Chapter 137 - Chapter 137

Chapter 137

【Read only at hivetoons.org】

[Alright! Then, is there anyone else who would like to express a different opinion? No one. Next, we will move on to Spoon, who was defeated by an unranked player with a 10% assimilation rate.]

The screen in the center changed. The second Grade A player. It was Spoon.

And in the introduction text, exactly as Bangju had said, it was written without a single typo, just like in Seo-jun's case.

“Is that allowed?”

Seo-jun asked the viewers with a smile.

Seo-jun had also received a request for permission from the operations team the day before. Was it the same for him?

- Who knows? lololol

- It seems the operations team is completely determined.

- They actually approved that?

[Now, Spoon's position is AD Carry, and his tier is an unwavering Challenger. Perhaps because he recently suffered a failed gank from a certain someone, there is a bit of a downplaying atmosphere among the viewers, but a Challenger AD Carry is a carry machine that leads the team straight to victory if things go just slightly well! He is the bus driver himself! On top of that, since he is the only Grade A AD Carry, his value can't help but be even more precious!]

- That's true.

- It's good that the royal AD Carry is the highest.

- Since when was the AD Carry royal? You spoon bastards.

"Spoon" was a derogatory term used to look down on AD Carries, passed down from a long time ago.

Saying that in a game, the AD Carry merely places a spoon on a table already set with cooked rice.

Or that they have to be spoon-fed.

Or asking if they are hitting the enemy with a spoon.

It was a term that did not apply today.

“I happen to know a thing or two about spoons myself. To be exact, it was a pipe, though.”

- The pipe killer ㄷㄷ

[Ah, there was a reminder message from the operations team, but I forgot it. They said the introduction text was written at Spoon's request. He said he would bide his time. Haha. How will this Spoon fare, indeed!]

Was that what it was?

***

The LiOS Eve Festival ended after more than two hours had passed.

[Please give a round of applause to the team leaders who worked hard until now!]

- clap clap clap clap

- Wow!

- clap

- congrats congrats

Those double jieuts were not the sound of clicking one's tongue, but rather represented the sound of clapping hands.

[And to Bangju, who gave us the commentary as well!]

Ha Yun-ho skillfully added.

“Wow, but both the team leaders and Bangju are amazing. It seemed like there wasn't a single person they didn't know among the 25 players.”

- so true lol

- Even now, I don't know anyone besides the streamer and Tae-woo.

- That is professionalism.

- Their heads must have been splitting since a few days ago.

It was not for nothing that Tae-woo had been constantly holding onto videos for the past two days.

“I only know about Alpaca, Rumi, whom I met during the Point custom match, Malang, and Wind Sword.”

The only new fact he learned was that Alpaca was a mid laner?

- That's just because you only know the people you've actually met, host lololololololol

- So fucking insincere lolololol

- Well, it doesn't matter since you are not a team leader.

Indeed.

As long as he was not a team leader, there was no need to go out of his way to find out.

It would be more than enough to find out tomorrow once the team was decided.

“Professionalism is professionalism, and with that, I shall take my leave as well.”

- Ah...

- Do you, uh, lack streamer spirit?

- Please, the broadcast comes before health!

- When will he ever get it?

- He grew up too fast...

- Find your rookie mindset.

- No, not the rookie mindset!!!

“The tournament is tomorrow, you know. T-bye.”

Without a single moment of hesitation, Seo-jun ended the broadcast and stood up from his chair.

Having enjoyed a good show, he headed straight into Tae-woo's room.

“Oh, brother, what brings you here?”

Tae-woo hurriedly pressed Alt+Tab to minimize the window that was open on his monitor screen.

“What are you hiding?”

“Uh-huh. Privacy. It's a bulbul folder!”

Crazy guy.

Seeing him make up such an excuse just because he had nothing else to say, he was definitely a crazy guy.

“I don't think that's it at all. Were you by any chance devising a strategy?”

It was not as if Seo-jun had caught even a glimpse of the contents.

He had not burst in suddenly, but had opened the door gently, and Tae-woo had sensed his presence the moment he grabbed the handle and pressed Alt+Tab at high speed.

Still, what he would be doing now was obvious.

“Yeah, that's right. So what? I'm not going to show you, though?”

Tae-woo readily admitted it.

Seo-jun snorted as if he had expected it and asked for the reason.

“Why? I'm a participant, not your competitor.”

“That's true, but I'm still not showing you. Am I crazy? I don't know what kind of method you'll use or how you'll screw me over, so why would I let you know?”

Oh.

'He knows me too well.'

This was also the reason why Tae-woo was trying his best not to show any sign of wanting to recruit him.

Because he had no idea what Seo-jun might pull!

However, Tae-woo did not know that Seo-jun had already seen through it from the very beginning and pulled Ha Yun-ho into the plan.

“I feel like it might be best to eliminate you since you've come to know too much about me.”

Seo-jun fell into deep thought.

“What kind of bullshit is that again?”

However, deciding that one should have at least one friend in life to serve as a negative example, he completely scrapped the plan.

“Well, just kidding. I have something to say.”

“What is it?”

“Earlier, at the beginning of the Eve Festival...”

Realizing what Seo-jun was about to say, Tae-woo quickly beat him to the punch.

“Ah, right. I'm sorry!”

'Though I just forgot a tiny bit of the truth and didn't spread false propaganda, still.'

Tae-woo was about to make such an excuse, but realized that Seo-jun wouldn't listen anyway.

“Ah, I said I'm sorry!”

It seemed he should go sleep at his family's house today.

***

Tae-woo's intention was good.

Downplaying him was not a bad thing for Seo-jun either.

It was not because he wanted to join Ha Yun-ho's team.

It was because in an auction, it was simply better to be sold cheap.

Only then.

'Could he easily win the championship.'

Seo-jun wanted to be moderately downplayed, sold at a moderate price, and join a moderate team.

With that, it seemed worth aiming for the championship.

If he had entered Grade B, he wouldn't have had to worry about the team, but he would have had to worry about his streaming after winning, so that was out of the question.

Therefore, Seo-jun showed his skill but moderately exposed his weaknesses as well.

Some people might know that a weakness exposed by a beast itself was not a weakness but a trap, yet they would still think twice.

'The League is impossible alone.'

Honestly, he did not know how things would turn out now, but seven years ago, he had experienced defeat from time to time.

As a team game, it was only natural.

'Even if the environment was poor in the past, considering that, teammates are still important.'

He wanted to win.

That was why the auction today was important.

[Yes, hello everyone! The streamers' grand party of chaos begins! I am Announcer Arin, who will be the caster for this LiOS!]

- Waaaa!

- Arin-nuna is beautiful!!

- I bet it'd be prettier if the host cross-dressed.

- STFU

- The official start of LiOS!

- Jin Seo-jun is Tier 1 in Grade A, agreed? Jin Seo-jun is Tier 1 in Grade A, agreed? Jin Seo-jun is Tier 1 in Grade A, agreed? Jin Seo-jun is Tier 1 in Grade A, agreed?

[And the three next to me are Bangju, who is in charge of commentary, former pro Penguin, and Taeyang!]

Seo-jun was likewise sitting in his seat and broadcasting today.

This was really comfortable.

“Both of them in the commentary team, excluding Bangju, are former pros.”

They briefly finished their self-introductions and chatted.

They talked about things that happened in the past or stories that any Teusu would know.

And as time passed, the caster began to talk about today's schedule.

[Alright! With a total prize pool of 100 million won, and the latest model capsule worth 100 million won given to each individual, the winning prizes for this tournament are legendary! Today, we will hold the auction to form teams, and after that, we will play a game to determine which group they will go to in the group stage. What that game is is a secret!]

Bangju also added.

[If we let you know already, they might pick someone who is good at that game during the auction, so after the auction is finished! Once the teams are formed, the game will be revealed.]

LiOS was run in a format where a tournament was held after the group stage.

First, in the group stage, three teams formed a group and took turns playing against each other once.

And after eliminating the last-place team in each group, the semifinals and tournament were played.

'Did they say the world tournament of The League was also run in this manner?'

In fact, if one looked at it, European football leagues were also run like this.

[Now, then, we can't help but talk about the auction, can we? The auction of LiOS is truly unique. Penguin, could you explain it for us?]

The window containing the rules filled the screen, and Penguin explained the most basic system first.

First of all, the points the team leaders received at the beginning were different for each.

They were deductively subtracted from a total of 1,000 points depending on the team leader's LiOS grade.

The deduction amount for each grade, considering the average successful bid price of previous LiOS, was as follows.

E was 5, D was 50, C was 100, B was 150.

In short, if a team leader was E, 995 points were given, and if a team leader was D, 950 points were given.

For reference, an A-grade team leader had never been selected in LiOS before. It was the same this time.

It was said that the players' auction order was set by a preliminary draw.

The minimum bidding point in the auction was 5 points, and bids could be placed within 15 seconds.

If a player went unsold, that player's order was changed to the very end. And when the teams were all decided except for one person by grade, naturally, the remaining person went to the remaining team.

[Are there any notable features?]

[Of course there are. Unlike the previous PC days, as we transitioned to virtual reality, the most wicked part is precisely this auction system. The basic rules haven't changed. However, previously, they gathered players of similar skill ranges and auctioned them matching their positions exactly, right?]

In the past, instead of dividing groups by skill like now, they simply divided them by position.

And since they could only bring in one person for each position.

[Yes. So it seems that cases where a team was completely ruined didn't happen very often.]

[That's correct. Even if they missed the players they wanted or ended up with a team made up only of those who went unsold, in the end, everyone's skill is similar and their positions don't overlap either!]

[But you're saying that because it's different now, right?]

[Yes. In fact, more people might already know this, but ever since transitioning to LiOS, the operations team started not caring about positions, as if they had lost their minds.]

To be precise, from the moment they divided the players into groups by skill, it became meaningless to match 30 people to exactly six per lane.

Therefore, one had to auction well.

[Though those people who 'lost their minds' selected you, Penguin?]

[Yes, that's why it is even more suspicious.]

[Ah.]

[Anyway, instead of positions, they made it so you can have one player of similar skill each, and while this might look fair at first glance, if teammates start overlapping in their positions, there is no answer!]

[I suppose so.]

[So, they say that every time, lower-tier players wail as they have to learn a new laning phase.]

[That is precisely another key point to watch! Now, hoping the team leaders will play it out as well as they have planned. Shall we draw the auction order?]

- What order would be best for the host?

- Wasn't the only one who would buy him Mental anyway? lololololol

- The draw is starting.

Players were drawn at random, and their order was fixed.

The first was someone Seo-jun also knew.

Rumi.

The second was an unfamiliar streamer.

The third was the same.

And then.

[Oh?]

[Haha, I don't know how this is going to turn out? An interesting person has appeared as the first Grade A player.]

It was Seo-jun.

***

After the auction order was revealed, there was a brief interview session with the team leaders.

Everyone had a grim expression.

Seo-jun understood that feeling.

'Well, it would have been a headache no matter how it turned out anyway.'

What were the chances of the auction order turning out exactly as one desired, anyway?

More than that, the problem was.

'That I am fourth.'

It was bad. It was way too bad.

It would have been different if he were placed in the latter half, when everyone had spent a certain amount of points already.

[Ah! Rumi goes unsold! She received quite decent evaluations among the Grade Ds, though. Not even 5 points were spent. For now, she moves to the back. Now, the next streamer is...]

The next streamer went unsold as well.

And the third streamer.

[Mental - 5 Points]

[A bid has come in! Mental is famous for buying indiscriminately in the last tournament as well, right?]

[Yes. He always builds his teams strangely, yet he is a fascinating person whose results are not completely terrible either.]

[No counter-bids? Is he taking them for 5 points? Bringing home a desired Grade C player for just 5 points feels absolutely fantastic!]

[Ah! No counter-bids! Then, the next player is player Seo-jun. Yesterday, his evaluations weren't particularly good, indeed. Let's see how it goes.]

The caster was thinking that Seo-jun would either go unsold or be sold cheap to Mental.

But Seo-jun merely watched with a grim heart.

Because he felt like he already knew the outcome.

[The bidding begins! Huh?]

The messages in the auction window shot up in an instant.

[Mental – 5 Points]

[Kim Tae-woo – 10 Points]

[Mental – 15 Points]

[Kim Tae-woo – 20 Points]

[Mental – 25 Points]

[Kim Tae-woo – 30 Points]

[Ah, they are just mindlessly spamming the bid button!]

[Team Leader Kim Tae-woo, what is the intention behind this? Even though he insulted him yesterday. Is he telling Mental to throw away any thoughts of getting him cheap?]

[Mental – 85 Points]

[Kim Tae-woo – 95 Points]

[Mental – 100 Points]

[Kim Tae-woo – 105 Points]

[Mental – 110 Points]

[Kim Tae-woo – 115 Points]

[It surpasses 100 in less than 3 seconds! Both team leaders are clicking their mice at an incredibly fast speed!]

Anxiety crept into Seo-jun. It was not because the numbers were rapidly rising by five. After all, 300 to 400 points was the baseline for a Grade A player.

The real problem was Ha Yun-ho.

Why was he staying still?

The reason became clear soon enough.

He was preparing a massive single blow.

[Ha Yun-ho – 500 Points]

[Kim Tae-woo – 505 Points]

[Huh?]

Mental's hand, which had been spamming, stopped. And Tae-woo, who had also been spamming, ended up placing a bid.

Subsequently, the next bid came.

[Ha Yun-ho – 600 Points]

[Crazy! It shot up to 600 points in one go!]

Ha Yun-ho was raising it by 100 at a time.

One could feel his confidence, challenging anyone to jump in if they dared.

However, if one backed out here, they shouldn't call themselves a streamer.

So Mental jumped in.

[Mental – 605 Points]

Soon, the very next message popped up.

[Ha Yun-ho – 700 Points]

[He's crazy! Seriously!]

[Uh, is this a declaration that he will absolutely buy him? Or is he just raising the price?]

[A development completely different from yesterday is unfolding!]

Silence fell, and for the first time, the auction timer dropped below 15 seconds.

[15]

[14]

[13]

[12]

.

.

And Seo-jun merely stared at the monitor with dumbfounded eyes.

Ha.

Hahaha.

'Should I not have asked?'

He was screwed.

Ha Yun-ho's points after the successful bid would be 295.

It might seem like a lot, but it was an amount of points that would allow him to bring in only about one highly popular player if he got lucky.

Since it was, after all, an auction where one competed against opponents in bidding.

'Quite bold.'

He should have known from the fact that he was close with Tae-woo.

'It can't be helped.'

Still, this much was not bad.

In fact, Ha Yun-ho must have calculated it too. That this exact amount was the best way to recruit Seo-jun while still keeping a decent balance.

However, neither Seo-jun nor Ha Yun-ho knew.

That this was, by all means, merely a temporary lull.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[Is it sold?]

[Kim Tae-woo – 750 Points]

The auction caught fire again.