[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 178

As soon as the opponent was finished off, Seo Yeon-woo and Baek Seong-an, who usually spoke quietly, shouted almost in unison.

[“Nice!”]

To be precise, the situation from a moment ago was akin to a feast already laid out.

The opponent had already used a lot of resources to take down our allies, and even the last remaining resource was spent trying to take me down.

‘It was a situation where they had to pour everything into me.’

If the well-fed Jarvan could have endured even just a little longer, the dynamics would have been completely thrown off, leaving them with no other choice.

Thus,

What Lucian needed to do in that moment was simply to take down the opponent that could deal a lethal strike to him in the prescribed order.

It was already a matter of having the answer set in stone.

However, just because a situation can be done doesn’t mean that everyone can do it — otherwise, the profession of professional gamer wouldn’t even exist.

“Good job.”

Calculating the cooldowns of the opponent’s threatening crowd control, predicting their moves. Additionally, eliminating the most dangerous opponents first. Dodging enemy skills while boldly creating damage angles.

Those were the necessary judgments and mechanics from the recent situation.

Of course, Kim Jae-min probably didn’t consciously calculate all of this in his head. But, like other talented players, it was right to say that he instinctively managed to pull it off.

There are countless theories in Legends of League, but in fact, professional gamers don’t all know them inside out. They simply embody them and use them intuitively.

[“…Thank you.”]

Still feeling the excitement from the team fight a moment ago, Kim Jae-min’s voice trembled.

And…

After achieving a great victory in the second Rift Herald fight, a huge gap had opened up between the two teams.

From then on, standard operations ensued.

Having already seized control, we consistently chipped away at the opponent’s jungle vision without losing our grip, and with that, the opponent’s jungle, deprived of vision, began to wither.

The next battle over the Dragon, in this case, was also readily given up by the opponent.

-Our allies defeated the Earth Dragon!

Even so, the opponent stubbornly tried to pick off side lanes with units like Kamal LeBlanc or Kamal Xin Zhao, but every time, their bottom duo in mid was punished instead.

[⨷]

[OLZ Outlaw (Jarvan III) targets BLH Shotgun (Aphelios)]

“They’re targeting the side. Focus on mid.”

[“Understood.”]

Aphelios and Ruler were stationary.

In a situation where there was already a gap between them, both were little more than prey for Jarvan.

-Enemy eliminated!

-On a rampage!

At this point, the opponent had nearly run out of cards.

The front-line clash had already become a matter of the gap in power, and even trying to target the sides would leave weaknesses in numbers, exposing the main force.

Moreover, it was already a situation where our strong Lucian Nami existed.

No matter how behind they were, in such a favorable condition, Twisted Fate only had to use his high-range poke to face off against the enemies.

With each time the gold card hit, Lucian would clean them up one by one.

-Ting!

-Enemy eliminated!

The snowball that wouldn’t stop rolling finally reached Baron.

As we openly started Baron to lure the opponent, they also charged into one last team fight.

Of course, the outcome was already decided.

-Enemy eliminated!

Every time Getback’s gold card flew in, one of the enemy champions vanished.

-Double kill!

-Victor of the battlefield!

-Finish!

After a crushing team victory, our team immediately surged towards mid and pushed the opponent’s Nexus.

[Victory]

By the end of the game, Lucian’s score was 9/0/3.

Dominating damage, he was the MVP.

There had been ups and downs, but looking at it in the end, it was a typical AD carry carry game.

[“Good job out there.”]

[“Thanks everyone, you really did well.”]

“Great job, everyone.”

As soon as the game ended, Baek Seong-an, who was the first to throw off his headset and stood up, shouted.

“Alright, everyone, gather around!”

Even as the team members gathered one by one on the sofa in front of me, Kim Jae-min was still seated, catching his breath.

“Phew….”

Despite the dorm’s temperature being set optimally, a sweat-drenched fringe hung over Kim Jae-min’s forehead.

That was a sign of how focused he was on the game.

“Well done.”

“Huh? Oh… thanks.”

Kim Jae-min’s expression looked brighter than ever.

After all, just not too long ago, he was treated like a spoon in the team.

Even if this game was set up deliberately to funnel resources to him from the ban/pick stage, when the opportunity arose, proving himself was purely down to Kim Jae-min’s own skills.

“Now, let’s talk later. For now, everyone, gather around.”

“Okay.”

At Baek Seong-an’s call, Kim Jae-min and I moved to the sofa.

“First of all, I didn’t do much in this game… I’m really sorry, everyone.”

Before feedback could begin, Baek Seong-an admitted his faults.

Truthfully, this game was nearly ruined by mistakes in the early mid-game, leading to a snowball effect that made it difficult.

Because the crucial bottom lane, especially the AD carry’s growth, had gone well, we won somewhat easily; however, if things had gone awry there as well, it could have become a very tough match.

“It’s fine. It happens.”

“Exactly.”

Seo Yeon-woo and unexpectedly Kim Ji-hoon both stepped up to comfort Baek Seong-an.

“No, I shouldn’t have been so arrogant knowing that the opponent’s mid was strong. Now that I’ve learned this lesson, I won’t do that again.”

This scrim match taught us a lot.

The first was Kim Jae-min’s potential.

Even though we gathered together every resource available, Kim Jae-min proved himself in that situation.

Of course, to really validate this, he needs more checks through other scrims, but so far, he had successfully shown his worth.

The second was Baek Seong-an’s limitations.

Getback is not a carry-type mid laner.

To be precise, perhaps he used to be, but now that is no longer an option.

Thus far, he hadn’t faced a heavily skilled opponent, so it had been possible to hold on with just a shield.

BOQ, although the third-ranked team in the first division, was not a team that relied heavily on individual skill, so it was possible for Getback to endure.

However, in this first scrim against BLH, Baek Seong-an’s shield had shattered.

When faced with real strength, it ultimately falls apart.

Baek Seong-an’s weakness had been revealed.

“…I’ll be more careful about mistakes that come from this.”

Baek Seong-an nodded.

Since this was purely a matter of power breaking through defenses, there wasn’t much feedback to give regarding the mid.

“The bottom lane did very well.”

Feedback proceeded swiftly.

A few minor mistakes and judgments were discussed among us.

“…Alright. Let’s aim for a better result in the next game.”

Baek Seong-an’s face seemed somewhat clouded.

*

The second scrim, like the previous one, prioritized power in the top and jungle ban/pick.

Whether it was because we gave Kim Jae-min the champion, or perhaps he had finally let go of his stubbornness regarding team ban/pick, he didn’t express any dissatisfaction.

And, the second game began.

-Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!

…

-The enemy has agreed to surrender with 5 votes in favor and 0 against.

[Overall][BLH Proof (Yune): GG]

17 minutes and 41 seconds.

The kill score was 9:1.

That was the outcome of the second game.

[“Wow…”]

Should I call it expected?

Unlike the previous game, we focused on top and jungle and BLH quickly fell.

By putting in a supportive combo for the bottom lane and focusing on the top side, we reaffirmed that it was our team’s strongest foundational strategy.

“Let’s try this this time around.”

“…Are you sure that’s okay?”

“Yeah. Give it a go.”

For the last game, we chose picks that supported different lanes while putting more focus on mid and jungle in the ban/pick.

-Welcome to Summoner’s Rift!

Perhaps it was as expected.

-The enemies have been defeated!

The third game, in contrast to the previous two, became difficult from the start.

A mid-focused composition meant we needed to give our mid a strong champion and that Getback would have to face off against Proof directly.

“Ah… I’m sorry, I made a mistake.”

When mistakes repeat, they show the level of skill.

Baek Seong-an, likely knowing that truth, still couldn’t help but mutter the word “mistake.”

In the end, even though we managed to win the third game, it was by no means an easy victory.

After taking a huge loss early on, we had to huddle together and draw out the game for over 50 minutes, but we finally claimed victory.

[Victory]

“Phew…”

“Good job, everyone.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Hmm…

We won, but I wasn’t satisfied.

I knew the reason.

‘I was aware, but…’

The pick that could most powerfully boost our team’s strength was one that empowered the top and jungle.

Especially the jungle.

Though it was awkward to say out loud, the core of our team would undeniably be the jungler.

Then the next best option would be a top-focused pick that is comparatively capable of carrying.

The next would be the bottom combination we had just worked on.

In that sense, the current weakest point of our team was clearly the mid-centric composition.

This point had been glaringly revealed in the recent scrim against BLH.

‘It’s not a problem that can be resolved in the short term.’

Of course, our team’s biggest issue still stemmed from Kim Jae-min in the bottom lane.

But Kim Jae-min proved his capacity for growth today, and more importantly, he had Kim Ji-hoon with him in the bottom lane.

Thus, when facing a team where the mid was powerful, like BLH, an undeniable issue emerged for our team.

‘The weakness of OLZ.’

It had been exposed.