Thus, the team name was finalized, and I was thinking that this was the end for today.
Director Jackie then brought up something unexpected.
“Hmm? Everyone, just a moment. Uh… Panoro team wants to have a quick scrimmage. What do you think?”
An unexpected scrimmage proposal.
Now that I think about it, was this team one of the ones where the directors had a good relationship with our team?
They also seemed to be having a meeting when we were.
And then, somehow, the topic of a scrimmage came up.
“I’m up for it. Trying one match might help us grasp the situation faster, don’t you think?”
Led by the enthusiastic Tex, everyone started to speak one by one.
“It doesn’t seem like a bad idea. There’s not much time left until the tournament, and even a short match today could help.”
“I’m good with it.”
“Yes… I’m fine too.”
Generally, there was agreement.
Ah, I was trying to leave quickly after the meeting ended. But, there’s nothing to be done about this.
My plan to ambush and punish the viewers teasing me, by suddenly ending the meeting, was ruined.
I agreed as well, and Director Jackie went to prepare the room.
“Who’s on Panoro’s team again?”
“Their overall tiers seem similar to ours.”
“Master, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Silver.”
“Just a little weaker, but not by much, right?”
The team members were talking about Panoro, our scrimmage opponent.
I also tried to recall my memories of Panoro team.
Who was on that team again?
Then, while I was reminiscing, I let out a small exclamation.
“Ah.”
A name came to my mind.
Oh Dae-sik.
Dae-sik was on the Panoro team, if I remember correctly.
Memories came flooding back, of how he taught his disciples more fervently than anyone else as a teacher.
Recalling those beautiful memories, I faced the Panoro team.
Let’s see how skilled you are.
“Wow, scrimmage. We’re doing a scrimmage.”
“How good is the other team? Who’s the highest tier among them?”
“Isn’t Director Mollu a Master?”
“I think we’re better than the rest of them.”
An impromptu one-match scrimmage with the Panoro team, thanks to Panoro’s director’s suggestion.
You can feel the excitement among the team members who weren’t in a bad mood before.
Dae-sik stood amidst them, gripping his head.
“How does Director Mollu look to you, Dae-sik? Is she very skilled?”
“Devil….”
“Pardon? What did you say?”
“Yes, she’s pretty good.”
Dae-sik deflected the question from a teammate and observed the situation.
‘Of all people…’
Of all the directors, ours happened to know Director Jackie well, and today just happened to have this scrimmage.
I remember how much fear I felt when I first saw Mollu’s name in the list of participants.
She’s actually here, participating in the competition.
She has an absurd level of skill, but because her tier is similar to mine, I knew it would be nearly impossible for us to be on the same team.
Dae-sik exhaled, letting go of his hand.
If we would eventually face each other during the competition, it was like getting punished early. He entered the scrimmage room with that mindset.
-Panoro_: Hello.
-Jacky_: Hello.
-TACS_: Nice to meet you.
Short greetings exchanged between the teams while waiting for everyone. It also included subtle psychological battles.
-Bak-yang: We’ll take one win with a big smile~
-Kim-Ryu-A: Haha, we’re going to win.
-Hyaar: There happen to be two veterans over there.. 🙂
-Jacky_: It was all strategy.
A small taunt that didn’t cross any lines.
Just as the audience loves such trash talks before the game, these minor exchanges happen naturally.
However, Dae-sik didn’t type any chat and stayed quiet.
This was contrary to his usual behavior, and team members were curious, but Dae-sik was tense, watching Mollu’s chat.
-Mollru: ^^
What does this smile mean?
Is she planning to beat me up?
Mollu just sent a smiley because she had nothing to say, but Dae-sik overinterpreted and feared it.
[Why’s he so scared?]
[Dae-sik… are you afraid of Mollu?]
[Honestly, yes, I am.]
[This is like Pavlov’s dog experiment.]
[After getting beaten for hours, just seeing her is frightening.]
[Dae-sik, you’re shaking like a chicken.]
[Why is she smiling?]
[Dae-sik is bound to get shredded like a dog.]
Words of sympathy and mockery came pouring in for the trembling Dae-sik.
Regardless, Dae-sik silently prepared, and
-Cheolwoo-lee: Let’s start.
Finally, the game began.
The battlefield was the middle of the city.
There was no sign of civilians, evacuated beforehand, with countless stores and facilities lined up.
It’s a capture point map where the objective is to capture the checkpoint.
Random maps will be used in the tournament, they say.
An infinite respawn until the target number of kills is achieved by one of the teams.
Dae-sik considered himself lucky that the map which is Mollru’s specialty didn’t come up.
He chose a wizard, a balanced dealer position for survival and output.
While hiding under the sturdy shield of the front-line tank, Dae-sik gradually advanced forward.
Dae-sik’s team, which was leading the attack, approached the enemy checkpoint, while Mollru’s team was taking up defensive positions.
Dae-sik first looked around to locate Mollru.
Realizing that she isn’t in any visible location, he spoke.
“There’s a high possibility of a sniper. Let’s hide behind the shield for now.”
As if his prediction were correct, gunshots soon resounded throughout.
The teammates who quickly hid behind the shields saved their lives.
“Scary. If we just watch out for the sniper though, it doesn’t seem that bad. Our front line is almost broken, right? Let’s go in when I give the signal.”
The streamer Bak-yang, the next highest-tier user after Dae-sik, a Diamond user, responsible for supporting and orders, spoke while keeping an eye on the front.
“Now! Let’s enter the checkpoint, shield up. Joff and Dae-sik, please keep an eye on the surroundings.”
At the moment when the enemy tank’s gauge had dropped significantly from an earlier probing attack, upon capturing the timing sharply, Bak-yang gave the order to enter the checkpoint.
The iron tank of Cheol-woo collapsed, and the ones hanging around him, Tex and Papijoa, were also wiped out.
Leaving Ryu-a, who was trying hard to dodge attacks alone at the checkpoint while Mollu remained at the back line.
She was soon killed by Dae-sik’s fireball.
“Seems easier than expected.”
“Our teamwork is good.”
“Looks like they’re not working well together.”
“Let’s push next with ultimates.”
In just one minute, one of the three checkpoint points was captured.
Nine minutes of attacking time remained.
Watching the teammates enjoy the game as if it were nothing, Dae-sik thought.
What is this? This shouldn’t be happening.
Why is it this easy?
A scene that evokes the image of a total disaster.
“Aaah! Heal, please, heal!”
“Ah, there’s an ambush. I’m out…”
“You’ve gone too far, Tex! Please come back!”
“The front line is retreating! We should pull back!”
First, pick the champions you’re most skilled with without worrying too much about synergy for now.
Director Jackie wanted to see us play once.
At that point, everyone had picked the agents they were confident in.
Since I was comfortable with most, I chose a role the team was lacking.
A dealer who could observe the battlefield situation widely from the backlines, a sniper.
Through the scope, the teammates’ flustered movements were clearly visible.
Bang—
Dae-sik’s fireball fell upon the leading Cheol-woo.
Cheol-woo’s gauge dropped instantly, and although he tried to say something, it was drowned out by the game sound effects.
Due to insufficient support because the others were also being overwhelmed,
the opposing team is also bunched together behind the shield, so there’s not much I can do either.
At best, I can just interrupt Dae-sik’s casting to prevent him from dealing damage too easily.
At this point, Tex, who should have broken the shield as a bomb guy, wasn’t managing his role due to Joff’s harassment from the opposing team.
Meanwhile, Papijoa fell to an assassin from the backline, and the fragile balance of the battlefield crumbled instantly.
Eventually, Cheol-woo’s gauge dropped with continuous harassment, and the tank who didn’t receive proper support collapsed.
All allies inside the checkpoint were wiped out along with it. Everyone except me was annihilated.
Now there’s no point briefing.
Ryu-a, who was now in charge of the main orders due to my stepping back, was flustered and called for retreat.
Meanwhile, Papijoa got cut down again. This kind of thing derails respawning.
We needed to reorganize even if giving up a checkpoint.
Just as we were retreating to wait for Papijoa’s respawn,
“I’ll go cut off the mage and come back, please protect B.”
“Excuse me? Will you be able to cut him off? If you go-”
“I think this would be better than just aimlessly setting bombs.”
Tex, who changed to assassin agent, aimed for the enemy backline.
It doesn’t seem like a very good choice.
The enemy is tightly packed behind the shield because of my presence.
They couldn’t possibly get caught in an ambush.
Needless to say, Tex was immediately killed, and the enemies captured checkpoint C with little difference compared to our earlier state.
The single-match scrimmage ended in defeat.
After saying their good game and leaving the room,
A silence fell in the connected discord call.
“Uh, um…?”
Was the defeat that shocking?
No one is speaking.
Well, it was quite an overwhelming loss.
Before everything, these guys are gamers, then streamers.
A defeat like this would naturally shake them up.
I suddenly remembered my past, when I used to dream of becoming a pro.
Back then, I used to get dejected similarly when I lost.
Losing was indeed bitter and heavy.
But, there’s always something to learn from it.
An important realization was that sulking isn’t going to help.
What’s crucial is learning from it, giving feedback, and getting back up quickly.
I reminded myself of that lesson from the past and spoke up to lighten the mood.
“It’s okay. We could lose too. By the way, why is your nickname ‘Papijoa,’ Papijoa? I’ve been curious.”
“Uh…?”
Just to shift the topic and lift the gloomy mood.
It seemed too random since Papijoa, who got her name called out of sudden, asked with a puzzled expression,
But realizing what I meant, she answered,
“Uh… Papijoa is an abbreviation. Not much really.”
“What exactly is abbreviated?”
“Well, originally, it was ‘PineapplePizzaLove’ but it seemed too long, so I made it ‘Papijoa.'”
Craaaaaaaaack.
I almost got an internal injury while trying to steer the conversation.
Still, I couldn’t blurt out some reaction like ‘Why are you eating that kind of stuff?’, and was suppressing my gag reflex when,
“Ah, I also like pineapple pizza.”
“Same here. Everyone I know dislikes it, but I find it delicious.”
“Really? All my friends hate it but I like it.”
All three of them… made such a terrible statement.
Is this hell?
The mood warmed up with talk of pineapple pizza.
I couldn’t break the atmosphere and quietly trembled alone.
—
