[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 427

TEAM MAX Practice Room.

When it was decided that the opening match would be against OLZ, a heated excitement flared up in the practice room.

It wasn’t just because the new season was right around the corner.

All LCKR fans were turning their eyes to them, or perhaps the whole world was too, since they were going to face OLZ in their LCKR debut match.

Traditionally, MAX had a reputation for making newly promoted teams from the 2nd league feel the harsh realities of the 1st league.

They were known as the freshmen killers.

In fact, based on data from the past few years, MAX rarely lost to teams that had just been promoted from the 2nd league.

Especially in the early stages of the season when those teams were still struggling to adapt.

Thus, the players from MAX didn’t let their guard down before their much-anticipated match against the spotlighted team, OLZ.

“Bot! Bot!”

“Can you take a look at this for me?”

“Focus on Rakan first!”

Last season, MAX achieved a commendable runner-up finish, but that was just an objective result; the players themselves were left with the disappointment and regret of missing out on the championship.

Should’ve tried harder.

They shouldn’t have messed up there.

Even at the Red Cup…

One reason for this was that even the team that defeated them in the summer season, SY, ultimately lost at the Red Cup.

If the team that took them down had been the world’s best team, the sting of being runner-up would have been somewhat softened; but that wasn’t the case.

They weren’t even the second-best team.

Just an ordinary team.

They had piled up plenty of regrets.

As much as those regrets, anger had also accumulated.

That’s why most of MAX’s team members even gave up their vacation to train for the new season.

Only to seize the throne of the upcoming new season.

And even further, for the Red Cup that would take place this year.

“Good job.”

“Thanks for your hard work.”

“Wow, we barely won. Why are they so good?”

“Seriously. It’s not easy.”

Even after the official practice schedule ended, no player left their spot.

If there were no scrim opponents, they could just continue practicing in solo queue.

MAX’s jungler, 950302 Bum Jae-hyun, watched videos of Outlaw’s jungle plays on YouTube while waiting for his queue.

The key player of OLZ, their opponent in the opening ceremony, was none other than Outlaw, who had been stirring up all sorts of buzz.

“……”

Even though it was just a simple video of jungle gameplay, 950302 was transfixed, holding his breath as he focused on the video.

‘Of course… he’s good.’

It was clean and simultaneously flashy — a level of play that couldn’t be captured in mere words.

How could cleanliness and flashiness coexist? He didn’t know, but Outlaw’s play certainly was that way.

‘Every action has a purpose, even while jungling.’

From that point on, 950302 spent all his time, except during scrim hours, pouring over Outlaw’s movements and plays.

And the one thing he finally figured out was that every action Outlaw took had a reason behind it.

Even those seemingly minor slip-ups, when looked back on, turned out to be brilliant plays instead.

For instance, faking a risky move to lure out an opponent hiding in their base, or initiating a play that seemed reckless, leading to a major team victory even though he was on the verge of dying.

To 950302, who knew Outlaw as a hard-carry jungler, these actions seemed bizarre yet completely casual.

‘He excels at all champions, not just carry types. How can a jungler have such a wide champion pool?’

950302 was instantly captivated by the figure of Outlaw.

Not only because of his appearance, but his perfect skill made Outlaw seem even more enigmatic.

Typically, rookie junglers struggle the most when they’re forced to shift from their carry playstyle to a supportive champion for team play.

It’s something most challenger junglers didn’t do, so it was pretty understandable.

It’s not about the champion.

It’s about whether the jungler can willingly sacrifice themselves for the team.

And this directly ties into trust in the team, which is something newly turned professional junglers often struggle to adapt to.

But Outlaw was different.

Even though they had just been promoted from the 2nd league to the 1st, Outlaw willingly sacrificed himself when necessary.

And 950302 saw that as OLZ’s weakness.

‘The moment Outlaw stops carrying, OLZ has a huge vulnerability.’

Sure, not many teams had capitalized on that weakness before, which is why OLZ had gone undefeated in the 2nd league, but MAX was different from those teams.

The summer season runner-up.

Even though they didn’t clinch the championship, for a strong team like MAX, taking advantage of OLZ’s weakness wouldn’t be that hard.

*

The opening ceremony was drawing near.

With excitement and anxiety swirling, we continued to practice rigorously.

[WIN]

[WIN]

[LOSS]

…

[WIN]

Winning, losing, then winning again.

As the opening ceremony approached, the scrim teams also seemed to have put aside their previous nonchalance and were ready to buckle down, resulting in a mix of losses here and there.

Still, it could be confidently said that our team’s scrim results were quite good.

With the new day starting, as always marking the start, Baek Seong-an said,

“Alright, now that our debut match is right around the corner, let’s really prepare from today.”

“…What have we been doing till now?”

Kim Jae-min muttered, sounding weary, and Baek Seong-an replied with a smile.

“That was legit too. It’s about trying harder now.”

“Got it.”

Now was the time to prepare strategies tailored for MAX.

What strategies the MAX players typically used, what types of champions they preferred.

And how they unfolded the game.

Of course, there were visible solo queue records or scrim results against us, but genuine strategies that they wanted to keep hidden wouldn’t easily reveal themselves.

“The opponent will likely try to exploit our weaknesses.”

“Well… I guess so. But what’s our team’s weakness?”

In response to that question, Baek Seong-an chuckled and answered briefly.

“Me.”

“Huh?”

“Me. I’m the weakness. The mid-lane is our team’s most critical weakness.”

Honestly, everyone was mostly aware of that fact, but it was surprising that Baek Seong-an would say it out loud himself.

“Not anymore though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just as I said. I’m not going to be a weakness anymore. I’ve deceived them enough as it is.”

“Really?”

Finally, I began to wonder if Baek Seong-an was losing it due to the heavy burden and fatigue, but thankfully, seeing that his eyes were still sharp, it seemed he was fine.

“Just.”

Baek Seong-an smiled subtly.

“Just, I have a feeling we’re going to win.”

It was a self-confidence with no evidence, but somehow I wanted to trust that confidence.

“Oh, is that a carry coming?”

“Of course. I’m going to carry from mid.”

*

Finally, the day of the opening ceremony arrived.

Our schedule for the first match was set for 5 PM, but we had to arrive at the venue two hours earlier, making it quite a rush.

It was mainly because most of our team members had been going to bed around 3 AM, so waking up in the morning and getting ready meant we had to leave in a hurry.

“Ugh… I feel like throwing up.”

Whether it was from nerves or the smell of the car after a long time, Kim Jae-min stuck his tongue out and made gagging noises.

“Everything’s good, but don’t do that right now.”

“Uweck.”

“Ah!”

“Just kidding.”

“No, I’m really going to make you throw up.”

“Ahhh!”

As usual, Kim Jae-min and Baek Seong-an were joking around the whole way, so we arrived at the venue pretty quickly.

Well, partly because it was really close, but still.

“……It really is close.”

“It’s not like we’ve only been here once or twice.”

“That’s true, but still, it feels new again.”

Baek Seong-an gazed out the window, lost in thought.

I didn’t know what was behind those eyes, but at the very least, I hoped the end of that memory wouldn’t be a bad one.

“We’ve arrived.”

With Kim Ji-hoon’s voice, everyone got out of the car.

“Unnie.”

At that moment, Seo Yeon-woo called me.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s play without regrets. For us.”

Regrets…

I had answered that a long time ago.

“Of course not.”

This stage is exactly the one I had dreamed of.

*

Legends of League Championship KOREA.

Match 1: MAX vs OLZ.

Opening.