Chapter 138

CHAPTER 138

[Kim Taewoo – 750 points]

The numbers on the timer ticked down.

[15]

[14]

[13]

Ha Yoonho generally considered himself a troll, but at least one with some intelligence.

He did troll things, but he always thought them through thoroughly before acting.

Then why do troll things if you think them through?

Because if it would create an entertaining scene on stream, he was the type who couldn't give up trolling even if it made things a little harder for himself.

Maybe that was why.

The intelligence he had left and his troll instincts began to clash.

Damn it, he's actually bidding? Taewoo, have you lost your mind?

This time as well, Ha Yoonho intended to bring Seojun onto his team, even if the path turned out to be a little rough.

His plan had been to overwhelm everyone by aggressively raising the bid all the way to 700 points from the start.

Seven hundred points was his limit.

The highest amount that both his remaining intelligence and his trolling instincts could agree upon.

He had even calculated that anyone with common sense would never bid that high.

Buy one decent C-rank or B-rank player, leave the rest to luck.

And if someone overlapped with him, he'd adjust the lineup himself and work harder to compensate.

That had been his plan.

But...

The most important thing he had failed to consider was perhaps who his competitors actually were.

The assumption that nobody else would bid that high only applied to sane people, didn't it?

He's really doing it.

Half of Yoonho himself was already a troll.

There was no way the other streamers were all normal.

[10]

[9]

[8]

[7]

Time continued to run down.

Anyway.

Whether Taewoo had bid recklessly without thinking, or whether he believed Seojun was worth that much, Yoonho couldn't tell.

Raising it by 50 points instead of 5 was definitely for the same reason as me.

A show of force.

And probably a bluff.

Despite appearances, Taewoo was a player who consistently stayed in Diamond.

The fact that he'd once touched Master was just a lucky accident.

In any case, his current tier was low Diamond, and his grade was C.

Which meant Taewoo only had 900 points—95 fewer than Yoonho's 995 points as an E-rank captain.

That was before either of them had spent any points.

In the end, if the bidding went all the way, Yoonho would inevitably win.

The problem is that I'd have to pay at least 905 points.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[99640]

Ah, screw it. I'll bid first.

Ha Yoonho gave up thinking.

The troll inside him finally seized control of the wheel.

[Ha Yoonho – 755 points]

[99640]

Damn it.

Don't grab the wheel.

[15]

[14]

[13]

[99840]

[1]

[Kim Taewoo – 760 points]

Seriously?

So that's how it was going to be.

The last remnants of reason barely hanging on inside Ha Yoonho finally collapsed.

[3 seconds! 2 seconds! 1 second! Ah! Another bid! They're out of control!]

The caster shouted excitedly.

How could watching two people sprint toward hell not be entertaining?

[Ha Yoonho – 785 points]

Massive amounts of points were flying around from the very beginning of the auction.

Enough points to practically remove themselves from all future auctions.

[Looks like they're nervous after all. They're only raising it by 5 points at a time, but they're constantly resetting the timer to 15 seconds. Commentators, what do you think about this? Bangju?]

[Haha. At this point it's obvious we were all fooled. Yesterday's actions basically meant, "Other captains, don't buy him. I'm buying him myself!"]

[What was your impression when you hosted yesterday's stream?]

[You may know this already, but I once did a collaboration stream with Seojun during Cooperation Is Essential.]

[Right.]

[If he can show even half of what he displayed back then in Rios, I honestly think Seojun is a serious championship contender.]

[Oh, really?]

[Yes. That's why I kept wondering why those two captains, who both had connections to him, were acting like this.]

[I see! So you knew all along!]

[Caster? What do you mean, "I knew all along"...?]

[Anyway! The price has now climbed all the way to 800 points. Once it passes 900, Captain Kim Taewoo won't be able to bid anymore even if he wants to. And when that happens!]

"Is it Yoonho's victory?"

Mental.

A veteran streamer from a major corporation in his late thirties, known for being extremely stubborn.

"Hmmmm."

During the previous Rios tournament, he had become the biggest wildcard by drafting a lineup with two tops, two supports, and one mid through a seemingly random auction strategy.

If his team got tangled up, everyone else's teams got tangled up as well.

"Was he really worth this much?"

The funnier part was that, contrary to everyone's prediction that his team would crash out during the top-stage rounds, his team had actually reached the finals.

Mental merely laughed and claimed it was all thanks to his intuition.

And in reality, he really had just acted on instinct.

[Captain Kim Taewoo bids 850! Ah, he's approaching his limit. If he truly wants Seojun, he must be stomping his feet in frustration right now.]

[Captain Ha Yoonho is smart. He's made excellent use of his E-rank status and abundant points to build his roster so far. But this time, it looks like he's willing to spend everything except 95 points. Is Seojun really worth that much?]

[Penggwon.]

[Yes, Bangju.]

[Honestly, neither captain is completely certain he's worth that price.]

[Really?]

[But there's something called expected value.]

[Huh? Expected value means an average, though.]

[No... uh... I meant potential.]

[Ah, right, right.]

[As I said earlier, if he performs at even half the level he showed before, he's already worth it. And Kael and Epic have already proven about half of that potential. In that case, isn't this level of gamble worth taking?]

A gamble.

Bangju described the situation as a gamble.

And many people would probably agree.

No matter how high someone's potential might be, spending nearly all of your points on one player—if that wasn't gambling, what was?

The problem was...

"I kind of want in on that too."

Mental's intuition—currently watching the fight from a safe distance—was telling him to jump into the battle.

"Ah, the viewers are going to lose their minds."

The public reaction after the previous auction had been terrible as well.

Back then, Mental had taken responsibility, drawn all the criticism onto himself, and gotten into a few heated arguments.

Since he normally had a "fighting with viewers" persona anyway, it had worked out well enough.

And then the results had backed him up.

But that had simply been luck.

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

[Ha Yoonho – 905 points]

It had finally crossed the line.

And seeing that pushed Mental over the edge.

"Let's just do it!"

Yeah. Since when had he cared what viewers thought?

And even if people cursed at someone, he'd be the one taking the heat.

[Mental – 990 points]

[Aaaaaah! Mental, who'd been completely silent until now, has gone all-in!]

[Out of nowhere! He appeared out of nowhere!]

After causing complete chaos, Mental grinned in satisfaction behind his screen.

If you're a man, you've got to do something bold like this.

• Ah... the biggest variable in the auction strikes again...
• Literally the embodiment of chaos, GOAT
• Mental hyung was quiet and then BOOM lolololol
• Hyung... do you actually want to die?
• You're getting beaten for this, right?
• I love you, Mental hyung
• If you run the auction like this and still don't make at least the finals, you're dead ^^

Watching the viewers in the official broadcast chat, Mental chuckled.

"Who's going to beat me?"

Perhaps because he'd followed his instincts completely, he leaned back in his chair feeling utterly satisfied.

"Ah, this is actually better. I don't have to think about anything annoying."

Not that he'd ever been much of a thinker.

"Mr. Seojun seems like he'd be fun to get to know. Though with how bad I am at games, we probably couldn't play together. Hahaha!"

He laughed heartily.

[Yep, that's an all-in!]

[If you're all-in, then all you can do afterward is automatically receive whichever players remain at the end of each grade, right?]

[That's correct.]

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

Bangju spoke.

And Penguin replied.

[Captain Ha Yoonho is going all-in too? Captain Ha Yoonho has never gone this far off the rails before!]

[Ha Yoonho – 995 points]

"Huh? It didn't work?"

While Mental stared in surprise, Penguin continued.

[There it is!]

Mental had won a player during the third auction.

At the time, most people praised him for getting the C-rank player he wanted for five points cheaper than expected.

But that five-point difference had cost him Seojun.

Viewers summarized it like this:

Actually, this is great!

• Wow, Yoonho took that bomb lololol
• I was worried how far the bubble would go, but even Mental gave up lololol
• Yoonho, is that really an all-in? Yoonho, is that really an all-in? Yoonho, is that really an all-in?
• Three unsold players guaranteed lol
• Better pray for insane luck lol
• Legendary moment
• If the streamer can't perform now, he's dead
• Arrest the cultists harassing the streamer lol

And Taewoo...

"Why do I only have 900 points?"

If he'd had 995 points, he probably would've thrown in a crazy bid the moment things started getting weird.

"Trash game."

Taewoo's goal was victory.

And more than anyone, he knew Seojun was the player closest to guaranteeing that victory.

"Then all that's left is building the best team possible?"

In truth, Taewoo had prepared thoroughly.

No matter what situation arose, he could instantly determine the priority of every available player.

He had a real talent for this sort of strategic thinking.

He just wasn't interested in studying.

If he had been, he believed he would've at least gotten into a university one tier below his friend next door—who was currently sighing deeply—not necessarily the same one, but close.

In any case, all he had to do was follow the plan he'd prepared.

However...

His thinking suddenly changed.

"Even if I build an absolutely insane team with these 850 points, if I can't stop that guy, I still won't win, right?"

He realized the important thing wasn't his own team.

Maybe if he were aiming for second or third place, things would be different.

But his goal was first place.

And eventually, he'd have to face his friend.

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

Even if it weakened his own team a little?

"Yeah. If the opportunity comes up, I'll sacrifice some team strength just to counter him."

Taewoo carefully watched the auction order.

"So..."

With the auction nearly over, Seojun sighed and spoke.

"So right now, Wind Sword would fit perfectly on Taewoo's team."

"And he could practically get him for free."

Sigh.

"So Taewoo intentionally didn't bid, right? He's letting Wind Sword go unsold so he can pick up another B-rank player and send Wind Sword to our team instead?"

Wow.

So that's how this situation ended up unfolding.

• I can feel the malice lololol
• This guy is willing to hurt himself just to screw over his friend WWWWWWW
• Streamer, go gank the room next door!
• Guess you're switching to jungle now. Put Wind Sword in mid lolololol
• Is this that thing? "If I can't have it, I'll destroy it," right? lololol

"Haha."

Wasn't raising the price enough?

He had to sabotage him like this too?

Yeah.

He could do that.

Of course he could.

But...

Three mids is a bit much, isn't it?

• Three mids confirmed lolololol
• Isn't having two overlapping positions already common?
• The problem is that all three overlaps are A, B, and C-rank players lololol
• If low-tier players overlap, you can just swap positions. Doesn't matter much.
• But sending B and C-rank players to their secondary roles? That's a massive loss in strength lololol
• Still, it's nice seeing familiar faces together!
• Nobody told you to go all-in lol

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

Seojun could only stare at the monitor with a complicated expression.