From the Bottom Versus From the Top

The third week of the RCLK season had begun. From this week through week twelve, teams would play five matches per week. *** “Starting this week through week twelve, it’s five matches a week. Just know it’s gonna get a lot tighter.” Moon Naru checked today’s opponent. “Today’s opponent is… KILR Express?”

Hearing that, Lee Cheong-bi thought of a best friend she hadn’t seen in a while. Ever since that friend became a KILR trainee back in middle school, they’d only kept in touch through SNS. “Narae made her first-team debut, right? Is she doing well?”

“Oh, Yun Na-rae? The one who looks the same age as me but is actually the same age as you?”

“That’s her. Cheong-hyeon’s older sister.”

“Her robot’s Delta Typhoon, right? As powerful as it is, I hear it’s incredibly unstable.”

“Sounds a lot like you, Naru.”

“Sau, I don’t think that’s quite right?” ***

KILR’s infamous password was CCCCCB7 (12-12-12-12-12-11-7). It was a list of their league rankings from the second half of 2020 through the second half of 2023. Five consecutive last-place finishes—an extremely rare record that would be hard to find anywhere else in history. Even if you scoured every sports league in the world, you’d be lucky to find one or two teams that had done it. Neither the eagles of Daejeon nor the giants of Busan had ever suffered five straight wooden spoons. ***

Sea breezes blew around the Haeundae Ocean Fighting Center. The 2,200-seat stands were fairly full—about sixty-two percent. “CCCCCB7, one! This year the password ends!” “From the very first season, straight to the top! Let’s go, Diafl!”

Even though it was KILR’s home arena, there were more Diafl fans. There were plenty of reasons for that. KILR had been stamping out CCCCCB7 ever since the league’s inaugural season. Most of their fans had come in because their parent company was the electric train manufacturer KILR. They were those ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠infamous rail enthusiasts, though fortunately they hadn’t caused any accidents yet. Maybe it was because there weren’t that many of them. On the other hand, Diafl had been performing well ever since its founding. ***

It had been a long time since best friends Lee Cheong-bi and Yun Na-rae had seen each other in person. They’d kept in touch a lot through SNS, but actually meeting face-to-face had been quite a while. “Narae! It’s been forever since I’ve seen your face!” “Cheong-bi! Hi~!”

They were definitely the same age—both seventeen—but Na-rae looked far more mature. If you exaggerated a little, they looked like a youthful aunt and her niece. (They said she looks eleven years older… and it’s true? Is it her chest or her height…?) Naru was quietly pondering why Na-rae looked so old to her. Even though her body had become a wildcat-like beautiful girl, inside she was still a male high school student.

“So you’re Cheong-bi’s best friend? Just looking at your face, I thought you were the same age as my sister.” “Cheong-hyeon sunbae? I get told I look old a lot.” ***

HSR_Way was a robot that used two extremely long vertical spinner blades. Its wedge-shaped body had bridge-like blade supports on top. The blades were longer than most robots’ entire length. They could also be used like flippers to launch opponents high into the air. The two blades spun in opposite directions on the same axis, canceling out the gyroscopic effect. Thanks to that, despite their enormous length, they didn’t hinder the robot’s movement at all. The gyroscopic effect of vertical spinners usually flipped the robot over during cornering. That was also why short vertical spinners were the meta.

“That massive blade takes a long time to accelerate because of its size.” “Meanwhile, V-Killer’s blade accelerates very quickly.”

V-Killer charged in before the long blade could reach full speed. HSR_Way wobbled violently, like a power pole being demolished for redevelopment. “HSR Way’s biggest weakness is that once it’s flipped, it can never self-right!” “V-Killer also needs more time to re-accelerate than usual.” “Because it’s single-edged, it puts ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a lot of power into each hit!”

HSR_Way, now at full speed, attacked like it was taking a free kick. “It’s finally at full acceleration!!” “V-Killer’s underside is quite high off the ground, you know? This is going to send it flying!!”

V-Killer flew through the air like a soccer ball being kicked by a player. It landed upside down, but every system was still functioning normally. “Look at V-Killer’s durability—it’s still moving properly after taking that hit!!” “HSR Bridge, which has a long re-acceleration time… whoa!!!”

Still inverted, V-Killer tried to flip HSR_Way over with an attack. It looked like a demolition charge blowing up the base of a power pole. “Is it going over…? HSR Way slams the floor and stands right back up!!” “That must have been a huge shock to itself too, right?”

HSR_Way seemed to have taken no damage yet. At the same time, V-Killer bounced off the wall and returned to its original orientation. “It’s already back at full speed!” “That’s the second maximum acceleration of the match.”

HSR_Way’s blades had once again reached full speed. “The advantage of coaxial counter-rotation is that it doesn’t hinder movement at all!” “Second attack… no, it flipped itself!!!”

HSR_Way had hit the arena wall with the opposite blade and flipped itself over. Because its design made it completely immobile when inverted, the KO count began. “10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! HSR Way KO! V-Killer wins!!” ***

0:37. The match demonstrated exactly why long vertical spinners were so rare. Even with coaxial counter-rotation eliminating mobility issues, the instability remained the same. ***

Delta Typhoon was a robot that used an extremely long and thick horizontal spinner blade. A trapezoidal wedge-shaped chassis had the horizontal spinner mounted underneath. Two fairly large wheels were positioned at the rear in an open configuration. In terms of raw weapon power alone, it was theoretically the strongest in the entire RCLK.

Cheong-bi and Na-rae, being best friends, were happily exchanging trash talk. “Narae, I’m not gonna go easy on you just because we’re friends~?” “Hah, same goes for me, you know?” “CCCCCB7, one! Please cheer for us~!” “Is it really going to be one? I’m sensing a four at best, maybe even five or six?”

To reach the finals without a playoff win, they needed to finish at least second in the regular season. ***

“Scary leads with its rear vertical blade for now.” “Delta Typhoon’s weakness is that the greater its power, the greater the recoil, right?” “With great power comes great responsibility, or something like that!”

Scary’s vertical blade and Delta Typhoon’s horizontal blade collided. “How is it not getting pushed back? It’s vertical versus horizontal!!” Normally the horizontal spinner should have been the one sent flying, but both were pushed back almost equally. “Look at that size. Just seeing it makes it look insanely strong!” “But if it has a downside, it’s that acceleration takes a long time.”

While it accelerated, Delta Typhoon had to spin around and buy time. “Neither Ronos nor ORS blades take that long to spin up.” “Compared to V-Killer in the first set, it looks even slower.”

As expected, Scary moved with the slippery grace of a figure skater. It aimed for Delta Typhoon’s side, which was difficult to defend. It was like an assassin targeting the back where the target would struggle to respond. “It’s trying to hit the side, but it gets caught by Delta Typhoon’s blade!!” “Because the blade is so long, acceleration is slow, but turning the head lets it respond to side attacks!”

Scary’s vertical blade shaft crumpled like twisted wire. Now it would have to fight with only its remaining horizontal spinning disc. “If both had stopped, Scary would have dominated, but only its weapon stopped!!” “Still, Delta Typhoon looks like it’s dulled a bit too… whoa!!!”

Like rubbing salt in a wound, Delta Typhoon struck the already deformed shaft once more. Scary’s drive halted completely while its disc kept spinning at full speed. As expected, the KO count began. “10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Scary KO! Delta Typhoon wins!” ***

1:40. Despite the one-sided nature of the match, it had lasted a little longer than expected. ***