Chapter 56 – 56. Promotion Candidate Match (1)

“Awesome extra team! Started at number 7 and made it all the way up here!”
“Yes, this must have been the most unexpected result in the promotion match. I hope the fans of the extra team are having a very happy season!”

Kim Hyun-soo clenched his fists while watching the replay of today’s match.

It was a really bone-chilling, blood-curdling effort.
He talked with his teammates late into the night, scrimmed and worked together.

In order to get rid of the disgrace of being an awkward team to go up to the 2nd division, everyone was of one mind and sharpened their blades.
And finally, the team’s hard work was paying off.

Every moment was breathtaking, and as survival and death were decided by a single edge, I crossed the moments where I could only say that the goddess of luck smiled.

“The next team… Were they Battle Angels?”

The achievements they have achieved so far are astounding even to a third party.
A team made up of underrated players worked together and improved their skills.
It’s like a story of growth, like a youth drama.

However, the reality was not a drama.
Every moment was a pain for them.
It will be the same this time too.

They defeated the 4th place team, but in 3rd place, the hottest Battle Angels of the season were waiting.
Few teams in the 3rd division get this much attention.

Kim Hyun-soo, the mid laner of the extra team, gritted his teeth.

“It is said that it is getting attention these days, but it will only shine for a while. It’s not an opponent we can’t win.”

He clicked his mouse and scoured the internet community.
Since there was no coach or manager, etc., Analysis of the players of his opposing team was on his side.
The other opponents also made a strategy through analysis like this.

“Battle Angels… Battle Angels…”

When I put the opponent team name in the search box and clicked the search button, a considerable amount of articles appeared.
It was an incomparable difference from his team, the extras.

“Fuck… Since it’s a women’s team, it must be popular.”

Kim Hyun-soo had no particular thoughts about female pro gamers.

In fact, he hadn’t even met much.
Not only were there very few of them, but there were even fewer good female pro gamers.
So, I had never met an all-female game team like this.

“I wish I could do as much as I think… “

Awareness of female gamers was still low.
Not being able to play games was something I couldn’t do, but it was like being a queen bee party, being a baby boy, playing defensive characters, especially supporters,

Most of the perception was that they were less serious about games than male gamers, and that their physical abilities were inferior.
And Kim Hyun-soo did not deviate too much from that idea.

“It is probably because it is a rare female professional gaming team that is famous after all. It was just luck that we got third place.”

However, the opinion of the internet community he surfed was a bit different.
There were still many people who doubted the skills of the Battle Angels, but there were definitely fans who praised their skills.

[You know it’s the Battle Angels game tomorrow, right? I am seated from now on.]
[Scheduled to ascend tomorrow as well]
[Is Artemis coming out again?Haha]
[I’ve been watching Arena for 4 years, and I finally have a team to root for.]
[I’m not a pseudo, but honestly, tomorrow is Battle Angels’ victory. The extras are a fucking team that I’ve never even heard of]

Of course, there were still people who hated Battle Angels.
In particular, since the recent runner-up in the Academy League, more and more people are swearing at me even more.

[Psychic bastards are here again. Yeah~ I’m going to apply it like a dog tomorrow and eat it up~]
[Tomorrow’s match preview] Luna kicks off in the mid and poops down at the bottom, and the pseudo-assholes are going to do a pooping showhahaRole in the Academy League. Big. Class. The bot duo that showed us how to play, don’t you still believe in black cows? Lol]
[It’s full of buffaloeshahaIt’s disgusting to suck it up just because it’s a women’s team. For Battle Angels, the 3rd division is perfect~]

“Hmm… “

Kim Hyun-soo let out a sigh.
Since the community’s evaluation went back and forth between heaven and hell, it seemed difficult to objectively analyze his skills.

Obviously, it seems like a team with skills, but when I listened to the opinions of the other side, it seemed that there was a little bit of a deviation.
Then it is an exhaustive search.
Records don’t lie.

I opened a new internet window and typed in the nicknames of Battle Angels players one by one.
And Kim Hyun-soo fell into a bigger confusion.

‘This… A recent record?’

Aside from the record of the highest tier player, one-dealer Ryu, there were two players that caught his eye.
It was the jungler, Wisdom, and the support, White.

Wisdom’s tier was at the end of Master.
He was pretty high tier, but for a pro gamer, it can be a little disappointing.
But the real important part was the win rate.

Her monstrous win rate her, maintaining over 70 % even while taking the Master tier, meant that she would never be a player to stay at this tier.

Most of the characters she plays have good win rates, so her character pool her does n’t seem small.
A brainy player who maintains a high win rate while experimenting with various strategies that junglers can do.

Thinking of the impact her her good jungler her had on her game her, Kim Hyun-soo became more wary of her.

Also, if you look at it recently, supporter White was also not easy.
The tier was not yet as high as the 2nd tier diamond, but the part to be wary of was the recent win rate.

Like Wisdom, his win rate her has risen ridiculously recently.
However, the difference was that, unlike Wisdom, who originally had a good win rate, his low win rate her soared sharply.

‘How can people change like this?’

If anyone saw it, it looked like it had been substituted, but the virtual reality game was a structure in which surrogate was impossible.

Kim Hyun-soo bit his lip.
Himself and his teammates who have been making an effort to vomit his blood.

It was something I didn’t want to imagine, but I thought that this could be the end of their journey.

“Like this… It can’t end like this.”

If you fall from here, you will have to wait another half year.
Moreover, in order to qualify for promotion, they had to perform in the 3rd division, so there was no guarantee that this opportunity would come again.

Kim Hyun-soo jumped up from his seat.

“I don’t have time to be like this.”

There was only one thing he could do.
Effort enough to make even the sky admire.
Tomorrow was the competition day, but I couldn’t rest at all.
He hurriedly entered the capsule.

Then, without making an appointment, he was able to meet the team members who were practicing.

[EX Kim Hyun-soo: Hey, take care of your condition, so why are you practicinghaha]
[EX Kim Ji-yoon: Hyung, I can’t sleep lol]
[EX Kim Hyun-soo: Crazy guyshahaRank game a?]
[EX Han Sang-yeop: Let’s fucking leak todayhaha]

The players on the extra team practiced and practiced endlessly.
Because they do what they do best, and all they can do is practice!

###

The time is the morning before the competition.

I was working out a strategy for tomorrow’s match with Lee Ji-hye at my dorm.

After she quit her part-time job and dropped out of school, she talked about tournament strategy quite often.
Since becoming a professional gamer, she has definitely changed from before.

First of all, it became active.
After analyzing the opposing team on his own, he gives enthusiastic advice on the opponent’s method.
I still lacked knowledge compared to myself, who had been playing in the world championships, but I thought it was only a matter of time before I caught up.

“The opponent came from 7th place, but it is not a difficult team. Rather, they are on the easy side to deal with because they only know how to play honestly.”

Lee Ji-hye’s one-line comment to the extra team was as follows.

A team that is not high in weight but tries to take a picture with a difference in weight!

“You could say I don’t know the subject well.”

Her cold evaluation continued.

If you don’t know how to play anything but standard play, you have no choice but to lose to a team with a higher weight class.
That is why she cynically concluded.

“There is one thing to be aware of, however. Over there, the mid laners are very aggressive.”

I nodded.
I felt the same way after watching the extra team’s competition.

Mid laner Kim Hyeon-soo exchanged deals whenever he had a chance, and he did not hesitate to dive as if he had forgotten his fear of him.
As a result, there were a lot of hard throws, but in the promotion candidates match, he showed more super plays.

“But he’s not that good.”

However, Jihye Lee immediately dismisses my concerns.

“There were so many plays we couldn’t have made if the opposing team hadn’t made a mistake.”
“Right. In the end, it was just luck that made it this far.”
“If I just watch the mids a little bit, I will definitely lose myself.”
“Isn’t there a guarantee that we will play aggressively this time too?”

Jihye Lee shook her head.

“It didn’t seem like such a bad thing.”

It seemed a little conceited, but I nodded my head too.

The fruits of half a year determined by a best-of-three match.
In addition, the extra team has been winning with standard play, preparing for mid-to-late teamfights based on the gains from the laning match.

It will take a bold decision to abandon the one-and-only victory formula now.
At least in the first set, there was a high probability of using the standard play, and if it didn’t work, the irregular numbers would be brought out.

“Then what combination should we prepare?”

I also had my own thoughts, but I always asked her thoughts like this.
It was an area where I could interfere until the ban-pick, but in-game, the players had no choice but to think for themselves.
It was necessary to develop an eye for the game when the opportunity arose.

When I asked, she answered by turning over the paper spread on her desk.

“We also prepare classic combinations.”
“Is it canonical?”
“I pick picks as they are, following the meta of the fortress.”

The current meta hasn’t been bad for our team.
In the beginning, the initiative comes from the upper body, but in the second half, it is a fight that ends with who can keep the one deal well.
That’s why you can take the initiative by focusing on jungler Lee Ji-hye in the early stages, and Ryu Seo-yoon, a one-dealer in the second half.

If we follow the rules, our team will never fall behind. But,

“As long as our mids hold up well, there is no problem.”

Lee Ji-hye said it calmly, but it was actually a pretty serious problem.

For our team’s mid laner, Han Yuna, I’ve been focusing on characters who either endure or go half-and-half.
And it will probably be the same in this match.

It was because Han Yuna’s skills did not improve easily compared to the rapidly increasing skills of the other team members.

‘If I had sold it, I would have been able to improve my skills a little more.’

It was also my fault.
If he had been paying attention to Han Yuna’s selling from the beginning, he might not have faced this situation.
But it wasn’t without excuses.

‘I couldn’t take care of all five players.’

My team must have had a problem or two.

In a situation where all the players were in the middle of the day, this was the best.
Players who could not keep up were dropped.

In a way, it was a development that was made because of that.

“I can’t help it. But Hanyu is good at holding on, so she won’t have any problems.”
“All right.”

Jihye Lee silently nodded her head.

Looking at the records of the opponents, I could tell at once how hard they were working.
However, a team with nothing but hard work to show cannot beat us.

It would be disappointing if our team also came second in terms of effort, but in addition to that, isn’t it also receiving help from the sales coaching system?

“Oh, uh! I didn’t click on this! Where is this?!”

Then a loud noise came from the sofa.
When I turned my eyes, I saw Ryu Seo-yoon lying on the sofa in a comfortable outfit, playing a game on his phone.

“Ah, it’s completely ruined! I’m really lucky…”

This guy, Lee Ji-hye and I, are struggling to come up with a strategy, but he can’t help us.

I went up to her and laid my eyes on her and looked down.
After that, Ryu Seo-yoon, who had been giggling for a long time and was absorbed in the phone game, shuddered when he found me.

“Hmmmm… “

She must have noticed that she was talking too loudly, so she straightened herself up and sat down, carefully tucking her hair behind her.

Embarrassed, I laughed and pinched her cheek.

“Ah, ah… ! I’m coachney…”
“This guy has a tournament tomorrow and he can’t go to sleep early. Is he playing games?”
“Oh… “

He gave her cheeks a big tug and let go.
Her cheeks her stretched like glutinous rice cakes! He made a noise and went to his place her.
The cheeks of her were stained a little red.

“Ji-hye and coach are planning a strategy, how am I going to sleep… “
“Is someone who knows that playing games?”
“I was just bored… Hehe… “

I missed the timing to sell because I laughed so cutely.
Lee Ji-hye, who was far away, also smiled at her appearance.

After the incident of holding Lee Ji-hye and Ryu Seo-yoon at the same time, the relationship between the two gradually deepened.
Hey, since we’ve seen everything we can’t see, it can be awkward, but there’s no reason to fight.

After feeding Ryu Seo-yoon honey chestnuts, I stole her cell phone her.

“Cell phone confiscated.”
“Eh… ?! It’s too much!”
“Go to sleep quickly!”
“Yes…”

After sending her to her room her, I sat across from Jihye again.
As she let out a small sigh, Lee Ji-hye sent her a smile.

“You look happy.”
“What, I’m just tired.”
“You were laughing for something like that?”
“I?”
“Well, I didn’t really laugh. You must have laughed.”

Didn’t actually laugh, but what did you laugh about?

I shrugged my shoulders at her incomprehensible words.

“Done. Let’s finish talking about tomorrow’s match. You should sleep too.”
“Whoops… You can’t be honest.”

Ignoring Lee Ji-hye, who showed a strange smile, she fell into the pile of papers again.
She was a no-brainer, but she had to devise the best strategy.
I continued to analyze Jihye Lee’s game even after she fell asleep.
Before tomorrow’s game starts, in order to pull out even one more weakness of the opponent.