Chapter 158

CHAPTER 158

"Team Wealth Gap! Defeated by Goblin's club! GG!"

Along with Arin's booming voice, the game officially came to an end.

"Ah. Wealth Gap! But they don't really have any regrets! They got completely crushed!"

Bangju said teasingly.

"That's true."

• Goblin really ran away with the game.
• As expected of a jungler!

Bangju immediately launched into rapid-fire commentary.

"Bot lane? Exploded! Jungle? Exploded! Top lane? There was definitely a skill gap between the two players, so Babam Sword maintained lane priority the whole time, but if we're talking purely about kills and deaths? Exploded! Yes! The game completely exploded! Wow!"

Looking only at lane stats, Babam Sword finished with 0 kills and 2 deaths.

The opposing top laner had 0 kills, 0 deaths, and 2 assists.

Babam Sword's two deaths became the foundation of Goblin's carry performance.

"Goblin relentlessly camped top. Seriously, he went there nonstop. It was terrifying."

"And because of that, Babam Sword couldn't do anything, right? He was too busy worrying about ganks."

"On top of that, bot lane fell behind after giving up an early kill, couldn't recover, and then Goblin came back again and completely destroyed them."

The cause of defeat.

"The jungler simply couldn't do anything. He was completely outclassed. In every aspect."

The jungle.

But everyone had expected that.

They had even expected it to be this brutal.

"The opposing jungler was a pretty terrible matchup considering he's still unfamiliar with the role, right?"

"That's correct. Still! Today's match doesn't count for anything! They can just improve and come back stronger next time!"

Arin spoke positively.

And it was true.

There was still a long period of time before the scrims ended.

Though nobody was quite sure what exactly they needed to do during that time to get stronger.

"Ah. And of course, we can't avoid talking about this player from today's game."

Now they were talking about Seojun.

"He's truly a ridiculous player, isn't he?"

"Yes, absolutely. He chased away Goblin through sheer presence alone."

"Hahahaha!"

All the commentators laughed.

Well—

Everyone except Penguin.

"Everyone was shocked! Goblin suddenly looked as if he'd seen a ghost, his face stiffened, and then he gave up on the gank!"

"Some people are saying Goblin was just really hungry. Since he's a Goblin, he went to eat jungle monsters instead. Others say he offered a sacrifice for victory."

"No."

Bangju denied it firmly.

"Then what was it?"

"Seojun was either red beans or red bean porridge!"

"...What?"

"You know Goblins hate red things. Right, Penguin?"

With a look of complete resignation, Penguin replied:

"Just say he chickened out."

Everyone burst into laughter again.

Except Penguin.

• LOL he seriously got scared.
• You can tell because he never even looked toward mid again afterward.
• But is Seojun really scary enough for that?
• There might've been something they could see that we couldn't.
• Goblin could've succeeded with the gank, but he made the strategic decision because the risks were too high, idiots!!!!
• Strategic decision (happily farming jungle monsters)
• No, he was testing whether abandoning mid would work for future games.
• Meanwhile Penguin looks dead inside lol.

Neither Goblin nor Seojun realized it, but Goblin abandoning Hat to farm jungle monsters—and then never ganking mid again afterward—generated even more discussion than Seojun's defeat.

Which was only natural.

The only reason a jungler would avoid a gank was fear of losing.

And the situation at the time absolutely shouldn't have warranted that.

Other people couldn't share the perspectives Goblin and Seojun had experienced.

[Teammate < Jungle Monster]

[LOL Goblin sacrificed Hat to seal away the monster known as Seojun.]

[What if he pretended to gank just to bait his teammate into fighting before escaping himself? LOL]

[Just how hungry was Goblin? Let's investigate.]

As a result, all sorts of strange theories appeared.

Even the "Seojun finally paying for his sins" narrative started losing momentum.

"Looks like the trauma from being taunted with that parachute in Ground Zero really stuck with him!"

"Honestly, if it were me, I wouldn't want to engage Seojun either."

"He's certainly an incredible player. He showed something amazing this game too, didn't he?"

"Driving away one of the best A-rank junglers through sheer intimidation is impressive enough, but he also solo-killed Hat nine times during the laning phase."

"I personally think Goblin is even more impressive for never going to help him a single time."

• AHAHAHAHA
• To be fair, while Hat died nine times, Goblin destroyed every other lane.
• I'm telling you, it was just an efficient decision!
• Since when was there a Goblin fan club? Why are you all defending him?
• But it's true, isn't it? They won in the end. LOL. He was probably just testing whether they could win without mid.
• Nah, after watching the ending, I'll admit he was scared.

"Still, I think the two-man Judgment Sword he showed at the end was incredible. Did anyone get a good look at it?"

Arin's question was answered first by Taeyang.

"Everything was too tangled together. I couldn't see it properly."

Bangju agreed.

Penguin remained silent.

Nobody bothered asking him.

"Should we take another look?"

"Sounds good."

The observer replayed the footage.

A teamfight.

The term referred to a large-scale engagement capable of deciding the outcome of the game in a single clash.

"Everyone's mixed together in this 5-versus-5 brawl! The initiation comes from Goblin's skill!"

The heroes' abilities collided and intertwined.

The game had already reached the late stage, and with all the gold earned, players had purchased runes as well, strengthening their skills.

Wider ranges.

Flashier effects.

And—

Amid the chaos where skills intertwined and it became impossible to tell who was hitting whom—

Seojun got caught in the middle of it.

Yet even there, he rampaged through the battlefield, dodging fragments of skills flying in from every direction while rapidly cutting through enemy vital points.

"Wow..."

It was movement that even most professional players couldn't replicate.

While attacking enemies in front of him, he simultaneously dodged skills coming from the sides and behind.

And whenever things became dangerous, he activated invincibility.

But—

"In the end, all of his teammates died, and Seojun retreats."

"And even while retreating, he doesn't forget about Judgment Sword. In that brief moment, he managed to trigger it on two people."

• That's honestly impressive.
• So what? He still lost lol.
• Even with those mechanics, he couldn't carry. That's rough...
• ???: "As long as I don't make mistakes..."

Reading the chat, Arin let out a chuckle.

"That's true. He did lose in the end, but! Didn't it seem like he wasn't giving it his all?"

From Arin's perspective, Seojun had spent almost the entire game sitting in mid lane.

He hadn't really tried to influence the game elsewhere.

In other words, maybe he was hiding something?

Holding back a little?

That was Arin's theory.

"Stop talking nonsense? Alright."

The theory was immediately shot down.

Though admittedly, if that really wasn't his full strength, it would be terrifying.

"Mhm, mhm."

"Now then, before we move on to the next game! Penguin-nim?"

"Seriously, why did you even make that bet..."

Bangju laughed and clicked his tongue.

"And it just had to be cat-speak, hahaha."

Taeyang was delighted to have added another embarrassing story to Penguin's history.

"And Muscle Kitty enters the battlefield once more!"

Arin shouted while grabbing the cat-ear headband.

Meanwhile, Penguin cursed the version of himself from an hour ago who had confidently assumed Seojun would win and made a bet he never needed to make.

Why?

Why did I do that?!

"..."

His rough, defeated voice echoed throughout the studio.

"The last team fought really well from the start."

"Those two teams were among the stronger ones, weren't they?"

"Stronger teams..."

The atmosphere resembled a funeral hall.

"Everyone, don't worry. If another laner gets fed, I can cover for that. The reason we couldn't stop the jungle from destroying everything was simply because Alpaca wasn't familiar with the role yet."

Seojun covered for them.

"The matchup wasn't great."

"And I didn't play well either."

• LOL look how depressed they are.
• Honestly, the streamer shares some responsibility. He lost the carry battle against another A-rank.
• There wasn't much he could do though.
• Hey, he still lost, right?

Naturally, the reassurance had little effect.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I definitely read Advanced Jungle Understanding five times... sniff."

Alpaca apologized repeatedly.

"It's honestly embarrassing that I couldn't even beat a D-rank. I should've supported everyone as reliably as Seojun-nim did. It's been a long time since I've played anything other than Kael."

Babam Sword smiled awkwardly, looking ashamed.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Had Hayunho finally lost his mind?

"Seojun-nim is right. This game was just really unlucky."

He paused.

"But the problem is, I feel like all our future games are going to be unlucky too."

As usual, Lumi calmly predicted a bleak future.

"So then, how should we train?"

That was the question Seojun had been waiting for.

He tossed out the bait.

"I've got connections! We can just scrim endlessly!"

Hayunho immediately answered.

At least finding private scrims probably wouldn't be a problem.

"But if we only scrim, it'll be physically exhausting and not actually that effective. Scrims are for improving teamwork. They're not very good for directly improving individual skill."

Alpaca disagreed.

"Then we should hire a coach, right?"

Babam Sword suggested.

This was his first experience with League of Saviors.

But as a viewer, he'd seen plenty of streamers create content together with coaches.

• Are they getting a coach too?
• They definitely need one.
• Please save these people and make them practice.

"Some A-ranks coach personally, but hiring a coach is common too."

Alpaca nodded.

Coaching sessions could even become stream content.

"Then the coach should obviously be this well-connected Hayunho—"

Seojun immediately stopped him.

"Ah. That's not necessary."

"Huh?"

"I've already found a coach."

"Oh... really! Hahaha!"

"...Who is it?"

"A streamer?"

The team members looked slightly concerned.

After all, this was Seojun's first time playing League of Saviors.

He didn't seem like someone who'd followed the scene before.

And given how short his career was, they couldn't imagine what kind of coach he'd possibly know.

"I should've mentioned it sooner. To be honest, I wasn't completely sure myself."

"Ah, sorry."

"Cough. It's because we're so bad..."

"Anyway, I'm planning to contact him. If anyone dislikes the idea, just say so. We won't start serious training until four days from now anyway."

"Yes!"

"It's someone we know, right?"

"Hmm. Maybe? Do you know Dong-su—no, I mean, Lee Dong-su?"

"...What?"

Suddenly, silence fell over the call.

Seojun glanced around at each team member.

Every single one of them had widened eyes.

They all wore expressions of complete disbelief.

"Why? You all know him?"

Seojun tilted his head in confusion.

• Lee Dong-su? You mean THE Lee Dong-su from Free Fall?
• ???
• Wait what?
• Is he bluffing?
• What the hell is this guy actually?
• His connections are insane too?
• Hayunho's connections instantly become irrelevant lol.
• Wait, Lee Dong-su as a coach? He'd crush most pros.
• What the actual hell.

Judging from their reactions, they definitely knew who he was.

So he really is famous, huh?

If Lee Dong-su had been standing in front of him right now, Seojun probably would've looked at him with a completely casual expression.

Or maybe smacked him on the shoulder and teased him for becoming popular.

• LOL how the hell did the streamer become friends with Lee Dong-su? I'm jealous.
• Idiot, this isn't something you can just be jealous about.
• Seriously, why Lee Dong-su?

However—

That single statement created a much larger shockwave than Seojun had anticipated.