Chapter 128 - Chapter 128

Chapter 128

【Read only at hivetoons.org】

Tae-woo checked the content of the message.

Fortunately, his worry about a horror game was a groundless fear.

[President Ha: Tae-woo. Could you introduce me to your friend after your stream ends today?]

Instead, an unexpected request popped up.

'Introduce that guy all of a sudden?'

That guy whose name could not be spoken.

Tae-woo became highly curious about why that guy was brought up.

So he ended the stream immediately.

It was indeed a flawless logical structure.

“Guys. Bye.”

Since he had planned to end it soon anyway unless something happened, Tae-woo, who shut down the stream, replied to the president immediately.

[Kim Tae-woo: Why him all of a sudden?]

Ha Yun-ho was a streamer and the representative of Point, the MCN company to which Tae-woo belonged.

As a side note, he did many collab streams with numerous streamer acquaintances.

So, it was not unusual for President Ha to ask for an introduction.

It was the kind of thing that was not frequent, but not entirely unheard of either.

Moreover, he had a track record of saying he wanted to meet Seo-jun once in the past.

Still, he needed to know the exact reason.

[President Ha: Well, you see, I also became a team leader for LiOS this time, just like you...]

The president told Tae-woo the truth without adding or subtracting anything.

He informed him that he had become a team leader this time and that Seo-jun had also been casted.

Tae-woo already knew because he had heard it directly from Seo-jun.

And the president said he had learned this directly from the operations team.

[Kim Tae-woo: Why the operations team?]

[President Ha: They said they don't know which grade to put him in]

[Kim Tae-woo: Ah lolol]

It certainly was ambiguous.

To other people, that is.

[Kim Tae-woo: So they asked you to host an in-house match? You, President?]

[President Ha: Yeah. So introduce us today! I need to contact him as quickly as possible!]

[Kim Tae-woo: I see!]

Tae-woo replied cheerfully.

However, his mind began to grow complicated.

'At this rate, things might go down the drain.'

Tae-woo's plan to win this tournament was simple yet definite.

Riding his friend's carry!

Jin Seo-jun.

Tae-woo's thought was that if he drafted his friend—who was suspiciously good at fighting and gaming—in the auction, he could win.

'It's a matter of 100 million won, so even that guy would be serious about it.'

Wouldn't an earnest Seo-jun be virtually unstoppable for anyone?

Moreover, only a few people, including Tae-woo, currently knew the fact that Seo-jun had played The League in the past.

'Silver, my foot. He must have been fucking good.'

If so.

He just had to draft him.

If he was assigned to Grade A, he would draft him by spending a moderate amount of points.

If he was assigned to Grade B, he would bring Seo-jun in even if it meant spending all of his points.

After all, the price of an auction pick varied depending on the value the bidders placed on them.

Would the other team leaders know Seo-jun's true value?

It would probably be difficult unless they knew from right beside him what kind of crazy things that bastard had been doing.

In other words, even if they analyzed his actions shown on stream, the value of Seo-jun that the other team leaders estimated had to be lower than what Tae-woo estimated.

If so, Tae-woo just had to draft him while gaining as much benefit as that difference.

'In the end, it seems the in-house match is inevitable.'

However, if his value appreciated through the in-house match, that benefit would shrink.

This was a shame.

If he met a Challenger in the in-house match and won overwhelmingly, the benefit would shrink and might even disappear entirely.

'Even if I tell him not to do well, he is not the type of guy to follow that instruction.'

At least he should try.

[Kim Tae-woo: I'll go talk to him right away.]

[President Ha: Sure. Thanks.]

***

“Hey.”

“Huh?”

“You know the MCN president I mentioned before, right?”

“Yeah.”

Spinning his chair around, Seo-jun looked at Tae-woo, who got straight to the point as soon as he barged into his room.

“That hyung wants to get in touch with you.”

“Really? Why? I don't really have any intention of joining an MCN right now.”

Seo-jun thought of the MCN first.

Tae-woo's MCN, Point.

Point was a company where the representative was an active streamer and the affiliated streamers were mostly the representative's acquaintances.

Since the very reason for founding the company was to help colleagues.

Just like the Sandbox of the past, MCNs were sometimes created out of one's own and one's colleagues' needs.

If the representative of such a place asked to have a chat, what else could the topic be besides recruitment?

“Don't worry. It's not about that.”

Tae-woo said flatly.

“Then? Is he saying he wants to do a collab stream together?”

Did he say he liked collab streams? He also knew a lot of games.

“It's similar. Except for the fact that the scale is ten people, not two, three, or four.”

Huh?

“If it's ten people, it must be a streamer in-house match.”

The League was five-on-five.

“Right.”

“Hmm...”

Was it originally scheduled?

“For your information, this is also related to LiOS, so you'd better join. A request probably came from their side too.”

Seo-jun looked at Tae-woo as if asking what on earth that meant.

“The operations team said they can't assign you to a grade.”

Seo-jun interpreted the meaning of the words for a moment, then realized it soon and raised his head.

“Ah, they're the ones requesting it?”

“Yeah. That hyung is a team leader like me. So they must have asked him.”

And that hyung asked Tae-woo. Since the easiest way to connect with him was Tae-woo, who lived with him.

“Alright. Give me his contact details.”

Tae-woo sent a message to Seo-jun.

“Here. And if I could give you one piece of advice, you'd better control your skill as much as possible in this in-house match.”

“How do I control it?”

“Get Grade A, but don't become the hottest pick among the Grade A group. If you get Grade B and perform on par with Grade A, you, the team, and the operations team will all be criticized.”

“That could happen.”

“But once you get Grade A, they can't criticize you even if your performance is S-grade, SSS-grade, or EX-grade. They'll just think you were a bargain pick. Of course, to be a bargain pick, you shouldn't get too expensive, so you shouldn't show all your skills either. Do you get what I mean? This is really important.”

Tae-woo had a serious tone.

Even more so than when Seo-jun first tried to become a streamer and Tae-woo gave him a reality check.

“Got it.”

Seo-jun chuckled and nodded.

This was because Tae-woo's intention was plainly visible.

***

When he actually checked his email, he confirmed that the place that had recruited him before had contacted him again.

The content, as expected, was to request his participation in an in-house match to assess his skill.

They said that if he really was reluctant, he could show them in a private one-on-one or something similar, but Seo-jun decided to just play the in-house match.

[Jin Seo-jun: Hello.]

[Ha Yun-ho: Hello! Did you hear about it from Tae-woo?]

[Jin Seo-jun: Yes.]

[Ha Yun-ho: Haha. Since the schedule is tight, I'll get straight to the point.]

[Ha Yun-ho: The operations team over there needs to draft participants and such, so they said they want the in-house match done as quickly as possible.]

[Jin Seo-jun: Okay.]

[Ha Yun-ho: So I think we need to do it tomorrow or within two days. When are you available?]

[Jin Seo-jun: Let's do it tomorrow.]

[Ha Yun-ho: Understood. Then you just need to clear your schedule for that day! I'll take care of preparing everything else.]

[Jin Seo-jun: Thank you.]

Seo-jun and Ha Yun-ho then exchanged some trivial small talk.

Perhaps because he hadn't been doing collab streams with various streamers for nothing, Ha Yun-ho was quite chatty.

[Ha Yun-ho: Hehe. The in-house match is going to be fun!]

[Ha Yun-ho: Then lastly, is there anything else you want to say? Like a tier you want for your opponent. Contacting people for a collab isn't completely up to me, but I'll accommodate you as much as possible!]

There were three tiers that could appear as Seo-jun's opponent.

Master, Grandmaster, and Challenger.

No matter who he faced, it would be difficult to analyze Seo-jun's skill if the results came out ambiguous, so playing many games was the best.

Still, since there was a high probability that the results would not be too ambiguous, they would be able to grasp his approximate level regardless of which of the three tiers he faced.

Therefore, it did not matter to Seo-jun who came.

Rather, the urgent issue was.

[Jin Seo-jun: That doesn't matter, but I have another request.]

[Ha Yun-ho: What is it?]

[Jin Seo-jun: You said you were recruited as a team leader, right?]

[Ha Yun-ho: Yes, yes. I'm a team leader just like Tae-woo.]

[Jin Seo-jun: Then how about putting me on your team?]

[Ha Yun-ho: What???]

[Ha Yun-ho: lolololol why?]

***

A conversation between an auction draft pick and a bidder was not a collusion between team leaders, and since they could not manipulate the auction results anyway, it was not a problem at all.

Even so, it was rare for someone to appeal for themselves so directly.

No, in fact, most participants tended to beg the team leaders not to buy them when they met.

This was because it would be trouble if a bidding war broke out and they were sold expensively.

So Ha Yun-ho laughed in front of his monitor.

Asking him to buy him out of the blue was not much different from the image shown on stream, was it?

[Ha Yun-ho: Is there a reason I should buy you, Seo-jun? I think you might be a bit expensive though?]

Although the outline would become clear only after conducting the in-house match, assigning the grades, and hearing the opinions of the team leaders, he thought that at least he would not be cheap.

[Jin Seo-jun: I'll probably be cheap.]

[Ha Yun-ho: Not at all. lolol]

[진서준: 비싸도 괜찮을 거예요. 제가 있는 팀이 우승할 거거든요.]
[Jin Seo-jun: Even if I'm expensive, it will be fine. Because the team I'm on will win.]

An exclamation naturally slipped out.

“Damn.”

Confidence.

No matter how much they chatted to get close and how good the atmosphere was, to play around so openly.

Or was it not a joke?

In any case, he was envious. Envious that he possessed the skills to be that self-confident, even though he might be placed among Challengers.

“But why on earth me?”

Did I make a good impression?

Of course not.

[Jin Seo-jun: Actually, Tae-woo is planning to buy me. But I don't really want to go to a team where he is the team leader.]

Seeing the next message, Ha Yun-ho burst into laughter.

“Ah! You can't stand a friend trying to get a free ride. Hahaha!”

It turned out to be a rescue request.

If Tae-woo had really made up his mind to buy him, he would buy him even if he was expensive.

If so.

[Ha Yun-ho: lolololol]

[Ha Yun-ho: Please prove it once. With a hero other than Kael. Though he'll get banned anyway.]

Ha Yun-ho was a for-fun gamer.

Such an image was stamped on him, and indeed he was.

But if he was not trolling or deliberately acting to disadvantage his team, it was fine.

He enjoyed himself while doing his best.

[Jin Seo-jun: Okay.]

There was no need to converse further. He felt that the meaning had been clearly conveyed.

Right now, Ha Yun-ho was demanding neither a simple victory nor an authentication of skill.

He was telling him to show something worth buying even at a high price, and even if he had to compete with Tae-woo.

Unexpectedness, or growth potential.

Anything.

“There really is no tier that is just right for an opponent. I'll just have to ask a streamer whose schedule works.”

He had already filled the other slots, except for Seo-jun's opponent.

Who was he?

Although he ran the company in a slipshod manner, he was still the president!

[By any chance, are you free?]

[What are you doing tomorrow?]

[Do you have time tomorrow?]

He felt almost like a cyber 'Do you know the Way?' recruiter.

[You look like you have a lot of merit.]

[Do you know about in-house matches?]

[In-house match go go?]

However, despite repeated attempts, it was difficult to find a streamer among the high-tier users who had time right away tomorrow.

It was because of schedules, and also because in-house matches were a burdensome type of content.

“Tsk. It's hard to find.”

If he had given it about three days, it might be different, but.

A moment later.

“Oh? Thank goodness.”

A positive reply arrived.

Fortunately, there was at least one streamer who had time and was interested in the in-house match.

Ha Yun-ho explained the details of the situation immediately. One had to be honest about such matters.

“Is he facing a Challenger? No, precisely, a Grandmaster?”

The streamer to face Seo-jun was decided.

The streamer's name was Spoon.

A Challenger, his main position was AD Carry, and Mid was his secondary position.

However, since Spoon rarely played his secondary position, it was hard to consider his Mid to be on a Challenger level.

But since it was absolutely not below Master either, he was a sufficiently suitable opponent.

[Spoon: I just need to play to my usual skill as much as possible, right?]

[Ha Yun-ho: That's right.]

[Spoon: That's easy. President, but if I crush him too hard, won't that streamer go to C?]

He looked full of confidence.

It was visible that he regarded himself as the evaluator rather than the subject of the proof.

“It's understandable.”

Since he was a Challenger, even if it was his secondary position.

His physical mechanics and game understanding wouldn't just go away.

Still, he felt that Seo-jun would show something.

[Ha Yun-ho: Haha. I'm not too sure about that part either. But please do your best!]

So, after emphasizing once again that he must do his best, Ha Yun-ho posted an announcement for tomorrow's surprise in-house match.