Chapter 152

CHAPTER 152

"Huh?"

Arin was caught off guard.

She knew Seo-jun was trying to play the villain role, but she hadn't expected him to go that far so openly.

Bangju, who had been watching Seo-jun's antics from the commentator's desk, was impressed too.

As expected.

The same man who used to provoke both the Orthodox and Unorthodox factions hadn't changed at all.

An old discussion from Dawn of the Assassins suddenly came to mind.

"Should we really be letting this guy loose in multiplayer games?"

"Hahaha... Well, I suppose that's possible."

Bangju turned his head to the side.

Arin, sitting in the center, had broken down again.

She was a veteran caster.

Yet Seo-jun had managed to leave her speechless twice.

"Umm... It's not like you've fully figured out every team's skill level yet... right? The league has only just begun."

Even so, there was a clear effort to smooth things over.

Good casting.

It wouldn't completely extinguish the fire, but people generally preferred indirect wording over blunt statements.

After all, saying "You're ugly" to someone's face and saying "Your face shines so brightly that I can hardly bear to look at it" were very different things.

Fortunately, Seo-jun seemed to understand that instinctively.

[Ah, what I meant was that, as you've all seen today, everyone played so well that I couldn't single out just one team. Naturally.]

Seo-jun smiled into the video call.

It was a warm, friendly smile.

And when that was combined with his handsome appearance?

The chat immediately rejected the explanation.

• LOL he dropped a nuclear bomb and then said everyone did great.
• That's not what you meant at all lol.
• He basically just said everyone is beneath him.
• Lucifer has entered the realm of streamer trash talk.
• The League community is about to explode lol.
• Demon Cult! Sword God followers! Rise and defend your honor!

Nobody believed him.

Naturally.

At the same time, however, both Bangju and Arin thought the same thing.

Nice!

This was good enough.

People could laugh it off.

They could accept it as trash talk rather than genuine arrogance.

Seo-jun's ability to manage public perception was almost instinctive.

He hadn't been streaming long.

He probably didn't even watch that many streams.

Yet somehow he naturally knew how to walk the line.

Bangju was once again thinking that Seo-jun had the makings of a future superstar when—

[That's why I'm most wary of myself.]

"Huh?"

[If I don't make any mistakes, I think our team will win the tournament.]

"Wait, weren't you just saying you were wary of every team...?"

[Ah, no. I said everyone was so good that I couldn't single out one team. I never said I was actually worried about them.]

You can't phrase it like that!

That only confirmed the interpretation that everyone's skill level looked roughly the same to him.

Yep. Seo-jun really is Seo-jun.

Bangju remembered that day again.

The day Seo-jun had told everyone to queue up, then proceeded to win twelve games in a row.

League.

A community that forced people to reevaluate an old saying:

"Whenever five people gather, one of them is garbage."

It was the kind of wisdom that applied everywhere.

Group projects.

Sports.

Workplaces.

Anything.

But nobody could deny that League players had done more than anyone else to prove it true.

That meant that, statistically speaking, at least one out of every five League players was a weirdo.

And League happened to have the largest gaming community around.

Combine those two facts and what conclusion do you get?

Even if not everyone was garbage—

there were certainly a ridiculous number of trolls.

Every League player agreed on that.

Other communities had trolls too, sure.

But this was the game community that had established the legendary 4-to-1 rule.

Its scale was simply incomparable.

And the moment the attention of all those viewers turned toward one person—

the villain of this tournament was born.

[That trash talk is insane LOL]

[Turns out he's a real alpha male lol]

[How do you twist your words and still manage to roast everyone twice?]

[Double damage taunt!]

[LOL he's really acting like he's already won.]

The reactions were mostly positive.

Seo-jun's remarks were provocations aimed at other teams.

But trash talk had long since become part of gaming culture.

Previous tournaments had seen plenty of players "accumulating karma" in exactly the same way.

So it wasn't a huge issue.

That said, it was still obvious bait.

And the reactions didn't stop there.

[Honestly, after watching the other A-rank players get destroyed, the answer is obvious.]

[They should just make Seo-jun S-rank. The other A-ranks are too weak.]

[Even his haters have to admit it after today's match LOL.]

The real problem lay in posts like those.

They deliberately elevated Seo-jun and his team.

More specifically, they used him as an excuse to tear down everyone else.

In other words—

the troublemakers had arrived.

If those posts disappeared quietly, it wouldn't matter.

But if even one gained enough upvotes to reach the front page—

[That's crossing the line.]

[The real tournament hasn't even started yet and you're already celebrating?]

[Wow, what an arrogant rookie.]

[Is he even close enough with the other streamers to joke like this?]

[Honestly, I think he was showing off way too much in-game too.]

The backlash began.

Fans of other teams started pushing back.

But it wasn't only fans.

Some people had used Seo-jun as an excuse to attack other teams from the beginning.

Those people didn't care which side they were on.

Their only goal was insulting others.

So they jumped from side to side, happily tearing people down wherever they could.

One could argue that Seo-jun was at fault for creating the bait.

But the truth was—

those trolls would have appeared regardless.

Even if Seo-jun had never made those comments.

The community knew this very well.

[Stop feeding the trolls!]

[Honestly, this feels like the perfect level of villain roleplay.]

[If someone has that level of skill, that face, and a good personality too? That's too overpowered. Think of this as a balance patch.]

[LOL just laugh and enjoy it already.]

At this point, the important thing was who could influence public opinion more effectively.

That's how community battles always worked.

There were all kinds of people.

The intelligent ones.

The manipulators.

And the ones who got manipulated.

It would be nice if accurate information and reasonable opinions could reach everyone.

The problem was that people didn't read every post.

Which meant that when dealing with trolls, what mattered most was greater firepower.

Well, even if nobody intervened, the trolls would eventually disappear on their own.

They always did.

But the longer they remained active, the more exhausting things became.

So—

Seo-jun's viewers, veterans in this sort of thing, entered the battlefield.

[We're sorry, okay?!]

Our streamer is absolutely filthy at games—

No, ridiculously good at games—

But God added exactly one teaspoon of bad personality as the price!

He's always been like this, so please let it slide just this once!

Seo-jun's viewers began apologizing.

Not because they were genuinely sorry.

They were simply joking around in a way appropriate to the situation.

And honestly, that alone was enough.

• LOL they've always been like this.
• The way he deliberately wrote "filthy at games" first lol.
• Why are you idiots apologizing?
• Do you know how many controversies we've survived? We've learned that apologizing is always the answer. (OP)
• This guy's entire existence is bait lol.
• If he wasn't this good, we would've buried him ourselves a long time ago, League players.

That was all it took.

[Current reason the fans are apologizing LOL.]

[He's just an unbelievable guy.]

[A streamer whose viewers apologize on his behalf?]

[A character like this is actually necessary.]

[LOL I feel bad for the Demon Cult followers, so I'll let it slide this time.]

At the perfect moment, reactions from other streamers started appearing too.

[Breaking News: Pado laughs and burns with competitive spirit.]

[Rain responds to the provocation with: "He's cool." How far has Korea's appearance-based discrimination gone?]

• LOL what kind of logic is that?
• I mean... he is cool. And handsome.
• Beautiful.

[E-Rank Mentality causes controversy after saying Seo-jun's comments only make him more competitive. Viewers respond: "You're his competition?"]

[Kim Tae-woo, close friend of controversial figure Jin Seo-jun, shocks viewers by stating: "Please insult that bastard more!"]

• Friend, hurry up and get flamed!
• LOL he's wishing his friend a long life. People say those who get cursed live longer.

The veteran streamers understood something important.

There was no reason to take any of this seriously.

In fact, experienced streamers often amplified the joke because it was funnier that way.

As a result, the trolls gradually lost momentum.

Only after the argument died down did League users finally start paying attention to what had actually happened during today's games.

[Guys... but Jin Seo-jun's headshot percentage is ridiculous.]

Normally, thirty to forty percent is already insanely high.

This streamer only missed once.

And that miss only happened because Pado blocked the shot with a frying pan.

Want to know the actual number?

Ninety percent.

• That's actually insane lol.
• We were so distracted by the frying pans that nobody noticed his headshot rate.
• Is he literally never missing?
• Does this mean we need to reevaluate Pado? LOL. The only man to ever stop one of Seo-jun's headshots. The man who was qualified to challenge a god.

[I just tested blocking bullets with a frying pan against my friend. I got shot in the arms, legs, chest, and face before I even managed to throw the frying pan. Is that normal?]

• Correct. That is normal.
• Extremely normal.
• Today's play was basically the first successful example of openly doing it lol.

[Seriously, how did he do the dual-wielding thing? That's insane.]

[The pros need to try reproducing this.]

[Every single thing he did today makes no sense lol.]

And eventually, exactly as Seo-jun had intended—

[At this point, was it really trash talk? Maybe he was just stating facts.]

[Maybe he was actually being humble?]

• LOOOOOL
• Looking back, that might actually be true.
• It took less than a minute for Seo-jun to get reevaluated. He even beat the Three-Minute Curry Gang record. I'm moved.

[He honestly seems the most likely player to win.]

[Still too early to talk about winning, but I'm definitely excited.]

The narrative had been established.

[Seo-jun won't win because I'm here. —Mentality LOL]

[His teammates exist, so it's still too early to say.]

[Anything can happen in League. Never be certain.]

[Remember this quote, everyone: "If I don't make any mistakes, I think our team will win." Remember the karma he's building LOL.]

Why did players often want to be sold cheaply during the draft?

Because then their captain could spend more resources on stronger teammates.

From a team perspective, that was perfectly logical.

But for individual players—especially lower-tier players—there was another reason.

Pressure.

If you were bought for a high price and failed to perform, everyone would say you weren't worth the money.

With that in mind, Lumi thought her situation was better than before.

Or rather—

She had thought so.

Ah! Why is the narrative turning out like this?!

[Even if his teammates cause him to lose, Seo-jun still has to pay back all that karma LOL.]

[Just trust these guys: Kim Tae-woo, Ha Yoon-ho, Babam Sword, Alpaca, and Doo-Rumi.]

[The groups haven't even been decided yet. If Yoon-ho's team ends up with weak opponents after talking all that trash, it's over LOL.]

The attention was focused on them.

And the karma was already beginning to pile up.

On Seo-jun.

And on his teammates.

"No matter how much people insult us, I'd rather get matched with a weak group and avoid an early elimination..."

The problem was—

"Weak teams?"

"What are you talking about, Lumi?"

"Since we've already come this far, let's just go all the way this tournament."

The team had turned off the stream and was discussing which group to join.

And—

They were unanimously trying to challenge the strongest teams available.

"No, Seo-jun-nim. I know you're good. And I know the trash talk was for entertainment!"

"That probably wasn't for entertainment..."

Alpaca muttered quietly.

Lumi ignored her and continued.

"But couldn't we just pick a weaker group? Please?"

We won!

Why are we doing this?!

Why are we having a heated debate over which group is the strongest?!

Pick the easiest opponents!

Please!

Am I the only one worried?

Yes.

She was.

Only Lumi was worried.

Seo-jun noticed her concern and spoke.

"Don't worry."

"No, I'm not worried about your skill. I'm worried about mine... If we lose because I play badly, people might start blaming you..."

Of course, Seo-jun already knew exactly what she was worried about.

So he replied gently.

"Really. Don't worry."

Then he smiled.

"You won't be able to play badly."

In contrast—

Lumi and the other teammates suddenly felt an inexplicable chill run down their spines.

You won't be able to play badly?

What exactly does that mean?

No one dared ask.

And then—

After the meeting ended, it was finally time to choose their group.