Chapter 138 - Chapter 138

Chapter 138

【Read only at hivetoons.org】

[Kim Tae-woo – 750 points]

The numbers on the timer decreased.

[15]

[14]

[13]

.

.

Ha Yun-ho usually thought of himself as a troll who at least possessed some intellect.

This was because, although he did troll, he at least executed his actions after thinking things through sufficiently.

Then, why did he troll if he actually thought things through?

It was because he possessed a personality that simply could not give up trolling if it made for an entertaining scene on the stream, even if it meant he would have a slightly harder time.

Was that why?

What little intellect he had left and his trolling instinct began to clash.

‘Damn it. You're bidding on this? Tae-woo, are you crazy?’

Ha Yun-ho intended to bring Seo-jun in this time as well, even if it meant taking a slightly rougher path.

Up to 700 points, he had envisioned a scene where he seized the initiative by raising the bid relentlessly without hesitation.

Seven hundred points was the absolute limit.

The maximum points where his remaining trolling instinct and intellect could agree.

He had even calculated that it was a figure other sensible people would absolutely never bid on.

He would buy a decent C- or B-grade player and leave the rest to luck.

And if anyone overlapped, he would adjust the lanes as much as possible and play himself, even if he had to suffer through it. That was what he had thought.

However.

Perhaps the most important thing in that calculation was that he had left out who his competitors were.

Wasn't the idea that others wouldn't bid solely based on the standards of sensible people?

‘He's actually doing this.’

Since he himself lived with half a troll in his heart, there was no way there wouldn't be other abnormal individuals among the streamers.

[10]

[9]

[8]

[7]

.

.

Time ticked down.

‘Anyway.’

He did not know whether Tae-woo had bid on the auction completely without thinking, or if he had bid because the player was just that worth acquiring.

‘Raising it by 50 points at a time instead of 5 must have been for the same purpose as mine.’

Seizing the initiative.

And it was probably a bluff.

Tae-woo was a player who resided in Diamond, even if he did not look like it. Master tier was out of the question since he had only managed to step foot in it once purely by luck.

Anyway, Tae-woo's current tier was in the lower ranks of Diamond, and his grade was C.

That meant Tae-woo only had 900 points, which was 95 points less than Ha Yun-ho's 995 points as a grade E.

That was under the assumption that neither of them had placed a bid yet.

Ultimately, if they went all the way, Ha Yun-ho was bound to win.

‘The problem is that if we go that far, I'll have to spend at least 905 points.’

[3]

[2]

[1]

‘Ah, I don't care. Just bid for now.’

Ha Yun-ho gave up thinking.

The troll in his heart had eventually taken the helm.

[Ha Yun-ho – 755 points]

Damn it.

Don't bid on it.

[15]

[14]

[13]

.

.

[1]

[Kim Tae-woo – 760 points]

‘Seriously.’

So you really want to do this, huh?

The intellect that had been barely holding on inside Ha Yun-ho was completely blown away.

***

[3 seconds! 2 seconds! 1 second! Ah! Another bid has been placed! They are running wild!]

The caster yelled excitedly.

There was no way watching the two of them rushing toward hell wouldn't be entertaining.

[Ha Yun-ho - 785 points]

Right from the start of the auction, an incredibly large amount of points were being traded.

Points of such magnitude that they would be completely excluded from any subsequent auctions.

[Still, they must be feeling nervous, as they are bidding in 5-point increments, and even waiting until the full 15 seconds are almost up. What do the commentators think about this? Bangju?]

[Haha. At this point, we can tell that we were all deceived. Yesterday's actions were essentially saying, 'Other team leaders, don't bid on him. I'll be the one to buy him!']

[What was your impression when you hosted it yourself yesterday?]

[I don't know if you know, but I actually did a collaboration stream once with player Seo-jun, who is currently up for auction, in For Chivalry.]

[Yes.]

[If he can show even half of the performance he displayed back then in LiOS, I believed Seo-jun would be a strong candidate for the championship.]

[Ah, is that so?]

[Yes. So I was thinking, 'Those two also have a connection with him just like I do, so why are they acting like that?']

[I see! The 'I knew it all along' award!]

[Caster? What do you mean, 'I knew it all along' award...]

[Alright! Meanwhile, the points are steadily rising and have reached 800 points. Once it surpasses 900, Team Leader Kim Tae-woo won't be able to bid even if he wants to. In that case!]

“Is it Yun-ho's victory?”

Mental.

He was a veteran, major streamer in his late 30s who had a bit of a stubborn streak.

“Huuuummm.”

He was the man who had become the biggest wild card in the last LiOS by drafting two top laners, two supports, and one mid laner in a completely thoughtless auction.

Since if his team fell into disarray, other teams would inevitably be dragged down as well.

“Was he really worth this much?”

What was even funnier was that, contrary to everyone predicting their elimination in the group stage, his team had made it all the way to the finals.

Mental laughed and said that it was purely his intuition.

In fact, he had merely acted according to his intuition.

[Team Leader Kim Tae-woo bids 850! Ah, he is slowly reaching his limit. If he really wants to buy him, he must be stamping his feet in anxiety!]

[Team Leader Ha Yun-ho is smart. He has built his teams well by actively leveraging the fact that he has a lot of points as a grade E. But this time, it looks like he is going to dump everything, leaving only 95 points. Is he really worth that much?]

[Penguin.]

[Yes, Bangju.]

[To be honest, neither team leader is likely convinced that he is worth that much.]

[Is that so?]

[However, there is something called the expected value.]

[Huh? Expected value is just the average, though?]

[No... well, um. I wanted to say potential.]

[Aha. Yes, yes.]

[As I mentioned earlier, even if he performs only half as well as he did before, he is fully worth it. And hasn't it already been half-proven through Kael and Eric? If so, isn't a gamble of this level worth trying?]

A gamble.

Bangju described the current situation as a gamble. Many people would probably agree.

No matter how high the potential, what else could it be but a gamble to spend almost all of one's points?

The problem was.

“I want to join in too.”

It was that the intuition of Mental, who was currently a step removed from the fight, was telling him. To jump into that battle.

“Ah. The viewers are going to complain.”

Even when the last auction ended, public sentiment and opinion had been very bad.

At that time, feeling responsible, Mental had drawn all the criticism toward himself and engaged in a bit of a war of words,

Since he usually had a concept of bickering with his viewers, it worked out quite well.

And he had proven himself with the results afterward.

But that had just been a stroke of luck.

[Ah! Is it going over 900? Is it going over?]

[Ha Yun-ho – 905 points]

In the end, it had gone over.

And Mental was provoked by the situation.

“Let's just go for it!”

Right. Since when did he care about the viewers anyway? Besides, even if he got criticized, he would be the one to take it!

[Mental – 990 points]

[Ahhhhh! Mental, who had been quiet until now, has gone all-in!]

[Suddenly! He has suddenly appeared!]

After causing trouble, Mental smiled with satisfaction behind the screen.

A real man had to do things boldly like this.

-Ah... the biggest wild card of the auction again...

-Just the wild card itself, the GOAT

-Mental hyung... he was quiet, and then lololololololololololol

-Hyung... do you really want to die?

-You need a beating, don't you?

-Mental hyung, I love you

-If you bid like this and fail to make it to at least the finals this time, you are dead ^^

Looking at the viewers of the official stream, Mental chuckled.

“Who's getting a beating?”

Perhaps because he had made a choice that followed his instincts, he leaned back in his chair with satisfaction.

“Ah, this is actually better. I don't have to bother thinking about it.”

Not that he had ever put much thought into it before anyway.

“Seo-jun. I think it would be fun to get close to him. Though it'll be hard to play together since I'm so bad at games. Hahaha!”

He laughed heartily.

[Yes, it's an all-in!]

[If it's an all-in, does that mean they can only be automatically assigned the players who are left until the end for each grade from now on?]

[That's correct.]

[But it's not over yet, everyone.]

Bangju said.

And Penguin replied.

[Team Leader Ha Yun-ho is also going all-in? No matter how reckless he is, Team Leader Ha Yun-ho has never gone this far!]

Beep!

[Ha Yun-ho – 995 points]

“Huh? It didn't work?”

While Mental was surprised, Penguin spoke again.

[He has!]

***

Mental had successfully bid on a player during the third auction.

Until then, the general consensus was positive, saying he had bought a desired C-grade player cheaply for just 5 points.

However, he had missed out on Seo-jun by that 5-point difference.

Seeing this, the viewers reacted like this:

Actually, this is better!

-Wow, Ha Yun-ho took that bomb lololol

-I was worried about how far the bubble would go, but it broke Mental's stubbornness lololol

-Yun-ho, is going all-in the right move? Yun-ho, is going all-in the right move? Yun-ho, is going all-in the right move? Yun-ho, is going all-in the right move? Yun-ho, is going all-in the right move?

-For starters, three auto-assigned players are guaranteed lololololol

-He's going to need fucking good luck lolololololol

-A legendary moment of all time

-If he messes up now, the streamer is dead

-Demonic Sect fan calling him 'streamer' busted

And Tae-woo.

“Why do I only have 900 points?”

If he had possessed 995 points, he would have just bid immediately the moment the situation started getting a bit strange.

“Trash game.”

Tae-woo's goal was to win.

And he knew better than anyone else that the person closest to that victory was Seo-jun.

“If so, what's left is... building the team well?”

Actually, Tae-woo had prepared quite thoroughly.

Therefore, no matter what situation arose, he was able to grasp the priority of each player at a glance.

This was because he was quite talented at using his brain for this kind of thing.

He believed in himself that, if he had actually studied instead of simply having no interest in it, he might not have reached the level of his friend chuckling in the next room (currently, Seo-jun was letting out a deep sigh), but at the very least, he would have attended a university just one tier below.

Anyway, all he had to do was follow the plan he had drawn up.

However.

But his thoughts had suddenly changed at this point.

“Even if I build an insanely good team with these 850 points, I won't be able to win if I can't stop that guy, right?”

He had realized that what was important right now was not his own team.

If he were merely aiming for a modest second or third place, it might have been different, but his goal was to win, which meant he would inevitably encounter his friend at some point.

If so, wouldn't it be right to prepare for that moment?

Even if his team became a bit weaker?

“If the opportunity arises, I'll have to keep him in check even if it means sacrificing some of my team's power.”

Tae-woo carefully examined the auction order.

***

“So,”

With the auction almost at an end, Seo-jun sighed and spoke.

“In a situation where getting Wind Sword would have been perfect for Tae-woo, and when he could have gotten him almost for free.”

Sigh.

“That Tae-woo guy intentionally didn't bid, right? Just to make Wind Sword go unsold so he can pick up another B-grade player and send them to our team?”

Wow.

Things were turning out like this.

-I can feel the malice lololol

-This guy, he wants to screw over his friend even if he takes a loss lololololol

-Streamer, let's go gank the next room!

-You can just role-swap to jungler this time. Send Wind Sword to mid lolololololololol

-Is this that? 'If I can't have it, I'll destroy it'—is that it? lololololol

“Haha.”

Not only did he raise the price for no reason, but now he's screwing me over like this?

‘Fine.’

‘He could do that.’

‘Sure, of course he could.’

‘But.’

‘But three mid laners is going a bit too far.’

-Three mid laners confirmed, pfft lololol

-Isn't it pretty common for about two people to overlap in position?

-But those three overlapping people are A, B, and C, for fuck's sake lololol

-If the lower-tier players overlap, you can just swap them. There isn't much difference whether they play their main lane or the swapped lane anyway

-But B and C going to their off-roles? That's a massive loss in team strength lololol

-At least it's nice to see all familiar faces!

-Who told you to go all-in anyway, ah lol

‘I didn't tell myself to go all-in either.’

Seo-jun merely stared at the monitor with a sour expression.