Chapter 158

“Team Wealth Gap! Hit by Goblin’s Bat and defeated! GG!”

Arin’s booming voice announced the end of the game.

“Ah. Wealth Gap! I’m not disappointed! You were helpless after all!”

Navigator said teasingly.

“That’s right.”

-LOL

-Goblin really carried that well

-As expected of jungler!

Navigator then spat out rapid-fire rap.

“Bottom? Blown up! Jungle? Blown up! Top? While there was a skill difference and Windstorm Sword kept taking the initiative, if we’re just talking kill-death? Blown up! Yes! The game blew up! Wow!”

Looking at laning performance alone, Windstorm Sword was 0 kills 2 deaths.

The enemy top was 0 kills 0 deaths 2 assists.

Windstorm Sword’s 2 deaths became the foundation for Goblin’s carry.

“Player Goblin was persistent in targeting top. He really went there constantly. Scary.”

“So what exactly did Windstorm Sword-nim do wrong? He was being cautious about ganks.”

“Plus bottom gave up early kills and kept getting pushed back, then couldn’t recover and when Goblin came again, it all fell apart.”

The cause of defeat.

“Jungle really couldn’t do anything. Complete defeat. In every aspect.”

It was jungle. But this was a fact everyone had expected.

Even that they’d get demolished this brutally.

“While jungle isn’t familiar yet, the opponent was pretty bad, don’t you think?”

“That’s right. Still! Today’s match doesn’t reflect anything, so next time just come back stronger!”

Arin said positively.

It was also true. The time given after scrims was long.

Though they weren’t quite sure what they would do during that time to get stronger.

“Ah. And we can’t not talk about this player from this game.”

This time it was about Seo-jun.

“Really an absurd player, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. He chased away Goblin with sheer presence alone.”

“Hahaha!”

All the commentators laughed together.

Except for Penguin.

“Everyone was really surprised. The scene where player Goblin suddenly stiffened like he’d seen a ghost and gave up the gank!”

“Some say it was just that Goblin was really hungry. He’s a foodie so he went to eat jungle monsters. Or that he offered a sacrifice for victory.”

“No.”

Navigator firmly denied it.

“Then what?”

“Player Seo-jun must have been red bean paste or horse blood!”

“What?”

“Originally Goblin hates red things. Right, Penguin-nim?”

Penguin said in a resigned manner.

“Just say he got scared.”

Once again laughter burst out, except for Penguin.

-LOL really got scared

-You can tell Goblin was scared since he didn’t even go near mid after that

-But is Seo-jun scary enough to make someone chicken out?

-There might be something we can’t see

-Goblin could have succeeded at the gank, but made a strategic choice worried about taking more damage!!!!

-Strategic choice (grinning while going to eat jungle monsters)

-No, he was experimenting with abandoning mid for later

-Meanwhile Penguin’s face is rotten LOL

Goblin and Seo-jun hadn’t realized it yet, but his choice to abandon Hat and pick jungle monsters, and his refusal to gank mid afterward, created an even bigger topic than Seo-jun’s defeat.

It was natural, really.

The only reason a jungler would avoid ganking was fear of losing, but the situation at the time definitely wasn’t that dire.

Other people couldn’t share the vision that Seo-jun and Goblin had.

[Teammates < Jungle monsters]

[Ah lol Seo-jun offered Hat as sacrifice to put the monster to sleep]

[Maybe he was the type to pretend to gank to make teammates fight then slip away himself? LOL]

[Just how hungry was Goblin? Let’s investigate]

So many strange theories emerged. The karma payback bait for Seo-jun also lost firepower.

“Seems like he got deep trauma after getting provoked by the parachute drop at Ground Zero!”

“True. Even I wouldn’t want to go after player Seo-jun.”

“Definitely an amazing player. He showed incredible performance this game too, right?”

“Chasing away the same A-tier’s best jungler with presence alone is amazing. But getting a total of 9 solo kills on Hat during laning is also amazing.”

“I think player Goblin not helping even once is more amazing.”

-Lmao for real

-9 deaths while he helped blow up all the other lanes, so we’ll give him a pass

That was just an efficient choice!

-Were there Goblin stans? Why do you keep defending him?

-But isn’t he right? He won in the end. LOL It’s like he was experimenting to see if they could win even abandoning mid

-No way. If you look at the end, you have to admit he got scared.

“Definitely. The 2-person Judgment Sword he showed at the end was amazing too. Did anyone get a good look?”

Arin’s question was answered by Taeyang first.

“It was so chaotic I couldn’t see properly.”

Navigator said the same.

And Penguin was quiet. Nobody asked him.

“Shall we take a look?”

“Sounds good.”

The observer played the video.

Teamfight.

A term meaning large-scale combat where one moment could decide the game’s outcome.

“5v5 all mixed up! The teamfight is initiated by player Goblin’s skill!”

Each hero’s skills tangled together.

Since they’d reached late game, they’d bought runes with the gold earned in-game, so skills were enhanced too.

Wider range.

Flashy effects.

In the chaos where skills intertwined and you couldn’t properly tell who was hitting whom.

Seo-jun was caught.

Seo-jun was weaving through the battlefield like a fish in water, dodging skill fragments flying from all directions while quickly slashing enemy weak points.

“Wow…”

Movement that even decent pros would find hard to show. Attacking enemies in front while dodging skills from the sides and behind, activating invincibility when dangerous.

But.

“Eventually all teammates died and player Seo-jun retreated.”

“He didn’t forget the Judgment Sword while retreating. In that brief moment, he activated Judgment Sword on two people.”

-Damn

-Pretty amazing

-So what? He lost lmao

-Even with those mechanics he couldn’t win. No matter what, it’s tough…

-???: If I just don’t make mistakes, something something

Arin chuckled reading the chat.

“Yes, that’s right. He lost in the end. But! Wasn’t he not going all out?”

In Arin’s view, Seo-jun had mostly just stayed in mid. He hadn’t tried to develop the game.

In other words, was he hiding something? Taking it easy? That was Arin’s theory.

“Stop talking nonsense? Alright got it.”

That theory was quickly shot down.

Definitely if that wasn’t his full power, it would be scary.

Hmm.

“Alright then, before moving to the next game! Penguin-nim?”

“Why did I make that bet.”

Navigator clicked his tongue with a smile.

“Of all things, cat-talk. Hahaha.”

Taeyang was happy that he’d accumulated another black mark in Penguin’s history.

“Muscle kitty is deploying again!”

Arin shouted while gripping the headband.

Last was Penguin cursing himself from an hour ago who had mindlessly bet on Seo-jun winning, making an unnecessary wager.

Why the hell!

“…”

Eventually a rough voice echoed through the studio.

* * *

“The last team fights well. Right from the start.”

“Those two teams were strong teams, right?”

“Strong teams…”

The atmosphere was like a funeral.

“Everyone, if another laner grows well, I can cover for them, so don’t worry. Jungle getting blown up completely is natural since Alpaca-nim isn’t used to it yet.”

Seo-jun covered for them, saying the matchup was bad.

“I played poorly too.”

-Ah lmao look how dejected they are

-Honestly the streamer has some responsibility too. As an A-tier, he got pushed back in his carry role

-It couldn’t be helped though, for real

-Yeah, streamer lost?

Of course the effect was minimal.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I definitely read the jungle understanding guide five times, but damn.”

Alpaca kept apologizing.

“No matter what, I’m a bit embarrassed I couldn’t beat a D-tier. I should have supported solidly like Seo-jun-nim. It’s been a while since I played anything other than Kael.”

Windstorm Sword felt ashamed and gave an awkward laugh.

“Krahaha!”

Has Ha Yoon-ho lost it?

“Seo-jun-nim is right. This match was really unlucky. But the problem is the other matches will probably keep being unlucky too.”

Finally, Rumi rationally predicted the future.

“So, how should we train?”

So Seo-jun asked. He cast the bait.

“I have wide connections, so unlimited scrims!”

Ha Yoon-ho said. He definitely didn’t need to worry about setting up other private scrims.

“But mainly doing scrims would be physically tough, and wouldn’t be very effective. It should only be for improving teamwork, not really for building individual skill.”

Alpaca opposed.

“Then we should definitely get a coach, right?”

Windstorm Sword said. He was new to LOS.

But as a viewer, he’d seen streamers often doing content with coaches.

-Will this team get a coach too?

-They needed one

-Hurry up with a solution! And make these guys practice

“A-tiers sometimes teach, but coaches are recruited a lot too.”

Alpaca agreed.

They could use coaching sessions for broadcast content too.

“Then this wide-connected Ha Yoon-ho will!”

Seo-jun stopped Ha Yoon-ho.

“Ah! That’s fine.”

“What?”

“I already got a coach.”

“Ah… is that so! Haha!”

“Who… is it?”

“A streamer?”

The teammates were slightly worried.

First, Seo-jun was new to LOS and didn’t seem to have watched it before.

Plus with his short career, he probably didn’t know any streamers, so they couldn’t guess who he’d bring.

“I should have mentioned this earlier, but I was actually unsure myself.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“Gasp. We’re so bad that…”

“Anyway. I’m just going to approach them. If you don’t like it, let me know. The real practice doesn’t start for 4 days anyway, right?”

“Yes!”

“Do we know this person?”

“Hmm. I’m not sure, but do you know Dong-soo. No, Lee Dong-soo?”

“What?”

Suddenly silence fell over the area.

When Seo-jun looked at each teammate’s face, they all had wide eyes.

And they looked like they couldn’t believe it.

“Why? Do you all know him?”

Seo-jun tilted his head and asked back.

-Lee Dong-soo? FreeFall’s Lee Dong-soo?

-???

-What? Is he bluffing?

-What? Who is the streamer really?

-Does this bastard even have amazing connections?

-Lee Dong-soo alone could make Ha Yoon-ho’s connections obsolete LOL

-LMAO getting Lee Dong-soo as coach? Pros are busy though?

-What the hell is he really

Looking at everyone’s faces, they seemed to know him.

‘So he is pretty famous after all?’

If Lee Dong-soo were here, Seo-jun would have looked at him with a very knowing expression.

Or maybe given him a few playful shoulder punches.

-Ah Lee Dong-soo lol how did he become friends with the streamer? So jealous lol

-You crazy bastard, this isn’t something to joke about lmao

-For real, why would Lee Dong-soo?

But.

This statement created a much bigger reaction than Seo-jun had expected.