[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 371

Suddenly, the staff burst into the waiting room, interrupting Ryu Jin-hyuk mid-sentence.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“…No. I’ll ask later. Let’s prepare for the 1v1 Tournament.”

“Ah, okay.”

I was a bit curious about what Ryu Jin-hyuk wanted to ask Seo Yeon-woo, but now wasn’t the time to think about that.

The 1v1 Tournament was about to begin, as the first match of the All-Star Event was just getting started.

“Oh, I’m in the second half.”

“Second half? Oh right.”

Since it was the first day, the 1v1 Tournament needed to go through 32 rounds and was split into two halves.

Unfortunately, Seo Yeon-woo and I were placed in different halves.

“Well, have a good time, everyone!”

GuineaPig Yoo Sang-hyun waved goodbye as we left the waiting room.

Among the LCKR players participating in this All-Star Event, there were only four taking part in the 1v1 Tournament.

Top: OLZ Honor (Seo Yeon-woo)


Jungle: OLZ Outlaw (Yoo Jin)


Mid: SY Rainbow (Rainbow)


ADC: SCV BlackDog (BlackDog)

Excluding GuineaPig Yoo Sang-hyun, that was basically everyone, but since the 32 rounds were divided into two halves, only Rainbow and I had to head out now.

“Oh, looks like it’s starting. So jealous. I wanted to go too…”

“Let’s just go as audience members and watch.”

“Oh, right. Let’s go.”

“Then Yeon-woo and Jin will do well. Oh, was it Yeon-woo in the second half? Anyway, I’ll cheer for you.”

Baek Seong-an led Kim Ji-hoon and Kim Jae-min out of the waiting room first.

“Then I’m off too.”

“Sure.”

I left Seo Yeon-woo behind and walked with Rainbow.

“…”

Following the All-Star staff out of the waiting room felt oddly awkward.

It was inevitable since Rainbow was next to me.

Ah…

I kind of missed Jaem-min.

Just being here and hearing some random nonsense from him would have been nice.

“Who’s your first opponent?”

At that moment, Rainbow broke the long silence just as I was trying to bear through it.

“Uh… um, it’s a guy named Andro. That European player. Position… was it Mid?”

“Oh, that player.”

“You know him?”

“Yeah. I met him at the Red Cup before.”

“Aha.”

It seemed like another awkward silence was about to fall.

I couldn’t stand that, so I forced myself to keep the conversation going.

“What was he like? If he made it to the Red Cup, he must be pretty good…”

Actually, since he was already chosen to participate in the All-Star Event, that question kind of felt pointless.

Most of the time, stardom comes from performance and skill backing it up.

“He’s good.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

For Rainbow, who usually has a pretty harsh perspective on players, to say that much…

“Sounds fun.”

The 1v1 Tournament was basically held on the Howling Abyss map.

In a way, the setting could be seen as a stage for Mid Laners, but if you look at past winners of the 1v1 Tournament, they’re not all Mid Laners.

“Please wait here.”

“Ah, okay.”

Upon arriving at the temporary waiting room, I gazed at the large screen outside streaming the All-Star Event until it was my turn.

“Rainbow, this way.”

“Yes.”

Rainbow’s turn was much sooner than mine, so he moved ahead.

In the meantime, the tournament was officially starting.

“1v1 Tournament…”

Typically, All-Stars are seen as a festive occasion, but considering that pro players from around the globe gather, it’s hard to not have a competitive spirit.

Right now, one of the hottest matches in the All-Star Event is the region rivalries.

From that perspective, the 1v1 Tournament holds both the character of an event match and a competitive showdown.

Who is the strongest in 1v1?

Of course, since the game itself, Legends of League, has many variables and complexities, that doesn’t tell the whole story.

It’s actually almost irrelevant.

Nevertheless, the ultimate winner of the 1v1 Tournament earns a status akin to the protagonist of the All-Star Event.

If a pro player didn’t achieve satisfactory results during the year, the All-Star Event becomes their last chance to vindicate themselves.

“Oh, it’s started.”

The 1v1 Tournament officially began.

*

The 1v1 Tournament has a long-standing history as one of the core events of the All-Star Event.

Because of this, the rules change quite often; in the past, the first to kill once or reach 100 CS, or destroy a turret first, would win. But that led to 1v1 matches often devolving into farming battles, so this year, the rules changed significantly.

The win condition is now the first to get two kills or destroy a turret.

Additionally, if there’s no winner after seven minutes, a sudden death scenario kicks in where the map gradually shrinks like in some games, forcing a conclusion.

1v1 matches that often turned into tedious farming and sustained battles have finally been transformed into event matches filled with excitement.

“Hmm… what are they saying?”

Naturally, since the commentary I was watching was in English, I couldn’t understand it.

Before heading to America, under my mother’s relentless pressure, I tried to study English, but I wasn’t quite able to catch the rapid speech of the commentators.

The first match was between MaBing from Chinese GRS and SnOIT from North America RONO.

Both were Jungle players, making this match a contest of pride.

“I kind of think MaBing is going to win… but you never know.”

Despite the era of leveling the playing field, the gap between the Chinese league and North American league was significant.

Logically thinking, it would make sense to favor the Chinese player MaBing, but that was only considering their jungle skills.

In a 1v1 Tournament, the outcome could easily differ.

The bans began.

SnOIT banned Heimerdinger, Olaf, and Cassiopeia, while MaBing banned Lee Sin, Xin Zhao, and Rengar.

It was a fierce ban phase right from the start.

The final picks ended up being:

SnOIT: Pantheon


MaBing: Poppy

The result? MaBing won.

SnOIT’s Pantheon seemed to gain a kill early on, applying pressure, but during sudden death, MaBing’s Poppy landed an ultimate, knocking SnOIT back and leading to a quick double kill.

You could call it a lucky punch, but that’s just the nature of the 1v1 Tournament.

The audience got to see what this 1v1 Tournament was all about.

-Waaaah!

-MaBing! MaBing! MaBing!

Cheers erupted from the audience, calling for MaBing.

Simply seeking kills or doing good damage exchanges wouldn’t cut it to win this tournament.

The variable of sudden death was just as much the highlight of the 1v1 Tournament.

“It’s getting more interesting.”

Maybe it was because it was an event match or for some other reason, but I felt my shoulders start to bounce.

“Next match… Ah.”

After a few more matches, it was finally Rainbow’s turn.

*

Rainbow’s opponent was MangoMango, a top laner from the Vietnamese league team 780 GG.

Even though MangoMango came from a relatively weaker league, just like all the players in the All-Star Event, he was by no means an easy opponent.

In fact, I remembered MangoMango had a pretty impressive performance at the Red Cup too.

“Let’s see…”

Rainbow banned Poppy, Olaf, and Renekton.


MangoMango banned Cassiopeia, Sandra, and Akali.

You could say they were pretty direct bans targeting each other.

Rainbow’s pick was Tristana.


MangoMango’s pick was Irelia.

Just by looking at the picks, you could tell this match was going to be intense.

“Normally, the ranged champion Tristana would have the upper hand, but… the opponent is Irelia.”

Irelia is often considered a premier counter bruiser to ranged champions.

She has strong kill potential and excels in lane.

The match began.

In the early game, as expected in a ranged vs melee matchup, Rainbow was the first to push.

Irelia seemed to accept this, level one she prepared to last-hit minions by using her E skill.

And then, an unexpected event occurred.

Having taken the lead in pushing, Rainbow quickly hit level two and fearlessly jumped in for a trade.

Irelia was trying to hit level two too, so she attempted to clear the minions, but she leveled up one timing too late.

Meanwhile, Rainbow launched a furious attack, forcing Irelia to burn her Flash.

At the moment Irelia took refuge behind the turret, starting to last-hit, I realized.

The battle was already over.