Episode 152
“Huh?”
Arin was flustered. She knew Seojun intended to play the villain, but she hadn’t expected him to drop it so bluntly.
Bangju, who had been watching Seojun’s behavior on *For Cooperation’s Sake*, also thought this was rather impressive.
As expected.
The skill to provoke both the righteous and unorthodox factions hadn’t gone anywhere.
Old opinions from the Assassination Squad’s Dawn came to mind.
—Should we really release this bastard into multiplayer?
“Hahaha... Of course, it’s possible.”
Bangju turned his head away. Arin, seated at the center, had short-circuited again.
Arin was a veteran.
And yet Seojun had managed to fluster her twice.
“Well... you haven’t properly seen the other teams’ skills yet, right? The game is The League, after all.”
Still, a hint of her determination to salvage the situation showed.
It was decent progress. This wouldn’t put out the fire, but when you beat around the bush, people tend to like it better and dislike it less than when you’re blunt.
There’s a difference between telling someone to their face, “You’re ugly,” and saying, “Your face shines so brightly I can scarcely bear to open my eyes.”
Fortunately, Seojun seemed to have instinctively understood that.
[Ah, as you saw today, everyone did well, so I can’t single out one team. Of course.]
Seojun’s face filled the video chat screen, smiling as he spoke.
It was a good-natured smile. Add to that his handsome looks, and what did you get?
—LOL hahahahahaha, after trashing everyone he’s like “everyone did well” haha
—That’s not what he meant, he was basically saying everyone’s trash lmao
—When the satans travel, Lucifer appears, heh heh
—Yeah, Riven’s probably exploding lol
—O Magic Cultists! O Sword God followers! Rise up and go defend in Riven!
Nobody believed him.
Of course they didn’t.
But Bangju and Arin thought at the same time.
*Nice!*
That’s right. This much was enough.
People could laugh it off, and it would be easier to accept as a kind of provocation and trash talk.
Truly, Seojun could be called a natural at steering public opinion.
He didn’t have much experience and probably didn’t watch streams often, yet look at him instinctively moderating it.
Bangju was impressed once again, thinking he indeed had the qualities of a major corporation, and then—
[So I’m most wary of myself.]
“Huh?”
[If I just don’t make mistakes, our team will win as is.]
“But you just said you’re wary of all teams...”
[Ah, I meant they all did well so it’s hard to pick one. I didn’t say I was wary of those teams.]
What could you do when he said it like that?
Instead, it confirmed that he didn’t pick one because all their skills were just so-so.
‘Seojun really is Seojun after all.’
That day, Bangju recalled once more.
Seojun’s figure, telling them to bring it on for the remaining time and then winning 12 consecutive matches.
* * *
Riven.
The community of a game that made people re-evaluate a certain sage’s saying: when five people gather, one is trash.
That saying could apply to any situation.
Group projects, sports games, in the workplace.
However, it was an undeniable fact that The League’s users had properly proven that saying.
That meant at least one out of five League users was off.
And Riven was the largest among game communities.
What conclusion could you draw from combining these two?
At the very least, even if they weren’t trash, there was an immense amount of trolling.
This was acknowledged by everyone who used Riven.
Sure, there might be other communities, but this one was from the game that established the 4:1 formula.
And it was huge. There was no comparison.
The moment all the eyes of the viewers in Riven became focused,
the villain of this tournament emerged.
[Crazy provocation hahahahaha]
[He’s such a real man LOL]
[How does he double down and hit them again there? lmao]
[Double the provocation!]
[Ah haha, he says he’ll win]
The reaction was positive.
Seojun’s remarks were a provocation toward other teams.
But since trash talk was considered part of the culture and such karma was often built up in previous tournaments, it wasn’t a big issue.
However, because it was still aggro, the reactions didn’t just end there.
[Honestly, seeing other A-ranks getting stomped gives you the answer]
[He’ll have to play as an S-rank alone. The other A-ranks are way too bad]
[If you saw today, even the fanboys should admit it haha]
The problem with aggro lay in posts like these.
They intentionally hyped up Seojun’s remarks and his team.
Exactly, they used Seojun as an excuse to raise him high and tear down the other teams.
In other words, the troublemakers latched on.
If these posts had gotten buried, it wouldn’t have mattered, but the moment even one got many upvotes and rose,
[They’re crossing the line?]
[The main game hasn’t even started and they’re getting ahead of themselves?]
[Wow, so arrogant. The rookie. Plus, is he even close with the other smurfs?]
[Honestly, didn’t he act way too cocky in the game too?]
Counter-reactions from the comparisons sparked controversy.
It was backlash from fans supporting other teams.
But it wasn’t just fans there.
There were also those who had been tearing down other teams using Seojun as justification.
Which side they were on didn’t matter.
All that mattered was slandering others.
So they hopped from one side to the other, gleefully tearing people down.
Thus, you could ask: wasn’t it Seojun’s fault for stirring aggro?
But troublemakers like these would have appeared regardless of what he did, even without Seojun’s remarks.
Community users knew this well.
[Stop the trolling!]
[Honestly, I think he’s a pretty fitting villain role, agree?]
[If he had that skill, looks, and a good personality too? That’d be too perfect. I see this as a balance patch]
[Ah haha, just laugh a little!]
Now what matters is who incites better. That’s how public opinion battles go.
There are countless people in the community.
Smart people. Inciters. The incited.
It would be great if clear information or opinions could be delivered to everyone, but people don’t read every post.
So the key to sweeping away troublemakers is greater firepower.
Well, even if not, they’d die out on their own. As always.
But the longer it took to quell the troublemakers, the greater the fatigue.
So.
Veterans from among Seojun’s viewers began to join the fray.
[We’re just sorry!]
==
Our streamer is damn good at games—no, damn good at them, so in return God only put a teaspoon of humanity into him!
He’s always been like this, so just let it slide this once! Hahahahahahahahahaha
==
Seojun’s viewers started apologizing. Not a sincere apology, but meme-ing around to suit the situation.
That alone was enough.
—LOL hahaha, he really is always like that
—And in the middle of it, the fan deliberately wrote “damn good” haha, your streamer does do things damn well, maybe because he’s so goddamn good?
—Why are these guys apologizing?
└Do you know how many controversies we’ve faced? We’ve just realized apologizing is the answer! (Author)
└For real lol
└This guy, aggro is his entire life hahahaha
└If only his skills were bad, we would’ve buried him ourselves long ago. You Riven guys hahahahaha
That was enough.
[The reason the fans are apologizing on his behalf hahahaha]
[Just an amazing guy!]
[A streamer who makes his own viewers apologize? haha]
[We do need characters like this]
[Ah haha, the Magic Cult guys are pitiful, so I’ll let it slide this once hahahaha]
At the same time, reactions from other streamers also came up.
[Breaking News) Pado, burning with passion while laughing]
[Rain, despite the provocation, says “He’s cool.” How far does Korea’s lookism go?]
—Crazy fangirls hahahaha, how does “cool” turn into lookism?
—hahaha he is cool, and good-looking too haha
—Ahh!
[E-rank Mental, controversy arises as he says Seojun’s remarks ignite his competitive spirit. Viewer: “Bro, are you even competition?”]
[Kim Taewoo, a close friend of Mr. Jin at the center of the controversy, reported saying “Please insult that kid more!” causing a stir.]
—hahahahahaha
—Friend, hurry up and get insulted!
—Ah haha, being insulted makes you live long, meaning he’s telling his friend to live a long life!
Other streamers knew well there was no need to take it seriously.
Especially the veterans reacted by drawing out fun from it.
As this happened, the troublemakers lost power, and only after the opinion battle ended did today’s events properly come into view for Riven’s users.
[Guys. But Seojun’s headshot ratio is insane.]
==
30–40 is crazy high. But this streamer only failed once. And that was because Pado blocked it with a frying pan. You know what figure it is numerically?
90 lmao hahahahahaha.
==
—He didn’t shoot a lot, but it really is crazy hahahaha
└We couldn’t see the headshot ratio because they were blocked by the frying pan hahahaha insane
—Is he a sure-shot?
—Does this mean we have to re-evaluate Pado? Hahahaha, the only man to block a headshot. As a man worthy of challenging a god hahahahaha
[I just tried deflecting bullets with a frying pan with my friend, and my arms, legs, torso, and face got evenly hit by bullets, and I threw the frying pan away. Is that normal?]
—Beep, it's normal.
—Of course it is.
—It's basically the first time anyone has blocked like that openly in play hahahaha
[How on earth did he dual wield? Really damn amazing]
[Pros should try to recreate this...]
[Just everything is absurd LOL hahahahaha]
And finally, just as Seojun had intended from the start.
[At this level, wasn’t it just stating facts rather than provocation?]
==
No, wasn’t that actually him being humble?
==
—For real lol
—Looking back, that seems right
—It didn’t even take a minute for Seojun’s re-evaluation. He beat the 3-minute curry squad. I’m touched!
[The probability of actually winning seems the highest?]
[It’s still too early to talk about winning, but it’s damn exciting]
The narrative was set.
[Seojun will have a hard time winning because I’m here. -Mental hahahahaha]
[I have teammates, so idgaf anymore]
[Anything can happen in The League. Don’t be certain]
[First, he said with his own mouth, “If I just don’t make mistakes, our team will win as is.” Let’s remember this karma, guys hahahahaha]
* * *
Why do players want to be sold at a low price? So the team leader can invest more in other teammates, and the team becomes stronger?
That’s part of it. Team-wise, it’s the most correct answer.
But for individuals, especially lower-tier users, there’s another reason.
It’s the pressure: being sold at a high price but not living up to it.
In that sense, Rumi, a passed-over asset, thought she was in a better situation than before.
No, she had thought so.
‘Ah! Why is the narrative set up like this!’
[Even if they lose because of teammates, karma’s gonna be settled anyway, Seojun hahahaha]
[You just have to trust these bastards. Ha Yunho, Baramgeom, Alpaca, Durumi!]
[Ha Yunho’s team is about to decide which group to face; after provoking like that, just watch if they only go against weak teams hahahaha]
Attention was focused. And karma was already threatening to pour out.
On Seojun, and on his team members, including her.
“Even if we get cursed out, I’d rather face a weak team and at least avoid early elimination...”
The problem was.
“A weak team?”
“What do you mean, Rumi?”
“Now that things have come to this, let’s just charge through this tournament.”
Currently, they were in a meeting with the stream turned off, deciding which team they’d be grouped with.
And.
They were simply trying to face the strongest teams, no matter what.
“No, Seojun. I know you’re good, and I know the provocation was for the broadcast’s entertainment!”
“It probably wasn’t for the broadcast...”
Alpaca muttered beside her, but Rumi ignored him and continued.
“Still, can’t we please just group with a weak team?”
We won! Why! Just why!
Why are you having a heated debate over which team is the strongest!!
Let’s pick a team that’s easier to face!
‘Am I the only one worried? Only me?’
Exactly.
Only Rumi was worried.
Sensing her anxiety, Seojun spoke up.
“Don’t worry.”
“No, I’m not worried about your skills, I’m worried about my own skills... If we lose because of me, you might get cursed...”
Of course, Seojun knew what Rumi was worried about.
So Seojun said warmly.
“Truly, don’t worry. How could you possibly not be able to do it?”
In contrast.
Rumi, and the teammates next to her, suddenly felt an inexplicable chill.
“What do you mean by that.”
They couldn’t bring themselves to ask.
Soon.
After the meeting ended, the time for the group selection arrived.