Chapter 139

CHAPTER 139

Arin, seated in the center, energetically shouted:

"The auction is over! Now that all the teams have been finalized, while the team members are meeting and greeting each other, we should probably get back to our own job, right?"

"That's right."

"Then which team should we look at first?"

The auction system only guaranteed balance in terms of player tiers.

Not positions.

In other words, it was up to the captains to think carefully about team composition and positions when drafting players.

From the tournament staff's perspective, it was an invisible hand that left balance in the participants' hands.

Unfortunately,

Humans were not purely rational and self-interested beings.

"Hahahaha! Let's start with Mental's team!"

Arin laughed as she turned toward Bangju, who was seated to her right.

The reason she was laughing was simple.

Mental's team was actually good.

Mental's final roster appeared on screen.

"Yes, I'd say Mental's team ended up being extremely well-balanced. Surprisingly so."

"Haha, seriously. There was a crisis at the beginning, but someone else took that player away, and after that the auction strangely went very smoothly for him."

"Right. Maybe losing Seojun shocked him so much that he lost his usual instincts. Thanks to that, he stopped making reckless moves and started bidding calmly. And somehow that worked out perfectly, so I'd say this is probably the strongest and most balanced team."

Arin called up the next team.

It was another team boasting excellent balance, much like Mental's.

"You could say these two captains handled the auction very successfully, right?"

"Well, they did a great job drafting players without overlapping positions."

"But not every team can come out looking this clean!"

The discussion continued.

They weren't exactly dividing teams into strong and weak.

Instead, they were evaluating the visible success or failure of each captain's auction strategy and the chemistry between team members.

"Honestly, only the captains themselves know whether their bids were truly successful or not. And it looks like the captains are starting their streams now."

"Should we discuss the next team while watching their broadcast?"

Some of the strange decisions they had criticized might have been intentional.

If so, what exactly had this captain been trying to accomplish?

Building anticipation, Arin continued.

"Perfect timing. The stream just started. Let's take a look at Captain Kim Taewoo, whose choices near the end left everyone scratching their heads."

[Kim Taewoo has started streaming.]

[Hey! Why did you draft me there?! You should've picked Wind Sword! Seriously! Seriously! There's not a single player whose main position is mid lane! You idiot! If I join your team, it's bad for both of us!]

[I don't care.]

The team members visible in Taewoo's lobby.

And the argument that began the moment they entered.

"Yes. Let's stop watching there."

Arin made a swift decision.

• "I don't care" lol
• Run
• Still, having a backup mid isn't the worst thing
• But was it really worth passing on Wind Sword? He was practically free

"Hahaha, Captain Kim Taewoo has participated in Rios many times, but this is his first time as a captain. Maybe he was nervous?"

"That's possible."

"What do you think, Penguin and Taeyang?"

"I personally think he deliberately avoided Wind Sword because Wind Sword almost exclusively plays Kael. Even if the position fit perfectly, once you compare all the alternatives, the scales might unexpectedly tip in another direction. Though personally, I don't think that's the reason."

"An interesting perspective, Taeyang."

They understood.

He had simply found a way to both counter Seojun and still build a decent team.

"How about you, Penguin?"

"To be honest, I've given up trying to predict what streamers are thinking."

"Really? Why?"

"Because of the final team."

"I see."

"I realized there might be something I'm completely missing."

"I understand!"

Satisfied, Arin introduced the final team.

"Now! This team spent all their points on the very first player and then received their remaining B, C, and D-rank members from the players left unsold until the very end!"

"And except for Wind Sword, everyone on this team has collaborated before. Seojun, who'll be calling the shots, has streamed together with all of them."

A – Jin Seojun

B – Wind Sword

C – Alpaca

D – Lumi

E – Ha Yoonho

"This team might actually have the best chemistry. They could be the dark horse of the tournament!"

Bangju spoke while recalling Seojun's personality.

In his opinion, Seojun was surprisingly sociable.

"Shall we see what they're talking about?"

[...]

[...]

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"W-Well... maybe it's one of those comfortable atmospheres where everyone understands each other without needing words and nothing feels awkward..."

"I think the captain might already be suffering..."

"Should we close it?"

"Yes!"

Once again, the decision came quickly.

• Yes!
• Wow! Such amazing chemistry lol
• Yoonho's standing there with his hand raised lololol
• If the team already looks doomed, upvote lol

Once the auction ended, teams generally fell into two categories:

Teams that were messed up, and teams that weren't.

And usually there wasn't just one messed-up team.

Whenever one captain started trolling, it inevitably affected other teams too.

There was a reason Mental was infamous as the biggest variable in every auction.

Thinking back on how every team had been affected by Mental's choices during the previous tournament, his reputation might actually have been too mild.

They divided players evenly by rank, six in each grade, but they never balanced them by position. Some teams were always destined to suffer.

Not absolutely, of course, but for example, lower-tier players were often concentrated in bottom lane roles.

And as for top and mid lane, statistics showed that many players commonly played both, so there were plenty of players whose secondary position was one of those two.

Given those circumstances, captains usually managed the auction reasonably well.

And then somebody inevitably trolled and ruined everything.

But Ha Yoonho...

He didn't even get the chance to ruin things.

He had spent all his points on Seojun from the very beginning and then spent the rest of the auction praying,

"Please don't buy those players. Leave them for us!"

A person in that situation couldn't sabotage anyone else.

He simply self-destructed.

Maybe because of that, every team besides Seojun's looked fairly decent.

Even Taewoo's team wasn't bad compared to past tournaments.

The only truly disastrous team was theirs.

Let's get in there first.

Using Yoonho's invitation, Seojun entered the lobby where his teammates were gathered.

The first thing he saw was Ha Yoonho standing there with his hand raised while the rest of the team stared daggers at him.

Everyone's doing great, I see.

• The streamer is the last one here
• Isn't he always the slowest to connect to the capsule? Is this another fairy-tale-level excuse?
• This feels more like a technology-illiterate issue lol
• LOL technology-illiterate issue

They were right.

The connection speed wasn't actually slower.

He had simply taken longer because he was switching the broadcast from his computer to the capsule.

Sharp observation.

The moment Seojun entered, the silence broke.

"Mr. Seojun! It's been a while! It feels kind of strange meeting like this, but having you on the same team makes me feel so reassured!"

Alpaca was the first to run over and greet him.

• Alpaca's specialty: openly admits he's only ever played mid.
• In his thirties, vaguely resembles an alpaca in an unfortunate way, assassin-player, lower end of C-rank despite being high Platinum. This guy is trash!
• No wonder he went unsold lol

Hmm.

The viewers were being too harsh.

Now that he thought about it, Seojun didn't think things were all that bad considering he already knew everyone on the team.

"Wow, I'm actually on the same team as you, Mr. Seojun. Because of our positions, I thought we'd end up as opponents."

Next came Wind Sword.

And once again, the viewers mercilessly began listing his profile.

• Former Challenger mid who experienced a vertical drop after meeting Kael two years ago.
• Currently in Master with a 48% win rate and 64% pick rate on Kael.
• Literally a Kael one-trick. Loses points playing Kael, then earns them back on other heroes lololol
• Honestly, Wind Sword might have huge potential, but if you're playing it safe, passing on him was the right move. He belonged on this team anyway lol
• Looking at it now, everyone really did go unsold for a reason lololol
• WOW! What an amazing team! Incredible!

Stop it, guys.

Even if they ended up unsold, that wasn't the players' fault.

The real culprit was...

"..."

The captain standing there with his arm raised while awkwardly avoiding Seojun's gaze.

"Nice to see you again, Lumi."

"Hello!"

Seojun greeted Lumi, who was standing beside Yoonho like a prison guard.

The atmosphere was friendly enough.

Except for Ha Yoonho.

Again, none of the players had done anything wrong.

"Hey, this is virtual reality. You can't feel physical pain anyway, only a little mental damage."

"Can't you just put your arm down?"

"Then he can keep it raised forever, Yoonho."

Lumi said.

• Lumi's pretty normal at least
• Doesn't seem like she went unsold because of a flaw, just didn't fit any team
• Sorry, but D and E ranks don't really matter whether they're normal or trolls
• The real problem is still the Three Mid Alliance!
• Is this team doomed?

Well, what was done was done.

If they weren't planning to give up, there was no point despairing over assumptions.

Seojun spoke.

"Let's decide on a team name."

"Sounds good."

"How about Ha Yoonho and the Victims?"

Lumi offered the first suggestion.

"That's not bad. Or maybe The Chosen and the Unchosen?"

Wind Sword added.

"That's way too depressing. And too long."

"Then how about Complete Disaster?"

Alpaca joined in.

"You're talking about the team name, right? Not my naming sense?"

Wind Sword immediately asked, feeling oddly targeted.

"Of course, of course. Hahaha."

The atmosphere really was warm and friendly.

Seojun smiled in satisfaction.

"I've got a great idea too!"

The moment Ha Yoonho opened his mouth, everyone froze.

"Let's hear it."

Lumi crossed her arms and stared at him intently, waiting to judge his naming skills.

Yoonho finally spoke.

"Wealth Gap."

Oh.

That...

Sounded like a good way to get beaten up.

"You bastard! Are you making fun of us for going unsold?!"

"Step on him! Step on that idiot!"

"Uh... I'm not close enough to him for that..."

"Mr. Wind Sword! I'll hold him down! Hurry up and step on him!"

Miss Lumi.

You were more violent than you looked.

Just as Seojun was beginning to feel slightly intimidated, Lumi finished stomping Yoonho and suddenly turned toward him.

"Mr. Seojun. Why aren't you stepping on him? Don't tell me you think you're above this because you cost 995 points..."

"Haha. I'll join."

To be fair, he wanted to stomp him too.

Not because he was scared.

Absolutely not.

In the end, the team name became Wealth Gap.

It fit perfectly.

According to the viewers, a capitalist Heavenly Demon naturally had to deal with wealth disparity.

Seojun had no idea what nonsense they were talking about.

As a side note, Taewoo's team name was apparently leaning heavily toward "You Dug Your Own Grave".

Everyone except Taewoo agreed on it.

Anyway, the official team names would be announced tomorrow.

"So what do we do today?"

"We'll probably play a simple game."

"The winning team gets the right to choose which group they want in the group stage."

"I see."

"Last time everyone played a racing game. No idea what it'll be this year."

The team watched the official stream on the monitor.

The first segment was ending, and Part Two was about to begin.

[Now then! Thank you all for waiting. Let's begin Part Two! I'm Arin, your caster for Rios.]

• Wooooooo!
• Let's gooooo

[The warm-up games that will determine group selection this year consist of two events!]

[The first is a fighting PC game featuring the E-rank players: Beast Cartel!]

• So the E-ranks are beating each other up first
• Then the other four probably play a different game?
• They're actually bringing out a PC game here lololol
• That game's floppy character physics are hilarious on PC lol

[That's right! And the second game is the VR battle royale title Ground Zero!]

[It'll be played as a single four-person squad match. Everyone except the E-rank players will participate.]

[If you don't own the game, the organizers have just sent it to you as a gift. Please check your messages and download it.]

[Ah! Ground Zero and Beast Cartel!]

[Bangju, why do you sound like you're pretending to be surprised?]

[...Because the script told me to act surprised. Why are you asking me?]

[Hahaha. Just kidding. Please continue.]

"Ground Zero?"

"Yes, Mr. Seojun. Have you heard of it?"

"Hmm. I think I know how to play."

"Oh? Really?"

Hope immediately appeared on everyone's faces.

They all knew how ridiculous Seojun's physical abilities were.

And now he knew the game too?

Naturally, they began imagining Seojun carrying the entire squad.

At the very moment everyone's attention focused on him—

Seojun casually said,

"You just kill the enemies when you see them, right? That's how it works?"

Alpaca immediately made a 'Yep, that's about what I expected' expression.

So he had been joking.

"Uh... that's true for every game."

And Wind Sword, who still hadn't fully figured Seojun out, answered seriously.

"Haha... let's see how Yoonho plays first before we discuss strategy."

At that moment, Lumi clenched her teeth.

She resolved to become friends with Seojun as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, just like now, she'd spend the entire tournament awkwardly getting teased without ever being able to fire back.

[Now then! All E-rank participants, please install the game on your PCs first!]