Episode 166
-Manager, open the door quickly!
-Why can’t the manager open the point betting?!
-Why are the Wave squad making a scene here lolololol
-You guys go to the Wave room instead
-Nah, it’s boring and we’d just get our money taken, so no
-Wrong? I can see the future where we win here, eat the worm, and destroy the Nexus, right? lol
Even though it’s still early, there’s plenty of frustration.
Maybe it’s because we chose the wrong positions, or maybe it’s because there hasn’t been enough time yet, or maybe our teamwork just isn’t meshing well.
Whatever the problem is, we have to overcome it. Otherwise, things could get dangerous.
The capsule is an essential expense for Seojun, so he’s in a different position than others who can do without it.
Given that, of course he’s going to drill proper practice into them.
‘Let’s win first, then think.’
We have to win this game right now.
If we win this teamfight here, we can end it right away. Our current location is the jungle right next to the enemy base.
[But Seojun, wouldn’t it be better to strike when the enemies are taking Baron?]
If we pull back just a little further, the rift’s uninvited guest is there.
Targeting that timing would give us a higher chance of winning.
[If we wait until then, we can’t end the game, can we? Let’s win here, right now, and finish it.]
[Hahaha. Yes!]
-No beating around the bush
-Good thing it’s Wind Sword. If that had been Yunho instead……
-Even if it’s Wind Sword, they say he can’t win?
-I don’t know about that, but I’m sure that if it were Yunho, the host wouldn’t have chosen to fight lololololololol
-For real lol
It’s high risk, high return, as usual.
Seojun didn’t rush headlong at the approaching enemies either.
He intended to counter when they came.
Having fewer people than the opponent means the chance of positioning exactly as you want is low.
Unless there’s a narrow space somewhere and you lure them there.
So from now on, instead of charging out for no reason, he has to stand still in position and pay close attention.
He deflects the incoming arrows and exchanges glances with Wind Sword.
[Just pin down one for me.]
[I can definitely do that much.]
Not just that, but if it’s Wind Sword, he might even take one out and then come help.
As long as Seojun does a good job marking three of them.
To be precise, Seojun and his two clones.
It’s not 5v5, but it’s a teamfight situation.
The enemy has three, and they’re coming together, so fighting while separated from his clone is impossible.
Skills flew in along with arrows.
At the front, Wave came; from behind, the ADC and the jungler attacked.
Wind Sword naturally took on Mental, the support.
Mental is a support but has CC, so it was better for Wind Sword to take him down quickly and then come help Seojun. They’d already exchanged opinions with a glance.
The moment the skills approached and Karma was swung,
Seojun visualized everything in that space and reconstructed it in third person.
The paths of enemy skills and the positions he had to block were drawn in his head.
What mattered was that while Seojun himself was one, he was not one in that drawn image.
Perceiving space in third person like this is usually used when coordinating attacks with allies.
‘If they’re allies, then I suppose they are allies.’
Actually, the act of simply perceiving space happens instinctively, so there’s no need to overthink it.
Seojun deflected the arrow that arrived first. Thanks to twisting his body slightly to the side as he deflected, a small bomb like a grenade whooshed past him.
Just that shifted the turn to Wave. The arrow had been fired a bit earlier, matched to Wave’s timing.
But there’s no worry.
Clang!
The moment the bomb passed, the clone that had already been moving half-covered Seojun’s left side and blocked Karma.
-ㄷㄷㄷㄷ
-This bastard really has two brains, I’m telling you?
-5252 he believed in the clone!
“Just so you know, my comrade’s lifespan is quite long.”
“It’s not that long!”
Seojun ducked past the clone and thrust his sword at Wave. It was an honest attack aimed straight at the flank.
“I think it’ll be enough until the fight ends.”
-lololololol talk shit on
-If he loses after all that talk, it’ll be a massive embarrassment tsk tsk
-Hah. This isn’t working. That guy’s been running his mouth since earlier, so I’m giving a 10-minute chat ban. I’ll take full responsibility.
-Joam! Joam! Joam! Joam! Joam! Joam!
-Is this the dignity of a manager? Is this the dignity of a manager? Is this the dignity of a manager?
Wave and the clone’s weapons clashed and then separated, and an arrow flew in to cover from Wave’s right.
Boom!
And behind them, the small bomb that had bounced on the ground a few times and fallen a bit farther away exploded.
Even as the arrow flew in, Seojun maintained his straightforward attack, so to block it, Wave shifted Karma just slightly from his body’s center, along with his center of mass.
Minutely, but enough that if Seojun didn’t abandon his attack, he’d block it and an arrow could lodge itself in Seojun.
Only when that moment came did Seojun break off the attack and twist his body to dodge the arrow.
It was so close that if he’d been even 0.1 seconds later, he’d have been hit squarely.
‘This will be enough.’
That tiny shift would make it hard to block the clone’s attack heading for the flank.
Thunk.
As he’d thought, the attack landed, and Wave was flustered.
Because it’s an ultimate clone, a mark is left too.
And.
‘Now.’
Having seized the flow, Seojun erased the smile that had been hanging on his lips.
He was already concentrating as much as possible, but now he had to go beyond that.
Handling two bodies simultaneously is something perhaps only Seojun can do.
Because it requires the act of recognizing the movements of both bodies as a single mass.
For example, when swimming, a person splashes with their legs while pulling the water with their arms and turning their head to breathe—doing all of this at the same time.
That’s also multitasking. And the reason it’s easily doable is because it’s a repetitive motion, so you get used to it quickly.
Because it’s repetitive, once you’re familiar, your body moves reflexively without thought, so no conscious effort is needed.
No, rather, if you think about it consciously, your body can get tangled up.
Then how does Seojun move them at the same time?
The answer is that for Seojun, combat movements are so easy that he can perform them unconsciously, as if they were repetitive tasks—even if they aren’t repetitive, even if the posture he needs to take changes drastically from moment to moment.
Of course, continuously and without a moment’s rest adjusting all three—the vision to grasp the space at a glance, quick judgment, and near-unconscious action—demanded an enormous amount of concentration even from Seojun.
‘Anyway, it’s possible.’
The two shadows, in perfect coordination, began to pressure Wave.
It wasn’t that one blocked while the other attacked.
It was pure offense, nothing but offense.
Despite the interference of arrows and bombs, from the moment Wave lost the initiative, Seojun pushed forward with attack as his absolute priority.
It looked like two masters ganging up on one person.
Wave couldn’t respond properly, and his health drained rapidly.
-Wow, and while doing all that, he’s still dodging or deflecting the ranged attacks lololol
-For the ones he absolutely can’t dodge, the clone takes the hit while attacking
-Tali, not landing a single shot in all that and having zero stacks—is this real?
-He just hit one lolololol on the clone, of course!
-Ah, it’s so refreshing now that those Wave squad guys are banning Joam
Then, when Wave’s health was about a third left, Seojun smiled again.
“You won’t be able to act recklessly now, will you?”
Together with the clone, Seojun turned away from Wave and started heading toward the enemy ranged heroes.
* * *
[Wind Sword--> Mental]
Wind Sword quickly took down Mental.
In a teamfight, focusing is important.
In an ever-changing battle, when you target one enemy, everyone concentrates fire on them and forces them to retire immediately.
But in the just-concluded exchange, there was no need to worry about that.
Less because our numbers were fewer, and more because.
‘The enemy’s three were so busy handling Seojun that they had no leeway to target me, I’d say.’
That much was certain.
From before the fight, Wind Sword trusted Seojun and completely ignored that side, focusing entirely on taking down Mental as quickly as possible.
As a result, Mental couldn’t buy any significant time and died.
It helped that there was a skill gap and that they were a support.
Wind Sword turned around.
Now she just had to go help.
But.
“Huh?”
Four people.
No, counting Seojun’s clone, five people were tangled up in close combat.
‘A brawl?’
No.
As the fight came into proper focus and began to register in his eyes, he could see.
‘What are they doing?’
Seojun was persistently targeting one person. All while deflecting, dodging, and blocking attacks flying from the side, the back, and the front.
And Wave and 1898 were in close range with Seojun. They seemed to be trying to stop him somehow. But their attacks weren’t bold.
“If we don’t catch him now, it’s over!”
“Dammit! That damn clone! We can’t even attack that clone!”
Why is it over?
Dazedly watching the fight, Wind Sword recalled the enemies’ health just before it was 2v4, no, 3v4.
‘Ah!’
He understood why the enemies were desperate.
Zhen wasn’t originally a hero you play like this. Absolutely not.
It’s a hero that hits with basic attacks and then uses a skill to get out.
And that’s why, when you reach the late game, Zhen’s mark damage is huge. It’s 70% of the damage dealt.
Instead of having an attack skill, you can expect high bonus damage if you land a lot of basic attacks through your clone.
And right now, the enemies’ remaining health was a third or less.
The Bomber that Seojun was currently targeting also had so little health that one more hit, the moment the mark detonated, would send him straight to the grave.
‘He’s holding their lives hostage.’
No wonder the attacks were desperate yet cautious.
Wave and 1898 were living on borrowed time: the moment the clone burst, they would die too.
Seojun was exploiting that.
The earlier battle situation replayed vividly in his mind.
“We have to guard the base, so even if we die, just pour everything out! We have to do something!”
Maybe because the clone was about to disappear soon, the enemies finally gave up on their lives.
[Executioner’s Scythe]
[Bomber’s Lunchbox]
[Massive Explosion]
The charged crescent-shaped sword beam, a crowd-control skill, and the Bomber’s ultimate were fired at Seojun as if in a last desperate flail.
The crescent-shaped sword beam shot out much faster than an arrow, and a bomb that would blow away the entire area went up into the air, then fell vertically and exploded.
If both hit, it was plausible to hope that Seojun would die.
But once the flames subsided, what they saw was Seojun, his sword thrust into the Bomber.
And his clone, vanishing.
And because Wind Sword could distinguish between the clone and Seojun, he knew the instant the flames cleared.
‘Their positions switched after the explosion.’
Seeing as his worn-down health wasn’t that significant, did he dodge the Executioner’s Scythe?
That sword beam that spreads out at nearly the fastest speed in the league?
It would have been enough to swap timing with the Massive Explosion, which is much easier to catch, instead of the sword beam. A nasty—no, an incredible skill.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At the same time, three marks detonated.
[Sword God --> Wave]
[Sword God --> 1898]
[Sword God --> Fuse]
[Triple Kill!]
Along with the finishing announcement, Seojun turned around.
[Cleanup!]
“Alright, let’s push.”
“Okay! But can we end it? With just the two of us.”
“The lanes are in good shape, and there are three of us, you know?”
“You don’t have the clone right now.”
“The skill’s come off cooldown.”
“Ah……. Right!”
-Look at him being like that right up to the end lolololol
-Ugh, that clone bastard!
-Manager! Unmute the Wave squad fast! Just you wait
-Let’s just go now, seriously lol
* * *
“What do we do?”
Rain was on the verge of tears.
They were gathered in the lobby, watching the game winding down.
“I think it’s basically confirmed we’re in the group of hell?”
Two days ago, it was a maybe, but after today, it’s certain.
Their group is packed with strong teams.
Of course, two days ago too, Rain had looked just as on the verge of tears.
“Are you anxious?”
Streamer Caterpillar, who was beside him, asked.
“Yes.”
“If we triple-ban, won’t we manage somehow?”
It’s not unusual to burn all your ban cards to suppress an A-rank player.
Though I’m not sure if we can actually hold them off even with a triple ban.
“That feels like it’d be such a nuisance to the others…… Especially when it’s Bull, who—okay, it was a few years ago, but still, going up against a former Challenger like Wind Sword……”
Rain’s head turned toward where streamer Bull was.
Bull was a streamer who, from the very early days, had a tough-guy concept, just like his nickname.
The important thing was that this tough-guy concept came from his being terrible at talking to women.
Just like the situation now.
“……No need to worry. Handled fine.”
Just participating in a small tournament, freezing up from nerves during an interview, and having that misunderstood as a tough-guy concept that blew up and built his reputation as a streamer—this was a fact he’d never told anyone.
Finishing his stream every night and then watching animal documentaries, his eyes welling up at the wild’s cruelty, was also a secret.
Still, he was thankful at least that he didn’t get nervous while gaming.
“That hyung’s doing his concept thing again.”
That’s not it.
“Why? I liked it.”
Another streamer cut in from the side.
“But you said it’s manageable? As expected of our ace! I’ll just hold out as best as I can!”
Hwangso nodded instead of answering.
If he spoke here, the tension could crack his voice.
After clearing his throat briefly, Hwangso spoke. Short.
“If we grow, it’s worth a shot.”
However, besides him growing well, there was an omitted condition.
That he’d have to pick a hero with a counter position to the one Seojun chose.
For example, if Seojun went assassin, he’d need a bruiser who could mark the assassin well.
In that case, at least the blocking itself might be worth trying.
In any case, it was just his own thought, said entirely to reassure his teammates.
-You can suppress that?
-Yeah, Dokkaebi did it, let’s go pressure defense with a bruiser or tank!
-Huhuhu, Pado was the weakest one among us.
-The Four Heavenly Kings meta lulululululul
Hwangso knew well there was nothing to gain by chickening out before the fight.
The problem was that his teammates didn’t stop there.
“Then Hwangso-nim! Later, during the MVP interview, declare war just like that!”
Aebolrae shouted “ooh” with his mouth.
“That’s....”
Do I really have to?
‘I just wanted to ease their worries a little....’
“That!”
“Wow, our team has a villain too?”
“As expected of a real man!”
“Kyaa!”
Everyone waited with eyes full of interest for Hwangso’s mouth to open.
-He did Show & Prove too, let’s go Hwangso!
-Looks like every interview’s gonna be a brawl lol
-You wouldn’t chicken out of this, right? No way?
-Then you’d have to quit streaming lol
Hwangso couldn’t open his mouth in the end, nodding weakly.
‘Ha.’
Trying to help, he’d been unintentionally roasted by his teammates.
-As expected of you!
-Don’t cuss, let’s go easy lol
-The opponent’s still a new streamer, so don’t draw too much aggro
-??? For a new streamer, he draws aggro like crazy lol
-Let’s just go wild! Just win!
* * *
“Now! We’ve brought our three VIPs for today! But before that, Hwangso player! I heard you had something to say to Seojun player, is that correct?”