Chapter 207
With the match between Rich-Poor Gap and Rain Bull ending in Rich-Poor Gap's victory, their advancement from the group stage was confirmed, and the fourth match began.
Group B teams.
Heavy Mental, Bat, Jipaljikkon.
Among them, Bat already had 1 loss, while Heavy Mental had secured 1 win.
The second match in Group B that followed was Jipaljikkon vs Bat.
If Bat lost here, they'd be out with 2 losses.
No matter what happened in later matches, they'd be eliminated in a flash.
So it was a match they absolutely had to win.
And everyone thought Bat would win.
Because they were a strong team.
And...
[Jipaljikkon's got a solo one-man carry though.]
==
Overwhelming one-man carry (from behind)
==
- From behind lololololol
- You little shit lolololol
- No way anyone bet on a reverse upset for that team lolololol there are six teams anyway so you'd win multiples on the others
└But what if someone actually did?
That's because Jipaljikkon is a reverse one-man carry team.
An A-rank player as support.
Honestly, a support's influence isn't non-existent; if they're good, they can simultaneously blow up mid, jungle, and bot, and even carry. But that's what they say.
In ordinary solo queue—meaning the vast majority of games—you never actually see that happen in reality.
So supports inevitably get stuck with the image of being weak and limited.
And just as everyone predicted, the match outcome was decided.
Though the content of the game was a little unexpected.
[Oh? Keryl's actually insane?]
[Dokkaebi almost got his jungle completely wrecked. Got messed up from the start ㄷㄷ]
[This is support? This is support? This is support?]
[But they lost, right?]
Since the result was Jipaljikkon's defeat, no one doubted that the team would lose their final match and be eliminated.
The fifth match followed.
Rain Bull vs Hanipman.
A battle between the ADC and the top laner.
[ADCs are just spoons, period.]
==
In-game, they're always saying "just one bite" and stealing all the minions and jungle creeps.
And when the other lanes set the table, they just stick their spoon in.
Agreed?
==
- Totally agree
[What are you on about lol Should we come to top for you?]
==
Looks like someone forgot the last game.
==
- Sadly, you're not the Sword God
└For real lol. Oh lol you guys should come top lololol call for ganks
- As if they're anything special?
- Need to one-shot them late game with Eric to snap them out of it
└You're not Jin Seo-jun either, right? Please play Eric (OP)
Anyway, the fifth match was a do-or-die where the winner advanced and the loser went home.
[How much each team's ace recovered their mental seems critical]
==
Everyone's mental must be wrecked because of '(self-censored)'
==
- Self-censored lolololololol so funny
└Is he the one whose name can't be spoken?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└It's to protect the players' mental (OP)
- Wouldn't Bull be struggling more? It was an hour ago and he got utterly destroyed
- Spoon also went through some harsh 'fasting' too
And the result was.
Spoon's victory.
With that, the first eliminated team was decided.
Rain Bull.
Even among pro players, reactions poured in.
[Taker hyung, cheer up. Pfft. But honestly, I don't think you should ever coach after retiring.]
[Yeah. Might be better to just stream. Last time I saw, you were great at baiting and had no problem dropping your image.]
[What?]
They must be talking about losing to the AI.
Lee Dong-soo was teasing, and other pros added a word or two.
After all, their pride in their coaching skills and team management was also on the line in this match.
[The last one's starting.]
[Is it Baek Do-yul hyungnim and Harang hyungnim?]
[Ah. Baek Do-yul hyungnim. We'll win this time.]
"Nope. You guys already lost to Bat, who we beat."
Baek Do-yul, who had become deeply invested along with the other pros, sneered without a care—except for Seo-jun. And with that, the final match began.
Ban/pick phase. Then Keryl's roam.
Mid, Wave's death.
And as the game progressed downhill, Baek Do-yul's flustered voice echoed through the chat room.
"Huh?"
[Kek, our mid wouldn't get caught by a roam like that. Hahaha.]
[Dong-soo, stop laughing.]
[Dong-soo. Don't you know your mid went top and bot today?]
[Hahaha! It was a bit of a shame losing to Bat earlier, but still, we're not pushovers. Keryl! Keryl!]
Baek Do-yul finally realized.
This wasn't an easy fight. Rich-Poor Gap wasn't the only threat.
He had provided help in the overall picture, but he'd poured most of his time into strategies specifically targeting Seo-jun.
Because he figured they'd make it through the group stage anyway.
But.
Only now did Baek Do-yul snap to his senses and start frantically calculating the scenarios.
Like it was the World Cup.
"Hey, does anyone know what happens if we lose this?"
[It depends on how many minutes Heavy Mental holds out. And how many kills they trade.]
"So what are the exact scenarios?"
How many goals scored, who wins, how much each team drags it out.
[Pathetic. So pathetic.]
[But Harang hyung, if we all end up 1-1, aren't all three teams in danger? Shouldn't we really be looking at the scenarios carefully?]
[Now that I think about it, yeah? We're screwed.]
[Only Lee Dong-soo's having fun.]
[Ah. Our Hanipman also passed, so I'm excited too?]
[Only Lee Dong-soo and Pebble are having fun.]
[Taker hyung seems already shot down.]
The pros snickered with laughter.
Especially Lee Dong-soo.
Even if the team being discussed was basically him and it was a pride battle, there was no need for the mood to turn hostile.
[That hyung, seriously with the Demon Sect and all, you just need him on your side.]
[Why Demon Sect?]
[There is such a thing.]
But only Baek Do-yul was genuinely troubled.
If they couldn't even pass the group stage here...
That would mean...
'No way, really...'
But it wasn't "no way."
And once the game started tilting early, it snowballed faster and faster.
Keryl, having spotted the weakness, didn't let go.
[Whoa! Hold on. The game ended in 20 minutes?]
And so, in the proxy battle, Baek Do-yul, having lost his very first fight, was...
devastated.
* * *
"Wow. Seo-jun, your roommate actually pulled it off! He made it through the group stage? A rebellion from the weakest team!"
Ha Yun-ho exclaimed in admiration.
"I should tell him to buy us meat today!"
"Right."
Seo-jun nodded at Lumi's words.
"Or how about telling him to buy it tomorrow? How about we all eat together? If he refuses, I'll treat, I suppose."
After all, he didn't get killed by Bull and even saved 10 million won, so why not.
"Pardon? Why tomorrow?"
"We'll have to gather again tomorrow."
"Huh?"
The team members pretended not to understand and dodged the question, while Seo-jun waited leisurely for them to answer.
"Sob."
"I understand."
"But didn't we do pretty well today?"
"No. That's not it, Yun-ho. We were decent, but it wasn't really good. Hmm."
"Right. Still, I'd say the jungler did his part. Agreed?"
- Lumi actually has a conscience
- Hmm... Alpaca doing his part, huh
- Wind Sword definitely seemed above average? Even during Spoon, he covered mid well
- Wouldn't it be a problem if an ex-A-rank, B-rank couldn't do at least that much?
- Boss! You actually did something! You didn't drop a massive turd, everyone!
"As expected, you all still feel lacking."
At Seo-jun's remark, the team members shook their heads.
"Is it over now then?"
"Yes. Just the bracket needs to be drawn."
"After the commercial, they'll probably spin the bracket and end it."
With the preliminary first group stage completed, the second stage, the semifinal tournament, would now proceed.
[Alright! You've waited long enough! Now we'll draw the final bracket! Rich-Poor Gap! Hanipman! Jipaljikkon! Bat!]
On the large screen, a tournament bracket appeared with four blank slots.
"Is it random?"
"Not completely random, Seo-jun. Anyway, who does everyone want to face? Bat? Jipaljikkon?"
As Ha Yun-ho answered, he asked in return.
Seo-jun didn't particularly care either way.
"If we face Hanipman again, hahaha."
Alpaca smiled quietly.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Nope, not happening
- The tournament can't be that boring, why would they make you face off again in the semis ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- For real ㅋㅋ
- If you want to meet, both of you go to the finals
Ah-rin reached her hand into a box.
It was a box labeled A.
[The Group A team going into the first slot is!]
She pulled a slip of paper from the box, unfolded it, read it, and shouted.
[Hanipman! Now then, what about Group B?]
Once this was decided, the other two teams would be settled automatically.
[Bat!]
Hmm.
That meant the two remaining teams would automatically fill the second match.
"Guess we won't be getting that free meat, everyone. I'll just treat you myself."
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Of all teams ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Still, is reaching the semis better?
- If they hadn't met in the semis and met in the finals, they might've cried even harder ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
- Who knows. If that happened, they might not have even made it to the finals.
Their next opponent was Tae-woo.
* * *
A bar in Pangyo.
"Senior Lim Gang-san. It's been a while."
CEO Lee of Monster, a game company that had achieved great success thanks to a certain streamer, had purposely come all the way to Pangyo—far from his usual route—to meet someone.
"It's been a while, CEO Lee. Congratulations on your new game doing well."
The man was Lim Gang-san, director of the MMORPG Last Chronicle.
CEO Lee had first met Director Lim at a game developer seminar and built a friendship.
"Hahaha. Thank you. Please, have a seat."
"Yes. With the massive patch for the game, I've been so busy I couldn't even congratulate you properly."
"Ah. That's the massive patch that overhauls the entire system, right? I heard the user response to this patch has been good, is that true?"
"There's still a long way to go."
"Has the season changed?"
"Yes, that's right. The previous season had received so much harsh criticism. So we boldly decided on a large-scale reset."
"But didn't the previous season still manage to keep the player count fairly well?"
"We're the only company making RPGs anymore. So those were the only people barely hanging on."
MMORPGs were no longer a popular genre.
Resentment toward grinding had grown immensely, and there were so many other fun alternatives now.
With the shift to virtual reality, vicious pay-to-win models in MMORPGs lost their power.
So game companies reduced investment, and players left.
Revenue dropped, so they cut investment even more, and players left—a repeating cycle.
But a core fanbase that enjoyed only that genre remained.
And likewise, one game developer who loved that genre also remained.
That was Lim Gang-san.
But it wasn't easy.
The game had received overwhelmingly negative reviews, and almost all the attention gathered at launch had disappeared.
Director Lim discussed the numerous problems he had identified in the game with CEO Lee.
Both of them shared a love for games, after all.
"So that's why you went with a hard reset."
"Yes. For now, it seems alright. The players who gathered for the fresh start haven't been dropping off like they did in Seasons 1 and 2."
"And now the time has come to update the first of the final content, the Four Heavenly Kings raid."
"Exactly. We've staked everything on this content."
From what he heard, they seemed to have also supplemented and prepared a lot of other content, but ultimately, the highlight of any RPG is the raid.
"It'll be fun, but won't it still feel a little lacking?"
"So first, we'll distribute coupons as an event. A skip ticket that lets you jump straight to the point where you can experience the raid."
True enough.
With the update right around the corner, if new players couldn't skip the story and gear grinding, they wouldn't get to taste the update.
"And we'll give an enormous reward to the raid party that clears the raid first. On top of that, we'll also be bringing in streamers."
Ah.
CEO Lee thought this could actually work.
Making users compete for the first clear of the raid?
And bringing new players into that competition through events?
This could breathe life back into the MMORPG.
What do hardcore MMORPG-only players go crazy for? The first clear.
And if they brought in streamers to draw more public attention, the honor of the first clear would be even greater, making the core players work even harder.
As his thoughts reached that point, CEO Lee slammed the table.
"So what I wanted to ask about the streamers..."
Bang!
"Why are you only telling me this now!"
"P-Pardon?"
"Senior, you've already suffered a loss!"
"Huh?"
* * *
Meanwhile.
As Seo-jun stepped out of the capsule and opened the door, a strange assailant was flying at him with a kick.
'Remove the competitors.'
With that look in his eyes.
"You think I'd get hit by that?"
Seo-jun clicked his tongue.