Henry Thompson had no idea that after he finished his first ranked game, in the studio of a Korean entertainment show called "Attack of the Plastic Group" in Busan, a young man with a very comical appearance excitedly took off his headphones and said to his assistant, "Hahaha, no need to keep looking, we've found the video material for this episode."

"Mr. Wise is truly Mr. Wise, amazing! So who's the hero featured in this episode's video?" The assistant, delighted that the work was finished so quickly, immediately started playing along.

"Ha, ha, ha, it's him, zed!!!" The young man known as Mr. Wise pointed proudly at the computer screen.

On the screen was the homepage of the League of Legends client, and in the upper right corner, the ID was that of the jungler Xin Zhao—"Korean Master"—who had just been matched with Henry Thompson in his first placement game!

This Mr. Wise's real name was Samuel Bennett, an entertainment commentator for League of Legends, similar to those comedic entertainers in the Korean entertainment industry in a previous life. Unlike the more skilled commentators, perhaps due to clumsy hands or simply a lack of gaming talent, Samuel Bennett's rank had always been low. However, he carved out his own path and eventually became famous as an entertainment commentator known for his humorous and witty style, amassing a considerable fanbase in the esports community.

After the start of the S3 season, a PD from an esports entertainment show wanted to create a new program, so they brought in Samuel Bennett as the host and commentator. "Attack of the Plastic Group" was the name Samuel Bennett came up with based on the season's rank divisions. The show aired weekly, mainly recording funny plays from low-ranked players and editing them into videos, paired with Samuel Bennett's comedic commentary. It often had viewers laughing out loud in front of their TVs and was beloved by a wide audience of Korean esports fans.

"Zed? That's a good hero, definitely fits our show." The assistant suddenly remembered something and said with a laugh, "Mr. Wise, let me tell you, I watched some low-rank videos earlier, and the zeds in those clips would often spam buttons after casting their shadow, and in the end, they wouldn't even know where their real body was before dying. Haha, it cracked me up."

"NO! NO! We're going to do something different this time! The theme for this episode will be 'The Plastic Group's Hokage Zed.' Isn't it the general consensus right now that this hero is weak? Some people are even clamoring for Riot to rework him. Trust me, once this video comes out, everyone will be shocked! Heh, by then, our show's ratings will skyrocket!"

……

At 6:10, inside the Gwangju Jicheng Audio & Video Store, Henry Thompson pushed away the keyboard in front of him, stretched, and said, "Alright, today's task is done!"

On the screen, a medal representing Gold rank slowly formed!

"Ten games! All wins! Gold V. I've played for two seasons and I'm still stuck in Silver, but bro, you made it to Gold in just half an afternoon?" At this moment, James Harris was at a loss for words, other than marveling at such talent.

"Don't get discouraged, James. Honestly, I think your mechanics are fine, but you're missing some details, or maybe some tricks." Henry Thompson tapped his head with his finger and said, "I don't know about other esports games, but for this one, besides mechanics, you have to use this!"

"Bro, so the reason you're so good is because you study hard..." James Harris immediately pulled a long face.

"This isn't just for studying, you know." Henry Thompson rolled his eyes at him, a bit speechless. "Alright, you figure it out on your own. I'm heading home, I'll come back tomorrow."

Henry Thompson said goodbye to William Harris as he left, then hopped on his bike and hurried home.

The next day, Sunday, Henry Thompson greeted everyone at James's audio & video store, then sat down at the computer again. By the end of the day, he had 17 wins and 2 losses—the two losses were both 3v5s, with two teammates AFK, once again proving that this game is, after all, a team competition.

Currently, his rank was Platinum IV, with a total of 29 games played and a 93.1% win rate. When promoting from Gold III to Gold II, thanks to his previous win streak, his hidden MMR was so high that he skipped straight from Gold III to Gold I.

Henry Thompson walked out of the back room and saw William Harris stocking shelves from the warehouse.

"Uncle, let me help you," Henry Thompson hurried over.

"It's fine, I can handle this. You go focus on that account. Since you took on that endorsement, you have to give it your all no matter what. Uncle believes in you, good luck!" William Harris clearly thought that although Henry Thompson was talented, since it was his first time in esports, he might have gotten discouraged after a few losses and came out to help.

"Uh, Uncle, actually, I've already met the store owner's first-stage requirement. I'll keep playing a bit every day, and I think I can reach number one on the Zed leaderboard by the end of next week!" Henry Thompson said with a smile.

"Really? That's fantastic." William Harris gave Henry Thompson a hearty slap on the shoulder. "I knew you could do it, kid. Haha."

Henry Thompson could only scratch his head and give a silly grin.