Chapter 192
CHAPTER 192
The closing remarks for the tenth day of the broadcast echoed through the stream.
“Good work, everyone.”
“Tomorrow is the group stage.”
“Coach! Thank you for everything up until now!”
- Lee Dongsu! Lee Dongsu! Lee Dongsu! Lee Dongsu! Lee Dongsu!
- I learned a lot of training methods.
- Good work, Probo Number!
- Such an esteemed person going this far for us...
- Showing up every day for the last four days! Damn!
- But compared to the other teams, this team really hasn't done much lol. They didn't even play scrims.
- Network King Ha Yoonho actually endured this.
- A guy who gets thorns in his mouth if he doesn't invite streamers from his company.
I'm busy farming carrots all day. How would I have time to recruit people?
Ha Yoonho silently protested as he read the chat.
Though there was another reason as well.
“See you later.”
-Alright everyone, place your final bets.
-Anyone still betting on the streamer? LOL
-Not me.
-See ya.
The stream ended.
It was the final day of practice.
With that came tension, along with worries and anxiety slowly creeping in.
“So we're really okay doing this?”
“Miss Lumi. Trust me.”
Seojun spoke confidently.
“Was it really the right call not to play a single practice match?”
“You all practiced your main heroes, didn't you?”
And this time, Lee Dongsu answered.
“Even if we practiced our main heroes, if they get banned... Ah, right. That doesn't matter.”
At Wind Sword's comment, everyone's gaze naturally turned toward one person.
After all, any bans would be directed at Seojun.
“Even so, not having prepared any strategies at all makes me nervous. Shouldn't we at least start thinking about them now?”
“Mr. Wind Sword, I'm telling you not to worry. It doesn't mean anything if we don't know how the enemy will play anyway. We're not the ones trying to counter them—we're the ones who'll be responding to their attempts to counter us.”
That was how Seojun saw it.
A strategy built around analyzing each team's weaknesses and exploiting them for victory?
That wasn't something people at their level could easily create in the first place.
The ability to analyze was one issue, but the bigger problem was the lack of data.
Weren't these teams only recently formed?
Of course, if they had spent the past ten days focusing entirely on that strategy with Lee Dongsu's help, they could have greatly increased its success rate.
They might even have won the tournament that way.
In fact, the other teams were preparing for exactly that sort of thing.
It wasn't like they had many other options.
But Seojun had the ability to make a choice with even higher odds.
And that choice was—
“Our team has become strong. And coming up with counters is something only the weak do.”
To become stronger.
If you become strong, every problem solves itself.
Wasn't there a saying like that?
If your body is strong, your brain doesn't have to work as hard?
“That's not really the point...”
“Should we just discuss things ourselves without Seojun?”
“I feel like Coach would help us too.”
“Even Player Lee Dongsu seemed unsure whether this was the right approach.”
The reaction was cold.
Seojun looked at his teammates in confusion.
They genuinely seemed to think they had to do something.
Lee Dongsu lightly patted Seojun's shoulder.
“Hyung, do you know why everyone's worried right now?”
“Yeah.”
“No, seriously think about it. Improving your skill level in just ten days is already ridiculous, but even setting that aside...”
Setting that aside?
“Think back over those ten days. Did everyone's performance improve day by day? Did they steadily climb upward? Or... did they just keep getting beaten by you the entire time?”
Ah.
“I see.”
Only now did he understand their concern.
They had been getting beaten every single day, so subconsciously they believed they hadn't changed at all and had wasted the last ten days suffering for nothing.
No matter how much Seojun told them they had improved, there was only so much he could do if they couldn't feel it themselves.
“Then you'll find out tomorrow.”
“Straight into the real thing?”
“Yeah.”
“You really are amazing, hyung. One mistake and that's a hundred million won.”
And so, the next day arrived.
Points.
A viewer's memories, a viewer's money, a viewer's pride, confidence—or perhaps everything.
Who was the richest man in Travel when measured by the amount of those things he possessed?
When asked that question, viewers would point to one man without hesitation.
AssassinOfJoseonWhoIsActuallyAFool
A legend of Travel who had wagered 250,000 points on a 1% underdog and won 25 million points in a single prediction.
After that, he continued betting without even looking at the details and earned another five million points.
An overwhelming first place.
Furthermore, after betting all 30 million points at once, no one even dared challenge him anymore.
Some viewers even claimed that he should be crowned the king of channel point predictions even if he lost everything, or remembered forever as the God of Gambling.
Naturally, all of that...
Was incredibly irritating to the man in second place.
[WalletAlwaysEmpty]
Current Points:
[14 Million Points]
Before the Assassin of Joseon appeared, he had been the first person to surpass ten million points and had enjoyed fame as the undisputed ruler of the prediction world.
This user's specialty was making use of the vast amount of free time he possessed—rivaling the fortunes of the world's richest men.
He was a Time Bill Gates.
He analyzed every streamer who frequently opened point predictions, learning even their smallest habits.
Using that knowledge, he steadily multiplied his points.
His prediction accuracy rate was 70%.
Regardless of how much each victory paid out, a 70% success rate was more than enough to grow his wealth.
That was how he became number one.
“Until that bastard showed up...”
Unlike him—with his pages of analysis, animal instincts, and the heart of a beast—there was another user.
Someone who simply bet without a thought.
A truly brainless bettor.
And with that mindless betting, he had instantly claimed a fortune worth twice as much as his.
“Assassin of Joseon.”
He spat out the words as if he wanted to chew them up and swallow them.
His monitor was filled with detailed notes on everything Rio's participating teams had done over the past ten days.
“If I can't catch up this time, it's over.”
His opponent had already thrown another 30 million points into a blind bet.
To him, this was his chance to reclaim first place.
“Idiot.”
And so he began his analysis.
Of course, if his conclusion ended up being that Income Gap would win the tournament, then everything he had done up until now would become meaningless.
The next Rio tournament was six months away.
Would a streamer like Jin Seojun even appear then? And would Assassin of Joseon go all-in again?
The odds were low.
In that case, he would have to give up cleanly.
But after analyzing the situation, he found hope.
“This is possible. No, the chances are overflowing.”
In his view, the odds of Income Gap becoming the championship team weren't actually that high.
If so?
Then all he had to do was wait.
“You did something stupid. Betting blindly without even looking.”
Because the number one player was about to lose everything.
“Then I suppose I have to do something equally stupid.”
WalletAlwaysEmpty decided to place a bet.
His entire fortune.
[The last train is arriving. Where's everyone betting?]
==
I'm betting on Self-Inflicted Disaster!
Cheer up, Taewoo!
- Why'd you bet on them?
└ Because they have the highest payout. (Post Author)
└ If KikiP's crazy squad doesn't win, you're just losing everything though?
- Since when was the bet about which team gets eliminated in the group stage? lol
└ As a Self-Inflicted Disaster fan, that's a bit painful...
- So why did you bet your championship pick on Self-Inflicted Disaster?
└ No way. You think I'm crazy enough to trust Taewoo?
- But seriously, what happens if Income Gap actually wins? LOLLLLL. Assassin of Joseon gets a 4.54x return. LOL.
The percentage of points placed on Income Gap was 22%, the second highest among all teams.
Assassin of Joseon may have bet 30 million points, but Rio had 300,000 viewers.
If each viewer bet only a thousand points, that alone would amount to 300 million points.
And a thousand points was the bare minimum.
More importantly, normal predictions had a limit of 250,000 points per bet, but tournament predictions didn't, meaning far larger sums poured in.
In other words, even with 30 million points wagered, it was possible not to rank first among bettors.
In reality, some of the biggest whales supporting each team had already wagered several million points each.
[If Income Gap wins...]
==
Travel is going to have a serious wealth gap.
One guy having over 130 million points? That's enough to make people want a revolution from sheer jealousy. ^^
- Uh... why's that comment turning red?
- Wait, was your revolution a proletarian revolution? LOL
- Somebody report the spy LOL
- Seriously, I just trust Assassin of Joseon. Betting God. The fact that he put that much down is insane. Everyone else is only going all-in because he did. LOL. If it weren't for him, they'd all be making moderate bets.
- What about WalletAlwaysEmpty?
└ He's washed up now LOL. While he earned 4 million, Assassin of Joseon made 5 million. If it weren't for Assassin's loyalty to Income Gap, the gap would've kept growing. He still hasn't even bet his entire fortune. LOL. Maybe he bet on Income Gap and didn't make the top bettors list? Doesn't matter. Washed up. Ignore him.
Comments like these.
Public opinion like this.
WalletAlwaysEmpty hated it all.
[HeavyMental] -23%
[MentalBreakdown - 4.72 million points]
The widespread belief that Assassin of Joseon was the undisputed king of channel points.
To overturn that perception—
“I'll bet everything too.”
His mouse moved to the upper-right corner and closed the community page.
The Travel homepage appeared.
From there, he entered the channel point prediction page.
The prediction sat at the very top.
Who would win Rio?
One hour remained before betting closed.
Bloodshot veins appeared in his eyes.
If he lost this, there was no telling when he could recover.
Was this how real gamblers felt?
No.
It wasn't because he wanted to win more.
It was because he wanted his place back.
He didn't care how many times his points multiplied if he succeeded.
Only first place mattered.
That position.
“Yeah. The Champion said it several times. As long as he gets the map, he can hold the line.”
Of course, the difference between teammates couldn't be ignored.
Income Gap hadn't shown much.
The other teams had played scrims and received feedback from a professional player's perspective.
Income Gap hadn't even played practice games.
In the occasional scrims shown by other teams, their teamwork visibly improved over time.
Income Gap had none of that.
Even during broadcast hours, they spent most of their time casually hanging out with pro player Lee Dongsu.
Something about mental fatigue or whatever.
As a result, they looked like the closest-knit team of all.
But would that closeness translate into in-game teamwork?
Everyone knew the answer was absolutely not.
Just duo queue with a close friend and you'll understand.
Being friends and having compatible playstyles were two entirely different things.
Which meant there was definitely a chance.
Among all the teams, Income Gap was the one everyone wanted to counter the most.
Maybe—just maybe—the counters would work perfectly, and they'd get knocked out in the group stage.
Today could even become their last day.
The viewers might think the odds were even, but he could see it.
“Hoo...”
With trembling hands, he clicked his mouse.
[HeavyMental] -24%
[WalletAlwaysEmpty - 14 million points]
He pushed in everything.
[WalletAlwaysEmpty has arrived one hour before the Group Stage starts!]
I bet my entire fortune!
==
- Washed.
- Up.
- LOL.
- HeavyMental? Smart move.
- Why'd you do that? You're washed anyway. The highest chance of finishing first was doing nothing and staying put. LOL.
And then, one hour later—
The group stage began.