Chapter 137

CHAPTER 137

[Alright! Does anyone have any other opinions to share? No? Then we'll move on to Spoon, who lost to Donghwa after being ranked 10 tiers below him.]

The screen in the center changed.

The second A-tier player appeared: Spoon.

And just as Ark had said, the introduction text was written without a single typo.

"Is that really allowed?"

Seo-jun laughed and asked his viewers.

The operations team had asked him for approval the day before as well.

Was it the same situation?

• LOLLLLLL
• The operations team really went all in
• They actually got approval for that?

[Now then. Spoon's position is ADC, and he's a firmly established Challenger player. Recently he got stomped by a certain someone, so some viewers might be underrating him a little. But a Challenger ADC can completely carry a team to victory if things go even slightly well! He's basically a bus driver! And since he's the only A-tier ADC, his value is even higher!]

• That's true though
• It's best when the ADC noble class has the highest rating
• Since when were ADCs the noble class? Damn Spoon worshippers

"Spoon worshipper" was an old insult used to mock ADC players.

The idea was that ADCs merely placed a spoon on top of a meal everyone else had already cooked.

Or that everything had to be spoon-fed to them.

Or that all they did was hit people with a spoon.

Nowadays, none of those sayings really applied anymore.

"I'm actually somewhat of an expert when it comes to pipes. Well, technically pipes, not spoons."

• Pipe murderer lol

[Ah, I forgot a message from the operations team. Apparently the introduction was written at Spoon's own request. He says he'll endure hardship and seek revenge. Hahaha! So what kind of player is Spoon?]

So that was the story?

The RIOS Eve Festival ended two hours later.

[Please give a round of applause to all the team captains who worked hard today!]

• Clap clap clap clap
• Woooo!
• Clap
• 0000
• Eeeeeh

Those strange symbols weren't expressions of clicking tongues—they represented the clapping sound made by slapping one's palms together.

[And also to Ark, who provided the commentary!]

Ha Yoon-ho smoothly added.

"Wow, though. Both the captains and Ark are incredible. Out of twenty-five players, it didn't seem like there was a single person they didn't know."

• I still only know the streamer and Taewoo
• That's professional dedication
• Their brains must've been melting for days

There was a reason Taewoo had spent the last few days doing nothing but watching videos.

"For me, I only know Alpaca, Lumi from that point scrim, Mallang, and Wind Sword."

The only new thing he'd learned was that Alpaca played mid lane.

• You only know the people you've met, streamer lolllll
• Zero effort lol
• Well, you're not a captain, so it doesn't matter

That was true.

Unless you were a captain, there was no need to memorize everyone.

Once teams were finalized tomorrow, there would be plenty of time to learn.

"Professionalism is professionalism, but I'll be heading out now."

• Ah...
• What happened to your streamer spirit?
• Please prioritize streaming over your health!
• When will he ever acquire it?
• He grew up too fast...
• Return to your roots
• No, don't return to your roots!!!

"The tournament's tomorrow, you know. Bye."

Without the slightest hesitation, Seo-jun ended the stream and stood up.

After enjoying the event, he headed straight to idiot Taewoo's room.

"Oh? Brother, why're you here?"

Taewoo hurriedly pressed Alt-Tab and minimized whatever was on his monitor.

"What are you hiding?"

"Ahem. Privacy. It's my porn folder!"

This lunatic.

The fact that he used that as an excuse when he couldn't think of anything else proved beyond doubt that he was insane.

"That definitely doesn't sound true. Were you planning strategies?"

Seo-jun hadn't actually seen the contents.

He hadn't barged in. He had quietly opened the door, and the moment Taewoo noticed him touching the handle, he'd instantly hit Alt-Tab.

Still, it was obvious what he was doing.

"Yeah, that's right. So what? I'm not showing you."

Taewoo admitted it immediately.

Snorting as if he'd expected that answer, Seo-jun asked why.

"Why? I'm a participant, not a competitor."

"That's technically true, but I'm still not showing you. Am I crazy? You think I'd tell you how I plan to deal with you when I know exactly how you'd use that information to screw me over?"

Well.

He knows me too well.

That was one reason Taewoo never lowered his guard around him.

Because nobody knew what kind of nonsense Seo-jun might pull.

What Taewoo didn't know was that Seo-jun had already seen through everything from the beginning and had even dragged Ha Yoon-ho into it.

"Maybe I should eliminate you. You've learned too much about me."

Seo-jun fell into deep contemplation.

"What kind of nonsense is that now?"

Still, Seo-jun decided that everyone needed at least one friend who could serve as a cautionary example in life.

Thus, he completely abandoned his assassination plan.

"Anyway, joking aside, I wanted to talk about something."

"What?"

"Earlier, at the beginning of the festival..."

Realizing what he meant, Taewoo quickly interrupted.

"Ah, right. I'm sorry!"

To be fair, I only forgot part of the truth. I wasn't actually spreading lies.

Taewoo was about to make excuses but quickly realized Seo-jun wouldn't listen anyway.

"Seriously, I'm sorry!"

Looks like he'd have to sleep at his parents' house tonight.

Taewoo's intentions had been good.

If people underestimated Seo-jun, that wasn't necessarily bad for him.

Not because he wanted to join Ha Yoon-ho's team.

It was because being sold cheaply at auction was advantageous.

Only then could he—

Win the tournament more easily.

Seo-jun wanted to be slightly underestimated, sold at a reasonable price, and end up on a decent team.

If that happened, winning the championship would be realistic.

Had he been placed in B-tier, he wouldn't need to worry about team quality, but then he'd have to worry about streaming after winning, so that option was excluded.

That was why he had shown his strengths while deliberately exposing some weaknesses.

Some people understood that a weakness deliberately revealed by a predator wasn't a weakness at all—it was a trap.

But even then, they would hesitate and reconsider.

A league isn't something you can win alone.

Honestly, he didn't know how things would turn out now, but seven years ago he'd experienced a crushing defeat.

That was simply the nature of team games.

The environment back then was worse, sure. But even accounting for that, teammates matter.

He wanted to win.

Which was why today's auction was so important.

[Hello everyone! The grand festival of streamers begins now! I'm announcer Arin, your caster for this year's RIOS!]

• Wooooo!
• Arin noona, you're beautiful!!
• The streamer would look prettier in drag
• lol
• RIOS officially starts!
• Jin Seo-jun is the A-tier number one, right? Jin Seo-jun is the A-tier number one, right? Jin Seo-jun is the A-tier number one, right?

[And joining me today are our commentators: Ark, former pro player Penguin, and Taeyang!]

Just like yesterday, Seo-jun was sitting in front of his stream while watching.

This was honestly so convenient.

"Aside from Ark, both commentators are former pros."

After brief introductions, they chatted casually.

Stories from the past came up, along with topics Twitch viewers would recognize.

As time passed, the caster finally began explaining today's schedule.

[Now! With a total prize pool of 100 million won, and each participant also receiving a brand-new capsule worth around 100 million won, the rewards for this tournament are truly unprecedented! Today, we'll hold an auction to build the teams, and after that, there'll be a game to determine which group each team enters in the group stage. What that game is remains a secret!]

Ark added:

[If we reveal it now, captains might draft players specifically because they're good at that game. So the game will only be revealed after the auction and after the teams have been formed!]

RIOS operated with a group stage followed by a tournament bracket.

First, during the group stage, three teams formed a group and each team played the other two once.

The last-place team in each group was eliminated, after which the semifinals and knockout rounds began.

Wasn't the world championship for The League run similarly?

Come to think of it, European football leagues often used a similar structure.

[Now then, we can't talk about RIOS without talking about the auction, right? Penguin, could you explain it for us?]

A large window displaying the rules filled the screen, and Penguin began explaining the basic system.

To start, each captain received a different amount of points.

Everyone began with a total of 1,000 points, but points were deducted according to the captain's RIOS rank.

The deductions, based on historical average winning bids, were as follows:

E Rank: 5
D Rank: 50
C Rank: 100
B Rank: 150

In other words, an E-rank captain received 995 points, while a D-rank captain received 950.

For reference, there had never been an A-rank captain in RIOS history. This year was no exception.

The order of the player auctions was determined by a pre-event lottery.

The minimum bid was 5 points, and captains had 15 seconds to bid.

If a player went unsold, they would be moved to the very end of the auction order. Once every team except one had filled a particular rank slot, the final remaining player would automatically join the remaining team.

[Anything viewers should pay special attention to?]

[Absolutely. Compared to the old PC era, the auction system became significantly more evil after the transition to virtual reality. The basic rules stayed the same, but back then, players of similar skill levels were grouped by position and auctioned accordingly.]

In the past, players weren't grouped by skill like they were now.

Instead, they were grouped by position.

And since each team could only recruit one player per position—

[Right. So completely disastrous teams didn't happen very often.]

[Exactly. Even if you missed your preferred players or ended up with people nobody else wanted, the skill levels were still similar and there weren't any overlapping positions!]

[But that's no longer the case, is it?]

[Nope. Most people probably already know this, but after RIOS switched formats, the operations team apparently stopped caring about positions altogether.]

More precisely, once players started being grouped by skill level, there was no longer any point trying to perfectly divide thirty players into six players per role.

Which meant captains had to auction well.

[The people you're accusing of making bad decisions are also the ones who hired you, Penguin.]

[Exactly. Which only makes me more suspicious.]

[Ah.]

[Anyway, instead of guaranteeing one similarly skilled player per position, they made it so you simply got one player from each skill group. It sounds fair at first, but once teammates start overlapping positions, things become a disaster.]

[That makes sense.]

[Every year, lower-tier players end up crying because they're forced to learn completely new lanes.]

[That's another one of the fun things to watch! Well then, let's hope the captains have thought everything through. Shall we draw the auction order?]

• Which position would be best for the streamer?
• Isn't Mental the only one buying him anyway? lol
• The drawing starts

Players were randomly selected, and their auction positions were locked in.

The first player was someone Seo-jun knew.

Lumi.

The second was a streamer he recognized.

The third as well.

And then—

[Oh?]

[Well, well. This is going to be interesting. The first popular A-tier player has appeared.]

It was Seo-jun.

After the auction order was revealed, the organizers briefly interviewed the captains.

Every one of them looked like they'd just bitten into something rotten.

Seo-jun understood exactly how they felt.

Honestly, it would've been a headache no matter how the order came out.

What were the odds the auction would unfold exactly the way a captain wanted?

The real issue was something else.

I'm fourth.

Bad.

Not just bad—terrible.

It would've been much better if he'd appeared later, after everyone had already spent a good chunk of their points.

[Ah! Lumi goes unsold! He was considered one of the better D-rank prospects too. Nobody even spent five points. He moves to the back. Next streamer is...]

The next streamer also went unsold.

And the third streamer—

[Mental - 5 points]

[A bid has been placed! Mental is famous for buying players recklessly in previous tournaments.]

[That's right. His teams are always put together in bizarre ways, but somehow they never perform that badly.]

[No additional bids? Taking him for five points? Getting a desired C-tier player for only five points feels fantastic!]

[No further bids! Sold! Next up is player Seo-jun. His evaluation wasn't particularly favorable yesterday. Let's see what happens.]

The caster seemed to think Seo-jun would either go unsold or get picked up cheaply by Mental.

Seo-jun, however, watched with a grim expression.

Because he already knew what was coming.

[The bidding begins! Huh?]

Messages suddenly flooded the auction window.

[Mental - 5 points]

[Kim Taewoo - 10 points]

[Mental - 15 points]

[Kim Taewoo - 20 points]

[Mental - 25 points]

[Kim Taewoo - 30 points]

[Ah! They're just mashing the bid button without thinking!]

[Captain Kim Taewoo, what's your intention here? Yesterday you were insulting him. Are you just trying to stop Mental from getting him cheaply?]

[Mental - 85 points]

[Kim Taewoo - 95 points]

[Mental - 100 points]

[Kim Taewoo - 105 points]

[Mental - 110 points]

[Kim Taewoo - 115 points]

[They've already passed 100 points in under three seconds! Both captains are clicking like mad!]

A feeling of unease crept over Seo-jun.

Not because the bids were increasing rapidly by fives.

An A-tier player normally cost between 300 and 400 points anyway.

The real problem was Ha Yoon-ho.

Why was he sitting still?

He quickly learned the answer.

He was preparing one massive strike.

[Ha Yoon-ho - 500 points]

[Kim Taewoo - 505 points]

[Huh?]

Mental's hand stopped.

Taewoo, who had been furiously bidding, froze as well.

Then another bid appeared.

[Ha Yoon-ho - 600 points]

[What?! It's jumped all the way to 600 points in one go!]

Ha Yoon-ho was increasing by hundreds.

The confidence behind it was obvious.

Come challenge me if you dare.

But if you backed down here, you had no business calling yourself a streamer.

So Mental jumped back in.

[Mental - 605 points]

And immediately afterward—

[Ha Yoon-ho - 700 points]

[He's insane! Absolutely insane!]

[Is he determined to buy him no matter what? Or is he just driving up the price?]

[This is unfolding completely differently from yesterday's expectations!]

Silence fell.

For the first time, the auction timer dropped below fifteen seconds.

[15]

[14]

[13]

[12]

Seo-jun simply stared blankly at the monitor.

Heh.

Hahaha.

Maybe I shouldn't have asked him.

I'm screwed.

If Ha Yoon-ho won at 700 points, he'd have only 295 points remaining.

That sounded like a lot, but realistically it was only enough to maybe secure one more top-tier player if he got lucky.

After all, auctions involved competing bids.

He's really going all out.

He should've realized it from the fact that Ha Yoon-ho was friends with Taewoo.

Well, nothing I can do about it.

Still, this wasn't necessarily bad.

In fact, Ha Yoon-ho had probably calculated everything.

This was likely the highest amount he could spend while still getting Seo-jun and maintaining a reasonably balanced roster.

But both Seo-jun and Ha Yoon-ho knew something.

This lull was only temporary.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[Is it sold?]

[Kim Taewoo - 750 points]

The auction burst back into flames.