Chapter 96: Worlds Selection (2)

“You… you crazy b*stards! If you had played this well in the finals, we would have won!”

At Yoon Seo-ha’s shout, the ARK members in the room, including Kim Do-jin, momentarily thought there was something wrong with their ears.

There were two reasons.
First, being professional gamers meant they wore headsets daily, so it wouldn’t be strange if hearing problems like tinnitus developed eventually.

Second, Yoon Seo-ha was not the type of person to curse in front of her teammates.
However, seeing that everyone next to them had a similar reaction, they were convinced they had heard correctly.

‘If I didn’t mishear… no, why?’
Before the MSI finals, Yoon Seo-ha was, to put it nicely, quiet, and to put it badly, passive.
In-game or regarding her professional life, she would make unexpectedly bold statements, but otherwise, she maintained an attitude of indifference to everything else.

To sum up her usual demeanor in one phrase: a cat whose thoughts you couldn’t decipher.
Her sudden bombshell left the other team members equally stunned.

‘Do they all think the same thing?’
Looking sideways, the other team members seemed less angry about being yelled at and more like their minds couldn’t comprehend the situation itself.
Park Jin-hwan’s jaw was agape, and the energy drink he was sipping dribbled from his mouth.

‘What the…’
Kim Do-jin stared at Yoon Seo-ha, dumbfounded.
Her small hands were clenched as if she had made a firm decision, and her eyes were closed, facing the ground.
That was not the posture of someone who was looking down on and criticizing her teammates.

That meant there had to be a reason.
However, before he could find that reason, Yoon Seo-ha continued her tirade.

“Why do you always throw in the top lane?”
“Because you main tanks and can’t help it? Is K’Sante a tank? You play Aatrox well, don’t you?”
“Jungle, why do you always ignore mid and play your own game? Mid can handle itself? I can do even better if there are no enemy ganks.”
“Bot, why on earth do you play such ridiculous compositions? What kind of unholy combination is Draven-Nami?”
“If you knew the opponent was going to pick it, you should have banned it. Why are you so stubborn?”
“And support, you always try to make super plays and don’t even engage until mid makes a move.”

‘…She’s right about everything.’
It was all true; there was nothing to say.

The other team members seemed to be in a similar state, unable to speak easily after hearing her words.
Yoon Seo-ha, who had spoken out, also seemed embarrassed, breathing heavily with a flushed face, but it looked like she still had more to say.

“So!”
Yoon Seo-ha’s gaze lifted and met the members’ eyes.
Her reddened eyes trembled slightly but did not avoid their gazes.

“Let’s do well from now on. I’ll do better too.”

Why on earth.
Why did I press Teleport at the end of the finals? I kept thinking about it.
Of course, the reason was that I didn’t trust my teammates. If so, why didn’t I trust them?
Only after meeting Choi Eun-seo did I realize the reason.

‘Because I didn’t expect anything from them.’
Since my past life, I hadn’t expected anything from my teammates.

It was due to the simplistic thought that if I expected something, they might use it as an excuse to criticize me. However, now there was no reason to worry about such things.
I poured out all the complaints I had kept bottled up inside.
And finally, an apology.

‘…What will their reaction be?’
I had never done anything like this, even in my past life, so I couldn’t predict their reaction.
The first thing Kim Do-jin said was.

“…Yeah, let’s do well from now on.”
Next, Park Jin-hwan spoke.

“I might have been a bit of a liability until last season. But who’s the team’s POG leader now, the carry machine?”

Park Jin-hwan, usually the quietest, deliberately showed excessive confidence and joked around, prompting the bot duo to speak up almost simultaneously.

“Honestly, criticizing the draft is a bit of a stretch.”
“Hey, hey, how many solo engages have I been making this season?”

Only then did the teammates, back to their usual selves, approach me one by one to offer their rebuttals.
Then, Kim Do-jin came up to me.

“Thanks for being honest, even if it’s late. Honestly, since you always do everything well on your own… what should I call it. It seems like we didn’t pay enough attention.”
In that heartwarming atmosphere, the practice room door opened.

“What? Have you all made up now?”
“What do you mean, made up? The problem was just that we weren’t good enough.”

The coach, who seemed to have been listening from outside for some time, came in and threw a joke.
Then he went to the whiteboard set up at the back of the practice room.

“You all know the saying, ‘Even if you roll in sh*t, this world is better,’ right? Even if we did poorly in the regular season, once we get to Worlds, it’s our stage. Everyone’s form has improved too.”
He began to write something down diligently.

The written content was an analysis of today’s opponent, RG, for each lane—not something that could be prepared in just a day or two.

“Their qualifier win rate is 100%, but honestly, during the regular season when Seo-ha’s condition was a bit off, we were 1-1 against them.”
Then he looked at me.

“Seo-ha, you’re confident about your condition today, right?”
“Yes, I’ll start carrying again from today.”

There is no more hesitation.

“Hello! We greet you on the final day of the qualifiers!”
“Hello! I can already feel the anticipation from so many people. I even heard there are quite a few spectators watching from the lobby outside the stadium without tickets.”
“That just shows how important this match is, doesn’t it!”
“As someone involved in LoL E-sports, I’m not a huge fan of the ‘Worlds-is-everything’ mentality, but it’s still the culmination of a year’s work. Isn’t Worlds the stage where anything can be overturned?”

[Seriously, if you win Worlds <<< is that single thing all that matters?]
[If you conquer your playground but can’t win Worlds, it’s over ㅇㅇ]
[If ARK awakens and wins Worlds, can they beat VXG?]
[That surpasses a one-year career lol]
[Ugh, you rivalry instigators, seriously, stop with the flame wars and focus.]
[What was that ARK unnie just now?]

“One team will get a ticket to Worlds, while the other will play their last match of the season.”
“Truly, the fourth seed, in a way, just qualifying for Worlds is a sufficient achievement. But for these two teams to meet in the fourth-seed qualifier, their names are truly formidable, aren’t they?”
“RG, who can be said to be responsible for LCK’s Worlds performance, and ARK, who have currently folded their wings but could soar at any moment. It’s a shame that one of these teams’ journeys ends today.”

[ARK really needs to make it]
[No, it’s ridiculous for Para to end here]
[Para did throw for them to get this far…]
[She didn’t throw]
[She just went full ‘you guys lose’ mode lol]
[ARK Hwaiting!]

“Actually, there’s one reason why the match between these two teams is interesting.”

“There’s a story that the coaches of ARK and RG have had a tenacious relationship since their player days, and that the two teams are scrim partners.”
“No way… Does that mean?”
“It means they know all of each other’s picks. In this do-or-die elimination match where they even know each other’s pocket picks, you can look forward to seeing what kind of battle will unfold.”
“Still, it’s only been one season since ARK came up to the LCK, but it feels strange that they’re already in a guillotine match like this, fighting for their lives.”

[ARK will win comfortably with their overall strength ㅇㅇ]
[It’ll be tough if Para doesn’t show up]
[Seriously, what’s wrong with Para’s condition lately?]
[If you watch ‘Off the Record,’ she doesn’t even talk when they win]
[Isn’t Para the main shot-caller?]
[I think it changed to Lesser this season]
[In the first place, how can a rookie be the main shot-caller lol. Her mechanics will decline too if she does that.]

“Then, let’s begin the ban-pick for Game 1!”
“Since winning the laning phase in mid has become even more important in this season’s meta, it’ll be interesting to see how both teams have interpreted it.”
“Both teams use their ban cards on mid champions that can play strong laning phases… but both ARK and RG leave Orianna and Syndra open?”
“Does this mean they’ll share them? For now, it starts with ARK’s first pick, as they are on the blue side.”
“And here, ARK first-picks Yone!”

[?]
[Wow]
[It’s been so long]
[This heavy and cool sensation… this heavy and cool sensation… this heavy and cool sensation]
[Is Para’s Yone finally coming out?]

“Para’s Yone, is it coming out here? It was an undefeated card until before the MSI finals, but it started to show some shakiness after that. Eventually, it completely gave way to mage champions.”
“Objectively, from the point Para collapsed, ARK showed a strategy of simply placing champions with good lane push in mid. But this time, they’re starting with Yone?”
“Yone is a champion where small skirmishes and side lane management are important, so team coordination is crucial. We’ll have to see if this pick will save ARK from the brink, or simply push them over.”

[Let’s go!]
[Wow Yone]
[Is she really going to show us?]
[What if Para throws and they lose because of this?]
[Dunno, LoL Gallery will probably explode, whatever]
[It’s been a month since Yone appeared, do you know how long I’ve waited, Para, please carry and get POG for once]