Chapter 101: WORLD (2)

‘What is this…’

It was the final day of the Group Stage.
ARK’s coach, Kim Han-seong, felt something strange as he watched his players’ match.

[No! What is ARK, seriously! Is this game content even possible!?]
Their opponent was PG, the same team from the opening match.
The flow of this game had been disastrous from the start, with their top side getting severely crushed by an early enemy counter-jungle.
Moreover, the bot lane had lost early trades, making it literally a game where every lane was lost.

‘We’re 5-0, but they’re 4-1.’
PG was effectively considered a championship contender. This meant they weren’t a team that would lose such a game.
If it were a scrim, it would be a game where they’d either ask the opposing team for a remake or just surrender.
It was clearly such a situation.

[No, really, they salvaged a completely devastated game, barely hanging onto a lifeline. And in the end, they succeeded in a comeback with one final blow!]
The players showed their will to minimize losses through individual skill and drag the game out just a little longer.
And at the end of it, a comeback.

‘It’s possible.’
Watching that comeback, a possibility dawned on Kim Han-seong’s mind.

In League of Legends, the condition for a strong team wasn’t just overwhelming victories; they had to be able to turn losing games around.
Winning games by snowballing them to the end was possible even for mediocre teams.
However, only by being able to flip losing games into wins could a team truly achieve a win rate worthy of being called strong.

‘Spring regular season loss, MSI Rumble loss, and the finals.’
Until now, ARK’s losses were mostly games where they were swept away by the opponent’s early-game strategies.
If they could master the method of turning around losing games in such situations.

‘This is it. It’s possible.’
A Worlds championship, and revenge against VXG, who were running towards the Golden Road.
He felt that both of these could be achieved at once.

[ARK advances to the quarterfinals as the 1st seed in Group A!]

“Is the draw starting right away now?”
“Probably.”
“Oh, please, just not VXG.”

We were the ones who started the Group Stage’s first match, so the last match also ended with our turn.
This Group Stage ended with all team standings decided, so there were no tiebreakers.
For that reason, even though our match was over, we remained in the waiting room, watching the draw.
This was due to the team members’ strong insistence that this kind of thing had to be watched live.

‘It’s similar to what I expected.’
Although they were outranked by us, all the 1st seeds, including PG, survived.
And the remaining 3 spots were also filled by formidable teams.

[Even though all the matches are over now, I can feel that many people are still holding their seats!]
[Of course, that’s only natural, isn’t it! Now we’re going to the Knockout Stage, the Quarterfinals!]
[And the beginning is, as expected, the draw, which can be seen as one of the fun elements of these matches!]
[Then, before the draw, let’s introduce the 8 teams that have shown amazing matches and survived!]

“But aren’t we and VXG not supposed to meet in the quarterfinals?”
“Now that I think about it, even if we meet, it would be in the semifinals.”
“Because in the quarterfinals, the 1st seed team meets a 2nd seed team.”
“I want to meet them in the finals and get my revenge.”

[First, the 1st seeds from the four major leagues, who showed truly noble performances and succeeded in having all of them survive.]
[LCK’s YK, LPL’s VXG, LEC’s PG, and LCS’s RRK.]
[Those who didn’t watch the Group Stage might find PG’s 2nd place advancement a bit puzzling.]
[But there was the devil of Group A, ARK, who went undefeated and advanced to the Knockout Stage.]
[Then, let me introduce the remaining spots. They are LCK’s 3rd and 4th seeds, DH and ARK, respectively.]
[Both teams share the commonality of possessing incredible aces. We hope DH’s Bon and ARK’s Para will show great performances.]
[The remaining two spots are LPL’s 2nd seed OB and LEC’s 3rd seed WG.]
[As a result, only teams from the four major leagues have survived into the Knockout Stage.]
[Of course, the minor teams also showed good performances, but there is still a wall. We hope to see minor teams in the Knockout Stage next year.]

“TXG was a bit unlucky.”
“But only a 1-point difference from OB. In my opinion, OB’s form collapsed in the second round. If TXG had just managed one more point and gone to a tiebreaker, they would have advanced.”

I thought so too.
TXG showed a strong performance for a Japanese team, but it seemed they made a mistake in their early tier assessment, getting tangled in the ban-pick phase and starting with two losses, which was a huge factor.
If they had played just a little better, it would have been an opportunity to see a minor team in the quarterfinals, which was a shame.

[Then, let the draw begin!]
[First, the 1st seed teams will have their positions determined, and then the 2nd seed teams will be drawn into those spots.]
[The order for the 1st seed teams is VXG, YK, RRK, and ARK.]
[And the 2nd seed teams will go in the opposite order.]
[So, the team drawn now will face ARK.]
[And the winner is…]

“Huh?”
As our opponent was decided, Kim Do-jin made a strange sound.

“PG shouldn’t be going to our side, right?”
This was because our drawn opponent was PG.
There’s a rule that teams who met in the Group Stage don’t meet again unless it’s the finals.
Therefore, PG automatically went to face the opponent directly opposite to us.

[Then, the match between VXG and PG will be held in the quarterfinals!]
[This is an unexpected result. The next team drawn is… DH!]
[Ah, are we going to see a 1st seed matchup and an LCK internal match in the quarterfinals already?]
[The next matchup is RRK and WG. This is also a traditional rivalry, Europe vs. North America.]
[Finally, ARK will automatically compete against OB.]
[There really isn’t a single match to skip!]

Quarterfinals Match 1: VXG (LPL 1st Seed) vs. PG (LEC 1st Seed)
Quarterfinals Match 2: YK (LCK 1st Seed) vs. DH (LCK 3rd Seed)
Quarterfinals Match 3: RRK (LCS 1st Seed) vs. WG (LEC 3rd Seed)
Quarterfinals Match 4: ARK (LCK 4th Seed) vs. OB (LPL 2nd Seed)

Thus, the Quarterfinals bracket was complete.
The team members’ reactions to it were:

“Wow, big matches right from the quarterfinals.”
“OB is relatively weaker, but they were the only team to take a set off VXG in the regular season. Let’s not let our guard down.”
“Is it Busan from the quarterfinals?”
“An LCK internal match already.”

Mostly, the reaction was that OB was a manageable opponent and that an LCK internal match was surprising.
However, since no one brought up the most important topic, I spoke.

“As for VXG… if we meet them, it’ll be in the finals.”
The point was that to face the strongest team in this tournament, and the biggest mountain we had to overcome, we would have to reach the finals.

“That’s true. We’re on completely opposite sides of the bracket.”
“It’s a shame. We could have sent them home in the quarterfinals.”
“That’s a bit much…”
“Let’s just win the quarterfinals first and then think.”

“I hope they get us a good hotel in Busan.”
“The MSI hotel was so bad.”

In the car heading to Busan for the Quarterfinals match, the team members began complaining about the hotel they stayed at in Seoul.

‘It was pretty bad, alright.’
I guessed it might be because there were many participating teams in the Group Stage.
No matter how much money Riot Games rakes in globally, it would be difficult to provide luxury hotels for 16 teams for a month.

“Still, shouldn’t it be better from the quarterfinals?”
“Seriously, the mattress in that hotel bed was the worst.”

Kim Do-jin answered my question desperately.
He was sensitive about his sleeping arrangements, so he seemed to have suffered quite a bit.

“…Are you sure it’s here?”
After a while, when we arrived at our destination, Kim Do-jin asked blankly, looking at the driver’s seat.

“This should be it, right?”
“Really? But here…”

The place we arrived at was a hotel in front of Haeundae Beach in Busan.
Looking up, a skyscraper that seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky caught my eye.

“Wow, Riot Games really has a lot of money.”
“They got us the Hansan Hotel.”
“It’s really tall. I heard it’s 85 floors.”

Hansan Hotel, the only domestic hotel to receive a 5-star certification from overseas media, not just the Korea Tourism Organization.
As we went up to the top floor assigned to us, a panoramic view of the ocean unfolded before our eyes.

“I’ll go to the arena with the coach for a bit.”
“Okay, have a good trip.”
“Yeah, our floor is blocked from outside access, so don’t worry too much.”

Even after the manager left the room for a preliminary visit, I continued to stare blankly out the window.
Perhaps because it was a wide-open view I hadn’t seen in a long time, my mind felt at ease.
How long had I been looking when someone rang the doorbell?

‘Kim Do-jin?’
However, the voice from outside the room was not Kim Do-jin’s.
But it was a familiar voice.

“Why are you so late opening the door!”
Standing at the door was Choi Eun-seo, looking even more confident than usual.

“Didn’t I tell you? If you come to Busan, I’m treating you to the full course!”
Hansan Group.
South Korea’s largest conglomerate.
And a local enterprise representing Busan.