[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 167

A moment of silence passed.

[“…Uh, okay.”]

Baek Seong-an, the only one with any semblance of normal social skills, gave a half-hearted response, while the others just laughed as if they couldn’t believe it.

[“Hahaha…”]


[“…Huh.”]

‘Sigh.’


Well, I suppose experiencing it firsthand would fix that.

As I was thinking this, Seo Yeon-woo, unable to wait any longer, spoke up. It seemed like anxiety was bubbling up as time went on.

[“What should we pick first?”]

Currently, a lot of bot lane picks had been banned. It was generally better to secure a bot lane champion if possible.

[“I think we should go for a bot lane pick. I think either Jhin or Jiksoo would be good?”]

Baek Seong-an seemed to have a similar thought as he suggested Jhin or Jiksoo.

Among the bot laners left, those would certainly be the more viable picks in the current meta.

Of course, there were better picks like Kai’Sa or Aphelios, but… compared to the former champions, they required more resources from the team and heavily depended on the AD carry’s skill.

In any case, the bot lane wasn’t the focal point of our team, so picking something like that would be absurd.

It had to be that way…

[“Give me Jinx.”]

Reality always has a way of exceeding expectations.

[“…I think there might be better picks? Something like Aphelios instead…”]

[“I’m confident. Give me Jinx.”]

Baek Seong-an hurriedly tried to persuade him, but the Prince of AD carries’ opinion was already set in stone.

-What do we do?

Baek Seong-an subtly shifted his gaze to me sitting next to him, asking with his lips.

The mid and jungle roles were adjacent.

Of course, the mid and bot roles were also next to each other, but that wasn’t the point right now.

-Hmm. Just let him have what he wants.

-…Is that okay?

-Yes. It’s just a scrim anyway.

Categorizing cards into usable and unusable ones is also part of scrims.

More than anything… I felt the need to start taking the reins on this AD carry prince.

Eventually, Baek Seong-an sighed and spoke with a resigned voice.

[“…Pick Jinx.”]

[“Yes.”]

Seo Yeon-woo, as she always did, picked without any doubt.

[Jinx]

Jinx was essentially an AD carry with no survival skills—basically a walking target.

Thus, picking Jinx and losing lane control would mean losing the game as well.

Handing such a risky AD carry to a freshly recruited Diamond 1 player who wasn’t even proven yet?

It was certainly not a typical decision, but it was still something that could be worthwhile.

‘If it works, great; if not, whatever.’

Granted, that mindset might not be the best for a scrim, but it was a necessary process for our team.

And then it was time for the enemy to pick.

[Jiksoo]

From a statistical standpoint, Jiksoo was one of Jinx’s hard counters.

Applying pressure on the enemy by banning bot laners and then counter-picking seamlessly.

What a textbook ban/pick.

‘I’d say they’re experienced.’

Given that we were up against a newly formed team that hadn’t even debuted, they could have just slacked off, but I got the feeling they were taking this seriously.

And then…

Finally, the ban/pick phase was completed.

+

[Allies / Enemies]


Top: Jason / Graves


Jungle: Jarvan III / Lee Sin


Mid: Galion / LeBlanc


Bot: Jinx / Jiksoo


Support: Ruler / Yuumi

+

Our team’s composition was a typical AD carry-focused setup.

Looking at it now, we might have been a bit short on AP, but since the enemy had no hard tanks, it was still fine up to this point.

Yeah, this was okay.

The problem was elsewhere.

Our team composition had the advantage of forcing engages and dominating team fights with Galion and Jarvan, but the enemy composition overall had longer range and much better survival skills.

Especially in the top and mid lanes, we were clearly at a disadvantage, making it somewhat of a counter situation.

I hadn’t intended to create this kind of comp from the start, but somehow, the ban/pick led us to this.

It’s as if we were inadvertently swept into the enemy’s flow.

[“Hmm, this isn’t going to be easy. Let’s all do our best.”]

“Fighting!”


[“Fighting!”]

Amid the ensuing silence, Seo Yeon-woo was the only one to respond to my voice.


…You’re the only one backing me up here.

‘Anyway, you guys down in bot lane.’

You guys better start scrambling to make something happen.

In Legends of League, when dividing roles, the most common way is to separate upper and lower body.

There’s enough of a gap that you can tell there’s distance between top, jungle, and mid lanes versus bot lane and support.

Of course, in usual cases, bot lanes communicate well, but unfortunately, it felt like even our bot lane couldn’t communicate properly.

-Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!

The actual game began.

[⬇] [⬇] [⬇]

The invade path chosen by our team was towards the bottom bush.

Since we picked Jinx, we had to firmly establish lane dominance in the early game.

[❕] [❕] [❕]

The early game invade nerves passed without incident, with both sides merely securing vision.

Considering that scrims tend to be more aggressive than tournaments, it was a fairly smooth start.

“I’ll start on red.”

My jungle starting route also started well.

Though it was a different kind of normal from a full camp route.

“I’ll be ganking mid for level 2.”

[“Can you do that?”]

“Go for it.”

Typically, players who play LeBlanc tend to overextend, relying on LeBlanc’s strong survival capability.

Actually, that’s the only way to make the pick meaningful.

Which means it creates openings.

Jarvan III’s level 2 gank route could be considered a traditional and standard one, but in the current meta, where growth is key, it’s a route that doesn’t get used often due to risk.

This too would create situations of vulnerability.

“Now.”

LeBlanc’s W had already been used.

-Thwack!

The perfectly executed gank caught LeBlanc, forcing her Flash.

[“Nice.”]

With that, our mid was likely to experience less pressure than the usual lane matchup.

‘Lost a bit in the jungle route, but it’ll be manageable.’

Sure enough, the enemy Lee Sin tried to make his way into our jungle upon realizing my position.

“Watch this for me.”

[“Got it.”]

Thanks to Galion’s brief control, we were able to stop the enemy Lee Sin from entering our jungle.

It wasn’t a bad start.

*

Time flew by, and before I knew it, 20 minutes had passed since the game started. Despite a decent start, things weren’t looking great.

The early game atmosphere was certainly fine.

-First Blood!

-We have taken down an enemy!

We gained mid lane control, and despite unfavorable matchups, we successfully turned things around with a gank on top lane.

Even though the bot was at a relative tier disadvantage, thanks to the efforts of Timid Person 190, we were holding our own, and with a firm control in the upper half, we smoothly secured the Rift Herald for a classic win.

At least that’s what I thought.

-Our team has fallen!

-Enemy Double Kill!

Yeah, until a massive incident suddenly occurred in the bot lane.

[“…I knew I should’ve backed off.”]

Timid Person 190 Kim Ji-hoon’s growl echoed through the chat.

[“I-I’m sorry…”]

The incident stemmed from the AD carry’s CS greed causing him to miss his recall timing, resulting in a failed health management that left openings for the enemy.

The difference between ShowMeTheAgal, who had shown resilience against the Challenger AD carry, and the enemy AD carry began to widen at that point.

It led to a classic upper vs. lower body showdown.

If this had been a solo rank, despite this, the upper half would still be in the lead.

The issue was that this was a team game, and the enemy bot started giving time for Graves and LeBlanc to grow based on their lane clearing capabilities.

Because of that, even though our team seemed to have an initial advantage, we couldn’t maintain our snowballing and were now blocked before the enemy mid’s first turret.

Normally, we would have at least found some way out.

But the disparity in compositions was too great.

Our team clearly had strengths in forced engages and team fights, but the enemy was composed of champions capable of effortlessly dodging such forced initiates.

“Push the lane… no, back off now!”

No matter how hard I and Getback tried to give orders, the discrepancies between issuing those orders and when they were followed resulted in cumulative losses.

Spread your wings, then fold them.

That SY team that had handed BOQ their first loss with their teamwork and swift operations.

A team that had just been assembled and hadn’t even practiced properly couldn’t contend with them in terms of coordination.

Little by little, it began to accumulate losses.

As the seconds dragged by, getting swept up in the enemy’s quick maneuvers, we found ourselves fighting a losing battle over the next 10, then 20 minutes.

Whenever the enemy made a move, we were drawn back, leading to small losses in lanes and jungle as the enemy carried out their plans.

“We have to catch this.”

The advantage of our team composition lay in team fighting.

Thus, even in a grim situation, there remained a final opportunity.

[“…Think you can do it?”]

Despite Baek Seong-an’s concern, I replied without hesitation.

“I can do it.”

Why is Jarvan III so hard-pressed to perform effectively in pro games?

His skill set is incredibly intuitive, making it all too easy to counter.

Once the flag drops, anyone, even those who aren’t professional gamers, can easily predict Jarvan’s movements.

Therefore, to effectively deal damage with Jarvan, it’s necessary to surpass such foresight from the enemy.

And the flag jump is one of the most effective techniques to catch the enemy off guard.

Of course, the hitbox for the jump is honestly not great.

It’s not about reaction; it’s all about predicting.

And that’s something I’m quite familiar with.

“I got him.”

The instant the flag dropped, it seemed like the enemy Jiksoo was trying to dodge with a Flash.

But to me, that too fell within the bounds of predictability, and I used my own Flash at nearly the same moment.

Jiksoo leapt into the air, and as enemies closed in on him, Jarvan’s ultimate and Galion’s ultimate fell onto them.

[“LeBlanc, LeBlanc, LeBlanc!”]

With Baek Seong-an’s desperate shout, the LeBlanc, who had been buying time, was instantly taken out.

-We have taken down an enemy!

-Executed!

-Finished!

Since the game had reached the late stage, a decisive victory in just one team fight could end the game.

[Victory]

From the first scrim, the match stretched on for a lengthy 47 minutes.

What a magnificent comeback.

“Ha…”

The warmth of the practice room had risen, and the team members threw off their headsets.

“We actually won.”

“Phew.”

“Wow…”

There was an odd mixture of admiration coming from the top lane, but I feigned ignorance.

Having someone with a pretty face staring at me like that feels… a bit burdensome.

“Good job, Yujin. Seriously, we won thanks to you.”

“Not really. We all did well.”

“No, not all of us.”

With that, Baek Seong-an’s gaze slowly shifted to the right.

To the AD carry position, specifically towards ShowMeTheAgal Kim Jae-min.

“Jae-min.”

The chilly voice of Baek Seong-an made Kim Jae-min flinch.

“…Yes.”

It was only natural.

Even though we won in the end, it would be no stretch to say that the 80% of the blame for this game getting dragged out like it did fell on the AD carry.

In fact, up until about 10 minutes into the game, Kim Jae-min had been chattering incessantly, but as the match wore on, his voice had dwindled significantly.

“What did you think about this game?”

“…I think I messed up.”

“What part?”

Kim Jae-min couldn’t answer.

Even though there were mistakes to point out, he looked pitifully downcast.

However, despite his downcast demeanor, Baek Seong-an spoke coldly, as if devoid of emotion.

“From now on, just pick what’s suggested for scrims.”

The prince’s status was demoted to just being taken care of.