Chapter 210
The semifinals had begun.
Seojun moved to the team lobby accordingly.
[Let’s~ begin!]
The caster shouted the famous catchphrase, and the team members were displaying their composure.
“Hello.”
“We beat them once, so let’s take it easy!”
“We’ve already got two wins, after all!”
“But everyone’s voice is trembling really badly.”
“Yunho, please just pretend you don’t notice.”
In truth, aside from Hayunho, no one seemed relaxed.
Otherwise, there’s no way they’d be brainwashing themselves that hard.
“Hello.”
Seojun greeted them and sat down.
The first match was Bangmangi vs Hanipman.
Arin called a player for an interview accordingly.
While watching this, Seojun asked Lumi beside him.
“Who do you think it’d be better to win?”
“Probably Hanipman?”
“Why?”
“Because then you’d come, Seojun, instead of that bastard.”
To bot?
-Support trashtalking the ADC ㄷ
-Don’t insult Lumi.
-Only those who’d rather go bot with Hayunho instead of the leader should throw stones.
“That was a very personal answer.”
“Even if not, Hanipman won once, but Bangmangi lost, remember.”
“That is true.”
Spoon, as always, aimed for the late game.
There is no ADC that is strong early. The ADC’s strength is destructive sustained damage, and if given that from the start, it causes balance issues.
Dokkaebi tried to stop this.
And the jungle position, Dokkaebi’s position, is the most efficient position to stop them.
He moved as he pleased. While moving, if he saw an angle, he immediately went for a gank.
Hanipman’s jungler, busy chasing after Dokkaebi’s movements, couldn’t make any plays and was dragged around.
“It seems Bangmangi will win.”
Seojun told Lumi it was a shame.
“I know. Tsk.”
-Kya!
-Powerful!
-Then why did guys like that lose to Pado?
-That just shows you never know what’ll happen in the league.
-Whatever, maybe Group A was just trash all along?
-No slander ㄴ
Ultimately, by the time Spoon became a late-game monster, they had already lost all the objective buffs to Dokkaebi and had many towers pushed down.
“Can they turn this around?”
Alpaca asked for Seojun and Baramgeom’s opinions.
“I don’t think so.”
“Why?”
“Just a feeling.”
Seojun said confidently.
-Feeling ㅇㅈㄹ
-Kya! The casters are searching for all sorts of reasons, and this guy just says it’s a feeling!
-Now Spoon’s pleasant rebellion begins!
-Why rebellion lol, wouldn’t it be counterattack?
The viewers scoffed at the word ‘feeling’. It was a statement meant to be scoffed at in the first place.
One must sometimes become a laughingstock.
“My words will be right, you’ll see?”
“Really?”
“You can just see it at a glance.”
If you want to mess with them, that is.
A moment later.
[Ace!]
A notification popped up that Bangmangi had killed all of Hanipman.
“See?”
-Why is this true?
-?
-Late-game monster Spoon weeping lol
-Well, the ace popped at least.
-Still, if they respawn and defend, it’s fine.
It meant the game wasn’t over yet.
So Seojun stood up and stretched.
“Everyone, it’s over now. Team members, move your bodies a bit.”
-??
They respawn in 5 seconds, can't push all the way! Not over!
-Feeling again?
-Oh? Taeyang is also talking like it’s going to end now?
-?
-Oh, Keril just said it’s over too. Said one word.
The result came out.
The respawned members of Hanipman could not protect the nexus in the end.
“I told you, didn’t I? Everyone. Aren’t you going to establish some discipline for the newcomers?”
Seojun said playfully.
Today, the chat was especially rowdy.
-For real, why don’t you believe?
-But leader, I’ve been watching since the early days and I didn’t believe it, what’s your excuse?
-Even if you're not a newcomer, you don’t believe, right? lol
-Probably a ton of those who typed aren’t newcomers lol
-Just gotta drop a comment on everything lol
‘Ah. It was always like this, wasn’t it?’
Having realized the truth, Seojun decided to just prepare for the next match.
“The finals will be Bangmangi.”
Alpaca added to Seojun’s words.
“If we win, that is.”
“Alright, alright. Let’s get ready to enter the league match.”
“By the way, Seojun, aren’t you doing a pre-match interview?”
“Nothing was arranged beforehand. Probably not.”
Then the one they’ll call is probably Keril.
“Let’s just see what they have to say.”
Some time passed, and the talk about the first match ended.
They mostly discussed which parts went well, and the highlight moments of teamfights were replayed.
[Now! Then we’ll head into the second match. The second match is Binbugyeokcha vs Jipaljikkon, a showdown of fellow alumni of the century!]
[Ah. A friend truly is an enemy. They even hinder the journey towards 100 million capsules.]
[Commentator Bangju? Who will hinder whom?]
[I’m not sure about that.]
[So we need to get each team member’s opinion on this.]
[So, who did you bring?]
[It’s Jipaljikkon’s ace player, Keril!]
-Wow
-They probably didn’t call the leader because they figured he’d just bet money again.
-lol
-Last interview after the Hwangsol win: I saved 10 million won. The end.
-Crazy bastard
[Now! Then Keril! First of all, are your preparations complete?]
Keril’s face appeared in the center of the broadcast along with a video chat screen.
[Yes. We are fully prepared.]
[Oho! You’re exuding strong confidence! Then which lane do you predict the enemy team ace, Seojun, will come to? In the group stage, he was mid, but he showed that he doesn’t just stand still in mid.]
-Not standing? ㅗㅜㅑ
-Crazy guy lol, you’re obviously banned no matter who sees you.
-Ah, Kiyo Ki!
-Stop talking nonsense lol
[Hmm, I think he’ll come mid.]
[Why is that? Isn’t he going as ADC?]
[All things aside, if it’s that hyung, would he ever pass up a chance to harass our team’s Taewoo hyung?]
[Aha! That’s extremely reasonable. Understood!]
-Leader! They say the leader’s personality is nasty!
-Shall I take care of it?
-Take care of what lol
-So will he go mid?
-Would he reveal that?
-He’ll probably go ADC.
[Then, the next question. Who will win?]
Arin smiled wickedly.
It was a question simply meant to provoke.
Of course, Keril didn’t let it slide easily and answered in a dry manner.
At this, chat messages came up saying this is why Seojun should have been interviewed.
[Our team will win.]
[Hahaha! Understood. Then, shall we head to the ban/pick?]
“Let’s go.”
* * *
The ban/pick phase began.
The position they would pour their cards into in this ban/pick was the ADC.
B-rank ADC Namu.
A-rank support Keril.
Even if the ADC’s individual carry potential was higher with Hanipman’s Spoon, the bot lane’s carry potential would be overwhelmingly higher here.
So while Seojun could go to bot lane, he didn’t make that choice.
It truly wasn’t just because Taewoo was in the enemy mid lane.
“Shall we ban them?”
Although they said they hadn’t formed a strategy, exactly speaking, it meant they would flexibly watch the opponent and respond with a strategy to win. It didn’t mean they hadn’t decided what to ban.
Hayunho banned the champions he thought were the most troublesome in order.
It was just as discussed beforehand. There were no surprises.
While that was happening, Seojun watched the enemy’s champion bans and picks, and something was strange.
‘First, they banned Erik.’
Second, they banned Baramgeom’s top pick.
For some reason, he felt that if this kept up, the third ban would also be to help top.
Why was that?
“They’re not doing a third ban?”
Since he hadn’t muted his mic, the viewers heard Seojun’s muttering and laughed.
-Hek lol, for real
-Taewoo, what are you thinking!
-They must be confident they can endure.
-They probably figure he does well even with first-time picks, so they’re letting it be.
- ‘Dare?’ <-- This was exactly the tone lol
“I know, right.”
“Then what will you do, Seojun? Will you decide after seeing the opponent?”
Hmm.
Seojun fell into thought.
He tried to put himself in the opponent’s shoes.
Since he’d carry even with a completely new champion even if they did a third ban, they must be telling him to just play what he already plays.
Since that’s at least somewhat prepared for?
Unlike when Hwangsol left only Kael alive, they didn’t narrow down the options like that.
Were they planning to save their pick for later?
Helping top makes sense.
The enemy top is E-rank.
‘If I went bot, an E-rank showdown would have unfolded again.’
In that case, he decided to just hold the center in mid and target the top lane, where the support’s influence was the lowest.
The bans were completed, and each side started picking.
Seojun waited.
“Yes, I’ll pick fifth.”
A single-match decider.
What the opponent was aiming for.
Macro play?
Or, snowballing the early game?
Jungle?
Whatever it is.
‘I won’t fall for it.’
“Seojun, it’s your turn now. What will you do?”
“The opponent also didn’t pick mid until the very end.”
“Were they planning to see what Taewoo plays?”
“No.”
-Then why on earth did you say that lol
-So what are you going to do?
-Something you’ve done before?
Didn’t I say earlier?
Power vs strategy?
“I’ll have to fight with my head too. I’ll go with the Card Magician, Jack.”
* * *
-Kya
-A true macro champion.
-So he’s going to fight with macro?
-Hmm... this might be tough.
-For real, you can’t ignore experience.
-This guy’s head is good, but does he know the game well?
-In AOS, unlike package games, it’s impossible to find fantastical alternative routes.
-He probably has a vision for the game, but still, he’s a newbie, isn’t he?
Seojun was a newbie.
A newbie whose mechanics were so good that even when doing weird things he crushed his opponents.
That Seojun’s pick was.
[Card Magician Jack]
A typical macro-focused champion.
He possesses hard CC that completely robs the opponent of control.
And he has a global ultimate with a range spanning the entire map.
What did it mean that he chose this?
After entering the game, Seojun ignored Taewoo’s emotional exclamation right in front of him.
“You’re going easy on me!”
To pick a ranged mage that grows while moderately harassing, instead of a champion like Kael who jumps in and beats you up!
“What’s he saying.”
That’s not it.
“Right, there’s no way. Getting hit by cards this time, then?”
There was a time they clashed against Binbugyeokcha during practice games. Back then, Taewoo had, in a sense, deliberately just died.
No, more precisely, he had deliberately not tried to hold on by any means, unlike a proper laner.
Seojun had noticed this.
Keril must have given that instruction to Taewoo, anticipating even when they’d face each other later.
“With Jack, it’s doable.”
“What is?”
“Not dying.”
“If you say so.”
Seojun looked at him teasingly.
Taewoo flinched.
Whenever he made that face, he always ended up getting wrecked by Seojun later on.
“It’ll be a bit different this time. With Jack, I might even get a solo kill?”
“Not that.”
“Right, not that.”
Seojun thought it was fortunate that Taewoo was quick to agree.
Anyway, Seojun intended to fight with macro.
But just as Seojun was evaluated as having pro-level mechanics, Keril was evaluated as having a pro-level mind.
Of course, the team members receiving Keril’s orders weren’t all pros, but that was true for him as well.
-He’s a newbie, right?
-No, just from watching how the leader has played, his understanding is low, he only plays trash champs.
-He only did trash builds.
-But everyone, do you know something?
-What?
-We call people who only play the worst classes ‘veterans’. They couldn’t possibly choose the worst things so well without having penetrated the principles of every game.
-Heok ㄷㄷㄷ
-Goosebumps ㄷㄷㄷ
-That’s bullshit lol.
People thought Seojun’s pick this time would be a blunder.
Even if they acknowledged his combat sense, game macro truly required him to study on his own while looking things up and accumulating at least minimal experience through playing.
But.
Seojun was a semi-experienced newbie. He had sufficient experience.
Thanks to Taewoo, the opponent would know this fact to some extent.
‘They wouldn’t know exactly though.’
Seojun wore his trademark smile.
* * *
Before long. After a bit of time had passed.
Seojun’s voice rang out on the team voice chat.
[Alpaca? To red.]