Chapter 158
“Team wealth gap! You’ve been struck by the goblin’s club and lost! GG!”
Arin’s spirited shout signaled the end of the game.
“Ah, wealth gap! Not even a shred of regret! They got utterly crushed!”
Bangju teased.
“That’s right.”
-lolololololol
-The goblin drove them hard, huh
-As expected of the jungle!
Then Bangju launched into rapid-fire rap:
“Bot? Imploded! Jungle? Imploded! Top? The skill difference meant Baramgeom kept lane priority, but in terms of kills and deaths? Imploded! Yes! The whole game imploded! Whoa!”
By laning phase stats, Baramgeom had 0 kills and 2 deaths.
The enemy top was 0 kills, 0 deaths, 2 assists.
Baramgeom’s two deaths became the cornerstone of Dokkaebi’s carry.
“Dokkaebi relentlessly camped top. He went there at all hours, constantly. Terrifying.”
“So what could Baramgeom do? He had to play around the ganks.”
“On top of that, bot lane kept losing after an early kill, never recovered, and when Dokkaebi came again, they just collapsed.”
The cause of defeat.
“The jungler really couldn’t do anything. A total loss. In every aspect.”
The jungle. But that was something everyone had predicted.
Even to the point of such a brutal dismantling.
“When the jungler is still getting the hang of things, you could say the opponents were pretty nasty, right?”
“Exactly. Still! Today’s match doesn’t reflect anything, so they can just work on improving and come back stronger next time!”
Arin said optimistically.
It was true. There’s plenty of time after scrims end.
Though exactly what to do during that time to get stronger is unclear.
“Ah. And honestly, we can’t not talk about this player in this game.”
This time, it was about Seojun.
“An absolutely absurd player, isn’t he?”
“Right. He chased Dokkaebi away with nothing but sheer audacity.”
“Hahaha!”
The casters all laughed together.
Well, everyone except Penguin.
“Truly everyone was shocked. The scene where Dokkaebi suddenly stiffened as if he’d seen a ghost and gave up on the gank!”
“There’s speculation that Dokkaebi was just really hungry. That he’s a ‘Meokkkaebi’ and went to farm jungle camps. Or that it was a sacrificial offering for victory.”
“No.”
Bangju denied it flatly.
“Then what was it?”
“Seojun was either red bean paste or a horse’s blood!”
“Huh?”
“Because goblins hate red things, you know. Right, Penguin?”
Penguin replied with a tone of surrender.
“Just say he chickened out.”
Once again, laughter erupted—excluding Penguin.
-lololololololol no, he really did chicken out
-You can tell by how Dokkaebi never even glanced mid after that
-But was Seojun that scary?
-There might be something we couldn’t see lol
-Dokkaebi could have pulled off the gank, but made a strategic choice because the damage risked being worse, you morons!!!!
-Strategic choice (grinning while going to farm jungle camps)
-No, he was just experimenting with abandoning mid. For the future.
-And meanwhile Penguin’s face is totally rotting lolololololol
Though Dokkaebi and Seojun didn’t realize it, his choice to abandon the hat and take the jungle camp—and never gank mid afterward—became a bigger topic than Seojun’s defeat.
Which only made sense.
The only reason a jungler avoids a gank is fear of losing, and the situation at the time was absolutely not that dire.
Others didn’t share Seojun and Dokkaebi’s vision.
[Teammates < Jungle camps]
[Oh lol they sacrificed the hat to quell the monster named Seojun]
[He faked a gank to make his teammates fight, then bailed like a scumbag? lolololololol]
[Just how hungry was Dokkaebi? Let’s find out]
So all sorts of bizarre explanations popped up. Even the karma-farming memes about Seojun lost steam.
“Looks like the trauma from the parachute taunt in Ground Zero got embedded deep!”
“I mean, if it were me, I wouldn’t want to go in on Seojun either.”
“He’s definitely an incredible player. Showed monstrous form this game, too, right?”
“Driving away the top A-rank jungler with sheer audacity is amazing, but. He also solokilled Hat a total of 9 times. During laning phase.”
“I think Dokkaebi, who never once came to help during all that, is even more amazing.”
-lololololol for real
-While he died 9 times, he blew up every other lane, so it’s extenuating circumstances
It was just an efficient choice, I’m telling you!
-Are there Dokkaebi stans here? Why keep shielding him?
-But isn’t that actually correct? They won in the end. lol Seems like he really was testing if they could win even abandoning mid.
-No. Watching the ending, I’ll admit he at least got scared.
“Definitely. I also think the final 2-man Judgement Sword was incredible. Did anyone catch it clearly?”
To Arin’s question, Taeyang answered first.
“It was too tangled up, I couldn’t see clearly.”
Bangju said the same.
And Penguin stayed silent. No one bothered to ask him.
“Shall we take a look?”
“Sure.”
The observer played the clip.
Teamfight.
A term for large-scale engagements where the game can be decided in one clash.
“A chaotic 5v5 brawl! The initiating engage is Dokkaebi’s skill!”
The heroes’ skills collided.
Since it was late game, runes bought with in-game gold enhanced the skills.
Wider range.
Flashier effects.
In the confusion where skills tangled and it was hard to tell who was hitting whom.
Seojun got caught.
Yet Seojun moved with wild freedom through it all, dodging ability fragments flying from all directions while swiftly slicing the enemy’s vitals.
“Wow…….”
Moves even most pros would struggle to replicate. Attacking the foe in front while dodging skills from the side and rear, and activating invincibility at danger.
But.
“In the end, all his teammates died, and Seojun retreated.”
“Even while pulling back, he didn’t forget the Judgement Sword. In that split-second, he triggered it on two of them.”
-lololololol
-Amazing indeed
-So what? He lost lololololol
-So even with those mechanics, he couldn’t win. No matter what, it’s tough…
-???: If you don’t make mistakes, then something something
Reading the chat, Arin chuckled.
“Yes, that’s right. In the end, he did lose. But! Could it be that he wasn’t going all-out?”
In Arin’s view, Seojun had stayed almost exclusively in mid. He hadn’t tried to carry the macro game.
Meaning, was he hiding something? Taking it easy? Arin’s reasoning.
“You’re telling me to shut up? Alright.”
That reasoning was quickly shot down.
If that truly wasn’t his full strength, it’d be scary indeed.
Hmm.
“Alright, then before we move on to the next game! Penguin?”
“Why did I have to make that bet…”
Bangju clicked his tongue, laughing.
“And of all things, the ‘nyan-speak’ one. Hahaha.”
Taeyang delighted in tallying another dark history for Penguin.
“Muscle Nyan is sortieing once more!”
Arin shouted, holding the headband.
At the end, Penguin mindlessly cursed his past self from one hour ago, who had been dead certain Seojun would win and made that unnecessary bet.
Why on earth—!
“…….”
Soon, a gravelly voice echoed through the studio.
* * *
“The last team fought well. Right from the start.”
“Those two teams were powerhouses, right?”
“Powerhouses…….”
The mood was funereal.
“Everyone, if another laner gets big, I can cover for them, so don’t worry. The jungle getting blown up was just Alpaca not being used to it yet, so of course he couldn’t stop it.”
Seojun covered for the bad matchup.
“I played badly too.”
-Ah lololol seeing them so dispirited
-Honestly, the streamer has some responsibility too. Got out-carried as an A-rank.
-Couldn’t be helped, for real
-Yep, streamer lost, right?
The effect was minimal, of course.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I clearly read the in-depth jungle guide five times, *sob*.”
Alpaka kept apologizing.
“Still, losing to a D-rank as me is a bit shameful. I should’ve held strong like Seojun. Haven’t played anything besides Kael for so long.”
Baramgeom wore an awkward, sheepish grin.
“Kahaha!”
Had Ha Yunho lost his mind?
“Seojun’s right. This game, we really were just unlucky. Problem is, I feel like we’ll keep being unlucky in the other matches, too.”
Finally, Rumi rationally prophesied the future.
“So, how should we train then?”
So Seojun asked. He laid the bait.
“Since I have wide connections, endless scrims!”
Ha Yunho said. It seemed there’d be no worry about setting up other private scrims.
“But mainly scrimming will be physically tough, and not especially effective. It should only be for improving teamwork, not really for building skill.”
Alpaka objected.
“Then finding a coach is the right move, right?”
Baramgeom said. He was new to LiOS.
But as a longtime viewer, he’d seen plenty of streamers doing content with coaches.
-Is this team getting a coach too?
-They did need one
-Please give solutions! And make these guys practice
“Sometimes A-ranks teach, but there are plenty of coaches brought in, too.”
Alpaka agreed.
Being coached could even serve as broadcast content.
“Then the coach— let this widely connected Ha Yunho—!”
Seojun stopped Ha Yunho.
“Ah! That won’t be necessary.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve already secured a coach.”
“Ah… is that so! Haha!”
“Um…… who is it?”
“Is it a streamer?”
The team members were slightly worried.
After all, Seojun was new to LiOS and didn’t seem to have prior history.
On top of that, with his short career, he wouldn’t know many streamers, so they had no idea who he could possibly bring.
“I should’ve mentioned it earlier, but I was a bit unsure myself.”
“Ah, sorry.”
“*Cough*. Because we played so terribly…….”
“Anyway. I’m just trying to get someone. If you don’t like it, please speak up. Real practice doesn’t start until four days from now anyway, right?”
“Yes!”
“Is it someone we know, too?”
“Hmm. Not sure, but do you know Dongsu—no, Lee Dongsu?”
“Huh?”
A silence instantly fell over the room.
Seojun looked at each team member’s face; their eyes had all widened.
And they looked completely disbelieving.
“Why? You all know him?”
Seojun tilted his head and asked back.
-Lee Dongsu? You mean Lee Dongsu from Freefall?
-???
-Huh, what is this? Bluffing?
-What’s up? Just what is this streamer?
-Is this guy’s network totally insane too?
-Just with Lee Dongsu, Ha Yunho’s connections instantly become obsolete lololololol
-lololololol Lee Dongsu as a coach? Aren’t pros super busy?
-What is going on, damn
Looking at their faces, they seem to know him.
‘Guess he’s pretty famous, huh?’
If Lee Dongsu had been in front of him, Seojun probably would’ve looked at him with a fresh expression.
Or teased him, patting his shoulder and calling him a bit popular.
-Ah Lee Dongsu lol how’d you get close to the streamer? Jealous lol
-You lunatic, this isn’t something to meme about lolololol
-Really, why Lee Dongsu?
But.
This statement created reverberations bigger than Seojun realized.