I Hope This Isn't a Sign of Downfall

"I hope this isn't a sign of downfall..."

"Pardon?"

"It just reminded me of the RVGL Resistance."

"RVGL is our opponent tomorrow, isn't it? Why bring them up all of a sudden... Oh!!"

"Remember what they looked like last year? They created a miracle, but it ended in tragedy."

"That's right. You faced them both, didn't you, sis?"

The miracle and tragedy of the RVGL Resistance in 2023. Kang Cheong-hyeon had stood across from them during both moments.

"Back in their Hallelujah days, they were a team I couldn't help but despise."

"Even with all that money, it was still basically the Holy Bullet one-man show."

RVGL Resistance, also known as RV. The predecessor that had competed since the inaugural season was Hallelujah Robotics, abbreviated as HAL. During the Hallelujah era, the club owner was the infamous cult leader Pastor Jeon Kwang-hwan. They had joined from the league's very first year in 2018, with the goal of laundering their image. But the team's results were unspeakably bad. From the first half of 2018 through the second half of 2019 they sat at 6,699th in the rankings. Far from cleaning up their reputation, they only dragged it further through the mud. Despite ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the massive funds raised from believers' donations, the team was entirely built around the Holy Bullet.

"In the second half of 2020, all eleven teams' fans were praying for them to drop."

"Has an underdog ever been cheered against that hard?"

"Even Middle Eastern terrorists followed quarantine rules, but the church wouldn't."

It remains a mystery to this day why people who so readily threw away their own lives cared about following pandemic protocols.

In the second half of 2020, they competed for a playoff spot using nothing but the power of the Holy Bullet. It happened to be the exact period when massive COVID-19 outbreaks linked to churches exploded across the country. The RCLK inevitably switched to no-audience events. Everyone prayed for Hallelujah Robotics to miss the playoffs. In the end, they squeaked into the postseason for the first time in franchise history, finishing fifth out of twelve teams. At that time, the Holy Bullet's performance was off the charts. Even though Hallelujah was nowhere near championship caliber, the machine became a legitimate MVP candidate.

Team ORASTY had not left first place once across all sixty-six regular-season matches. Beating their core robots was never supposed to be possible. So what happened when the MVP votes were tallied?

Holy Bullet claimed the 2020 second-half season MVP award while playing for a fifth-place team. It was the result of an absolute bloodbath, winning by a razor-thin 0.2 percent over second place and 0.4 percent over third.

"That year they also won the KORCA Cup."

"I still remember how much hate I got for losing to Holy Bullet in the KORCA Cup final."

"No matter how strong your Neptune was, sis, going up against an MVP-level Holy Bullet was just too much, wasn't it?"

The KORCA Cup was the most prestigious individual tournament in the domestic battle robot scene.

"Wait, don't we get to compete in the KORCA Cup?"

"Rookies from expansion teams aren't allowed to enter during their first season."

"So we'll be in it during the second half, right?"

"Correct."

It was a form of welfare for new teams, meant to reduce fatigue slightly so they could focus on the league.

Around the same time, Holy Bullet also claimed an individual title. It won the 2020 second-half KORCA Cup. Its dominance lasted all the way to the finals. The semifinal match perfectly encapsulated that overwhelming form.

Ronos was going through a bit of a slump at the time. Their opponent in the final was the Neptune, then belonging to RTH Crown. Thanks to the anti-Christian sentiment caused by the coronavirus, expectations were enormous. Fans of all eleven teams were cheering for Neptune. So what was the result of that final?

Holy Bullet had claimed both the regular-season MVP and the KORCA Cup championship. Yet the overall record of Hallelujah Robotics, the team that owned it, was abysmal.

"In the end they got swept in the first round of the playoffs. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ultimate fate of a one-man team, I suppose?"

"Soo, weren't you the one who dropped a set to that Hallelujah team?"

Let's take a look at the standings from that time.

They had barely scraped above a .500 winning percentage, and their set differential was only just positive. The playoff format at the time worked like this.

Third-place Schnalz chose sixth-place Wizard Air's White Witch. This automatically set Hallelujah Robotics against fourth-place LJ. On paper it looked like a perfectly winnable matchup. They were only one win apart, and the set differential difference was a modest eight. On top of that, the games were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠held without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That meant there would be no anti-Christian jeers. It was strange that playoff-bound teams even considered such things, but the situation was far from normal. A normal team would have treated it as a minor detail. As expected, the power of MVP Holy Bullet was formidable. Let's summarize the key moments of that match.

They had taken out the opponent before it could even close the distance.

But that was as far as it went. The remaining sets brutally exposed the limits of a one-man team. The final set made the situation crystal clear. Once again, here is the most condensed version possible.

Aside from the third set that Holy Bullet had won, every other match looked like this. Hallelujah Robotics had undeniably been the underdog, yet almost no one felt any sympathy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for them outside of their tiny handful of fans. It was only natural. The main entities spreading the coronavirus had been churches, and Pastor Jeon Kwang-hwan's church was obviously among them. Hallelujah Robotics had earned themselves a very deep well of resentment. By this point their image had already sunk to the bottom of the East Sea. LJ, who had defeated Hallelujah and advanced, went on to display truly pathetic gameplay. By the standards of the time, it was the worst playoff snoozefest in RCLK history. After that dismal showing, Samryeong Specter RCC beat them 4-3 and advanced, only to be crushed 0-4 by ORS in the finals. Public sentiment toward Hallelujah had now plummeted all the way to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

"In 2021 they lost eight wins just because of COVID..."

"Strong teams had nothing to lose even if they caught it."