[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 192

After the promotion tournament registration.

The days of intense practice continued, far more rigid than anything we had experienced up until now.

“I’m supposed to go workout today…”

“No way. We have a schedule until tonight.”

“……”

Since AllDay’s interview, it was supposed to be a short vacation for most teams, but scrim requests kept flooding in.

Even though the spring season had ended, for some teams, the promotion tournament was even more important than the season itself.

Against our competitors, or those we would be competing against in the future.

Surprisingly, there were a few foreign teams among them.

There were also teams from abroad participating in the promotion tournament, and occasionally, we received scrim requests from the champions of various leagues taking part in MSL.

At first, I was taken aback by the foreign teams’ scrim requests, but thankfully, there were Korean coaches on their side, so communication wasn’t an issue.

Well, most of the time, the ping difference meant the other team couldn’t really perform at their best anyway.

Thus, practice continued.

Not every practice was smooth sailing.

Sometimes we won, sometimes we lost.

Especially, for some time now, there had been a strange creak on the top lane.

“……I’m sorry. I made a mistake.”

“It’s okay, but let’s address what needs addressing first.”

One of the main reasons our team didn’t perform poorly in scrims against BOQ and other first division teams was that Seo Yeon-woo, on the top lane, held his ground against first division players and even occasionally dominated his lane.

But recently, things had changed.

Seo Yeon-woo no longer displayed the same aggression in lane as before, and at times, played so recklessly it seemed like throwing the game.

“Why did you go in there?”

“……It was a mistake. I’m sorry.”

“No, I don’t want to hear that you’re sorry…”

“Stop. You’re too heated right now. Let’s continue later.”

Perhaps it was because he had done so well until now that we had begun to overlook things.

Despite appearances, Seo Yeon-woo was still quite young and until recently, had just been one of those amateurs playing solo queue.

“I thought time would solve it… but something feels off lately.”

I discussed this with Baek Seong-an, but he just said it seemed like Seo Yeon-woo’s condition wasn’t great recently.

“Should I have a separate talk with him?”

But what would I even say?

‘Do you have any troubles?’ Is that what I should ask?

“……This is strange.”

I, who could barely manage simple conversations with others until recently, found it hard to think that way now.

It wouldn’t be easy.

“……I don’t know.”

I figured that somehow things would work out.

Although I couldn’t say the situation was ideal, looking at our team’s average scrim win rate, it was surprisingly high for a team participating in the promotion tournament.

We had some challenges, but barring any major variables, the likelihood of our team being eliminated in the preliminaries was low.

“Still, I’ll do my best as long as I can.”

I would not be complacent.

I would give it my all.

Practice, practice, and more practice.

In the meantime, Kim Jae-min finally achieved master tier in solo rank.

Admittedly, it felt a bit like he just stomped his way up through the games, but if that were true, he would soon be demoted back to Dia.

However, that didn’t mean there was only good news.

Seo Yeon-woo, who had maintained a high rank in challengers until then, had been demoted to Grand Master.

I knew he hadn’t been in great form lately, but I didn’t expect it would affect his solo queue to that extent.

“Is something going on?”

“…No. I’ll try harder.”

“Okay.”

I couldn’t tell whether it was simply a drop in form, or if something else was bothering him.

I asked other team members for hints about it, but they merely said it seemed like a temporary dip in performance.

“Hmmm.”

Caught in this feel of uncertainty…

Time ticked slowly toward the day of the promotion tournament preliminaries.

*

Promotion Tournament.

Currently, in Korea, there is a first division and a second division in Legends of League.

The league we would participate in was obviously the second division.

First, we had to ascend to the second division to get a chance to move up to the first.

Legends of League Challengers Korea.

Shortened to CKR.

This was the second division that our current goals were set on.

The promotion tournament for Legends of League Challengers Korea was conducted in a tournament format unless there were significant alterations.

The two teams that passed the preliminary rounds would face off in a promotion match against the bottom two teams of Challengers Korea, staking the fate of their teams.

“Is everyone ready?”

“…Yeah.”

“Somewhat.”

“Umm… I think so.”

“No one is giving a clear answer.”

‘Anyway…’

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t a bit dissatisfied, but it wasn’t surprising that my team members’ responses lacked confidence either.

With the intense training schedule and the mounting pressure, it seemed none of us had slept properly since yesterday.

“Well… me too.”

I tried to act nonchalant, but the truth was, I hadn’t been able to sleep well since last night either.

My heart was racing, and even when I lay down to sleep, I couldn’t seem to drift off.

As I tossed and turned with my eyes wide open, morning came, and upon arriving at the dormitory, the rest of the team, except for Kim Ji-hoon, looked equally haggard.

‘…Will we be okay?’

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t worried.

All I could do was hope the team would perform well.

“Let’s go.”

Towards the promotion tournament preliminaries.

*

The vehicle was pre-arranged as a multi-passenger, so there was no discomfort in getting to the preliminaries.

“We have arrived.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Please contact my number when you finish. I’ll pick you up right here.”

“Sure.”

The location was Yellow TV PC Bang in Sindorim.

As it was just a prelim, the stage wasn’t anything impressive, but it still didn’t stop the nerves.

“Whew…”

“What are you doing? Let’s go inside.”

“Ah, okay.”

“There’s nothing to worry about. It’s us, after all.”

Baek Seong-an tried to lighten the mood, but his eyes looked a bit haggard beneath those bags.

“Your dark circles are showing.”

“Ahem.”

“Let’s go.”

Maybe it was comforting to know I wasn’t the only one nervous, or perhaps having someone by my side made me feel secure.

As soon as we stepped into the PC bang…

“Hmm?”

“Hey, they’re here.”

“Who?”

“Outlaw.”

“What?”

I felt eyes on us. Eyes that directed toward us and me.

“Wow…”

“…They really showed up.”

“Uh, oh…”

“Hey, hey, look.”

“Yeah?”

“……Wait, Getback is there too.”

“We can’t be in the same group…”

“Are you scared?”

“Who’s scared…?”

It felt overwhelming.

Not just a little overwhelming, but extremely so.

‘What, what’s it to you if they’re staring?’

I tried to argue in my mind, but sadly, in reality, I was a shrinking violet unable to endure the gazes.

“Ugh…”

After spending a decent amount of time in a dorm, I had grown somewhat accustomed to interacting with others, but it seemed I still wasn’t tough enough to handle the scrutinizing eyes of an unidentifiable crowd.

‘I think I might throw up.’

When I hesitated, I suddenly felt the gaze directed at me drift away.

It was as if someone had gotten spooked.

‘Ah.’

I realized then who was standing next to me.

190cm. 120kg.

He had been grumbling about his weight reduction from 620 to 610 recently, even though it didn’t fit his size at all.

Timid Person 190.

But now, as OLZ’s Protein, Kim Ji-hoon stood as my steadfast support, like Malphite or Sett from reality.

‘…I guess he’s kind of useful at times like this.’

We didn’t have a bodyguard on our team, but somehow ever since we entered this place, Kim Ji-hoon seemed to be taking up that role without realizing it.

“Wow, what a height…”

“Must be a bodyguard.”

“Whoa…”

In many ways, our team couldn’t help but grab the attention of everyone in the PC bang.

However, whether it was due to Kim Ji-hoon’s presence, the gazes soon shifted away and didn’t feel overwhelmingly burdensome anymore.

“Are you OLZ?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Is everyone from your team here?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Please hold on just a moment.”

And so we waited.

After a while, the Yellow TV staff explained the schedule for the promotion tournament preliminaries.

“There are a total of 12 participating teams. Usually, we don’t have this many teams participating, so we kindly ask for your understanding regarding the preliminary rounds being conducted differently from the usual tournament format.”

“12 teams?”

“Yes.”

“Wow…”

Baek Seong-an shook his head.

“Is that a lot?”

“Yeah, previously we’d be lucky to have just a few teams. We might have picked a bad day.”

“…Well, it’s okay.”

No matter how many teams there were or how many competitors we faced, how could that matter?

After all, we were going to win.

At least, that’s what I believed.

I trusted in the practice we had done and in my teammates.

“If you believe that, then it must be true.”

Baek Seong-an soon regained his composure and jested with tired eyes.

“Now, let me explain the changed format for the promotion tournament preliminaries. Everyone, please gather around.”

Umm…

It felt like something was off, but the Yellow TV staff probably just had a tight schedule to stick to.

“First off, the 12 teams will be divided into two groups. From there, we’ll draw six teams for each group. Then, those groups will split into two groups again, and only one team from each group of three will advance to the group finals.”

What does that even mean?

Why split into groups? Can’t we just do a simple tournament?

While my eyes were wide open and blinking in confusion, I noticed Baek Seong-an’s pallor grow even more as he listened to the staff’s explanation.

“…This isn’t good.”

Kim Jae-min, who was beside him, asked.

“Why?”

“Do you understand what that means?”

“No?”

Baek Seong-an sighed quietly.

“So… to put it simply, if we have bad luck, we could get eliminated in the preliminaries with just one loss.”

“……What?”

Kim Jae-min’s face turned even paler than Baek Seong-an’s.