[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 357

Red Cup Finals.

The match that was on the verge of collapse just barely got tied up.

However, for some reason, Ryu Jin-hyuk couldn’t purely rejoice.

“───!”

“───”

“───”

Muuuuuh───

None of the feedback was getting through to him.

The coach and teammates were saying something, but it felt like it wasn’t that important.

“……Jin-hyuk, what do you think?”

At that moment, TheOne’s voice brought Ryu Jin-hyuk back to reality.

When he snapped to attention, he noticed all the coaches and teammates were staring at him.

It felt somewhat awkward.

“Uh… what do you mean?”

“I mean, what did you think about that judgment?”

“Uh, um… well, I don’t know?”

“Really?”

Feedback continued.

From a situation that had been pushed to the edge, how did they manage to drag it out to the 5th set?

Now, SY had to use every trick left in their bag.

“Well, since the vibe has been good so far, I think we can handle the 5th set like we did in the 3rd and 4th sets. What do you think?”

“But isn’t there a chance GRS could pull out a Joker pick?”

“A Joker pick that could come out right now… maybe Rakan?”

While various discussions were buzzing around.

“Ah… why does my stomach feel like this?”

“What’s wrong?”

In the uplifted atmosphere, suddenly GuineaPig Yoo Sang-hyun clutched his stomach and grimaced.

“No… I just feel a bit off.”

“A bit off? What do you mean?”

“My stomach… should I say it hurts? I don’t know.”

Everyone’s expressions stiffened.

What kind of situation were they in right now?

The Red Cup Finals, and particularly the deciding last 5th set, right?

In such a situation, the condition of a key team member was deteriorating?

“…Can you play?”

“Um… I’m not sure. But I’ll give it a shot. I can do it.”

Yoo Sang-hyun replied vigorously, but everyone watching him could feel it.

His condition, clutching his stomach, was anything but normal.

This wasn’t a matter of whether Yoo Sang-hyun could play or not.

It was a matter of whether he could showcase his full abilities during the game.

“Ugh… this is driving me crazy.”

That wasn’t the only bad news.

SY’s sixth man was a jungler.

In other words, that meant there wasn’t a substitute available to take Yoo Sang-hyun’s place.

Of course, they could force a jungler player into the support role, but that wouldn’t be any better than having Yoo Sang-hyun, who’s already not in good shape, play.

Or, perhaps, it might even be worse since they weren’t in their main position.

“What on earth did you eat yesterday?”

“Yesterday…? What did I eat yesterday… I think I had some snacks a fan gave me… something like chips?”

“What? How could you just snack right before an important game?”

“No… it was packaged and looked fine, so I just had it… could it be because of that?”

Yoo Sang-hyun joked, but everyone couldn’t help but suspect that was the case.

However, suspicion was just suspicion.

Without any proof, there wasn’t much SY could actually do, so their focus had to shift toward how to cope.

“Sang-hyun, can you play? If you can’t, just say so.”

“…I think I’ll be able to.”

“Can you or can’t you? Be sure. If we start the game, we can’t swap you out. We need to know now.”

If Yoo Sang-hyun became unable to play during the match, it would essentially mean a concession defeat.

Before such a situation arose, SY had to decide on whether to swap out a player.

Of course, since there was no substitute support player available, they had no choice but to send in the sixth man jungler as support, but that was better than losing the Red Cup Finals without doing anything.

“I can… do it.”

Yoo Sang-hyun said, struggling.

Everyone doubted those words, but there was no other option at this point.

“Okay, got it. Let’s do our best in the 5th set.”

“…Yeah.”

At that moment, the Red Cup staff announced that they were about to start the 5th set.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Yes.”

The expressions of the SY players, which had been filled with enthusiasm just moments ago, turned icy.

Amidst the anxiety, the 5th set kicked off.

*

『“Welcome to the Summoner’s Rift, everyone… Finally, today’s match has reached the 5th set.”』

『“How bewildered were you when GRS launched unexpected assaults at first? But of course, it’s SY. They won’t go down easily!”』

『“Yeah! Who is SY? They’re one of the greatest teams in the world and the only team to win the Red Cup twice!”』

『“Defeat, defeat, win, win, win, they can do it! They can certainly do it! SY, the goal is right in front of them!”』

『“More than anything, the momentum is now with SY. They cannot let this chance slip away!”』

『“Exactly. They’re almost there!”』

The commentators’ voices were filled with excitement.

It was because SY’s performance in the 3rd and 4th sets had been extraordinary.

『“Alright, let’s start the Ban/Pick!”』

The actual Ban/Pick phase began.

The sides were decided by a coin toss, which GRS won, granting them the blue side.

[ Yune ]

GRS’s first ban was Yune.

It seemed to counter the first punch of SY’s retaliation.

[ Riven ]

On the other hand, SY’s Ban/Pick showed that they were cutting out mid-lane picks they could use as shields.

It appeared they were focusing on asserting their dominance in mid-lane, given the results from the 3rd and 4th sets.

[ Yasuon ]

Next, GRS’s second ban was Yasuon.

At this point, despite several picks becoming available, GRS made a bold choice.

Now it was SY’s turn to ban.

Perhaps they didn’t expect GRS to ban Yasuon; SY hesitated a bit longer.

『“It’ll be interesting to see what choice SY makes…”』

『“Considering this, it opens up a lot of options, right? It wouldn’t be a bad idea for SY to ban Gwen and share the picks.”』

[ Lucian ]

『“Ah, they’re going this route.”』

『“Now it’s important for GRS to see what they’ll cut… what will they take out…?”』

GRS had been focusing on sealing off Rainbow’s picks until now.

Therefore, there was a very high chance that their third ban would be along those lines.

‘Logically, without Riven, they should be cutting something like Arin…’

The reason was simple.

If Arin was picked by GRS, it could be immediately countered by Rainbow’s LeBlanc.

Of course, facing Arin with LeBlanc wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but Rainbow’s LeBlanc had proven to be different until now.

[ Arin ]

And indeed, GRS cut out Arin.

Now it was SY’s turn to decide which pick to ban from the remaining options.

[ Gwen ]

The choice was quick, and the decision made.

『“They’re going with this.”』

『“Now it will be interesting to see what GRS chooses as their first pick, right?”』

Among the currently available top-tier picks, the only options left were Wukong and LeBlanc. Plus, with Gwen banned, they could add Gangplank to their picks.

So then, what would GRS pick from these three?

[ Wukong ]

GRS went with Gangplank.

It seemed they considered Gangplank to be the highest tier pick available since Gwen was absent.

『“Um… then, SY can simply take the remaining two, right?”』

『“Yes, that would be a good plan.”』

This meant SY had no reason not to pick Wukong and LeBlanc.

[ Wukong ]

[ LeBlanc ]

Everything flowed as expected.

Well, everything except for what happened before GRS’s mid pick, Malphite came out.

[ Malphite ]

『“Um… well then….”』

『“Malphite has been picked!”』

And…

The Ban/Pick phase was finally over.

+

[ GRS / SY ]

Top: Gangplank / Nyar

Jungle: Viego / Wukong

Mid: Malphite / LeBlanc

Bot: Jhin / Ezreal

Support: Karuma / Nautilus

+

The picks weren’t exceptional, but GRS’s intentions were clear.

Focusing on a strong bot lane, they aimed to give their scaling champions like Gangplank and Malphite some time to grow.

And to achieve that, GRS’s bottom lane absolutely needed to win.

‘GRS’s bot lane is strong, but… with Wukong and LeBlanc, it wouldn’t be easy to prevent a bottom dive.’

As I was focusing on the game amidst my confusion, the camera panned to SY’s players.

And I saw.

‘…Cold sweat?’

When the camera focused on GuineaPig Yoo Sang-hyun’s face, he looked unwell.

It wasn’t just me who noticed this.

– Looks like GuineaPig is super tense?

– For real.

– Is he sick? He looks like he’s sweating cold.

– What’s up with him?

– This doesn’t look good.

Perhaps because of that.

A sense of foreboding that I had stuffed away in my chest began to bubble up.

-Welcome to the Summoner’s Rift!

As the game began,

-Minion spawn!

How long has it been since the serious laning phase started?

-First blood!

-Our team was taken down!

GuineaPig’s Nautilus fell.