[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 224

“I can’t believe we won this.”

Kim Jae-min, still in shock, tossed his headset aside and exclaimed.

To be fair, it wasn’t the hardest game ever, but considering who we were up against, Jae-min’s reaction made sense.

Actually, it was pretty understandable.

“Ugh…”

Kim Ji-hoon, who was usually a stoic guy and didn’t show his emotions or thoughts, let out a heavy sigh.

That just meant he was really focused on this game.

It wasn’t just Jae-min and Ji-hoon, either.

“Great job, everyone!”

“I’m just starting to sober up now.”

Seo Yeon-woo and Baek Seong-an also tried hard not to show it, but their voices were trembling with excitement.

It was hard to believe we’d actually beaten SY.

“And I also…”

Won.

Against SY, no less.

“Good job, everyone.”

Of course, it was true that the opponent’s movements were a bit suspicious at the start. I wasn’t sure if it was just because they were exploring too much, but Mid, which should have been getting crushed, navigated the most dangerous early phase pretty smoothly.

‘Then I died afterwards, but in the end, we made the opponent’s jungle use their turns, so it wasn’t all bad.’

Summing up this game for feedback was straightforward.

The opponent got complacent.

Or maybe they were too alert.

You could sum it up like that.

‘The real issue starts now…’

In that first game, they had somewhat gauged our strength.

From now on, this could be considered the real SY match.

“We got lucky this time. It won’t go down like this again in the next match.”

Baek Seong-an, clearly aware of that fact, said quietly amidst the cheerful atmosphere.

“Feeling a bit better now?”

“Yeah. I’m good.”

At first glance, it seemed like he’d sobered up, but taking that at face value was a bit too optimistic.

‘He’s probably just mistaking his excitement for improvement, huh?’

Was it just a temporary boost from the adrenaline kicking in?

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Baek Seong-an’s expression began to darken.

“…I’ll just be a minute in the bathroom.”

Called it.

“Hey, do you want me to pat your back?”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

Seo Yeon-woo, the epitome of consideration, tried to follow him, but Seong-an firmly refused.

I mean, it wouldn’t be a great sight for the team before such an important match, right?

“Did you really do a lane battle with Rainbow in that state? That’s impressive.”

Jae-min chirped with his usual high energy.

“Facts.”

Seo Yeon-woo, who seemed like the complete opposite of Jae-min, surprisingly chimed in without hesitation.

“Jackson was amazing too. Did he even die once on the side?”

“Ezreal did everything.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

“But I did better.”

Jae-min and Seo Yeon-woo kept chattering away.

From the outside, they didn’t seem to match at all, but strangely, their vibes synced up pretty well.

‘…Speaking of which, the 3 Min Top School Honorary Member was great with the keyboard skills too.’

I’d been misled by his innocent looks for a while, but underneath, he was a fierce top-lane player.

It was no surprise that he and Jae-min had some common ground besides just age.

Watching those two chatter, Ji-hoon and I had a constructive discussion about our game plan moving forward.

“I think focusing our picks on Top was a good call. But since we’ll be on Blue side for the next game, we might need to rethink our ban/pick strategy.”

“Hm, but with our manager/coach in that state… let’s just handle it ourselves for now.”

“Got it.”

The more we discussed the ban/pick, the more one feeling started to creep in.

‘…What a waste.’

What if SY had taken a little more time to schedule the match instead of this abrupt request?

Wouldn’t we have been able to face SY in tip-top shape, fully prepared?

‘So disappointing.’

Sadly, the water had already been spilled.

All that was left was to do our best in this situation.

“Sis!”

“Yeah?”

“They’re ready on their end.”

“Oh, wait a minute.”

Has it really come time already?

I hurried to my computer.

[SY TheOne: Are you ready?]

I looked around.

Didn’t see Baek Seong-an anywhere.

“Has he come out yet?”

Seo Yeon-woo replied.

“Not yet.”

“Really?”

Unfortunately, it seemed like Baek Seong-an had no intention of leaving the bathroom.

[OLZ Outlaw: One moment please. Our Mid is in the bathroom.]

[SY TheOne: Okay, let us know when you’re ready!]

Fortunately, it seemed SY didn’t have a tight schedule and were understanding.

‘Of course, they wouldn’t suspect it’s because of a hangover, though.’

I was curious how the SY players would react if they found out, but there was no way I was going to do something to shorten our team’s lifespan.

[OLZ Outlaw: Yes, thank you.]

We inadvertently earned the title of the team that made SY wait.

*

[Defeat]

Ryu Jin-hyuk stared at the words that hovered before him for a long time.

“…”

What the hell?

What am I looking at right now?

A loss that no one expected, but it had actually happened.

None of my teammates foresaw this outcome.

Of course, strictly speaking, pros and losses are inseparable.

Any strong team is bound to face defeat at some point.

The real problem was who the team was that handed SY this loss.

A team that just got promoted to the second division managed to defeat last year’s world champions, SY.

Even if SY had gone through a humiliating loss in the spring and narrowly missed out on winning, that was because they faced SCV—a top-tier team.

Battles among top-tier teams are often decided by razor-thin margins, and SCV just happened to come out on top in that one.

“…”

Given the situation, it’s no wonder the SY players, brimming with confidence, felt their pride hurt.

Sure, none of the SY players had actually been thoroughly beaten by the Outlaw in solo queue, but then, that was merely solo queue.

Although the gap between solo queue and team play has been narrowing compared to the distant past, it is still relative.

There’s definitely a clear divide between solo queue and team games.

Take, for instance, the fact that champion-tier picks differ from solo queue picks, let alone tournament picks.

And yet, to lose to not just any team but SY, a top-tier team?

Even if it was just the first match, it was a shocking event.

“…Oh, speaking of which, the opponent we faced back in that ranked game was called Outlaw, right?”

That was the tip from the community old-timer Yoo Sang-hyun.

“Is that true?”

“Yep.”

The first to react was Yoon-ki.

They recalled the defeat in a casual game.

They thought they had just lost at some point while goofing around, but the opponent was Outlaw?

Since they had dismissed that gossip as mere community chatter, this loss hit even harder.

‘…I lost this for us.’

Ryu Jin-hyuk retraced the mistakes he made in this game in his mind.

No need to check the replay; all his blunders were etched into his memory.

And then came the conclusion.

‘Getback’s lackluster performance wasn’t intentional.’

Sure, he could have pulled off that kind of play through sheer talent, but what could he possibly gain by intentionally playing ‘bad’?

If he pulled that nonsense again in the next game, Jin-hyuk wasn’t going to just let it slide.

‘My thoughts got too tangled up.’

Let’s return to basics.

Don’t underestimate the opponent, but also don’t overrate them.

‘Just take it as it is.’

That’s all it would take.

“Jin-hyuk?”

“Ah, right. I’ll be there.”

No more complacency.

No more misjudgments about the opponent.

“I feel like Mid should’ve been a bit more proactive here. What do you think?”

“I think so too.”

After the feedback for the first game ended, Jin-hyuk spoke up before the second scrim.

“We can do better.”

Given that he was saying this right after a loss, it could be seen as arrogance, but considering who the speaker was, it wasn’t that at all.

His words made the team members chuckle lightly.

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Exactly.”

“That’s right.”

But Yoon-ki just smiled instead of replying.

As if he had no confidence in being ahead of the opponent in the jungle.

*

Game 2.

Team: OLZ Blue / SY Red.

Game Time: 29 minutes 41 seconds.

Kill Score: 4:13.

SY victory.

Game 3.

Team: SY Blue, OLZ Red.

Game Time: 36 minutes 55 seconds.

Kill Score: 15:8.

SY victory.

Overall scrim record for today: 1:2.

OLZ’s defeat.