KeG Presidential Cup / Seoul Regionals, vs Team EatAndLoCOnly (2)
With a 2/0/1 Darius holding the top lane, the enemy jungler and support's pathing started to tangle itself into knots.
Thanks to that, even Yu Min-jae — still unfamiliar with Swain — found his laning phase settling into something stable.
The gold lead hadn't ballooned, but the Winter Army had already taken first tower top and bot. Even without a massive CS gap in lane, Choi Do-yun's Trundle had begun chewing through the enemy jungle. Once they locked down the river vision above and below mid, pressure on Babrol's mid tower was only a matter of course.
Yu Min-jae's Swain, climbing mid with Ha Jeong-uk, kept gnawing away at the health of that mid tower — Orianna's only real foothold on the map.
"They're committing top."
Jin Gyeo-wool's short call. Three enemy champions spotted on the top side. Mid was locked in a 1v1 standoff, which meant bot was empty by comparison.
Gyeo-wool had already gotten everything she needed out of the top laning phase. There was no reason to overextend babysitting the outer turret.
"Shove bot. I'm rotating out."
"Copy that."
"Understood, Commander Noona~."
Under the combined assault of Trundle and Montblanc, Babrol's bot tier-two tower crumbled in seconds. Giving up top tier-one hurt, but taking a tier-two was the better trade. And once bot tier-two fell, Winter Army naturally seized vision of Babrol's red-side bot jungle, and the pressure on the mid tower — already below half health — only intensified.
It was nothing but spoon-fed auto-attacks, but repeat them long enough and mid tier-one was suddenly sitting on less than a quarter of its health.
The time it took to finish mid tier-one was something of a silver lining for Babrol — but sitting around doing nothing wasn't going to help them either. The entire team was being dragged around by the nose. The flow of the game belonged to the Winter Army, and Babrol couldn't play the way they wanted.
That kind of frustration is something only people who've actually played the game understand. Do nothing and you're too far behind. Try something and it feels wrong — like one bad play and the whole game ends. Groping carefully through fog you can't see through, waving your hands out in front of you, knowing a trap could spring out and take your fingers off at any second.
And Jin Gyeo-wool knew that feeling better than anyone.
About time they threw a side-lane play.
People's habits are terrifying, and even practicing players always have their little "formulas." The ward spots that gather the most information. The sweeper positions that clear the most wards. Gyeo-wool had studied Babrol's vision habits before the match even started, and she knew there was a high chance they'd miss a ward planted right at the entrance to the Peacock pit.
Pop — a ward planted on the right side of the Peacock seal entrance.
She hadn't expected it to become some massive snowball. A few minutes later, the top laners were in a 1v1 on bot. Mid had Babrol's Orianna and Winter Army's bot-lane Swain staring each other down. Red buff was respawning on the top side, so Trundle was already moving that way.
And three enemy champions nowhere to be seen.
Then, for a split second, Kindred came hopping up the river on the ward Gyeo-wool had planted — premium intel, arriving a mere five seconds before the ward expired.
"Je-hyeon's side. Setup?"
"Me? I don't die, though?"
The order came from Gyeo-wool, who'd been listening quietly.
"Top three-way. Everyone get ready to group. When I TP."
Once Gyeo-wool teleported in, the rest just had to walk up fast. Mundo had TP too, but Orianna was too far away — Winter Army would collapse much faster. A temporary 4v3 into a 5v4. More than enough to pin them in a corner.
If they want Montblanc, they'll have to burn at least Varus ult…
No matter how hard three of them piled onto Montblanc, catching him without Varus's ultimate was pure nonsense — so by the time the fight started, that ult would already be gone. Of course, the whole theory hinged on Gong Je-hyeon dodging Varus's ultimate. But Gyeo-wool trusted her teammate.
"Gong Je-hyeon. Shove the wave and dangle the bait a little."
"From here?"
"Corruption Chain's probably coming from the Golem side. Dodge it."
"Holy shit, they're already that deep?"
Even among Challengers, this was a moment that showed just how far ahead Gyeo-wool was at reading the flow of a game. She didn't even bother sighing — just muttered with near-total certainty:
"Move. Unless you want to eat a root and die."
"Ah — yes. Got it, Noona."
Montblanc finished off the reinforced siege minions. Babrol must have expected him to walk a straight line back toward base once the wave was clear.
— Hyaat!
"Jesus—! What the fuck!"
"I'm going top!"
The moment Montblanc threw a fake step mid-walk, Varus's ultimate came flying out of the brush exactly as Gyeo-wool had predicted — a twisted serpent of blight cutting through the air. Once the root missed, catching a Montblanc with two dashes was impossible. In Babrol's entire comp, the only things that could pin down a bouncing Montblanc were Orianna, Varus's ultimate, and Shen's taunt — which wasn't even a hard CC.
In hindsight, locking Montblanc as a last pick had been both a way to lean into the Winter Army's aggressive identity and a deliberate taunt from Gong Je-hyeon, aimed at a team that simply didn't have enough CC.
The three Babrol players who'd piled out together spun around and started retreating at the same time.
"We're almost there."
"Eat them. This is two kills minimum."
"Dirty troll incoming~."
The fight unfolded exactly where Gyeo-wool had predicted — at the three-way bush junction above the Peacock seal. Trundle arrived first and slammed a pillar across the path of Kindred and Varus before they could even enter the intersection.
"Hurry up, it hurts!"
"A dirty troll pretending to be in pain."
"That bastard's the tankiest one right now."
"Yeah, but getting hit by three people still hurts, okay?!"
While Varus grunted and struggled out of the glacial field slowing him down, Kindred quickly hopped over with Q and shoved Trundle aside to open a path. But Varus had nowhere clean to run. Cleanse and Flash were both up — but the net was closing from every direction.
"Bite Varus!"
"On my way, almost there."
"Just smash his head in."
"Ugh… Noona, that sounds terrifying."
Four bodies flooding in. Mundo's teleport was landing, but Orianna was still a long way off, and all five of Winter Army were already here. A moment later Montblanc's E — Vision Chain — locked onto Varus, and Morgana's Q — Dark Binding — rooted Kindred. Suddenly all three of Babrol's champions were trapped inside the three-way bush with nowhere to go.
Kindred had no real choice. Orianna was far, but Mundo was here — so they had to fight and hold.
"What good is popping Rest?"
On the ground, the mark of the sacred Lamb — guide of life and death — spread outward in a vast circle. A warm aura that granted everyone inside a stay of execution.
"Just pull them out~."
To the Darius waiting outside that warm sanctuary, it was a joke. His E — Apprehend — swept like a leaf rake and dragged both the rooted Varus and the Shen who'd tried to back Kindred up with his ultimate straight out of the Rest zone.
"Noona's really going off today, huh?"
The Varus yanked out of Rest lost his invulnerability and popped under Montblanc's copied E. Kindred was still invulnerable but hanging on by a thread, the effect about to expire. Already down a 5v4, there was no world in which Babrol won this fight.
Jin Gyeo-wool's bright, clear voice — giddy for the first time in a while — was music to her teammates' ears.
"Why wouldn't I be happy? We haven't dropped a single game."
The match wasn't over yet, but the Winter Army was already in festival mode.
They took Peacock, used the buff to smash two inhibitors, then rode the incoming siege wave straight through the mid inhibitor as well. The twin towers falling, the Nexus crumbling — it was over in a blink.
Six wins in two relentless days. Even a loss in the final match wouldn't have blocked their advancement, but for the Winter Army, defeat was a matter of life and death.
"We protected our paychecks again today…"
"YEAAAAAH!"
While Jin Gyeo-wool rose from her seat with easy composure, the other four players were locked in a tangle of arms, lost in the pure joy of victory. From far across the room, a sinner who'd dared forget her teachings cheered for the Gyeo-wool who'd delivered six games of beautiful, flawless play.
Gyeo-wool spotted Park Su-ho still watching from the sidelines instead of going home, and couldn't help a small snort of laughter. He was a hard worker, no question — even if, for whatever reason, he'd chosen to ignore her advice.
A tournament referee who'd been watching the whole way through approached captain Choi Do-yun.
"Congratulations on advancing. The team representing Seoul at the Presidential Cup National Finals will be the Winter Army."
"Thank you!"
The relief of protecting their paychecks lasted only a moment before the teammates seemed to realize something more important and crowded around the referee.
"Please review this notice, and attend the 2018 Seoul Team founding ceremony. No special preparations needed — just show up as you are."
"Thank you."
"Niiice!"
One by one they took their notices and peeled off, until only Jin Gyeo-wool remained. The Empress approached at a leisurely pace and accepted hers, and the referee asked:
"Um, excuse me. Could I… maybe get a photo?"
An out-of-nowhere photo request. Gyeo-wool found it absurd — and was secretly delighted. In her whole life, nobody had ever recognized her. And now a tournament official was the one asking for a picture.
Bae Do-hyun's really come a long way, huh.
…Or so he tried to think. In the end, it was Jin Gyeo-wool's fame. Feeling the gap between his inner self and outer face, he let out a short sigh and stepped over to the referee. The sudden closeness flustered the man into hesitation, and Gyeo-wool snapped:
"You taking it or not?"
"Ah. Yes."
Back when he'd first entered this body and dreamed of conquering the world together with Gyeo-wool, it hadn't felt like this. He'd just been excited at the thought that he might become the best in the world — never caring whether the fame belonged to Jin Gyeo-wool or to himself.
But just as a warm back makes you hungry, and a full stomach makes you look for entertainment, human greed has no end. It's not a perfect theory, but once basic needs are met, people naturally start dreaming of self-actualization.
Bae Do-hyun was no different. He'd died and come back. He'd found the strength to chase the dream he'd never reached before dying. But once he hit that goal — what would be left for Bae Do-hyun?
Do I… not want to give this body back to Wool-i…?
There was nothing. Achieve the goal, hand the body back to Hon Gyeo-wool, and he'd be nothing but a powerless ghost. Watching her future unfold from inside her mind? What meaning was there in that?
You only have a future if you're alive. Does a ghost have a reason to live?
He still hadn't found an answer to that primal question, and Jin Gyeo-wool was sinking into the dark — when:
"Noona, what are you doing?"
"Noona, let's go eat. You worked hard — today's on us."
"You okay? You're not too tired?"
"You did great, Gyeo-wool."
Her teammates swarmed in and pulled her out of the dark. They lifted her back up and threw her into a world full of light. Led outside the PC bang, she was greeted by two girls who'd been waiting through the entire tournament. A world full of light — and now a rising heat as well.
"Gyeo-wool Gyeo-wool! Congrats on the clean sweep!"
"You won them all?"
Two bodies crashing into her at once. From Han Yeo-reum came a sweet fragrance; from Cha Ga-eul, a faintly bitter scent of grass. Different, but both of them good. Jin Gyeo-wool held the two of them tight and drew in a long, deep breath.
…For now. This isn't the time to be worrying about that.
Right. There was still so far to go — what good would fretting over it now do? For the sake of these two girls who helped her in every way they could, Jin Gyeo-wool swore to herself once more: she would not waver.
