy people who don't know Purple. I want to feel what I felt when I first discovered him all over again.]
[-But then you wouldn't have seen the match live, right?]
[-That ans I win—I saw Purple live for the first ti!]
As view counts shot up, waves of fans poured in; so longti, others newfound after watching the tournant.
Among the videos, one especially stood out with overwhelming views.
[-How is this already up to ten million views?!]
[-WTF? He solo killed Duke!?]
[-Was Master Lee always this crazy of a champion?]
[-Perfect Master is possible! XD]
[-No matter how many tis I watch, it never gets old!]
[-'Can Crab Beco Horse?' Apparently that's what Korean fans say in monts like this.]
[-CCBH? What kind of is that?]
[-You'll get it if you study Korean :P]
It was a video of Lee Gyeongbok, as Master Lee, solo killing Duke.
The view count was boosted by the looping nature of Shorts, but many watched the clip repeatedly as if bewitched.
[-Now that's a real Cosmos Swordsman!]
[-My god! If real Jedi existed, they'd look like this!]
[-lol, master Lee doesn't use the Force! He's better than a Jedi!]
[-Can't believe this happened in an amateur tournant!]
[-If Purple is playing, you can't call it an amateur tournant anymore.]
[-It gave chills just watching the video. To have seen it live...!]
[-FXXK! My boss just stole another joy from my life!]
Those who saw it live reflected on the experience, while others regretted missing it.
And it wasn't just this one video.
[-Was that Fear effect for real?]
[-Yami is in the tournant?!]
[-Fiddlesticks can't do anything here!]
[-Perfect Yami is like Excalibur.]
[-Win condition: Pick Yami.]
[-If you get Feared, you HAVE to run forward, even a pro would say so!]
[-lol, a 'Perfect-Amateur' isn't a pro!]
[-Overcoming fear! It's like an ani!]
[-Was Diego always this strong of a champion?]
[-A 1v5, and Diego wins?]
[-These aren't pushover opponents, either—they're skilled players!]
[-They said they're family, right?]
[-Was stealing bodies always this easy?!]
[-Not just a penta kill, but he stole everyone's bodies?!]
[-Like an undead taking family mbers one by one—a classic horror movie trope!]
[-Call the Vatican, quick!]
[-How many Exorcists do you need to stop Perfect Diego?]
[-Answer: zero. You can't stop him!]
Yami and Diego's 1v5 victory—fear effects shrugged off—beca almost as popular as the Duke solo kill.
And among the rare videos not featuring Lee Gyeongbok, one racked up similar numbers.
[-WTF? WTF?! WTF!]
[-Those are TierOne players!]
[-Told you, this isn't an amateur tournant at all!]
[-The MCK champions playing in an amateur tournant? How!?]
[-Honestly, now it feels like a fair match for the first ti!]
[-Okay, I'm suing my boss for damages. Missing TierOne vs Purple?! Huge loss!]
[-lol, even the judge would rage at my boss!]
[-Nope, the judge will be too busy suing his own boss to hold court.]
It was the video of TierOne's surprise appearance right after the commorative photoshoot. Even fans unfamiliar with Lee Gyeongbok knew TierOne.
As a result, the next video drew the wildest response yet.
[-212? I've never seen a 212 strategy.]
[-A 1v5 against TierOne!?]
[-WTF? Purple has NO items!?]
[-Isn't that just bullying? TierOne are pros!]
[-Even for Perfect Yami, this is just unfair!]
[-E-sports or not, keep the sportsmanship! Disappointing from TierOne!]
Though the video was short, people comnted quickly after just the opening monts.
But the mont the fight began, the comnts changed.
[-My bad, I was too hasty. Not deleting my comnt, though.]
[-lol, sa here. If it's 2:1, that's not so bad.]
[-For Perfect Yami, that's fair enough.]
[-To hold out against Elephant and Raider like that is amazing.]
[-Dang, PerG-Day was completely overwheld!]
[-Purple knows, too! Everything has changed!]
[-WTF? He flung them into the air with a kick!]
[-If you didn't know, you'd think that was a skill.]
[-That's pure chanical skill used as CC!]
[-Elephant used his ultimate!]
[-What did Purple say just now? Two minutes? He'll finish in two minutes?]
[-My god! He kept his word!]
[-Actually, it was 1:21! The Shorts clip is 1:30, right?]
[-He got a double kill solo!]
[-Purple's alone! But if he gets the last three—!]
[-With a Perfect Backdoor, it's possible!]
[-No way Luxor can stop him alone!]
[-TierOne really are pros! They know how to win!]
[-lol, fighting an amateur was never their goal. This was harder than the MCK finals!]
[-Quadra kill! Penta kill!]
[-Damn! A loss after a penta kill? Ridiculous!]
The sequence of Lee Gyeongbok defeating the TierOne mbers played out in order.
Despite his valiant effort, the loss was keenly felt by viewers.
[-He deserved to win. The more I watch, the more regret I feel.]
[-If it's this insane as a short, imagine seeing it live!]
[-Where's my DeLorean? I need to go back in ti!]
[-Bro, watch out for ti paradoxes! You might erase the match from history!]
[-Dropping the lawsuit—my boss must have missed this match too.]
[-lol, just tell him about the Purple Q-tube. Maybe Purple's PoV video drops today!]
[-A new video?]
[-And if you join his mbership, you even get dubbed comntary.]
[-Right! I swear you'll never regret it!]
[-lmao, the 'Perfect Wave' just keeps rolling!]
After finishing the last video, viewers flocked to Lee Gyeongbok's Q-tube channel. Regular fans felt content watching the crowd gather.
Comnt surges slowed for a mont—allowing one comnt in particular to stand out.
[Dandy_Ambush]
[-Wow, this is amazing. I've gotta get everyone to watch this on stream soti.]
The comnt, written in Korean rather than English, really popped out.
It was from 'Ambush' of the pro team 'Dandy', posted directly.
And he was—
[-An MCK MVP explaining it himself?]
[-Will he do it in English too?]
[-If it's Dandy, I bet at least he'll provide subtitles.]
[-Guys, just go sign up for Korean classes, seriously.]
[-If you're a Korean fan, not learning Korean is just silly.]
[-Last year's top jungler will talk about this year's top jungler. I definitely want to watch!]
He was the jungler awarded MVP in the previous year's MCK.
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