Chapter 128
CHAPTER 128
Tae-woo checked the message.
Fortunately, his worries about horror games were unfounded.
[CEO Ha: Tae-woo, when you're done streaming today, could you introduce me to your friend?]
Instead, a completely unexpected request appeared.
He suddenly wants me to introduce Seo Jun?
The mysterious guy.
Tae-woo was extremely curious about why Seo Jun had come up.
So he immediately replied.
It was flawless logic.
"Alright, guys. Bye."
Since he had been planning to end the stream anyway unless something happened, Tae-woo wrapped things up and immediately sent a response.
[Kim Tae-woo: Why him all of a sudden?]
Ha Woon-ho was the representative streamer and CEO of Point, the MCN company Tae-woo belonged to.
The most famous thing about him as a person was that he knew countless streamers and loved hanging out with them.
So it wasn't unusual for CEO Ha to ask for introductions.
It didn't happen often, but it wasn't rare either.
Besides, he had previously mentioned wanting to meet Seo Jun.
Still, there had to be a proper reason.
[CEO Ha: Well, you see... I became one of the team captains for this LoL tournament.]
The CEO explained everything honestly.
He had become a captain.
Seo Jun had also received an invitation.
Tae-woo already knew that because Seo Jun had told him personally.
Meanwhile, CEO Ha had learned it directly from the tournament staff.
[Kim Tae-woo: Why is the operations team involved?]
[CEO Ha: They don't know what tier to place him in.]
[Kim Tae-woo: Ah lololol.]
It really was a difficult problem.
For everyone else.
[Kim Tae-woo: So they asked you to arrange a scrim? You?]
[CEO Ha: Yeah. So introduce me to him today! We need to settle this as soon as possible!]
[Kim Tae-woo: Got it!]
Tae-woo sent the cheerful reply.
But his thoughts quickly became complicated.
This could completely ruin things if handled badly.
His strategy for winning the tournament was simple and effective.
Ride the friend bus.
Jin Seo Jun.
Tae-woo firmly believed that if he brought along a friend who was suspiciously good at both fighting and games, victory was practically guaranteed.
There's a hundred million won on the line. Even that guy will probably take it seriously.
And a serious Seo Jun was someone nobody could stop.
Moreover, only a handful of people—including Tae-woo—knew that Seo Jun had actually played League in the past.
There's no way a Silver player could be this good.
If that was true—
Then he had to get him.
If Seo Jun was classified as A-tier, he'd spend a reasonable amount of points to draft him.
If he got classified as B-tier, Tae-woo would spend every last point if necessary.
In the end, auction prices depended on how much value bidders assigned to an item.
Would the other captains understand Seo Jun's true value?
Of course not.
Unless they knew all the ridiculous things Seo Jun had done right in front of Tae-woo.
Even if they analyzed Seo Jun's streaming history, their estimate of his value would inevitably be lower than Tae-woo's.
That meant Tae-woo could profit from that information gap.
Looks like this scrim is unavoidable after all.
Though if the scrim led to a proper evaluation, that advantage would disappear.
That part was unfortunate.
If Seo Jun met a Challenger player and completely destroyed them, the advantage wouldn't just shrink—it might disappear entirely.
Even if I tell him not to play too well, he's not the kind of guy who'd listen.
Still, it was worth trying.
[Kim Tae-woo: I'll talk to him right away.]
[CEO Ha: Thanks.]
"Ah."
"You remember the MCN CEO I mentioned before, right?"
Seo Jun looked at Tae-woo, who had barged into his room and started talking immediately.
"That hyung wants me to introduce you to him."
"Really? Why? I don't have any plans to join an MCN right now."
Seo Jun immediately thought of MCNs.
Point, Tae-woo's MCN.
Its CEO was a former streamer, and most of the streamers under him were his acquaintances.
The company had originally been created to help fellow creators.
The old sandbox filled with people he knew had been similar.
If the representative of a place like that wanted to talk, what else could it be about besides recruitment?
"Don't worry. It's not that."
Tae-woo cut him off immediately.
"Then what? Does he just want to hang out?"
Didn't he like socializing? And games?
"Close. Except instead of two, three, or four people, it's ten."
"Oh?"
"Then it's a streamer scrim."
League was a five-versus-five game.
"Exactly."
Why?
"For reference, it's related to the LoL tournament too. You should probably participate. The request probably came from the organizers."
Seo Jun stared at Tae-woo.
"What are you talking about?"
"They couldn't decide what tier to put you in."
Seo Jun paused to process that before finally nodding.
"Ah. So they're asking me to prove it?"
"Yeah. That hyung is a captain too. The organizers probably asked him for help."
And then that hyung had asked Tae-woo.
Since they lived together, Tae-woo was the easiest route to contact Seo Jun.
"Alright. Give me his contact information."
Tae-woo immediately sent it.
"One piece of advice. During this scrim, try your best to control yourself."
"How?"
"Get A-tier, but don't become the best A-tier asset available. If you get classified as B-tier and then play at A-tier level, you'll get flamed, your team will get flamed, and the organizers will get flamed."
"I can see how that would happen."
"But once you're A-tier, nobody can complain anymore. Whether your performance is S-rank, SSS-rank, or EX-rank, people will just say you were a great pickup. Of course, if you become too valuable, your auction price will skyrocket, so don't reveal absolutely everything. Do you understand? This is really important."
Tae-woo was completely serious.
More serious than when he had first convinced Seo Jun to become a streamer.
Seo Jun chuckled and nodded.
He could clearly see Tae-woo's intentions.
When he checked his email, he found another message from the tournament organizers who had contacted him before.
As expected, they were asking him to participate in a scrim to evaluate his skill.
They even said that if he felt uncomfortable, a private one-on-one session would be enough.
Seo Jun decided to simply join the scrim.
[Jin Seo Jun: Hello.]
[Ha Woon-ho: Hello! Tae-woo already told you about everything, right?]
[Jin Seo Jun: Yes.]
[Ha Woon-ho: Haha. Since time is tight, I'll get straight to the point.]
[Ha Woon-ho: The tournament staff still have participants to sort out, so they'd like us to do the scrim as soon as possible.]
[Jin Seo Jun: Okay.]
[Ha Woon-ho: I think it has to be either tomorrow or the day after. When are you available?]
[Jin Seo Jun: Let's do it tomorrow.]
[Ha Woon-ho: Got it. Then just keep that time open! I'll take care of everything else.]
[Jin Seo Jun: Thank you.]
After that, Seo Jun and Ha Woon-ho exchanged some casual small talk.
There was a reason people called Ha Woon-ho a streamer who could befriend anyone.
The man simply loved talking.
[Ha Woon-ho: Hoho. This scrim sounds like it'll be fun!]
[Ha Woon-ho: One last thing. Do you have any preferences? Maybe a particular tier you want to face? I can't guarantee anything since arranging matches isn't entirely up to me, but I'll try my best.]
There were three possible tiers for Seo Jun's opponent.
Master.
Grandmaster.
Challenger.
If the results turned out ambiguous, they'd need multiple games regardless to properly evaluate his skill.
Still, it was unlikely the outcome would be that unclear.
Whichever tier he faced, they should be able to estimate his level.
So Seo Jun didn't particularly care.
There was something more important.
[Jin Seo Jun: I don't care about that, but I do have one request.]
[Ha Woon-ho: What is it?]
[Jin Seo Jun: You said you're one of the team captains, right?]
[Ha Woon-ho: Yep. Same as Tae-woo.]
[Jin Seo Jun: Then how about putting me on your team?]
[Ha Woon-ho: Huh???]
[Ha Woon-ho: LOLLLLLLL Why?]
Conversations between captains and auction candidates weren't forbidden.
After all, the final auction results couldn't really be manipulated that way.
Still, it was rare for someone to promote themselves this directly.
In fact, most participants begged captains not to draft them.
If bidding wars broke out and they sold for too many points, things could become troublesome.
That was why Ha Woon-ho burst out laughing.
It wasn't much different from the personality Seo Jun displayed on stream.
[Ha Woon-ho: Do I have any reason to buy you? You'll probably be pretty expensive.]
The scrim still had to happen.
The tiers still had to be assigned.
The captains still needed to discuss things.
But even now, Ha Woon-ho felt Seo Jun probably wouldn't come cheap.
[Jin Seo Jun: I'll be cheap.]
[Ha Woon-ho: Not a chance. LOL.]
[Jin Seo Jun: Even if I'm expensive, it'll be worth it. The team I'm on is going to win.]
The confidence came naturally.
They had chatted casually.
The atmosphere was friendly.
Yet here he was, shamelessly boasting.
Was he joking?
No.
It was almost enviable.
The fact that someone could be this confident despite potentially facing Challenger players.
But why me?
Did Seo Jun simply like him?
Of course not.
The next message answered everything.
[Jin Seo Jun: Actually, Tae-woo is trying to buy me. But I don't really want to be on a team captained by him.]
Ha Woon-ho exploded into laughter.
"Ah! So that's what this is. You just don't want your friend freeloading off you! Hahaha!"
Now it all made sense.
If Tae-woo truly set his mind on drafting Seo Jun, he'd probably pay any price.
In that case—
[Ha Woon-ho: LOLLLLLL]
[Ha Woon-ho: Then prove it. On a champion other than Kael. It'll probably get banned anyway.]
Ha Woon-ho enjoyed having fun.
That was his image, and it was true.
But he wasn't the kind of person who would intentionally make bad business decisions or throw away opportunities.
He simply tried his best while enjoying himself.
[Jin Seo Jun: Sure.]
No further conversation was necessary.
The meaning had been conveyed perfectly.
Ha Woon-ho wasn't simply asking for a victory or proof of skill.
He wanted Seo Jun to show something worth buying.
Something worth paying a high price for.
Potential.
Talent.
Future growth.
Anything.
There really isn't a perfect opponent available.
I'll just have to ask whichever streamer happens to be free.
Who was Ha Woon-ho?
Even if he ran his company in a rather unconventional way, he was still the CEO.
[Hushi, do you have time?]
[What are you doing tomorrow?]
[Are you free tomorrow?]
It felt like he was going around asking:
"Excuse me, would you like to buy some insurance?"
[Looks like you're busy.]
[Want to scrim?]
[Scrim?]
Despite repeatedly reaching out, it wasn't easy finding a high-tier streamer who happened to be free the next day.
Schedules were one thing.
Scrims were also fairly stressful content.
"Tsk. This is harder than I thought."
If he had three days to work with, maybe.
A little later—
"Oh? Nice."
Finally, one positive reply arrived.
Fortunately, there was at least one streamer who both had time and found the scrim interesting.
Ha Woon-ho immediately explained the situation.
Better to be honest beforehand.
"He's facing a Challenger-level player? Well, technically Grandmaster?"
The streamer who would face Seo Jun had been decided.
His name was Spon.
A Challenger player.
His main role was ADC, while Mid was his secondary role.
However, Spon almost never played Mid, so calling his Mid lane Challenger-level would be difficult.
Still, there was no way he was below Master.
He was more than qualified as a test opponent.
[Spon: So I just play at my usual level, right?]
[Ha Woon-ho: Exactly.]
[Spon: That's easy. But CEO, if I crush him too hard, won't that streamer end up getting placed in C-tier?]
The confidence practically jumped off the screen.
It was obvious he saw himself as the evaluator, not the one being evaluated.
"Fair enough."
Even if Mid was only his secondary role, he was still a Challenger player.
His mechanics and game knowledge were no joke.
Even so, Ha Woon-ho couldn't shake the feeling that Seo Jun was going to show them something.
[Ha Woon-ho: Haha. Honestly, I don't know about that part either. Just do your best!]
After reminding Spon to play seriously, Ha Woon-ho uploaded the announcement for tomorrow's sudden scrim match.