Episode 157
Even when he heard the news that the alpaca had died, Seojun wasn’t flustered.
He just glanced at the map to check where the alpaca died, thought about where the enemy jungler would go next, and attacked the next vital point.
Seojun was the type who could focus on what was in front of him, no matter what news came in the middle of combat.
He moved his sword diagonally, from left to right, from bottom to top.
Shrrrk!
“Ugh.”
Hat let out a groan, and Seojun silently withdrew his sword.
The enemy tried to block the next attack.
But the direction of the next attack was already determined, and only Seojun knew the answer.
In other words, Hat was in a position where he had to see and react.
If it were Seojun, he would have grasped the target just from the opponent’s stance, but unfortunately, Hat was not Seojun.
Unlike the composed Seojun, Hat was gnawing on his lip, wandering in confusion.
His eyes rolled wildly.
The situation had gone awry from the start.
‘I should’ve planned for this kind of situation too.’
They probably discussed various countermeasures with the teammates in advance. For Hat, this match was likely a chance to test those.
But.
‘If you could prepare for everything, would that be human? That would be a god.’
That’s why problem-solving ability is so important. Because you never know what problem will hit.
Just as Seojun’s sword was closing in, Hat ducked his upper body. Hat’s fist touched the ground.
‘He did manage some ad-lib.’
It was an attempt to end the damage trade here by triggering the Rock Pulse at close range and briefly bursting.
It looked like his body moved first based on past experience of breaking off fights this way.
Boom!
By then, Seojun’s sword was already lodged in Hat’s collarbone as he ducked, and that successfully attacked the third vital point.
[Radiant Blessing]
A soft light enveloped Seojun’s body, and rocks rose from the road and burst.
Naturally, there was no need to dodge.
Instead, Seojun grabbed Hat’s collar.
Just as Erik’s chains hit the caster too, Rock Pulse, being an area skill, can also damage the user.
After confirming that Hat took damage, Seojun immediately let go of the collar.
Then he slashed with his sword.
Seojun then closed the distance and pressed the attack.
“Are you going to run away?”
By then, Hat had changed his option.
“No! Let's go at it head-on!”
Was he saying the jungler was coming?
The place where the alpaca died was near the lane.
From Seojun’s perspective looking at Hat, it was the terrain diagonally down to the left.
It was close to mid.
Actually, since mid is in the center, there was always a possibility of intervention from other users.
“Haahp!”
Instead of retreating further, Hat threw a punch. It was a crude attack without bladed weapons or special armaments, but the damage was likely similar to a sword, so it was menacing.
Seojun gently leaned his waist back to dodge and aimed for the next vital point.
A stark white line drawn across the body.
Hat hardened that part at the exact timing to block Seojun’s sword.
His body swelled. Attacking would mean a loss.
The timing fit perfectly. So, he was worthy of B-rank after all.
He had enough skill to make choices other than holding out inside the turret.
But.
Just like a moment ago, Seojun’s wrist moved.
However, this time he didn’t turn the sword; he threw it inward.
Seojun’s left hand caught the sword. It was in a reverse grip.
At the same time, the petrification dissolved, and Hat spun his body into a back kick.
It was a combo aimed at Seojun’s head, exploiting the momentary slowdown inflicted by attacking the petrified spot.
But again, Seojun had already ducked.
“You’re awfully well-prepared.”
Shrrrk!
The vital point was cut.
Seojun corrected his reverse grip and immediately aimed for the next vital point. A convenient location for a chain.
Wielding the sword in his left hand was also familiar to Seojun.
Shrrrk!
Once more as the panicked Hat retreated.
Shrrrk!
“Shouldn’t you be coming soon?”
“No, Seojun-nim, were you waiting?”
If they came two-on-one, Seojun intended to welcome it.
Just as expected.
From the bush next to the mid lane, Dokkaebi appeared.
‘Come.’
Seojun’s eyes flashed.
Perhaps this was the only chance to turn the game around.
Seojun had already half concluded that victory in this game was gone.
He had given away a lot from the start, and the alpaca had been heavily locked down. The skill gap was wide anyway to begin with.
Of course, there wasn’t absolutely no way for Seojun to turn the game around, but he had decided not to win like that because it was a scrim.
He had to verify the capabilities of their team against the opposing team as much as possible.
Therefore, if things continued smoothly like this, they would lose.
‘No helping it.’
Seojun dodged Hat’s attack and cut the vital point while asking.
“Not coming?”
“No, he said he was coming! Huh? Where are you going! Dokkaebi-nim! I’m dying!”
Dokkaebi, who had emerged from the bush, paused to watch as Seojun whittled down Hat’s health at a terrifying speed, then stepped back into the bush.
It was rather amusing, but Seojun was impressed.
As expected, a Challenger!
‘Then we’ve lost.’
He had expected it, but still, it didn’t feel good.
“Haha. Seojun-nim? Just wait a moment...”
Thunk!
As he plunged his sword into Hat’s body, Seojun thought.
[Sword God --> Hat]
He would just take out his frustration.
* * *
In the League, the jungler is a terrifying existence. No, a skilled jungler is an absolute existence.
Of course, even absolute power collapses helplessly before a teammate who can’t pull their weight.
No matter how much you gank that lane and feed them 10 kills, no 50 kills, if that teammate dies before the fight starts without even managing to do the bare minimum, what can you do?
Even so, ‘The jungler is grand’ was Dokkaebi’s thought.
Usually, getting that fed meant they would at least do the one-man share, and a jungler not only grows their own team but simultaneously hinders the growth of the opposing team.
‘And on top of that, you can personally carry by getting strong yourself.’
Dokkaebi was precisely that kind of carry-type jungler.
And he believed that such a method was the best way.
Trusting himself, not his teammates. Above all, it was easy to lay the foundation for carrying.
Because a two-on-one, especially in the early game, was a guaranteed win.
However.
Emerging from the bush to gank mid, Dokkaebi saw it instantly.
The sight of Seojun pressing Hat with insane combos.
Dokkaebi stared for about a second. Only his Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed his saliva.
He felt cold sweat trickling down his spine.
‘Should I go?’
For the first time, the thought crossed the mind of Dokkaebi, who had raised countless laners’ blood pressure with his ganks.
‘If I go, I’ll get counter-killed, won’t I?’
Counter-killed means going for a gank and getting wiped out instead.
‘Why?’
No matter how he looked at it, this was the optimal timing.
Seojun was deep into their team’s turret side, so if Dokkaebi went, they could surely fight.
But his instincts kept blocking his steps to gank.
This was truly a first.
It pricked his pride.
‘Did I get stomped too hard in Ground Zero?’
Dokkaebi was baffled by his own instincts.
But he didn’t stubbornly stick to his pride.
‘Anyway, we’ll win even if I don’t go right now.’
So Dokkaebi turned around and went back into the bush.
Behind him, screams; in front of him, death messages popped up.
[Sword God --> Hat]
[Hyung-nim? You said you’d pay back the humiliation from Ground Zero today! Where did you go!]
In truth, even Dokkaebi himself couldn’t fully convince himself of his choice, so as he ate jungle creeps feeling a bit uneasy, he apologized.
[Haha, sorry.]
Of course.
He didn’t go mid after that either.
His instincts kept warning him.
[Hyung? You gonna help?]
[Hyung I’m dying again!]
[I can’t hold! I really can’t! And he’s tormenting me verbally too!]
[Ah! What is our jungler doing! No one comes mid! Trash game! Jungle diff!]
[Pfft.]
[Huh! Our mid lost his mental!]
[You can’t call it jungle diff when the enemy jungler is also getting wrecked by Dokkaebi-nim and can’t come mid. Hehe.]
[Is 0/7/0 for real?]
[I’m sorry. But we’ve almost won anyway.]
As a result, Dokkaebi’s judgment was correct.
He unfolded the game focusing on the other lanes, and the gap between the teams was systematically exploited.
And.
In the final moment, during the 5-on-5 team fight in front of Binkan Gapcha’s base, with his teammates all dead.
Seeing Seojun activate the two-man Judgment Sword from their center and calmly slip out with his own eyes, Dokkaebi realized.
‘In that chaos, he finished two Judgment Swords? Without dying once until the very end?’
An insane monster.
That’s why he had avoided it.
“Ha, haha. You’ll help next game, right?”
Listening to the mentally exhausted Hat’s words, Dokkaebi thought.
‘If we face each other again in the main tournament, I shouldn’t go mid and just do it like today.’
Dokkaebi, he was efficient.
* * *
-Wow he's good
-Who are you talking about? lololol
-Now the fountain’s broken and it’s over ㅠㅠ
-lololololol The streamer’s coming back now! Stop with the bad words!
-So damn good but still lost lolololololololol
-Still, the guy didn’t die until the end. Used a 2-man ult in the enemy camp and came back alive. Gotta acknowledge his physical prowess.
-But you lost in the end, right?
-Now it’s karma time
[Defeat]
At the moment the Judgment Sword fell from the two rifts that tore the sky, the final base, the Nexus, exploded, and the game ended.
He wasn’t disappointed. It was just a scrim after all.
Seojun, who had returned to the lobby, turned off his concentration mode.
-???: I think we can win the championship if I just don’t make any mistakes??? lolololol
-He really doesn’t make mistakes lolololololol
-The team becoming like this is the mistake
-Actually, he should have completely hidden his power before the auction!
-For real lolol
-Oh! Streamer turned off try-hard mode! Everyone be careful!
-Mu
-Bing
-Mu
-Mu
-Bing
He didn’t know why they were pretending to hide something when they were typing in chat exactly like they usually did.
‘Well, the manager managed it well, but I should still check if there’s any chat that could get me banned,’ Seojun thought with an inward laugh.
“Haha. Today, I’ve learned the terror of a Challenger jungler.”
-lololol
-???: I think we can win the championship if I just don’t make any mistakes?
-The championship is slipping away like this~
-Let’s go chew out the alpaca!
-To the room of truth!
They were excited.
‘Should I actually freeze them?’
Seojun’s hand moved toward the settings window, but he decided to leave it be.
Since the stream had grown, he had kept the donation alerts off.
Even with them off, a lot came in, and if he turned them on, sometimes it became unmanageable.
He had heard that other streamers in such cases set aside a separate communication time to receive donations, and he wondered if he should try that.
“You all know it was a practice match, so I went easy, right?”
-lolololol bullshit
-To finally see the streamer show such a sorry sight!
-The League is a god-tier game!
-Stop it Seojun you’re pathetic
-The streamer really is a righteous orthodox sect member! Being pathetic is a trait of the orthodox sects
-For real, the orthodox bastards are the weirdest lolololol
Though he wouldn’t say it, Seojun really had gone easy.
If he truly wanted to win, he would have sent the alpaca or Sword Wind to mid from the start and gone jungle himself.
Or, he would have roamed to open up other lanes instead of staying still in mid.
He wasn’t confident he’d win even then, but anyway, from Seojun’s perspective, he had held back.
‘Hmm.’
Anyway, he thought he might need a car. And a big space to train in.
‘I’ll have to ask the Director-nim for a favor.’
Seojun briefly made a plan.
And the viewers misinterpreted this.
-Did you get salty?
-Ya. Ya, are you crying?
-lolololololol Ah, how cathartic!
-Can he finally not pull off those smug stunts lololololololololol
‘Not just the jungler, but the other teammates need practice too.’
He couldn’t ignore them just because they were E or D. In fact, they had even more room to grow.
‘As for me, well. I don’t have any higher to climb, so I’ll focus on managing them.’
His mind was neatly organized.
What was needed was practice. More practice.
Thinking about it, it was a simple problem.
There was no need to decide how much to drill them. Just drill them until they get good!
Seojun was about to return to Ha Yun-ho’s lobby to lure his teammates.
‘But anyway.’
Li Ben must be even more excited than the chat window.
‘Well, we decided to accept it from the start during the scrim period.’
What mattered was the main tournament.
But.
Now that he knew to what extent to grill his teammates, did he have to go easy on them? He didn’t think so.
So, before going to the lobby, Seojun decided to pile up the karma he had built.
“Everyone, from the next match on, I won’t lose even once, so enjoy it now.”
-Streamer’s earnest mode on!
-A loser going earnest mode, lolololololol
-That’s what a viewer said though?
-Yeah sure, so what can you do alone! lololololol
-Just keep losing from now on! Ah, today’s stream is the best ever lololol
It seemed.
The viewers had been accumulating a lot.
‘Why?’
Seojun tilted his head.
He really didn’t know.