Chapter 162
The waves began to move without a moment's hesitation.
With their positions swapped, dragging things out would do no good.
If Seojun’s skills came off cooldown, it’d be a disaster, and the same if the enemy jungler showed up.
On the other hand, if Pado’s team jungler came to help, the tide could turn.
“I take it they’re far away?”
Seojun had caught on.
“Looks that way. Doesn’t seem like my team’s jungler can make it in time. I’m guessing it’s the same for yours, Seojun?”
“No, not really.”
“Then what?”
The distance closed rapidly. As Pado tried to turn and leave, Seojun stuck to him.
Seojun’s goal wasn’t to stop Pado from resetting his position, but to attack Pado as much as possible while he was trying to get into position and gain an advantage.
“I don’t need a jungler.”
Meaning, he wasn’t letting Pado go peacefully.
“Goodness… Ah!”
Pado seemed to have a bright idea and changed direction toward where the minions were. He then gave his Khama a large spin.
The minions, struck by the Khama, displayed marks.
Seojun, now right on top of him, quickly scanned the surroundings with his eyes.
He thought he knew what Pado was up to.
As Seojun had anticipated, Pado used his skill on a minion.
[Mark Chase]
The world Pado saw flipped upside down.
Pado figured his position would be pinpointed quickly.
It would just be a matter of finding the minion whose mark had vanished.
In that split second, which minion had gained a mark, and which of those had disappeared—he thought it wouldn’t be that difficult to figure out.
He figured he could at least manage to flee.
‘There it is.’
Truly, for Seojun, it wasn’t that difficult.
Seojun thrust his arm into the empty air.
Squelch.
“This is too much!”
Having just used his skill, Pado was invisible.
One second.
That’s not a short time at all. Pado thought he’d smoothly spend a skill and move on.
The skill’s cooldown was a bit long, but it was worth enduring.
Yet Seojun instantly identified which minion’s mark had vanished and thrust his arm toward invisible air. Without a moment’s hesitation.
Still, their positions reversed again.
‘Does he see the fight with a different perspective?’
This much was a cheap loss.
‘One skill used and one basic attack, that’s acceptable…’
The short trade ended and Pado momentarily backed off.
Pado’s health had been reduced by nearly half.
One misstep and he’d be dead.
But Pado didn’t go back to base.
“From now on, I won’t go down so easily, Seojun. Yes, the next roe deer, is that it?”
Seojun, having heard Pado’s mutter, chuckled.
“When exactly?”
“You just did it with your eyes!”
Pado insisted, having begun spinning the line connected to Khama as wide as possible.
As he hit minions, Seojun spoke.
“Someone asked if this is my first time playing Zen. That’s right?”
Pado thought Seojun was copying him, but…
“Now you’re reading my mind too?”
“No, I was talking to the chat. I figured that sort of comment would definitely pop up.”
He was spot on.
- lololololololololol
- Now the bastard’s doing mind-reading too lololololol
- There really were chats like that lololololol
- To the people who were typing “is this really his first time” earlier, are you guys spies for the streamer or what?
“Alright. Time’s up again.”
Seojun used his skill again.
The shadow at his feet crept up and wrapped his body.
[Shadow Secret Arts]
“What now?”
“It’s a clone.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Pado stepped back.
* * *
[Right from the start, Seojun is getting a favorable trade against a counter pick!]
As the observer focused on mid, Arin spoke.
Bangju continued the explanation.
[This happened to work out well by chance. It’s thanks to Pado firmly believing the clone was the real one.]
[Was it because of the tutorial at the start? Or were there other factors?]
[I think anyone in that situation would’ve thought it was him. Thinking back, didn’t Player Goblin also suffer something similar?]
[What? When?]
[During the parachute drop.]
[Ah.]
The context is similar.
It wasn’t planned, but in any case, the opponent misunderstands or misperceives, charges in, and Seojun seizes the win.
The reason this is possible, of course, is backed by skill—there’s no one who doesn’t know that.
- When they talked about the tutorial I thought he was a real madman lololololololololol
- In the end he actually did it lololol
- A guy consistent as a pine tree
[The fact that neither of them intended it is what makes Seojun so fascinating.]
That’s enough chatter.
Time for a proper analysis.
Penguin started first.
[Arin, do you know why it became standard for Zen to initiate trades with the real body?]
[Isn’t it because of the bonus damage?]
[Well, that could be. But in most cases, it’s for one reason.]
[What is it!]
- lolololololol That’s such a simple reason
- Once you hear it, it’s totally obvious
- Arin already knows it, you chatters
[It’s simply because it’s easier!]
[Ah! To learn such a profound and deep reason behind the players’ actions!]
Arin couldn’t fake it.
It was like reading a textbook.
[Yes, the difficulty of controlling the clone is too high. More precisely, it’s hard to handle the clone like your own body. Actually, that makes sense. Formless mana, a new body—these are sensations we neither normally use nor can even use. So, is it easy to control that as if it were your everyday body?]
[Certainly not.]
[So instead of the clone, you send the real body. The game designers also considered this. And also, if they just let you use the clone for free, wouldn’t that let you do risk-free trades?]
[What does that mean exactly?]
[It means whenever Shadow Secret Arts comes off cooldown, you could just trade solely with the clone and take no damage. Of course, you’d be left without your skill and could get hit by ranged champions afterward, but that’s unavoidable.]
[So in short, when using the skill, you could fight with the clone without taking any damage?]
[Yes, that’s correct. That’s why the developers don’t give the clone more power.]
[I see.]
The two reasons—the real body’s bonus damage and the clone’s difficulty—combined, leading to the established trading pattern for Zen: send the real body in, then swap with the clone.
[Tally is a counter hero that can catch such an annoying hit-and-run Zen fairly easily. But there are cases where Zen uses the clone well, right? Like the earlier fight.]
[Then all Zen has to do is keep sending the clone out! Even if he gives up some bonus damage! Is Tally neutralized like this?]
[Haha, no. If the shadow approaches, you just don’t engage. Just as Tally goes invisible right after using a skill, Zen also gets a movement speed boost right after using his skill, but Tally’s range is quite long. Not as long as ranged champions, though. So it’s still a counter. Just as Pado is holding on well now.]
Seojun sent the next shadow out and Pado, from a distance that was already wide, smoothly backed off.
Seojun’s shadow, left with nowhere to go, sheepishly hit minions.
The screen changed.
And the casters quickly launched into the appropriate topics.
Then the camera returned to mid.
[But if the laning phase ends like this uneventfully and we go into teamfights, how does the matchup shift?]
As the situation was flowing uneventfully, Arin tossed out a topic viewers might be curious about.
[Here too, Tally has the advantage.]
This time, Bangju caught it.
[Why?]
[Including his ultimate, Zen can switch positions up to three times. Of course, that can be enhanced with runes, but that goes for Tally too. And Tally currently has three as well. And as long as there’s a mark, he can go anywhere.]
It’s a difference in design rather than performance.
And when those mesh, it creates a rock-paper-scissors dynamic.
[Zen specializes in singling out and killing one target. Truly fitting for an assassin. So what about Tally? He’s also an assassin, but a bit different. Tally specializes in disrupting the enemy team.]
[So in large-scale teamfights, Tally can exert much greater influence.]
[Looking at the hero’s skill set, yes. On top of that, Tally’s ability to pick off targets isn’t lacking either.]
[Then why on earth do people play Zen?]
[Because the shadow looks cool.]
[…….]
- That is a critical matter though lolol
- It’s the same with Kael; fans don’t come from nowhere lololololol
[Joking aside, Zen is more stable than Tally. Tally is a hero who goes in, goes in again, and goes in again, while Zen can attack a bit and then fall back. Even while backed off, he can still attack with his clone. There are pros and cons. It’s not strange for Tally, with higher risk, to have higher destructive power.]
[Ah, I see. Huh? But what is Seojun doing right now?]
At Arin’s remark, the casters focused their eyes on the screen and soon realized what it meant, letting out low murmurs.
[Hmm… Is he trying to attempt that?]
[As long as it works, you essentially duplicate a teammate, but…]
[It seems Pado hasn’t noticed yet, at the moment.]
Seojun had sent his clone forward while attacking minions with his real body.
As if he were practicing.
And the slight stutters here and there were noticeable, if only just.
[What is he doing?]
[When the new hero Zen was released, there was one play everyone expected.]
[What is that?]
[Controlling two bodies simultaneously to fight.]
[Ah…]
[Every new batch of newbies tried this play, but they all gave up and just focused on one body at a time.]
- lolololololololol So newbie of him!
- Thinking back on people trusting that and picking Zen… they’re adorable newbies, but this crazy guy is openly doing a tutorial in the middle of a tournament lololololol
- Doing that in an empty situation, multitasking might be possible, but in a fight? Impossible
[Is it completely impossible? Even for Zen masters?]
[Caster Arin, please raise both your hands.]
[Okay, done.]
[With your left hand draw a triangle, with your right hand a square. At the same time.]
Arin obediently followed without complaint.
And then…
- Eek lololololol
- Why are they moving together from the start lololololololololol
- At least try to make them different!
- You know what? Even playing rock-paper-scissors with the Zen clone is hard; the first time is easy but if you keep going, the two just throw the same thing lololololol
[Everyone, I did try! No!]
[Even that is hard, let alone controlling two bodies?]
[Yes, I’m convinced. Then Seojun…]
[But even so…]
[Even so what?]
[There are things masters show once in a while…]
Bangju swallowed the rest of his words.
It was because of the belief that if it was at all possible, Seojun would demonstrate it.
But.
- No, even masters only really luck into it for a single moment
- So did Kael masters check Kael's weak points?
- Oh that did happen, wow
- Still, is this bastard the only one with two brains? Huh?
* * *
[Enemy jungler seems to be coming mid. From the advanced guide on properly tracking the jungler, the jungler who ganked once at this point in time is located… ]
It was Alpaca’s team voice comms.
The preamble was long but ultimately, they had one thing to say.
[Should we counter-gank?]
A counter-gank means reversing the enemy’s gank.
Currently, they were level 4.
The early stage, before learning ultimates.
It wasn’t strange for a gank to come.
‘Didn’t they say they’d fight fair and square?’
Calling the jungler—Seojun was disappointed.
Of course, for Pado, who had never actually said he’d fight fair, it was an unfair accusation.
[It’s fine. Let me try alone.]
[Okay.]
‘It’s still a bit awkward though.’
Seojun muttered softly.
Quiet enough that Pado couldn’t hear, but the viewers could.
“You guys telling me not to? But I want to?”
In reality, Seojun had tried controlling two bodies simultaneously a few times but had momentarily stuttered; so viewers kept telling him to just give up.
They asked, “Isn’t it hard even when you’re not in a fight and just practicing after sending the clone out?”
Seojun expected such comments would have popped up in chat, and that’s why he said that.
“All those pauses were me carefully getting a feel for the sensations.”
- No, why does streamer keep trying to talk to chat lololol
- A streamer with less than a year under his belt knows his chatters too well
- Could it be that we’re the consistent ones?
- In my view, he’ll get tired from trying to control two bodies, quit, and just rely on pure physical mechanics
- For real, a highly developed body is indistinguishable from magic
- They say if your body is lacking, your mind suffers lolol
But even Seojun couldn’t know these casual remarks from viewers.
‘He should be coming now.’
In the distance, Pado, who had been continuously retreating, vanished in the blink of an eye.
The reason Pado had been backing off was to pull Seojun as far forward as possible, and naturally, Seojun, knowing his intent, had played along.
That’s why the mark on his allied minion that had been in front of him was now gone.
[Mark Chase]
Pado, in an invisible state, arrived in front of Seojun.
And at the same time.
Seojun’s shadow also crawled up his own body.
[Shadow Secret Arts]
‘Clone.’
As he controlled the clone and the real body at once.
The clone began to move.
It was a bit more awkward than moving a single body.
But it was a level that could already be called a miracle.
Seojun felt the sense of controlling both.
‘Maybe… I can do it.’