Chapter 153
CHAPTER 153
After Seo Jun’s interview ended and Ha Yoon-ho’s team took a short break for discussion, the commentators began wrapping things up.
“So, commentators, which choice do you think the championship team will make?”
“I think Team Manager Kim Tae-woo’s team is definitely getting picked.”
Pengkwon offered his opinion first.
“Why? To bully his friend?”
Arin asked.
“Ah, n-no? Because they're friends, so he'd screw him over—”
Uh.
Caster?
How exactly does your logic circuit work?
Pengkwon briefly thought that, then recalled the kind of person Seo Jun had revealed himself to be today.
Actually, that sounded completely possible!
“...That could happen, yes. But that's not the reason I picked them.”
“Then what is?”
“Because before Ground Zero started, they were considered one of the two weakest teams.”
Things could be different since they hadn't actually played yet.
Still, public opinion overwhelmingly agreed that Tae-woo’s team was lacking in firepower.
Their A-rank player was a support, a role that wasn't known for carrying games. Their strength was concentrated too heavily in the bot lane, and their jungler was also considered lower-tier.
Taking all that into account, Tae-woo’s team was currently rated as the weakest team.
“And the other team considered weakest was Seo Jun’s team, right?”
“Yes, that's right. Though after what they showed in Ground Zero, I'm not sure people still think of them as the weakest.”
“That’s true. But as long as this tournament is being played in The League, which is a team game, Ha Yoon-ho’s team could still be one of the weaker teams.”
Seo Jun’s carry potential?
Outstanding.
His adaptability allowed him to find ways to crush opponents through sheer skill, and he made virtually no mistakes.
And there was also his personality(?).
Still, there were limits to what one person could do.
Even more so than in Ground Zero.
Maybe Seo Jun would find something like Ground Zero’s frying pan strategy in The League as well.
But The League was far more complex than Ground Zero.
Not only were in-game situations more varied, but the characters were as well.
Even if Seo Jun found The League’s equivalent of the frying pan, opponents could simply ban it.
Taeyang explained these points.
-That makes sense.
-Winning one tournament doesn’t mean everything.
-Don’t get carried away after one Ground Zero match.
-If they played Ground Zero again, the result would probably be different. Everyone would prepare for him this time.
Meanwhile, Pengkwon snorted inwardly.
Nah, Seo Jun's gonna win.
He believed it for no reason at all.
Pure instinct.
Today had officially become the most humiliating day of Pengkwon’s life.
The mental shock he suffered was even greater than the post announcing his retirement.
“So then, Taeyang, you're saying that if another team had gotten the group selection rights, they would have picked Ha Yoon-ho’s team and Kim Tae-woo’s team?”
Arin asked.
“Yes. That's what I would have done.”
“But since the winning team ended up being one of those two, how do you think things will be arranged?”
“I still think Kim Tae-woo’s team will definitely be included, and then...”
-The sadness of being the weakest team lol
-Out of the three teams in the group, only one gets eliminated. If you've got one guaranteed bottom-feeder, making playoffs becomes easy lol
-So which team fills the last slot?
At the moment, people were dividing the teams into two categories: strong teams and weak teams.
The strong teams included Team Lane and Team Mental, whose position allocations during the auction had gone well.
The third strong team was Spoon’s team.
An A-rank ADC. A B-rank jungler. A C-rank mid laner. A D-rank support. An E-rank top laner.
There could be endless debate about which roles had the greatest carry potential and influence.
It changed with every year's meta.
But speaking strictly according to the current meta:
Most people agreed that top lane had limitations compared to other roles, even when fed.
Most also agreed that jungle had enormous influence, while ADC had the highest carry potential in coordinated team play.
From that perspective, Spoon’s team was a well-balanced powerhouse.
Their weaknesses were that the D-rank support wasn't actually a support main and that the E-rank top laner needed to hold his own.
But every team had weaknesses.
That left the remaining three weaker teams.
Of those, excluding the two weakest teams, the remaining one was Dokkaebi’s team, whose A-rank player was their jungler.
“So you think they'll choose Dokkaebi’s team?”
While Taeyang was thinking, Arin asked first.
“Hmm, I actually think they'll choose Mental’s team.”
“Huh? Really? Why?”
“Mental’s team has Pado as their A-rank player in mid lane, right? If Jin Seo Jun is operating under the assumption that he can definitely beat Pado, then Mental’s team might actually be the easiest opponent.”
-Ohhh, that makes sense too.
-As expected from a commentator.
-That's only if he can beat him lol.
-But do people really think Pado is weak in The League?
-Even if Pado bounces between Grandmaster and Challenger these days, that's only because he clowns around on stream.
-You can tell from the costumes he wears lol. Pado is a genuine for-fun player.
-He got destroyed in Ground Zero and now people are acting all confident lol.
-People always forget the past.
-Ground Zero was a special case lol.
-Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt and say Seo Jun's mechanics are better, team games involve a lot more factors.
An argument broke out in response to Taeyang’s comments.
“What about Bangju?”
“You're all misunderstanding something.”
“Huh?”
“Why do you assume they'll pick the easiest opponent?”
“Huh?”
As expected.
Bangju still understood Seo Jun better than anyone else.
-Ohhhhh lol.
-Right, if you're gonna provoke someone, you have to pay the price.
-Let's see what happens.
“Ah! We've just received a message from Team Manager Ha Yoon-ho!”
After discussing intensely with their microphones muted, they had reached a decision within the time limit.
“Then Team Ha Yoon-ho will be placed into Group A first! And now, the second team is...!”
Arin began reading the message.
“Ah! It’s Team Captain Lane’s team! Both commentators’ predictions were wrong right from the start! And the final team is... Streamer Pillbug’s team!”
Pillbug’s team was the one with Spoon on it.
-LMAOOOO they really picked two strong teams.
-Gotta respect the confidence.
-No wonder Lumi’s face was rotting away in real time lol.
-So if Ha Yoon-ho’s team is actually strong, this becomes the group of death?
“Well then! The groups have been finalized! We’ll see you again in two days for the scrims! Bye!”
The group stage was set.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
When Ha Yoon-ho greeted everyone, the others responded together.
“”Thank you for your hard work.””
“Alright then, let’s talk about the schedule going forward.”
The schedule had already been announced during the broadcast and could also be checked through the capsule interface, but they needed to discuss it first.
And that was the team captain’s job.
Ha Yoon-ho quickly explained.
“Before the actual group stage matches begin, we’ll have tomorrow off. Then starting the day after that, we’ll be playing one scrim every other day for about six days. The opponents will be teams from the other groups.”
The other groups.
Kale, Pado, Dokkaebi?
Seo Jun recalled the A-rank players he had faced today.
At the same time, being someone who had practically reached the level of self-hypnosis when it came to trash-talking, Seo Jun naturally distorted their names in his head.
Even deceiving himself required profound inner cultivation!
Unfortunately, nobody could read Seo Jun’s thoughts and catch a glimpse of that terrifying skill.
“I think this period might be the most important. We’ll figure out positions that suit each player, establish strategies that fit the team, and build teamwork.”
“Right, right.”
Practice was important, after all.
“Then should we decide our positions tomorrow?”
“Sounds good. We’ve got a day to spare anyway.”
Alpaca and Baram Sword agreed.
“What about you, Seo Jun?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone has plenty of time, right? Just checking. We can always adjust our schedules if needed.”
The question was essentially directed at Seo Jun and Baram Sword.
Seo Jun was a college student, while Baram Sword was a salaried employee.
The other three had been full-time streamers for years, so they nodded as if saying they would naturally accommodate them.
Then three pairs of eyes turned toward Seo Jun and Baram Sword.
He looks surprisingly cheerful?
After glancing at Baram Sword, Seo Jun spoke first.
“I’m available after four o’clock. Some days I’m free even earlier, so I’ll share my schedule.”
“Oh, really? Awesome.”
“Why? Baram Sword?”
When Baram Sword reacted with surprise, Ha Yoon-ho asked.
“My boss told me that since I’m participating in the tournament, I should leave work at four from now on. Funny how our schedules line up.”
“Seriously?”
“A company like that exists?”
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
“Hahaha! This is the greatness of Korea’s sm— no, medium-sized businesses! For once, I can’t deny that my company deserves recognition!”
Indeed.
Seo Jun was impressed.
Since the company was small, the owner could make decisions at his own discretion.
“Well, my boss isn’t exactly a hardcore viewer, but he’s interested in virtual reality, so he decided to be considerate. Honestly, if I couldn’t make the schedule work, I was thinking about quitting anyway.”
That made sense.
Baram Sword only averaged one or two thousand viewers, but if he started streaming seriously, he could probably earn more than his salary before long.
At the very least, it would sustain him until he found another job.
And as a side note, the unity of Kale fans was the strongest in the world, and Baram Sword had once been the most famous Kale fan.
Now, however...
That’s me...
Anyway, Seo Jun smiled inwardly, thinking things had worked out nicely.
“Then I’ll organize the practice schedule and everything else tomorrow, and we can discuss it again. Now, what should our team name be?”
“Wait, weren’t we already decided?”
“Yeah, weren’t we?”
“Class Divide is pretty good.”
“Are we really going with that? What do you think, Seo Jun?”
“It’s not bad.”
“Haha... Alright then. If anyone comes up with another team name, please share it!”
And with that, they disbanded.
Completely forgetting to turn their voice chat back on until the very end.
-Are you guys abandoning us? Abandoning us? Abandoning us?!
-These idiots only realized they were still live after leaving the capsule and started panicking lol.
-And what are you viewers gonna do about it anyway?! LMAO.
Only after exiting the capsules did they check their broadcasts and find themselves forced to offer explanations that weren’t really explanations.
Afterward, Ha Yoon-ho began planning whether the team could meet in person at least once during the tournament.
For Baram Sword, who had casually mentioned living in the countryside and then completely forgotten about it, this was terrible news.
After leaving the capsule, Seo Jun took a shower.
He talked with his editors and went to sleep exactly at midnight.
Even then, Tae-woo was still inside the capsule.
The next morning.
Seo Jun got up early to head to the gym.
When he stepped outside, Tae-woo was already awake.
Seo Jun flinched slightly.
The moment Tae-woo saw him, his eyes burst into flames.
“Thank you!”
What?
“As long as we get through the group stage, we’ll beat everyone! Because we have the carry of analysis on our side!”
Ah.
Seo Jun understood.
It was because they hadn’t been selected during the group stage draft.
Looking at Tae-woo’s slightly bloodshot eyes, Seo Jun asked:
“Hey. Don’t tell me you stayed up all night?”
Had even Tae-woo managed to ruin his condition before the tournament started?
Impressive.
“Ah, hahaha! I merely fell asleep a little later than usual and woke up a little earlier because of excitement!”
Why was he talking like that?
It sounded as if he was deliberately exaggerating to keep himself from succumbing to sleep.
“Excitement over what?”
“Obviously winning the tournament! Just kidding. I was waiting for the patch notes. Something felt off. Ah, I’m sleepy.”
Patch notes?
The update notes released by the game company?
Why?
At that moment—
The clock struck six.
Tae-woo quickly checked his phone and spoke.
“As expected.”
“Why?”
“They mentioned Kale in the patch notes.”
“Kale?”
Kale in the patch notes?
For some reason...
This felt strangely familiar.
Seo Jun experienced a sense of déjà vu and chuckled.