(The previous chapter has been slightly adjusted—RA's scrim begins on the defensive side.)
"Play however you normally play in ranked. That's how I want you to play in scrims," Jamyoung said. "If you have any ideas, speak up. Don't put too much pressure on yourself."
Jamyoung had fairly high expectations for Yang Yu, but he had also seen far too many players who crumbled the instant they stepped into professional matches.
From a gameplay perspective, he felt Yang Yu's individual skill was nothing to scoff at—no matter how you looked at it, the guy was fundamentally a top-tier player.
It would be a real shame if nerves caused him to underperform.
Over the past two months, they had clashed with IHC quite frequently in official matches, with both sides trading wins and losses.
With RA and IHC slated to face each other again in upcoming matches, neither side was willing to back down in practice. Aside from keeping their pocket strats and deepest tricks saved for officials, they pretty much threw everything they had at each other in scrims, each side itching to blow the other's heads off.
This wasn't entirely about pride, either—positive scrim results were crucial for building player confidence.
So even if it was just for morale, Jamyoung hoped Yang Yu could step up.
"Don't worry. I'm not feeling any pressure," Yang Yu said. He didn't think much of it.
Sure, his opponents were professionals, but as his matchmaking rank climbed, practically every game he played nowadays featured former and current pros. He had long since lost any mystique he once held for the title of "professional."
Perhaps if he were at an offline arena, under the eyes of a live audience, he might feel some nerves.
But this was just an online scrim—no different from a regular day of ranked. What did he have to be nervous about?
...
"RA's been looking really strong in their recent matches," IHC's Bartak said with a laugh. "These scrims are gonna be rough. Blitz, can you whip out some tactics?"
"They're fielding a rookie in scrims against us? Do they not take us seriously?"
As one of IHC's primary fraggers and Mongolia's famous prodigy, Techno4K also grinned. "Maybe 259 dug up some new talent. Just thinking about it gives me chills."
Hearing this, Blitz scoffed and laughed. "When it comes to prodigies, who has more raw talent than you?"
As the team's entry fragger, Techno4K's talent was downright absurd. Blitz felt he had a genuine shot at contending for a TOP20 ranking.
So he didn't take Techno4K's words seriously at all.
"But since they're playing with a rookie, let's adjust our own energy too," Blitz said, the corner of his lips curving into a slightly wicked smile. "We'll welcome the newcomer in our own way."
Putting pressure on a kid who had just entered the professional scene—what a delightfully evil idea.
Techno4K just chuckled. "I was thinking the exact same thing."
...
The pistol round began.
259 immediately called a 3B-2A setup.
Yang Yu and Jamyoung were both assigned to A site. After a brief discussion, they decided to stack together in Apartments to secure one side.
The two executed a small coordination play around the A2 area. Yang Yu held forward for intel in Apartments while Jamyoung played Pit to watch Connector.
Neither of them gathered much information early on, and the Terrorists remained completely quiet. Seeing this, Yang Yu warned over comms, "Watch out for a timing through Connector. We haven't been looking at it at all."
His call happened to make Mo Siyu, positioned in CT spawn, turn around to check—just in time to spot the Terrorists who had already infiltrated spawn.
Mo Siyu's aim was on point this round. He took down three players with his USP-S right in CT spawn. Combined with Hanbao's smoke, they completely shut down IHC's attack tempo. The subsequent B-site retake ended in a clean 2-for-5 trade.
"Nice!" Yang Yu, who hadn't been able to contribute much, offered some moral support instead.
"That call was crucial!" Mo Siyu was pleased. Yang Yu's warning had been the key. If he had missed that timing, B site would have been pincered instantly and the round would have been lost.
Moving into the second round, Yang Yu purchased a helmet and an M4A1-S, spending every last dollar of his money.
The second round was a standard default: 3A-2B.
Using his spawn advantage, Yang Yu dove straight into Boiler, carefully guarding against a Terrorist speed-push through Apartments.
But while he was still holding, he saw Mo Siyu holding an M4A1-S, standing out in the open on mid, looking for duels.
Yang Yu frowned at the sight.
Even though it was an anti-eco round—rifles against pistols—running out into the middle of the main road to hunt frags was a bit reckless.
He felt this kind of play habit wasn't good. Playing as a star was fine, but that positioning was far too loose.
But when Jamyoung saw what Mo Siyu was doing, he rotated over to help. As expected, the attacking team suddenly double-peeked from Apartments, and Mo Siyu wasn't instantly deleted thanks to the backup.
They closed out the round without too much trouble.
The game officially reached the third round—the first full-buy gun round.
Yang Yu was gradually finding his groove. He proactively asked, "How are we playing this round?"
"Standard 3A-2B. Make your own plays if you have ideas," 259 replied. In scrims, he didn't like revealing too many tactics.
He preferred practicing defaults and refining their mid-round details and overall playstyle.
"Got it." Yang Yu was happy with that. "Then I'll look for opportunities in Apartments."
Having been a matchmaking star for so long, he still hadn't fully adapted to having a proper in-game leader directing the team.
When the countdown ended, he used his excellent first spawn to head straight for Boiler. He had just been about to push up Spiral toward Apartments when a Molotov and flash from VIP forced him back.
The enemy utility was aggressive. This was a fast Apartments execute.
Yang Yu quickly backed out of Boiler. At 1:40, he threw a smoke toward the VIP door frame.
The smoke popped at the VIP entrance, completely obscuring the corner area.
Yang Yu himself ducked back into Boiler.
This wasn't a standard one-way smoke, but it was a special one. There were several lights in Inferno's A2 Apartments. From inside the smoke, you could still see the light beams emitted by those lamps.
If a light suddenly went out, there was only one explanation: someone was blocking it.
After throwing his utility, Yang Yu held an angle looking at the lights from inside Boiler.
He waited calmly. Soon, the point of light in his vision suddenly vanished. Without the slightest hesitation, Yang Yu pulled the trigger.
Rat-tat-tat!
[Stay Calm killed Blitz through smoke with M4A1-S]
[Stay Calm killed Bartak through smoke with M4A1-S (Headshot)]
"Boiler! Boiler!" Blitz called the instant he was tagged through smoke, but immediately realized his teammate who had been pushing Apartments with him was also dead.
Looking at this strange smoke, Blitz's initial plan had been for two players to clear the Apartments hallway together from both sides.
But they had been wiped out almost instantly.
This had been an A-site-focused attack, but with A2 Apartments collapsing, the execute couldn't unfold anymore.
Yang Yu had secured two quick kills. He backed toward A1 while reloading.
But the moment he finished reloading, he actively snuck back into Boiler.
His smoke hadn't cleared yet, and he hadn't heard anyone jump the VIP railing. His hunger for more kills returned.
He liked holding small zones. For one, he had pre-loaded ropz's Inferno map knowledge, making him especially adept at defending this area. Secondly, the skill level of defensive players in matchmaking varied wildly. Holding a large zone meant not only fighting the enemy, but often fighting his own teammates' poorly thrown utility as well.
This had cultivated Yang Yu's habit of holding small zones and gradually accumulating advantages through isolation.
At least in this position, he wouldn't be negatively affected by others.
As for teammates dying too quickly elsewhere, there wasn't much he could do about that.
Having secured two frags, Yang Yu wasn't thinking about retreating to a passive post-plant position. He wanted to exploit this information advantage to make more plays.
The enemy formation was already in disarray after losing two players for free at the start of the round. This was the perfect time to expand his lead.
Yang Yu silently slipped from the smoke into VIP, then carefully pushed forward.
Reaching the VIP ledge, he peeked out with a half-body exposure.
In his vision, the bomb carrier and an AK-wielding Terrorist were walking backward, retreating toward Banana.
In that moment, without hesitation, Yang Yu pulled the trigger for a spray transfer.
Rat-tat-tat!
The two Terrorists below mid died instantly.
"Two more down mid," Yang Yu called out over comms. "Bomb's at the T-intersection. Last one is yours. I'm heading back to site to AFK."
Four kills without taking a single point of damage!
"Holy shit! And you're acting cool about it." Danking, watching from behind, was thoroughly amused.
Yang Yu had dropped four players without losing a single drop of HP. If his teammates still couldn't win from there, they might as well have actually gone AFK.
The last player, Techno4K, was out of options. He tried to take a duel against the CT in Banana, but after getting one trade, he was quickly shut down.
"Sick." After the round ended, Jamyoung proactively extended his fist toward Yang Yu.
Yang Yu was startled for a moment, then quickly bumped his own fist against Jamyoung's.
"What was up with that smoke just now?" 259 asked curiously. "A one-way?"
While holding B site, he had glanced over at Yang Yu's screen. He had assumed it was a one-way, but realized something was slightly off.
Yang Yu replied, "Sort of a one-way. Essentially, you watch the lights in A2. If someone pushes VIP or Spiral stairs, they block the light and you can shoot. You can do the same thing from A site."
"That detailed?" 259 looked at Yang Yu with even more appreciation.
He wondered just how many abilities this "potato" had that he had yet to discover.
Without dwelling on it, the next round quickly began.
The attackers' economy wasn't great, but they still invested in a VIP Molotov.
At the same 1:40 mark, after the Molotov was extinguished, Yang Yu didn't hold the one-way from inside Boiler. Instead, he stood at the edge where the smoke met the fire, patiently holding an angle on the VIP ledge.
The familiar sound of smoke suppressing fire rang out. Blitz, positioned below VIP, immediately warned his team: "Boiler one-way, watch Boiler!"
Hearing this, the Terrorist toward Spiral also locked down an angle on Boiler to prevent anyone from pushing out.
As the Molotov burned out, Blitz planned to hop up to VIP to clear Boiler with his teammate.
He jumped straight up to VIP.
But the instant he jumped, he saw at the edge of the smoke—a CT's masked head, staring right back at him.
Bang!
[Stay Calm killed Blitz with AK47 (Headshot)]
"Inside VIP!" Blitz shouted to warn his teammates. He hadn't expected this guy to trick him twice with the same setup!
After taking down Blitz, Yang Yu knew his position was completely blown.
Without a moment's hesitation, he turned toward Boiler, got a rough pre-aim, and crouch-strafed out for the peek.
Bang!
[Stay Calm killed Bartak with AK47 (Headshot)]
After Blitz's call, Bartak had been hard-holding Apartments the entire time. But the opponent swung out with a pre-fire and instantly deleted him.
Holy shit—did you even see me? You just wide-swung!
"Two down Apartments!" After the kill, Yang Yu saw no one was trading him. An idea flashed through his mind, and he immediately turned back, silently slipping into VIP once more.
Sometimes the most dangerous place is the safest.
He had already gotten two kills in this area. The enemy probably wouldn't expect him to still be here.
He found a good angle inside VIP and held it. After waiting patiently, he soon saw a Terrorist appear in the distance from T spawn.
Yang Yu fired a quick burst, swiftly taking him down.
"One more down Apartments. The last two should be Banana. That guy was just here to throw a fake smoke."
Given the timing of the enemy's movements, Yang Yu quickly read the attackers' remaining intentions.
With all the enemy positions revealed, 259 gave them no room to breathe. The last two players were quickly mowed down in a crossfire.
Jamyoung couldn't help but exclaim once again, "Sick!"
Danking, standing behind them, was gaping. "He's slaughtering IHC like they're pigs!"
He had known this guy was talented.
But...
His talent seemed almost beyond the pale.
...